There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

"It seems I haven't seen you in Osmanthus Village before, who are you? And why are you out so late?"

Xu Shuo sized up the woman under the courtyard wall, preemptively taking control of the conversation with skillful expressions of his own innocence and confusion.

The reason he dared to ask was mainly that the woman's attire was completely different from that of Osmanthus Village, and the clean aura about her felt entirely out of place.

Because even Ergou, those two middle-aged men he had seen during the day, and even including the Old Village Chief and Mr. Wang, all had an entrenched, mysterious air about them.

It was as if they had been pickled into flavor, an influence that players couldn't shake off no matter how hard they tried to disguise.

Take an example.

Just like after Xu Shuo transformed into Qiuzi, even if his behavior was beyond reproach, there would still be a strange aura about him.

This was the influence of Qiuzi's Necrophage identity.

Already pickled into flavor.

But this woman, just by standing there, she seemed out of place in the whole Osmanthus Village.

Of course, there was another important point—

Her face looked eerily familiar.

The woman had her hair tied into two braids, with bangs straight across her forehead, dressed in a teal Chinese-style asymmetrical jacket with black wide-leg pants, her face radiant, her eyes kind and charming, radiating a graceful aura of poetry and literature.

After seeing that the young man seemed to bear no hostility towards her, the woman's initially anxious emotions eased slightly.

She straightened her hair and said in a low voice, "I am a scholar who got lost and ended up in the village a while ago, I was supposed to go to Xiaogang Village, but I couldn't find it and mistakenly found Osmanthus Village by chance."

Then she temporarily stayed in Osmanthus Village.

Xu Shuo studied her and asked, "What's your name?"

For some reason, the scholar suddenly felt a sense of urgency as if she had been called upon in class by a teacher. This young man had such a dominating aura!

She gripped the remote control in her hand and said, "Zhu Aidie."

"How old are you this year?" Xu Shuo continued.

"Eight… eighteen." The scholar replied.

But after answering with her age, the expression on the young man's face seemed to deepen with amusement, almost mockingly so.

She couldn't help but ask, "Why are you laughing?"

Xu Shuo smiled, "Nothing much, just thinking of something funny."

The scholar was confused, "What's funny?" Was her age funny?

Xu Shuo: "After eighteen years, another brave fighter is born."

Scholar: "..."

The scholar stood there with a dumbfounded face, knowing that she was being teased, yet she couldn't grasp the young man's point of humor.

Xu Shuo jumped down from the wall, looking at her and asked, "So, what are you doing out so late?"

Instead of answering obediently this time, the scholar clutched her remote control, like a schoolchild who had gotten an answer wrong, hanging her head and her eyes darting elsewhere.

This man's presence is so strong, she didn't feel brave enough to resist.

Seeing the scholar adopting a wronged and reticent demeanor, Xu Shuo tugged at his lips, feeling an incongruous sense of disharmony.

One bride strikes bold blows in West Mountain, yet you cower and shrink back in North Mountain.

He shook his head and turned, walking towards North Mountain.

The hesitating scholar, seeing this, thought for a moment and started to follow him tentatively.

But then she saw Xu Shuo head straight in the direction of where she had encountered the monster with a scythe. The scholar followed a few steps then slowed down, and more and more, until she couldn't resist whispering softly:

"There's a monster over there…"

"What monster?"

Xu Shuo, without turning back, spoke as he took out a dark green Bamboo Joint Cane.

The scholar glanced at his cane and continued softly, "The one with a scythe, who attacks anyone he sees. He moves incredibly fast; I couldn't even see his actions clearly when I was attacked."

On hearing this, Xu Shuo stopped, turned to look at her with a serious expression as he pondered, "Is there a possibility…"

The scholar blinked, "Hmm?"

"That you're just too weak?"

"..."

...

In some alley.

Two other people were pressed against the wall, steadying their Qi, daring not to make any significant movements.

Because the scythe-wielding madman might be near them!

He could even be around the corner!

Mr. Wang took out his Compass, looking at the wildly spinning needle, feeling a wave of despair.

He had never seen the needle spin so fast.

This compass was not the conventional tool for indicating direction.

Its true function was to detect danger, using the strength of its bearer as the benchmark at the center; the faster the needle spun, the higher the surrounding danger level.

Of course, this danger included all factors within a fifty meters radius, which naturally also included the Old Village Chief beside him.

However, Mr. Wang had just met with the village chief during the day, so he could be certain that the danger wasn't from the chief.

It could only be that unknown enemy, who had just brutally dismembered a figure with a firewood knife.

Realizing this, Mr. Wang gently nudged the village chief next to him and spoke with silent lip movements.

'What do we do now?'

The village chief glanced at him.

Then replied in the same silent manner, 'Don't move recklessly.'

Mr. Wang was getting restless, 'But we can't just keep hiding here.'

The village chief remained surprisingly calm, 'Just wait. If you make any noise, it's easier for that thing to detect us.'

'So what exactly is that thing?'

'A villager.'

'That's it?'

'What else?'

'Could it be Old Li from this afternoon?'

'Probably, I didn't see clearly, but that thing has a sense of danger.'

'But Old Li seemed pretty normal during the day, right?'

'Wasn't the village also quite normal during the day?'

'...'

'...'

Suddenly, Mr. Wang grabbed the village chief's sleeve urgently, his eyes now filled not with fright, but with terror!

The village chief looked at him, puzzled.

Mr. Wang held up the compass in front of his eyes.

Whizz whizz whizz——

The needle of the compass was spinning so fast that it had become a blur!

This meant that within fifty meters around him, a danger had appeared, against which he had no chance of defending himself!

Mr. Wang: !!!

Village Chief: ...

The village chief's gaze towards Mr. Wang gradually became meaningful. He glanced occasionally at the end of the alley, assessing the surrounding situation, as if considering how to leave.

Mr. Wang immediately gripped the village chief's sleeve tightly.

He looked equally meaningful——

As the saying goes,

A dead Taoist companion does not die a poor Taoist.

In this dark and quiet alley, the two had already started a silent and intense power struggle.

...

Meanwhile, on the spacious village road just around the corner of the alley.

At the end of the long street, the silhouettes of two people were outlined by moonlight, gazing at the figure holding a firewood knife, silently approaching the alley.

At the entrance of the street.

The scholarly woman who had followed them spoke fearfully, "Why did you insist on coming here to look for this thing? Wouldn't it be better for us to avoid it?"

She was very anxious, stemming from her own vulnerability in the face of strength.

Just as she found the commanding presence of the young man in front of her quite imposing, she found the hunched, feeble-looking figure in the distance terrifying!

Previously, she had only observed through machinery, and the feeling wasn't so obvious, leading her to consider whether she should keep moving forward or not.

But now, facing the enemy directly, she just wanted to turn around and run!

Why court death when living isn't so bad?!

Xu Shuo stood to the side.

He watched that figure, his calm expression giving nothing away, as he tapped his dark green Bamboo Joint Cane on the stone paved ground now and then.

The tapping of the cane against the bricks emitted a clear sound in the silent night.

...