The group of players and actors in the classroom where Lan Ying's body rested were once again in a stalemate. Both sides were on bad terms as usual, refusing to talk to each other while waiting for Zhen Yu to finish calming down Xu Mingzhe and come back. Luckily, Zoren was a very rational player who had a neutral view on NPCs and successfully convinced fellow players to wait for an alibi to come out before voting and surprisingly, Kang Yumin also stepped in to support his idea this time.
Entering the classroom, Zhen Yu gave a nod to the students and stepped aside to let the male behind him in. "I calmed him down. He explained what happened to me first in the classroom next door, and said that he's fine with repeating it if no one interrupts," Zhen Yu glanced at Cheng Ming. Yes, the last part was aimed, so what?
"Go ahead," Zoren took out his phone and started to record the conversation, "please tell us what happened back then Xu Mingzhe." He turned around to look at the players, pressing his index against his lips to tell them to stay quiet, then turned back around to motion Xu Mingzhe to start.
"After the game started yesterday, I saw that my girlfriend was getting stressed, so I wanted to have a date with her. As I told you, we had plans for the future together, but she was scared that we might lose one another in this game and became afraid, so I assured her that we would both be fine. Then after talking for a while, she said she was thirsty so I went to the cafeteria to find a vending machine, but when I came back…." Xu Mingzhe didn't finish the rest of his sentence, but everyone knew what happened.
"He's not lying about that, there's a soda can on the floor, he must've dropped it in shock when he saw her dead body and didn't get to pick it up yet when everyone entered," Lin Huiyin pointed to the orange soda can on the floor. The can had rolled underneath a table near the entrance of the classroom, so it was very likely that he had dropped it as soon as he saw she was dead.
"I didn't want to believe it at first. Her body was still on the chair, so I tried to convince myself that she was just resting her head on the desk for a quick nap… but the knife left on the desk and the blood dripping down is clear evidence of her death," Xu Mingzhe continued his story. "After that, the announcement went off and everyone gathered here however… before that, there was something strange."
"What was strange?" Zoren questioned. "Everything sounds very reasonable, is there something that you haven't mentioned?"
"I saw someone sneakily going into a classroom when I was near here. They seemed to be finding a place to hide. It was Richard," Xu Mingzhe turned to look at the trembling male who jolted back in disbelief and fear.
"W-what?! This is completely false! How could it be me?! Y-you must've seen it wrong! There's so many people here, how could tell that it was specifically me?!" Richard stuttered. "T-this is a false ac… accusation!"
"Think about it, he's the only transfer student from America, how could I mistake him for someone else? His features are very easy to distinguish. Yes, there are also other transfer students from western countries in this school, but he's the only one in our year level, how could I mistake him for someone else?" Everyone went quiet, including Zoren who was seen as the smartest out of all the players. Xu Mingzhe's words were very reasonable, and it was hard to find any flaws in his story- especially with the soda can as evidence that he really did leave the classroom.
"It's still cold," Lin Huiyin picked up the soda can, "if he pre-bought this way earlier then came back to kill Lan Ying, then it would be room temperature by now. You were all in the cafeteria this morning weren't you? Did any of you spot him buying it? If you didn't then clearly he left to buy it just now."
"No, I didn't see him pre-buy it at breakfast, but I was there at the meeting! H-how could I have killed her?!" Richard desperately argued. "I have an alibi, how could I be at two places at the same time?!"
"Didn't the meeting end before the killing happened?" Zhen Yu pointed out. "I was in the library for a while, but then Kang Yumin approached me. I saw that she was also at the meeting this morning, so it must've already ended when she came to the library. We even chatted for a while before the announcement came. Anyone from the meeting aside from Kang Yumin could've killed Lan Ying, including you."
"Maybe my mouth is really good at jinxing, it seems very likely that you're the reaper," Li Huohuo spoke up. "Didn't think someone who looked as cowardly as you could do it."
Zhang Ruonan slapped Li Huohuo's chest lightly, "maybe he isn't scared of the dead body, but because he'd get discovered. If he's really a newbie then he'd be bad at acting innocent."
"I-I didn't do it!" Richard denied. "I've only participated in C difficulty games… I-I wouldn't have the guts to kill a person!"
"Maybe not a person, but an NPC is a different matter. They're able to be regenerated for another game anyways, who would feel guilty about killing one of these?" Cheng Ming scoffed. "Even I would be able to kill one of these."
"I-I'm not heartless like you! I swear, as soon as I left the meeting I-I went to find a g-good place to hide!" Richard was breathing unevenly now, frantically trying to explain things, but it was getting hard to understand from the fast paced talking and stutters.
"Do you have an alibi? Even that NPC has an alibi, where's yours?" Cheng Ming crossed his arms and tilted his head. His stare was cold and unattached, ready to leave a fellow player out to die if he saw the other as untrustworthy.
SCREEEECH!
[A student has initiated the voting]
[You have 5 minutes to vote on the game website. Failure to vote will result in death. Choosing to abstain your vote is allowed if you cannot make a choice, however if everyone presses abstain, then all collars will explode]
"What?" Everyone turned to look at the classroom speaker in shock. "Who pressed the initiate voting button!?" Zoren hurriedly looked around the classroom to check, but there was no way to tell who had done it since many were holding their phone in hand. Mobile devices had become an addiction to many to the point that they'd feel unsafe if their phone wasn't being held, so it was hard to tell who was holding it to feel a sense of security, and who was the one who started the voting without consent.
Who the hell was the perpetrator? It's impossible to guess since at least half the students were holding their phones! Of course, the perpetrator was none other than Zhen Yu.
After helping Xu Mingzhe shift the blame onto Richard, he calmly stood back and let the players argue amongst themselves. Since the players were taking the spotlight, he could easily blend into the background and sneakily put his hands into the pockets of his pants to press the button on his phone, which was kept on during the entire discussion. Originally, he had planned to press the button earlier to pressure the players to vote without having enough time to think, but of course, not everything could go to plan, especially since he couldn't see his phone.
"What do we do now?!" Richard shouted while rapidly shaking. "5 minutes… if we don't vote we're all dead in less than 5 minutes!"
"Everyone calm down, we still have time to discuss things," Zoren tried to keep everyone from panicking. "Let's go over things one more time before voting to be sure. There's no point in rushing this, if we vote for the wrong person it will greatly affect citizens."
"Fuck that shit!" Cheng Ming cursed, "with less than 5 minutes left, is there time to discuss anything? By the time we go over it again, our heads would've already exploded! Listen kid, I'm willing to listen to whatever bullshit you say since I'm a sensible adult, but I'm not just gonna stand here and listen to you when I'm about to die!" Cheng Ming hurriedly pulled out his phone before turning it on and pressing a couple buttons.
Seeing Cheng Ming's actions, Zoren also took his phone out and went onto the game website which showed the real time votes, "…there's one vote for Richard." Only one person had voted so far, so it was clear who had voted for Richard.
"Why?! Why would you vote for me?! Weren't you the one who said that NPCs should die first?!" Richard cried rushing towards Cheng Ming. "I'm innocent! Believe me- it's not me!" he grabbed onto Cheng Ming's arms desperately.
"Don't grab me kid! Either way I already voted, there's no point in begging to me! Besides, NPCs don't have brains like us, if it's really that NPC who killed his girlfriend, then sooner or later he will slip up, but you're not like him, you're a player like us." Cheng Ming stared into Richard's eyes, his gaze unwavering as he coldly spoke, "Players are the most dangerous in S difficulty games, do you know why? Because it's always humans who push each other to their deaths."
"Losing a newbie, not something I can disagree with," Zhang Ruonan pulled out her phone and made her vote. "Having a pig teammate in high difficulty games are seriously the worst." Next to her, Li Huohuo also took out his phone and casted his vote.
"Everyone," Xu Mingzhe turned his back towards the players, his body facing towards the group of actors on the other side of the classroom, "believe me! I would never kill her!" With his face being hidden from the players, Xu Mingzhe then moved his eyes quickly in a circular motion, signally the actors to give him a hand.
"I refuse to believe it… it's impossible to believe that Xu Mingzhe would do such a thing to Lan Ying," Bai Lang was the first to respond to Xu Mingzhe's signal, turning on the phone in his hand to vote.
"It is something that's quite unbelievable," Lin Huiyin also began to vote. One by one, the other actors turned on their phones, understanding Xu Mingzhe's request for help. Not only were the actors voting, but the players also hesitantly grabbed their phones out to cast their anonymous vote, who they voted for was unknown as the votes piled up for both Xu Mingzhe and Richard Green.
"What are you thinking about? Unlike everyone else, you're in no rush to vote," Zoren fixed his glasses, approaching Kang Yumin who stood alone. "Are you finding it hard to decide?"
"Of course it's hard to decide, but there's more evidence against Richard Green than there is of Xu Mingzhe," Kang Yumin replied. "No one's said this out loud but, anyone who's played a S difficulty game knows that it's more likely for the reapers to be two players than for a single NPC to even be given the reaper role."
"You're saying you're voting for Richard?" Zoren questioned, but Kang Yumin did not give him an answer. Kang Yumin stayed silent as if contemplating her decision before walking away without another word. She seemed to have a destination in mind as she walked straight towards a direction without stopping to rethink once.
"Zhen Yu," Kang Yumin called out, "sorry for making you listen to my problems so many times, but I'm conflicted. The dream that I told you about before, it's greatly impacted my life decisions. I'm afraid… what if my choice this time is wrong as well?"
"Kang Yumin, being wrong is unavoidable. A jury or judge is not always right either, but to protect others, you have to make a choice, who is more guilty to you? Follow what you believe in, only then will you have no regrets." Wordlessly, Kang Yumin pressed a button on her phone.
[The voting time has ended. Everyone has cast their vote. The person with the most votes: Richard Green (8 votes), Xu Mingzhe (7 votes), abstained (2)]
"Why?!" Richard let out a loud cry, "why believe him over me?! I followed what the group wanted and I always cooperated! Am I so untrustworthy? Why… why…. I'm innocent… please…"
"This is a game, survival comes first," Zhang Ruonan looked at him without even a look of guilt or pity. "The uncle is right, the NPCs are stupid, so if we fail to catch him this time we could always catch him next time."
[Richard Green will now be eliminated. Please execute Richard Green in the next 10 minutes or all collars aside from Richard Green's will explode once the time is over. Time remaining: 9:59]
Everyone froze in place after hearing this announcement. They didn't expect this to happen at all. Someone dying in a S difficulty game is unavoidable, but they had never expected that it'd be them who had to murder another person with their own hands.
Richard who was voted off went completely stiff, staring at the people surrounding him with fear in his eyes. He knew that no matter how much he begged, he would not be spared. He was new but he was not so stupid to not know how cruel other players could be. The ones around him stared at Richard with pity in their eyes, there was even guilt, fear, and worst of all… hunger. Without waiting for them to make a move, Richard quickly took off running out of the classroom into the hallway.
"What are you doing standing around like penguins?! Get him! If he's not dead in less than 10 minutes we are!" Cheng Ming yelled out, running after Richard. He was not as fast as Richard who was probably in his early twenties, but he his speed was pretty decent for a potentially middle-aged man.
Cheng Ming's words seemed to ignite the need for survival inside the players. One by one, they all took off running after Richard, not a single hint of reluctance in their every step as they began hunting him down like a pack of wolves. Their true human nature was displayed, clawing through the flesh of others, yanking hair and biting bones to hungrily gulp down blood and cure their thirst for survival.
Zhen Yu stood still in the classroom along with a group of other people, listening to the sounds of screams and pleading echoing from the hallway. It was clear that the players had managed to get their hands onto Richard as several loud thuds sounded from down the hallway, along with the slowly fading cries of pain from Richard. The players shouted loudly, but not spewing meaningless apologies or pleading for Richard's forgiveness, but the word "hurry" was repeated over and over again as if Richard's life meant nothing to them.
Kang Yumin stood in the hallway right outside the classroom, her hands clenched into fists as she witnessed the scene in front of her. Were the ones in front of her truly worthy of being humans? The only thing she saw in front of her was a swarm of monsters eating the life of a person away, preying on the weak who were vulnerable and had no chance of fighting back. No one had the right to do such a thing to an innocent person, but she could only hold her anger back in, knowing that the game controlled everything, and no one really has a choice.
"Earlier, what Cheng Ming said, I don't agree to it," Zoren's voice appeared beside her. "Actually, the NPC that I've seen you with multiple times, are you sure he's trustworthy?" he showed her his phone, revealing that he had abstained from voting. Seeing this, Kang Yumin lifted her phone up, her phone screen showing the same thing, she had also abstained. They were the only two who abstained from voting, meaning the people who sent Richard to die… most likely included Zhen Yu. "NPCs are not stupid, they are stupidly smart."
[The student 'Richard Green' has been executed]
[Richard Green was a human]
[Students remaining: 16/20 students]
Richard's body slumped down against the wall, blood spilling from the back of his head as his body rested against a canvas of blood.