—Michelangelo was not dead at all!
Hearing this news, only Captain Karl was taken aback and looked over in disbelief.
Everyone else had a dazed expression.
“I won’t ask when you have figured it out.”
Ghirlandaio… or perhaps Michelangelo didn’t panic.
He smiled and looked at Annan with interest, “But why are you sure it was me? I think I haven’t exposed my purpose so far.”
—What a good question.
Annan took a deep breath.
He glanced at Benjamin and said slowly, “The first time I suspected you was when you proposed a four-people alliance.
“The four-person alliance is indeed a sure-fire way to victory. It can guarantee that the victor would be your ally. But the question is… Why did you want to give up the fight and just want to survive?
“This place is the home ground for you. We don’t know the room or the road ahead. But, you don’t only know where to go, you even know which statues refer to which of us. You seemingly have everything in your grasp. You even take an extremely defensive stance when there are seven candidates left.
“If you want to form an alliance, the smartest way is to form an alliance with the two teams after one person has died.
“In other words, there are three teams. Two teams, each with three people. But because you’re singled out without a designated pair, you can win number advantage no matter when a conflict breaks out.”
(TN: Essentially, the team layout will be 3 vs. 3, with him being the deciding factor for numbers advantage)
Annan said calmly, “You can’t fail to think of this because the Prophet spell allows you to get the answer from your future self. Of course, this intel is from what you said.
“So, why don’t you do this? Because you want to hide one thing.
“You just said that the twin towers are ‘with the hall as the center and extending symmetrically to both sides.’ So things on the left side can also be found on the right side, and it is symmetrical.
“It’s like the relationship for the eight candidates,” Annan said and glanced at Benjamin.
Everyone else quickly understood.
“Captain Karl and Mr. Kim know each other,” said Maria slowly. “Merlin and I also know each other. Sir Gerald and Master Benjamin also know each other.”
There was only one set of exceptions.
That was Ghirlandaio and Eugene Melvin.
Annan didn’t notice this at first. After Melvin died, Ghirlandaio immediately pulled Annan out of the room.
This gave Annan an illusion: Maybe “Gerald” and “Ghirlandaio” are a pair.
Benjamin singled out independently, seemingly Melvin’s teammate.
Why would Ghirlandaio want to cover up this matter?
“Because Melvin knows so much about Master Michelangelo,” Annan replied.
He stared at Michelangelo and slowly said, “He can even know that Master Michelangelo can leave the wizard tower for a short time.
“Weirdly, Master Michelangelo’s disciples did not bring up this matter. Yet, even five months after receiving the suicide note, would he not doubt it? Moreover, five months after the last words were issued, Master Michelangelo knew he was about to die. Under the circumstances, would he take the initiative to leave the tower?
“If the master were to die outside the tower in the future, why would he mention in his last words that ‘this curse is also effective for the murderer killing him’? Is this an attempt to deliberately mislead us?”
“Melvin claimed, ‘We may be in a nightmare.’ He intends to speed up this killing ritual. That is to say, he and Master Michelangelo have been on the same side since the beginning.”
Annan asserted, “You came in immediately and pulled me away. It was to separate Benjamin and me. Others didn’t understand us. Even if they realized the “symmetry problem” of teaming, they would think of you as my teammate. After all, Benjamin and I are completely estranged.”
The critical evidence for Annan to determine who Michelangelo was when Benjamin suddenly asked Annan for help, letting him take control of Captain Karl.
Annan then understood. Benjamin and Gerald were not enemies at all.
—At least not from the very beginning.
So when Annan was in the tea room, Benjamin heard Melvin mentioning the history of “Gerald,” and his expression turned strange. There was no slightest anger or hatred, just a wry smile to organize his language.
“The other evidence is the statue of the ‘giant snake.'”
Annan said, looking back at the group of statues behind him.
He whispered, “You said yourself… ‘If you want to change the predictions you get from perceiving the future, you have to introduce a lot of variables.’
“Human minds are variables.”
Everyone’s eyes shifted along with Annan’s movement.
In the middle of all the statues, there was a giant snake with its head up, gazing at the sky.
“The giant snake means ‘rebirth.'” Unexpectedly, it was Michelangelo himself who spoke.
Michelangelo stepped forward. He emerged from Ghirlandaio like a water wave. The transparent, brilliant golden soul was floating steadily in the air.
The original “Ghirlandaio” turned into an exquisite statue in an instant.
Michelangelo looked back at the giant snake with a complicated expression. The snake seemed to be gazing intently at what he loved, and it seemed to be looking at the past.
“But I still don’t quite understand it,” Annan suddenly spoke under everyone’s gaze. He asked softly, “Your original plan was to kill Melvin first, form a four-person team and cause a conflict on the three remaining people. You will then wait for the second death and third death to appear.
“By then, you will take the second shot and kill the last person outside the four-person team. Since we have an agreement, we can’t hinder each other at all.
“In this way, our number will be reduced to half. The murderer has no doubt survive because the murderer has not yet appeared.
“After that, you kill the second person. Then, you will trigger a curse and die through the predetermined curse. In this way, the murderer who killed Master Michelangelo becomes yourself. Thus, you meet the two conditions of victory at the same time. Firstly, the murderer survives when there are only four left. Second, the original murderer is dead at the same time.
“In this way, you have completed a ritual of ‘feign death’ like a giant snake who sheds its skin. That’s what I thought from the beginning.”
Annan looked at Michelangelo and slowly said, “But I denied this idea after a while.
“Because if you need an event like ‘I killed myself.’ Then you could have killed two people at the beginning and ended the ritual. The predetermined curse would have killed you. You still fulfill the condition of you being your own murderer. “
“Huh, that can’t work because this only satisfies one condition.”
Michelangelo turned around and smiled gently, “Because you don’t know one thing.
“Howling White Tower is a Twin Tower. Everything is the same on both sides of the hall because…
“There are two wizard towers.”
If you only get one tower, you can’t count as a tower master at all.
“What I am after is not just to extend my life.”
Michelangelo sighed, “What I want is to ‘die once and rebirth twice.’
“If the ritual succeeds, then I will die by my hands and be resurrected by my hands. From then on, I will live in the gap between life and death. Only in this way can I achieve ‘truth.’
“In this world, the number of Truth Fragments has been fixed. If you can’t get Truth Fragment, no matter how long you live, you can only get Gold Rank at best, no matter how great your talents are. You can only be imprisoned in these islands surrounded by the thick mist, living in the boundary cracks.
“What I pursue is not only that. This is not a feign death ritual but a ritual of going beyond the ‘truth’ level. It’s the dream of mine trying to get rid of the shackles of this world since I have already reached the limit of humanity.
“Yes. I want to be the new god.”