Qin Nuo stared at the two names above, lost in thought.
Could it be them?
"It must be them!" the Blood-Eyed Ghost asserted confidently.
"They're just infected, not killers."
Qin Nuo shook his head.
"The game said the killer murdered..."
Halfway through his sentence, Qin Nuo suddenly stopped.
Then, as if he had discovered something, his eyes lit up.
"Keep talking, you know stopping halfway can kill a ghost with suspense, right?" the Blood-Eyed Ghost was exasperated.
"I suddenly have a theory that could explain why the landlord, Little Yuan's Mom, and the others sound exactly like Liu Meng."
"Why?"
"Not telling you, I'll verify it myself."
"…"
Qin Nuo's words drove the Blood-Eyed Ghost crazy.
"Return the tenant book to the landlord first."
The tenant information book was no longer useful; Qin Nuo had already obtained the information he needed.
He felt the answer was within reach.
The first clue, the rooftop water tank, wasn't meant to point to any suspicious tenant.
It was just to convey an important message about the killer to Qin Nuo.
"I'm dizzy, you play by yourself." The Blood-Eyed Ghost rolled its eyes and stopped talking.
Qin Nuo took the book and headed out. At the stairway, he bumped into Jiang Xiaobai.
Jiang Xiaobai was carrying dry food and water, clearly having holed up in his room until he couldn't stand it anymore and came out for supplies.
"You... why haven't you exited the instance yet?" Jiang Xiaobai was surprised to see Qin Nuo.
"Why should I exit the instance?"
"You lost your immunity token. If you're hunted again, you'll really die. Even Cobra ran away!" Jiang Xiaobai said.
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"No need, I'm super brave."
"A worthless life, indifferent to life and death, fight if you dare!" Qin Nuo left these words and went downstairs.
Jiang Xiaobai blinked, muttering, "Died once, and now he's lost it?"
Back in the lobby, Qin Nuo returned the tenant information book to the old landlord.
The old landlord placed the book aside, set up the chess pieces, and squeezed out a stiff smile at Qin Nuo, "Care for a game?"
Qin Nuo didn't refuse, sat down, glanced at the tenant information book, and casually asked, "Old man, how long has it been since you last looked at that book?"
"I glanced at it yesterday, why?" the old landlord said absentmindedly while moving a chess piece.
"Did you look at the last few pages of the book?" Qin Nuo asked, looking into the old landlord's eyes.
"No, aren't the last few pages blank?" the old landlord replied, looking up.
"Oh, maybe I remembered wrong."
"Young man, focus on the game. Talking about other things absentmindedly will only make your chess skills decline."
"The old man makes a valid point."
After a long game, it finally ended.
Qin Nuo lost.
The old landlord won.
The old landlord was also surprised, looking at the remaining pieces on the board, "I won?"
"Indeed, the old man's chess skills are now on par with mine. In just a few days, truly a sharp blade that hasn't dulled!" Qin Nuo laughed along.
These words made the old landlord beam with joy, stroking his beard and laughing heartily.
"Angel's Eye: You gained +50 favorability from the apartment landlord, +90 Ghost Power!"
"Old man, let's stop here for today, I have to go."
Returning from the lobby to room 404, Qin Nuo sat at the desk and took out the notebook.
"Tonight, I'll be hunted," Qin Nuo said.
"Why?" the Blood-Eyed Ghost asked.
"That guy has started to focus on me."
The Blood-Eyed Ghost knew he was referring to the killer, "Did you see it?"
"No, just a guess."
"…"
Qin Nuo smiled slightly, "But the guess won't be wrong, because I'm getting closer to the truth, and it's panicking."
"And, Xia Xinlu has already been cleared of suspicion."
Unfortunately, once the target is confirmed, it can't be changed.
Qin Nuo didn't mind, because tonight he could use Xia Xinlu to confirm his theory once again.
Qin Nuo thought for a moment and crossed out the third suspect, the old landlord.
This one was also excluded.
Night fell quickly.
Qin Nuo lay on the bed, closing his eyes as if asleep.
The window was open, and the curtains swayed in the night breeze, rustling softly.
A shadow slowly appeared outside the window, staring at Qin Nuo on the bed.
Then, it passed through the window, slowly raising a hand like a knife, stabbing fiercely into Qin Nuo's chest.
Qin Nuo's eyes snapped open, blood staining the sheets.
In his final moments, Qin Nuo's hand grasped the shadow, but ultimately it fell powerlessly, life slipping away.
The shadow glanced at Qin Nuo and disappeared into the darkness.
However, two minutes later.
The flesh on Qin Nuo's arm split open, and a palm-sized straw man fell to the ground.
It sparked and eventually turned to ashes.
At the same moment, Qin Nuo's eyes snapped open, and he sat up.
"Did you see who it was?" he asked.
The Blood-Eyed Ghost was particularly excited, "You might be shocked, it was that fat homebody ghost, yes, the guy next door who looks like a pig!"
Surprisingly, Qin Nuo remained calm.
The Blood-Eyed Ghost asked curiously, "Why aren't you surprised?"
"I suspected it might be him."
The Blood-Eyed Ghost was speechless.
It's like hearing a hilarious joke and eagerly sharing it with a friend, only for them to say they've heard it before without changing their expression.
It's frustrating!
"Then what are you waiting for, point him out next, and the game will be over!" the Blood-Eyed Ghost said.
"If I point him out, I'll fall into the trap and use up the last straw man."
Qin Nuo's words left the Blood-Eyed Ghost baffled again.
It suddenly felt like it was always on the floor, while Qin Nuo was always in the stratosphere!
"Do you think the Fat Homebody Ghost was the shadow that attacked last time?" Qin Nuo asked.
This question made the Blood-Eyed Ghost suddenly realize.
"Yeah, this time it was much weaker."
Last time, the shadow didn't even give the Blood-Eyed Ghost and Qin Nuo a chance to react before they were killed!
Clearly not the same ghost!
The Blood-Eyed Ghost suddenly had an epiphany, as if it had uncovered the whole truth, and said excitedly, "So, the killer isn't just one ghost, but many."
"This apartment, all the tenants, are killers, right, right?!"
The Blood-Eyed Ghost was ecstatic.
Revealing the truth in one breath felt so damn nice!!
"Wrong, it's one ghost."
"…"
The Blood-Eyed Ghost fell into a mysterious silence.
After a long moment, it said, "This brain-dead instance game, you play it yourself!"
Qin Nuo smiled helplessly, "The killer deliberately let you see the Fat Homebody Ghost."
"It knows I have a ghost inside me, and it knows I have more than two lives."
"So, it let the Fat Homebody Ghost try to kill me, deliberately letting you see, so naturally, my next target would be the Fat Homebody Ghost."
"Once I've used up all the straw men, I'll have no chips left."
"This game, the winner will be it."
The Blood-Eyed Ghost felt exhausted.
Qin Nuo was in the stratosphere.
The killer was also in the stratosphere.
Only it was at the bottom.
Its intelligence was being thoroughly manipulated...