After everyone introduced themselves, they each had a rough idea of who the others were.
The strongest among them appeared to be No. 15—about 1.9 meters tall, his muscles looked like they were ready to burst out of his skin.
No one wanted to take a punch from someone like him.
Besides No. 15, there was No. 1, who wore military gear and carried a natural sense of authority.
He sat up straight, as if he really were a soldier.
No. 5 and No. 6 were the “shamate” couple—fashionably eccentric and self-described as confused.
Before the game began, they claimed to have heard a strange sound 30 minutes prior, which they assumed was a hallucination caused by drug use.
After the 16 people finished introducing themselves, there were 16 self-proclaimed civilians.
But of course, eight of them were lying.
One confirmed liar was No. 2, Zhang Huiran.
Even No. 1, Zhou Wei, realized the “irreversible” situation and subtly distanced himself from No. 2 to make a statement.
If Zhou Wei was doing this, the others were even more unwilling to be associated with her.
Hua Ru kept her head down with a shy demeanor, but her mind was working furiously.
She realized Zhang Huiran’s situation could be useful.
Soon, a rough plan formed in her mind, though the execution details were still unclear.
She shifted her focus to analyzing the rules.
Thinking carefully, there were two ways to eliminate the killers: the first was by voting, and the second was through self-defense.
Special Rule 3: Except for killer players, all participants cannot leave their rooms between 00:00 and 06:00.
Special Rule 5: During regular time, players are forbidden from killing or restraining others.
Explanation to Rule 5: Regular time refers to all periods except between 00:00 and 06:00—i.e., before midnight and after 6:00 a.m.
She recalled these three rules.
For civilians and police, they couldn’t leave their rooms between midnight and 6 a.m., effectively making them sitting ducks—waiting for the killers to choose their targets.
But Rule 5 was key—it said “all players” couldn’t kill or restrict others during regular time, which implied that during the killer’s window, such actions were permitted.
This meant self-defense was allowed, and even killing a killer was possible.
That was the second method of eliminating them.
Looking again at Rule 3—the key phrase: “cannot leave their rooms.”
It seemed that everyone had their own individual room.
This likely prevented players from teaming up, thus making it easier for killers to pick them off.
As Hua Ru was deep in thought, the others in the hall began to share their own theories, with everyone insisting they were civilians.
Let’s take a look at how No. 12, Lapis Lazuli—who called himself Xukesi—performed.
He raised his hand to indicate he wanted to speak.
No. 1, Zhou Wei, acknowledged him.
(In Cantonese) “Excuse me…” As soon as he spoke, he realized his slip-up.
“Sorry, force of habit. So here’s the thing. According to Rule 3, after midnight we can’t leave our rooms. What happens if we’re not in our rooms by then? And where are our rooms?”
“I can answer that,” said No. 3, who had been mostly silent.
His name was Qian Min and he claimed to be an investigator—a detective.
He seemed to understand Cantonese but replied in Mandarin.
Adjusting his glasses, he continued, “Breaking the rules results in point deductions.
The severity of the punishment depends on the impact.”
Everyone’s attention shifted to him.
Even Hua Ru paused her thoughts to observe No. 3. Across from them, No. 10—an older man—continued smoking, but also turned his gaze toward Qian Min.
(Cantonese) “What? Explain clearly,” No. 12 Xukesi asked reflexively.
“Take a closer look at Rule 3,” Qian Min said. “It uses the phrase ‘cannot leave the room’—not ‘must not leave.’ There’s a big difference between those two.
You all graduated elementary school, right?
So my initial hypothesis is that at midnight, one of two things happens: either everyone is teleported into their own rooms and only killers can move freely, or we can choose whether to return to our rooms.
If we don’t, we’ll be penalized to death by point deductions.
Once you return, you can’t leave again until after 6 a.m.
And as for our rooms… it’s obvious.
We haven’t explored the second floor yet.”
A seasoned veteran—he claimed this was his fourth game.
It sounded convincing.
Sensing an ideal moment for performance, Hua Ru slowly raised her hand.
When No. 1 called her name, she startled slightly—just the right touch of nervousness.
Even she couldn’t spot any flaws in her own performance.
Her acting was flawless.
As all eyes turned toward her, she lowered her head a bit more.
“I… um… last time… during a relay race… one team… they were about to win… but then, near the finish line, they suddenly started attacking us… Is there a reason for that? Do killers… maybe have goals beyond just… killing?”
Her words had been carefully considered.
“Probably trying to earn extra points,” No. 3 replied again, adjusting his glasses.
“Punishments and hidden rewards aren’t disclosed to players. For example, you said it was a relay race, right? The goal was to reach the finish line?”
Hua Ru nodded slightly.
Qian Min continued, “The system only told you winning the race gives 500 points. But there are usually hidden bonus conditions.
For example, attacking others. As long as the game rules don’t forbid it, attacking is a typical way to earn bonus points. Sounds like you had a greedy opponent last time.
This time, the rules clearly prohibit killing and restraining during regular time, so attacking won’t earn points. But for the killers, who knows? Unless we know their rules, we can’t say for sure what earns them bonuses. Still, your comment reminds me—they might have other goals beyond just murder.”
“T-thank you…” Hua Ru blushed as she sat down.
Yes, she really blushed—even her ears turned a cute pink.
It wasn’t hard to fake.
She simply thought back to her childhood.
Back then, Hua Hualong had been naïve.
His adoptive father had told him he was born from a rock, and his mother had said she found him in a trash can.
He even believed swallowing watermelon seeds would make them grow inside his belly.
The memory was so embarrassing that her cheeks flushed red—right down to her earlobes.
Her acting had absolutely stunned the others—and she was 100% confident in it! The kind of confidence you have when “three people are chasing one—no way they lose,” or like a “King-tier dad playing against a Bronze-tier son—zero chance of losing.”
The performance served multiple purposes.
First and foremost, it explained how she’d survived her first round.
During her earlier introduction, Hua Ru had said this was her second time in the Dark World.
But how could such a weak-looking woman survive the first round?
The answer: Team play—red and blue groups.
The relay race required cooperation from multiple people to win, so naturally everyone would assume it involved red and blue teams.
They’d believe Hua Ru survived by clinging to a stronger teammate, and got lucky.
She also mentioned that the team that was originally about to win suddenly began attacking others to earn extra points—this made her story of surviving by sheer luck even more convincing.
On the surface, she seemed to be asking: Do killers have objectives beyond just killing?
But in reality, she was subtly addressing the suspicious gap in her own identity.
Meanwhile, what caught the attention of most others was the mention of bonus points—they started thinking about what kinds of actions could earn them extra points, since the base 500 points per game were clearly insufficient.