Gu Liang and Yang Ye were listening to Meng Qiancheng's story carefully, when there was a commotion in the corridor.
"Damn it, bat!" This was Li Xiaoyu's voice in the corridor.
Gu Liang frowned and went to the door, and quickly pulled Li Xiaoyu into the servant's room. At the same time, he looked into the corridor, and he saw swarms of bats, all in a black cloud, chasing Su Lan, Sister Mei, Boss Mei is here.
The three people who were running away looked extremely embarrassed, their hair was disheveled, and their clothes were damaged to varying degrees. They were obviously caught and bitten by bats, and they should all have flesh and blood almost bitten by bats.
"When the three of you come in, I'll close the door immediately." Gu Liang said.
"I'm afraid the door can't deal with them."
While running, Boss Mei said in a roaring voice, "Blame me! I knocked on the ceiling a few times just now, probably because I disturbed the bats upstairs. They seemed to gather slowly. The sixth floor came in! It was—”
Yang Ye thought of something, but took a step forward.
Gu Liang grabbed his hand subconsciously. "what are you doing?"
Yang Ye raised his hand, only then did Gu Liang realize that he unexpectedly formed a hand-holding gesture with Yang Ye with fingers clasped together.
Yang Ye smiled, and whispered in his ear: "Is that right, just hold my hand if you need something, don't be shy."
"Yang Ye—"
"Don't worry. I'll come back as soon as I go. It should be fine."
Yang Ye took Gu Liang's hand and led him into the room, then let go of his hand, and strode into the corridor.
At this moment, Boss Mei and the three of them had already run over, and rushed to servant A's room immediately.
They ran very fast, one after another, squeezing Gu Liang inside.
Gu Liang was a little anxious, and finally pushed them away and went to the corridor.
This time, he saw a rather miraculous scene.
Just like when Yang Ye learned how to play the piano without a teacher, now he also knows how to command bats without a teacher.
He put his index finger in front of his lips and whistled a few times, and the bats that were about to bite human flesh suddenly stopped.
Yang Ye moved his index finger away from the corner of his lips, waved his hand again, and the bats dispersed completely.
It was as if they followed Yang Ye's instructions and returned to where they should be on the sixth floor.
In this way, when they returned to Servant A's room, everyone looked at Yang Ye with a lot of meaning.
Especially Sister Mei, she held up a notebook and said, "I found this in servant C's room. I was reading this before I was hunted down by bats. Servant C wrote on it—'Duke Dar likes to raise Blood bats. These bats, like him, can suck human blood and have great power, even more powerful than many low-level vampires. These blood bats only obey the Duke's orders, and they are powerful weapons he possesses. He trains them, is Ready to use them against werewolves.'”
After reading this, Sister Mei looked at Yang Ye: "So, you are indeed Duke Dahl."
"Don't forget, when you voted, your answers were wrong."
Yang Yedao, "Actually, it doesn't make much sense to hide my identity now. You all know that I'm a vampire anyway. The side mission failed, so I admit it. But I'm not Dahl, I'm Earl William. Some of you have found information about me any clues?"
"Ah... this is true." Sister Mei frowned, turned to the previous page of the book, and read the words on it.
This is still written by servant C.
"I heard from the steward that Earl William will be here in two days. I saw him in the early years. He is really handsome. Although I have always heard that he likes Princess Rose. But I still have to dress up. If I can To get his favor?"
"Yes. This Earl William is me. What date did this servant C write this on yours?" Yang Ye asked.
"November 7." Sister Mei said.
Yang Ye said: "That's right. She said that I will arrive in two days. According to the time three hundred years ago, I arrived at the ancient castle on the morning of November 8, and then I crossed over."
Boss Mei stepped forward and asked him, "Then why did you send bats? You have a good relationship with Duke Dahl, and he taught you such spells?"
"I don't know. There's nothing like that in my story." Yang Ye said.
Su Lan couldn't help asking: "Is there nothing wrong with you? You don't like me?"
Does this mean something? Or does it mean something
Yang Ye twitched his eyebrows, and answered firmly. "No. My story has nothing to do with you, neither in the script nor in the script."
Su Lan didn't speak again.
Yang Ye grabbed Gu Liang's hand and walked out.
Glancing at the empty but slightly messy corridor, Yang Ye turned his head and said, "Let's all search separately. My story may be related to the ultimate task of the third stage, so there is no need to discuss it. Let's find out now. , who is the murderer who killed Ai Meili."
5 o'clock sharp.
Focus on the discussion room.
The system announcement sounded on time.
"Welcome to the second stage of "Folding Castle"."
"The discussion time is one hour. After one hour, please vote for the murderer who killed Emily."
"One-on-one is still not allowed at this stage."
"At six o'clock, the voting is completed, and everyone will usher in a new and formal interpretation of the plot."
Boss Mei was the first to stand up.
"Me, Mr. Rong and Sister Mei, we are mainly looking at the fifth floor. Let me summarize."
"We checked the body first. There was a deep but very small wound on the chest of the body."
Having said that, Boss Mei held up a silver cross. "I found this cross in the servant's armor room. I tried it, and the size of the cross basically matches the wound on Ai Meili's chest."
"I also pushed the cross along the wound on Emily's body, and found that it could go deep into the heart smoothly."
Gu Liang asked him: "You mean, someone pierced this cross completely into her chest?"
—It is possible. This cross is not big, its length and thickness are about the same as a girl's finger.
"Yes. You asked a very important question. When I finish, you will know why."
Boss Mei said, "Let's look at another piece of evidence first."
Boss Mei held up the box containing the silver cross, turned it over, and showed everyone the back of the box.
I saw the words on the back of the box: "Vampires themselves are immortal. If their hearts are injured, they will not die. Unless special instruments are used, such as letting a silver cross touch their hearts."
"The silver cross is an artifact for killing vampires. Inserting it into a vampire's heart will not cause immediate death. The vampire's heart will remain in contact with it for a certain period of time before it will die. The time to death depends on the strength of the vampire itself. The silver cross In the case of sustained exposure to the heart, it is usually fatal within 3-5 hours."
After showing the box, Boss Mei put it down and continued to summarize.
"After understanding this situation, let's talk about the timeline."
"The Duke is preparing to officially marry Emily on November 8. Emily died on November 7."
"So, on November 7th, everyone's timeline is very important."
"On this day, all the servants on the fifth floor were staring at Ai Meili's room. Some of them wanted to see when it was convenient for her to try on her clothes. Some, such as servant A, wanted to kill her."
"Thus, through a detailed search of each room, we found a few words recorded by each servant on this day, and pieced them together, we perfectly restored the timeline of the suspects on November 7."
While Boss Mei was talking about it, Gu Liang wrote it down in his notebook.
Overall, the timeline is indeed very clear.
At 12 noon on November 7, the Duke went to Emily's room at the earliest and left an hour later.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the princess went to Ai Meili's room in the name of having afternoon tea with her.
It was already 5 o'clock in the afternoon when the princess left.
Seeing the princess leaving, servant C went to Ai Meili to try on the wedding dress, and left 20 minutes later with the wedding dress.
At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, the princess came again, but this time she only stayed for half an hour before leaving.
At 7:00 p.m., the oriental warlock came. He had newly painted a sunflower, and he came to send it to Emily.
He only stayed for about 10 minutes before leaving quickly.
At 7:30 in the afternoon, servant A went into Ai Meili's room.
She was going to dress up Emily.
Because there was a dinner party at 8:30 in the evening, the Duke specially asked the servants to dress up his wife beautifully.
When talking about this, Boss Mei emphasized: "Servant A is very suspicious. Let me show you the diary of servant B. From her perspective, she recorded all kinds of suspicious behaviors of servant A."
Gu Liang was the first to take the diary and read it.
It read: "I met a special thing today. The Duke asked us to make up the lady. But people have been looking for the lady in the afternoon, and she was not free until about 7:10 when the oriental magician left. I prepared things , was about to go there, but servant A said, let her do this today, she wants to help me."
"It's strange. I usually do the make-up for Madam. Servant A doesn't like Madam very much, and she is usually unwilling to serve her. I thought it was very strange, so I specially observed it outside the door for a while."
"Servant A went to the lady's room at about 7:30. About half an hour later, she came out. Her expression was very strange, as if she was happy, but also a little sad. It's really strange."
Everyone read the diary one after another, and Boss Mei continued: "Because of this, servant A entered Ai Meili's room at about 7:30 and came out at 8:00. Then I will continue to talk."
"At 8:30 in the evening, Emily showed up for the dinner."
"This is what I just said, the main point of Actor Ming's question."
"We suspect that Emily already has a silver cross in her chest at this time."
"Because the cross is completely pierced into her chest, it can be said to be wrapped by her heart. So when she is wearing a dress, it cannot be seen from the outside."
Yang Ye asked at this time: "From the evidence you found, who was the first to discover her body?"
"10:30 p.m."
Boss Mei said, "At 5:20 p.m., Servant C tried on the wedding dress for Ai Meili, and went to the tailor to modify it. After finishing the modification in the evening, Servant C went to Ai Meili again to let her try on the wedding dress again. Make sure everything is perfect at tomorrow's wedding. Then she found Ai Meili lying in a coffin, completely dead."
Yang Ye asked him, "When is the dinner party over?"
Boss Mei said: "At 9:30, Emily said she wanted to go back to her room, and the Duke let her go. Originally, there was a dance at night. The servants were all regretful. They wanted to take advantage of the dance to relax, but because of what Emily said , the duke canceled the ball."
Yang Yedao: "Then her death time is between 9:30 and 10:30."
"Yes." Boss Mei said, "The death time of the silver cross is 3-5 hours. According to the current clues, Ai Meili can only die from the cross, there is no other possibility. Then, when she went to eat, There must be a cross in the heart."
When Gu Liang heard this, he couldn't help frowning: "But this is very strange. With a cross pierced in her heart, she pretended not to know anything and continued to attend the dinner normally?"
Boss Mei said: "We discussed with a few people on the fifth floor that maybe she wanted to die all the time so that she could escape the Duke's grasp, but the Duke wouldn't let her die, and she didn't even know how she could die."
"It wasn't until the suspect inserted the cross into her heart that she realized that the silver cross could kill herself. She simply let herself die, so she didn't ask for help and didn't take out the cross."
Gu Liang frowned: "Then is it possible that she committed suicide?"
"We can wait until the voting to see if there is an option where she is also a suspect."
Yang Ye thought for a moment, and then said: "But this possibility is relatively small. It was mentioned in the princess's diary that she also wanted to kill Ai Meili with a silver cross, but she didn't dare to touch the cross for fear of getting hurt. The clues in the room also indicated that she had found a way to touch the silver cross without getting hurt, so she dared to use it to kill Ai Meili."
Gu Liang said: "Well, I agree with this. If the vampire's hand touches the cross, it may be injured and lose strength, so that Ai Meili may not be able to hold it to kill herself."
But Gu Liang still felt strange.
—What kind of situation is it that allows her to pretend nothing happened when her heart is pierced with a cross, and she can appear at the banquet normally and eat with everyone
—Did the Duke not notice her abnormality at all
Yang Ye stood up right now, and said, "I'll tell you all the things Ming and I found on the other floors."
In this way, Yang Ye briefly introduced what he and Gu Liang had found, during which Li Xiaoyu and others made some additions.
Yang Ye said again: "So this matter is still very clear. It seems that the system did not intend to make things difficult for us in the second stage."
"The deceased Ai Meili, the time of death, between 9:30 and 10:30."
"It takes 3-5 hours for a silver cross to kill a vampire."
"Then, based on the shortest time of three hours, the cross on her chest was between 6:30 and 7:30."
"If you look at the longest 5 hours, she had a cross in her chest, between 4:30 and 5:30."
"Then, the suspect is locked in the person who went to her room between 4:30 and 7:30."
Yang Ye took another look at the timeline he recorded just now, and said, "If you look at it this way, you can only rule out the Duke. Everyone else is suspect."
"But if you add a condition, it's different."
"Since 'the death time of the silver cross depends on the strength of the vampire itself', and Ai Meili has not been a vampire for a long time, and has always refused to drink human blood, so the power is not strong. In the case of limited clues , we assume that the silver cross placed on the heart for 3 hours is enough time for her to die."
"Then, the people who went to her room between 6:30 and 7:30 are the most suspicious."
"These two people are Oriental Warlock and Servant A."
"Not only from the timeline, these two people are the most suspected, but also the tools used to commit crimes. Only the two of them have a cross in their room."
Yang Yedao: "I think it's time to vote. It's the same as the first phase of the task. In fact, the phase of the task is to help us break down the plot so that we can better complete the final task. Therefore, even if we choose the wrong one, the remaining The one who killed Ai Meili was the real murderer."
Li Xiaoyu said: "That's the case, but what if we vote correctly, how can we get more rewards in the end? There is still time, let's discuss it again."
Li Xiaoyu looked at Gu Liang: "Who do you think?"
"Actually, I'm not too good."
Gu Liang was flipping through servant A's diary, in which there was admiration for the duke and jealousy for Ai Meili.
"On the timeline, the two people have equal opportunities. On the tools used for the crime, both of them also have silver crosses. As for the motivation... Servant A's motivation is very strong. As for the Eastern Warlock, I can't tell what his story is."
Gu Liang frowned, "There is a portrait of Ai Meili in the warlock's room, and words written on it are words of missing her."
"He misses her so much, did he come here to kill her?"
"And why, he will help the Duke find her reincarnation?"
"Speaking of which, there is actually another very critical issue. But I don't know if it is related to the task at hand."
Gu Liang looked at Su Lan, "It's clearly stated in your plot that vampires don't have souls, right?"
In fact, in this plot, Gu Liang himself had clearly received the reminder from the card - when he and Yang Ye looked in the mirror, the card clearly stated that vampires have no soul.
But after all, he was still concealing the branch line, so he didn't say it.
Su Lan nodded. "I am sure."
Gu Liang said: "Is there a theory of vampire reincarnation? Or, when the Duke killed her for the first time and turned her into a vampire, her soul was reincarnated at the same time? I don't quite understand this."
No one can answer Gu Liang's question.
Gu Liang then continued: "Finally, I think everyone can think about the sentence in servant B's diary. At 7:10, after the Oriental warlock left, she was going to help Ai Meili with makeup, but was caught by the servant. A snatched it. When servant A left, servant B said—her expression was very strange, she seemed very happy, and seemed a little sad."
"According to this diary, if servant A kills the woman she has always hated, she should be very happy, or it is understandable for her to feel scared. After all, she killed the Duke's favorite woman, and she is afraid of being killed by the Duke. Find."
"But why is she sad?"
Meng Qiancheng asked uncertainly: "Maybe... she still has a pure and kind side in her heart. She killed a weak woman, and she felt a little sad."
Meng Qiancheng's eyes swept over Li Xiaoyu, Su Lan, and Sister Mei one by one. "You girls have the right to speak. After all, maid A is a woman. If you kill your rival, will you feel sad for her?"
"I don't know how to answer this question. First of all, I won't kill people indiscriminately, which is illegal. Secondly, I won't scramble."
Li Xiaoyu said, "Feelings are something that cannot be robbed. I will fight for it when I should fight for it, and show my heart when I should express my heart, but if I can't fight for it... If there is no one around him, I may continue to fight for it. But if he If there is someone I like, I will definitely give up. I don't want to be a mistress."
"My opinion is the same as Xiaoyu's. I can't explain this kind of psychology well."
Sister Mei thought for a while and said, "In Gongdou drama, two people used to be good sisters, but later they fought each other to rob the emperor, and one killed the other. Maybe occasionally recalling the past, they would feel pain. It applies to servant A and Ai Meili. Ai Meili came to the castle not long ago, and judging from the diary of servant A, there is no possibility of sisterly affection between the two of them."
Finally, Meng Qiancheng turned his attention to Su Lan.
Su Lan: "Why are you staring at me?"
Meng Qiancheng: "I think you have the right to speak."
"Your sister has the right to speak." Su Lan vented her pent-up anger at Meng Qiancheng, "Do you all see my jokes?"
"Oh, look at what you said. It's just that I want you to analyze the murderer's psychology!" Meng Qiancheng said.
Su Lan: "I don't know. I don't need to analyze it. The Duke is not crooked. After killing Emily, can he go straight back?"
As soon as Su Lan finished speaking, the discussion hall fell silent.
The air was almost frozen in embarrassment.
Li Xiaoyu couldn't hold back and gave Meng Qiancheng a reproachful look.
After a while, Meng Qiancheng coughed lightly. "Well... let's continue discussing the case. If servant A can't discuss it here, we can discuss the oriental warlock."
"If the oriental warlock can't discuss it, we can continue to discuss Princess Rose."
Meng Qiancheng grabbed Su Lan again and asked: "Suppose, suppose the Duke gave Ai Meili great power. Then, it may take more than three hours to kill her with a cross, so you are also suspected. You went to her two times that afternoon. Twice! Twice exactly!"
"You spent two and a half hours in her room combined. What did you do?"
After hearing this, Su Lan frowned and shook her head: "I don't know."
Meng Qiancheng hurriedly said: "Don't be angry with me. Yes, it's my fault. I didn't pay attention to the occasion when I spoke just now, but this solves the case—"
Su Lan shook her head: "I don't have time to be angry with you old man. I really don't know. I don't remember."
6 o'clock sharp.
Time for discussion.
Voting begins.
Voting is limited to one minute.
The suspects appearing on the interface include: Duke Dahl, Oriental Warlock, Duke William, Princess Rose and Maid A, not Emily herself.
Gu Liang stared at the sentence "Please cast the person who stabbed the murder weapon into Ai Meili's chest" on the interface for a long time, and finally chose the Eastern Warlock.
One minute later, the system announces the voting results. "Thank you for the Duke. After all, you have been busy for so long to help him solve a problem that has troubled him for a long time."
"So, who killed Ai Meili three hundred years ago?"
"Wow, [Oriental Warlock] got 5 votes, [Servant A] got 1 vote, and [Princess Rose] got 1 vote."
"Then, is the oriental warlock the real culprit who killed the Duchess?"
"Congratulations everyone, the answer is correct!"
"For players who choose the right one, the reward will be settled in the final link."
Gu Liang looked at the card interface, he, Yang Ye, Boss Mei, Su Lan, and Li Xiaoyu chose the Oriental Warlock.
Sister Mei chose Servant A, but Meng Qiancheng was the most fascinating, he chose Su Lan.
Meng Qiancheng was very upset. "I'm going. I've been hesitating. I wanted to choose a warlock, but I changed it at the last second. The main reason is that Su Lan is too weird. You must be Princess Rose. Why don't you know anything?"
Su Lan ignored him, and Meng Qiancheng asked Gu Liang again: "Why did you choose a warlock?"
Gu Liang: "Assuming we haven't missed the key evidence, the reason old man Meng said is not valid, that is, we haven't found any clues that the Duke made Emily stronger."
"Then, based on the analysis of the timeline, the suspects are mainly concentrated between the Warlock and Servant A. The story of Servant A is not special. But the Warlock painted murals for the entire castle and taught the Duke to travel."
"This warlock is not simple, and there must be a story. He is more likely to kill Ai Meili. His murderous intention, and the reason why Ai Meili attended the dinner with the cross on his chest, may be the key to our solution to the final mystery."
The system beeped again at this moment. "The system takes good care of the players. When you go back to the main hall, you will find that the corpse is gone. Go to the back kitchen, and you will find that the mouse is gone!"
"You guys can go prepare dinner and enjoy dinner!"
"In the evening, everyone will receive a new plot interpretation. After the plot interpretation, everyone will usher in the third round of exploration, which will also be the last stage of this case. I wish you a happy game!"
night.
In the tense and task-intensive crime-solving game, the players finally got a moment of respite, and went back to their rooms to rest.
Of course, Yang Ye and Gu Liang were still staying together.
But instead of Yang Ye staying in Gu Liang's room, it was the other way around.
— After all, there are bats in Gu Liang's room.
The two sat on two single sofas and drank separately.
They talked about the facts of the case and brainstormed for a while, during which Gu Liang also praised Yang Yeye for the delicious roast chicken.
Yang Ye poured him a small glass of red wine, and asked tentatively, "Aren't you angry about Su Lan's matter? I'll take care of it."
Gu Liang looked at him, his dark eyes reflected the color of red wine. "Why am I angry? Her matter has nothing to do with me, and it has nothing to do with you. "
Yang Ye smiled. "Well, that makes sense."
Gu Liang thought for a while, leaned back, put his head on the back of the sofa, and said, "I can actually imagine it. She looks like a young lady who has been loved by thousands of people. She was spoiled since she was a child. No one doesn't follow her. That's why she's always been unwilling when she hit a wall with you. "
"Her arrogance and arrogance are justified. In reality, people have the capital to do so."
"If you say she has a bad temper, I actually think my temper is even worse."
"She's still a little girl, and I'm a boy, and I'm not too young."
"Actually, if you're not crooked—"
After a pause, Gu Liang lowered his voice and said with a little self-mockery: "How can I compare with others?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Ye put down his wine glass, became serious, stared into Gu Liang's eyes, and asked, "What do you mean?"
Yang Ye's gaze at this time was very oppressive.
Under his gaze, Gu Liang slowly swallowed the wine in his throat.
During this period, Yang Ye also took the wine glass away from his hand and put it on the cabinet next to him.
Gu Liang's hand suddenly had nothing to hold, so he had to put it on the armrest of the sofa again, and grabbed it unconsciously.
When Yang Ye lowered his eyelids, he could see the back of his hand with faint veins and the right wrist tied with a red rope.
Gu Liang didn't know why, he felt uncomfortable being looked at by him, so he lowered his head. "Nothing. I'm just describing objective facts."
When he said this, Yang Ye noticed that the folds on the armrests of the sofa were deeper, it seemed that Gu Liang had exerted a little force.
He showed a tight line from the jaw line, to the shoulder blades, to the entire arm, and finally the back of the hand.
This is a subconscious reaction that people have when they are uneasy, nervous, or even defensive.
The strength in Gu Liang's hands was quickly released, and at first glance, it seemed that he had returned to his usual calm and unmoving appearance.
After a long while, Gu Liang continued: "Yang Ye, after all, you don't know me well enough. She has a bit of a temper, but she should be a good girl with a clean heart. But I—"
"What do you want to say? Do you want to say that you are not good enough?" Yang Ye asked him in a calm voice.
Originally, Yang Ye was a little angry when he heard what he said, but just now when he saw the blush on his hand, all anger disappeared.
All that was left in his heart was full of distress.
Gu Liang lowered his head and said nothing.
After all, Yang Ye didn't know enough about the past that he thought was dark.
He probably felt that if Yang Ye was a double, and he insisted on choosing himself between himself and Su Lan, then he would be crazy.
Yang Ye looked at Gu Liang like that, stood up straight, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him up.
"Yang Ye, you—"
Before Gu Liang finished speaking, Yang Ye pulled him hard, and then he hugged him tightly.
Yang Ye held Gu Liang's waist with one hand, and pressed his good head with the other to lean on his shoulder.
In this posture, Yang Ye hugged him tightly, making it impossible for him to retreat.
"Yang Ye..."
"Well, I'm here."
Yang Ye clung to Gu Liang's ear and said in a hoarse voice: "About your past, you can never tell me what you don't want to say. But you can't deny other people's liking for you."
"You don't like yourself, always deny yourself, yes, that's your own choice, you have the right to decide. But you have no right to deny my feelings for you. I just like you."
Gu Liang was stunned by his logic for a moment, unable to speak.
Yang Ye said again: "Who said you can't compare to her? She has thousands of favors, and you can have them too. Let me spoil you. I will spoil you more than anyone else in this world, and I will spoil you forever."
"I know, your father doesn't love your mother, and I don't know how to grow up so big. But it doesn't matter, I will love you in the future."
"Gu Liang, I will give you a lot of love and give you the best in the world."
"So, in the future, don't say that you are inferior to others."
"If you say that again, you can only blame me for not giving you enough."