Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 79.1

(The murderer is between the two of them.)

Inside the resting lounge.

Yang Ye brought over a bottle of mineral water, twisted open the bottle cap, and handed it to Gu Liang.

For some reason, Gu Liang seemed like he refused to be outdone, since he also took a bottle of water, twisted open the bottle cap, and handed it to Yang Ye.

Yang Ye chuckled, taking the bottle of water that Gu Liang was holding out before he drank a mouthful. He asked: “Why were you in such a rush to call me over?”

“Because I get the sense that Chief Mei will think of something to refute your words immediately.”

Gu Liang uttered, “We were loaded with too much information regarding the story’s background, and he merely overlooked it in a moment of carelessness, but it’s possible that he’ll realise it soon.”

Yang Ye thought about it briefly, saying: “You’re pointing towards… the room card?”

Gu Liang nodded his head. “Precisely so. Don’t forget, when we saw the diary in Magnate Rong’s room at the start, we discovered that he wanted to kill you. Therefore, he might be uncertain as to whether your room was locked so he prepared the room card in advance before he went to your room to kill you, but he was counter killed by you in the end. Consequently, it’s completely within the realm of possibility that the room card dropped outside when you pushed him downstairs.”

Yang Ye frowned, ruminating for a moment. Then, he glanced at Gu Liang and said: “I’ve worked it out. It’s plausible that Magnate Rong took the card to go to my room. But the person he killed wasn’t me, but the mysterious man.”

Having thought of something, Gu Liang became serious.

Yang Ye continued to say: “The formal suits worn by Magnate Rong and I were extremely similar. This plot detail was specifically written because we were wearing evening formal suits that came from the closet in the Duke’s bedroom. And that mysterious man was wearing something similar to ours.

“I clearly remembered that before I went to take a shower, the mysterious man was standing with his back facing the door.”

When Yang Ye spoke to this point, he stood up and told Gu Liang: “Gu Liang, stand up and face your back towards me. Let’s try it out.”

Hearing Yang Ye’s words, Gu Liang rose to his feet and stood still with his back facing Yang Ye.

As Yang Ye moved closer to him, he murmured: “Right now, you’re the mysterious man, and I’m Magnate Rong. Taking the room card, I swiped open the door to Earl William’s room, and saw a man wearing a black formal suit standing there with his back facing towards me. I thought that he was the Earl William I wanted to kill. And if I wanted to execute this action, it’s better to do it as quickly as possible, it definitely has to succeed in one strike—

“Hence, I will push open the door and stride forward, using my left hand to cover your mouth and restrain the upper half of your body. Holding the cross in my right hand, I will cross over your right shoulder, and pierce your heart accurately in an instant. It’s possible, right?”

Half a beat later, Gu Liang pushed away Yang Ye’s hand, turning around to face him. “You mean to say that Magnate Rong wanted to kill you but he killed the mysterious man by mistake.”

Yang Ye: “I showered for half an hour, and the plot specifically mentioned that the sound of the water was very loud and I couldn’t hear anything that was happening outside the bathroom then. Therefore, I believe that this is a possibility.”

Gu Liang pondered for a long moment, stating: “At 3:30, you met the mysterious man and saw him talking to himself so you went to take a shower. When Magnate Rong made his way into your room, killed him, and shoved him downstairs, it should be around 3:40 no matter how you try to frame it.

“If Magnate Rong used the elevator to go downstairs to shift the corpse afterwards, Chief Mei should have seen him, since Chief Mei was looking for antiques in the main lobby at 3:40. But Chief Mei didn’t see Magnate Rong.”

Yang Ye said: “Which means that Magnate Rong didn’t use the elevator, he jumped down from the sixth-floor balcony. He knew that he wouldn’t get hurt.”

Gu Liang could not help but furrow his brows.

After contemplating deeply for a while, Gu Liang seemed to comprehend something because his eyes brightened slightly.

Gu Liang said, “There exists two possibilities. One, Magnate Rong believed that he was the powerful Duke, and jumping down naturally wouldn’t incur any injuries. The second possibility is that he knew that this is a dreamscape, and he also knew that he was in his own dream, and he wouldn’t die even if he jumped off, unless he wounded his heart.

“If it’s the second possibility, then it warrants more consideration. Who else is aware that we’re dreaming apart from him?”

Yang Ye went up to hold Gu Liang’s shoulders to make him sit down, before he sat by his side. He said: “This touches on an extremely vital question. The motivation to kill.

“Honestly speaking, when you think about the two possibilities you mentioned carefully, they’re not that simple.

“Let’s look at the first possibility you mentioned first. Magnate Rong believes himself to be the powerful Duke, and his motivation to kill me is the same as what was written on his diary— he was afraid that I was also the Duke, and he was scared that I would take his place and steal Aimeili, so he wanted to kill me.

“But if he was a pure, albeit fragmented person that was made for this dream, everything that he’s doing doesn’t conform to his character settings.

“The Duke created this dreamscape for three purposes, the system’s hints were quite explicit in this regard and there are no objections there.

“His first motive of investigating the truth behind Aimeili’s death has already been achieved.

“Presently, his two other motives are to make up for his regret and fulfil his cherished desire.

“Logically speaking, these two motives are mutually exclusive.

“Through the two characters of the Earl and Actor Ming, the Duke made them act out a reciprocated love story between a vampire and human to make up for his regret. While the Magician’s book stated the Duke can’t create a dreamscape out of nothing, and he had to give the character of the Earl a lot of his experiences and memories, like his ability to command bats for instance, the Earl is quintessentially the Earl in his dream.

“I believe that the person who was truly portraying himself in his dream was Magnate Rong. Mother Ai has been depicted as Aimeili’s reincarnation. Therefore, Magnate Rong and Mother Ai are acting out the Duke’s personal story.

“So reasonably speaking, Magnate Rong shouldn’t believe that I can become the Duke when I am the Earl, and proceed to supplant him.”

Gu Liang released a soft sigh. “I understand. You think Magnate Rong writing down that sentence essentially means that— he has self-awareness. With regards to the marriage between two couples, one is to make up for his regrets, the other is to fulfil a cherished desire. As the Duke inside the dream, Magnate Rong having murderous intentions towards the Earl goes against the creator, and also the original intentions of the true Duke Dahl.”

Yang Ye nodded his head before he continued to say, “Which is why I’m more inclined to believe the second possibility that you brought up. After the second round of voting ended on November 11, the script enactment kept persisting until today before it ended. During this period of time, both of our characters were busy with their courtship. But the other might have some special experiences.

“I reckon that Magnate Rong being able to write such a diary entry indicates that his character of the Duke had already lost control in the dream and he had gained his own self-awareness. It is possible that after he reawakened his consciousness, he proceeded to realise that he was inside his own dreamscape.

“During the second round of investigation, everyone went to the Magician’s room. It’s plausible that he could have seen and learned that there was a method to kill someone in the dream, namely stabbing them in the heart.”

Gu Liang leaned backwards, pillowing his head on the sofa. He stared at the dust floating in the void as if he had sunk into deep contemplation.

A moment later, he sat up straight again to look at Yang Ye. “That’s not right.”

Giving a pause, Gu Liang continued to say: “If he was already aware of the fact that he was dreaming, he should know that his motivation to kill in the dream is non-existent. He’s not the Duke and his story with Mother Ai is fake, so he shouldn’t be afraid of being replaced. Why would he still want to kill you?”

Yang Ye: “He wanted to kill the mysterious man then. He knew that the mysterious man was the dream creator’s personification. He thought that if he killed the personification, he could wake up from the dream?”

Gu Liang: “That wouldn’t be a mistaken killing then, if the person he wanted to kill was the mysterious man. Through some kind of method, he saw the mysterious man go into your room, so he stalked after him to kill him, and the bloodstains left on your balcony happened to allow him to shift the blame to you.

“No, that doesn’t make sense either.”

Gu Liang narrowed his eyes, “How did he know that you would be taking a shower when he went into your room?

“Furthermore, even if he knew you were taking a shower, how did he manage to ensure that the mysterious man would have his back facing towards him when he entered the room, which would allow him to succeed in one strike?”

By the juncture, Yang Ye’s eyebrows had knitted together unconsciously.

Taking off his glasses, he placed it on the table and kneaded the space between his eyebrows to think.

Since Gu Liang was very close to him, he could see the small and fine scar under his right eye corner.

The glasses that Yang Ye wore had a plano lens on the left, whereas the right side had a prescribed degree.

Nearing the end of his military service, he had suffered a serious injury to his right eye, which resulted in irreversible damage to his vision.

This was a fact that Gu Liang had come to learn of during one of their interactions at the public resting area.

Gu Liang was still unaware of the specific details to that event.

But now that he was looking at the scar at the corner of Yang Ye’s eye, Gu Liang’s eyelids jumped slightly as well.

After some time, Yang Ye wore his glasses again and glanced towards Gu Liang. “I get it. We’ll eliminate the second possibility then. Magnate Rong didn’t awaken his self-awareness, it’s still the first possibility— Magnate Rong was under the stanch conviction that he was the Duke to a fault. He’s capable of jumping down the building because he believes himself to be a powerful vampire, and the person he wanted to kill was me because he was afraid that I would supersede him.

“Magnate Rong didn’t know that there was an additional mysterious man inside my room. He could have peeked through the seam of his own room door to observe the corridor for a long period of time. Upon noticing that I didn’t leave my room, he came knocking, purely for the intent of testing whether I was asleep. Therefore, his knocking would be neither heavy nor light; it’s the sort where, if I was in deep sleep, I wouldn’t be rudely awoken; and if I was awake, I would definitely answer the door.

“But what Magnate Rong hadn’t anticipated was that I would be in the shower, and with the loud sounds of the water, I wouldn’t be able to hear the sound of his knocking.

“Magnate Rong, seeing that I didn’t open the door, came to the assumption that I was sleeping. Hence, he had the audacity to come into the room not because he had known earlier that ‘I’ would be standing with my back towards the door without moving, but because he thought that I was sleeping.

“The mysterious man was constantly immersed in his own world; he didn’t acknowledge the sound of the knocking, nor did he turn his head back, and being stabbed by Magnate Rong in the manner I expounded on just now, is feasible.”

Gu Liang mulled over it but he could not pick out any flaws.

Gu Liang: “Certainly, that explanation is reasonable. Magnate Rong was probably monitoring the corridor through a cracked seam the entire time, and around 3:30, Chief Mei, Sister Mei, and Su Lan had all left. The fewer people there were on the sixth floor, the more beneficial it was to him. Thus, the choice of knocking on your room door at 3:30 specifically, is reasonable.

“The lack of an answer made him assume that you were sleeping, which coincides with how he wanted to take advantage of the fact that you were sleeping to act against you. It’s also reasonable that he swiped open your room door and entered on that basis.

“Moreover, that mysterious man… even if the mysterious man wasn’t immersed in his own world and he looked back to see Magnate Rong, it would still be feasible actually.

“If I was Magnate Rong and I wanted to succeed in one strike, I would definitely hold onto a cross in my right hand to prepare for all the eventualities before I used my left hand to swipe open the room door.

“At that time, even if the mysterious man turned his head back, I would still believe you were the one turning your head back. I would think, if you saw me using the all-purpose card to get into your room, you would suspect that I have other motivations, and you might retaliate against me.

“Therefore, I don’t have the time to verify or hesitate; it was either I don’t do it or I don’t stop, and I have to pierce the cross into your chest before you can react. I only realised that I killed the wrong person after the deed was done.

“At that moment, I heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom and guessed that you were showering inside. You could come out any given time but I was no longer prepared enough to kill you. Hence, I could only bring the corpse with me as I jumped down from the balcony.

“Subsequently, I brought the corpse to the sunflower garden for the sake of burying the corpse, so no one would know that a homicide had occurred. The person I wanted to kill hasn’t died yet. I didn’t want everyone putting their guards up.”

Gu Liang nodded his head at Yang Ye in the end. “Mn. This is tenable.”

“Good.” Yang Ye adjusted his glasses, “Let’s go back to the previous issue then. As the Duke, Magnate Rong wanting to kill me still goes against the motivations of the Duke’s established dreamscape. If he didn’t awaken his own self-awareness, someone must have implanted that thought in him.”

Gu Liang’s voice deepened. “You surmise that everyone is dreaming but someone is lucid. That person is the real murderer.”

Yang Ye nodded, “Yes. Or else, I can’t fathom what the killing motivation is. No one has the intense urge to kill.

“With Chief Mei and Sister Mei, their goal is to find the Duke and gain the method to open the space-time tunnel. There exists a possibility— they have already found a method, so killing the Duke is inconsequential to them. But this killing motivation is a little far-fetched.

“Moreover, all the clues including the pile of spell books, none of them actually point towards the matter of space-time travel in truth. Because the space-time travel was a sham to begin with, so it’s impossible for them to find such a method. They don’t have a reason to kill.

“You, me, and Li Xiao Yu, are more deeply entrenched in this fabricated love story, we’re helping the Duke fulfill his dreams so we don’t have the motivation to kill.

“The actual Princess Rose might have murderous intentions after seeing Li Xiao Yu since she is the reincarnation of Aimeili. However, Su Lan isn’t Princess Rose herself in the first place. Her appearance in the dream, was born from the yearning that the Duke has for his daughter; secondly, even if Princess Rose wanted to kill, she would kill Li Xiao Yu, why would she have murderous intentions towards Magnate Rong and the mysterious man? She doesn’t have a motivation to kill.

“Hence, the only motivation to kill I can theorise is that— the real murderer knows that we’re dreaming, and they know that the creator of this dream is the Duke. The real murderer believes that killing the personification of the Duke in the dream will allow them to break out of the dreamscape and return to reality.

“But they didn’t know who the Duke’s personification was. Me, the mysterious man, and Magnate Rong, could all be the Duke. As a consequence, they wanted to kill all three of us.

“No, that needs to be rectified.

“When the real murderer was planning everything, they shouldn’t be aware of the mysterious man’s existence. The mysterious man only made his sudden appearance today.

“I know how to command bats and play the Duke’s piece. Mother Ai had a change of affection and started liking Magnate Rong. Therefore, Magnate Rong and I bear the highest probability of being the Duke’s personification.

“The real murderer wanted to kill Magnate Rong and I. And they wanted to incite us into killing each other.”

Magnate Rong was originally in the same situation as Yang Ye, Gu Liang, and Li Xiao Yu, where he was submerged in the Duke’s fabricated plot, and the four of them were helping the Duke fulfil his dreams together.

As the creator of the dream, the Duke made this dream for the sake of his own fulfilment, he would never design a plot where Magnate Rong killed the Earl.

For Magnate Rong to do something that violated the Duke’s will despite being the Duke in this dream, it was either caused by the awakening of his self-awareness, or he was imbued with the thought of killing by someone who had already awakened their self-awareness.

Gu Liang understood what Yang Ye was trying to drive at.