This looked like a reckless gamble with his life as the stake. If he lost, he would die—and by his own hand.
But in truth, this so-called self-decapitation, risky as it was, had been the result of countless clues and rigorous deductions.
Before this, many things had been unclear, making it impossible to distinguish right from wrong. But on reflection, some things had been off from the very beginning.
Why had Ji Li seen a funeral procession for himself the moment he arrived at the third courtyard?
Judging from what happened afterward, it was because the rules had regarded him as the next successor to the mastermind from the start.
Thus, there was his funeral portrait, and naturally, there was also a coffin. The one lying in that coffin had always been himself.
That raised a question: how could there be two Ji Lis in the same place at the same time?
There could only be one answer: one was real, and one was fake.
But people had no way to tell them apart, and they would often instinctively believe that the self currently experiencing everything and thinking through it all was the only real one.
The one lying in the coffin was a counterfeit created by the rules.
This was the most natural reaction for a person. Unless one deliberately considered the possibility, one would not even notice the issue.
Yet this was the greatest blind spot of the night, and also the deadliest trap.
Because seeing his own funeral procession upon entering the courtyard already meant that, from the moment he arrived at the third courtyard, he had been "included within the rules."
As for how he had been included...
The answer was obvious. He had been placed inside the coffin and become part of the cycle.
The