A Survival Game Where You Have to Fall in Love with a Madman - Chapter 24

“The voting has concluded,” the cold voice of the crow mask announced. “Two votes for You Yan, two votes for Zhang Wei, one vote for Chen Yiyi, and one vote for He Yanqing.”

“Ha!” Zhang Wei let out a sinister laugh, straightening up. “Looks like I’m not the only one who finds you eyesore, kid!”

He Yanqing blinked softly and looked toward Li Luoyu. “Oh my, I really didn’t expect little Luoyu to actually vote for me~”

Li Luoyu turned his face away, thoroughly speechless. “You’re driving me crazy!”

“Wait a minute. Only You Yan voted for Zhang Wei. Where did the second vote come from?” Lin Xiaoyu asked, visibly bewildered.

You Yan, however, breathed a sigh of relief. No matter who had cast that second vote, the result was a tie.

“I cast it,” Liu Xin spoke up.

Only then did the others realize that while everyone else had spoken their choices aloud earlier, Liu Xin had remained completely silent. It appeared that players did not actually need to voice their targets; merely declaring a choice in one’s mind was enough for it to count.

If that was the case, the difficulty of the game would increase exponentially. No one would ever truly know who anyone else was voting for.

“Due to a tie, You Yan and Zhang Wei will now deliver their final defenses,” the crow mask instructed.

Zhang Wei slammed his hand down on the tabletop, his muscles taut. “There’s nothing to say! This kid has been acting shady and suspicious since the game started. There’s definitely something wrong with him!”

You Yan remained propped up against his hand, merely straightening his posture slightly. Taking a deep breath, he knew his next words would dictate his survival.

“I am a Commoner,” he said succinctly, his voice entirely calm, devoid of any emotional ripple. “Zhang Wei is targeting me purely out of a personal grudge. If the rest of you wish to vote me out, be my guest.”

His gaze inadvertently swept across Pei Baiyang, only to find the office worker staring back at him with a look bordering on pity. That look caused You Yan’s heart to tighten did this man know something?

Zhang Wei’s fist slammed into the decaying wooden table, causing the candlelight to flicker violently. The veins on his muscular arms bulged, and an undisguised hostility burned in his eyes.

“Let me say it one more time!” his voice boomed like thunder. “This kid has been hiding in the corner ever since we entered, refusing to utter a single word. If he isn’t acting out of a guilty conscience, then what is it?”

You Yan gently traced the handle of his scalpel, his expression remaining smooth and unbothered. He noticed the glint behind Pei Baiyang’s gold-rimmed spectacles a gaze as sharp as a surgical knife, as if it could dissect right through his disguise.

“Remaining silent means having a guilty conscience?” You Yan spoke again, his voice as freezing as ice. “Then what about you? Does having a loud voice make you a good citizen?”

Choked by the retort, Zhang Wei’s face flushed crimson. “You—”

“Enough,” Pei Baiyang suddenly interrupted them, pushing his glasses up with a long, slender finger. “Let us analyze this rationally.”

He turned toward You Yan, a faint, ambiguous smile playing on his lips. “Mr. You Yan, as the accused party, I have a question I would like to ask you.”

The air inside the church seemed to solidify as a suffocating tension spread through the room. You Yan could feel He Yanqing’s gaze wrapping around him like a venomous serpent, while Chen Yiyi pretended to casually fiddle with the hem of her skirt though her fingertips were trembling slightly.

“Go ahead,” You Yan replied coldly.

Pei Baiyang methodically adjusted his cuffs. “According to basic Werewolf game strategy, the good faction should actively speak up on the first night to establish a foundation of trust. Yet, you chose silence…” He suddenly raised his eyes, his gaze behind the lenses cutting like a blade. “Was it because you feared that the more you spoke, the more mistakes you would make, thereby exposing your identity as a Werewolf?”

The question was like a poisoned dagger thrust straight at his vitals perceptive and relentless.

You Yan felt a thin layer of cold sweat break out across his back. This man was absolutely not an ordinary office worker. The brilliance of the question lay in the fact that no matter how You Yan answered, he would likely fall into a trap.

Pei Baiyang might very well be the real Seer. The most pressing issue now was that You Yan had no idea who the man had verified on the first night. If Pei Baiyang had inspected him and was asking this question to subtly direct suspicion his way without exposing his own identity as a Seer, then the situation was catastrophic. It would push You Yan directly into the eye of the storm.

Yet, everyone harbored a shred of wishful thinking. What if Pei Baiyang hadn’t verified him on the first night?

Liu Xin nervously adjusted his glasses, his lips twitching as if he wanted to speak, but he swallowed his words back down. Lin Xiaoyu anxiously wrung her fingers, while Li Luoyu impatiently kicked the leg of the table.

Suddenly, You Yan smiled a cold, almost imperceptible curve of the lips. He released his grip on the scalpel, resting his hand casually on the table as his index finger tapped a rhythmic beat against the wood.

“Mr. Pei is indeed a professional lawyer.” His voice was astonishingly placid. “But you have overlooked one detail players with Special Roles also need to hide their identities on the first night. If I had behaved too actively, wouldn’t I have made it easier for the Werewolves to find their target?”

Pei Baiyang’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. He actually deduced my profession as a lawyer. This person is certainly not a simple player whose ability was evaluated at zero. Status panels really don’t dictate everything.

You Yan continued, “Furthermore…” His gaze swept across the group. “Given that the Witch has already revealed herself, the Seer will inevitably become the Werewolves’ next target. If I were a Werewolf, why wouldn’t I seize the opportunity to pretend to be a good citizen? Why would I keep a low profile instead and actively draw suspicion to myself?”

Chen Yiyi suddenly chimed in softly, “He makes sense…” She raised her watery eyes. “If You Yan were a Werewolf, he ought to have been much more proactive in his disguise.”

He Yanqing let out a low whistle. “Wow, our theoretician has suddenly become quite eloquent, hasn’t he?” He tilted his head, his moonlight-blue hair falling over his brow. “Or should I say… you’ve been backed into a corner?”

You Yan gave him a frosty glare but did not take the bait.

“Bullshit!” Zhang Wei leapt to his feet, his chair scraping against the floor with a screeching thud. “You’re all being fooled by him! This kid—”

“Evidence,” You Yan cut him off, his voice remaining flat. “Do you have any evidence for your accusations?”

Struck dumb, Zhang Wei’s face turned from crimson to purple, his knuckles cracking loudly. “I… I…”

“That’s enough,” Pei Baiyang spoke, his voice carrying an unquestionable authority. “Mr. Zhang, emotional outbursts prove nothing.”

You Yan keenly noted that as Pei Baiyang said this, his gaze casually drifted over Chen Yiyi with a hint of scrutiny in his eyes.

A thought flashed through You Yan’s mind like lightning: Pei Baiyang didn’t verify me on the first night. He verified Chen Yiyi! That’s why he targeted her during the vote, and now…

No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t that he had verified her; he merely suspected her. Because of the rule allowing high-level players to inspect the status panels of lower-level players, Pei Baiyang must already know that Chen Yiyi possessed a disguise ability. Therefore, it was just suspicion, and he was intentionally misleading the crowd.

“You motherf—!” Zhang Wei suddenly exploded. Standing up fully, his massive frame loomed over You Yan like a falling mountain.

You Yan’s fingers instantly locked around the handle of his dagger, bracing for the impact. It was the weapon He Yanqing had returned to him last time.

But in the next split second, Zhang Wei’s body froze weirdly mid-air.

The voice of the crow mask rang out with freezing finality:

“Violent behavior is strictly prohibited. First warning.”

As if choked by an invisible hand, Zhang Wei’s face turned a deep shade of purple, and he was forced back down into his chair. He gasped heavily for air, an unyielding fury burning in his eyes.

Liu Xin pushed his glasses up, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “I… I still maintain that You Yan is a Commoner. As the Seer, my judgment…”

“Is that so?” He Yanqing suddenly interrupted, his eyes gleaming with mischievous malice. “Then why is it that just as you said ‘You Yan is a Commoner,’ your finger kept tapping out ‘• • • — — —’ in Morse code?”

Liu Xin’s face drained of color instantly.

You Yan’s heart sank. This lunatic, He Yanqing… he actually noticed a detail like that?

“I… I was just nervous…” Liu Xin stammered out an explanation.