Chapter 382: Seven Survivors

"Isn't being spared from death the same thing as being let go? I think you're just looking for trouble." Zhang Bei countered, refusing to believe I had the ability to find the organizer.

"Of course it's not the same. The organizer giving you the antidote lets you survive tonight, but the only passage out of here is held by the monsters outside that door." My tone was steady as I looked toward the cabinet. "Number Six, you remember what those things looked like, don't you? Tell us exactly what you saw. You're the only one who got a good look at them."

I shouldn't have brought it up. The moment I did, Number Six instinctively shrank back. "It might have just been a hallucination. Don't take it as fact."

"Since you won't say it, I'll take a guess." I walked over to the cabinet. "Earlier, Number Five, Tian Teng, said that the stench on Number Nine was the third heaviest among us. He also said it was exclusively the smell of female corpses. Am I wrong?"

"I did say that." Tian Teng shook his head. "The stench of a male corpse and a female corpse are different. I can't really explain it clearly."

"As long as you can confirm that, it's enough." I looked back at the rest of the group. "You all saw Number Nine getting dragged out the iron door. The arms pulling him were slender and swollen. If I'm not mistaken, those were all women's hands."

"What goes around comes around. Number Nine killed all those women, and then he was torn apart by women's hands right outside that door. Do you see the connection?"

"Are you saying the monsters outside are actually our past victims? That they turned into ghosts and came back for revenge?" Jin Zhouzhe shook his head with a laugh. "Number Twelve, you really do have an active imagination. But this time you're lifting a stone to drop it on your own foot. By steering our thoughts toward ghosts, doesn't that just prove your own guilty conscience?"

"He's right. How could ghosts actually exist?" Wang Shi agreed with Jin Zhouzhe. "I visited a lot of haunted places when I was younger. Facts proved that so-called ghosts and monsters were always just people causing trouble."

Those two didn't believe it, but the others looked grim, remaining silent for a long time.

"Are there really ghosts in this world?" All traces of a smile vanished from Du Yu's face. He leaned back in his chair and stared up at the dim light, seemingly recalling some bizarre experiences buried deep in his mind.

"I agree with Number Twelve. The things outside might really be ghosts." The first to support me was Tian Teng. He rubbed his nose. "I saw them with my own eyes, but I couldn't smell them at all. That has never happened before. The only logical explanation is that they don't physically exist—they're either hallucinations, or they're ghosts like Number Twelve said."

"Number Three, Number Eight, and Number Nine were all forcefully dragged out by them. How could that be a hallucination? They have to be ghosts. They came back. They came back for revenge!" Number Six was losing control, completely unaware that his razor blade had sliced his finger open.

"Calm down. Don't let Number Twelve affect your judgment." Jin Zhouzhe still didn't believe there were ghosts outside. As a highly educated man, some concepts were hard for him to accept so suddenly.

"What's outside the door isn't actually important. Whether they are ghosts or people, according to my earlier observations, they aren't consciously taking revenge. Instead, they're following a specific pattern. Or rather, they are also obeying the rules of the game."

"Whenever the alarm sounds, they swarm over and try to break down the door. The moment it stops, they disperse. To me, that doesn't look like vengeful spirits seeking revenge. Their behavior suggests someone is controlling them from behind the scenes."

"The organizer hidden among us is using these ghosts as the game's referees to pressure us and maintain the flow of the game."

"So regardless of whether it's people or ghosts out there, our only chance to escape is to find the organizer and sever his connection to them."

"Otherwise, even if we get the antidote, we still won't be able to walk out of this room. Our lives and deaths will remain in someone else's hands. Those dead people outside the door are the perfect examples."

I paused for a moment to give everyone time to think, then continued. "Finding the organizer is our only way out. If we kill him, the game will naturally end. I know he is hiding among us, and saying all this carries a huge risk, which is why I was hesitating earlier."

"Wait a minute. If the things outside are really the ghosts of the people we murdered, how does the organizer control them? Superpowers?" Wang Shi raised his hand, voicing his doubts. "Number Twelve, if you can explain his method of control, I will fully support you."

"If I knew how he controlled them, would I still need to waste my breath on you? I'd just kill everyone to save time." I scoffed. "You don't need to test me. Only the organizer knows the method. It's secretive and unique. I still can't tell who it is yet, but I'm certain the organizer will eventually slip up."

"You're quite optimistic." Jin Zhouzhe's tone was no longer forceful. "Tell us your thoughts. If they're useful, I'll give you my vote, and I'll even wholeheartedly join forces with you."

"Now that's more like it." I relaxed my expression, revealing a faint smile. "We all come from Jiangcheng and the surrounding counties and cities. The span of our crimes stretches over a decade, and almost all of them are unsolved cases. Take Number Ten's case of using psychological suggestion to kill, for example—even now, it would be impossible for the police to uncover the truth. So how did the organizer discover it?"

"I'll make a bold assumption: the ghosts tipped him off. They wanted the organizer to punish us sinners. It was to help those wrongfully killed ghosts that the organizer went to such great lengths to gather us all here. This also perfectly matches the theme of this game—repentance."

"All the participants in this game are murderers with real experience killing. The organizer, however, is different. He might never have killed anyone. His story would be fabricated, not a real experience."

"Therefore, if we think back on everyone's confessions, as long as we can pick out the logical errors in someone's story, we can find the organizer."

I propped my hands on the table and scanned the remaining six people. "We don't trust each other, but if we want to survive, we have to work together—at least for now. If anyone thinks I'm spouting nonsense, or disagrees with me and wants to leave, I won't stop you."

"What you said makes some sense. None of us here committed crimes of passion. Premeditated murderers and serial killers do indeed share certain psychological commonalities. Killing methods can be fabricated, but the psychological state at the time of a murder cannot be faked." Jin Zhouzhe agreed with me. Then, he brought up a crucial point. "Actually, I've made another discovery that I'd like to share with you all."

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. "I work in a prison, so I know how many vicious crimes occur every year in Jiangcheng and the surrounding counties and cities. The actual number is several times higher than what the media reports. Over the past decade, the number of unsolved cases and uncaptured murderers accumulated in Jiangcheng is definitely not small. Yet the organizer specifically kidnapped just the few of us. Have you ever wondered what the hidden catch is in all this?"

I genuinely hadn't considered the point Jin Zhouzhe brought up. "I'm all ears."

"After listening to everyone's confessions, I discovered a common thread among most of us: it's related to the great river next to Jiangcheng." Jin Zhouzhe's tone was somewhat uncertain. "Number Eleven is a corpse retriever from the lower reaches of the river; Number Twelve committed a murder at the Lanjiang Dam and eventually fell into the river; Number Six, Zhang Bei, lives in Qianlian Village, and as far as I know, Qianlian Village is right by the riverside. Number Five, Tian Teng, once buried a corpse in a garbage dump. I'm not totally certain about his situation, but there were rumors long ago that before they were relocated, the two large waste disposal plants along the Han River section were located not far from the river. Finally, let's talk about my situation. After every murder, I would cut off some inconspicuous skin and flesh from the victim as a souvenir, then drive to the great river and throw the murder weapons into the water along with the flesh."

"Is that all just a coincidence?" Wang Shi frowned at the group, then turned to Du Yu. "Number Ten, aren't you going to say anything?"

"I'm afraid it's not a coincidence." Du Yu's expression was grave. "After Wang Xian died, my phone still received his messages. Later on, I threw everything related to him into the river."