“En.”
Annan almost couldn’t control his expression just now.
He almost laughed out loud.
This is so similar. It’s so alike.
The plot of this nightmare was like the opening scene of a particular detective novel.
Judging from the pattern, the murderer should be among the crowd now.
“The murderer who killed me is among you all.”
A low voice came from the stone statue of the old man sitting in the wheelchair.
As the voice echoed, the surrounding environment changed.
In the initially bright and splendid hall, there were faint laughter and murmurs everywhere.
Annan could sense that the stone statues had surrounded the candidates in all directions, as if looking down at them from another world, whispering in a voice they couldn’t hear.
“Ahem!“
At the next moment, an old man’s strong cough sounded.
Those whispers all disappeared.
At the same time, the quietly burning lights in the hall elongated. The flame became slender and began to tremble at a higher frequency.
The color also changed from a warm, bright yellow to a cold white flame with a blue outer layer.
Those white statues seemed to become gloomy under the cold flames.
The atmosphere in the hall changed instantly.
The eight people were initially in the light. After the flames elongated, the stone statues’ shadow engulfed everyone, hiding their figures and expression from each other’s sight. The ground between them was also divided by the newly appeared shadows.
It was as if Master Michelangelo had already expected where these eight people would stand after they heard his last word.
At the next moment, a somewhat illusory old man’s voice overlapped with the pre-existing voice in the stone statue.
“From now on, you all are my students. So, you can kill the murderer for me. This is an act of revenge that the world has permitted.
“If one of you succeeds in killing the murderer. Then everyone else can get a part of my legacy, and the one who killed him will inherit the Howling White Tower.
“But you should also be wary. I only grant you the right to revenge on killing the murderer. If you accidentally kill someone other than the murderer, there will be no reward or punishment, but you must bear the murdering crime. “
As the old man spoke, his echoey voice became clearer and louder.
The recordings in the stone statues were synchronized and gradually faded.
By now, it was as if the old man was sitting there in a wheelchair, looking at the eight candidates calmly with his head tilted.
Although only the voice could be heard, Annan seemed to see an old man with a calm and distant gaze, looking at him. At the same time, the old man was also looking behind him.
This feeling emerged suddenly in Annan’s heart. He believed that other people should feel the same as him.
But because the shadow was too heavy, he couldn’t see the expressions of other people at all.
I think other people should not be able to see my expression too. Annan thought to himself.
But so far, the old man’s last words were understandable.
But the subsequent words made the eight people a little confused, “However, I was going to die anyway. The child who killed me is also the candidate I am most optimistic about.
“So, I decided to give him a chance.
“If the number is halved and the real murderer is still alive, then the murderer will inherit my Howling White Tower.”
“In addition, Bone Burying Grandma’s curse has engulfed the Howling White Tower. Everyone in the White Tower is [only allowed to kill one person]. You will be cursed as long as you murder the second person; this curse is also effective for the murderer who killed me.
“Grandma once said that the journey of everything is to reach the end. So you don’t need to miss me. I have created too many eternal things in my life. But I haven’t tried to make a ritual dedicated to deities.
“My curse has entangled the White Tower. You can’t escape, and you can’t get away. The eight people in this tower will be the first batch of executors of this Gold Ritual. Your name will stay with me in history.”
In the end, the old man’s voice became weaker, and the echo became stronger.
The recording in the stone statue had finally ended.
“You will know the ritual’s name at the end.
“My students. Please use your brains and think about this question. If the future is uncertain, does what has happened must exist?
“My students, witness the miracle with me.”
In the end, the old man’s illusory voice wholly dissipated.
The blue flames returned to their original place again.
The light once again flooded the White Tower’s hall.
The shadow receded.
But the original atmosphere among the eight people had changed.
“The rules aren’t restricting the murderer.”
There was a long silence. Maria Austere-Winter was still the first to speak.
Her voice was cold and immature. There was a little ridicule hidden in it, “It’s like rewarding the murderer.”
Everyone knew that she was right.
The Grand Duke’s daughter fancied telling the truth that no one else wanted to admit.
Michelangelo’s curse restrained the murderer from killing.
But the difficulty of picking out the murderer from eight people. On the other hand, the murderer’s goal to live to the ritual’s end was at an easier level. There would be opportune moments for the murderer.
If one could kill at will, it would be simple.
Everyone would have the battle royale directly. Once you kill everyone else with only our surviving, then the murderer is naturally killed.
But now, as long as half of the people die, the ritual would end. Then the candidates naturally dared not to kill at will, let alone there was the curse of “killing two people will result in death.” Hence, no one would dare to use spells of mass destruction.
This is simply a tactical game [1].
Annan realized the essence of this ritual in the first moment.
It was a mechanically imbalanced “tactical game!” But unlike what Maria Austere-Winter said, Annan was keenly aware that the “murderer” was disadvantageous in this game.
Because of the curse of Master Michelangelo, the person who had murdered once could not kill again.
So in this situation, whoever did not agree to “find out the murderer and commit the kill” was the most suspicious person. “A murderer simply can’t kill another person again.” This was a strong consensus among the eight people. Everyone knew and knew that everyone else knew.
—This is why the ritual ends when only four people are left to survive.
Because every time a wrongful elimination was made, it could at least verify that the two were innocent – the murderer and the slain, even though the slain could no longer speak.
In other words, if everything went well and everyone sought to prioritize better to be safe than sorry (being satisfied by sharing a quarter of the inheritance), the murderer would be exposed when there were five people left.
(Tips: Imagine there are 4 duos out of the eight candidates.)
In the end, the person who was unwilling to kill or the person who was cursed after the killing would be the murderer.
There was a sure-fire way to win this game.
However, Annan narrowed his eyes slightly.
The mission he received was, “Do not fight with anyone.”
Is he the one who killed Master Michelangelo?
But this is impossible.
Gerald was still alive after this ritual was over. He didn’t inherit the White Tower. Otherwise, Gerald would not stay in the Silver Rank, let alone be easily killed by Annan in Roseburg.
So, Gerald must not be the murderer.
That’s strange.
The mission given to Annan was almost like deliberately making Annan stir up trouble in the crowd.
This would attract other people’s attention. The further the ritual progressed, the more people would suspect Annan, who was unwilling to kill.
So, no matter what the reason was.
Annan must prevent this “one vs. one” idea from being detected by others or implemented.
But he felt that the difficulty should not be too great. He looked at the other seven people.
“The detective game…”
Annan murmured with a gentle and friendly smile on his lips.
This will be interesting.
[1] The author referenced it to Confrontation—a tactical role-playing game.