As the night deepened, the moon disappeared, leaving only the stars twinkling.
The person in charge sat in a chair, waiting for the call to come in.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he heard an owl hooting outside. He opened his eyes, glanced at the time—three o'clock. All the live stream footage seemed to be frozen in time; everyone in the villa was asleep.
His phone vibrated slightly, and he answered, "Hello?"
"They've already spotted them and are on their way," came the nonsensical voice from the other end of the phone.
The person in charge seemed to have expected this, saying, "Give me a few days. Continue the promotion over there; I want more people to see this program."
He hung up the phone, his eyes fixed on a particular spot in the live video. Then he picked up the remote and pressed a button somewhere. The black screen in the center lit up, and a middle-aged woman appeared in the video. Although she had some wrinkles around her eyes, she still looked beautiful and gentle.
The person in charge's eyes narrowed, and a sad smile appeared on his face.
The woman looked in the direction of the camera and said with a smile, "Okay, stop filming. We're out of seasonings at home, I'll go out and buy some."
"Mom, bring me an ice cream, a milky one, topped with chocolate." A voice came from outside the video, sounding a lot like the person in charge, only younger and more lively.
"Okay." The woman left the filming area, followed by the sound of a door opening and closing, and the screen returned to darkness.
Early the next morning.
Because of the sudden announcement of changes to the game rules yesterday, many players didn't sleep well last night and were somewhat listless when they woke up this morning.
Ren Yifei, who was frightened yesterday, woke up unexpectedly early today and was the first to wash up and go downstairs.
"Why are you here so early today?" asked the second contestant who came down.
Because Ren Yifei was holding a glass of steaming warm water in his hand, with only a shallow amount of water remaining in the transparent double-walled glass, he asked this question.
"I woke up early this morning thinking about what happened last night."
The contestant nodded understandingly: "Yesterday was quite thrilling and exciting."
"Huh?" After sitting down, the contestant noticed something was wrong. "Where's the envelope?"
The envelopes that always appeared on the long table on time were nowhere to be seen today; the table was empty. Ren Yifei drank the last bit of warm water: "Since the rules of the game have changed, perhaps even the way clues are given has changed."
The player thought about it and agreed: "I really don't know what kind of game it will be."
The contestants who came down afterward also noticed the disappearance of the envelope, but like Ren Yifei, they felt that this was just a 'change' and there was no need to make a fuss about it.
Those who have survived to this point are all highly capable. They either have jobs related to this or are avid detective game enthusiasts. They are all full of confidence: as long as they have the ability, they can get high scores no matter how the question format changes.
The contestants assembled within fifteen minutes, and then the waiters brought up the breakfast cart.
"You seem to have noticed the changes today. Yes, starting today, our game mode needs to be slightly altered. However, to maximize the surprise, I won't go into the details here. Please start by enjoying your breakfast."
"Is the owner of that voice still in a good mood today?" Ren Yifei picked up a small bread roll, lost in thought. Yesterday, this person in charge was in a great mood because they had taken away another target; why is it today?
This kind of 'pleasure' is terrifying.
"Why do you look so... listless today?" The contestant opposite him was a little puzzled. In the past, Ren Yifei's breakfast would make people feel stomach acid surging and saliva dripping, but today he was unusually calm.
"I don't have much of an appetite today," Ren Yifei said.
Today's breakfast was unusually lavish, but he had little appetite, probably because he had an inexplicable sense of foreboding, so he couldn't fully concentrate on eating.
After eating two pieces of bread, he put down his chopsticks and prepared to drink some water. However, his brain sent strange signals, and he began to feel a little sleepy.
Even if he stayed up all night on the first day, he wouldn't feel sleepy when he ate breakfast on the second day. Ren Yifei immediately looked at the plate: bread, fried eggs, soy milk, fried dough sticks, fruit... The plate with bread was already half empty.
He felt extremely sleepy, his vision was blurry, and his brain was telling him, "Take a nap." But his reason told him that he shouldn't be feeling sleepy at this point.
"I need to go to the restroom," he said to the waiter behind him.
The waiter stepped back slightly and pulled out a chair for him. Ren Yifei remained calm, smiled at the waiter, and quickly walked past him.
That smile lasted until I went into the bathroom, where all my vision was blocked, along with that of the little fly.
Ren Yifei immediately induced vomiting. He didn't know if it would still be effective at this point, but it was better than doing nothing.
He was drugged; judging from his physical reaction, it was a sedative, similar to diazepam or benzodiazepines. Perhaps this was for the sake of the show, like eliminating contestants, and the organizers needed these contestants to be unconscious.
But Ren Yifei hated this; he didn't like the feeling of losing control.
He vomited up all the food he had eaten and then made some small preparations.
When the bathroom door was opened again, Ren Yifei was once again the smiling contestant, the strong fragrance of the bathroom masking the slight sour smell left after vomiting.
By this time, the contestants at the table had already eaten a lot of food, their eyelids were starting to droop, and they were beginning to yawn. But since many of them hadn't slept well the night before, they didn't pay much attention.
Ren Yifei sat down, and the food was still in front of him.
The medicine, once ground up, might be added to soy milk or sprinkled on the surface of food, so he reached for a banana and began to peel it.
Breakfast lasted about thirty minutes, and the medications began to take effect. One by one, the athletes succumbed to drowsiness and fell asleep.
The contestants realized something was wrong, but their bodies betrayed their will, and one by one they collapsed onto the long table. Ren Yifei blended in among them, inconspicuous.
The live stream wristband was put away, a small fly landed, and the live stream was paused—the same procedure as when a contestant was eliminated.
"Shh, keep your voice down." The voice appeared again, but this time it wasn't a broadcast; the person himself appeared.
A pair of black boots flashed past Ren Yifei's line of sight, and he immediately closed his eyes.
Ren Yifei closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. He felt himself being lifted up, like a sack of potatoes. Then they were all thrown into a car.
His hands and feet were tied with ropes, and a paper bag was put over his head; he was clearly being kidnapped.
In addition, his pockets were thoroughly searched, and his cell phone, watch, keys, and tissues from his pockets were all taken.
The contestant fell unconscious, the live broadcast was interrupted, and the viewers in the live broadcast room thought that some kind of live broadcast accident had occurred. They called the police and said that the program had made a major mistake.
However, the police have already questioned the production team, who said that it was a carefully planned event, and the reason for not informing them was to increase the sense of realism and make the audience feel interactive.
This tactic has been used in many foreign programs, similar to gimmicks like 'live-streamed murder' or 'live-streamed horror.' Therefore, this explanation was accepted, and it was shared with the uneasy viewers.
The viewers were skeptical, but thankfully, the live stream resumed after fifteen minutes.
The contestants who collapsed at breakfast appeared in an incredible place: a murder scene.
Yes, each contestant is assigned a separate crime scene, and each scene is set up exactly the same, even down to the angle of the light source outside the window.
Furthermore, at each of these crime scenes, there was a uniformed police officer who was responsible for waking the contestant up and informing him of his current situation.
The contestants woke up groggily to find themselves lying in bed, smelling a strong stench of blood. Turning their heads, they saw a female corpse lying dead beside them, her eyes wide open.
"..." The female corpse looked at him, and he looked at the female corpse in return.
"Aaaaaahh ...
Good morning, sir and madam.
Once the contestants had calmed down a bit, the police officer NPC greeted them politely and told them some unfortunate news: the woman he had spent the night with the previous day had died in bed and had been brutally murdered.
A huge question mark appeared above the contestants' heads.
The officer continued, explaining that because the room was locked, the contestant was the prime suspect. Unless he could find evidence to prove his innocence before sunset, he would be arrested.
Therefore, the new rules of the game are: without leaving the room, prove that you are not the murderer based on the existing clues.
After saying that, the police officer gave the contestant a new ID card, mobile phone, various other documents and keys.
The players are no longer detective assistants outside the case. In this game, they play an NPC with temporary amnesia who gets caught up in a murder case. All the evidence points to him, and he even suspects that he is the murderer.
In this situation, he needs to find evidence that he is not the murderer.
The male contestants seemed still in a daze and didn't react, but the female contestants woke up instantly: "Spend the night together? Who and who?"
Of course, they quickly realized that their current 'identity' should be that of a man.
"So 'I' myself am actually part of the clue?"
After wiping their faces, the contestants finally came to their senses. They understood the cause and effect of the incident and almost laughed: not only were they arranged to share a bed with a corpse, but the prime suspect was also asked to find evidence to prove that he was not the murderer.
"All right."
This operation is neither logical nor reasonable, but the event organizers want to design it this way, so what can they do?
"One day?" Ren Yifei sat up, rubbing his temples.
"To be precise, before 5:30."
He picked up his phone to check the time: eight o'clock. He had nine hours: "I must prove I'm not the murderer, which means I don't necessarily have to find the murderer?"
"Yes."
Ren Yifei looked around. The requirement sounded simple, but it was not easy to do. The word "secret room" alone was enough to keep him busy for a long time.
"Is this event held because the previous games were no longer difficult for the players? I wonder how the audience will react."
"So exciting! This is so thrilling! Well done, organizers!"
"Isn't this going too far? The contestant wasn't prepared at all; what if he gets seriously injured from the fright?"
"There were no real casualties, the people upstairs are making a big fuss over nothing."
Aside from a few people who expressed discomfort, most viewers accepted the sudden 'kidnapping' incident well, and some even clamored for something more exciting and thrilling.
This variety show format has already sparked heated discussions, attracting more viewers and causing the number of viewers in the live stream to surge once again.
The event organizer in the attic watched the soaring popularity with a smile, a coin flipping between his fingers as he muttered to himself, "If this were real, would they still find it exciting?"