After leaving the music maze and returning to the main city, the teammates' expressions were complicated. They had suspected the case was a crime of passion, but they never expected that the murderer who wiped out Lucia's entire family would be a woman.
Ye Qi exclaimed, "They're a pair of lilies!"
Long Sen, Lao Mo, Qu Wanyue, and Liu Qiao also had expressions of disbelief on their faces.
Yu Hanjiang wasn't surprised. He had seen many crimes of passion in real life, including same-sex crimes, with both male and female perpetrators. He calmly analyzed, "At first, we discovered the jewelry box the female protagonist treasured, deducing that she had a white moonlight in her heart, so we focused on the two men. This kind of habitual thinking is actually a major taboo in reasoning—no one stipulates that a woman's white moonlight must be a man; we cannot ignore another possibility."
Xiao Lou nodded in agreement: "Luckily, Xiao Ye discovered the secret of the architectural model, otherwise, we might have put the box of Dr. Simon, the most suspicious person, on it."
Shao Qingge smiled and looked at Ye Qi: "Xiao Ye deserves a lot of credit for this maze."
His teammates agreed, and Ye Qi was quite happy about it. Being able to help was much better than just getting carried to victory. He chuckled, scratched his head, and asked, " We only spent an hour in the Diamond Secret Room, and nobody's hungry, so why don't we move on to the next level?"
Yu Hanjiang said, "Alright, next level is Spade 9. Do you need a break?"
Everyone said they didn't need it; the Diamond Secret Room didn't require physical exertion, and no one felt tired.
So Yu Hanjiang simply drew the card [ Spade 9] from the card wall.
A familiar black vortex appeared on the card, and everyone's vision went black simultaneously. A few seconds later, Xiao Lou found himself in an unfamiliar place—
A huge moon hung in the western sky, very close to the ground, seemingly within reach. But strangely, half of the moon was stained blood red, making the entire environment extremely dark, and the ground seemed to be stained with a layer of bloody light.
Xiao Lou had never seen such a large red moon before. Clearly, the setting of this escape room wasn't an ordinary modern city; it was likely a Western fantasy world, perhaps with vampires and magic. He looked around but didn't see any of his teammates. It seemed they had been separated again when they entered the room.
spade came to my ears Guardian's mechanical, cold voice—
"Welcome Xiao Lou to Spade 9 [ Blood Night Witch ]. Please keep your number tag and ID card safe."
Two brand new cards suddenly appeared in Xiao Lou's hand.
The first number tag has the number [11] written on it and has a pin on the back so it can be clipped to clothing.
The second identity card had a blood-red moon drawn on the back. Xiao Lou flipped it over and saw a curly-haired woman in a dark purple lace dress, holding a magic ball-shaped object with three words written next to it— Prophet.
The moment the identity card was revealed, Ace of Spades ' voice rang in my ears again: "Your assigned number in this secret room is [11], and your identity card is [ Prophet ]. Prophet's ability is to check the identity of one player each night to know whether they are on the good side or the werewolf side."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lou immediately understood the background of the secret room—
A variant of the murder mystery game, the " werewolf kill " game, similar to " The Dark Closes Its Eyes, " and the survival escape room in Spade 9 are surprisingly similar to the variety show in Hearts 9 where the double helps the murderer.
In the game werewolf kill, there's a " Prophet " identity card that allows you to check other players' identities. Xiao Lou isn't an expert at the game, but he's played it a few times online and knows some of the basic identity settings.
Guardian continued, " Spade 9 is a survival escape room in a murder mystery game. All the Challengers have come to an unfamiliar village. Whenever the blood moon rises and night falls, the werewolves come out to hunt Civilians and Protoss. You are a Prophet from the Protoss faction. Your teammates could be werewolves, Civilians, or other Protoss characters."
"During the game, teammates cannot directly reveal their identities to each other, nor can they mention any words related to their identities. Prophet is a very crucial role; you can check someone's identity every night to determine the day's strategy."
"Note that, unlike traditional Werewolf Kill games, the rules for determining victory or defeat in this game are not based on factions, but on your team."
"Completion conditions: Survive in the [ Blood Night Witch ] secret room for seven days, with more than four members of the team surviving."
"During the game, other teams don't know who your teammates are, and the number tags are all shuffled. Players killed at night and those voted out during the day will leave the village and enter the exile zone, where they can only be rescued after the team clears the level. If less than half of the team's members survive after seven days, the entire team will be eliminated and sent to the Nightmare Secret Room."
"The game is about to begin, please get ready. No other cards are allowed in this room, only the skills on your identity cards can be used."
After hearing the rules, Xiao Lou couldn't help but feel nervous.
This escape room game is different from the traditional Werewolf Kill game. The usual Werewolf Kill game has three factions: Werewolves, Civilians, and God Cards. The Werewolf faction has the advantage that everyone knows each other's identities and can discuss strategies, while the other two factions are unaware of each other's identities.
The game is won if the werewolf team kills all the Civilians or all the Gods. The Civilians and Gods, on the other hand, must expel all the werewolves.
.
But this time, the conditions for passing the game are different.
What's giving Xiao Lou a headache is that these eight people aren't necessarily on the same side!
Xiao Lou's identity card is [ Prophet ], belonging to the God faction. What if his teammate draws [Werewolf]?
The eight of them were unaware of each other's identities and could not explain themselves directly.
According to information revealed by the Guardian, Challenger isn't the only team participating in the [ Blood Night Witch ] survival room challenge; other teams are also involved. In this chaotic free-for-all, ensuring the survival of more than half of the teammates is a major headache.
He also noticed a detail Guardian mentioned—everyone's number tags were shuffled. This meant that only teammates knew their own numbers; other teams didn't know who was on whom. In this chaotic situation, it was easy to make incorrect judgments.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath and asked Guardian, "If more than half of the team members survive, the game is considered complete. Our team has 8 people. How many Challengers are there in total for this escape room?"
Ace of Spades said, " You'll soon find out the number of Challengers."
Xiao Lou nodded: "Do we need to wear a mask when entering the game?"
Ace of Spades was somewhat surprised: "How did you guess?"
Xiao Lou said, "...Because this game mode is a bit like the Plum Blossom challenge level, it seems like it's another collaboration between Spade and Plum Blossom?"
Diamond 9's labyrinthine puzzles incorporated elements of Hearts ' mystery. It's understandable that Spade 9's escape room incorporates Plum Blossom's gameplay elements. However, this time, while survival doesn't require outsmarting insectoid monsters, it does require outsmarting other Challengers, making it several times more dangerous than dealing with insects.
If they're unlucky, the team might not even survive 7 days, and could be wiped out by another team in less than 3 days.
Prophet, this card must be used effectively.
Xiao Lou nodded and said to Guardian, "I'm all set, let's go into the secret room."
***
At this moment, Shao Qingge looked at the cards in his hand and had a headache.
Ace of Spades coldly told him, "Your assigned number in this secret room is [5], your identity card is [ Dream Catcher ], and your skill is: Every night, you choose one player to be the'Sleepwalker.' The chosen player is unaware that they are sleepwalking. Sleepwalkers are immune to all damage at night. However, if you are killed at night, the sleepwalker you chose will die with you. Anyone chosen as the sleepwalker for two consecutive nights will also die immediately."
Shao Qingge had never played the murder mystery game before, and this was the first time he had ever seen an identity card called " Dream Catcher." He carefully examined the description on the card and asked, "So, if I choose someone to sleepwalk, that person is immune to damage? If I choose the same person twice in a row, that person will die immediately, right?"
Guardian nodded: "Yes."
If the sleepwalker dies, the chosen sleepwalker will also die.
It seems I can't choose teammates lightly, otherwise, if I die, my teammates will die with me.
He looked thoughtfully at the cartoon-style image on the card and asked, "How many different identity cards are there in this secret room? Besides [ Dream Catcher ], could you tell me about the other deities?"
spade Guardian said calmly, "No, analyze it yourself after you enter the secret room."
Shao Qingge continued, "Are all my teammates Protoss?"
Ace of Spades replied, "Not necessarily."
Shao Qingge sighed and rubbed his forehead: "So, there might be a werewolf in our team?"
Guardian nodded: "Yes."
...
After a three-minute process of assigning roles and explaining the rules, everyone entered the village together.
Everyone was assigned a small courtyard in the village, and a house number was hung at the entrance of the courtyard. Xiao Lou's house number was 11.
According to the rules, after the blood moon rises and darkness falls, werewolves and some God Cards with special abilities can begin to act. Others who cannot activate their abilities at night will automatically fall asleep. After dawn, everyone must gather at the fountain square in the center of the village, wearing their number tags, to vote and expel the person with the most votes from the village.
At this moment, the red full moon disappeared, replaced by brilliant sunshine.
Warm sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the ground. A river flowed around the village, its gentle murmur filling the air. Rows of two-story villas in a Western fantasy style stood in a charmingly haphazard arrangement. If it weren't for the impending life-or-death murder game, this would undoubtedly be a beautiful and peaceful village.
Everyone followed the signs to the fountain square, and Xiao Lou noticed that everyone was wearing the same mask with a wolf totem painted on it.
He glanced at the crowd and noticed that the number plates ranged from 1 to 35!
It seems that this chaotic battle in the locked room is going to become quite complicated.
Around the square are stone benches with exquisite totem carvings, and everyone sits down on the benches in turn.
An elderly man with gray hair stepped to the center, cleared his throat, and said, "New Villagers, I am the village chief of Rhodes Village. I have always loved peace, but there are always some werewolves lurking among the Villagers, trying to kill us all! I hope everyone will keep their eyes open and drive the werewolves out of the village. Every day during the day we will hold a vote to expel the most suspicious person…"
After giving a speech about the rules, the village chief coughed and said, "I have a piece of advice for everyone: never go out after dark! It's daytime now, the werewolves won't dare to act yet, so everyone can talk freely."
After the village chief left, only
The thirty-five Challengers looked at each other in bewilderment.
Everyone was wearing the same wolf totem mask, but Xiao Lou quickly identified his teammates by their eyes and build.
Yu Hanjiang (No. 1), Shao Qingge (No. 5), Ye Qi ( No. 7), Liu Qiao ( No. 18), Qu Wanyue (No. 25), Long Sen (No. 27), Lao Mo (No. 30), Xiao Lou and his teammates confirmed each other's identities with eye contact.
The numbers were completely scrambled.
Aside from their own people, the other teams obviously couldn't tell that the eight of them were teammates. Similarly, Xiao Lou couldn't tell at all which of the remaining people were on which team.
No one spoke, and the teammates didn't dare to recognize each other.
There are several teams here. Once Xiao Lou recognizes his teammates, after dark, the wolves from other teams are likely to eliminate his team first. The fewer teams there are, the easier it is to cooperate with teammates and achieve final victory.
Xiao Lou's team's biggest weakness is that they have too few members.
The advanced contract book requires 8-15 people to sign up. They started playing B-level escape rooms after 8 people signed up, and haven't added any new teammates. In other escape rooms, a smaller team can be compensated for by strong skills, but this escape room involves voting during the day, so fewer people means fewer votes!
If there's a full team of 15 people, and all 15 votes are cast for the same person, Xiao Lou's team has no chance of winning.
Guardian is unlikely to create an overwhelming advantage between teams during matchmaking. Therefore, with 35 players, the most likely outcome is 4 teams, each with 8 to 9 players, which is relatively balanced in terms of numbers.
The key to this game is actually to eliminate other teams as quickly as possible and protect your own teammates.
Time flowed extremely fast in this secret room. In the blink of an eye, the sun had set, and everyone heard the announcement: "The blood moon has appeared, and night is about to fall. Please return to your respective residences."
The masked Challengers quickly went home, and Xiao Lou returned to the courtyard with the address [11].
The red moon rises, and darkness descends.
[ Spade 9: The Secret Chamber - Blood Night Witch - Day 1 - Night]
[You are Prophet. Please choose whether to activate your skill to verify a player's identity.]
Xiao Lou naturally chose yes.
When all the number plates appeared in front of him, Xiao Lou pressed number 1 without hesitation.
He needs to check number 1, Yu Hanjiang, first.
The inspection results came quickly. The number 1 card was flipped over in front of Xiao Lou, and on the back of the card was a fierce black wolf.
[Number 1, is a werewolf.]
Xiao Lou: "......"