Forbidden Zone of Deception

Chapter 317 Chain Plan

Almost the instant those words were spoken, the corpse that had been lying on the ground moved!

At the same time, Wang Tianba let out a sharp roar. Then, his head and body deflated like a punctured balloon. At the same time, the ghost head tattoo on his arm immediately began to bulge, and the ghost clone next to him immediately drifted over and merged with him, turning into a complete evil spirit!

As the corpse stood up, its already gaping mouth actually grew even bigger!

Then, the combined evil spirit floated up and flew towards the corpse's wide-open mouth!
It was actually correct!

However, Jiang Jin didn't understand at all.

Why did the ghost choose dragon fruit and point to Wang Tianba?

Back then, while those people were having their "storytelling session," Li Yin presented his plan to Jiang Jin. The most crucial point of his plan was that Jiang Jin had to unconditionally carry out his orders and not ask "why."

Based on the conventions of the path to survival and the blood-written words, Li Yin could determine that the path to survival through the blood-written words required a reasonable opportunity to whisper secrets. Therefore, whispering secrets could not only be done inside the warehouse, since that would make it too easy for the ghost to discover them.

He had two things he wanted Jiang Jin to do.

First, it gradually poses a threat of force to those present, and then expands this threat to the personal safety of all residents.

Secondly, he had to select fruit at the time specified by Li Yin, and he could only choose one of the following: lychee, apple, or mango.

To be honest, Jiang Jin was full of "whys" about these two things.

Li Yin then emphasized one more thing: "I can promise you that as long as you strictly follow the two things I just mentioned, I will definitely be able to find the ghost, and you won't be chosen by the ghost after you select the fruit. However, if you refuse to cooperate, or if you trip me up during the process, or pretend to comply while secretly disobeying me, then I will have sufficient reason to suspect that you are the ghost. So, if we still can't find out who the real ghost is in the end, and we are facing despair, I will identify you as the ghost. Don't forget, I selected the fruit before you."

Jiang Jin wasn't surprised. In Li Yin's eyes, he was also a suspect, and possibly quite a suspect at that. However, Jiang Jin trusted Li Yin implicitly, so he was willing to carry out the order without question. He even proactively told Li Yin about finding the fruit knife. When Li Yin heard about this, he immediately said, "That's even better. You can use the knife to hurt one or two residents. Anyway, once you return, any injury, no matter how severe, can be healed. Just be careful and make sure no one dies."

As a police officer, Jiang Jin naturally knows how to strike without causing death, and he can certainly control the degree of his actions.

"Also, you can only choose one of those three fruits. I know you'll be worried because if I were a ghost, your chance of dying would become one-third. But let me tell you clearly, as long as you choose one of those three fruits, the ghost won't be able to guess what you chose. Whether you believe me or not is up to you. I can only say that if you choose the other four fruits, you'll be responsible for your own fate. After all, your life is your own, and I've already done more than enough."

“Okay,” Jiang Jin nodded in reply, “I believe you, Li Yin.”

At this moment, just as Li Yin had said, the ghost chose the dragon fruit.

That terrifying evil spirit actually sucked the entire thing into the corpse's mouth! As the corpse's throat bulged slightly, it swallowed the ghost!

Then, the body fell down again and remained motionless!
"My God!" Zhao Meiling's face paled instantly, but she quickly realized that Wang Tianba really was a ghost!
"This..." Qian Yong's face also turned quite ugly. "What the hell? Li Yin, Jiang Jin, what are you two up to?"

Sun Miao was also puzzled: "Li, Li Yin, how exactly did you pinpoint Wang Tianba?"

Jiang Jin lowered the knife from Li Yin's neck and addressed everyone, "Let me clarify first, what I fed him was a mango."

Then, he looked at Sun Miao's arm, which was being hastily bandaged by tearing open her clothes, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Sun Miao, I had to hurt you because I was acting in front of this ghost."

"No, no..." Qian Yong's mind was a complete mess. "How did you determine that Wang Tianba is a ghost? Li Yin, didn't you tell me before that Jiang Jin fed him cantaloupe?" "What?" Zhao Meiling was astonished. "Li Yin, didn't you tell me that you could determine through micro-expression analysis that the fruit Jiang Jin fed him was Elizabethan cantaloupe?"

Sun Miao was also taken aback: "Hami melon? Elizabethan melon? But Li Yin said he analyzed Jiang Jin's micro-expressions and figured out that he fed him pineapple?"

Now, Jiang Jin understood completely.

Tell Wang Tianba that I fed him dragon fruit!

“That’s right,” Li Yin nodded, pointing to the corpse on the ground: “So, by identifying which fruit the ghost pointed out, I can find out who the ghost really is!”

"Wait, wait!" Qian Yong sensed something was wrong. "Your plan is off! What if the ghost is Jiang Jin? If it is Jiang Jin, we can just deliberately choose the wrong fruit, anything is possible!"

“That’s why I had Jiang Jin identify him,” Li Yin replied. “If he is a ghost, then a ghost cannot identify anyone. In this way, I can identify him myself.”

Sun Miao looked at the fruit knife and quickly asked, "Are you serious? Aren't you afraid a ghost will kill you?"

“I have studied all the recorded cases of scarlet letters. In the past, there have been scarlet letter missions where the ghost was subject to strict rules. Without exception, the ghost was forced by the apartment to kill the residents only if a certain rule was met. In other words, if the residents did not meet the triggering conditions of that rule, the ghost could not touch a single hair on their head, even if a fruit knife was held to their neck.”

Jiang Jin continued, "Li Yin, so this is why you made me use force and threatened to kill the other residents?"

“Yes. Actually, Zhou Qiang is more suitable for this role of violence than you,” Li Yin continued, explaining his plan: “This action can have multiple effects. When residents face a death crisis, they will feel that using a ghost to kill you is their greatest hope for survival. Then, everyone will intentionally or unintentionally join my plan, and with you monitoring the whole process, you will not verify the information you have obtained from each other.”

“But,” Sun Miao still felt something was off, “would the ghost really fall for the trap so easily? After all, if you call everyone out one by one to talk, the ghost might be on guard, right? For the ghost, it’s not like they necessarily have to kill Jiang Jin in this round; they could just guess a fruit at most… Ah! No wonder you said that to us!”

“Yes,” Li Yin began, “This ghost’s intelligence and logical thinking are extremely rigorous, but that’s precisely why my plan will be more effective. I told each of you that if Jiang Jin survives, he will definitely ask me to verify the ghost’s existence again. Statistically, when it’s Jiang Jin’s turn next, there will only be one type of fruit left, and he will surely die then. So, if we can’t find the ghost, he will still kill people. At that time, I, or any of you, facing Jiang Jin’s blade, will have to gamble and choose a highly suspected person to identify. I also said that if Jiang Jin tries to kill me next, I will definitely choose someone I suspect to identify. And that ghost will be terrified; it won’t be able to determine who we suspect. Only by ensuring Jiang Jin disappears can this crisis be resolved.”

"Even so, will it really believe what you say? Micro-expression analysis and all that?" Zhao Meiling continued to ask.

“It has no choice,” Li Yin continued confidently. “Micro-expression analysis for lie detection does exist, but I don’t know how to do it. As for the ghost, to be sure it identifies the fruit Jiang Jin fed it, believe me, the probability is at least 80-90%. If it were to choose randomly, the probability would only be one in seven. And as a result, any one of the five residents present could potentially choose to identify a suspect in the face of danger! If you were the ghost, what would you choose?”

This is Li Yin's most sophisticated and insidious murder plan!
If Jiang Jin were a ghost, he wouldn't have remained silent and didn't identify him even when Li Yin threatened to do so.

Of the other four, none of them, regardless of whether they were ghosts, dared to leave Jiang Jin behind as a dangerous element. Although the chance to identify him was only once, when death loomed over them, even the lowest risk would become incredibly immense and terrifying. Moreover, overall, the risk was already quite high. After all, Li Yin was the most likely to be the first to identify him under the threat of death, and in the eyes of a ghost, given Li Yin's demonstrated intelligence, he would most likely suspect them!
The cooperation between Li Yin and Jiang Jin was indeed seamless and reasonable; it could be said that they had considered every possible aspect.

Li Yin continued, "The final round was the closing one. I pretended I hadn't managed to escape into the warehouse and Jiang Jin held a knife to my neck. Then I personally confirmed which fruit the ghost was pointing to. After all, only I knew which fruit corresponded to which resident. Then, I made Jiang Jin point it out. If he dared to speak, he must be human. In that case, the ghost who chose the dragon fruit must be Wang Tianba, whom I told Jiang Jin to feed the dragon fruit!"

Jiang Jin smiled bitterly and said, "Li Yin is ruthless enough. He said that if I don't cooperate with him, he will identify me as a ghost when he faces the threat of death, and then I will be the one sucked into the corpse's stomach. At that time, if I don't cooperate with him, he can confirm that I am a ghost."

Then, Li Yin bowed slightly in greeting.

"And so...Checkmate!"

Then he looked at everyone and said, "So, do you have any more questions?"

(End of this chapter)