Second round
Players: 8
Countdown [02:53:15]
*****
Carter was the first to get a hold of himself and regain his calm. With a stoic expression, he walked up to the corpse and started inspecting room five.
The whole ground was white not a single shoe print or even a speck of dirt.
Madame Eva’s body was also neat without any signs of fighting or struggles.
Did she not show any resistance? or was she not able to?
“Dead! She’s dead!” Judge Cruz looked at the others “It means a murderer is hiding among us”
His loud voice pulled the others off their shocks. When their ears caught his last sentence, they all subconsciously looked at each other with caution.
Luca was no exception. He swept his gaze over the people present around him.
‘Seven suspects but only one culprit, to find the wolf we have to work together, yet with the wolf hiding among us, we can’t trust each other, besides, the wolf can choose his next victim which means that if someone stands out or become a potential threat, the wolf may just kill him to keep his identity hidden. As such …. HOW are we supposed to find the wolf??’
“Look everyone” Carter spoke attracting the others attention “As all of you can see, our situation has taken an unexpected turn, our lives are now on the line, we don’t know where we are or who is behind this, the only thing we can be certain of is that we have to win the game to leave this place alive”
Carter paused a second looking intently at the others then continued “So instead of waiting for the remaining time to drift meaninglessly, let’s work together, and try to win this game”
“Work together? Are you dump?” Judge Cruz sneered “How can we trust each other? the person next to us is probably a murderer, it may even be you?”
His remarks made all eyes turns toward Carter.
“I don’t need your trust” Carter shook his head “All I need is your brains, help me find the wolf, whether your claims and says are truth or just misleading lies, facts will back them up”
The room turned silent as they all exchanged glances with each other.
“Well, I start” Carter pointed at room five “From what I have discovered, the killer is meticulous he didn’t leave behind any traces or clues that may lead us to him and the body had no sign of struggles of any kind, either the killer was so fast that she couldn’t react in time or she was just reddened unable to put up a fight, you can verify by yourself and check my words”
As he said that, he took two steps away from room five, making rooms for the others to enter.
Jayden didn’t waste time and entered the room to verify Carter’s claims .
“He’s right, the room is clean and there is no injuries or marks of struggles on the body, if she resisted her clothes would be either torn or at least wrinkled but as you can see they are still in a perfect state” Jayden pointed out after exiting room five .
Carter lifted his hand and pointed at the rope around Madam Moore ‘s neck “Another thing that is bothering me, where did the killer find the rope?”
“Maybe” Izaac scratched his chin and voiced his opinion” it was in his room in a hidden compartment or something alike”
“Then we should search the rooms” Aaron suggested.
There were no objections, all seven people agreed without much of a reaction. Hence, Carter knew that they won’t be able to find anything as the wolf hiding wasn’t the least afraid.
Lucas also came to the same deduction. If they could find where the wolf hid his murder weapons, the game would just end as no one would be killed, it was way too easy. The game master, whoever he or she is, won’t let that happen, right? Not after all the effort put in staging the whole thing.
As it was expected, search concluded with no new leads.
The rooms had no hidden compartment and thus nothing was found.
“Or maybe the wolf brought it from the outside” Judge Cruz said.
“No, I don’t think so” All eyes fell on Lucas, who was standing by his room, he looked at the others and explained “From what the system said, the wolf is also a player competing with us to win the big price at the end, so just like us , he won’t be allowed to leave this room until the game ends”
“However we shouldn’t trust the system either” Aaron looked at Lucas then turned at the others “I think it’s just messing with us and in reality there is no way to win, just look at those crappy hints , even the 2 stars hints are useless , how are we going to win with them ?”
The rest agreed with what Aaron said.
Lucas rubbed his chin ‘he is not wrong’ the previous hints flashed in his mind, he reviewed them one after another , then he stopped on a particular one .
‘The wolf knows where the exit is’, that’s what it said right?
Lucas turned his head to the only closed door. Something just doesn’t add up.
“It’s only leave us with the boxes” Aaron pointed at the closed black boxes hanging on the wall beside each of the nine doors “Just nine, there is no box beside the ten closed door , they ought to have a purpose, no ?”
“You mean that our murder weapon is already chosen and is quietly waiting to be used on us?” Izaac laughed drily.
“Another thing the pain and paper, were they also in the box?” Riley pointed at the note with the uneven handwriting on madam Eva’s Body.
“I found this in the victim’s pocket” Carter took out a pen and showed it to the others “It’s the pan used to write the note, the uneven handwriting was probably intentional to make it difficult to identify its owner”
“Someone already died and yet we are still stuck on the same starting point” Jayden leaned on the wall, crossed his arms and then looked directly at Carter “What should we do now?”
“Mm, I suggest we buy the hints”
Carter’s response aroused many objections from the group especially Nathalie who was still shaken from fright.
“That’s the only way if we wish to find the wolf and leave this place” Lucas sighed and added “ We have nothing now, we need new clues to advance”
“I suggest that we vote” Carter lifted up his hand and said “Those who are for the purchase of hints, raise your hand please”
Nathalie, Judge Cruz and Aaron stood still, while all the others raised their hands.
Five against three.
“It decided then, I’ll do it this time if you don’t mind”
Seeing no one objecting, Carter walked to his room followed by Riley, Izaac and Lucas the others just stood at the door.
On the red screen, the countdown was still on going.
2:34:45
The numbers kept falling with each passing seconds , unlike in the first round, now those decreasing numbers made the crowd anxious and uneasy .
If they don’t win in this round, another person would die again at the end of the countdown.
Carter clicked on the star icon in the corner and a new window pooped up on the screen.
[ Hints Store:
1 star hint costs 30 minutes
2 stars hint costs 1 hour
3 stars hint costs 2 hours
Make your choice]
Now, it was time to choose.
Which hint should they pick? the highest one, the three stars hint that costs 2 hours or the two stars hint which costs one hour less but may or may not be useful?
A difficult choice especially now that they know how precious those three hours were.
However, for the time being the hints are their only way to get new leads and progress in their search of the wolf hiding among them.
Besides, time waits for no one, their currency is decreasing with each passing second. They can’t afford to hesitate further, and Carter was aware of this.
“Three stars”
Whether it was the group who voted for the hints purchase or the one that stayed behind, they all turned toward the man bewildered.
“What?” Jayden looked back at them “That’s the most logical choice , you know that the two stars and one stars hints are just gibberish , our only hope now is the three stars hint”
“B-But…” Nathalie lowered her head.
“I also think that we should pick the three stars hint “Carter voiced his opinion “I know that if we pick it we will be left with less than an hour to find the murderer but as how it is now, we won’t be able to do it with just the two stars hint, If anyone have any other suggestion please do tell, but let me remind you that our time is limited and we can’t afford to waste it in arguments and quarrels”
Carter’s words made everyone turn silent. Again, he was right , they were wasting their precious time.
“It settled then “Carter turned to the screen.
2:33:45
Once the purchase is done, they will only be left with a little more than half an hour to find the culprit or else another one of them dies.
Carter took in a deep breath and clicked on the three stars hint.
Whether someone dies next or not, it all depends on this hint.
A window popped up on the screen, containing the following words:
[The exit is in the wolf’s lair]
