The weapon by the pillow

Cheng Jing glanced at her watch again: 2:58.

Two minutes left.

"Chen Ming," Cheng Jing's voice grew even colder as she looked at the chaotic online space, "Notify the negotiation experts to use a megaphone to call out to room 403. Inform them that the police are outside, ask them to remain calm and not to take any drastic actions, and assure them that we will ensure their safety. At the same time... subtly convey the message that Liu Li may still be nearby with two other people. See their reaction."

"Yes!" Chen Ming immediately understood.

With a "click," the lighter was turned on, and Cheng Jing lit another cigarette, taking a deep drag.

A pungent fumes filled her lungs, calming her nerves slightly.

"No matter where you're hiding, no matter how many traps you've set," she thought to herself, "tonight, you must slip up."

On the screen in front of her, she saw room 403 filled with crazy people. Hearing them say they wanted to vote, and the even more frenzied expressions of the netizens, she felt extremely agitated by the wave after wave of online trials and votes.

Everyone is misleading each other, sometimes by others, sometimes by themselves.

Perhaps this situation will eventually become one in which everyone participates, and no one can escape its influence!

But the room was still noisy, which everyone found amusing.

"We must vote..."

Shadow emphasized again, muttering to himself, "The sum of the two dice is seven... How can a die sum to itself? Unless... this die itself represents a number that needs to be added to another 'number' to get seven? What is that other number? Is it the number of us? Eight people? Eight plus negative one equals seven? So... one of us has to die? Let's vote on who dies!"

His muttering to himself made the others even more horrified.

"Vote?" Li Kai sneered, gripping the chipped die tightly. "Vote for what? Who should die so you can reach your 'sum of seven'?"

"Shut up!" Lynx roared irritably. "Stop talking about dying! The police are almost here! We just need to wait!"

"Wait?" Li Kai retorted. "Wait for the mastermind behind this to continue playing us? Wait for any potential culprit among us to make a move? Or wait for something to crawl out of some unknown 'second secret room'?"

He had barely finished speaking—

"Knock knock knock!"

Suddenly, a knocking sound came from downstairs.

Immediately afterwards, a loudspeaker amplified the sound from outside:

"Attention, people inside! We are the police! You are surrounded! Please remain calm and do not engage in any rash actions! We are attempting to get upstairs to ensure your safety!"

The police are here!

In an instant, everyone in the room except for Shadow and Li Kai showed a relieved joy on their faces.

"Police! It's the police!" Ah Zhe and Xiao Fei almost burst into tears.

Lynx breathed a sigh of relief: "Damn, they're finally here!"

The voices outside the door continued, but what they said surprised everyone:

"In addition, we have received some information that may be related to your current situation. Please be aware that some of the 'audience members' you thought had 'left' or some dead people may not have left the theater, and may even be... wandering around nearby with new 'friends'. Please be vigilant and pay attention to your personal safety."

Some "audience members" who thought they had already "left"?

Some dead people? Liu Li?

Liu Li! She's not dead? She's nearby? And she brought people with her?

Li Kai, Cheng Tan, Lin Qian, Yingzi, and the others instantly understood the police's veiled hint!

Liu Li might be alive! And she might be nearby!

This news was like a stone thrown into an already turbulent lake.

If Liu Li didn't die, what is the meaning of the half-eaten lipstick? Is it pure misdirection? Or is Liu Li's "death" another form of death? Or... was Liu Li herself the mastermind behind it all?

Just as everyone was processing this astonishing information, Cheng Tan's gaze inadvertently swept over the open camphor wood chest, over the neatly arranged tools at the bottom of the chest, and finally landed on the gleaming ice pick.

Ice picks...

Zhao Jianguo...

The fragmented hallucinations flashed through his mind again, but this time, they seemed a little clearer.

He seemed to see that the large, rough hand with the gold ring wasn't holding a wrench, but... a small, sharp... paper cutter?

A paper cutter? The tool corresponding to the fourth nightmare?

That hand was holding a paper cutter, cutting...on something? It looked like a...photograph?

A photo of Li Wan?

The image flashed by, and my headache returned.

But Cheng Tan seized upon this moment of inspiration.

"Tools... aren't just for killing..." he murmured, "they're also for... 'processing' things. Ice picks, wires, wrenches, box cutters, paperweights, pliers... they can cause harm, and they can also... destroy evidence, cut objects, fix things..."

He suddenly looked up at Wu Wenbin: "Your father's surveying drawings! The drawings marked with 'abnormal ground echo' and 'cavity?' in red pen! Back then, those people surveying the room might not have been just looking for hidden spaces, but also... to confirm the most suitable place to 'deal with' or 'hide' something that needed to be cut, disassembled, or fixed!"

Wu Wenbin was startled.

Li Kai instantly understood. His face turned deathly pale. "You...you mean...in my sister's room, they not only killed her...but also...and disposed of...other things?"

"Or," Lin Qian's voice was icy as she continued, "Li Wan's death was itself a cover-up for the process of 'handling something.' She accidentally saw or learned something she shouldn't have known. So she was silenced, and the scene was staged to look like a chaotic robbery or a crime of passion, using various tools to confuse the public and cover up what they were really doing—handling or hiding some important 'evidence' or 'item' in that secret room."

"And that 'item' might still be hidden in... the second secret room," Shadow concluded, looking at the square opening. "That die, that puzzle of 'the sum of the numbers being seven,' might be the final key to opening the second room, or safely approaching that 'item.'"

All eyes were once again focused on the chipped die in Li Kai's hand.

The dice remained cold, their jagged edges resembling an open mouth.

Outside, the police shouts had temporarily ceased, as if they were waiting for a response.

Liu Li and her companions may be lurking downstairs.

The time jumped to 2:59.

One minute until 3 a.m.

The real secret may lie on the second layer.

But what will be the price to open it?

Cheng Tan looked at the die, and at the faces around him, some filled with fear, some with suspicion, some with despair, and some with determination.

He knew that the final moment was approaching.

Whatever is hidden in the second secret room, whoever the murderer is, no matter how ingenious the scheme is...

Once the second layer is found, the truth will finally be revealed.

I just don't know how many of those present will live to see it.

Did they find Liu Li?

Also, in the online world, have the voting results for hundreds of thousands of viewers been released yet?

Will we have to wait until 2026 to find out? Should we vote for the author and give them a reward to get the result sooner?

We'll wait and see!

(Happy New Year everyone! The author will be on duty all night tonight to protect the safety of the residents!) See you next year!