Aoiz had been to the first floor yesterday, and it was in line with what the innocent girl had said.

The boys' and girls' bedrooms were well distinguished, one was filled with all kinds of dolls, while the other had posters of all kinds of military weapons on the walls and military periodicals on the table, full of the smell of military fans.

Both groups next turned their attention to Aoiz and the innocent girl.

"The family atmosphere was not very congenial and we found many broken dinner plates and cups in the trash, some with blood on them," Aoiz said.

The innocent woman added: "There were also some marks on the wooden staircase handrail, which we analysed as possible scratches left by fingernails."

This was a clue that could not be ignored, and several people went to the stairs and followed the position of the innocent woman's finger, and indeed found some marks left by friction.

The strong man went up and touched it with his hand, his face changed slightly, "Yes, it's a scratch."

Family of four, poor family atmosphere, broken crockery, scratches, young girl in captivity ......

Any combination of these looks like it could point to a family tragedy.

Here was a girl who had suffered abuse.

"So what do we need to do next?" The male clerk muttered in a low voice, "Rescue this poor girl?"

"Whatever happened here belongs to the past and we are powerless to change it," the woman with the mole on her lip said, "all we can do is find out the truth and end the mission."

"But haven't we already deduced the truth?"

The burly man grew impatient, "Push out my ass! How was the girl abused, who was involved in the abuse, is the girl dead or alive now? How can you end a mission without knowing all that!"

The male clerk was too frightened to squeak when the burly man yelled at him.

The innocent woman looked at the male clerk with pity in her eyes; he was too weak and unintelligent, so it would probably be difficult for him to survive the mission.

Even if he got away with this one, the next one would ......

Grumble ......

Everyone looked to the location where the sound came from, and Fatty covered his stomach with some embarrassment, "That ......"

"Forget it, the ground floor is almost searched, let's get ready for dinner," after tossing and turning all morning, the strong man was also feeling a bit hungry.

Just as everyone was about to go and cook, a voice came from behind them, "There's still no check there," Aoiz pointed to the bathroom where the middle-aged man's body was, "I think there might be a clue there."

At those words, everyone's faces turned grave; everyone Aoiz thought of knew, but how to convince themselves to check was difficult.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

After all, someone had already died there, and it was bad to say that entering the bathroom would touch the taboo that led to death.

When assigning search areas, everyone unspokenly avoided the place.

In the end, reason won out over fear and the strong man took a deep breath and said, "He's right, there's probably a clue hidden there, it's going to take some risk, but everyone will die if we don't crack the mission."

The woman with the mole on her lip rarely retorted, she obviously understood what was at stake, but still said grimly, "So who's going?"

At this point Aoiz interjected, "Who all has been to the bathroom on the ground floor?"

Everyone raised their hands.

Aoiz counted the number of people and then continued, "Then everyone could have triggered the death taboo, so this is no longer just about finding clues, it's also about saving your own life."

The innocent woman frowned and asked, "Then we can't all go in together, can we?"

The strong man rubbed the stubble on his chin and nodded, "There's too little space inside, and too many people can't do anything if they go in."

"That's right," Aoiz nodded, "I reckon two people will be enough to go in."

"Then ...... who volunteers to go in?" The male clerk who had shrunk to the end spoke excitedly.

The crowd was ravenous.

"Well, let's draw lots to decide, it'll be fair to anyone," Aoiz spread his hands.

"Yes!"

"I agree."

......

After some preparation, Aoiz took out several slips of paper, two of which were shorter, and then balled them up into a small roll in front of everyone and placed them in his hands one by one, "The person who draws the short slip of paper goes in, no problem, right?"

"This method is definitely no problem, just ......" Fatty stared at those small paper rolls in Aoiz's hand and gulped, "But how come there are only 5 paper rolls, there are 6 people now."

The others also noticed the problem and were looking at Aoiz in confusion.

"Because I don't smoke," Aoiz said naturally.

Everyone froze, then got a little angry as the strong man yelled, "Why don't you smoke?"

"Because I haven't been to the bathroom."

"You've been here all day and all night, and you've drunk so much water, how can you not go to the bathroom?" The male clerk shouted hysterically as if he had found a way to vent his frustration, "You're just trying to cheat! Just let him go in alone!!!"

The woman with the mole on her lip stared at Aoiz with an unkind face and sneered, "There's a price to pay for being slick here."

"I know," Aoiz said without changing his face, "but I really haven't been to the bathroom, and I have proof."

He lifted his finger in a direction, probably the windowsill, where a gust of wind was blowing at the moment, lifting a corner of the curtain and revealing two mineral water bottles placed behind it.

One was full, the other only half full, and both were a pale yellow colour that was definitely not normal for mineral water.

They glowed invitingly in the morning sun.

"This is ......" The male clerk's eyes widened abruptly.

"Uh huh," Aoiz nodded, slightly embarrassed, admitting their guess, "I thought it was darker in the bathroom, so I just ......"

The strong man looked at Aoiz with a complicated expression, "......"

Then the woman: "......"

Male clerk: "......"

The innocent woman: "......"

The fat man: "...... You're such a little fucking smartass!"

Since Aoiz had never been in the bathroom, everyone couldn't say anything, and the remaining five people drew lots while Aoiz stretched his neck on the side to watch.

In the end the strong man and the male clerk were lucky enough to be chosen.

When the two of them pulled open the bathroom door, they found that the middle-aged man's body was gone.

The bathroom wasn't big enough to hide the body of an adult.

"This isn't the same world we're in," the woman behind her said suddenly, "it's normal for incomprehensible things to happen, just get used to it."

Just as she had said, there was no look of surprise on the burly man's face, it was only the male clerk who suffered, as he cried and lingered at the door, and was kicked in by the burly man.

The rest of the men waited outside.

The search was carried out very efficiently, and in about five minutes or less the two men emerged, the burly man with a piece of white hand towel in his hand.

Closing the bathroom door first, the group walked to the living room where the strong man unfolded the handkerchief and inside was a strand of hair.

"I found it in the bathroom tub, it wasn't there yesterday."

The strong man was cautious and didn't even touch the hair with his hands.

The hair was long and you could tell by looking at it that it belonged to a woman.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)