Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 80.1

(The Unveiling of the Real Murderer; Where is Yang Ye?)

After hearing Gu Liang’s words, Yang Ye flipped his notebook to a blank page, picked up a pen and wrote down a name before he showed it to Gu Liang: “Is this correct?”

Gu Liang nodded his head. “It’s correct.”

Li Xiao Yu paused momentarily before she took the book. “Why? Why is it Sister Mei?”

Gu Liang looked at Li Xiao Yu and explained: “You have to infer it from the characters’ action timeline.

“Under the real murderer’s misdirection, Magnate Rong believed that Yang Ye was going to replace him so he wanted to kill Yang Ye, but he killed the mysterious man by mistake in the end. You have no questions about this point, right?”

“Nope.” Li Xiao Yu shook her head. “Both of your analyses were understandable.”

Gu Liang then said, “We’ll continue down this train of thought then. The person Magnate Rong wanted to kill was Yang Ye. But he killed the mysterious man, which suggests that his decision to bury the mysterious man’s corpse was actually an unforeseen event, right?

“The real murderer managed to mislead Magnate Rong into killing someone by giving him a motivation to kill, and provoked him into committing the deed.

“But I don’t think that the real murderer helped him design a modus operandi.”

After giving a pause, Gu Liang said: “Additionally, before we take our analysis further, I would like to correct one of the statements we made just now.

“With regards to Magnate Rong assuming that Yang Ye was asleep and wanting to enter his room to stab him heart only to impale the mysterious man by mistake, there are no problems up to this point. However, we were wrong in the sense that Magnate Rong didn’t believe that his actions could ‘take his life in one strike’.”

Li Xiao Yu mulled over it before her eyes brightened. She said: “Mn, I understand now. Magnate Rong brought a cross to the murder scene because in his eyes, Yang Ye was a vampire and vampires are afraid of the cross. Magnate Rong didn’t know that this is dreamscape, he wasn’t aware that stabbing someone in the heart in the dream would make them die immediately. Hence… in Magnate Rong’s perspective, after Yang Ye was stabbed, it would take 3 to 5 hours before he actually dies.”

Gu Liang nodded, “Yes, that’s precisely the case. If a vampire was stabbed in the heart with the cross, they won’t die immediately, merely weakened to a large extent and incapable of using their magic. Perhaps he might not have the strength to pull out the cross, but he can still walk and cry for help.

“Thus, under the circumstances where he didn’t know that this is a dream, Magnate Rong would be deeply convinced that he and Yang Ye were vampires. In his completed plan, he should be taking advantage of the fact that Yang Ye was asleep to stab the cross into his heart. That way, even though Yang Ye was a vampire and needed 3 to 5 hours before he officially died, his heart would already be wounded by the cross. Once he loses the majority of his strength, he would be extremely weak, which would allow Magnate Rong to truss him up and stuff his mouth before hiding him in a place where no one can find him for a few hours.”

Having spoken to this point, Gu Liang asked Li Xiao Yu: “If you were Magnate Rong, where would you hide Yang Ye?”

Li Xiao Yu pondered for a long moment before she replied: “If it was me… Stuffing his mouth and hiding him inside the closet would be a better option. The wedding ceremony is held at 8 o’ clock. Before the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom aren’t supposed to meet, so you wouldn’t go and look for him, and the rest of us don’t have plans to look for him either because we have our respective tasks in the afternoon. We discussed the aforementioned plans together in the afternoon, which means that Magnate Rong is also aware.

“Magnate Rong acted at 3:30 approximately, and by the time everyone discovers that the bridegroom is missing and goes to him room at 8 o’ clock at night, they wouldn’t think about opening the closet either. And even if they did open the closet, Yang Ye would already be dead by then.”

“Yes. That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

Gu Liang said, “Magnate Rong monitored the corridor for a long time before he decided to act at 3:30. But at that time, the sixth floor wasn’t completely devoid of people; you and I were still on the sixth floor. If he brought Yang Ye out, he might bump into you or me.

“If he brought Yang Ye to jump off the sixth floor and found a place in the back garden to hide him, he might chance upon someone else. During lunch, he heard that everyone was going to the back garden in the afternoon to gather flowers and decorate the main hall. He’s not sure when everyone would be going to the back garden exactly.

“Lastly, as a vampire, Yang Ye might only have his powers sealed by the cross, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he can’t move. That year, Aimeili managed to attend the evening banquet while she was being impaled with a cross. Since that’s the case, if Magnate Rong brings Yang Ye out rashly, and the latter were to break out his restraints, it’s highly likely that an unforeseen incident would happen, and easily too.

“From a comprehensive view point, regardless of whether Magnate Rong brings Yang Ye through the corridor to hide him in the ancient castle, or chooses to jump down the building and go to the back garden with Yang Ye in tow, all of them are not reliable in the least.

“The simplest method is to tie Yang Ye up, cover his mouth, or resort to greater violence by knocking him out, then hiding him inside the closet. After waiting 3 to 5 hours, he’s bound to die.

“But Magnate Rong didn’t anticipate that an accident would happen. He accidentally killed the mysterious man. At that time, he realised that the real Yang Ye was taking a shower, and he could come out at any time. He only has to shout once before he will attract the remaining people on the sixth floor over.

“Magnate Rong couldn’t be bothered with too much; thus, he could only jump off the building with the mysterious man and continue towards the sunflower garden.

“After jumping down, I reckon he must have observed for a while to check if there was anyone in the vicinity during this span of time. Once he realised that there wasn’t anyone around, he brought the mysterious man towards the furthest location, which is the sunflower garden. After all, even if someone was going to the back garden to pick flowers in the middle, they are more likely to go to the rose garden, and the chances of them going to the sunflower garden is comparatively lesser.

“Since the chances of people going to the sunflower are small, the chances of him being discovered are proportionately smaller as well. Hence, even if there was a risk, he was already working under a circumstance where he had no other alternatives, and it was either he went to the sunflower garden first to bury the corpse or just throw the corpse there.”

Li Xiao Yu contemplated for a long while before she nodded her head. “Mn, I would like to add that in the instant where he was done killing in Yang Ye’s room, he should have closed the room door immediately, or else he could be seen. Subsequently, he realised that he killed the wrong person. With him being more nervous, he wouldn’t dare to open the door again hastily first because he’s afraid that he would encounter you and me.

“He has no way of ascertaining the situation in the corridor, but he can ascertain the situation outside the balcony. When he saw that there was no one under the balcony, he chose to jump down with the corpse first.

“Moreover, it’s kind of like choosing the lesser of two evils. The back garden is large, there are plenty of places he can go to after he jumps down, and even if someone sees his silhouette, he still has room to work around the situation. After all, the clothes worn by him and Yang Ye are quite similar.”

Gu Liang nodded. “That’s exactly what I meant. Magnate Rong killing the mysterious man by mistake caused a ‘mishap’, and this ‘mishap’ led to Magnate Rong jumping off the building with the corpse. After jumping down, Magnate Rong observed his surroundings before he finally chose to go to the sunflower garden…

“And the follow-up that this ‘mishap’ caused was never within the murderer’s expectations, right?”

Gu Liang gazed at Li Xiao Yu as he continued, “I previously said that the murderer can only instigate Magnate Rong into committing the murder, but they did not help him design a method of killing. What I can say right now is that, even if they helped Magnate Rong decide on a modus operandi, or managed to guess what Magnate Rong would do, they would have no way of predicting this ‘mishap’.”

Li Xiao Yu took a long moment to react. Slapping the table, she said with some excitement: “I get it now!

“No matter if it was Chief Mei or Su Lan, they mutually agreed to do their tasks together in the afternoon, and they also agreed to decorate the wedding venue with Su Lan. Both of them felt that it would be very difficult to find a chance to kill someone so they didn’t have any plans to act initially. The real murderer killing Magnate Rong… it was actually an accident as well!”

“Exactly.”

Gu Liang said, “When Chief Mei went to the main lobby to look for antiques, he was genuinely looking for antiques. For one, he didn’t know when Magnate Rong would act, and it’s not really practical for him to help Magnate Rong decide on a plan of action; two, even if he helped Magnate Rong construct a detailed plan, he couldn’t have known or predicted that Magnate Rong would kill the wrong person.

“Hence, when he was looking for antiques in the main lobby, he didn’t think that Magnate Rong would go to the sunflower garden at this timing at all, and there was no reason for him to rush over to kill him, run back to the main lobby, and pretend that nothing had occurred.

“Having said that, Sister Mei remains as the only possibility. I reckon that when she went to the back garden at the start, she was genuinely going there to pick flowers too. It’s true that she only went to the rose garden in the beginning, up until she heard some movements, which made her sneak towards the source of the commotion covertly.

“Then she walked into the sunflower garden, saw Magnate Rong, and believed that this was a good opportunity so she used the cross to kill him.

“She has a mercenary background, and since we’re in a dream, she wouldn’t forget fighting skills, to say nothing of the fact that she might have mounted a sneak attack on Magnate Rong… It shouldn’t be difficult for her to stab the cross in Magnate Rong’s chest with practiced ease.

“As for when she prepared the cross…”

Gu Liang mulled over it saying, “I theorise, between 9 November and 11 November, after she became aware that she was dreaming, realised that this dream was created by a spell, and learnt that stabbing someone’s heart could kill the dreamer, she remembered the crosses were readily available so she took one and kept it on her person, in case of any possible time of want or need.

“However, it doesn’t matter if I guess this point wrongly. The most important point is that the ‘mishap’ caused by Magnate Rong killing the wrong person is an incident that the real murderer has no way of predicting. Thus, the real murderer going to the sunflower and committing homicide is also an ‘accident’ in reality.

“Given all the circumstances, it can only be Sister Mei.”

“No issues there.” Li Xiao Yu exclaimed, “The real murderer is Sister Mei!”

“However—” Gu Liang casted a sidelong glance, meeting Yang Ye’s eyes, “Which perspective did you use to ascertain that it was her?”

Yang Ye laughed, “My thoughts were rather simple.”

“Your thoughts have been rather simple and direct every time, and you’ve always managed to reach the same conclusion without needing to restore the original case details—”

Gu Liang stared at him, “I would like to hear the details.”

Yang Ye first asked him: “What do you think of Chief Mei as a player?”

“Has a clear logic, extremely smart, and has structure.” Gu Liang said, “Therefore, he’s considered a player who knows how to play, and he’s more proactive…. he’s the offensive type.”

“Yes. If he was the murderer, he wouldn’t choose such a reactive playstyle.”

Yang Ye said, “Supposing that I am the character of Chief Mei and I am the murderer… Under the circumstances where the player Yang Ye is weighed down with so much suspicion, I would definitely lie about my timeline in an attempt to trample him to death.”

Gu Liang ruminated briefly before he figured it out.

But Li Xiao Yu did not understand.

Since Yang Ye was facing her, he decided to explain. “Think about it, when you were suspecting me just now, how did I evade it?”

Li Xiao Yu did a brief recall, saying: “We suspected that you were the murderer, wherein you killed the mysterious man first, then killed Magnate Rong, and threw both of them downstairs before you jumped down and carried both of them to the sunflower garden.

“You countered with a question, saying that if you knew that you wouldn’t die after jumping down a building, then you must be cognizant of the fact that you’re dreaming. But Scumbag Yu is already dead, he can’t have a consciousness. That’s contradictory.”

Yang Ye nodded, “That’s right.”

“With that in mind, now imagine that you’re the character of the Earl, and I am Chief Mei. Assume that I am the murderer.”

Yang Ye continued to say to Li Xiao Yu: “If I analysed your course of action as you jumping down the sixth floor directly with the two corpses during the case reconstruction, it would give rise to this possible notion within the players— did you already awaken your self-awareness? You could easily refute it by using Scumbag Yu’s confirmed death as a reason.

“But if I was a murderer with sufficient intellect, I can anticipate this point. After all, I realised that this was a dreamscape very early on, since I’m the person who became lucid first.

“Thus, when I’m talking about my timeline, I just need to bite down hard on one thing— Which is that when I was looking for antiques to use as decorations in the lobby, I saw you coming downstairs and going outside of the ancient castle.

“In that way, everyone can speculate that you were winding around the outer periphery to go to the corresponding place under the balcony to move the corpses.

“And it doesn’t matter if you don’t admit to this matter, because from everyone’s perspective, you could be lying.”

Propping up his glasses, Yang Ye said: “Then there’s the back gardens. From the sunflower garden, perhaps you can see the situation around Scumbag Yu’s sixth-floor balcony. But you definitely can’t see it from the rose garden because they’re not in the same direction.

“If Sister Mei said that she went to the sunflower garden when she went to back gardens, and saw me jumping off the building and carrying the corpses, it would actually increase her suspicions. She doesn’t have the guts to say that she’s been to the sunflower garden at all, she would be taking too big a risk.

“She can only say that she went to the rose garden, and she couldn’t have seen my balcony from that location, which meant that she had no room to lie.

“Therefore, from a comprehensive standpoint, if Chief Mei was the murderer, it was completely within his prerogative to lie about the timeline. When it comes down to the matter of life and death, everyone will lie and they will contend on strong grounds. I don’t believe that he wouldn’t dare to PK with me in front of everyone.

“Under the premise where he didn’t lie, the possibility of him being the murderer is very slim.”

Li Xiao Yu clapped her hands before she gave a thumbs up to Yang Ye and Gu Liang. “I get it now!”

Yang Ye raised his mineral water bottle and drained the remaining half of the water. “My perspective might be simpler and more direct, but there are actually loopholes. Honestly speaking, it doesn’t matter if Earl William jumped out of the building or used the elevator when he was getting rid of the corpses after he was done killing, as long as he kills someone, it already implies that his behaviour has already violated the motives of the Duke who is the dream creator. This symbolises that another person gave the Earl the suggestion to kill, and the reasoning is the same as Magnate Rong attempting to kill the Earl.

“That being said, if Chief Mei was the murderer and he falsified his timeline by insisting that he saw me coming downstairs to create the possibility of me going outside to get rid of the corpses, I still have a way to refute him, which is that even if I kill someone, I am not the real murderer. The person who was truly awake and has the awareness to provoke me into violating the Duke’s will to kill that person, is the real murderer.

“Once that has transpired, I can use the extremely disadvantageous timeline that Chief Mei created for me to clear myself of my suspicions.

“This is the loophole I’m talking about.

“Under the circumstances where Chief Mei is the real murderer, and if he was smart enough, he would falsify his timeline. But if he’s too smart, smart to the extent where he could conceive of the reason I could use to refute just as we began our centralised discussion, then he doesn’t need to lie about his timeline at all. Because he knew that even if he lied about his timeline, he couldn’t bite the Earl character to death, which renders his deception senseless, and his risk would also proportionally increase.

“Therefore, Chief Mei not lying about his timeline presents two possibilities: one, he’s certain he’s not the murderer; two, he is the murderer but he’s too smart, and his incredible foresight made him believe that there is no need for him to take the risk and lie.”

Yang Ye concluded, “I think that the chances of the second possibility is comparatively smaller, because it insinuates that in a very short period of time, he managed to pan out all the reasonings and deductions that Gu Liang and I have made, and he managed to predict everything.

“He is rather intelligent, but he’s not that smart, hence why I’m more inclined to believing that he isn’t the murderer.

“Like I said, my method is very simple but it isn’t a 100% guarantee.

“However, if you add the deductions that Gu Liang made just now, the murderer has to be Sister Mei and there’s no other option.”