Qin Zhou’s movement of rubbing his fingers froze for a moment. Zhou Lingling continued, “Because Cheng Yang came and Cheng Yang waited outside with Li Ying. I no longer insisted that Li Ying come in. After I finished, Li Ying went in to use the toilet and I waited outside.”

“But the ruckus was getting louder and louder and Cheng Yang seemed a little like he couldn’t hold it. When I saw that Cheng Yang was going to leave, I was scared. Cheng Yang suggested that I go back first. He said he’d look for somewhere to handle it and once he was done, he’d come back and wait for Li Ying.” 

Qin Zhou said, “So you went back.”

“Yes, I went back.” Zhou Lingling said with a choked voice: “I had just gotten back when I heard Li Ying knock on my door, saying that she wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go to bed. She said she wouldn’t be going with me for dinner. I thought Li Ying was angry because I’ll left first. I wanted to explain to Li Ying that it wasn’t that I didn’t care about her, I just thought that since she had Yang with her and it wasn’t dark yet, there shouldn’t be any danger. But when I went to her room, she wasn’t inside.”

“I thought she’d gone down to dinner, so I went to Room 103 to look for her but she wasn’t there either. I went to the first florr toilet again and I saw her standing in the toilet with her back to me…”

“Li Ying, are you angry?” 

Zhou Lingling stood in front of the toilet door and asked Li Ying awkwardly. The toilet light on the first floor didn’t turn on for some reason, and it was getting dark. Zhou Lingling could only vaguely see Li Ying’s back to her all the time, ignoring her.

“I really didn’t do it on purpose. I just thought that since Cheng Yang was there to accompany you, I could leave first. We’ve been with these people for a few days and we’ve gotten along better Cheng Yang that the others. He looks after us and even you said he’s nice. That’s why I…I was relieved…” The more Zhou Lingling said, the guiltier she felt. She took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m sorry. I promise it won’t happen again in the future. Don’t be angry, okay?”

Li Ying still ignored her.

Zhou Lingling went into the toilet. The floor of the toilet was very dirty. Usually, whenever she walked there the soles of her shoes would make a ‘pa-ssh’ sound when it came in contact with the dirt. But this time, Zhou Lingling’s steps made a ‘pa-pa’ sound.

It was like stepping on a puddle.

Her intuition kicking in, Zhou Lingling noticed something was wrong and she stopped.

Even wearing shoes, she could feel the stickiness under her feet.

However, Zhou Lingling’s attention was still completely on placating Li Ying. She pushed this feeling aside for the time being. Staring at Li Ying’s back, she said, “Don’t be angry, Li Ying. It’s time for dinner. You hardly ate anything at lunch. Aren’t you hungry?” 

Li Ying was silent.

Being completely ignored like this for such a long time made Zhou Lingling agitated. The feeling that something was wrong was growing stronger and stronger, so strong that it couldn’t be ignored.

“It’s…it’s getting dark. You have to eat to keep your strength up to stop the NPC from climbing in through the window, right?” Zhou Lingling’s voice trembled, but Li Ying still didn’t respond.

Feeling flustered, Zhou Lingling also fell silent. 

She stopped talking. The entire room fell silent.

It was so silent that Zhou Lingling could hear her own breathing. Only her breathing — but not Li Ying’s.

“Li… Li Ying, don’t scare me, okay?” Zhou Lingling cried, “It’s getting dark. Let’s go back. Stop being angry with me already.”

Saying so, Zhou Lingling gathered her courage to reach out to touch Li Ying. She slowly stretched out her hand, her fingers curled up nervously. It took a lot of strength on her part to touch Li Ying’s shoulder. 

And with the slightest touch–

Djw–

Ol Tlcu ofii ragjluta obgkjgv.

Vbwfatlcu rqijrtfv klat Ol Tlcu’r ojii. Itbe Olcuilcu abemtfv tfg ojmf jcv atfc tfg olcufgr ofia atf rjwf ralmxlcfrr ogbw atf rbifr bo tfg offa. 

Itbe Olcuilcu xcfk ktja la kjr.

Vtf bqfcfv tfg wbeat lc j rbecvifrr ojlifv rmgfjw.

Lbkfnfg, ja atlr alwf, atf ilutar lc atf ablifa aegcfv bc.

The room brightened and Zhou Lingling saw Li Ying, dead; she saw the pool of blood beneath the soles of her shoes. She screamed for the second time. 

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh–



“Did I hurt Li Ying?” Pained, Zhou Lingling hid her face. This was something she couldn’t face and so no matter what Qin Zhou and Lin Yi asked her yesterday, she simply couldn’t answer.

Even now, talking about this, her mood was still unstable, “Senior, was it me? Was it me?” 

“It wasn’t you.” Qin Zhou stared at Zhou Lingling for a long time and finally said, “It was the 7-7 Monster who killed Li Ying. And not only Li Ying, but also Wang Duo and Qu Jialiang. They were all killed by the 7-7 Monster.”

Zhou Lingling suddenly stopped and looked askance at Qin Zhou, confusion and hope in her eyes.

She didn’t understand what the 7-7 Monster was, she had only heard of the 7-7 Rule World. But she earnestly hoped the 7-7 Monster existed, because Qin Zhou said that it was the 7-7 monster that killed Li Ying and not her.

Qin Zhou said, “The 7-7 Monster, the creator of the 7-7 Rule World, do you know where it is?” 

Qin Zhou paid close attention to Zhou Lingling’s expression. Because of her astonishment, Zhou Lingling couldn’t speak for a while.

Qin Zhou said, “It’s among us. Do you want me to explain it in more detail?”

“One of us is a Monster.”

After a long time, Zhou Lingling swallowed hard. Overly shocked, she forgot to wipe her tears. “The 7-7 Monster is one of us? It’s among us? It’s one of us eight?” 

“No, that’s wrong. So many people have died and there are only five of us left.” Suddenly thinking of something, Zhou Lingling stood up abruptly. “Is it Cheng Yang? The last person Li Ying saw was Cheng Yang. Cheng Yang killed Li Ying!”

Saying so, Zhou Lingling covered her mouth with her hands. Her voice came out muffled between her fingers. “Cheng Yang is the 7-7 Monster. I actually… I had been so relieved but I was actually handing Li Ying over to a Monster.”

Qin Zhou now placed his weight on the back of the chair. He said, helplessly and regretfully, “It’s him.”

There was no need to ask any more questions. Zhou Lingling’s reaction passed Qin Zhou’s test. 

The Monster upon first hearing that the ‘7-7 Monster is hiding among us’ may reveal a shocked and disbelieving expression like Zhou Lingling.

But Monsters who could only imitate and only give reactions to specific events wouldn’t link Li Ying’s death with the 7-7 Monster’s existence.

It also wouldn’t have been able to show such a guilty expression like Zhou Lingling had done just before. Even more beyond its ability would be to close her eyes and say with such sincerity, “Li Ying, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I really had hurt you…”

Qin Zhou was very regretful. 

Regretful because it was indeed Zhou Lingling’s departure that had given the 7-7 Monster the opportunity to kill Li Ying. Regretful because in Room 303, Cheng Yang, who Lin Yi was with right now, was the 7-7 Monster.

“Little genius……”

In Room 303.

Cheng Yang repeated again, “Among us?” 

Lin Yi said again, “Yes.”

Cheng Yang repeated, “Among us?”

Lin Yi looked at him. “The 7-7 Monster is among us.”

Cheng Yang clutched the pillow tightly. “The 7-7 Monster is among us? Among us?” 

“One of us is the Monster.”

Lin Yi didn’t say anything anymore. Ten minutes had passed since he had told him of the existence of the 7-7 Monster and Cheng Yang simply kept repeating the phrase ‘among us’.

It was true that some people would become muddle-headed when faced with such unbelievable news. However, even though Lin Yi now felt that Cheng Yang’s shock and fear was like a well-written program, in order to be more certain, he had to continue testing Cheng Yang.

“Cheng Yan Xiong,” Lin Yi said, “Can you guess who locked me in the duty room?” 

Cheng Yang shook his head. “Lin Yi Xiong, I have a bronze-level IQ. Just tell me. I won’t be able to guess.”

Lin Yi said, “The Monster 7-7. Do you know why it locked me?”

Cheng Yang continued to shake his head. “I don’t know.”

“Because I’m being targeted by the 7-7 Monster.” Lin Yi took in Cheng Yang’s every move. He said, “I discovered the rule of death set by the 7-7 Monster and the 7-7 Monster thinks I might influence the progress of the 7-7 Rule World. So, it wants to kill me.” 

Cheng Yang thought about it and said, “Good thing I got there in time.”

“En.”

Lin Yi did not refute Cheng Yang’s words. He continued on, “While inside the duty room, I heard the 7-7 Monster’s voice. Guess which of our voices was the 7-7 Monster’s voice.”

Cheng Yang was silent for a while, “Lin Yi Xiong, my IQ really is bottom of the barrel. I’m not lying to you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have done so badly in the college entrance examination. If I’d done better in the college entrance exams, I wouldn’t have had that big fight with my parents and I wouldn’t have come to this bullshit university. Lin Yi Xiong, stop trying to let me guess. I’ll never get it.” 

“It was yours.” Lin Yi said.

Cheng Yang’s mouth widened. “Huh? Mine?”

Lin Yi nodded. “En, that’s why Senior took you to my room yesterday and asked you a lot of questions. You must have been losing your patience at the time, weren’t you?”

Cheng Yang said, “I wasn’t losing my patience, I was just afraid that I ruined what you’d been doing with the Boss.” 

Lin Yi said, “I also had you jump. Guess… Forget it, I won’t make you guess. The reason why I made you jump is because the weapon the 7-7 Monster has chosen to kill me with is a chopstick. If a chopstick had fallen off you that would make you the 7-7 Monster.”

Cheng Yang looked at him and after a while, he said, “So that was why. Then Lin Yi Xiong, are you alright?”

“But no chopstick fell out…” Lin Yi met Cheng Yang’s gaze, he stared at Cheng Yang’s expression. When the fear on Cheng Yang’s face was replaced by concern, Lin Yi abruptly changed his words, “So where did you hide the chopstick!”

Cheng Yang stared at him. 

Lin Yi smiled and said, “Just kidding.”

Cheng Yang smiled as well. “Haha, what a cold fucking joke. I fucking thought I was in the North Pole.”

“But…” Lin Yi’s smile faded. “Even though no chopstick fell out, Senior Qin Zhou and I both still suspected you of being the 7-7 Monster.”

“Among the seven of us, only you call me ‘Lin Yi Xiong’. The real Cheng Yang’s way of addressing people he’s familiar with should be ‘Xiong’. The reason why I’m the only one you call that way is because of my presence in Cheng Yang’s last memory that you have. We stayed in an inn together and you thought we were close.” 

“Senior is also in Cheng Yang’s memory but he’s only seen him once so you don’t address Senior that way.”

Lin Yi copied the gesture Cheng Yang used to indicate his courage. “You said you only have so much courage yet when you heard the ruckus on the second floor, instead of continuing to mutter about wealth, strength, democracy and harmony in your room, you instead, ran out to save me.”

“Furthermore, while a threat hiding behind a door might be scary, in the 7-7 Rule World, windows are scarier that doors.”

“Finally, since you cared about me so much that you dared to come to the duty room to save me, why when you knew I was being targeted by the rules of death, did you check whether I was still alive the second day?” 

After analyzing the mixture of truths and falsehoods, Lin Yi asked, “Cheng Yang Xiong, are you the 7-7 Monster?”

The flesh on Cheng Yang’s cheeks throbbed faintly. He seemed to want to show a sad expression. After all, he was now being suspected by Lin Yi.

But he was also starting to get angry at being suspected by someone he was familiar with.

Cheng Yang didn’t know how to express these two completely different emotions of anger and sadness; so that the left half of his face drooped along with his left eye drooped, showing sadness. While the eyebrow on the right half of his face was raised and his right eye was glaring at Lin Yi in anger. 

This incongruous expression made Lin Yi take a step back.

He had the answer to his test.

Cheng Yang looked at Lin Yi with that distorted expression. His voice becoming harsh and strange because of the distorted expression, “Lin Yi Xiong, are you saying that I am?”