The only relatively high place on the island was an ordinary small mountain. Sur looked up and felt that even if he climbed up, it would be difficult to overlook the outline of the entire island from this height.
Ji Heng grabbed his arm to stop him from going up the mountain. He then turned to the cameraman and said, "Please go take some photos of the scenery at the top of the mountain."
The cameraman was of course worried about being taken to the deep mountains and forests. He smiled dryly and was unwilling to move forward.
Ji Heng: "Mountain climbing is a physically demanding activity, and we're too lazy to go. You guys take the photos first, and then we'll meet at the beach."
Hearing that he was not planning to go up the mountain, the cameraman hurriedly carried his equipment and walked briskly, his back gradually condensing into a black dot.
Su Er looked at this scene with a complicated expression: "They are so weak that I even suspect they are trying to play the pig and eat the tiger."
Ji Heng was used to it: "Ghosts that appear in the open usually have limited strength."
Su Er hummed in confusion.
Ji Heng laughed: "Ghosts are divided into those who do odd jobs and those who use the rules to kill people. The staff are the former."
I didn't say much on this issue, I just emphasized that we should never take it lightly at any time.
Surben was a very cautious person. He nodded and suddenly asked, "Aren't you curious about what I asked the blonde during last night's dare game?"
Ji Heng knew that he would tell the story even if he wasn't asked, but he still followed through out of curiosity.
"I agreed to help the judges save face, in exchange for providing information that would help them pass the exam."
Ji Heng nodded: "Smart move."
After all, asking questions involves a lot of uncertainty.
"I just don't know if the information she gave is really valuable." The ghost's cunning also made Soul helpless. He could only bet that the other party would keep his promise: "What the blonde said is related to the host."
Ji Heng seemed quite interested: "Oh?"
Soul: "She said that Mr. Rose is a host who likes to mislead people with words, so we should carefully review the questions."
"Misleading..."
After hearing this, Ji Heng found a random rock to lean against, lowered his head slightly, and began to think motionlessly. After a moment, his eyes flashed: "Zhang Baitian died without a heart."
Su Er nodded, this was something everyone knew.
Ji Heng slowly raised the corner of his mouth: "There is an interesting saying among the people, which goes, 'Eat what you lack, and you will replenish what you lack.'"
After a few seconds of silence, Su Er felt his temples throb, thinking back to Ji Heng's words that Qu Qingming had no heartbeat. He immediately had a bad guess: "Could it be that she... has no heart at all?"
"The host can't possibly falsify the rules," Ji Heng shook his head. "The requirement to pass the level is to place the love killer's heart on the altar, but there's no explicit requirement to prove the ghost's heart must be in the body."
They exchanged glances, neither speaking. Suhr suddenly felt a surge of fear. If this were true, it was a recipe for disaster. First, they'd make players suspicious of each other, wasting time trying to find the love killer, only to realize it was all in vain.
Honesty is a virtue, but when applied to a host it becomes a terrible trap.
After a long moment, Su Er frowned and asked, "If the heart isn't in the shell, where is it?"
Ji Heng paused for a moment and said, "You can try looking for it back at the villa."
Su Er's frown gradually relaxed, replaced by a slight sigh. "I've searched for it for ages, and suddenly I look back and find it right under my nose. It really fits the game's aesthetic of mischievous fun."
He sighed deeply, turned his head away and said, "Let's go back."
Ji Heng glanced at his pocket, suggesting that he take out the figurine.
Although nourished by Yin energy, the color of the flower beside the little man's ear is no longer as bright as when it was just picked. Now his lips are tightly closed into a straight line, and he doesn't look very happy.
Ji Heng: "Let it go and observe the outline of the island."
Su Er said subconsciously: "It's not very reliable."
With his short arms and legs and no sense of direction, the possibility of him getting lost is very high.
Ji Heng: "If you can't walk, then install a pair of wings."
"…"
After making sure that there was no joking intention in the words, Soul thought about it and decided that he could give it a try.
The wings are also very particular, too big or too small will not work. It took several attempts before I finally got a pair that fit. Worried that they were not strong enough, Suer made an extra pair as a backup.
"Don't fly too high," after explaining what the little man needed to do, Sur repeatedly reminded him to find a place to land in time if the situation was not good.
The little man moved his wings naively, unable to maintain his balance at first, and seemed about to fall to the ground with a flutter. Fortunately, he adapted quickly and gradually flew high into the sky.
Flying vertically to a certain distance, the outline of the island appears clearly in sight.
The landing process was not smooth, but it had nothing to do with the wings. Instead, the little man was unable to fully control the Yin energy in his body and distribute it evenly on his wings, so that he fell in a weightless manner for a few seconds.
Sur had prepared his clothes underneath and even prepared mud for emergency treatment. However, the little man was much more resilient than expected. He flapped his wings and finally landed safely.
"I'll massage your long legs later." Suer gave a direct benefit.
The little man was very satisfied and began to draw what he saw on the ground with his arms as thin as matchsticks.
The lines weren't smooth, let alone professional, but he could barely make out the outline. Soul looked at it from every angle: "It looks like a fish tail."
A mermaid's tail, to be exact.
Move the little man's head up and down a little.
"Thank you for your hard work." Su Er put it back and looked at Ji Heng: "Qu Qingming mentioned pearls many times in his diary, and there is also a pearl drawn on Lu Quanqiu's death exemption certificate."
Ji Heng smiled and guessed what he wanted to express.
Sur's tone was a little uncertain: "Mermaid?"
Ji Heng: "It's very likely."
On the way back, there wasn't much communication between the two sides, but they had the same idea... they hurried back to the villa.
·
There were only four judges left in such a large sea view villa.
There were several plates of sea fish on the table, some of which were still alive and moved from time to time, and the judges were feasting on them.
The girl, who looked very fragile, bit off the fish head in one bite. Her fair face was stained with scarlet blood. When she heard the door open, she smiled and invited, "Want to join us?"
Ji Heng: "I understand." He turned to Su Er and said: "I'll look for the heart, you go read a book."
"Reading?"
Ji Heng: "Word of mouth, books, electronic devices... these are the only channels to learn about unknown things."
There are no indigenous people on the island, and the villas are luxurious but lack electronic products. If you want to know what love stories are circulating on the island, books are the most primitive and effective way.
Sur's expression was a little strange, as if he was surprised that there was no such down-to-earth method.
Ji Heng laughed: "When your mind is too active, you're bound to make mistakes sometimes."
Suer reflected seriously and almost took notes.
"Don't worry, I will work hard to become a better person."
"…"
He suddenly made such a promise, and Ji Heng's smile became a little complicated: "Don't force it."
The two of them acted separately. Suer went to the second floor, while Ji Heng searched on the first floor, without deliberately concealing anything during the process.
When the judges saw this scene, their expressions changed slightly.
The man in the animal skin ate the fish the fastest and most bloodily, tearing it apart before swallowing it, leaving a trail of blood all around him. Wiping his mouth, he spoke as unrestrainedly as he ate, "It seems Yueji's hypocritical tricks have been exposed."
After saying that, he spat out the chewed fish bones and glanced at the blonde: "Did you leak any information last night?"
"Just a little hint," the blonde girl said, not daring to lie in front of him. "Even if I don't tell them, they'll find out soon enough."
The man in the animal skin tsk-tsk-tsked, his eyes disdainful.
Being directly ridiculed, the blonde girl felt a little embarrassed and quickly said, "These two can cause trouble. It's a good thing to send them away as soon as possible if they can't be killed. I heard that they actually tried to go out to sea a few days ago."
The man in the animal skin paused while eating the fish.
Blonde: "It's true. Yue Ji went after him personally."
The sound of communication was heard, but Ji Heng ignored the judges as air. He checked the first floor in an orderly manner and walked upstairs.
On the other side, Sur found the study. A rough count showed that there were six rows of bookshelves in total. There were no less than a hundred books on each shelf. It was absolutely impractical to browse through them one by one.
He looked at the titles of the books one by one, and finally his eyes stopped at a corner where there was a very inconspicuous book. It was very thin, less than half the width of a finger joint, and he might miss it if he was not careful.
"Tears of the Mermaid", what attracted Suer was the name of the book, which was closely related to the clues deduced previously.
The book, which is not very thick to begin with, still has illustrations. Basically, there is one page of pictures and one page of descriptions, and the text is also annotated with pinyin.
Su Er patiently read through the words. The story was melodramatic and dark: a brilliant woman married a wealthy man, and the two settled on an island. He loved her deeply, but he was possessive, even showing signs of becoming a control freak. The wife tried to leave the island, but he trapped her. One day, she discovered he wasn't human, but a legendary mermaid.
The long life of confinement had long since worn away the love they once held. The anger of being deceived brought the wife to a state of collapse. On a full-moon night, she drugged and gouged out her husband's eyes. Holding those eyes, she walked into the cold sea, and fell into eternal silence.
The story doesn't end here. This scene happened to be seen by their child, and the child's mentality gradually became distorted. When he grew up, he began to like using his handsome appearance to win the love of others, and gouged out the other person's eyes when expressing his true feelings.
When he read this, Soul immediately thought of the blonde girl. Her ex-boyfriend liked to dig out people's eyeballs for collection.
An unpleasant smell interrupted his thoughts. Su Er was wondering how the fishy smell from downstairs could drift up. He looked up and realized that he had wrongly accused the judges. The source of the stench was not the sea fish, but Ji Heng who had appeared at the door at some point.
Ji Heng was holding a flower in his hand, which looked like it had just been dug out of the soil. Dozens of thin roots were stuck on the wrinkled rotten flesh, and there was a thin membrane on the outside. If you looked closely, you could see that the flesh wrapped inside was still slowly wriggling.
Sur covered his mouth and nose, walked closer to take a look, and confirmed that what was wriggling was not flesh, but the maggots inside.
"Where did you find it?"
Ji Heng: "Mixed with a bunch of fake flowers."
Suer remembered that when he first entered the dungeon, Rose Gentleman liked to use flowers to describe people. At that time, the host described Qu Qingming as a rose and Man Jiangshan as a hyacinth.
"That old bastard..." Being at an age full of vigor and vitality, Su Er had never cursed anyone before because of his good self-control. Gentleman Rose succeeded in making him make an exception.
One can imagine how funny the scene would look to the host when the players were trying their best to find the murderer of love.
"There's only one last question left." Ji Heng looked at him: "The location of the altar."
Su Er thought hard but to no avail, then picked up the book in his hand and said, "Let's take a picture first."
Putting the heart back in its place and hiding it for the time being, the two went to the beach to meet the cameraman. The sea was gentle and the sky was clear. Two people with outstanding looks stood side by side. The picture was beautiful.
At the same time, another place on the island was not so harmonious.
The players and the Love Killer had already fallen out, and Lu Quanqiu and Man Jiangshan had teamed up to deal with Qu Qingming, but they were still at a disadvantage. Man Jiangshan's arm was bleeding, while Lu Quanqiu was slightly better off, with only a large bruise on his face.
Qu Qingming stared at Lu Quanqiu coldly: "My target is her. If you insist on dying, I don't mind."
Lu Quanqiu clenched his fists and struggled.
Man Jiangshan cursed, "She's obviously not human. Don't forget, as long as we can get her heart, we can leave the dungeon!"
After careful consideration, Lu Quanqiu finally chose to stand on the side of his teammates. He was also an experienced veteran player and knew that the get-out-of-jail-free ticket might not be reliable.
Gentleman Rose leaned against a tree and watched with a cold eye. His heart wasn't in the ghost's body at all. The Love Killer was just a trap. If the player attacked, they would be courting death. However, it was Qu Qingming who couldn't hold back first, attacking before the player could reveal their true intentions.
It does not meet the conditions of self-defense, nor does it satisfy the rules of killing. If he really kills someone, it will be a real show.
Gentleman Rose rarely makes mistakes in his predictions, and this time is no exception.
Even if two players attacked together, it was just like a mayfly trying to shake a tree in Qu Qingming's eyes. He easily kicked the whole world away and grabbed Man Jiangshan's neck, as if he was catching a weak chick.
She applied a little pressure with her fingers and smiled: "Where is the altar?"
Man Jiangshan said nothing, knowing that he would die if he spoke.
Qu Qingming's patience was exhausted, and his other hand slowly reached towards Man Jiangshan's stomach, ready to cut him open.
Sharp nails pierced her skin, and Man Jiangshan subconsciously closed her eyes, waiting for the excruciating pain to set in. Several seconds passed, and the horror she had imagined did not come. She could not help but open her eyes, and met Qu Qingming's wide eyes.
"How could it be..." Qu Qingming seemed surprised.
Man Jiangshan's gaze moved downwards and saw that the hand that was originally as white as jade was now covered with corpse spots. Seeing that he could not stop the corpse spots from spreading, Qu Qingming cruelly tore off his own arm.
"Impossible," Qu Qingming took two steps back, ignoring the wound on his arm: "Why doesn't it meet the conditions for killing?"
She suddenly looked at Man Jiangshan: "You are the one who did this?!"
Man Jiangshan showed an expression even more doubtful than hers.
Qu Qingming tried his best to stay calm. Beads could not deceive people. What they said last night should be the truth, unless the information these two people had was wrong.
The smile on his face disappeared, and Qu Qingming asked with a sinister look, "Do you really know the location of the altar?"
Man Jiangshan said with a very stubborn expression: "You know but you won't tell me, just give up!"
Hearing this, Qu Qingming almost jumped up in anger: "You know shit!"
"…"
Unable to bear this farce any longer, Mr. Rose reminded him, "I hope you won't forget the purpose of your visit."
Although he didn't know the specific reason, he was certain that Qu Qingming couldn't kill him for the time being. Man Jiangshan looked at Lu Quanqiu, who was still hesitating whether to take this opportunity to attack again.
Qu Qingming casually treated the broken arm and said mockingly, "You can give it a try."
"Forget it." Man Jiangshan shook her head at Lu Quanqiu. Qu Qingming's repeated confirmation of the altar's location just now always made her uneasy.
The three of them temporarily put aside their hostility and prepared to begin filming the sitcom requested by the production team. However, with the previous interlude, a joint search for clues was unlikely. Lu Quanqiu, affected by the death-free ticket, became increasingly impatient. Finally, he looked directly at the cameraman and said, "Just take a screenshot of our fight earlier."
The theme is that the original wife beats up the mistress and the scumbag.
Although Man Jiangshan did not agree with his hasty decision, he did not object because his own wounds had to be treated as soon as possible.
·
Preparing props was a hassle. Even though they had a script, it was already dusk when Suer and Ji Heng returned to the villa after filming.
The main hall was dead silent.
Lu Quanqiu had bruises on his face, Qu Qingming had a broken arm, and Man Jiangshan also had bandages on his body.
As the person who created the script, Suer roughly guessed what had happened and walked in calmly under the cold gaze of Mr. Rose.
A host's fundamental quality is to remain unaffected by emotions. Mr. Yue controlled his anger and continued his hosting duties. "After a day of hard work, I'm sure everyone has produced some exciting work." He glanced at the group and asked, "Which group would like to present first?"
Suhr raised his hand actively.
There wasn't even a computer in the villa, so the cameraman placed the equipment in the middle, and everyone could only watch the playback around a small screen.
Su Er plays a female role, mainly because Ji Heng is too tall, and it is a bit out of place to play the melancholy wife.
In order to distinguish the genders, Soul simply processed the cut willow branches, made them into wigs and wore them on his head. The lines were basically according to the description in the book.
The amazing thing is that even with such crude props, the superb acting skills of both parties can be reflected, especially Soul, who portrayed a wife on the verge of collapse quite well.
——A natural-born actor.
This sentence popped up in many people's minds at the same time.
At the 17th minute, the story reaches its climax.
"Why did you lie to me? You deprived me of my freedom..."
The wife muttered as she gouged out her husband's eyes with her own hands.
This section mainly uses the technique of borrowing shots, so the audience can only see the image of Sur holding a knife, and the specific process cannot be seen clearly.
Then the camera turned and captured the child standing outside the door.
The little man covered his mouth with his hands made of mud and shook his head desperately. A petal on his ear fell off, as if he couldn't believe he was seeing this scene.
"Mom——" An unclear voice came out of the palm. The little man stood there for an unknown amount of time, and finally turned around and ran away in pain.
No one cares about the subsequent plot. From the moment the villain appeared, the atmosphere in the villa fell into an extremely weird state.
Qu Qingming and the others clearly remembered that one night not long ago, it was this villain who came to them to vote. Why did it appear in the video again?
Several players subconsciously looked at Gentleman Yueji.
Gentleman Rose's expression at this moment was quite remarkable. He turned sideways and stared at Su Er with a gloomy gaze, asking word by word, "Tell me... what is this?!"
There is also a flower growing on the ear of this clay figure, and the facial features are similar to mine. What is it!