Chapter 381: The Only Solution

On the surface, He Bo's words were flawless. I couldn't think of a rebuttal in the moment, but I remained extremely wary of him. "This Number Eleven is very dangerous."

He Bo's confession ultimately received zero votes. With the game at this stage, any vote cast would shatter the balance for all participants.

Half an hour passed. The alarm echoed through the room, and everyone's eyes fell on me.

I was the last person to confess, meaning the game should end in my hands. Walking over to the Electric Chair, I estimated the time outside. "The night has passed. It's almost dawn."

I picked up the helmet. The metal headgear gave off a faint stench and was heavier than I had imagined.

"It feels terrible not having control over my own life and death. Next time, I'll be the one making the rules!" Without wasting another word, I put the helmet on and sat squarely in the middle of the Electric Chair.

"My name is Gao Jian. I was kicked out halfway through the police academy, and later I opened an Adult Shop. Despite my painstaking management, the store is on the verge of bankruptcy, so I started taking on some private jobs to make a living."

"As for killing... I've done it, but intentional, premeditated murders are rare for me."

"Right now, I can only recall one instance. It happened a few days ago. Torrential rains were battering Jiangcheng, and the Lanjiang Dam was at constant risk of collapsing. Word came that a criminal wanted by the police for years was hiding in the dam, intending to sabotage the dikes and drown the city."

"To protect Jiangcheng, I stepped up. I took a knife and slashed one of them, then tumbled off the dam alongside another. I was lucky enough to escape with my life, but the other guy's fate remains unknown."

At this point, a scene suddenly flashed through my mind. My eyes widened, and I practically blurted out, "I remember now! That day, I washed up on the shore and woke from a coma. Across the river, I saw a tall, thin figure. That was you!"

I pointed straight at He Bo, not even realizing the shock in my own eyes.

"Now that you mention it, I do have some impression of that." He Bo nodded faintly. "The dam was releasing floodwaters, and you washed down the river. For you to survive all that, you really are tough to kill."

"Good thing I am, or else I probably would've troubled you to fish me out onto the shore." Seeing He Bo admit it, I didn't say much else. I rambled on with a few more irrelevant remarks before taking off the helmet.

My confession only lasted a few minutes, making it the shortest of anyone's.

I sat back down. Only seven of us were left gathered around the round table, the atmosphere heavy and stifling.

According to the game's rules, only five of the seven people could get the antidote, which meant two more had to die.

Anyone could be the hunter, and anyone could become the prey. It was impossible to know what was in another person's heart, and everyone sitting here was a selfish, ruthless murderer. When their own lives were threatened, they were capable of absolutely anything.

"Why don't we have a good talk? Waiting around like this isn't a solution." Du Yu placed both hands on the round table to show he had no hostile intentions. "First of all, it's been almost six hours since the twelve of us were kidnapped and brought here. Come dawn, our families and friends should call the police. That means as long as we can hold out for a while, there's a chance we'll all be rescued."

"I don't know about the rest of you, but absolutely no one is coming to save me. I live alone and write for long stretches of time, and I rarely go out. Even if I died in my house, no one would notice until my corpse started to stink." Number One, Wang Shi, sounded a bit helpless. "I guess you could call it the sorrow of a writer."

"My situation is about the same as yours."

"Same here. All alone. Nobody cares whether I live or die." Number Six, Zhang Bei, toyed with his blade, accidentally slicing a cut across his fingertip. "Besides, there's no food or water here. How are the seven of us supposed to hold out? Eat corpses? Drink human blood?"

"I suggest we just follow the rules of the game. Winner takes all, and no one gets to complain." Number Seven, Jin Zhouzhe, was the calmest of them all. "Before the next round of accusations arrives, we need to discuss and figure out who the killer is. As long as we find the killer, the remaining six people can all survive."

"And what if we can't find the killer?" Number Five, Tian Teng, kept his head down, staring at the fat on his belly.

"Very simple. Then we kill another person, and the game can end all the same." Jin Zhouzhe looked around, his tone certain. "It's not about being heartless. Everyone sitting here understands the logic. I'm just the one saying the quiet part out loud."

"Let's first analyze who the hidden person is most likely to be. A game for eleven people, yet twelve participants showed up. Compared to the killer, I'm much more curious about that extra person. If you think about it carefully, their goal seems even more terrifying than the killer's." I propped my chin on my hands. "Take the people who died earlier and list their causes of death. Detective Number Three died of arrogance; Number Four, Wang Yuchun, died due to weakness and betrayal; Number Eight and Number Nine were practically suicides..."

"Wait, speaking of Number Eight, I'm extremely suspicious of you right now. You two must have known each other before this. He basically died for you. There's definitely something fishy between the two of you!" Zhang Bei interrupted, successfully drawing everyone's attention. "Number Twelve, there are major issues with you. You were the last to come out, giving you the biggest advantage, and another participant knew you and helped you for no reason. Even if you aren't the organizer, your identity is definitely not simple."

"I think so too. Just now, when you were confessing in the Electric Chair, you dodged the heavy stuff and went for the light. Then, you ended your confession smoothly by claiming to recognize Number Eleven to divert everyone's attention. That's not something an ordinary police academy student could pull off." Jin Zhouzhe also looked at me. "If you don't give a reasonable explanation, I'll vote for you in the next round of accusations, Number Twelve."

I spread my hands helplessly. "I don't have any memory of Number Eight. You all heard what he said back then. Maybe I really did lose my memory."

"Could it be possible that Number Twelve is the organizer himself? To participate in the game without slipping up, he might have found someone to hypnotize him beforehand so he would forget everything, and then joined the game under the guise of an ordinary criminal." Wang Shi was also suspicious of me. The situation was gradually turning against me.

"Gentlemen, I think you've genuinely misunderstood." There was still a long time before the third round of accusations, so I wasn't in a rush. I slowly organized my thoughts. "Listen to me first. We were all kidnapped and brought here together. The layout of this place looks like an underground prison. Before I ate the candy and passed out, I was at the Anxin Hotel. The time was a little past nine at night. The other party moved me to this location before eleven-thirty that night, which proves this place isn't far from the Anxin Hotel in the Northern Suburb of Jiangcheng. Based on my guess, this is very likely beneath Henshan Prison. And speaking of Henshan Prison, we happen to have someone on the inside right here."

"What do you mean?" Jin Zhouzhe glared at me.

"You know exactly what I mean." Shifting the suspicion and dragging more people down into the water—this was my strategy. "Doctor Jin, I'm quite curious about how you were locked up in here. Could you explain the whole process in detail?"

Number Seven, Jin Zhouzhe, wore a cold expression. "I was on duty at the prison yesterday. When I got off work in the evening and had just left the prison, someone knocked me out. I groggily woke up once in the middle, only to have candy forcefully shoved into my mouth. When I woke up the second time, I was lying in Cell Seven."

He stood up and parted his hair with his hands, revealing a clear, swollen lump on the back of his head. "I have no reason to lie. This is the proof."

"Who knows if this isn't just a self-inflicted wound to gain sympathy?" I leaned back in my chair, looking relaxed. "Strictly speaking, everyone sitting here has something suspicious about them. The organizer perfectly utilized our distrustful and paranoid natures to stay perfectly hidden. I'm not saying this to target anyone right now, nor am I trying to find the killer. That's because, putting that identity aside, the killer is just a game participant like the rest of us. Our only true enemy isn't the killer, but the organizer—that extra twelfth person."

"Easy for you to say. Would the organizer have mixed in with us if they didn't have foolproof preparations?" Zhang Bei scoffed dismissively. "I say we hurry up and decide on the next target for accusation and obediently follow the game's rules."

"You're wrong. Even if we're reduced to five people, the game won't necessarily end. Think carefully about the rules. The organizer only said they would provide the antidote and spare us from death. They never said they would let anyone leave."