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Around 1 p.m., the second person to pass through the checkpoint arrived at the villa. She looked at Ren Yifei, who had already arrived, and showed no surprise: "I knew it was you."
The hungry contestant greeted everyone and sat down at the long table to order. Unlike Ren Yifei, who loved food and was also concerned about maintaining her figure, she ended up ordering a bowl of noodles and a glass of freshly squeezed juice.
More contestants arrived after that. In less than an hour, five or six contestants were already sitting around the long table, wolfing down their food while cursing the event organizers for being inhumane. They said that they wouldn't even be given food if the mystery wasn't revealed.
Ren Yifei found their discussion interesting and would sometimes join in to talk about the plot of the case.
If Ren Yifei continues to follow the trail of his ex-girlfriend, he will also uncover the content of the arguments between his ex-girlfriend and the deceased.
As he had anticipated, the sudden change in his life brought pressure, along with emotional deprivation and financial hardship. All these factors combined to cause his ex-girlfriend's breakdown.
The deceased was indeed somewhat greedy for wealth, but this was merely a moral failing, as her tragic death was undeniably cruel. It was a complete and utter tragedy.
"The details of this murder case are so realistic that it makes you almost believe that such a case actually exists in the world and that every detail has been recorded."
A casual remark from a contestant reminded Ren Yifei of the body that had died unjustly. Although it was made of silicone, its realism was so great that it could be pixelated three times.
"This team is quite capable of designing cases and making models. If film and television production teams put in this much effort, they wouldn't get criticized every time they release a crime drama," Ren Yifei casually remarked.
Other contestants chimed in: "Who can argue with that? Some crime dramas seem to be written with their knees down, and the set design is riddled with errors. I really don't know whose intelligence they're insulting."
"Hey, didn't they release two really good crime web series recently?"
A group of people started discussing the latest TV series. Ren Yifei was among them, chatting and laughing as if nothing had happened. It was impossible to tell that he had just dealt a heavy blow to the event organizers not long ago.
He brought up the cyanide thing on purpose, nothing more, he was just bored and wanted to give the event organizers something to do.
Will ending the event early affect his prize money?
"Let it be like this, like a dream," Ren Yifei hummed.
The person next to me noticed something was off about the lyrics: "Are you singing it wrong? If I'd known it would be like this, it would have been like a dream."
Ren Yifei thought for a moment and nodded: "It does seem like a dream."
By 5:30 p.m., eleven people had arrived at both sides of the long table, and the rest were eliminated.
"There are only eleven people left. We'll eliminate the one with the lowest popularity later, making it ten. There are still eighteen days left. Even with the three people who will be resurrected later, it still won't be enough."
However, the event organizers offered no explanation.
In fact, after the plan was disrupted, even the person in charge of the event couldn't guarantee whether it could last until the twentieth day.
Once you remove the illusion of "for the sake of the show," it's easy to see that something was wrong with the contestant who fainted on the first day. If someone knowledgeable in pharmacology zooms in and slows down the video, they can basically conclude that the person was truly dead.
The organizers have contacted him, saying that the authorities are preparing to send people over to monitor the situation in real time. The person in charge of the event is trying to keep him calm for now, but it won't be long before they find out that things have gotten out of control.
Looking at Ren Yifei's smiling face on the screen, the event organizer was at a loss for what to do next.
He wanted to eliminate this person, but Ren Yifei was very capable. If the difficulty level was increased, other contestants might be eliminated before this one was even eliminated.
"Was it unintentional or intentional?" The event organizer wondered.
Ren Yifei, who was on the live stream screen, suddenly looked at the camera and gave a mischievous smile.
In the following days, the difficulty of decryption was constantly adjusted and increased, and people were eliminated every day. By the fifteenth day, only three people remained.
Ren Yifei has made continuous progress these past few days. By the fifteenth day, he had collected all five tokens of the Wasteland Corner. It felt like the Wasteland Corner was giving him preferential treatment wherever possible.
"I can already feel its sincerity, and I really can't wait."
After dinner, the eliminated contestants were all sent away, leaving three people sitting on either side of the long table, creating an indescribable sense of distance between them.
It's not just physical distance, but also spiritual distance.
The fewer people there are, the more tense the atmosphere becomes.
Of the remaining three contestants, Ren Yifei stands out for both popularity and skill, making him the dark horse with the best chance of emerging victorious.
Jian Lang, the only female contestant, ranks second in both popularity and skill. In real life, she is a doctor.
Jin Yufei, a contestant who came up through the revival round, is a programmer and a mystery enthusiast. She doesn't talk much and is good at reconstructing cases from the perspective of the murderer.
It can be said that the three who remained are the best among the hundred, each with their own advantages and outstanding appearances. As a result, they have already achieved popularity comparable to third-tier celebrities in mainland China.
If one of them reaches the top in another two weeks, that person will instantly gain top-tier popularity. Not to mention, they will also receive a 100 million yuan prize, the opportunity to star in a series of movies, and a three-year endorsement deal.
So how can we not compete?
"Ah~" Ren Yifei yawned, stood up, and said, "Going to sleep."
The other two also stood up, exchanging greetings, but now wearing masks. They were particularly wary of Ren Yifei, not for any other reason than his overwhelming threat.
From day one, he was the most efficient one for fifteen consecutive days. If he hadn't 'died,' the other two wouldn't have had a chance.
The organizer thought the same thing, and that day he called the person in charge of the event again: "The official inspectors will arrive tomorrow. You must deal with He Zhaoming by tomorrow."
It's not 'you're the best,' it's 'you must,' the organizers have had enough of this contestant's presence. They hope to eliminate this 'potential threat' before official intervention.
"When I was setting the questions, I narrowed down the scope, and all the question types were ones that your brother was familiar with."
The event organizer said "your brother" instead of the usual "yours brother," but the organizer didn't notice and kept emphasizing, "That's not enough. He Zhaoming must be eliminated, oh, and that Jian Lang too. Anyway, those two should be eliminated as soon as possible."
"The inspection team will be here tomorrow."
The event organizer, leaning against the windowsill and gazing at the moon and street scene outside, suddenly said, "Seven years ago, there was a supermarket explosion in R District of Z City. Do you remember? That was your hometown, wasn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" the organizer asked, puzzled.
"That's true, how did you know?"
The event organizer suddenly laughed: "Let me tell you a story. Seven years ago, during summer vacation, four kids met through an app. After finding out they were all in the same city, they formed a group and would often chat about their shared hobby—murder cases."
"These four people are all crime enthusiasts. Their purpose in forming a group is to carry out a truly perfect crime."
The organizer sensed something was wrong: "What are you trying to say?"
"Don't rush, let's talk slowly. The sun hasn't risen yet, and the night is long." The person in charge of the event didn't smile.
"you!"
"Shh—listen to me. I'm not discussing this with you, I'm just informing you."
The organizer's heavy breathing came from the other end of the phone, and the event coordinator gave a cold laugh and continued:
"They all wanted to commit the perfect crime, but they had no goal."
"One day, they saw a local newspaper that said a supermarket owner had no compassion and chased away a beggar who was using the air conditioning at the entrance, causing the beggar to die of heatstroke. One of them said, 'This kind of capitalist is no loss. Let's find a way to kill him without leaving any evidence.' The others all agreed."
"But these four people still refused to reveal their true identities. They decided to commit crimes together under the guise of strangers. This way, it would be difficult for the police to find a complete chain of evidence or identify specific suspects. This is the perfect crime."
At this point, the person in charge paused, took a deep breath, and then said, "No crime enthusiast can resist the perfect crime."
A white butterfly flew over in the darkness and landed in the small flower bed in front of the windowsill, gently fluttering its wings.
"My brother wouldn't do such a thing!" The organizer was so angry that he coughed loudly.
"Don't rush me, I'm not finished yet." The organizer chuckled. "All four of them have inspected the supermarket, seen the product arrangement, and even took many photos and videos."
"Let me tell you about that supermarket. It's a fairly large supermarket; it occupies an entire floor of a small building and has been converted into a single space. Three of its walls are made of transparent glass windows. When you open the roller shutters in the morning, the sunlight shines through the glass windows, making the whole supermarket sparkle."
"I don't want to know that. Who are you? What's your purpose?" the organizer asked through gritted teeth.
The person in charge ignored him and continued talking to himself: "At this time, someone discovered that this store sells a flammable and explosive industrial cleaning agent. He said, 'Could we start from here?'"
"Then another person said, 'Okay, if we use sunlight to focus the light and ignite this cleaning agent, it might work. She can put a crystal ball on the cabinet by the window on the south side to focus the light; the supermarket sells crystal balls of various sizes.'"
The white butterfly's wings stopped moving, and it quietly landed on the leaf.
The person in charge continued, "The general plan has been finalized, but the details still need to be adjusted multiple times. If we want to create a big spectacle, one bottle of cleaning agent is obviously not enough. What can enhance the effect? They thought of a 'dust explosion.' As long as the dust density is sufficient and there is an open flame, it could happen."
"It was a coincidence that on the south side, there were piles of rice and flour stacked up, forming a relatively small space."
"Who exactly are you?" the organizer slammed his fist on the table. "You've been planning this all along."
"After several revisions, they finally came up with a detailed plan with a high success rate."
The event organizer looked up at the moon, as if it were his mother.
"Seven years ago, on what was said to be the hottest day of the entire summer, the road surface temperature reached over 50 degrees Celsius. On that day, a surveillance camera in the supermarket suddenly broke down. After inspection, it was said that there was a problem with the wiring. However, only one corner was not being monitored, so the impact was not significant and the supermarket owner didn't bother with it."
"That morning, around nine o'clock, the first person walked into the supermarket. She bought two bottles of water and a crystal ball. There was another one that was a little bigger, but she didn't want it, so she put it on a shelf."
"Two hours later, around 11 a.m., lunchtime, the second person walked into the supermarket. He came to buy household cleaning supplies, such as cloths and detergents. Suddenly, he realized he had taken a bottle of industrial detergent, so he took it out and casually put it in the corner where there were stacks of flour sacks. The clerk saw it, but she didn't want to touch it."
"Two more hours passed, and light shone through the glass mirror, a beam fell on the crystal ball, then refracted and focused, the focal point falling on the bag of flour on the opposite side."
"At this point, a third person arrived. He came to buy picnic supplies, some frozen food, and a bag of solid alcohol. He passed by the area where flour was piled up, then adjusted the position of the cleaning agent to focus on the weakest point of the cleaning agent, and then placed a bag of solid alcohol on it."
"Considering the uncontrollable factors of lighting and supermarket staff, this plan had less than a 50% success rate. If even one person sensed something was wrong and took away the crystal ball or cleaning fluid, the method would fail. However, on that day, for some unknown reason, the lighting was ample, and the staff were lethargic, and the supermarket explosion, which was defined as an accident, occurred."
"Three people died and more than ten people were seriously or slightly injured. Two of them were staff members and the rest were supermarket customers."
The event organizer's lips trembled slightly: "Due to a major fire hazard, the supermarket owner has been criminally detained and the supermarket has been sealed off."
"Seven years later, of the four people who planned this, the one who placed the solid alcohol became a clerk in a private company, the one who brought the industrial cleaning agent opened his own stationery store, the one who placed the crystal ball became a doctor in a top-tier hospital, and the last one, the one who broke the surveillance camera back then, is now a programmer."
"Impossible, impossible!" The organizers simply couldn't believe it. "You have no evidence!"
"I don't need evidence, the police do. I only need the facts." The person in charge laughed. "Didn't you want to know who I am? I can tell you now."
"I am a demon who has waited seven years for the opportunity to take revenge."