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墨書 Inktalez
My junior brother speaks as casually as if he were discussing a meal, and I worry that his old habits will resurface, delaying our time here while we gather to "inhale poison."
Right now, everyone has two types of toxins in their bodies: foul-smelling gas and Corpse Poison, both of which belong to the same family but differ in composition. For the time being, they have reached a sort of "negative balance" within us. Therefore, even if we inhale a small amount of Corpse Poison again, it won't pose a life-threatening danger. However, everything has its limits. If we continue to waste time here without finding a way out, that balance will soon be disrupted. The Corpse Poison will gain the upper hand, and we will fall into a coma again, pulled into the pit by that strange suction from the Buddha Cave. Of course, I am exempt from this due to my Xue Du.
So I reminded my junior brother, "Think carefully before you speak; don't waste everyone's time with nonsense."
He clicked his tongue in response, "Alright, alright! Everything I say is useless; are you happy now?"
My senior sister was very interested in the matter concerning Cold Bench and, not understanding my junior brother's temperament, thought I was on good terms with Cold Bench. She deliberately silenced him and habitually gave me a light smack on the back of my head. "Shut up and let him speak!"
My junior brother was momentarily taken aback, instinctively rubbing the back of his head. He sighed, "Wow, it turns out that hitting someone on the back of the head is a family tradition!" After receiving a glare from my senior sister, he quickly changed his tone and said, "—He went towards the river! I saw Zhao Qian heading towards the river with my own eyes!"
Old Qiao interjected, "Dui Er Brothers, please be more specific."
Upon hearing Old Qiao's serious tone, my junior brother immediately understood that Old Qiao must have been scolded by my senior sister as well and dared not joke any further. He spoke earnestly: "Around 1 AM, I woke up because I needed to pee. As soon as I sat up from my sleeping bag, I saw a light coming from your tent next door. The lamp must have been intentionally covered with cloth because it wasn't very bright. So I didn't turn on my light; I quietly opened a small gap and saw Zhao Qian heading quickly towards the river."
I asked, "What happened after that? Did you see anyone from Third Granduncle Master?"
My junior brother shook his head. "I was about to wet my pants at that moment; after going out to relieve myself and returning, I completely forgot about it. Damn it, I was so sleepy—who could care about them at that point?"
I thought about it; indeed, these people were severely sleep-deprived and could fall asleep even while standing. When my senior sister woke me up earlier, I was on the verge of dozing off; my mind was completely foggy and I didn't catch a word she said at first.
It was strange though—what would Cold Bench be doing by the river in the middle of the night? Could it be that he felt unwell and wanted to take a bath?
I was lost in thought when Old Qiao suddenly asked, “Dui Er Brothers, how do you know it’s around 1 AM when you get up at night?”
At this, I found it strange too. Who checks the time when they get up to use the bathroom at night?
My junior naturally replied, “Because when I came back from peeing, I saw Liuzi on duty.”
Initially, to ensure everyone’s safety, we had decided that the seven of us (excluding the older Old Qiao and Third Granduncle Master ) would take turns keeping watch at night. Each person would be on duty for one hour, and during the shift change, the previous watchman would wake up the next one.
I remembered that we had eaten dinner at 8 PM. My junior was supposed to take my first shift, and I had fallen into a deep sleep. After that, it was my senior who woke me up to confirm Cold Bench's identity. During this time, I hadn’t checked the time even once and hadn’t seen anyone on duty outside. Naturally, I assumed my senior was on watch and had taken advantage of her shift to call me out to avoid being overheard.
So, the only one who could confirm Liuzi's disappearance was my senior.
Thinking about this, I looked at her. Inspired by my junior’s comment, she also realized this point and said, “The watch starts at 10 PM and ends at 5 AM the next morning. I was on the fourth shift from 1 AM to 2 AM. The person who woke me up was Liuzi.”
I continued my analysis: “That means Liuzi was on the third shift from midnight to 1 AM. At least before 1 AM, he hadn’t left the camp. But Zhao Qian had already left during his watch. Clearly, Liuzi wasn’t with Zhao Qian. By the way, which shift was Zhao Qian on?”
My junior answered decisively, “The second shift; he woke me up.”
“That’s strange…” I said. “If Zhao Qian left during his own shift, he wouldn’t be able to wake Liuzi for his shift. But if Zhao Qian left during Liuzi’s shift, Liuzi wouldn’t have missed it.”
At that moment, Old Qiao suddenly said, “It’s not impossible. For example, it could have happened right at their shift change—Zhao Qian wakes Liuzi up first, sees him open his eyes, then slips out. During the time Liuzi gets up to leave the tent, Zhao Qian could quickly head towards the river. Liuzi wouldn’t think to check if the previous watchman had gone back to sleep.”
“Exactly!” My junior exclaimed with a snap of his fingers. “The first time I looked out of the tent, I didn’t see Liuzi; it was only after I came back from peeing that I saw him sitting at the entrance barking as a lookout.”
Now I have basically figured it out. Cold Bench left alone at one o'clock in the night, and when my senior sister and I left around three in the morning, he still hadn't returned. The time when Third Granduncle Master, Liuzi, and A Chen went missing was at least after Liuzi had handed over to my senior sister, which means it was after one o'clock the next morning, before Old Qiao, my junior brother, and A Li encountered danger. This period coincided with the time my senior sister and I were discussing Cold Bench's identity behind the camp. What’s strange is that so many people went missing, yet we had no inkling of it.
I shared my thoughts, and A Li raised a question: “If that's the case, then the Frugivorous Civet wouldn’t have had time to attack us, right? It wasn’t during the shift change, nor when Zhao Qian was on duty, nor when Liuzi was on duty. It was during my senior sister’s shift—”
A Li suddenly covered her mouth, realizing there was another possibility. The only possibility was that during my senior sister’s shift, the Frugivorous Civet attacked our camp. Conversely, if my senior sister hadn’t left her post at that time, perhaps everyone could have escaped this disaster and avoided the current state of injuries and disarray.
Everyone present was sharp-witted and immediately caught on to A Li's unspoken implications. My senior sister's ears turned bright red; it was neither a moment for scolding her nor for comforting her, creating an awkward atmosphere.
What frightened me most was A Li's intention behind this.
Having grown up with A Li, I understood her as well as I understood my junior brother. In her unintentional glance back, I read her most genuine thoughts at that moment and couldn’t help but shiver—before my senior sister could embarrass her, she had already embarrassed my senior sister first.
A Li’s actions seemed unintentional but were actually deliberate. Ever since she disguised herself as Kui Xue at Emerald Villa, she was no longer that innocent girl from the old street. She excelled at using her childlike innocent appearance to carry out some ruthless deeds without anyone suspecting a thing, striking right at the enemy's weak spot with pinpoint accuracy. When it came down to it, no one would suspect her; everyone would just see it as an innocent mistake or a twist of fate.
A Li probably didn’t know about how my senior sister saved her with Corpse Poison. Perhaps by then she already had some faint awareness of it; combined with the embarrassment inflicted by my senior sister at Old Shui Lai Tou, both old grievances and new grudges were settled in one blow against my senior sister.
If my senior sister were ruthless, A Li would likely be even more so—striking from the shadows is always harder to defend against. (To be continued.)
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