All eyes turned to the "Second Miss"—Xia Zeqin's female companion.

"I..." The companion looked helplessly at Xia Zeqin, seeking rescue.

Xia Zeqin replied calmly, "The one who was castrated isn't necessarily the murderer. Don't you understand that?"

Qin Nan recalled his earlier confrontation with Lin Junru—having a good brain is essential.

"Since we're discussing castration, let me share our findings," Qin Nan interjected, sensing the female companion was too flustered to contribute anything useful.

"We examined the body and found three injuries: first, a blow to the forehead; second, a stab wound to the chest; and third, the castration. However, after the castration, there was deliberate treatment—at least, the victim's undergarments were changed, as we found no bloodied ones at the crime scene."

As soon as Qin Nan finished speaking, everyone instinctively looked at the "Second Miss."

"Additionally, we made two more findings: first, a ledger with strange content that currently lacks a reasonable explanation; second, there were shards of a teacup in the room, suggesting that the father likely had a confrontation before his death, which resulted in the cup breaking. Whether this person is the murderer remains to be discussed." Qin Nan summarized their situation.

"The Second Miss may not be the murderer, but I still want to know what happened at that time. Did the Second Miss castrate the master? What was the situation like then? Is it possible she encountered the murderer?" Zheng Jueming pressed, still targeting the "Second Miss."

For now, her suspicion was indeed the highest.

Everyone awaited her response.

"Zeqin, help me," the female companion pleaded, gripping Xia Zeqin's clothing tightly.

"This is just a question," Xia Zeqin replied, somewhat exasperated. "Can't you answer this?"

The female companion paused, feeling wronged. "I don't know! All it told me was that I’m the Second Miss, a concubine's daughter, that my mother is dead, and nothing else. How am I supposed to answer? I have no idea about any undergarments or blood."

Although that was the case, no one expected her to state it so plainly.

What shocked everyone even more was that as soon as she finished speaking, her body flickered and transformed into a static-like distortion, reminiscent of a TV with poor signal. Before anyone could react, she disappeared with a crackling sound.

Xia Zeqin's companion became the first player to be erased from this world.

"Wha—what the hell?" Xu Tian exclaimed, her eyes wide. She quickly walked to the spot where the companion had vanished, reaching out to grasp the air several times. "Where did she go? Is this some kind of magic?"

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Qin Nan felt a strange calm wash over him after seeing Xu Tian's reaction, despite the tension and fear he had felt before.

For a newcomer witnessing a player's death for the first time, it was impossible to remain composed. He never expected to see his own past psychological journey reflected in someone else so soon.

No one answered Xu Tian's question.

They were all pondering what the companion had triggered to be erased by the game world.

The murder mystery was their process of finding the killer; while they might get killed by the murderer along the way, the danger hadn't felt so immediate until now. The sudden realization that not only was the murderer lurking in the shadows, but that this game world had its own death mechanisms—once triggered, there was no chance to struggle—was terrifying.

They had no idea what the death trigger was, and there was no way to avoid it. That was the most frightening part.

No one was in the mood to comfort Xu Tian at that moment.

Unable to find solace in anyone’s words, Xu Tian felt overwhelmed and collapsed to the ground, crying out in despair, "What the hell is this place?"

Qin Nan glanced at her sympathetically, suddenly feeling that his earlier composure had been commendable.

"The game continues; the Second Miss cannot be the murderer," Xia Zeqin spoke up.

He showed no signs of sorrow over his companion's erasure; instead, he remained rational, extracting useful clues from the situation. He didn't care what others thought and scanned the group, continuing, "The Second Miss may be connected to the castration, but she is not the murderer." He then turned to the two remaining members of his team. "What did you find during your search?"

His teammates, who had been with Lu Jing earlier, were responsible for the initial patrol of the courtyard.

"We couldn't access many areas yet. We just walked around the open space in the courtyard and found nothing unusual."

With that, the sharing of clues came to an end. The sudden death weighed heavily on everyone, and thoughts they had wanted to express were swallowed back. Who knew if they might inadvertently trigger the death mechanism with their words?

The room quickly fell into silence.

This silence lingered until the butler reappeared.

"Young masters and young ladies, it’s getting dark. You should return to rest early. Tomorrow morning, you may find some clues from the household staff," the butler suggested.

As his words fell, Jian Fan stood up first, ignoring everyone else, and left the room, followed closely by Xia Zeqin.

Qin Nan surveyed the area; Xu Tian was still in shock, while others began to rise and look for their companions.

This round of clue-sharing was evidently over, and the butler's words indicated that the next round of evidence collection would be tomorrow morning, allowing them to gather new clues from the NPCs.

As for now—

This was a life-and-death game world, distinctly different from a typical murder mystery. If he guessed correctly, the next phase would be free time, during which they could seek out their identities and—begin to form alliances or turn against each other.

As everyone left in pairs, Xu Tian remained seated on the ground.

Qin Nan glanced at Jian Fan’s departing figure, then hurriedly jogged after her, disregarding Xu Tian and the other players.

"Jian Fan!" Qin Nan called out.

Jian Fan paused momentarily before coming to a stop.

Qin Nan hadn’t expected her to halt and quickened his pace to catch up. Once he was beside her, Jian Fan resumed walking.

Qin Nan understood her attitude; she would give him a bit of attention when she needed his cooperation, but when the game ended, she wouldn’t spare him even a glance.

"Jian Fan, do you really think Xia Zeqin has never played a murder mystery before? I find him quite adept," Qin Nan asked, voicing a lingering doubt he had since earlier.

Jian Fan's expression grew serious. "Xia Zeqin couldn't have played a murder mystery."

Qin Nan chuckled. "Isn't he still Xia Zeqin?"

Jian Fan's face remained grave.

His demeanor caused Qin Nan's smile to fade gradually. Could it be that Xia Zeqin—was really not Xia Zeqin?