Puzzle Madness

Chapter 175 Autumn is the Hunting Season (Part 11)

Huang Youtian spoke incoherently, pointing his flashlight at the person's face after each sentence, making it impossible for the person to open their eyes.

Coupled with his outburst of manic rage, everyone else was momentarily speechless, stammering and shuffling along the wall in a panic.
"Huang Youtian! What did you say? Are you dizzy from all this shock? Are you crazy? Have you lost your mind?!"

"So, you're the most flamboyant, which makes you quite suspicious!"

Especially the guy with the eyepiece, his eyes were stung so badly that tears welled up in them, and he could only cover his eyes with his hands and growl.

But when Huang Youtian shone his flashlight on Ai Xi's face, he found that the other person was not looking at him at all, but was still staring at Da Tou Hong's corpse, lost in thought.

Huang Youtian suddenly ran two steps toward Ai Xi, then abruptly stopped and began banging his flashlight handle against the wall.

"And you, you're the one who's most suspicious! There's something definitely wrong with you: they're all terrified, why aren't you reacting at all?!"

"The door wasn't even there before—it only appeared after you ran over! Maybe you ran over and closed it! Damn, if it weren't for the fact that you're such a young girl—"

He appeared to be furious, yet he spoke without stammering and maintained proper logic; he didn't seem like someone who was truly on the verge of collapse, but rather someone who was simply taking the opportunity to vent.

But then, Huang Youtian's madness escalated further. He raised his thumb and pointed to himself:

"Hahaha, maybe it was me. I lured the monster here! Maybe the monster wouldn't even eat me, but Big Head Hong just had to act cool and be the last one! Who knows?"

After saying that, he lowered his head and breathed heavily.

Ai Xi squatted down again, reaching into Da Tou Hong's corpse to stir and rummage through it. Her voice was low, and she spoke slowly; it was as if she hadn't heard Huang Youtian's roar at all.
"Oh, an inside man? Or more like a 'lackey,' I mean the kind of 'lackey that acts as an accomplice to a tyrant.' After being killed by the monster, it becomes controlled and lures people in to be eaten: that makes sense too—"

"After all, no one knows what abilities the monsters outside have. As it stands, it is only strong, tall, and intelligent enough to use weapons. It is also reasonable that it has other skills."

Ai Xi supported herself on her knees and stood up; an increasing number of flies buzzed around, occasionally landing on her skin, causing a lot of itching.

"It could also be something like 'Mutant Type 3.' The inside man is also a monster, but he disguised himself as a human and infiltrated among you tourists from the beginning?"

The confusion in the boy's eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a sparkle; the hurt he felt from being criticized by Huang Youtian seemed to have been erased.
"Oh, you've seen it too? That's a really good movie!"

At the time, the sixth sequel to Mutant Type 3, Mutant Type 8, was being filmed, but it had already begun to generate buzz quietly; this horror movie series was naturally a trendy item, and many readers of "Psycho Exploration" were also fans of it.

But many people actually prefer its simpler translation: The Thing.

Ai Xi spread her hands and tilted her head:

"According to this idea, there may be companion species—one that can shapeshift, mimic, and camouflage to assist others; and another that hunts more violently and directly; and then they share food."

"So one of them was waving a kitchen knife around outside the room, and the other was mixed in with us."

“Since you are all readers of ‘Super Psychological Exploration,’ you should be able to accept this possibility. In any case, understanding it will definitely not be a problem.”

As she spoke, Ai Xi suddenly nodded. She seemed to agree with the idea proposed by the sour soup bak kut teh:

"Sour soup bak kut teh, you're quite perceptive. Looking at it this way, your idea makes perfect sense—"

Ai Xi pointed at Da Tou Hong's corpse, and with her other hand waved away the small black worms that were wrapping around her:

"And the blond one. You mentioned everyone, but you forgot him. Maybe he faked his death and is hiding here?" "But—if he can still move like that, we have no chance of escaping; let's not consider that possibility."

Ai Xi suddenly put her hands on her hips and sighed:
"Who says there's only one imposter? There could be two or three; to put it extremely: you could all be imposters, you just don't know it."

Sour Soup Bak Kut Teh stared blankly at Ai Xi, her gaze shifting between the corpse and her companion. She staggered back down to the ground, scratching at her blood-soaked soles:
"Then what should we do? Should we confront them or—split up and run away?"

Ai Xi pursed her lips and shook her head, rejecting both of her proposals:

"What else can we do? Just pretend it never happened."

"After all, if you can mimic something so realistic that you can't tell the difference between real and fake, it doesn't seem too difficult to copy the memories as well -- there's no need to continue the discussion, this topic can be extended indefinitely; it's simply impossible to verify."

“There are no facilities or conditions for isolation and testing right now, and no one can be trusted; you don’t even know each other, and there is a lack of basic information.”

"So let's just pretend this never happened. Even if there really are monsters mixed in with us, it won't make a difference."

"It would be better if we could each run away separately and act independently. Even without considering the problem of getting lost, it would probably be difficult for each of us to find a way to escape now."

"But we can't stay here any longer. I've discovered something; listen to it."

She strode towards Huang Youtian, snatched his flashlight, and shone it across the surrounding walls, completely ignoring his astonishment.

The small rectangle that everyone had just passed through was not the only entrance here. There were also four or five other doors scattered around, and two or three openwork railings embedded in the walls.

Some have gray edges, with the gaps filled with cement, completely blending into the wall; others have tightly locked gates, with the steel security doors made of the same material as the entrances remaining completely still.

Only one door was open: like a square of black, leading to an even deeper darkness.

Before, everyone was either too panicked, or immersed in rage or the afterglow of surviving a disaster, and didn't really observe their surroundings properly.

"Shut up, everyone, and watch me."

Ai Xi strode to the wall and began pounding on the doors with his fists, then pushing them forcefully; but none of them could be moved.
"Hmm, it won't open."

"Actually, this isn't my first time visiting this air-raid shelter; but I didn't encounter anything unusual the previous times. I've been to this trapezoidal room we're in before."

"This place could have been a ventilation hub or a command center; in any case, it's a well-connected area."

She pointed to the dark passageway and shone her flashlight on it—dark gray steps stretched downwards, their destination unknown.

"This door was closed last time, but now this is the only way to go."

Ai Xi then turned her hand to the other side, aiming at another tightly closed door:

"That should have been an exit, but it's closed now and can't be opened."

"The meaning is clear: we are to go this way. This is a pre-planned route."

(End of this chapter)