Chapter 88: What Happened After They Consumed Poison
Translator: Pluto Editor: Tehrn
Hai Tianqing stared hard at the four votes on the table, and a darker and more complex expression overtook his face. It was as if he could not accept that he was the only suspect. The air seemed to stop moving, and the heavy atmosphere weighed over their heads and shoulders. After some time had passed, Hai Tianqing lifted his head suddenly and glared at Lin Sanjiu.
"Eh… I thought I acted really well. How did you find out that I was the one?"
He was no longer speaking in Hai Tianqing’s usual deep voice, but instead, he was using the same voice that they had heard countless times, the voice which came from the white fog. It had a light-hearted, cheerful timbre — that which belonged to Mr. Dot.
"Crash!" There was a loud noise as Hu Changzai suddenly knocked over his own chair and quickly moved multiple steps away from Hai Tianqing, or rather Mr. Dot. He stood some distance away from the man as fear filled his face. B.Rabbit’s fur also flared as he went into a defensive position.
From the start, Mr. Dot was hidden within the white fog, they had only seen his voice and his handwriting, so no one knew what he was. Realizing that he was sitting so closely with them on the same table, each of them couldn’t help feeling a little frightened.
"What’s wrong? Didn’t I already tell you that I am here in this room?" Mr. Dot was quite unhappy when he saw their reactions and was offended. "You don’t need to be so scared!"
Lin Sanjiu had also instinctively shifted her chair away from the table when she heard him speak. Noticing that he did not sound like he would harm them, she asked with some lingering fear in her voice, "Umm… Excuse me, but where is Hai Tianqing?"
"That huge bloke must be sleeping," even though she was seeing Hai Tianqing’s face, the person’s tone and way of speaking were totally different. Lin Sanjiu wouldn’t be able to adjust to this so quickly if she had not experienced the incident with 12. Mr. Dot propped half his face with one of Hai Tianqing’s large palm as he crooked his head and chuckled, "You don’t have to worry. I will bring him back at the end of the Challenge."
With his gesture, the three others were further convinced that the man in front of them was not Hai Tianqing. Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a moment and quickly shot a question concerning their life and death, "Which plate was spiked with [Versu Poison]?
If they didn’t start eating, Hu Changzai and herself wouldn’t last much longer. "Oh!" Mr. Dot replied as he reached out and knocked on B.Rabbit’s dinner plate.
"This."
B.Rabbit’s eyes grew wide as he looked at his own empty plate and then at Mr. Dot’s hand. He could only show disbelief as he suddenly shivered and plopped on the table, speechless. In a split second, Lin Sanjiu felt her blood rushing to her head. Not only did B.Rabbit eat the food on that plate, Hu Changzai and herself had also eaten that fish. When she saw B.Rabbit falling, both Hu Changzai and herself called out, "Rabbit!" Just as she was about to rush over to take a closer look, Mr. Dot patted B.Rabbit’s tummy. The rabbit’s two front paws trembled a little.
Hu Changzai and Lin Sanjiu were stunned. B.Rabbit lifted up his confused face and asked quietly, "Am I dead?"
"Hehe. You just lost consciousness for a moment because you were shocked... Even though [Versu Poison] is indeed a poison, I never said that you would die if you consume it, did I?" Mr. Dot laughed out twice, gleefully. "I also suggested that you should all eat while you discussed… But you wouldn’t listen to me. But I have to give it to all of you. Despite your hunger, you quickly discovered my true identity."
No one replied because when Mr. Dot said the first sentence, Lin Sanjiu and Hu Changzai already rushed over to their own dinner plates. They removed the cloches, ignoring the knives and forks, and just used their hands to stuff their mouths with food. Both of their mouths were filled with food, and they were overwhelmed by the satisfaction that the delicious life-saving food gave to them to the point where they had no mood to listen carefully to what Mr. Dot had to say.
B.Rabbit, who had already eaten his fill, was the only one who still retained his senses. He only managed to calm his rapid heartbeat after taking in a few large gulps of air. "You, you mean [Versu Poison] doesn't kill? Then, what does it do?"
Mr. Dot gazed at the two people who were gobbling their food and listening to him at the same time. He laughed and said, "It’s something good. But you have to tell me something first. How did you see through my act?"
Lin Sanjiu’s cheeks bulged out like two balls as she continued eating. While she busily stuffed more food into her mouth, she replied, "Basically, it begughf ohf…"
"Speak properly!" Mr. Dot lectured.
Lin Sanjiu quickly drank a mouthful of soup. With the aid of the soup, she swallowed the food within her mouth. Then, she said, "If you want me to explain and analyze the situation, I really can’t express it properly. But my instincts told me that your behavior was different. Even though Hu Changzai seemed very suspicious, his behavior wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I could immediately tell that it was him through his personality. As for B.Rabbit, he was also as impatient and impulsive as usual. His behavior was totally in line."
"Just like that?" Mr. Dot tilted his head, unconvinced. He continued, "I observed this very carefully! Whether it was his way of speaking or his mannerisms, I’m sure I imitated that big bloke very well…"
Hu Changzai who was beside him nodded in agreement as he stuffed pieces of mutton and a handful of vegetable fried rice into his mouth, showing that he thought that Mr. Dot acted really well.
Lin Sanjiu put down the empty bowl of soup reluctantly, she continued explaining, "That’s right, you acted perfectly in front of us. If that were it, I wouldn’t even suspect you. But, you did a superfluous thing that Hai Tianqing would never do."
Her words also drew the attention of both B.Rabbit and Hu Changzai. Mr. Dot looked at her thoughtfully and seemed to comprehend what she meant. He nodded contemplatively.
"Old Wang and Lara from our team found a lunchbox in the maze. They had the impression that it was the delicious food that you promised, so they ate the food without any hesitation." Lin Sanjiu did not feel as anxious now that she felt some food in her stomach. While she tore the meat off the roast chicken on her plate and added, "But I recognized that lunchbox, it is a special item called [An inedible lunch]. Anyone who ate that food will die very quickly.
"I won that item in the first game, but I found it useless, so I offered it as a prize in the second game. Since the Red Team lost in the second game, it naturally went to the White Team.
"At first, I didn’t connect Hai Tianqing with the item. It was only"—she gestured at Hu Changzai—"until you said that you were separated from Hai Tianqing and that he came back with the other members of the White Team.
"At that point, I suddenly remembered something that was seemingly irrelevant. Which person in the White Team would get that item? According to the rules, unless everyone agreed that the item would be given to a particular person, the item would naturally be given to the person who contributed the most to the game. In the second game, who was most likely to get that item? Hai Tianqing managed to defeat two Red Team members. He was not only the biggest contributor but due to his combative skills, the others wouldn’t dare to snatch anything from him. Thus, it became obvious to me who the owner of the item was."
B.Rabbit frowned as he thought about what she said, then he said, "But you can’t be sure that it was Executive Hai who set up that trap. It was possible that the long-legged woman took the lunch box from Executive Hai and created that trap…"
Lin Sanjiu munched on a piece of chicken before she spoke in a muffled voice, "Even so, if the woman had asked for that item, Hai Tianqing would have thought of what she was planning. She was definitely targeting us, so why would he give it to her? Not only that, but who pointed out that the woman was the mastermind behind the second game?"
B.Rabbit paused for a moment and instantly understood Lin Sanjiu. That was what Hai Tianqing told him during the second game.
"She didn’t look like that sort of scheming person to me," even though she was talking while she was eating, she was quickly finishing the food on the plate. "However, if that woman was just a distraction, everything would make sense."
"Then, why would you lead me to suspect Hu Changzai?" B.Rabbit asked.
"If I brought attention directly to Mr. Dot, who knows what he would say to mess things up?" Lin Sanjiu still felt a little scared when she thought about this. "However, after I voted, I was still very uncertain. I nearly scared myself…"
Mr. Dot repeatedly nodded as he heard what she said. "Ah, I actually didn’t have to do that. However, thinking that I already took on that role, I had to play it perfectly… I didn’t expect that it would let the cat out of the bag."
He used a subtly strange tone when he said that which made the three of them shut their mouths. Even without her [School of Higher Consciousness], Lin Sanjiu could sense a dangerous atmosphere in the air. Clearly, she was not the only one who had sensed it as her other two companions also grew silent. It was as if they had recognized that the person that who was sitting so close to them was someone whose face they had not even seen.
No. Perhaps they could sense an air of danger because they already guessed that Mr. Dot might not even be human.
"Mr. Dot, this means that the Red Team won, right? Does this mean that the Challenge has ended?" Lin Sanjiu asked cautiously after waiting for some time.
Mr. Dot narrowed his eyes as he smiled. Just when Lin Sanjiu could feel her heart almost leaping out from her throat, she heard him sigh. Almost as if he was reluctant about it, he concluded, "Alright, since you’ve finished the game. This is the end of the Challenge."
After he said that, the black walls started descending as if they received his command. They quickly slid back into the ground, and the room disappeared along with the maze in a few seconds. The four of them sat at the desolate table, right in the middle of a white fog.
When they looked up, they could see a few people who were probably the members of the White Team.
"The Challenge has ended. Are you ready to receive your rewards and penalties?"