Live Action Murder Mystery

Chapter 92.2

This question had been plaguing Gu Liang for a very long time.

Ever since the night of the lot drawing, he had been harbouring that suspicion.

Everyone had written their names on slips of paper, and depending on who Proprietress Ling drew, she would allow them to see their deceased relative or friend.

Back then, Gu Liang had been wondering how the system managed to guarantee that Proprietress Ling would draw the person that was necessary for the continuation of the plot.

It was at this moment where Tourist Jia finally answered the doubt in Gu Liang’s heart. “The person I saw last night was my older sister at the start, and she later became Proprietress Ling’s face. She said, she was here to answer my suspicion. When she was drawing the lots, she cheated, and she specifically borrowed this opportunity to meet me.”

According to Tourist Jia’s words, after Proprietress Ling brought him away from the dining room first, she brought him to the Room 303 he was staying in.

Truthfully speaking, he had been quite nervous back then. After all, he was more or less certain that Proprietress Ling was a ghost.

Fortunately, he knew that there was a peach sword in Girlfriend Jia’s suitcase, and before he left, he had exchanged glances with Girlfriend Jia to remind her that she was obligated to protect her creditor’s safety. Hence, he still dared to interact with Proprietress Ling alone at that instance.

Furthermore, Tourist Jia did harbour some vague expectations then.

— What if, what if he was wrong, and he could actually meet his older sister?

After returning back to his room, Proprietress Ling did not say anything either, only instructing Tourist Jia to keep his door close, and ensure that no one else was in the room.

“The yin energy is most abundant at 12 midnight, are you sure nothing will go wrong?” Tourist Jia was not assured.

Proprietress Ling gazed at him, saying: “Nothing will happen. You can set your heart at ease. I was scaring the rest; there won’t actually be ghosts coming out to scare everyone. I chose the timing of 12 midnight, and instructed everyone not to come out, because I don’t want anyone witnessing and exposing my secret.”

“And what’s your secret?” Tourist Jia asked.

Proprietress Ling merely smiled, “I’ll tell you tonight.”

After Proprietress Ling departed, Tourist Jia found it hard to calm his restlessness.

When Girlfriend Jia came back to take her luggage, preparing to share a room with Recluse Wang for the night, Tourist Jia expressed the unease in his heart.

Girlfriend Jia comforted him: “Set your mind at ease. I will definitely ensure your safety. Recluse Wang and I will be staying in Room 304 next door. If something goes wrong, just tap on the wall, I’ll rush over immediately to save you.”

Given those arrangements, Tourist Jia could only stay in his own room and wait.

At 12 midnight, the closed door was pushed open, and a lady wearing a white wedding dress walked in.

This wedding dress looked extremely familiar to Tourist Jia, since this was the dress that his older sister wore during her wedding.

And the face of the person wearing the wedding dress, was a face he had dearly missed for a long time— It was his older sister’s.

After the frenzied joy and excitement passed, Tourist Jia became scared and worried. “You’re not my older sister! You’re Proprietress Ling!”

Proprietress Ling replied: “So you’ve already surmised it a long time ago? And here I was thinking about how I should tell you.”

After uttering those words, the face of Tourist Jia’s older sister transformed into Proprietress Ling’s image.

The wedding dress disappeared in lieu of Proprietress Ling’s usual skirt.

Tourist Jia: “As expected, you pretended to my older sister back then and deceived me! What exactly is your motive for coming to my room tonight!”

Confused as to why Tourist Jia was being so indignant, Proprietress Ling said: “I wanted to explain everything to you. You’re the person I was waiting for. I’ve been detained on this mortal realm for decades, all of the sake of finding you. When I was helping someone actualise their wish three years ago, I chanced upon you. It’s just that my mission wasn’t completed back then, which meant that I couldn’t get to know you. However, right now, I have finally found you.”

Tourist Jia ignored her words, only asking: “I only want to ask you, did you kill my older sister?”

Proprietress Ling was anxious, “That’s not it. Listen to me explain—”

After seeing the older sister his heart had been yearning for suddenly turn into Proprietress Ling, Tourist Jia only felt that the conjecture he had been harbouring this whole time had been proven true. How could he possibly have the cares to listen to Proprietress Ling’s explanation? Without giving a pause, he started to slam on the wall nearest to Room 304, attempting to ask Girlfriend Jia to come over to kill the ghost.

Proprietress Ling’s gaze was a little hurt, and she only said: “Don’t be agitated. I.. Then I’ll leave first. How about this, I’ll try and explain everything to you again after you have calmed down.”

After hearing Tourist Jia’s narration, Gu Liang posed another question: “And then you just allowed her to leave?”

Tourist Jia: “Yeah. When all was said and done, I was still scared. That scene from last night basically proved the suspicions I had. Hence, I asked Girlfriend Jia to help me eliminate Proprietress Ling.”

Gu Liang took out the Index of Hundred Ghosts. “It mentions that there is a type of ghost called infatuated ghost, who were detained in the mortal realm as ghosts because they missed out on the person in their hearts. Sentimental because of their romantic affection, and thus unwilling to leave. Is it possible that you were her lover in her previous life?”

Tourist Jia: “I don’t know about that. In any case, the person I liked in my story was my older sister. I didn’t know about my previous incarnation at all.”

Gu Liang continued to ask: “Just now Girlfriend Jia mentioned, she told you affirmatively that Proprietress Ling killed your older sister, what time did that occur exactly? And how did she phrase it?”

Tourist Jia replied: “Since I was thinking about my older sister, I didn’t sleep for the entire night, so when 5 o’ clock at dawn rolled around, I felt like I couldn’t sleep even if I continued lying down. Hence, I decided to go to the courtyard to lighten my mood, and if the dining room was already open, I would eat my breakfast as well.

“After washing up, I reached the courtyard at 5:30. Girlfriend Jia happened to walk out with Recluse Wang around that time, and both of them saw me from the corridor. Consequently, Girlfriend Jia came downstairs to look for me, saying that Recluse Wang was her martial older sister, and a powerful Taoist nun, who had tracked a case of homicide to this place. Presently, they could essentially confirm that Proprietress Ling was a malicious ghost who has committed a multitude of evils, since she had killed her own younger companion, which meant that she definitely caused the death of my older sister as well.

“She said, Proprietress Ling doesn’t dare to arbitrarily hurt people right now, and asked me not to disclose it first. Everyone should get together to think of a way to kill the ghost.”

Gu Liang flipped through his notebook and recorded down those timestamps before he said: “I understand now. Thank you everyone. With all that has been said, I’ve been made aware of everyone’s motivations. Furthermore, I can essentially confirm that there are at least two murderers this time around.

“Of course, this analysis is based on the fact that— Proprietress Ling was shot to death. If the trajectory of this deduction isn’t wrong, then, one culprit must have brought Proprietress Ling to one of the rooms among 301 to 304, and opened the window; while the other person was inside the vagrant’s room, executing the fatal gunshot.

“With regards to the combination that could have accomplished this matter, Tourist Jia could be in the same group as Girlfriend Jia; Girlfriend Jia could also be in the same group as Recluse Wang; Waitress Jing could be in the same group as the vagrant; additionally, could someone have collaborated with Chef Huang…

“Everyone can think in this direction in our continued search for evidence.

“Additionally, in the free exploration segment this time, if we restrict ourselves to this courtyard, the surface area isn’t large per se, but it will take a long time to check it over. Therefore, we can’t eliminate the possibility of a secret path, or the fact that there might be secrets buried under the wide area of soil in this courtyard. We can implement the carpet method to search for clues.”

After Gu Liang finished speaking, the players split off into four different directions.

Gu Liang was planning to go back to the third floor with Yang Ye to take another look, while having a detailed discussion with him.

Before they left, he noticed Li Xiao Yu zoning out as she stared at Proprietress Ling’s book, making it apparent that she was lost in a trance.

Typically, Li Xiao Yu would be extremely energetic in her pursuit for evidence, but she was slightly listless this time around, perhaps because she was still immersed in Proprietress Ling’s story.

“What’s the matter with you?” Gu Liang asked her.

Li Xiao Yu: “It’s nothing, just a little upset. Proprietress Ling was actually helping everyone achieve their wishes out of her own goodwill, but unexpectedly… especially for Recluse Wang…. Hey… Second Brother Gu, why are you and da ge unaffected by this?”

Gu Liang pondered briefly, saying: “There’s a saying, having goodwill doesn’t necessarily mean good things will be done. Have you ever watched The Butterfly Effect?”

Li Xiao Yu looked at Gu Liang, confused.

Gu Liang simply said: “From my perspective, Proprietress Ling helped Aileen fulfil her heartfelt wish, but she ruined my heartfelt wish. Had I known that Aileen couldn’t live past three months, I would have wished that I could push away my work and internship so that I could bring her to the places she wanted to go, bring her to eat the food she wanted to try, and live out the last three months of her life happily. That way, I would remember each and every day that we spent together fondly in the future. But because of our present circumstances, the days before our break-up are so bitter that I can’t put them into words whenever I recall them.

“President Gao’s story follows the same logic. He originally had a good relationship with his wife, but now it seems like his wife had an extramarital affair which made him extremely angry, and before he could even begin to reconcile with this anger, his wife ended up dead. Look at him, President Gao has now become so dark, and he even tried to kill Tourist Jia in the morning. I reckon that there’s a cause and effect in this, where he became disappointed in humans and he blackened as a result.

“The story of the three Taoist nuns is the same. Recluse Wang is a person who values her friendships greatly and she can’t bear to part with her friends. But I think, between watching your friend getting murdered by a ghost right in front of you and watching your friend leaving Baiyun Mountain after being adopted, no matter how you compare the two options, the latter still has a lesser effect, right?

“Xiao Dou was still quite young when was being adopted, so she didn’t think too much, but Proprietress Ling shouldn’t be this ignorant. She was blindly helping people fulfil their heartfelt wishes, although it is probable that… her infatuation ran too deep, and her actions were the result of her being overly impatient.

After Li Xiao Yu heard his explanation, she blinked a few times. “Okay er ge, I understand now.”

“Sure, go and search for evidence then.” Gu Liang turned around, going upstairs with Yang Ye.

A moment later.

Before Gu Liang could step on the third-floor landing, he was pressed against the stairway by Yang Ye’s arm with an audible thump.

“You… What are you doing?” Gu Liang stared at Yang Ye.

Yang Ye said in a low voice: “ You were looking at me just now.”

Gu Liang: “So what if I’m looking at you? I’m looking at you right now. I look at you frequently, when we’re discussing the case…”

Yang Ye raised his hand and pressed his finger on Gu Liang’s lips. “That’s not it, the gaze you used to look at me was different from your usual.”

Gu Liang: “……”

Yang Ye said next to his ear: “Did you find me handsome?”

Gu Liang: “……”

Yang Ye: “What’s wrong with calling your own boyfriend handsome?”

Gu Liang did not make a sound. Yang Ye said: “You’re not allowed to keep silent. If you don’t reply, I’m kissing you.”

Gu Liang gritted his teeth: “There’s so many people here—”

Yang Ye: “Answer honestly then.”

Gu Liang: “Could you first… Mmn—!”

Gu Liang genuinely did not expect that Yang Ye would actually kiss him. Although it was just a light graze before his lips left, it could not be denied that someone could stumble upon them at any given time here. When Gu Liang thought of this point, he grabbed Yang Ye’s collar, gaze dark with warning. “Do not take advantage of the fact that you’re injured to run amok.”

Before Gu Liang Liang could continue to voice his annoyance, Yang Ye promptly grabbed hold of his sensitive point and said: “The person I’m currently suspecting is Recluse Wang instead.”

Gu Liang asked: “Why?”

Yang Ye: “I’ll tell you when you decide to kiss me on your own accord.”

Gu Liang: “……”

Yang Ye: “Or you can call me ge ge.”

Gu Liang: “It’s not like you’re that much older than me?”

Yang Ye: “You can praise me for my handsomeness too. Is your ge ge handsome?”

Gu Liang went silent for a brief moment. Since he was already holding Yang Ye’s shirt collar, he pushed him away, the corners of his mouth curling upwards. “I know what you’re thinking.”

The author has something to say:

I don’t know if any of you have watched ‘The Butterfly Effect’ before.

A simple introduction: there is a person who has the ability to travel across time and a few tragedies have occurred in his life, so he wanted to go back to a few crucial points in time to cause some changes, like helping his friend and himself; in the end, every time he incited these changes, it causes a new unforeseen chain reaction, and whenever he time travels to make changes, all the situations worsen and become even scarier…

There are a total of three movies. The first and third movies were an excellent watch (the third movie has a younger sister with a brother complex which suits my tastes very well), but I can’t really remember what the second movie was about.