Life Game In Other World
Chapter 411: Am I Right, Mr. Murderer? (Long Chapter Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 411: Chapter 411: Am I Right, Mr. Murderer? (Long Chapter Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets)

"The Chef is dead? He died the second time we went through the tunnel,"

Luo Luo’s eyes widened, "Then who was the Chef we saw afterwards?"

"Are you saying that the Chef we saw later was impersonated by the Murderer?"

Jin Ya said softly.

"Indeed, the Chef we saw later was impersonated by someone else,"

He Ao glanced at her and smiled slightly,

"If the Chef is dead, then our previous confusion makes sense. The killer who killed the Chef passed the Chef’s prop to Ruoti, which gave Ruoti the ability to leave his room. Then, during the third train’s passage through the tunnel, the killer lured Ruoti into the dining car."

He Ao slowly walked toward the dining car with everyone following behind him, and even the smiling conductor followed along.

He Ao arrived where Ruoti’s body had been and gently tapped the table. "There must have been something in front of Ruoti that attracted him, most likely a note. And while he was looking at this note, the Murderer came from behind and killed him."

He stood there, exposing his back to the people behind him,

"Before he died, Ruoti had a surprised expression on his face. It’s highly likely that he saw what the Murderer looked like just before he died."

"Then, the power of this train surged over and finished him off, fixing his movements and expression at the moment right before death. This might be one of the few places on the train where we can get a clue,"

He Ao slowly turned around, nearly reenacting the posture and movements of Ruoti just before his death, "At the time, the position of Ruoti turning his head was such that he rotated, with his head tilted slightly upward.

"Ruoti was about one meter eighty in height, and at such a close distance, at this angle, his field of vision would actually be very limited. Therefore, the ’Murderer’ he saw can’t be too short, which means that some of us wouldn’t be seen."

Luo Luo: ?

"This rules out the two shorter women among us, Luo Luo who is less than one meter fifty, and Lin Chichi who is just over one meter sixty."

He Ao continued,

Luo Luo tiptoed slightly and argued, "I’m one meter fifty-two!"

He Ao looked down at her, "Alright, one meter fifty-two."

Luo Luo clenched her teeth, crossed her arms, turned her head, and fell silent.

He Ao chuckled and looked at the remaining people. Jin Ya was not short, measuring one meter seventy plus, and wore distinctly height-increasing shoes that probably made her about one meter eighty with shoes on. The conductor was also around one meter eighty.

"So the suspect is among us, and the one who later disguised themselves as the Chef is the Murderer,"

Jin Ya looked at He Ao with a puzzled expression, "But how can we be sure who the Murderer is?"

"Yes, we have too little evidence, so I took a risk and set up a trap,"

He Ao clapped his hands and slowly walked back through the gap between the dining tables.

Luo Luo’s gaze returned to him.

"This evidence not only helped us narrow down the range of suspects, but it also helped me to prove some ’good people.’ The moment I saw Ruoti’s body, I ruled out Nuo Nuo and Lin Chichi as suspects."

He Ao continued, "Our getting on the train was very sudden, and we hardly brought anything with us, so I choose to believe they couldn’t have possibly carried stilts to commit murder."

Just as Luo Luo had turned her head back, her expression darkened again, but she quickly adjusted and looked at He Ao, "So the trap... that was set for Chichi? But Chichi was so scared, how did you get her to cooperate..."

She paused midway then suddenly stopped, "Was it Chichi who was the first to follow you to the scene? At that time?!"

"Exactly," He Ao nodded gently,

"I didn’t have a complete plan at the time, because there were key things I hadn’t figured out. However, I chose to trust Lin Chichi. The moment she leaned in, I told her, ’Be scared of me.’ Of course, I didn’t make a sound, but she understood my hint."

Luo Luo: "So all of Chichi’s fear afterwards was an act?"

"It’s not entirely that,"

He Ao shook his head.

Lin Chichi was genuinely afraid, but there was a sense of ruthlessness in her bones. He Ao saw it when she dared to eat the food on the bus with him; this girl could face death when necessary.

In the same situation, Luo Luo might not have been able to be so generous.

That was one of the reasons He Ao chose Lin Chichi, but he had not expected that Lin Chichi would trust him so much. Although he had prepared a backup plan, it also involved unpredictable risks. He had thought he would need to persuade her extensively, yet Lin Chichi agreed quite simply.

"When everyone went back to their compartments, I found Lin Chichi. After roughly learning the effects of her ’prop,’ I asked her to cooperate with me and put on a show, to tell Luo Luo ’she wanted to ’check’ me, but actually, she wanted to check the person I suspected.’

He Ao glanced at the kitchen behind him and continued, "And the night before, we only heard two sets of footsteps going to the dining car and none returning."

"So, I also managed to get soup dumplings from the kitchen. Does this mean the murderer has been hiding in the kitchen all along, disguised as a ’chef’?"

Luo Luo suddenly realized something, "No wonder Chichi dragged me to the side of the kitchen wall to say those words. Those words weren’t for me but for the murderer in the kitchen? So, the conversation you had afterwards was also a performance in front of the murderer?"

At that moment, she also realized something and looked at He Ao with complex emotions,

"And if your guess is right, when the murderer hears Lin Chichi wants to verify his true identity, he would kill Lin Chichi. This would not only eliminate a problem but also conveniently point the finger at you."

She paused for a moment, "But even if the person in the kitchen isn’t the murderer you’re disguised as, wouldn’t any murderer choose to kill Lin Chichi and then frame you with that maneuver?

"No, he would opt to kill me first, if it were possible, because he wouldn’t know whether I had a means of escape. The best method is to nip the threat in the bud. Your opinion alone might not be enough to put me in jeopardy, and since you are clearly in support of me, he wouldn’t dare to wager on it,"

He Ao looked at her.

It was then Luo Luo remembered, Lin Chichi had only shared those words with her; she was the only one who knew everything. With Lin Chichi dead, there would be no proof unless the hidden murderer came out to vouch for her, but that would expose the murderer’s identity.

At that moment, Luo Luo looked at the man before her and suddenly felt afraid; he had calculated every possible outcome.

But she also knew that He Ao was taking a gamble. If his guess was wrong, the murderer would have killed him that night.

She thought for a moment and asked one last question, "Is there a simpler method, like going directly to the person you suspect? If he was disguised as a ’chef,’ you certainly wouldn’t be able to find him."

"I tried," He Ao sighed, "At that time, there was a sign on the door of his compartment saying [Train malfunction repair in progress, please do not disturb]."

With that sign, it became reasonable for him not to appear. Others didn’t understand the rules for how this train operated. Although it might raise some suspicions, it wouldn’t lead to concrete evidence.

The other party wasn’t a fool either; they wouldn’t leave such an obvious loophole.

Luo Luo fell silent.

This was a deadlock, and He Ao’s method was probably the only way to break it. While verifying the identity of the Murderer, he also gave the Murderer hope.

He gave the Murderer hope to kill He Ao through voting, which is why he didn’t use ’under repair’ as an excuse this time.

Of course, being under repair all the time would also raise suspicions.

And without this method, probably everyone would die.

"Your argument explains most of the problems, but," Jin Ya seemed to finally catch up, she looked at He Ao and slowly spoke,

"Your argument is built on the premise that the chef was killed, but isn’t the chef one of this train’s NPCs? Can NPCs be killed? And how did that person disguise himself as an NPC?"

"There are no NPCs on this train,"

He Ao gently shook his head, stepping towards the kitchen door, facing the crowd with his hand on the doorknob behind him.

The kitchen door, which had been locked, now opened with a slight twist, and the sound of the bolt sliding could be heard.

"Everyone on this train is a game player."

He Ao gently pushed, and the door opened, but instead of looking at the gradually opening door behind him, he walked towards the attendant standing in the back, revealing a smile,

"Am I right, Mr. Murderer?"

"Sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying, esteemed sir,"

The expression of the steward did not change; he still maintained a gentle and natural smile.

However, He Ao saw another kind of look in his eyes, the familiar one of a beast locking onto its prey.

The kitchen door slowly opened to its fullest, revealing the empty room within, a food serving counter, a deep red cabinet suspended by blood-red pipes, and then nothing else.

"The Chef’s Prop should be that pair of gloves, right? The person wearing the gloves can take out any food from a fixed container in the kitchen. You still have those gloves on you, don’t you?"

He Ao smiled and shrugged,

"Of course, you can deny it if you want. I think since this voting mechanism is the ’method of murder’ during free activity time, it probably doesn’t need a specific executor.

"We can vote for you, and if you’re not a player, our votes will naturally have no effect, but if you are a player, then..."

He slowly raised his hand, "I vote for the steward."

Luo Luo looked at He Ao, then at the steward, and slowly raised her hand as well.

Jin Ya watched their movements, hesitated for a moment, then slowly raised her hand.

In that instant, the entire dining car’s roof began to wriggle.

"You’re quite smart," the steward said with a grin, looking at He Ao, "I’ve killed a lot of people, and you’re the smartest one,"

A small, exquisite dagger was pulled from his waist, "But smart to the point of arrogance. Getting so close to me can get you killed."

The cold glint of the blade aimed instantly for He Ao’s neck.

Transcendents, most likely Grade D.

"Be careful!"

Luo Luo immediately rushed towards He Ao, but she was a bit too far from him; in such a short time, she couldn’t reach him. As she charged, the dagger had already neared He Ao’s neck.

In that moment, countless humanoid Black Shadows fell from the ceiling, stretching out their pitch-black hands like blooming flowers, grabbing his head, shoulders, arms, waist, and legs.

Just as the gleam of the dagger was about to touch He Ao’s neck, the Black Shadows finally engulfed the steward’s body, forming a huge bud that rapidly retreated towards compartment seven.

"Are you okay?"

By then, Luo Luo had also rushed over and looked at He Ao.

Throughout the process, He Ao’s face was expressionless, not even blinking an eye.

"I’m fine."

He Ao patted the dust off his clothes.

He glanced at Luo Luo and suddenly asked in an extremely low voice, "Do you trust me?"

"Trust..."

Luo Luo answered subconsciously.

"I know your Prop probably has the ability to determine someone’s identity, you’ve judged mine, so you’ve been supporting me," He Ao calmly continued to ask, "I mean, aside from the Prop, do you trust me?"

At this, Luo Luo paused for a moment, fell silent for a while, and finally nodded lightly, "I trust you."

"Those who trust me won’t die."

He Ao nodded slightly, then walked quickly towards compartment seven, "Let’s go see what Mr. Murderer has left for us."

Luo Luo got startled by He Ao’s words, then suddenly realized something, her face showing skepticism as she watched He Ao’s back and hurriedly followed him.

By this time, Jin Ya seemed to have recovered from the recent abnormal events and followed behind He Ao.

He Ao arrived in front of the vortex of compartment seven, where the Black Shadows and the steward had already vanished without a trace, leaving behind a few items before the vortex.

One was a pair of white gloves, identical to those the Chef was wearing,

Another was a cold dagger, presumably the Murderer’s Prop, and there was also a red dice, likely Ruoti’s Prop.

The last was a key, the steward’s Prop.

Under He Ao’s gaze, all four Props slowly sank into the floor; the train was reclaiming them.

After these four Props, there was a glowing disc and a card next to it.

He Ao picked up both the disc and the card.

The disc had two sides; one was red, divided into five even segments, each segment had a light with words inscribed: [Murderer], [Monster], [Monster], [Monster], [Monster].

All five lights were lit, signifying the death of five individuals.

Was the Chef also part of the Murderer’s camp?

He Ao pondered for a moment; this profession should be neutral-leaning. Their task would likely differ from ordinary ’Monsters’, perhaps prioritizing maintaining the rules while helping the Murderer kill.

This also explained why the Chef’s gloves allowed the holder to walk through tunnels.

But why were there five people?

He Ao turned over the disc; the other side was blue, divided into three even segments; one of the segment lights was lit but flickered unsteadily in a pattern.

This light should represent Lin Chichi.

He Ao reached down to pick up another folded card from the ground, which appeared to be the Murderer’s identity card.

He opened the card, the top section about the Murderer’s identity details was blank, only an incomprehensible line of Central Earth text at the bottom,

[A new character has joined the game, you can kill someone before the game starts.]

"What’s going on?"

Luo Luo peered out, looking at the card, "A new character, what does that mean?"

"Perhaps it’s some kind of hint,"

He Ao put away the card, waving the disc in his hand, which was flashing a red glow, "This should be some sort of ’symbol of victory’."

He walked through the hallway to its very end, in front of the sliding door.

A faint sound arose as the tightly closed sliding door slowly opened to both sides.

What lay in front of them was a small connecting passageway leading to an eerily empty train compartment.

A monstrous creature, constructed of countless Black Shadows, lurked within the train compartment,

At the forefront of the compartment stood a sign.

[Two people live, become players in the next game, or continue forward.]

[You can only make one decision.]

In that moment, He Ao felt as though some kind of restriction had been lifted.

It was the train’s rule restricting them from killing each other.