Ning Hangyi: A game that must be fouled
Chapter 1 "The Game That Must Be Fouled "
Chapter 1 "Games That Must Foul (Season [-])"
The beginning of this horrible incident was like a primary school student memorizing a journal composition.
Nan Tian is a single freelance writer.Get up according to your own biological clock in the morning, wash and eat breakfast; then type in front of the computer until twelve noon; go out and have lunch at a small restaurant nearby; go home and take a nap; get up at three in the afternoon and play computer games; dinner He ordered takeaway, and wrote articles until 11:30 after eating; after that, he lay on the sofa and watched TV—the TV program was boring, and he fell asleep after a while.
The weird situation happened just after he fell asleep.To be precise, after he woke up.
Nan Tian rubbed his eyes in bewilderment, and when he saw his surroundings clearly, he was stunned for half a minute.
I'm still asleep?This was his first reaction.
No, the touch is real.Nan Tian squeezed his arm, it hurt.
He stared dumbfounded at this small and unfamiliar room—it was only about 7 or 8 square meters in total, and there was a closed wooden door obliquely in front of it.There are no windows in the room, and there is a fluorescent lamp on the top.There is only a small bed in the room, a fabric sofa, and a flush toilet in the corner.Other than that, nothing else.
Nan Tian suddenly sat up from the small bed, wondering nervously in astonishment—what the hell is this place?No matter how he looked at it, he was [-]% sure that this was not his warm and lovely home.
Didn't I just lie on the sofa in the living room and watch TV?Nan Tian thought about it, that TV show was so ugly that he fell asleep unconsciously... But where is it now?How is this going?
His thoughts were in turmoil, and his throat felt parched.He couldn't judge what kind of situation he encountered.
At this moment, Nan Tian heard a woman's panicked voice outside the door: "Ah! What is this place?"
There are others here!Nan Tian jumped out of bed excitedly, and walked to the door in two steps—thank God, the door is not locked, it opens with a pull.
He stepped out of the door and came to the corridor, and saw the woman with brown curly hair and frightened face at a glance. The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds, as if they saw themselves in each other's eyes.
At this moment, the door of the room next to Nan Tian also opened, and a fat middle-aged man appeared in front of them with the same surprised expression.Immediately afterwards, the doors in the corridor opened one after another, not only on this side, but also in the opposite corridor that was several meters away—a person walked out of each small room.Everyone opened their mouths and stared, with an inexplicable look of astonishment.
At this time, Nan Tian had a clear view of the environment he was in - it was a large space of several hundred square meters, divided into upper and lower floors, with a long and narrow hall below it, and a circle of dark brown leather chairs.And myself and others are now in two rows of symmetrical corridors on the second floor.Nan Tian counted, and there are seven rooms on each of the two rows of corridors, adding up to a total of 14 rooms.That's right, one person walked out of each room, a total of 14 people.
"Where are we?" A man in a white shirt asked the crowd blankly.
"Looking at the layout, this place should be a prison." The middle-aged man frowned.
This sentence shocked everyone.Everyone looked tense.A short-haired woman on the opposite side called out, "How did I get here?"
No one can answer it.The same question was written on everyone's face.
At this time, a young man wearing a hat walked down the stairs on one side and came to the middle hall on the first floor, carefully observing every layout here.The people upstairs looked at each other in blank dismay, and followed them downstairs. Everyone gathered in the hall on the first floor.
"There is a door here." The man in the white shirt walked to an iron door in the hall, pulled it hard, shook his head and said, "It's locked."
The young man in the hat counted the brown leather chairs in a circle in the middle of the hall, put his hand on his chin, and said, "Interesting, there are exactly 14 chairs, which is the same as the number of us."
A handsome young man with light brown hair put his hands in his trouser pockets: "So, these are all arranged and arranged a long time ago."
"What the hell is going on? Who arranged this?" someone asked.
"Could it be a TV show?" said a tall man, "Nowadays there are some reality TV shows where you take people somewhere and shoot them secretly and then tell them at the end it's just a TV show .”
"Impossible." A cold voice came from a man with the same stern face. "No TV station or production unit has the guts to knock me out and bring me here to record some programs without my permission."
The tone of this man's speech is unusual, and it seems that he has a lot of background.Everyone looked over, and Nan Tian stared at his face, feeling a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
The chubby middle-aged man also said: "That's right, this can't be that kind of boring TV show." He raised his hand and looked at his watch, "It's 4:22 am on April 9. If I didn't If you guess wrong, all of you, like me, have been illegally detained for more than 17 hours—this can never be a game, it is a crime.”
Seeing the middle-aged man look at his watch, everyone remembered the question of time.Some people without watches began to fumble for their cell phones in their clothes or trouser pockets, and then their exclamations were heard. "The phone is gone!"
"It would be weird if someone caught us here and left a mobile phone for us to call the police or ask for help." The man with a stern face snorted.
"So, who secretly caught us here?" The woman with beautiful curly hair covered her mouth and said in horror, "That person wants to do this to us?"
"I think it's not just a 'person', it may be some kind of organization. Think about it, who has such a great ability to arrest more than a dozen of us here at the same time? And, it's all without our knowledge Next." A man stared in disbelief.
"Does anyone know how I got here?" said the handsome young man with light brown hair. "I mean, does anyone have the impression of being kidnapped or coerced?"
Everyone was silent, then shook their heads.
"So, after we all fell into a coma for no reason, we found ourselves here when we woke up?"
Nan Tian said, "I fell asleep...and woke up here."
"Me too." The short-haired woman wearing sparkling diamond earrings glanced at Nan Tian, "I'm like him, I also lost consciousness after falling asleep, and woke up right here."
"It doesn't matter how we got here. The most important question now is, what are the people who secretly imprisoned us here thinking?" said the handsome young man with light brown hair.
After a moment of silence, the young man in the hat pointed to the large circle of leather chairs and said, "Maybe these chairs are the answer."
"What do you mean?" Nan Tian asked.
"As I said just now, we now have 14 people in total, and there are also 14 chairs. Surely this can't be a coincidence?"
"Then what do you mean, the person who arrested us here wants us to have a tea party here?" The man with a stern face sneered.
The young man in the hat didn't think it was funny. He looked around carefully: "Who knows? Judging from the current situation, there is nothing more eye-catching in this hall. And these 14 leather chairs are neatly arranged into a Circles—the implication could not be more obvious—the mysterious owner wants us all to sit in these chairs."
"I think what he said makes sense." Nan Tian agreed, "I also understand it that way."
Everyone is now close to this circle of leather chairs.The short-haired woman said, "So what are we going to do now? Sit on chairs? And then, what are we supposed to do?"
"Perhaps after you sit down, the next 'reminder' will appear." The man in the white shirt said thoughtfully.
"'Hint', what do you mean?" the short-haired woman asked.
The man in the white shirt shrugged his shoulders: "I don't know, I just said it casually. I just think that if it is in a novel, such a plot will appear."
"Yes, I think so too." The young man in the hat seemed a little excited. He walked to a leather chair and was about to sit down. "Let's try it."
"Wait, don't sit down!" the beautiful curly-haired woman suddenly yelled, startling everyone.
The tall man asked her; "What's wrong with you?"
Everyone was staring at her, her face turned red, and she said in embarrassment: "It's nothing... I just want to remind you, be careful."
"You seem to think that what will happen if we sit on this chair?" The short-haired woman asked sharply, "Why do you think so?"
The beautiful curly-haired woman bit her lower lip and frowned slightly.After a while, she said: "Because, in one of my previous novels, such a plot appeared - there is a mechanism hidden in the chair, and the person who sits... will die."
This sentence surprised everyone, including Nan Tian.But the curly-haired woman apparently didn't realize what everyone was surprised about.
"You said, in one of your novels? So you are a writer?" Nan Tian asked.
"Yes." The curly-haired woman nodded, "I'm a writer of mystery and suspense novels."
"What a coincidence!" Nan Tian couldn't help exclaiming, "Me too, I also write suspense and thriller novels."
Next, what surprised them even more was that the young man in the hat yelled, "What? You all write horror and suspense novels? Like me?"
"Wait, aren't we all the same? Are we all writers of suspense novels?" The man in the white shirt widened his eyes.
"Yes, me too!" the short-haired woman exclaimed.
The man with a stern face observed the reactions of the people around him, rolled his eyes, and then said in a low voice, "Hmph, it seems to be true."
The young man in the hat looked at the stern man, and suddenly shouted: "Ah! No wonder I thought you looked familiar just now, you are the great writer Araki Zhou!"
Everyone looked over with a little surprise.They didn't expect that Araki Zhou, a famous writer who can be regarded as the leading figure in the suspense novel field, also experienced this strange incident with them.
Araki Zhou said lightly, "Well, that's my pen name."
The young man in the hat seemed to have forgotten what situation he was in, and exclaimed excitedly: "14 writers of suspense novels are strangely gathered in a mysterious place, facing unknown dangers and puzzles—it's too dramatic , So interesting! Our current experience is simply the best suspense novel!"
After he finished speaking, a boy who looked only in his teens stared at him suddenly, his lips parted slightly, as if he had realized something, but he didn't say it.
Araki Zhou still had that slow, cold tone: "Now is not the time to get excited about this kind of thing, is it? Let's discuss what to do next."
"Yes. Now it seems that the gathering of us people here cannot be a coincidence. Since everyone is an expert in reasoning and suspense, let's analyze what is going on together." Chuan Bai The man in the shirt said, "Also, I think we need to introduce ourselves—my pseudonym is Ryoma."
"Ah, Ryoma, I know!" The young man in the hat pointed at him and said, "I've read your "Escape from Evil Island", it's great! I didn't expect it to be you!" He rubbed his hands excitedly.
Ryoma smiled slightly, and politely said "Thank you." He turned to everyone, "Everyone should introduce themselves separately, do you have any comments?"
The handsome young man with light brown hair was about to speak, but the young man in the hat seemed to have discovered some new world, and said before him: "Ah...you——I remembered too. I read your exclusive interview—— You are the Goth called an 'idol writer' by the media, right?"
The handsome young man stroked his bangs on his forehead, nodded and said, "Yes, it's me."
The young man in the hat is indeed a nervous person. At this time when everyone is panicking, he is in the mood to search for stars among the crowd. "You're the white whale!" He pointed to a boy in casual attire and said, "The new king of suspense, I've read your work online."
Nan Tian has also heard of this boy whose pen name is Moby Dick. He only made his mark in the suspense novel world last year. He has not written many works, but his momentum is unstoppable. The speed at which he became famous made many seniors startled.
White Whale forced a smile and nodded, and at the same time asked the boy in the hat: "What about you?"
"I can't compare with you guys." The young man took off his hat embarrassingly, and scratched his head, "I'm not famous, and I've never published a physical book, so I can only be regarded as an online writer—my pen name is Beidou."
The tall man continued, "My pen name is Dark Fire, and I'm not a writer."
The woman with beautiful curly hair frowned slightly and said, "My name is Sajia...well, it's a pseudonym."
The short-haired woman has a mature charm that is completely different from the petite Saka. "My——pen name is Qianqiu." Her drawn out voice was extremely magnetic, containing sexiness and charm.
The people behind introduced themselves one by one—a skinny man in his 30s whose pen name is Lake; a white-skinned man in a checkered shirt named Yu Chicheng; a slightly fat middle-aged man whose pen name is Xia Houshen; and a man wearing glasses , the image looks a little timid, his name is Xu Wen, he said that is his real name, he never uses a pen name.
After Nan Tian introduced himself, only the teenage boy was left.He appeared to be the youngest of the 14 and hadn't said a word before.Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he said, "Well...my pen name is Chris."
"Chris?" Everyone was stunned, even Araki Zhou raised his head and looked at the boy carefully.
Beidou opened his mouth wide in surprise, and almost shouted: "Are you really Chris? The 16-year-old genius writer who wrote "The Stubborn World"?"
The boy said calmly, "Well, it's me, but I'm 18 years old now." He smiled shyly.
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, their surprise was beyond words.Like everyone else, Nan Tian felt incredible.Before, he thought that among the 14 people, Araki Shuka was the biggest writer, but he never thought that even Chris was among them!You know, Chris, a talented young writer, is a celebrity all over the world.His 16-year-old novel "The Stubborn World" won many literary awards at home and abroad as soon as it came out, was translated into more than ten languages and published, and ranked on the bestseller list for several weeks.After that, Chris turned to writing suspense novels, each of which has sold millions of copies.According to the media, Chris has an IQ of over 150, but this talented young writer is very low-key and basically does not accept any interviews and reports. Therefore, to many people, including industry insiders, he is a mysterious figure.
And such a character, now actually experienced this strange incident, not to mention Beidou with an exposed personality, even Nan Tian, who thought he could hold his breath, felt his heart surge.
At the same time, a deeper layer of shock and fear also enveloped him-what kind of mysterious power can bring so many extraordinary people together?What is the purpose?
At this time, Beidou was so excited that he couldn't help himself, he said with red cheeks and dancing, "It's really unbelievable, I was drinking with my friends at the barbecue stand on the street last night, and I woke up today to be in the same place as Chris." Room, the world is really amazing!"
"What's the matter with you still feeling very happy?" Arakaki stared at him and said, "Stop making such incomprehensible emotions, and think about our current situation! Let me remind you, we are not partying or vacationing, but Illegally imprisoned and don't know what's going to happen next - but nine times out of ten it won't be good!"
Beidou stuck out his tongue, lowered his head and stopped talking.
"Then let's go back to the previous topic." Xia Houshen said, "Should we try to sit on these chairs?"
Yu Chicheng glanced at Sajia and said: "I think this lady's worry is unnecessary. Think about it, we have been in a coma for more than ten hours here, if anyone wants to take our lives, he would have done it long ago. Is there still a need to use such a troublesome method of killing as the 'chair mechanism'?"
"That's right, if you want to kill us, there's no need to bring us here to kill us." Xia Houshen said, "It can be seen that what that guy wants is not our lives."
While talking, Beidou squatted down to check a leather chair carefully. "I've seen it, there is no mechanism, it's just an ordinary chair."
The man named Dark Fire seemed to feel a little impatient. "There's nothing to be suspicious of in the first place." As he spoke, he walked straight to a chair, sat down, and raised his legs naturally.
Seeing that nothing happened, everyone walked to a leather chair and sat down next to each other.
Everyone else sat down one after another, but Sajia was still standing in front of the last chair, with her hands on her chest, as if she was still hesitating.
Nan Tian happened to be beside her, seeing her worried face, he suddenly had an urge to protect this little woman.He took Sajia's hand, stood up at the same time and said, "Don't worry, it's okay, why don't you sit here with me."
With that said, he sat on the chair in front of Sajia and signaled to her that nothing would happen.
Sajia opened her mouth slightly, stared at Nan Tian for a few seconds, and then showed a grateful expression. "Thank you." She tried to squeeze out a smile, and at the same time sat down on the chair that Nan Tianrang had brought out.
At this moment, all 14 people are seated.At the same time, a loud voice suddenly sounded in the empty house, which startled everyone.
"Welcome, guests."
The 14 people sitting on the leather chairs all looked around in amazement, looking for the source of the sound.Beidou raised his head, and was the first to discover something, shouting: "There!"
Everyone raised their heads and looked around, only to find that there were small speakers installed in the four corners of the top of the house, and the sound came from here.
"Sorry for 'inviting' 14 suspense-thriller writers here without their consent. No matter what state of mind you're in right now—whether you're angry or scared, please calm down and listen to me , because this is a major matter that concerns your lives."
The 14 people sitting on the chairs held their breaths, and there was not a single noise in the huge space.
"I guess, you have already had some exchanges just now. So I don't need to introduce everyone's names and backgrounds one by one. I believe that the question you are most concerned about now is-what do I want to invite you here for. "
"To put it simply, I am a writer of suspense novels just like you. For many years, I have been thinking about a question-how can I write a great suspense novel that shocked the publishing industry and even the whole world? I thought for a long time, and finally found the answer—you are my answer.”
The 14 people in a circle looked at each other in blank dismay, with complex expressions that were difficult to generalize.
"Everyone present here, whether they are famous or not, in my opinion, are the 14 best suspense novel writers in China. I 'invite' you here to play a 'game' with everyone."
"Let me explain the rules of the game. Now please pay attention to the southeast corner of the hall, where there is a small box."
Everyone looked in the direction he said and saw what he said.
"In this box, there are 14 ping-pong balls, and each ball has a number written on it, which is 1-14. After a while, I hope you will do as I said-everyone goes to the box and touches one at random. When the ping-pong ball comes out, the number on it represents your 'number'. After confirming, the game begins."
"The content of the game is as follows: starting from the person who got the number '1', every night at 7 o'clock, each person tells a suspenseful horror story newly conceived by himself. After the story, everyone except the narrator Give that story a score out of 10. After scoring, one person counts and calculates the average score—the final number is the total score for the story told by that person. Then, after 14 days, the score The tallest person is the winner of the game."
"Some people may ask, what's the benefit of winning this game? I think, you are all experts, you must be able to realize that what you are going through now is really an excellent suspense novel subject, and the most rare Yes, it is not a fabricated thing, but a real event that you have personally experienced. I believe everyone present knows that for a suspense writer, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If this incident can be adapted If it becomes a novel, it will definitely cause a sensation in the world and create a miracle in the book market."
Nan Tian secretly exclaimed in his heart—he was right at all, not to mention what will happen later, just based on the current situation—the 14 suspense writers (including Chris, Araki, Moby Dick, Song, etc.) Including top-ranked famous writers) were kidnapped by mysterious people to a closed place, and they were forced to spend nearly half a month here, telling a story every night-this alone is enough to be a gimmick.Undoubtedly, the introduction of this book will arouse the interest and curiosity of countless people. It is simply a super bestseller that can attract people to buy without opening it!
The voice of the mysterious man brought Nan Tian back from reverie to reality. "But one thing, you must have all thought of it - so many people can't write about the same subject, right? Therefore, the right to write this future bestseller only belongs to the person with the highest score in the end, that is, the winner of this game." This person can write a book about the whole thing he has experienced, including all the stories he has heard in the past 14 days. It is a challenge for everyone present who will be the lucky person in the end. "
"Of course, someone might say - I don't agree, I don't want to play this game, I just want to go home now. For people who think that way, I will not force you to do anything. But obviously, I can't either Just let you go. Only sad to have you 'out'."
"What does he mean by 'out'?" Xu Wen asked the white whale sitting beside him with a pair of protruding eyeballs.White Whale shook his head and made a gesture telling him not to speak for now.
"Now, everyone understands the content of the game. Next, let me explain the rules of this game. This is the most important part. Please listen carefully."
"First of all, it's about the story you tell every night. Apart from having to be a wonderful suspenseful horror story, the more important point is that the following story must not have any conceptual similarity or plot with the previous story. If this happens, the person who committed the foul will be 'out'. I hope you will pay attention to this."
The voice paused for a few seconds, as if deliberately leaving time for everyone to think.Then, the vague and hoarse voice continued:
"In addition, let me tell you one thing. The organizer of this event, that is, me, is sitting with you now. Yes, I am one of you."
As soon as the words came out, everyone gasped in astonishment (one of them was obviously acting), and stared at the people around them dumbfounded. For a moment, it seemed that everyone became a suspect.
The voice seemed to have calculated everyone's reaction: "You guys should take the time to slowly guess who I am in the future. What I want you to know now is that the reason why I did this is to do this to the remaining 13 of you. A fair challenge. Of course, I'll tell a story, and I'll have your grades. But, I want you to hear me, if the winner happens to be me—"
The sound stopped suddenly, and the hall was eerily silent.And when that terrifying voice sounded again, everyone felt shuddering and their backs went cold.
"If this turns out to be the case, none of you left will get out alive."
Both women covered their mouths in horror, in fact, all of them had expressions of horror.The voice in the speaker continued: "So, the only way to get out of here alive is to tell your stories according to my rules and give everyone a fair score. The person who wins in the end will not only get the writing of this story The right to live, and the right to live of all living people-the key to open this iron door can only be obtained by the person who wins. Of course, if the person you choose to win is me, you can only go to hell I regret it."
"Okay, I've said everything I need to explain, and I will remind you a few points. First, you should have noticed that this place was transformed from an old prison. There is no other way than to open the gate to get out. You don’t have to waste your time trying to escape; secondly, in the cabinet to the northwest of the hall, there is food and water for you to survive for half a month. As long as you don’t waste it, you will be fine for half a month; The last point, I hope you can understand - your life is in my hands, it is best not to act rashly. Since I can invite you here without anyone noticing, I can also invite you here without anyone noticing Take your lives. The game starts tonight, so please do it yourself."
After waiting for a while, the speaker did not emit any sound.
"Huh..." Araki Zhou let out a long breath, "There is no doubt that this was done by a lunatic."
"The terrible thing is that this madman is among us now." Lake said.
"By the way, as soon as we sat down, the speaker rang. What's going on? Could there be someone in this house watching our every move in the dark?" Xu Wen looked around nervously.
Beluga slowly shook his head and said: "The sound was probably pre-recorded, and the speaker was controlled by remote control. After we all sat down, someone among them quietly pressed the remote control hidden somewhere."
"So, now we can find 'that person' as long as we find out who has the remote control?" Yu Chicheng said with his eyes wide open.
"If it's a miniature remote control, it can be hidden in many small places on the body, and it can't be found at all." Beluga said helplessly, "And how to search? Who will search? The key now is that we don't know who to trust. .”
After hearing this, everyone felt a chill and looked at each other warily.
This is not acceptable.In this predicament, it will be worse if everyone is not united.Nan Tian exhaled, and said, "I think we shouldn't speculate and be suspicious of each other. After all, among the 14 of us, 13 are innocent."
"This young man is right." Xia Houshen said, "Maybe the lunatic told us this to achieve the result of making us doubt each other, so we don't fall into his tricks."
Beidou, who lowered his head in thought, suddenly grinned.
"What are you laughing at?" Qian Qiu stared at him.
Beidou raised his head and found that everyone was looking at him, and said "uh": "It's nothing, I just didn't expect that I could be regarded as the 14 best suspense novel writers together with Chris and Mr. 'one."
Qian Qiu rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "What an honor."
Nan Tian looked at Xia Houshen and said, "What time is it?"
Xia Houshen looked at his watch: "10:36 am."
Nan Tian nodded, turned his head aside, and stared at the small wooden box by the wall.
Xu Wen said, "Are we really going to do what that person said?"
"What else? What do you think we can do?" Ryoma said.
"With so many of us, there's no way we can deal with that lunatic alone?" Dark Fire said.
"The question is, can you tell which of us is the madman?" Ryoma asked him.
"His voice... among us, does anyone have a voice similar to that person?" Xu Wen said.
Araki Zhou sneered: "Don't be stupid, do you think the person who can plan this kind of plan will be stupid enough to speak to us with his (her) real voice? That is obviously the voice after using a voice changer. Just know."
Chris rolled his eyes, looked at Araki Zhou and asked, "Uncle, have you ever used a voice changer?"
Araki Zhou was stunned: "...it's never been used."
"So how do you know what your voice will look like with a voice changer?"
Everyone's eyes focused on Araki Zhou, who showed an unnatural expression, and explained: "I've seen it in a movie before... It should be similar to the sound just now."
Chris let out an "oh" and didn't say anything more.
Ryoma said: "It seems that we really have to do as the man said, otherwise, we might not be able to get out of here alive-as he said, now our lives are in his hands, there is no choice." room."
"The main reason is that he is in the dark, and we are in the light. As long as we can't find this person, it means that we will always be passive." Beluga added.
"Then let's play this game as he wished - the person who wins in the end will get the key and save everyone out. I don't believe that the wisdom of the 13 of us is not as good as that person." Nan Tian said .
"But don't forget, he has been planning this matter for a long time, and he is prepared." Gott reminded.
Nan Tian held his chin and thought for a few seconds, then he and Chris said in unison: "No, he can't prepare the story in advance."
The two looked at each other.
"Why?" Xu Wen asked.
"According to the rules he said, we draw lots to determine the order randomly. And the content of the later stories cannot be the same as the previous ones. Then, if his number is in the latter order, and someone happens to tell a story similar to his story, then the story he thought of can’t be used.”
Sajia let out an "ah" in a low voice: "So, none of us can think of the story in advance? Only when it's our turn can we start thinking?"
"That's it." Nan Tian looked at her and said, "So as he said, this is a fair game for everyone. That person wants to challenge the 13 of us with his true strength."
"No, one thing is unfair, to the people behind." Chris said.
Everyone looked at him.
"The rule is—the content and themes that the people in the front have said can no longer be used by the people behind. This means that the further you go to the back, the narrower the subject matter of the story will be, which is obviously not good for the people behind."
"You're right." Beluga nodded slightly.
"Maybe, he thinks that luck is also a part of strength?" Nan Tian said thoughtfully.
Xia Houshen glanced at his watch again: "Let me remind everyone that the game will start at 7 o'clock tonight, that is to say, the one among us who draws '1' has less than 9 hours of preparation time .”
Everyone's eyes gathered together again, and they made a decision with their eyes.
"I'll get that wooden box." Beidou walked towards the corner of the hall.After a while, he came back with the small wooden box in his hands.This is a box similar to a lottery in a shopping mall. There is a round hole at the top, just enough for people to put their hands in.
"Who will come first?" Beidou asked.
"Let me go first." Ryoma stepped forward, reached into the wooden box, and took out a ping pong ball with the number "6" written on it.He turned around and showed the number to everyone.
Nan Tian walked over and took out a small ball from the wooden box. He glanced at the number on it, and his heart trembled.
What?Such a coincidence?
The number on the ball is 14.
I'm the last one?Is this good luck or bad?
When he was in a daze, the others came up one by one and took out small balls from the wooden box.
After everyone took it, Beidou said: "The one left in it is mine." He reached in and took out the last ping-pong ball, and glanced at it—9.
Now that everyone's numbers have been set, this will be the order of storytelling for the next 14 nights.
Yu Chicheng twirled the small ball with "1" in his hand, and said nervously, "I'm actually the first."
"Isn't that good? The first person to speak can choose the subject matter and ideas arbitrarily, and don't have to worry about repeating or being similar to others." Goth raised the small ball with "12" written in his hand to Yu Chicheng Take a look, "I'm not so lucky."
"Isn't it? The further you go, the more restricted the subject matter and plot of the story will be." Beluga said.
Hearing what they said, Yu Chicheng seemed to relax a lot. He nodded slightly and said, "That's true." He stood up from the chair, "Then, I'll go to my room to conceive my story."
"Wait." Chris said suddenly, "I want to ask you a question—how did you get here?"
Everyone froze for a moment.Qianqiu asked: "Is there any point in this question? Anyway, we are already trapped here."
"I think maybe we can find some clues through the different times and ways that everyone was brought here." Chris said quietly.
Nan Tian was taken aback: "You mean, you might be able to deduce who the mysterious 'host' is?"
"I'm not completely sure, but I just think I can try it."
"I agree." Xia Houshen looked at the crowd, "If everyone has no objections, let's talk about how we got here, is that okay?"
"I don't know how I got here." Qianqiu said.
"I don't know either. But I can recall what I was doing before I appeared here." Xia Houshen said.
"Okay, that's it." Araki Zhou said, "Let's talk about it in this order now." He held up the small ball in his hand.
Start with Yu Chicheng. "Well... I remember, I came out of a friend's house yesterday afternoon, and then drove home. While driving, I suddenly felt very tired, so I parked the car on the side of the road and wanted to take a break for a minute or two. It turned out that I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was already in a room here."
"Did you check the time before you fell asleep, what time was it?" Chris asked.
Yu Chicheng thought about it and said: "I came out of my friend's house at around 03:30 in the afternoon, and then drove for up to 10 minutes..."
"It's around three forty in the afternoon?"
"almost."
After Yu Chicheng finished speaking, Xu Wen, who was holding the number "2", frowned and said: "I was reading the documents in my company's office yesterday afternoon, and when I was tired, I closed my eyes and tried to rest for a while. Needless to say, right?"
"Do you remember the exact time?" Chris asked.
Xu Wen thought for a while: "It should be a little after four o'clock in the afternoon."
The owner of number "3" is Xia Houshen. He said: "I was meditating on a bench in the park yesterday afternoon, looking for creative inspiration. I don't know if I fell asleep or something, anyway, I opened my eyes and I was already here. "
"time?"
Xia Houshen shrugged his shoulders: "I don't know, I didn't check the time at that time."
"Can you tell when?" Chris asked.
Xia Houshen narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then said, "I remember that the old people boxing in the park were getting ready to go home, it was almost five o'clock."
"Yeah." Chris replied.
The people behind spoke next to each other.
Lake (number "4"): "I was surfing the Internet at home and somehow lost consciousness. The time... was around 05:30."
Dark Fire (Number "5"): "My friend and I had dinner at a restaurant and drank some wine... I went to the bathroom, and then I don't know. I didn't check the exact time, but it should be six for dinner. Go ahead."
Ryoma (number "6"): "I had dinner out at seven o'clock yesterday, and I took the subway home. I suddenly felt a little dizzy. After that, I was almost the same as you."
Qianqiu (number "7"): "I went to a beauty center for a full-body health massage last night. The massage therapist's techniques were quite good. I was very comfortable and fell asleep naturally." She spread her hands, indicating the following Needless to say.
"What time?" Chris reminded.
"I remember this very clearly because I checked my phone before the massage and it was exactly 07:30."
"Hey! Wait a minute, what... what's going on?" Nan Tian, who had been listening attentively, suddenly exclaimed, showing a look of astonishment.
"What's wrong?" Xu Wen looked at Nan Tian in surprise.
"Didn't you find out? Starting from Yu Chicheng with the number '1', the time sequence in which everyone loses consciousness is the same as the sequence of numbers we randomly drew!" Nan Tian shouted loudly.
Almost everyone opened their mouths in amazement, feeling incredible.
"Is it the same for the people behind?" Xia Houshen looked at the rest of the people in astonishment.
"Listen to them," Chris said.
Moby Dick (Number "8"): "I was drinking coffee and chatting with a friend in the coffee shop last night. Then she went out to answer the phone, and I probably lost consciousness at that time. It was around eight o'clock."
Beidou (Number "9"): "I was out drinking last night with a group of my high school friends, an average BBQ stand. Most of us were so drunk we could barely remember what happened afterwards - until I found myself lying In a bed here. The last time I watched it while awake was [-]:[-]pm."
Araki Boat (Number "10"): "I didn't go anywhere last night. I was at home. My wife was watching TV in the living room and I was reading in the bedroom. I don't remember how I lost consciousness, and the time didn't dare. For sure, it can only be estimated before ten o'clock."
Sajia (number "11"): "Last night, a friend came to my house to chat with me. We chatted for more than an hour. After she left, I lay on the bed and listened to music. After a while, I didn't know anything. I My friend left when it was close to ten o'clock, um...then the time I lost consciousness should be within 10 minutes (around [-]:[-])."
Gaud (number "12"): "Last night, I went to the cinema to watch a movie. I felt tired for some reason during the movie, and then I gradually lost consciousness. I remember that the movie started at [-]:[-], and I After reading about half of it, it should be around ten fifty at that time."
After Goth finished speaking, no one spoke.Nan Tian (number "14") thought he was the last one. He said: "I was writing a novel at home last night until 11:30, and then I watched TV in the living room. I fell asleep after watching it for a long time."
As soon as Nan Tian finished speaking, Bei Diou yelled: "Oh my God, that's really the case! The order we randomly selected is the order in which everyone loses consciousness!"
"How could there be such a strange situation?" Xia Houshen frowned, "This can't be a coincidence!"
"Could it be that the 'order' of each of us has been arranged from the beginning?" Yu Chicheng guessed in astonishment.
"The order in which we were brought here is controllable. But just now, each of us drew numbers from the small wooden box next to each other. It was completely random. How can this be controlled?" Beluga was also incredulous.
When everyone was discussing and guessing in fear, Araki said: "Don't be too busy, there is still one of us who didn't say how he came here."
Everyone turned their heads and saw Araki Shuu's eyes staring at Chris, only to remember that Chris who asked this question at the beginning hadn't said anything yet.
But at this moment, everyone was staring at Chris, but he remained silent.
"What's the matter, boy genius, we have already talked about the question you raised yourself, but you are not willing to say it?" Araki looked at Chris with scrutiny, "Could it be that the way you came here is different from ours? ?”
Chris was silent for a long time, looked at Araki Zhou, and said, "Yes."
Araki Zhou narrowed his eyes: "Then how did you get here?"
"I didn't show up here in a coma," Chris said.
Everyone opened their mouths, and the white whale said, "Could it be that you..."
"Yeah, I walked into this place sober," Chris said quietly.
"What!" Everyone exclaimed.
Facing suspicious eyes, Chris said calmly: "Don't get me wrong, I'm not that mysterious 'host'. If I were, I would make up a lie instead of telling you the truth."
"It's hard to say." Arakaki stared at him, "Maybe you just took advantage of our thinking to do this on purpose?"
Chris didn't speak.
Nan Tian stretched out his hand to compare, looked at Chris and said, "Then please tell us, exactly how you came here?"
Chris said: "Last night, I came to the designated place as agreed, and a black car was waiting for me there. After I got in the car, I was blindfolded by black cloth. The car drove for about half an hour and stopped. When I got down, I was led by a person into an indoor place, of course, this is here. I took off the cloth strips on my eyes, and the person who brought me in went to nowhere, as if disappeared, and the door It's locked."
Everyone stared at Chris holding their breath, as if they were listening to a fantasy story.Saka asked: "And then?"
"Then I went from the lobby to the second floor, and found that 14 of the 13 rooms had their doors closed, and only one room was open. I went in, closed the door, and lay on the bed to sleep. Until the morning I didn't get up until I heard your voices—that's it."
After Chris finished speaking, everyone stared at him for a full minute.
"You know the purpose of your coming here, that's why you deal with this situation so calmly, don't you?" Xia Houshen asked.
"Yes, I know." Chris lowered his head in thought, "But now that I think about it, I think it might be a trap."
Araki boat said: "You might as well speak clearly. What attracted you to come here? What are you doing here? Who is the person you made an appointment with?"
"Sorry, I can't say these things for now."
Araki Zhou stared and asked, "Why?"
"Because this is my business and has nothing to do with you, sorry."
There was a short silence in the hall, Nan Tian said: "Then you can always tell us the time you came here last night, right?"
Chris nodded: "The man didn't take my watch away. I checked the time after I entered the door, and it was exactly ten past eleven."
"What's your number?"
Chris shows off the ball with "13" written on it.
Nan Tian took a deep breath: "That's right, you happen to be the No.13 person in the order of time, between Goth (11:30) and me ([-]:[-])."
"Damn hell." Darkfire cursed in a low voice.
Ryoma remembered something at this moment, and asked Chris: "By the way, how did you think of this before—I mean, how did you think of seeing the clues from the chronological order of each of us here?"
"Because the person I made an appointment with was very time-conscious, and he said to the driver in the car, 'We have to get there by eleven ten'-so I think the chronological order is very important to this mysterious 'host'." ’, it may have some special meaning.”
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, with various complex expressions on their faces.
"So, through the narration of all of us just now, have you speculated... who might be 'that person'?" Qianqiu asked nervously.
Chris shook his head and said: "Impossible, that person hides very deeply and will not be exposed so easily. I can only be sure of one thing now—" He paused, staring at everyone, "This matter is definitely not ours. It's as simple as imagined."
Nan Tian lay on the bed in the "prison cell", thinking about this strange and inexplicable incident.
This matter is by no means as simple as we imagined-what does Chris mean by this sentence?
What does he know?Why are you unwilling to speak out?
Now it seems that he is the most doubtful.However, this may just be the appearance.
After spending the whole afternoon here doing nothing, Nan Tian already felt distraught—all kinds of suspicions and conjectures bothered him, and his worries and anxieties made it difficult for him to calm down.He imagined how anxious his parents would be when they picked up the phone and dialed their son's number, only to find that they couldn't be reached.Needless to say, they will come to their city immediately, and at this moment they find that their son is missing... Nan Tian put his hands on his forehead, he didn't want to think about it anymore, this kind of imagination made his heart ache.
At this time, there was a light knock on the door.
Nan Tian sat up from the bed and asked, "Who is it?"
"It's me." A woman's voice.
Nan Tian walked to the door and opened it. Sajia stood outside the door, holding a box of canned luncheon meat and a bottle of mineral water in her hand.
"It's past six o'clock, aren't you hungry?" Sajia handed the food to Nan Tian.
"Thank you." Nan Tian took the water and canned food, and smiled at Shajia.Seeing that Sajia hadn't left yet, he asked, "Well... want to come in and sit for a while?"
"Okay." Sajia walked in and sat on the fabric sofa.
Nan Tian lifted the ring to open the can, but found no tableware.When she was in distress, Sajia took out a small stainless steel spoon from behind her like a magic trick, and handed it to Nan Tian, "Here."
Nan Tian took the spoon and said with a smile, "You are really thoughtful."
Saka smiled lightly.
Nan Tian scooped a few mouthfuls of lunch meat into his mouth, drank some water, and said to Sajia: "The food prepared by this 'host' and us is quite good, much better than I imagined."
Sajia nodded: "There are quite a lot of food in the cabinet. It seems that the person is considering giving us a change."
"Probably because he is among us." Nan Tian said thoughtfully.
After eating the canned food, Nan Tian wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said to Sajia: "I think you are quite strong, a girl, when you encounter this kind of situation, you will quickly regain your composure."
"You call me a girl?" Sajia laughed, "I'm already 27 years old."
"Anyway, if you're not married, you can call her a girl."
"How do you know I'm not married?" Sajia asked with wide eyes.
"I think that if you were married, you might not be so calm."
Sajia nodded slightly and said: "Yes, I have nothing to worry about, and I really don't have much to worry about."
"Where are your parents? If you disappear, they will definitely be worried."
Sajia lowered her head and said softly: "My parents have passed away."
Nan Tian opened his mouth slightly, and said apologetically, "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay." Sajia raised her head and changed the topic. "I think that even though we have encountered such a thing, we should be more optimistic. We should communicate and talk more with each other. Otherwise, before the 14th day, we may not be able to bear this dull day. collapsed."
"Well, you are right." Nan Tian praised.
"The guy named Xu Wen has this kind of tendency. I brought him something to eat just now, but he didn't even dare to open the door, as if he thought of each of us as bad guys who wanted to kill him." Jia sighed, "Oh, if a person is in such a state of high mental tension all the time, problems will arise."
"Yes." Nan Tian also sighed.
Sajia looked at her watch: "It's almost 7 o'clock, let's go down. The main event tonight is about to begin."
"Okay." Nan Tian and Sa Jia left the room together and walked from the stairs to the hall. At this time, 14 people gathered together, and everyone was still sitting in the same seat in the morning, forming a circle.
Next to Nantian is Sajia on one side and Ryoma on the other.He saw Ryoma take out a small notebook and a short ballpoint pen from his pocket, and asked, "Are you going to write down the stories he told?"
"Yeah." Ryoma nodded, "Maybe it can be kept as some kind of information."
Nan Tian looked at Yu Chicheng.As the first "contestant", he seemed a little nervous, especially when the time was close to 7 o'clock and everyone looked at him.Yu Chicheng cleared his throat and said, "Perhaps everyone thinks that I have taken advantage of being the first person to tell the story. However, my conception time is the shortest among you—maybe it's evened out." .So, I hope that after I finish, you can rate my story objectively and fairly.”
After saying this, his face flushed slightly.
It seems that he really wants to win this "competition" and get the right to write the story.Nan Tian thought to himself.What the sponsor said seemed to have an impact on everyone.
Araki said: "Of course we will rate you objectively and fairly. It has nothing to do with whether you are the first one, so you don't have to worry."
The others also nodded.
Yu Chicheng seemed relieved a lot. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I'm relieved. To be honest, although I only spent one afternoon thinking up this story, it may be inspired by this special situation. —I think this is the best suspenseful horror story I have conceived in so many years."
Seven o'clock came, and he began to speak.
(*Every story told has a significant bearing on what happened next.)
(End of this chapter)
The beginning of this horrible incident was like a primary school student memorizing a journal composition.
Nan Tian is a single freelance writer.Get up according to your own biological clock in the morning, wash and eat breakfast; then type in front of the computer until twelve noon; go out and have lunch at a small restaurant nearby; go home and take a nap; get up at three in the afternoon and play computer games; dinner He ordered takeaway, and wrote articles until 11:30 after eating; after that, he lay on the sofa and watched TV—the TV program was boring, and he fell asleep after a while.
The weird situation happened just after he fell asleep.To be precise, after he woke up.
Nan Tian rubbed his eyes in bewilderment, and when he saw his surroundings clearly, he was stunned for half a minute.
I'm still asleep?This was his first reaction.
No, the touch is real.Nan Tian squeezed his arm, it hurt.
He stared dumbfounded at this small and unfamiliar room—it was only about 7 or 8 square meters in total, and there was a closed wooden door obliquely in front of it.There are no windows in the room, and there is a fluorescent lamp on the top.There is only a small bed in the room, a fabric sofa, and a flush toilet in the corner.Other than that, nothing else.
Nan Tian suddenly sat up from the small bed, wondering nervously in astonishment—what the hell is this place?No matter how he looked at it, he was [-]% sure that this was not his warm and lovely home.
Didn't I just lie on the sofa in the living room and watch TV?Nan Tian thought about it, that TV show was so ugly that he fell asleep unconsciously... But where is it now?How is this going?
His thoughts were in turmoil, and his throat felt parched.He couldn't judge what kind of situation he encountered.
At this moment, Nan Tian heard a woman's panicked voice outside the door: "Ah! What is this place?"
There are others here!Nan Tian jumped out of bed excitedly, and walked to the door in two steps—thank God, the door is not locked, it opens with a pull.
He stepped out of the door and came to the corridor, and saw the woman with brown curly hair and frightened face at a glance. The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds, as if they saw themselves in each other's eyes.
At this moment, the door of the room next to Nan Tian also opened, and a fat middle-aged man appeared in front of them with the same surprised expression.Immediately afterwards, the doors in the corridor opened one after another, not only on this side, but also in the opposite corridor that was several meters away—a person walked out of each small room.Everyone opened their mouths and stared, with an inexplicable look of astonishment.
At this time, Nan Tian had a clear view of the environment he was in - it was a large space of several hundred square meters, divided into upper and lower floors, with a long and narrow hall below it, and a circle of dark brown leather chairs.And myself and others are now in two rows of symmetrical corridors on the second floor.Nan Tian counted, and there are seven rooms on each of the two rows of corridors, adding up to a total of 14 rooms.That's right, one person walked out of each room, a total of 14 people.
"Where are we?" A man in a white shirt asked the crowd blankly.
"Looking at the layout, this place should be a prison." The middle-aged man frowned.
This sentence shocked everyone.Everyone looked tense.A short-haired woman on the opposite side called out, "How did I get here?"
No one can answer it.The same question was written on everyone's face.
At this time, a young man wearing a hat walked down the stairs on one side and came to the middle hall on the first floor, carefully observing every layout here.The people upstairs looked at each other in blank dismay, and followed them downstairs. Everyone gathered in the hall on the first floor.
"There is a door here." The man in the white shirt walked to an iron door in the hall, pulled it hard, shook his head and said, "It's locked."
The young man in the hat counted the brown leather chairs in a circle in the middle of the hall, put his hand on his chin, and said, "Interesting, there are exactly 14 chairs, which is the same as the number of us."
A handsome young man with light brown hair put his hands in his trouser pockets: "So, these are all arranged and arranged a long time ago."
"What the hell is going on? Who arranged this?" someone asked.
"Could it be a TV show?" said a tall man, "Nowadays there are some reality TV shows where you take people somewhere and shoot them secretly and then tell them at the end it's just a TV show .”
"Impossible." A cold voice came from a man with the same stern face. "No TV station or production unit has the guts to knock me out and bring me here to record some programs without my permission."
The tone of this man's speech is unusual, and it seems that he has a lot of background.Everyone looked over, and Nan Tian stared at his face, feeling a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
The chubby middle-aged man also said: "That's right, this can't be that kind of boring TV show." He raised his hand and looked at his watch, "It's 4:22 am on April 9. If I didn't If you guess wrong, all of you, like me, have been illegally detained for more than 17 hours—this can never be a game, it is a crime.”
Seeing the middle-aged man look at his watch, everyone remembered the question of time.Some people without watches began to fumble for their cell phones in their clothes or trouser pockets, and then their exclamations were heard. "The phone is gone!"
"It would be weird if someone caught us here and left a mobile phone for us to call the police or ask for help." The man with a stern face snorted.
"So, who secretly caught us here?" The woman with beautiful curly hair covered her mouth and said in horror, "That person wants to do this to us?"
"I think it's not just a 'person', it may be some kind of organization. Think about it, who has such a great ability to arrest more than a dozen of us here at the same time? And, it's all without our knowledge Next." A man stared in disbelief.
"Does anyone know how I got here?" said the handsome young man with light brown hair. "I mean, does anyone have the impression of being kidnapped or coerced?"
Everyone was silent, then shook their heads.
"So, after we all fell into a coma for no reason, we found ourselves here when we woke up?"
Nan Tian said, "I fell asleep...and woke up here."
"Me too." The short-haired woman wearing sparkling diamond earrings glanced at Nan Tian, "I'm like him, I also lost consciousness after falling asleep, and woke up right here."
"It doesn't matter how we got here. The most important question now is, what are the people who secretly imprisoned us here thinking?" said the handsome young man with light brown hair.
After a moment of silence, the young man in the hat pointed to the large circle of leather chairs and said, "Maybe these chairs are the answer."
"What do you mean?" Nan Tian asked.
"As I said just now, we now have 14 people in total, and there are also 14 chairs. Surely this can't be a coincidence?"
"Then what do you mean, the person who arrested us here wants us to have a tea party here?" The man with a stern face sneered.
The young man in the hat didn't think it was funny. He looked around carefully: "Who knows? Judging from the current situation, there is nothing more eye-catching in this hall. And these 14 leather chairs are neatly arranged into a Circles—the implication could not be more obvious—the mysterious owner wants us all to sit in these chairs."
"I think what he said makes sense." Nan Tian agreed, "I also understand it that way."
Everyone is now close to this circle of leather chairs.The short-haired woman said, "So what are we going to do now? Sit on chairs? And then, what are we supposed to do?"
"Perhaps after you sit down, the next 'reminder' will appear." The man in the white shirt said thoughtfully.
"'Hint', what do you mean?" the short-haired woman asked.
The man in the white shirt shrugged his shoulders: "I don't know, I just said it casually. I just think that if it is in a novel, such a plot will appear."
"Yes, I think so too." The young man in the hat seemed a little excited. He walked to a leather chair and was about to sit down. "Let's try it."
"Wait, don't sit down!" the beautiful curly-haired woman suddenly yelled, startling everyone.
The tall man asked her; "What's wrong with you?"
Everyone was staring at her, her face turned red, and she said in embarrassment: "It's nothing... I just want to remind you, be careful."
"You seem to think that what will happen if we sit on this chair?" The short-haired woman asked sharply, "Why do you think so?"
The beautiful curly-haired woman bit her lower lip and frowned slightly.After a while, she said: "Because, in one of my previous novels, such a plot appeared - there is a mechanism hidden in the chair, and the person who sits... will die."
This sentence surprised everyone, including Nan Tian.But the curly-haired woman apparently didn't realize what everyone was surprised about.
"You said, in one of your novels? So you are a writer?" Nan Tian asked.
"Yes." The curly-haired woman nodded, "I'm a writer of mystery and suspense novels."
"What a coincidence!" Nan Tian couldn't help exclaiming, "Me too, I also write suspense and thriller novels."
Next, what surprised them even more was that the young man in the hat yelled, "What? You all write horror and suspense novels? Like me?"
"Wait, aren't we all the same? Are we all writers of suspense novels?" The man in the white shirt widened his eyes.
"Yes, me too!" the short-haired woman exclaimed.
The man with a stern face observed the reactions of the people around him, rolled his eyes, and then said in a low voice, "Hmph, it seems to be true."
The young man in the hat looked at the stern man, and suddenly shouted: "Ah! No wonder I thought you looked familiar just now, you are the great writer Araki Zhou!"
Everyone looked over with a little surprise.They didn't expect that Araki Zhou, a famous writer who can be regarded as the leading figure in the suspense novel field, also experienced this strange incident with them.
Araki Zhou said lightly, "Well, that's my pen name."
The young man in the hat seemed to have forgotten what situation he was in, and exclaimed excitedly: "14 writers of suspense novels are strangely gathered in a mysterious place, facing unknown dangers and puzzles—it's too dramatic , So interesting! Our current experience is simply the best suspense novel!"
After he finished speaking, a boy who looked only in his teens stared at him suddenly, his lips parted slightly, as if he had realized something, but he didn't say it.
Araki Zhou still had that slow, cold tone: "Now is not the time to get excited about this kind of thing, is it? Let's discuss what to do next."
"Yes. Now it seems that the gathering of us people here cannot be a coincidence. Since everyone is an expert in reasoning and suspense, let's analyze what is going on together." Chuan Bai The man in the shirt said, "Also, I think we need to introduce ourselves—my pseudonym is Ryoma."
"Ah, Ryoma, I know!" The young man in the hat pointed at him and said, "I've read your "Escape from Evil Island", it's great! I didn't expect it to be you!" He rubbed his hands excitedly.
Ryoma smiled slightly, and politely said "Thank you." He turned to everyone, "Everyone should introduce themselves separately, do you have any comments?"
The handsome young man with light brown hair was about to speak, but the young man in the hat seemed to have discovered some new world, and said before him: "Ah...you——I remembered too. I read your exclusive interview—— You are the Goth called an 'idol writer' by the media, right?"
The handsome young man stroked his bangs on his forehead, nodded and said, "Yes, it's me."
The young man in the hat is indeed a nervous person. At this time when everyone is panicking, he is in the mood to search for stars among the crowd. "You're the white whale!" He pointed to a boy in casual attire and said, "The new king of suspense, I've read your work online."
Nan Tian has also heard of this boy whose pen name is Moby Dick. He only made his mark in the suspense novel world last year. He has not written many works, but his momentum is unstoppable. The speed at which he became famous made many seniors startled.
White Whale forced a smile and nodded, and at the same time asked the boy in the hat: "What about you?"
"I can't compare with you guys." The young man took off his hat embarrassingly, and scratched his head, "I'm not famous, and I've never published a physical book, so I can only be regarded as an online writer—my pen name is Beidou."
The tall man continued, "My pen name is Dark Fire, and I'm not a writer."
The woman with beautiful curly hair frowned slightly and said, "My name is Sajia...well, it's a pseudonym."
The short-haired woman has a mature charm that is completely different from the petite Saka. "My——pen name is Qianqiu." Her drawn out voice was extremely magnetic, containing sexiness and charm.
The people behind introduced themselves one by one—a skinny man in his 30s whose pen name is Lake; a white-skinned man in a checkered shirt named Yu Chicheng; a slightly fat middle-aged man whose pen name is Xia Houshen; and a man wearing glasses , the image looks a little timid, his name is Xu Wen, he said that is his real name, he never uses a pen name.
After Nan Tian introduced himself, only the teenage boy was left.He appeared to be the youngest of the 14 and hadn't said a word before.Seeing that everyone was looking at him, he said, "Well...my pen name is Chris."
"Chris?" Everyone was stunned, even Araki Zhou raised his head and looked at the boy carefully.
Beidou opened his mouth wide in surprise, and almost shouted: "Are you really Chris? The 16-year-old genius writer who wrote "The Stubborn World"?"
The boy said calmly, "Well, it's me, but I'm 18 years old now." He smiled shyly.
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, their surprise was beyond words.Like everyone else, Nan Tian felt incredible.Before, he thought that among the 14 people, Araki Shuka was the biggest writer, but he never thought that even Chris was among them!You know, Chris, a talented young writer, is a celebrity all over the world.His 16-year-old novel "The Stubborn World" won many literary awards at home and abroad as soon as it came out, was translated into more than ten languages and published, and ranked on the bestseller list for several weeks.After that, Chris turned to writing suspense novels, each of which has sold millions of copies.According to the media, Chris has an IQ of over 150, but this talented young writer is very low-key and basically does not accept any interviews and reports. Therefore, to many people, including industry insiders, he is a mysterious figure.
And such a character, now actually experienced this strange incident, not to mention Beidou with an exposed personality, even Nan Tian, who thought he could hold his breath, felt his heart surge.
At the same time, a deeper layer of shock and fear also enveloped him-what kind of mysterious power can bring so many extraordinary people together?What is the purpose?
At this time, Beidou was so excited that he couldn't help himself, he said with red cheeks and dancing, "It's really unbelievable, I was drinking with my friends at the barbecue stand on the street last night, and I woke up today to be in the same place as Chris." Room, the world is really amazing!"
"What's the matter with you still feeling very happy?" Arakaki stared at him and said, "Stop making such incomprehensible emotions, and think about our current situation! Let me remind you, we are not partying or vacationing, but Illegally imprisoned and don't know what's going to happen next - but nine times out of ten it won't be good!"
Beidou stuck out his tongue, lowered his head and stopped talking.
"Then let's go back to the previous topic." Xia Houshen said, "Should we try to sit on these chairs?"
Yu Chicheng glanced at Sajia and said: "I think this lady's worry is unnecessary. Think about it, we have been in a coma for more than ten hours here, if anyone wants to take our lives, he would have done it long ago. Is there still a need to use such a troublesome method of killing as the 'chair mechanism'?"
"That's right, if you want to kill us, there's no need to bring us here to kill us." Xia Houshen said, "It can be seen that what that guy wants is not our lives."
While talking, Beidou squatted down to check a leather chair carefully. "I've seen it, there is no mechanism, it's just an ordinary chair."
The man named Dark Fire seemed to feel a little impatient. "There's nothing to be suspicious of in the first place." As he spoke, he walked straight to a chair, sat down, and raised his legs naturally.
Seeing that nothing happened, everyone walked to a leather chair and sat down next to each other.
Everyone else sat down one after another, but Sajia was still standing in front of the last chair, with her hands on her chest, as if she was still hesitating.
Nan Tian happened to be beside her, seeing her worried face, he suddenly had an urge to protect this little woman.He took Sajia's hand, stood up at the same time and said, "Don't worry, it's okay, why don't you sit here with me."
With that said, he sat on the chair in front of Sajia and signaled to her that nothing would happen.
Sajia opened her mouth slightly, stared at Nan Tian for a few seconds, and then showed a grateful expression. "Thank you." She tried to squeeze out a smile, and at the same time sat down on the chair that Nan Tianrang had brought out.
At this moment, all 14 people are seated.At the same time, a loud voice suddenly sounded in the empty house, which startled everyone.
"Welcome, guests."
The 14 people sitting on the leather chairs all looked around in amazement, looking for the source of the sound.Beidou raised his head, and was the first to discover something, shouting: "There!"
Everyone raised their heads and looked around, only to find that there were small speakers installed in the four corners of the top of the house, and the sound came from here.
"Sorry for 'inviting' 14 suspense-thriller writers here without their consent. No matter what state of mind you're in right now—whether you're angry or scared, please calm down and listen to me , because this is a major matter that concerns your lives."
The 14 people sitting on the chairs held their breaths, and there was not a single noise in the huge space.
"I guess, you have already had some exchanges just now. So I don't need to introduce everyone's names and backgrounds one by one. I believe that the question you are most concerned about now is-what do I want to invite you here for. "
"To put it simply, I am a writer of suspense novels just like you. For many years, I have been thinking about a question-how can I write a great suspense novel that shocked the publishing industry and even the whole world? I thought for a long time, and finally found the answer—you are my answer.”
The 14 people in a circle looked at each other in blank dismay, with complex expressions that were difficult to generalize.
"Everyone present here, whether they are famous or not, in my opinion, are the 14 best suspense novel writers in China. I 'invite' you here to play a 'game' with everyone."
"Let me explain the rules of the game. Now please pay attention to the southeast corner of the hall, where there is a small box."
Everyone looked in the direction he said and saw what he said.
"In this box, there are 14 ping-pong balls, and each ball has a number written on it, which is 1-14. After a while, I hope you will do as I said-everyone goes to the box and touches one at random. When the ping-pong ball comes out, the number on it represents your 'number'. After confirming, the game begins."
"The content of the game is as follows: starting from the person who got the number '1', every night at 7 o'clock, each person tells a suspenseful horror story newly conceived by himself. After the story, everyone except the narrator Give that story a score out of 10. After scoring, one person counts and calculates the average score—the final number is the total score for the story told by that person. Then, after 14 days, the score The tallest person is the winner of the game."
"Some people may ask, what's the benefit of winning this game? I think, you are all experts, you must be able to realize that what you are going through now is really an excellent suspense novel subject, and the most rare Yes, it is not a fabricated thing, but a real event that you have personally experienced. I believe everyone present knows that for a suspense writer, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If this incident can be adapted If it becomes a novel, it will definitely cause a sensation in the world and create a miracle in the book market."
Nan Tian secretly exclaimed in his heart—he was right at all, not to mention what will happen later, just based on the current situation—the 14 suspense writers (including Chris, Araki, Moby Dick, Song, etc.) Including top-ranked famous writers) were kidnapped by mysterious people to a closed place, and they were forced to spend nearly half a month here, telling a story every night-this alone is enough to be a gimmick.Undoubtedly, the introduction of this book will arouse the interest and curiosity of countless people. It is simply a super bestseller that can attract people to buy without opening it!
The voice of the mysterious man brought Nan Tian back from reverie to reality. "But one thing, you must have all thought of it - so many people can't write about the same subject, right? Therefore, the right to write this future bestseller only belongs to the person with the highest score in the end, that is, the winner of this game." This person can write a book about the whole thing he has experienced, including all the stories he has heard in the past 14 days. It is a challenge for everyone present who will be the lucky person in the end. "
"Of course, someone might say - I don't agree, I don't want to play this game, I just want to go home now. For people who think that way, I will not force you to do anything. But obviously, I can't either Just let you go. Only sad to have you 'out'."
"What does he mean by 'out'?" Xu Wen asked the white whale sitting beside him with a pair of protruding eyeballs.White Whale shook his head and made a gesture telling him not to speak for now.
"Now, everyone understands the content of the game. Next, let me explain the rules of this game. This is the most important part. Please listen carefully."
"First of all, it's about the story you tell every night. Apart from having to be a wonderful suspenseful horror story, the more important point is that the following story must not have any conceptual similarity or plot with the previous story. If this happens, the person who committed the foul will be 'out'. I hope you will pay attention to this."
The voice paused for a few seconds, as if deliberately leaving time for everyone to think.Then, the vague and hoarse voice continued:
"In addition, let me tell you one thing. The organizer of this event, that is, me, is sitting with you now. Yes, I am one of you."
As soon as the words came out, everyone gasped in astonishment (one of them was obviously acting), and stared at the people around them dumbfounded. For a moment, it seemed that everyone became a suspect.
The voice seemed to have calculated everyone's reaction: "You guys should take the time to slowly guess who I am in the future. What I want you to know now is that the reason why I did this is to do this to the remaining 13 of you. A fair challenge. Of course, I'll tell a story, and I'll have your grades. But, I want you to hear me, if the winner happens to be me—"
The sound stopped suddenly, and the hall was eerily silent.And when that terrifying voice sounded again, everyone felt shuddering and their backs went cold.
"If this turns out to be the case, none of you left will get out alive."
Both women covered their mouths in horror, in fact, all of them had expressions of horror.The voice in the speaker continued: "So, the only way to get out of here alive is to tell your stories according to my rules and give everyone a fair score. The person who wins in the end will not only get the writing of this story The right to live, and the right to live of all living people-the key to open this iron door can only be obtained by the person who wins. Of course, if the person you choose to win is me, you can only go to hell I regret it."
"Okay, I've said everything I need to explain, and I will remind you a few points. First, you should have noticed that this place was transformed from an old prison. There is no other way than to open the gate to get out. You don’t have to waste your time trying to escape; secondly, in the cabinet to the northwest of the hall, there is food and water for you to survive for half a month. As long as you don’t waste it, you will be fine for half a month; The last point, I hope you can understand - your life is in my hands, it is best not to act rashly. Since I can invite you here without anyone noticing, I can also invite you here without anyone noticing Take your lives. The game starts tonight, so please do it yourself."
After waiting for a while, the speaker did not emit any sound.
"Huh..." Araki Zhou let out a long breath, "There is no doubt that this was done by a lunatic."
"The terrible thing is that this madman is among us now." Lake said.
"By the way, as soon as we sat down, the speaker rang. What's going on? Could there be someone in this house watching our every move in the dark?" Xu Wen looked around nervously.
Beluga slowly shook his head and said: "The sound was probably pre-recorded, and the speaker was controlled by remote control. After we all sat down, someone among them quietly pressed the remote control hidden somewhere."
"So, now we can find 'that person' as long as we find out who has the remote control?" Yu Chicheng said with his eyes wide open.
"If it's a miniature remote control, it can be hidden in many small places on the body, and it can't be found at all." Beluga said helplessly, "And how to search? Who will search? The key now is that we don't know who to trust. .”
After hearing this, everyone felt a chill and looked at each other warily.
This is not acceptable.In this predicament, it will be worse if everyone is not united.Nan Tian exhaled, and said, "I think we shouldn't speculate and be suspicious of each other. After all, among the 14 of us, 13 are innocent."
"This young man is right." Xia Houshen said, "Maybe the lunatic told us this to achieve the result of making us doubt each other, so we don't fall into his tricks."
Beidou, who lowered his head in thought, suddenly grinned.
"What are you laughing at?" Qian Qiu stared at him.
Beidou raised his head and found that everyone was looking at him, and said "uh": "It's nothing, I just didn't expect that I could be regarded as the 14 best suspense novel writers together with Chris and Mr. 'one."
Qian Qiu rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "What an honor."
Nan Tian looked at Xia Houshen and said, "What time is it?"
Xia Houshen looked at his watch: "10:36 am."
Nan Tian nodded, turned his head aside, and stared at the small wooden box by the wall.
Xu Wen said, "Are we really going to do what that person said?"
"What else? What do you think we can do?" Ryoma said.
"With so many of us, there's no way we can deal with that lunatic alone?" Dark Fire said.
"The question is, can you tell which of us is the madman?" Ryoma asked him.
"His voice... among us, does anyone have a voice similar to that person?" Xu Wen said.
Araki Zhou sneered: "Don't be stupid, do you think the person who can plan this kind of plan will be stupid enough to speak to us with his (her) real voice? That is obviously the voice after using a voice changer. Just know."
Chris rolled his eyes, looked at Araki Zhou and asked, "Uncle, have you ever used a voice changer?"
Araki Zhou was stunned: "...it's never been used."
"So how do you know what your voice will look like with a voice changer?"
Everyone's eyes focused on Araki Zhou, who showed an unnatural expression, and explained: "I've seen it in a movie before... It should be similar to the sound just now."
Chris let out an "oh" and didn't say anything more.
Ryoma said: "It seems that we really have to do as the man said, otherwise, we might not be able to get out of here alive-as he said, now our lives are in his hands, there is no choice." room."
"The main reason is that he is in the dark, and we are in the light. As long as we can't find this person, it means that we will always be passive." Beluga added.
"Then let's play this game as he wished - the person who wins in the end will get the key and save everyone out. I don't believe that the wisdom of the 13 of us is not as good as that person." Nan Tian said .
"But don't forget, he has been planning this matter for a long time, and he is prepared." Gott reminded.
Nan Tian held his chin and thought for a few seconds, then he and Chris said in unison: "No, he can't prepare the story in advance."
The two looked at each other.
"Why?" Xu Wen asked.
"According to the rules he said, we draw lots to determine the order randomly. And the content of the later stories cannot be the same as the previous ones. Then, if his number is in the latter order, and someone happens to tell a story similar to his story, then the story he thought of can’t be used.”
Sajia let out an "ah" in a low voice: "So, none of us can think of the story in advance? Only when it's our turn can we start thinking?"
"That's it." Nan Tian looked at her and said, "So as he said, this is a fair game for everyone. That person wants to challenge the 13 of us with his true strength."
"No, one thing is unfair, to the people behind." Chris said.
Everyone looked at him.
"The rule is—the content and themes that the people in the front have said can no longer be used by the people behind. This means that the further you go to the back, the narrower the subject matter of the story will be, which is obviously not good for the people behind."
"You're right." Beluga nodded slightly.
"Maybe, he thinks that luck is also a part of strength?" Nan Tian said thoughtfully.
Xia Houshen glanced at his watch again: "Let me remind everyone that the game will start at 7 o'clock tonight, that is to say, the one among us who draws '1' has less than 9 hours of preparation time .”
Everyone's eyes gathered together again, and they made a decision with their eyes.
"I'll get that wooden box." Beidou walked towards the corner of the hall.After a while, he came back with the small wooden box in his hands.This is a box similar to a lottery in a shopping mall. There is a round hole at the top, just enough for people to put their hands in.
"Who will come first?" Beidou asked.
"Let me go first." Ryoma stepped forward, reached into the wooden box, and took out a ping pong ball with the number "6" written on it.He turned around and showed the number to everyone.
Nan Tian walked over and took out a small ball from the wooden box. He glanced at the number on it, and his heart trembled.
What?Such a coincidence?
The number on the ball is 14.
I'm the last one?Is this good luck or bad?
When he was in a daze, the others came up one by one and took out small balls from the wooden box.
After everyone took it, Beidou said: "The one left in it is mine." He reached in and took out the last ping-pong ball, and glanced at it—9.
Now that everyone's numbers have been set, this will be the order of storytelling for the next 14 nights.
Yu Chicheng twirled the small ball with "1" in his hand, and said nervously, "I'm actually the first."
"Isn't that good? The first person to speak can choose the subject matter and ideas arbitrarily, and don't have to worry about repeating or being similar to others." Goth raised the small ball with "12" written in his hand to Yu Chicheng Take a look, "I'm not so lucky."
"Isn't it? The further you go, the more restricted the subject matter and plot of the story will be." Beluga said.
Hearing what they said, Yu Chicheng seemed to relax a lot. He nodded slightly and said, "That's true." He stood up from the chair, "Then, I'll go to my room to conceive my story."
"Wait." Chris said suddenly, "I want to ask you a question—how did you get here?"
Everyone froze for a moment.Qianqiu asked: "Is there any point in this question? Anyway, we are already trapped here."
"I think maybe we can find some clues through the different times and ways that everyone was brought here." Chris said quietly.
Nan Tian was taken aback: "You mean, you might be able to deduce who the mysterious 'host' is?"
"I'm not completely sure, but I just think I can try it."
"I agree." Xia Houshen looked at the crowd, "If everyone has no objections, let's talk about how we got here, is that okay?"
"I don't know how I got here." Qianqiu said.
"I don't know either. But I can recall what I was doing before I appeared here." Xia Houshen said.
"Okay, that's it." Araki Zhou said, "Let's talk about it in this order now." He held up the small ball in his hand.
Start with Yu Chicheng. "Well... I remember, I came out of a friend's house yesterday afternoon, and then drove home. While driving, I suddenly felt very tired, so I parked the car on the side of the road and wanted to take a break for a minute or two. It turned out that I fell asleep, and when I woke up, I was already in a room here."
"Did you check the time before you fell asleep, what time was it?" Chris asked.
Yu Chicheng thought about it and said: "I came out of my friend's house at around 03:30 in the afternoon, and then drove for up to 10 minutes..."
"It's around three forty in the afternoon?"
"almost."
After Yu Chicheng finished speaking, Xu Wen, who was holding the number "2", frowned and said: "I was reading the documents in my company's office yesterday afternoon, and when I was tired, I closed my eyes and tried to rest for a while. Needless to say, right?"
"Do you remember the exact time?" Chris asked.
Xu Wen thought for a while: "It should be a little after four o'clock in the afternoon."
The owner of number "3" is Xia Houshen. He said: "I was meditating on a bench in the park yesterday afternoon, looking for creative inspiration. I don't know if I fell asleep or something, anyway, I opened my eyes and I was already here. "
"time?"
Xia Houshen shrugged his shoulders: "I don't know, I didn't check the time at that time."
"Can you tell when?" Chris asked.
Xia Houshen narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then said, "I remember that the old people boxing in the park were getting ready to go home, it was almost five o'clock."
"Yeah." Chris replied.
The people behind spoke next to each other.
Lake (number "4"): "I was surfing the Internet at home and somehow lost consciousness. The time... was around 05:30."
Dark Fire (Number "5"): "My friend and I had dinner at a restaurant and drank some wine... I went to the bathroom, and then I don't know. I didn't check the exact time, but it should be six for dinner. Go ahead."
Ryoma (number "6"): "I had dinner out at seven o'clock yesterday, and I took the subway home. I suddenly felt a little dizzy. After that, I was almost the same as you."
Qianqiu (number "7"): "I went to a beauty center for a full-body health massage last night. The massage therapist's techniques were quite good. I was very comfortable and fell asleep naturally." She spread her hands, indicating the following Needless to say.
"What time?" Chris reminded.
"I remember this very clearly because I checked my phone before the massage and it was exactly 07:30."
"Hey! Wait a minute, what... what's going on?" Nan Tian, who had been listening attentively, suddenly exclaimed, showing a look of astonishment.
"What's wrong?" Xu Wen looked at Nan Tian in surprise.
"Didn't you find out? Starting from Yu Chicheng with the number '1', the time sequence in which everyone loses consciousness is the same as the sequence of numbers we randomly drew!" Nan Tian shouted loudly.
Almost everyone opened their mouths in amazement, feeling incredible.
"Is it the same for the people behind?" Xia Houshen looked at the rest of the people in astonishment.
"Listen to them," Chris said.
Moby Dick (Number "8"): "I was drinking coffee and chatting with a friend in the coffee shop last night. Then she went out to answer the phone, and I probably lost consciousness at that time. It was around eight o'clock."
Beidou (Number "9"): "I was out drinking last night with a group of my high school friends, an average BBQ stand. Most of us were so drunk we could barely remember what happened afterwards - until I found myself lying In a bed here. The last time I watched it while awake was [-]:[-]pm."
Araki Boat (Number "10"): "I didn't go anywhere last night. I was at home. My wife was watching TV in the living room and I was reading in the bedroom. I don't remember how I lost consciousness, and the time didn't dare. For sure, it can only be estimated before ten o'clock."
Sajia (number "11"): "Last night, a friend came to my house to chat with me. We chatted for more than an hour. After she left, I lay on the bed and listened to music. After a while, I didn't know anything. I My friend left when it was close to ten o'clock, um...then the time I lost consciousness should be within 10 minutes (around [-]:[-])."
Gaud (number "12"): "Last night, I went to the cinema to watch a movie. I felt tired for some reason during the movie, and then I gradually lost consciousness. I remember that the movie started at [-]:[-], and I After reading about half of it, it should be around ten fifty at that time."
After Goth finished speaking, no one spoke.Nan Tian (number "14") thought he was the last one. He said: "I was writing a novel at home last night until 11:30, and then I watched TV in the living room. I fell asleep after watching it for a long time."
As soon as Nan Tian finished speaking, Bei Diou yelled: "Oh my God, that's really the case! The order we randomly selected is the order in which everyone loses consciousness!"
"How could there be such a strange situation?" Xia Houshen frowned, "This can't be a coincidence!"
"Could it be that the 'order' of each of us has been arranged from the beginning?" Yu Chicheng guessed in astonishment.
"The order in which we were brought here is controllable. But just now, each of us drew numbers from the small wooden box next to each other. It was completely random. How can this be controlled?" Beluga was also incredulous.
When everyone was discussing and guessing in fear, Araki said: "Don't be too busy, there is still one of us who didn't say how he came here."
Everyone turned their heads and saw Araki Shuu's eyes staring at Chris, only to remember that Chris who asked this question at the beginning hadn't said anything yet.
But at this moment, everyone was staring at Chris, but he remained silent.
"What's the matter, boy genius, we have already talked about the question you raised yourself, but you are not willing to say it?" Araki looked at Chris with scrutiny, "Could it be that the way you came here is different from ours? ?”
Chris was silent for a long time, looked at Araki Zhou, and said, "Yes."
Araki Zhou narrowed his eyes: "Then how did you get here?"
"I didn't show up here in a coma," Chris said.
Everyone opened their mouths, and the white whale said, "Could it be that you..."
"Yeah, I walked into this place sober," Chris said quietly.
"What!" Everyone exclaimed.
Facing suspicious eyes, Chris said calmly: "Don't get me wrong, I'm not that mysterious 'host'. If I were, I would make up a lie instead of telling you the truth."
"It's hard to say." Arakaki stared at him, "Maybe you just took advantage of our thinking to do this on purpose?"
Chris didn't speak.
Nan Tian stretched out his hand to compare, looked at Chris and said, "Then please tell us, exactly how you came here?"
Chris said: "Last night, I came to the designated place as agreed, and a black car was waiting for me there. After I got in the car, I was blindfolded by black cloth. The car drove for about half an hour and stopped. When I got down, I was led by a person into an indoor place, of course, this is here. I took off the cloth strips on my eyes, and the person who brought me in went to nowhere, as if disappeared, and the door It's locked."
Everyone stared at Chris holding their breath, as if they were listening to a fantasy story.Saka asked: "And then?"
"Then I went from the lobby to the second floor, and found that 14 of the 13 rooms had their doors closed, and only one room was open. I went in, closed the door, and lay on the bed to sleep. Until the morning I didn't get up until I heard your voices—that's it."
After Chris finished speaking, everyone stared at him for a full minute.
"You know the purpose of your coming here, that's why you deal with this situation so calmly, don't you?" Xia Houshen asked.
"Yes, I know." Chris lowered his head in thought, "But now that I think about it, I think it might be a trap."
Araki boat said: "You might as well speak clearly. What attracted you to come here? What are you doing here? Who is the person you made an appointment with?"
"Sorry, I can't say these things for now."
Araki Zhou stared and asked, "Why?"
"Because this is my business and has nothing to do with you, sorry."
There was a short silence in the hall, Nan Tian said: "Then you can always tell us the time you came here last night, right?"
Chris nodded: "The man didn't take my watch away. I checked the time after I entered the door, and it was exactly ten past eleven."
"What's your number?"
Chris shows off the ball with "13" written on it.
Nan Tian took a deep breath: "That's right, you happen to be the No.13 person in the order of time, between Goth (11:30) and me ([-]:[-])."
"Damn hell." Darkfire cursed in a low voice.
Ryoma remembered something at this moment, and asked Chris: "By the way, how did you think of this before—I mean, how did you think of seeing the clues from the chronological order of each of us here?"
"Because the person I made an appointment with was very time-conscious, and he said to the driver in the car, 'We have to get there by eleven ten'-so I think the chronological order is very important to this mysterious 'host'." ’, it may have some special meaning.”
Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, with various complex expressions on their faces.
"So, through the narration of all of us just now, have you speculated... who might be 'that person'?" Qianqiu asked nervously.
Chris shook his head and said: "Impossible, that person hides very deeply and will not be exposed so easily. I can only be sure of one thing now—" He paused, staring at everyone, "This matter is definitely not ours. It's as simple as imagined."
Nan Tian lay on the bed in the "prison cell", thinking about this strange and inexplicable incident.
This matter is by no means as simple as we imagined-what does Chris mean by this sentence?
What does he know?Why are you unwilling to speak out?
Now it seems that he is the most doubtful.However, this may just be the appearance.
After spending the whole afternoon here doing nothing, Nan Tian already felt distraught—all kinds of suspicions and conjectures bothered him, and his worries and anxieties made it difficult for him to calm down.He imagined how anxious his parents would be when they picked up the phone and dialed their son's number, only to find that they couldn't be reached.Needless to say, they will come to their city immediately, and at this moment they find that their son is missing... Nan Tian put his hands on his forehead, he didn't want to think about it anymore, this kind of imagination made his heart ache.
At this time, there was a light knock on the door.
Nan Tian sat up from the bed and asked, "Who is it?"
"It's me." A woman's voice.
Nan Tian walked to the door and opened it. Sajia stood outside the door, holding a box of canned luncheon meat and a bottle of mineral water in her hand.
"It's past six o'clock, aren't you hungry?" Sajia handed the food to Nan Tian.
"Thank you." Nan Tian took the water and canned food, and smiled at Shajia.Seeing that Sajia hadn't left yet, he asked, "Well... want to come in and sit for a while?"
"Okay." Sajia walked in and sat on the fabric sofa.
Nan Tian lifted the ring to open the can, but found no tableware.When she was in distress, Sajia took out a small stainless steel spoon from behind her like a magic trick, and handed it to Nan Tian, "Here."
Nan Tian took the spoon and said with a smile, "You are really thoughtful."
Saka smiled lightly.
Nan Tian scooped a few mouthfuls of lunch meat into his mouth, drank some water, and said to Sajia: "The food prepared by this 'host' and us is quite good, much better than I imagined."
Sajia nodded: "There are quite a lot of food in the cabinet. It seems that the person is considering giving us a change."
"Probably because he is among us." Nan Tian said thoughtfully.
After eating the canned food, Nan Tian wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said to Sajia: "I think you are quite strong, a girl, when you encounter this kind of situation, you will quickly regain your composure."
"You call me a girl?" Sajia laughed, "I'm already 27 years old."
"Anyway, if you're not married, you can call her a girl."
"How do you know I'm not married?" Sajia asked with wide eyes.
"I think that if you were married, you might not be so calm."
Sajia nodded slightly and said: "Yes, I have nothing to worry about, and I really don't have much to worry about."
"Where are your parents? If you disappear, they will definitely be worried."
Sajia lowered her head and said softly: "My parents have passed away."
Nan Tian opened his mouth slightly, and said apologetically, "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay." Sajia raised her head and changed the topic. "I think that even though we have encountered such a thing, we should be more optimistic. We should communicate and talk more with each other. Otherwise, before the 14th day, we may not be able to bear this dull day. collapsed."
"Well, you are right." Nan Tian praised.
"The guy named Xu Wen has this kind of tendency. I brought him something to eat just now, but he didn't even dare to open the door, as if he thought of each of us as bad guys who wanted to kill him." Jia sighed, "Oh, if a person is in such a state of high mental tension all the time, problems will arise."
"Yes." Nan Tian also sighed.
Sajia looked at her watch: "It's almost 7 o'clock, let's go down. The main event tonight is about to begin."
"Okay." Nan Tian and Sa Jia left the room together and walked from the stairs to the hall. At this time, 14 people gathered together, and everyone was still sitting in the same seat in the morning, forming a circle.
Next to Nantian is Sajia on one side and Ryoma on the other.He saw Ryoma take out a small notebook and a short ballpoint pen from his pocket, and asked, "Are you going to write down the stories he told?"
"Yeah." Ryoma nodded, "Maybe it can be kept as some kind of information."
Nan Tian looked at Yu Chicheng.As the first "contestant", he seemed a little nervous, especially when the time was close to 7 o'clock and everyone looked at him.Yu Chicheng cleared his throat and said, "Perhaps everyone thinks that I have taken advantage of being the first person to tell the story. However, my conception time is the shortest among you—maybe it's evened out." .So, I hope that after I finish, you can rate my story objectively and fairly.”
After saying this, his face flushed slightly.
It seems that he really wants to win this "competition" and get the right to write the story.Nan Tian thought to himself.What the sponsor said seemed to have an impact on everyone.
Araki said: "Of course we will rate you objectively and fairly. It has nothing to do with whether you are the first one, so you don't have to worry."
The others also nodded.
Yu Chicheng seemed relieved a lot. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I'm relieved. To be honest, although I only spent one afternoon thinking up this story, it may be inspired by this special situation. —I think this is the best suspenseful horror story I have conceived in so many years."
Seven o'clock came, and he began to speak.
(*Every story told has a significant bearing on what happened next.)
(End of this chapter)
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Douluo villain simulator starts by persecuting Qian Renxue
Chapter 357 4 hours ago -
I just want players to save money, but I was made the richest man
Chapter 264 14 hours ago -
My transformed system is poisonous
Chapter 791 14 hours ago -
Best wishes for animation production
Chapter 674 14 hours ago -
Reincarnation Paradise: Master is lucky but 100 million
Chapter 331 14 hours ago -
I write apocrypha in Warhammer
Chapter 318 14 hours ago -
Stop pretending, I am the God of Cooking and I am showing off my cards!
Chapter 841 14 hours ago -
The ultimate black hand that covers the sky
Chapter 678 14 hours ago
