MTL - Top Horror Novelist-Chapter 46

When Chi Yiyin discovered the crux of the problem, the rest of the players also walked to the proprietress' room one after another, instinctively wanting to move closer to capable people.

"Mr. Chi, what should we do now? We don't even know what the task requires us to do. This is simply an impossible task!"

"Brother Chi, what can you do?"

"By the way! Boss, your initial identity is a small town detective, will there be any additional bonuses?"

"Wang Lele, Chen San, didn't you already know about the Snow Mountain Line? Do you know other news? I don't believe it."

"Yes, what time is it? Didn't you hear the customs clearance rules that the system said? Don't hide your secrets. If you have any information, tell us quickly and share it with everyone."

Everyone was chattering, and the room that was quiet just now turned into a vegetable market in an instant.

Besides Chi Yiyin, Chen San was the one with the most concentrated firepower.

Chen San originally wanted to secretly go to the snow mountain to make a fortune, but he didn't make it. First, he was publicly accused by Chi Yiyin of using public opinion to set him on fire, and he was so disgusted that he vomited until he came back. Questioning and scolding.

This made Chen San extremely annoyed, and immediately scolded back: "You are quite generous. If this is the case, why don't you share all your points with everyone?"

"Don't mention any customs clearance conditions to me here, I am not deaf, isn't there another one that is to leave alone?"

Chen San sneered: "If I kill you all, the difficulty of my customs clearance will be reduced instead."

After pretending to be Buddhist in front of Chi Yiyin was exposed, Chen San simply let go of himself, exposing his profit-seeking and selfish nature, and was not prepared to save face for others at all, and exposed all the thoughts in others' hearts. Come out and say it, making others lose face.

However, Chen Sanhe's completely different behavior style made Chi Yiyin look at him a few more times with a smile in his eyes.

Frank and ruthless is much better than a sinister smile with a hidden knife. At least Chen San's current appearance made Chi Yiyin willing to put him in his plan.

If you want to be one of his pawns, it also depends on whether you have the qualifications.

Chi Yiyin's eyes were slightly cold, and she slid past the noisy people outside the door, then raised her hand to ask Wang Lele to block the door, preventing the people who came later from coming in.

Only he and Jingcha were left, looking and searching in the proprietress' room.

Wang Lele responded readily, her slightly fat body was quite flexible, and she happily lay across the doorway.

"Guys, the room is too small for so many people to stand up. Don't you mind waiting outside?"

Although the outside players didn't care much about the proprietress' room, when they couldn't get in, it immediately became a rare thing.

"Why! This copy is opened by your family, and you won't enter if you say you won't let it in?"

Someone's face changed drastically, and he rushed in angrily: "I want to see what good things are inside!"

Wang Lele sneered, and raised his hand to stop him: "I didn't see you being so active when I asked someone to take you with me just now. I ran to give you a **** like a Bodhisattva, and I gave you a face. Do you really think I'm a capable person? Let You come in, what can you find? Add to the chaos!"

The man's face was flushed by the words, and he wanted to refute, so he heard Chi Yiyin's voice coming from the room.

"I'm afraid you haven't listened carefully to the system's customs clearance rules."

Chi Yiyin smiled gently and politely, but when he looked sideways, there was a cold and unemotional killing intent: "The system clearly says that all surviving players can leave at the same time."

"I can kill you and pass the level with others."

He smiled and said, "It's not a good habit to lose words while listening to others talking."

Chi Yiyin was clearly smiling, but a cold sense of danger rushed over his face, and everyone present understood what he meant—a waste that couldn't pass the level, so kill it directly to avoid delaying.

Even the viewers before the live broadcast were shocked. They did not expect that Chi Yiyin, who has always seemed gentle and gentle, not only keenly discovered the malicious loophole hidden in the conditions given by the system, but was also the first to use this loophole to deal with others of.

The one that seems most innocuous...is the most ruthless.

Many viewers shuddered.

And the people standing opposite Chi Yiyin can most truly understand this sense of oppression coming to their faces.

The face of the player who was still dissatisfied and complained changed again and again, but he still kept his mouth shut obediently, not daring to say another word.

Seeing this appearance, Chen San raised his eyebrows and became happy.

Although he didn't like Chi Yiyin either, compared with these fools in front of him, Chi Yiyin immediately stood out from the crowd, and he also subtly recognized Chi Yiyin.

Instead, Chu Yueli, who had been standing quietly outside the room, suddenly walked over with a cane.

"Mr. Chi."

He called Chi Yiyin, but his eyes were fixed on a corner of the proprietress's room, with a serious expression.

Seeing this, Chi Yiyin signaled him to come in: "What did you see?"

Chu Yueli tried his best to avoid the body of the proprietress carefully, and limped to her dressing table, rummaged through the neatly placed items for a while, and then took out a photo frame from behind the mirror.

Chi Yiyin looked intently, then his eyes darkened.

The photo that Chu Yueli found was a group photo of the proprietress and several children.

It's just that in the photo, although the proprietress looks the same as everyone saw, she has a smile and cheerfulness that the current proprietress doesn't have.

She was like a blooming flower back then, not shrouded in any haze.

Also in the photo are two children.

The young girl was held on the lap of the proprietress, and the two smiling faces were equally brilliant. Just from the actions of the proprietress, one can see her love and affection for the little girl.

There was a young boy standing beside them, holding a scarf in his hand, looking at his sister nervously, as if he was afraid that she would be cold, so he wanted to reach out and put it on for her.

Just when the shutter was pressed, the young boy subconsciously wanted to turn his head when he heard the sound, so he turned his face and rushed towards the camera, leaving a dazed side face that didn't know what happened.

The scene in the photo looks very warm.

But after seeing the two children clearly, Chi Yiyin looked up at Chu Yueli in astonishment: "How did you find this photo?"

The two children above are clearly the two children on the family portrait that serves as the dividing point.

It's just that there are two other than the young Gu Xichao.

Chi Yiyin felt a little strange, obviously Chu Yueli had never seen the photo he took away from the album, and the photo frame on the dressing table was placed behind the mirror, let alone a place where you can see it at a glance, why? Chu Yueli knew it without even looking at it?

But in the face of the questioning, Chu Yueli, who had always been calm, showed a little daze, just shook his head, and said, "I don't know, I just think there should be something in this place."

Hearing this, Chi Yiyin also looked at the dressing table again.

The proprietress took care of the place beautifully, and even put a fake flower on it for decoration in this place where there are no flowers in winter all year round.

But no matter how you look at it, among the numerous but neat items, there is no trace that the proprietress hid things behind the mirror again.

When Chi Yiyin looked at it alone, there was no dust that could leave traces on the dressing table, no obviously moved items, and no "channel" left to prove that the owner often reached behind the mirror.

It's as if Chu Yueli himself is the owner of this place, he knows exactly what's here, so he got the photo frame so accurately.

Although he was puzzled, Chi Yiyin didn't say much, but nodded to Chu Yueli to express his gratitude.

Chu Yueli smiled shyly, then moved to the side to help Chi Yiyin find out if there was anything else in the room.

But Chi Yiyin looked at the photo frame in his hand, but fell into deep thought.

Judging from their age and expressions, these two children should be Gu Xichao's brother and sister.

Although the two boys look similar, after Chi Yiyin quickly fine-tuned Gu Xichao's face in his mind, he still thinks that Gu Xichao is the younger boy.

Different from the gentle and elegant appearance of Gu Xichao now, the little boy back then looked much more innocent than the brother next to him, ignorant and mischievous. But the young boy who is an older brother is much more mature and stable, and knows how to take care of his younger sister.

However, since the elder brother is so stable and will take care of the younger siblings, he shouldn't just put the young Gu Xichao aside and only care about the younger sister, leaving this group photo without the younger brother.

Chi Yiyin was puzzled, took the photo frame and checked it repeatedly, and found that the red copper carved photo frame had already been polished, which indicated that its owner often picked it up to check and stroke it.

But the place where it was found was behind the dressing table mirror...

He looked up at the dressing table in front of him.

The place where the photo frame is placed is subtle enough.

Logically speaking, since the proprietress took great pains to decorate the dressing table and put so many commonly used items here, it means that this is a place where she often stays and can see it. The things put here are either those she often uses, or those she likes.

But it happens to be behind the mirror... It's like deliberately hiding things that I don't like, so that I don't want to see them.

But this move is really unnecessary.

If you don't like it, just take it off the dresser, why put it here?

Chi Yiyin frowned, looking down at the spotlessly polished photo frame.

Perhaps, it was because the proprietress's own ideas were fundamentally contradictory.

She wanted to see the brothers and sisters other than Gu Xichao, but she didn't dare to look at them. That's why she made such a compromise after struggling countless times.

She would often take out the photo frame to look at it, but she didn't want to bring back her painful memories, so after seeing the photos in a moment of emotion, she hid the photos in pain after regaining her composure.

Then the next time, repeat the process.

Chi Yiyin's fingertips lightly stroked the photo frame, pondering without speaking.

Man is a contradictory entity. Even a savage who grows up in the mountains far away from society will not be pure with only one side. People don't have advantages all over their bodies, but there are also shining points in their shortcomings.

They are both kind and selfish.

This is not a conflict.

What about the lady boss?

What is the memory that she dare not face but can't forget? What happened to Gu Xichao's family back then?

But no matter what it is, I am afraid it has something to do with these three children.

Gu Xichao has lived in the Snow Mountain Hotel all year round. Apart from the fact that he is a regular customer who likes snow, the most likely thing is that this is the place where he misses and remembers.

What happened in the past made the Snow Mountain Hotel have a completely different meaning to him.

But the problem is that, judging from the expressions of the three children in the photo, Gu Xichao was not a resolute character when he was young.

He kept tugging on his brother's clothes, as if to him, his brother was a bridge between him and the outside world, and if there was any danger, he would be there to help. As for his younger sister, he was full of smiles, and subconsciously kept his hands behind her, as if he was ready to protect her at any time.

For Gu Xichao, whether it is an elder brother or a younger sister, they are the ones he cannot live without.

Besides, the parents in this family seem to have a good relationship with the children, and they are kind and kind people.

Gu Xichao seems to have no reason to stay away from his family, living in the Snow Mountain Hotel all year round but never going home.

unless…

He no longer has a home.

Chi Yiyin gently put the photo frame back on the dressing table, took a step back, and looked around from the proprietress' perspective.

If you want to hide important things, most people will choose to hide things where they can see them.

Although the room is large, when the proprietress sits in front of the dresser and reminisces about the past, what she can see is limited.

In other words, if there are any other important clues, they will definitely fall within this range.

Chi Yiyin's examination soon had results.

Facing the dressing table is a reclining chair.

Judging from the wear and tear of the carpet under the lounge chair, this is also where the proprietress often stays.

Chi Yiyin immediately walked over with long legs, searching around the reclining chair.

But nothing.

There's nothing too noteworthy about it.

"What are you looking for?"

After wandering around the room, Jingcha came back bored with his hands in his pockets, and curiously followed Chi Yiyin to look for it.

But for him, it is really a boring job to accurately select important information from the vast amount of information. It used to be his partner who did it, and now it was his turn, and he grew impatient.

When Jingcha stepped on the carpet without hesitation, the wooden floor below suddenly creaked under the weight. He casually glanced down and didn't take it seriously.

It is a common problem of old floors, not to mention the environment of snow mountains, where the wood is repeatedly dry and wet, which is normal.

But it was this sound that attracted Chi Yiyin's attention.

"You take a step back."

He walked over with a frown and waved to Jing Cha.

Jing Cha went in without knowing it, but still did as he did. After leaving the blanket, the little leather boots stepped on the floor outside the range of the blanket, but there was no creaking sound.

This small detail was seen by Chi Yiyin, his eyes dimmed, and then he squatted down and stretched out his hand to lift the carpet.

Dust rushed in immediately.

The proprietress should seldom touch the carpet, which makes it look out of place in a clean house, much dirtier than other places.

Chi Yiyin wrapped her hands with a handkerchief, and patiently stretched out her hand to press the floors one by one, to check which floor made the sound when Jingcha stepped on it just now.

Sure enough, one of the floors under the carpet was obviously loose, and the moment Chi Yiyin pressed the button, dust sprayed out from the gap in the floor.

He immediately rolled the carpet to the side, picked up the hook next to the firewood for the fireplace, and used it to pry the loose floor.

"Crack!" After a tooth-piercing rubbing sound, the floor was pushed aside, and the hidden compartment underneath finally reappeared after many years.

Standing aside, Jingcha's face changed, and he looked at Chi Yiyin in astonishment.

The audience before the live broadcast were also dumbfounded: [How did he know that there was a hidden compartment under the carpet? No, how did he know that the proprietress must have hidden something? ]

[What's so difficult about this, pigs can be found, I can go and I can do it, you guys are too fussy. ]

[Hehe, after seeing the answer, I said the question is easy, you have such an afterthought, why don't you really go down and take a walk? ]

[The brother in front! I checked it for you, this time there are really two dungeons with less than 10,000 followers, you go to their live broadcast room now, as long as there are more dead people, you may be randomly entered! Are you happy? ]

[…]

[Puff, someone stopped talking hahaha. When you talk about the plenary session, you are completely confused when you do it, ha. ]

[Damn it, I really start to believe that the anchor is the pope now, this is too awesome! ]

[hiss! As expected of a boss, "Sending Points Bodhisattva" can be played on **** difficulty. I mean, it's never happened before, right? In my impression, this dungeon has never been in danger. ]

If Chi Yiyin saw the barrage in the live broadcast room now, he would definitely realize that it wasn't that there was no danger, but that the past dungeon live broadcasts were passive, and all dungeon shifts that were dangerous were deleted.

—As long as there is no record left, it means that nothing happened.

But now Chi Yiyin's attention has been completely attracted by the things in the dark cell.

There is a small cloth bag in the dark compartment, which has already been entangled by spider webs, looking old and dirty. Maybe the owner has not moved these things since he hid them.

He reached out to take out the small cloth bag, and after opening it, he found that it contained an old-fashioned pistol and a few sheets of paper.

Chi Yiyin checked it carefully. Although he couldn't accurately identify the model of the pistol, judging from the construction method, it was at least twenty years ago.

And those few sheets of paper were old and yellowed, so fragile that they seemed to break into powder if they breathed heavily.

Chi Yiyin carefully unfolded the pieces of paper one by one, and found that one of them turned out to be a report receipt.

It said that a nine-year-old boy went to the small town police station alone to report the crime, claiming that his family was attacked while traveling in the snow-capped mountains. He was the only one who escaped and asked the police station to help him find his family.

After reporting the crime, the little boy passed out at the police station and was sent to the hospital by the detectives.

At that time, the inspector immediately went to the Snow Mountain Hotel to confirm the situation.

The hotel owner and his wife said they had no knowledge of this, denying that the boy's family had stayed in the hotel and had not seen any attacks.

The record of the situation in this receipt will end here.

The last sentence is just the official term of the detective, "If there are any clues, we will continue to follow up."

And the timestamp is seventeen years ago.

Nine years old, little boy... Gu Xichao?

Chi Yiyin froze for a moment, and suddenly realized the identity of the little boy from time.

So, when the Gu family went on a trip, they were attacked in the Snow Mountain Hotel, Gu Xichao escaped, and the whereabouts of the others are unknown?

But the owner and his wife of the Snow Mountain Hotel denied that the Gu family stayed in the hotel—the photo of the proprietress and the other two children of the Gu family was placed on the dressing table, watching them quietly.

The family portrait of the Gu family is also in Chi Yiyin's suit pocket.

Gu Xichao's family must have stayed in a hotel back then, but the owner and his wife hid it from the inspector and others for some reason.

Chi Yiyin read the receipt twice, but didn't see anything more from it, so he could only regretfully put it aside for the time being, and picked up a few other sheets of paper.

But one of them was the death certificate of the owner of the Snow Mountain Hotel.

Another piece of paper...but an invitation.

Chi Yiyin was stunned for a moment, and quickly confirmed the content of this old invitation letter, and reached out from his pocket to take out his own invitation letter to compare with it.

Not only are the invitation letters of the players numbered, but they are all printed, which means that they cannot recognize the person who issued the invitation letter based on their handwriting.

But this old invitation was different.

Even though it has turned yellow and fragile, you can still clearly see the beautiful pen writing on it.

Even the content of the invitation letter is different.

[Dear Root:

When we parted, I missed it very much. Hearing that the medicinal materials of Lianping Snow Mountain have matured again, I specially invite old friends to have a talk at the old place, and look forward to working with you again. 】

root...?

Chi Yiyin remembered very clearly that the name of the agent he replaced was Brian Root.

Could the same last name be a coincidence?

However, judging from the content of the invitation, it is not for the boss or the proprietress... Then why is it hidden by the proprietress?

But it was precisely because of the appearance of this invitation letter that Chi Yiyin cleared up his previous doubts.

— Medicinal materials from Lianping Snow Mountain.

One gram of medicinal material is one gram of gold.

Medicinal materials are not only very attractive to players, but also to town residents and anyone who comes to find medicinal materials and want to make a fortune.

Judging from the tone of the invitation letter, the invited Root had already been to Lianping Snow Mountain many years ago, and had successfully obtained medicinal materials with the person who issued the invitation letter.

Root has personally experienced the charm of wealth brought by medicinal materials. When he heard that medicinal materials that had disappeared for many years reappeared, he would not let go of the opportunity to make a fortune again.

But it doesn't have to be an opportunity.

It's also possible... It's a well-planned trap.

The medicine is the bait to lure Root, the trap is the snow mountain and the snow mountain hotel, and the person who issued the invitation letter is probably not a former colleague of Root.

It's a hunter disguised as a layer of skin.

He hunted prey here, just like the things that spread in the town later, the people who received the invitation eventually died miserably.

The only thing Chi Yiyin didn't figure out was what the purpose of the person who issued the invitation letter was.

The truth is always hidden in the details.

If you know the general idea in general, if you only taste it briefly, you will only miss the truth.

The person who issued the invitation letter took great pains to conceal his true identity, luring other "colleagues" to come and kill them, and then he seemed to lose control and killed half of the people in the town...

To this extent, Chi Yiyin doesn't think that the other party's purpose is just to kill people.

Killing is just a means.

But the real motives and reasons have not yet emerged.

Especially—why is Root's invitation letter in the hands of the proprietress?

And the proprietress had a gun from the very beginning, why didn't she use it to protect herself, but was always afraid of Gu Xichao?

Chi Yiyin put himself in the position of the proprietress and thought that if someone like Gu Xichao wanted to do something to him, let alone whether he would use a gun in his hand, even if he didn't, he would definitely kill Gu Xichao. Kill it first.

He prefers to report revenge on the spot, and doesn't like to keep one thing in his heart for too many years, and he hates people threatening him even more.

—For example, an unidentified guy named Li Sijun.

Thinking of Li Sijun, Chi Yiyin's eyes darkened, and then turned to Jingcha who was squatting beside her and asked, "Under what circumstances would you tolerate someone who wants to kill you?"

Jing Cha, who was looking at the things in the dark grid together, replied without raising his head or even hesitating: "There is no such situation."

"Whoever wants to kill me, I will kill whoever."

Jingcha maintained this posture, and looked at Chi Yiyin from the bottom up, with a gloomy look in his eyes: "You ask this question... do you want to kill me now?"

Chi Yiyin: "..."

Well, I asked the wrong person again.

He stuffed the old-style pistol into Jingcha's hand, and sent him off: "Go to the side and see if you can recognize its model, good boy."

Jingcha: "???"

"I think you are perfunctory me, is it an illusion?"

Chi Yiyin's face remained unchanged: "Well, you feel wrong."

He decisively raised his eyes to look at Chu Yueli, and felt that the only normal person in this room was Chu Yueli.

When Chi Yiyin asked the same question, Chu Yueli hesitated for a moment before saying, "Unless, it's my mother?"

Chi Yiyin: "?"

"Before I was born, my mother didn't want me, but no matter if she drank medicine, beat her stomach, or even jumped from the second floor, she couldn't get rid of me. She had no money to go to a big hospital, so she could only give birth to me."

Facing Chi Yiyin's suspicious eyes, Chu Yueli said honestly: "My mother always said that I was the disaster star who came to defeat her. She threw me into the river when I was three years old, and burned me in my room when I was seven years old. Charcoal, pushed me onto the railroad tracks at twelve...but I survived."

"I didn't understand it when I was young. I thought my mother was playing games with me. Later, the school teacher found out that I was injured and asked me if my mother hit me. At that time, I told the teacher stupidly that it was because I did If I made a mistake and made my mother angry, she will punish me like this."

When he talked about the past stories, he was calm and calm, even smiling and making gestures, as if it was a very interesting past.

"I was an adult at the time and the teachers did something for me, a lot of people came and went. Then I started boarding at school and never saw my mum again. Waited to see her for many years, she was in Begging on the side of the road, I will take her to eat."

Chu Yueli looked at Chi Yiyin with a smile, and said calmly, "Then, she inserted the chopsticks into my temple."

He even raised his hand to brush his hair away, and pointed to the bright red blood spots on his temples for Chi Yiyin to see.

"When I open my eyes again, I will already be in the game field."

Chi Yiyin didn't expect Chu Yueli to have such an experience, so he couldn't help but froze in place, a sense of compassion gushed out from the depths of his soul, covering all other emotions like a tsunami.

His fingers hooked subconsciously, and his misty eyes seemed to have fallen into the memories of the past.

But Chi Yiyin quickly let himself get out of the emotions that shouldn't exist, regained his composure, and all the emotions at that moment were restrained.

It's just that when he looked at Chu Yueli again, he recognized him a little more than before.

Like wounded cubs cuddling up to each other for warmth.

Jing Cha was stunned.

Before he entered the game field, he was also a young man from a rich family, and his family was considered harmonious. He never thought that there would be such a person as Chu Yueli's mother, so he was stunned for a moment and couldn't recover.

"Then you... have a very bad fate."

Jingcha looked at Chu Yueli with complicated eyes: "If you don't tell me, I thought these were two moles, which are quite beautiful."

"Think about it, brother, although your mother wants to kill you, but you look better, isn't it good?"

Jingcha walked over, and rarely felt pity for other players. He even patted Chu Yueli on the shoulder to express his approval, and said: "Scars are a thing of the past. They will only make you more beautiful. .”

Chu Yueli was stunned, he didn't expect Jingcha to comfort others, but although he couldn't laugh or cry, he still accepted Jingcha's favor.

"Thank you, but I didn't blame her. Maybe she has her own reasons."

Chu Yueli's eyes were full of nostalgia: "If I can leave the game field, I really want to ask her how she has been doing all these years, and if there is anything I can do to help her... She acted too fast at that time, and I didn't have time to ask her ask her."

Jingcha: "...Your head is about to glow, brother."

He looked Chu Yueli suspiciously up and down, and felt that he still couldn't understand this kind of emotion.

If it were him, he would have already killed three people and three people out—the reason why Chu Yueli wanted to leave was to miss the person who killed him? ?

Jingcha said that she couldn't understand.

Chi Yiyin only closed her eyes and sighed: "The smaller the sky you see, the more things you can't understand. There are all kinds of people in the world. If there are no identical leaves, then naturally there will be no identical people."

Although Jingcha is powerful, the "Pope" is enough to walk sideways in the game field. But because of this, he seldom observes and understands every player.

But Chi Yiyin was different.

Not only because the conditions for his awakened power to take effect are too strict, requiring him to explore the truth behind the world and the world, so that the inner and outer truths emerge from the depths.

It is also because he is a novelist that he has a professional habit of observing everyone, recording everything, and analyzing it, so that the works he writes are closer to human nature and touch people's hearts.

Although Chu Yueli's choice was weird, it was within reason. After a little thought, Chi Yiyin discovered his logic.

"Chu Yueli, you forgive your mother, do you think you owe her?"

He asked calmly, "Do you think it was your birth that made her suffer?"

Chu Yueli's breathing suddenly became rapid, and he stared at Chi Yiyin with wide eyes for a long time, before finally recovering from his messy thoughts, he nodded slightly.

"Before Mr. Chi just said this, without even realizing it myself, my most fundamental thought..."

Chu Yueli murmured: "How did Mr. Chi know?"

Chi Yiyin just looked down at the receipt in her hand, then slowly stood up straight, and looked at the photo frame on the dressing table.

Although Chu Yueli's tolerance for those who wanted to kill him only existed on his mother, but it was not like this between the proprietress and Gu Xichao.

There is no trace of children living in the small wooden building, and from the layout of the proprietress' room, it can be seen that she has never had children. In the family portrait, Mother Gu smiled peacefully.

The proprietress is not Gu Xichao's mother, so there are only two possibilities for why she has never fought back despite being capable of self-defense for many years.

One was that she thought that Gu Xichao was too strong and she couldn't defeat him, so she simply gave up all hope.

The other was because she was ashamed of Gu Xichao.

Chi Yiyin thought of the conversation that the college student had heard when he happened to see Gu Xichao and the proprietress.

The proprietress is confessing to Gu Xichao.

The boss died before the townspeople received their invitations.

Seventeen years is enough for the little boy who escaped to report the crime alone to grow up, and he can avenge the resentment of that year.

No matter what the follow-up of the case that Chi Yiyin did not see, just the fact that the boss and his wife lied and denied that the Gu family had stayed in the hotel was enough to make Gu Xichao hate the boss and his wife.

Perhaps in that thought, people who could have survived also ushered in death.

Chi Yiyin rubbed the receipt slip in his hand, and all the clues were quickly rolled and pieced together in his mind, trying to piece together the truth.

But the follow-up that was not on the receipt was still missing the most critical link, making Chi Yiyin helplessly unable to piece together a complete puzzle.

But when he tried to find more things from the receipt, he noticed the situation on the old invitation instead.

On the invitation letter, the ink was slightly smudged, and apart from the original smell of ink and dust, there was also a light smell.

Chi Yiyin brought it close to the tip of his nose, frowned and sniffed it carefully, and found that there were subtle bitterness and sourness in the smell.

It's like... the smell of ointment.

It seems that the person who wrote the invitation letter had ointment on his hands, and when he was writing, he also dipped it into the ink, making the smell linger on the paper.

And for so many years, the proprietress has put the invitation letter in a small and airtight dark compartment, so that the smell has been sealed and not spilled out, leaving a trace of clues for Chi Yiyin.

Since Chi Yiyin entered the dungeon until now, he has only seen one person, which is related to the time point of seventeen years and has a reason to come into contact with the ointment.

Gu Xichao's legs.

If, as the college student said, Gu Xichao's legs were rotten and blackened, then he needed medicine to maintain his body.

—How can a person who wants revenge fall first?

But it was this bit of ointment that made Chi Yiyin suspicious.

The person who issued the invitation letter was none other than Gu Xichao.

It was he who invited those "colleagues" and massacred residents with invitations within the town. Even the dungeon has been running for twelve years. This regular hotel guest who is ignored by all players is the one who secretly controls everything.

Gu Xichao is not only the role for the players to play, the main body of the mission, but also the most terrifying murderer in this dungeon.

The moment the final conclusion emerged from Chi Yiyin's mind, a cold voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

"Chi Yiyin, I'll wait for you here."

"You know where I am."

The moment the voice sounded, Chi Yiyin immediately turned around and looked around vigilantly.

But there was no extra figure in the room. Instead, Chu Yueli noticed his actions, pulled away from his thoughts, and asked Chi Yiyin blankly what he was looking for.

— Gu Xichao!

The voice just now was clearly Gu Xichao's voice.

After a brief period of doubt, Chi Yiyin quickly had a new guess.

His eyes fixed, he stuffed all the things in his hands into Chu Yueli's arms, and then strode out of the room over the crowd, ignoring everyone's inquiries and calls, and walked out of the corridor without looking back.

The hall was empty.

Only the crackling flames in the fireplace burned.

When Chi Yiyin stepped into the hall, he saw Gu Xichao's wheelchair parked beside the fireplace, looking down at the flames in a daze.

"Gu Xichao, it's you, right?"

Chi Yiyin was unexpectedly calm and determined.

However, Gu Xichao was not panicked when he was discovered, but instead smiled lightly.

The mirrors reflect light under the flames.