Live Action Murder Mystery Chapter 37.1

Chapter 37.1

(“Gu Liang, can you trust me?”)
After skimming through the journal, Gu Liang’s card started vibrating.
A passage of the plot was transferred over to the brightened side of his card: “The Seventh Secondary School’s [Principal Zha] has been troubling you recently… Because of him, your business has suffered a drastic decline since, and your prospects of marrying back a wife are in jeopardy. You feel terribly upset in your heart so you decided to wander around the streets.
“Before you left the bedroom, you noticed that the bedside table had been moved, and you found it amiss. This is because prior to your father’s death, he had plotted the general feng shui of the house, and instructed you to never move this table or you would be inviting in great disaster. The doors and windows of the house show no signs of tampering, all your possessions are still in order, and there has never been an incident of theft in this small town. Who could have moved your table?
“You came to your senses very quickly; you were the only one who could have moved the table. But you have absolutely no recollection of why you did it. Remembering your father’s instructions, you could only move the table back to its original position immediately, lest you destroyed the feng shui pattern. Upon doing so, you discovered that you left a note for yourself. Afterwards, you realised something and decided to act in accordance with the contents written in the note.”
Keeping his card away, Gu Liang walked to the bedside table and lowered his head, noting that the cabinet legs and the dust marks on the ground did not coincide.
Hence, Gu Liang followed the disrupted dust trail and pushed the table back into its original position.
And sure enough, a note was exposed.
Gu Liang picked up the paper, which read: “A note for myself— stay at home tonight, do not go anywhere. Everything is about to end, it is finally going to end…”
After reading his journal and the given plot passage, Gu Liang had roughly deciphered what had occurred to his character Boss Meng.
It was highly likely that Boss Meng had died several times, and also resurrected several times.
Owing to the fact that he would lose 24 hours of his memories after he resurrected, he did not realise this matter at first.
This continued until a certain day – perhaps at a certain turning point – he discovered that he was dying and reliving ceaselessly.
Hence, he did something to get rid of the predicament and save himself the situation thoroughly.
Because he knew that he would die again and lose his memory again, he changed the feng shui pattern in the bedroom on purpose.
Naturally, he did not commit such actions for the sake of bringing a disaster onto his head via the destruction of feng shui.
He had two reasons for doing this: one, he was certain that the future amnesiac rendition of him would notice this change and then find the note hidden under the cabinet; two, he had to ensure that this note would not be seen by the second person apart from himself.
Therefore, Boss Meng will not leave the house again tonight.
And this cycle of perpetual death and life would come to a complete close too.
However, despite understanding this point, Gu Liang was still unclear about why he was the murderer.
He felt that when he made this absolute judgement yesterday, he should have carefully examined the plot in relation to every character’s timeline.
It was just that he had forgotten everything, and he could only review the entire scenario again through what was available to him in the journal.
But Gu Liang was not anxious either.
He inspected both of the floors first and shut all the doors and windows firmly. Then, he warmed up his porridge, made some eggs to eat, and took a shower before he started to read through the journal to re-organise his train of thought.
* * *
At the same time.
In the next-door Old Wang’s courtyard, the floor lights illuminated the two corpses in the soil, both of which belonged to Gu Liang.
Yang Ye sat on a small wooden stool, staring at the corpses without uttering a word.
Meanwhile, someone moved another wooden stool over and sat by his side, but she did not dare to take a second glance at the corpses after her first.
It was Li Xiao Yu.
Turning her head, Li Xiao Yu looked towards the coffin shop.
Although the dim yellow lights on the second floor attic were switched on, not a single sound could be heard from the house.
Li Xiao Yu looked at Yang Ye: “I heard the broadcasted report. You were punished?”
“En.” Yang Ye nodded, “Just got back.”
Li Xiao Yu glanced at her card. “I… I couldn’t stand being alone, so I decided to come and have a chat with you. My timeline is approaching soon, I’ll have to leave in a few.”
Yang Ye thought back about it briefly. Last night at 9 o’ clock, Gu Liang died and simultaneously lived again. Then, he went out onto the streets and saw BBQ Li giving the poisoned barbeque to Beggar Ding.
And even later, around 10:30, he brought him to that small alley where they saw the scene of Beggar Ding and School Senior Feng being dead as a pair.
Everything that happened yesterday would be happening again today.
Therefore, when Li Xiao Yu said that her timeline was approaching soon, she was actually referring to the fact that she was on the verge of being killed again in that small alley.
Yang Ye asked her: “During the day, you didn’t know how you died because you hadn’t received the plot. What about now?”
Li Xiao Yu replied, “Help me analyse a little, yeah? This was my timeline: at 7 o’ clock, Neighbour Liu ate the poisoned barbeque I made, and he died when the poison acted up at 8. At 8:20, I saw Boss Meng leaving the coffin shop. After a while, Principal Zha went outside to find me, saw the situation in the barbeque stall, and immediately understood that I killed him.
“Principal Zha said that BBQ Li could return to man the barbeque stall at any time, and it would be better if we hid the corpse as soon as possible. As for how we were going to get rid of the corpse, he could think of a solution later. I told him that there was no one in the coffin shop right now and he went to the backdoor to take a look. The door wasn’t locked, so he helped me hide the corpse in one of the coffins for the time being, and told me to find a chance to buy the coffin later.
“I went home afterwards. However, I became more afraid the more I thought about it, and there was the niggling worry that the corpse would be discovered by someone else. Hence, I loitered around the vicinity of the coffin shop again; I looked like I was wandering around aimlessly but I was actually keeping a lookout.
“And right now, I’m supposed to be wandering around aimlessly. I happened to notice that your lights were turned on, so I came over to talk to you. In any case, the script didn’t set any hard stipulations, stating that I couldn’t come here to find you. Speaking of which…”
Li Xiao Yu tossed the coffin shop another look, “Since Gu Liang is awake, why hasn’t he looked for you? I was thinking that we could discuss the case together.”
The question that Li Xiao Yu was asking was also the source of Yang Ye’s concerns.
The reason why Gu Liang had yet to come over was something he was unwilling to pursue for the time being.
Yang Ye’s demeanour was exceedingly grave, but because his face happened to be hidden in the shadows where the lights did not touch, Li Xiao Yu did not perceive it.
Yang Ye remained quiet for a long moment before he posed a single question: “You haven’t touched on the main point yet. How were you killed?”
“I don’t know. It wasn’t stated in my script.”
Li Xiao Yu said, “After 9 o’ clock, there was some movement from the coffin shop’s attic and the lights even turned on. Naturally, I was aware that Boss Meng had revived in his house because I am a player. But School Senior Feng, the ‘I’ in the script, didn’t know about this. My first reaction was to hide in the dark and observe carefully to check if anyone had exited or perhaps entered the shop or whatnot.
“I hid behind a tree that was near his backyard. I waited for a long time but no one entered the coffin shop. Since it was almost 10 o’ clock, I rushed back home.”
When Yang Ye heard her narration, he was a little startled.
Because Gu Liang’s timeline had already changed.
The timeline that Li Xiao Yu had just recounted was something she received today.
In comparison to the timeline she received yesterday, there was definitely a divergence today.
She just stated that as she kept vigil of the coffin shop after 9 o’ clock in her timeline today, she noticed that no one had left the coffin shop.
During 9:30 last night, however, Gu Liang obviously left his house.
— He had routed from the backyard to get to the main street, which allowed him to chance upon the scene where BBQ Li had given the poisoned barbeque to Beggar Ding.
Li Xiao Yu was oblivious to the fact that Yang Ye’s expression was becoming heavier and heavier as she continued to speak: “And as I was going home, I walked past the small alleyway that was between the Secondary School and apartment building and saw Beggar Ding inside. Since I harmed someone, my conscience was unsettled so I wanted to do something meritorious. Hence, I walked into the small alleyway and stooped over, planning to give Beggar Ding some money. Afterwards, I knew nothing at all. Someone must have killed me then.”
Yang Ye narrowed his eyes and exhaled slowly. Then, he turned his body towards Li Xiao Yu and asked: “Do you still remember what characteristics Neighbour Liu had when we discovered his corpse in the coffin shop?”
“I remember that his lips were greenish-purple and he was wearing a smile on his face.” Li Xiao Yu said.
Yang Ye: “Beggar Ding died from the exact same poison. But Beggar Ding died with remaining grievances. Do you know the reason for it?”
Li Xiao Yu: “While I’m uncertain about Beggar Ding’s discontented death, I do know why Neighbour Liu was wearing a smile on his face.”
Hearing that, Yang Ye could not help but grit the molars of his teeth. “What do you mean?”
Li Xiao Yu: “The poison I used is called [One Dream], and the poison needs an hour to take effect. The specific effects are that the person will start hallucinating half an hour after ingesting the poison, and they will proceed to die half an hour later.”
“Neighbour Liu likes me, no? He probably manifested a delusion where I married him.”
Upon hearing that, Yang Ye released a long sigh before he buried his face in his palms.
“You… What’s the matter with you?” Li Xiao Yu asked him.
“Nothing.” When Yang Ye raised his head, his expression had already reverted back to normal. “Just a little tired.”
Li Xiao Yu asked: “After hearing my account, do you have any ideas about it? Can you figure out who killed me?”
Yang Ye’s answer was resolute and decisive. “I don’t have any ideas for the time being.”
“Sure. I’ll be going first then.” Li Xiao Yu rose to her feet.
“Mn, go ahead.” Yang Ye nodded.
Li Xiao Yu kept looking back with every step she took. When she finally reached the entrance of the backyard, she asked hastily, “Big Brother Yang Ye?”
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re not lying to me, are you?”
“I’ve been kept out of this matter the entire time and I don’t have the slightest relation to your plot. I should be the detective. Why would I lie to you?”
“Mn, that’s reassuring. I was under the assumption that you were the detective and I didn’t feel like I was the murderer, which was why I dared to tell you everything. Hei hei, this story has been throwing my brain into a whirl. I don’t get it at all. But I’ve already thought this through: when it’s time to cast the vote, I’ll just follow your example. it doesn’t matter if I understand the plot or not; what matters most is that I find a big thigh to hug.”
At this moment, Li Xiao Yu’s card vibrated and it was reminding her that her timeline was fast approaching.
Yang Ye smiled and waved his hand at her.
In order to avoid being punished, she could not delay any further. Thus, she slinked away as quickly as possible.
After Li Xiao Yu left, Yang Ye raised his hand to adjust his glasses before his fingers slipped down to pinch his nose bridge briefly.
Truthfully speaking, he had lied to Li Xiao Yu just now.
He had already ascertained who had murdered Li Xiao Yu.
While it was undoubtedly true that this script’s setting was a little complicated and brain burning, the difficulty level it possessed was but a single star.
One of the reasons for its low difficulty was that— the detective watched the entire story unfold from the perspective of an outsider, and it could be considered as an omniscient perspective. As long as the detective had a logical train of thought and was capable of getting to the bottom of the matter, attempting to solve the case was not difficult.
Of course, the low difficulty was to the benefit of a good person.
From a murderer’s point of view, this script would not be as friendly.
— Yang Ye could already perceive the problem without needing to analyse the reasonings and the plot right now.
At nearly 10 at night, Li Xiao Yu still had to go to the small alleyway and await her death.
Whereas Gu Liang did not repeat the timeline he had from before.
The Boss Meng he was acting as stayed in his house. Unlike yesterday, he neither went to the streets to witness BBQ Li offering the poison nor did he venture towards the small alley to stumble upon Beggar Ding and School Senior Feng’s corpses.
This meant that the cycle was going to end soon.
And Boss Meng evidently knew this point— he was the only one who did not repeat the things he did yesterday.
* * *
11 o’ clock at night.
The system sounded with a broadcast: “The script enactment segment has come to an end, the case investigation segment is about to commence. Due to the extra peculiarities present in the current script enactment segment, several players have experienced amnesia numerous times, and they might be experiencing a delusive time disorder. Hence, before the investigation begins, the system will be helping everyone adjust to the time lag altogether.
“May all the players return to their respective residences and lay back on their bed properly. The system is about to discharge a sleeping gas throughout the entire town to force everyone into slumber. This is a second reminder, in ten minutes, a sleeping gas will be diffused throughout the town. To avoid any accidents from happening, please ensure that you return back to bed and lie down properly.”