Cen Cen looked at the empty bed, feeling a little anxious. "Still no clues..." She turned to look at Shang Sirui, "Sirui, what should we do now?"
Shang Sirui sighed, "Let's wait for the execution vote later." He took out his cell phone, and the countdown to the vote was displayed on the screen. "There are still thirteen minutes."
"Who do we vote for then? Still the same as before?"
Shang Sirui puffed his lips and frowned like a kid who didn't get any candy. "Sister Cen Cen, you won't be convinced by Xi Qing so quickly, do you really think Ziheng will be the killer? Anyway, I don't think so. Ziheng's various performances don't look like a villain. Besides, he is a top student. Isn't it normal that he has clear thinking and can solve problems quickly? What we have to do now is to vote for the most likely person as soon as possible."
Cen Cen hesitated for a moment and asked uncertainly, "Then should we go and persuade Ziheng to join us?"
Shang Sirui shook his head, "Forget about Ziheng, he has always been on the same side as Xiqing, he may not listen to us and vote for him. Ruan Xiao has already agreed with us, if we vote for all three..." Suddenly, he heard a sound, so he opened the closet door quietly, and Ruan Xiao's voice came from another room.
"Well, I'll join you in voting for Ziheng."
Xia Xiqing's voice also appeared.
"Believe me, there is something wrong with him."
Hearing the footsteps of two people approaching, Shang Sirui quickly stepped back. Xia Xiqing and Ruan Xiao came out of the closet and saw Shang Sirui and Cen Cen standing by the moved bed. Xia Xiqing asked, "Have you found any useful clues?"
Shang Sirui sighed, "No... I can't find it."
Xia Xiqing raised his eyebrows and winked at Ruan Xiao, "Then I'm going to look for Ziheng first, do you want to come with me?"
Ruan Xiao looked at Cen Cen, who also looked at her and winked at her. Ruan Xiao showed some hesitation on her face, "I... I'll stay here first."
The expression on Shang Sirui's face was obviously much more relaxed.
Seeing that the three people had no intention of leaving, Xia Xiqing breathed a sigh of relief. He left the female painter's room with a calm expression and considerately closed the door for them.
If Xia Xiqing guessed correctly, Shang Sirui and Cen Cen would definitely try hard to persuade Ruan Xiao to join them in voting themselves out. During this period, Ruan Xiao's dealings with the two of them would give him time to find evidence.
Shang Sirui is not stupid. He will definitely find out that his plan is failing. At that time, he will be afraid of being exposed and will "kill" Xia Xiqing in desperation.
This is exactly what Xia Xiqing wanted. He wanted to force the killer to use his only right to kill people, so that he would no longer pose a threat to Zhou Ziheng.
The prerequisite is that he can really find evidence to prove Shang Sirui's identity to Zhou Ziheng before his death. Otherwise, given Zhou Ziheng's prejudice against him, he probably won't believe his one-sided story.
The living room was empty. Xia Xiqing didn't know where Zhou Ziheng was, and he didn't have time to find out.
He took out his cell phone and looked at the countdown. There were still eight minutes left.
Xia Xiqing walked quickly towards Shang Sirui's original room, rolled up his white shirt to his elbows. After entering the room, he walked directly to the empty wall facing the camera and confirmed once again that the two nails were still there, indeed they were there.
There must have been paintings here.
Xia Xiqing took down every piece of clothing in the closet and threw it on the ground. The closet suddenly became empty, with nothing in it. Xia Xiqing tried to think about the problem from Shang Sirui's perspective.
Judging from the paintings in other rooms, the one here should have been framed, unless he removed the frame. No, it wouldn't be possible. It would be too troublesome and he didn't have the tools. Shang Sirui didn't even take the medical records out, let alone such a large painting.
Xia Xiqing looked around the room and thought that he must be hidden in some corner of the room.
Where is it, where exactly is it
The situation was so tense that Xia Xiqing felt his palms sweating.
He took a breath and tried to calm himself down. Standing in front of the closet, he carefully scanned the entire room. The room was not big, and there was not much space to hide a painting.
Carpet? Impossible, they had stepped on it several times. Xia Xiqing lifted the carpet, and sure enough, there was nothing there. Under the round table? No way, he bent down to check, and there was nothing on the back.
It wouldn't be such an obvious place.
He walked to the bedside cabinet and opened all the drawers. There was no painting inside, and in fact, there was no space for a painting.
Xia Xiqing's gaze finally stopped on the bed.
He suddenly remembered that when they got the memo about picking up the pen, he suggested moving the bed to check, and Shang Sirui was reluctant at first.
Thinking of his expression at that time, Xia Xiqing was almost certain that there must be something wrong with the bed. He immediately pulled off all the bedding on the prop bed and threw them on the ground one by one, leaving only the bare bed board.
No. Still no.
impossible.
Xia Xiqing tried to put himself in Shang Sirui's shoes again, recalling the details, the expression on his face, and what he said.
The memory became blurry, and the only thing Xia Xiqing was sure of was that Shang Sirui didn't want him and Zhou Ziheng to move the bed away.
This shows that the act of "moving the bed" itself could easily expose the paintings he had hidden.
He thought of a possibility that was almost impossible.
Xia Xiqing moved the bed by himself. To be precise, he did not move it, but moved it to the wall and lifted one side. He easily placed this lightweight prop bed on the ground, with the bed against the wall, and the entire bottom of the bed was completely exposed in front of him.
As he expected, there was an oil painting stuck to the bottom of the bed, hastily secured with wide tape.
The protagonist of this painting is a handsome young man with long light brown hair, who is tightly entangled by a banshee with a human face and a beast body. The banshee's beautiful face looks up at the boy's serious eyes, and her two beastly claws tightly grasp his chest, with her eyes full of temptation.
Xia Xiqing was very familiar with this painting; it was Gustave Moreau's "Oedipus and the Sphinx."
Oedipus is almost one of the most famous and tragic characters in ancient Greek mythology.
He was kind and intelligent, full of human beauty, but he could not escape the oracle of patricide throughout his life.
"Oedipus... patricide..." Xia Xiqing frowned. As expected, he was deceived from the beginning.
This painting is the biggest clue to killer's identity. His cheating father and strained parents have no intention of giving him love and care.
The well-behaved son who can only communicate with his father through notes is in a low state when depression strikes.
When his manic episode struck, he killed his father who betrayed his family.
This plot was so real that it made Xia Xiqing feel uncomfortable, but the tension at the moment slightly diluted the physical discomfort. He half-knelt on the ground and tried to tear off the tape to take the painting out, but it was too sticky. He took a lot of effort to tear off only a few strips of tape.
"Xi Qing? Xi Qing, where are you?"
It was Shang Sirui's voice.
Xia Xiqing's heart beat faster. He judged the urgency of the matter as quickly as possible and chose to give up tearing the painting apart.
He couldn't be the only one who knew about this, he had to tell others. He originally planned to give this painting to Zhou Ziheng, who didn't believe him no matter what, so that he would believe what he said with the strongest evidence. But now it was too late, so he had to explain it to him directly.
He doesn't have much time left, Shang Sirui will definitely not be able to wait.
Before he kills himself, he must place all his chances of victory on Zhou Ziheng.
Xia Xiqing immediately walked to the door of Shang Sirui and her original room, trying her luck to see if he was inside. If not, it would be troublesome because Shang Sirui was already blocking the living room.
As soon as Xia Xiqing opened the door of the study, he found it was pitch black inside.
For a moment, he felt a severe breathing difficulty and even felt dizzy.
He hesitated and his steps came to a halt uncontrollably. The black room was like an endless black hole, dangerous and unknown. The sticky black penetrated from the boundary between light and darkness, sticking to his toes, his feet, and his calves, dragging him in alive.
So sad…
Xia Xiqing reached out and frantically touched the light at the door of the room, but his wrist was suddenly grabbed by another hand, dragged a few steps, and walked directly into the room. Xia Xiqing felt very uncomfortable, and even lost control of his emotions and wanted to curse. Just when he couldn't help but want to speak, the unreasonable man pushed him against the wall and covered his mouth.
"Hush. I found a clue and can get out..."
It was Zhou Ziheng's voice.
The excessive stress response made Xia Xiqing even forget to ask Zhou Ziheng why he knew it was him at the first moment, even though he clearly couldn't see anything.
Outside the door, Si Rui's voice was getting closer.
His mouth was covered and he couldn't speak, but Zhou Ziheng was very strong, so Xia Xiqing had to bite his palm hard.
Zhou Ziheng let go of his hand in pain: "What are you doing?"
"I can't get out." Xia Xiqing leaned against the cold wall, panting, his voice a little hoarse.
In the darkness, he struggled to grope and grabbed Zhou Ziheng's hand, his voice was deep and urgent, "Shang Sirui is a killer, believe me, I definitely didn't lie to you this time."
He said this hurriedly and panickily. Zhou Ziheng's heartbeat suddenly quickened a lot, pounding violently in his chest. He couldn't tell why, probably because he felt that Xia Xiqing in the darkness was too strange.
Before I could say more or explain more, that familiar metallic voice came from the ceiling.
"Player Xia Xiqing, dead. Player Xia Xiqing, dead."
Repeated death notices hovered overhead, spreading into the darkness.
Although everything in his vision was endless darkness, Zhou Ziheng could feel that the cold hands holding him loosened, and the fingers gradually left the rapidly beating pulse at his wrist.
"From now on, player Xia Xiqing loses the right to speak. Please go to the elimination seat in the living room and wait to be eliminated."