Time Alone

Naturally, Lin Yu had no reason to refuse Xia Yue's request.

The two of them naturally formed the first group.

Among the remaining four, Chen Zhuo and Xu Xiumei did not want to team up with Bao Liu and Yao Zhengye.

Thus, after Xia Yue invited Lin Yu, the seven-person grouping was essentially completed automatically.

The first group was "Detective" Lin Yu and "Veterinarian" Xia Yue.

The second group was "Hoodlum" Bao Liu and "Thief" Yao Zhengye.

The third group was "Otaku" Chen Zhuo and "Teacher" Xu Xiumei.

The fourth group consisted of "Soldier" Yu Longguo acting alone.

After the four groups had been formed, everyone claimed the tasks on the schedule in order.

Once they had confirmed their respective tasks, all four groups hurried out of the meeting room.

After all, they did not have much time left to complete their first tasks.

Lin Yu and Xia Yue also hurriedly began searching for the "engineering room" mentioned in their first task.

After leaving the meeting room, the corridor outside had an equally ostentatious style of decor. Wolf-head ornaments had been carved into the wrought-iron candle holders, while the heavy dark-red carpet was threaded with gold.

Looking outside through the somewhat damaged windows along the corridor, they could see that the outer walls were built entirely of stone. The place looked roughly like an ancient castle.

The meeting room was at the end of the first floor of this ancient castle. After leaving the meeting room and walking forward along the corridor, they soon saw a spiral staircase.

Lin Yu and Xia Yue quickly climbed the stairs and arrived in the corridor on the second floor.

Right beside the staircase, Lin Yu saw a wooden door with a metal nameplate hanging on it.

"It's the engineering room."

Lin Yu read the words on the nameplate aloud.

Beyond the wooden door, a piercing alarm continued to ring. This was the source of the alarm they had heard downstairs.

"We found it already... There's still plenty of time."

Xia Yue let out a sigh of relief. She stepped forward, took hold of the wooden doorknob, and gently turned it.

The door was not locked, so the two of them entered the engineering room with ease.

In the enormous room, an old-fashioned generator was slowly running. Numerous halogen tubes were mounted on it.

One of the tubes had already turned red and was emitting a loud beeping alarm.

The generator was also connected to several other devices, but they were all operating normally and did not appear to need repairs.

Lin Yu and Xia Yue approached the generator.

As a delicate woman whose profession was veterinarian, Xia Yue clearly did not know much about machinery.

She spoke with some frustration. "How are we supposed to repair this? Is there no manual or something?"

Although the Death game was called a game, completing its tasks did not mean holding down a button and watching the progress advance automatically.

A task like "Repair the generator" still required them to personally investigate the malfunction!

But Lin Yu was not nervous.

"The estimated completion time for this task is ten minutes. That means there shouldn't be any major malfunction. From the outside, it looks like it's only a minor problem..."

"Besides, this is a werewolf-murder-game-type game. These 'tasks' are most likely just a way to split us up. They shouldn't be too difficult."

As Lin Yu thought, his gaze fell on the storage cabinet beside the generator.

A toolbox sat on top of the cabinet. It contained several wrenches and screwdrivers.

A booklet was pressed beneath the toolbox.

Lin Yu gently lifted the toolbox and pulled out the booklet.

The thin booklet was covered in black oil stains, its pages slightly curled at the edges. The cover read: Wolf III-Type Generator Instruction Manual.

"Here's our lead."

Lin Yu lightly tapped the booklet with his fingers and spoke with a confident smile.

Xia Yue sighed in relief. She looked at Lin Yu with an expression full of admiration. "As expected of someone who works as a detective in real life. Even without your 'ability,' you're perceptive enough."

Lin Yu merely shrugged, then opened the booklet in his hands.

"Three indicator lights... If this indicator turns red, it means the engine doesn't have enough lubrication and needs more lubricating oil—it's stored in the storage room on the first floor."

The booklet was as straightforward as Lin Yu had imagined. He quickly found both the source of the problem and the solution.

"We need lubricating oil from the storage room on the first floor, right? I'll go get it," Xia Yue said. "I saw where that storage room was on the way here."

At Xia Yue's suggestion, Lin Yu frowned slightly, his expression turning stern. "But we formed groups of two precisely to avoid acting alone."

Xia Yue smiled. "But the task's time limit is tight. You should stay here and continue studying the machine. What if I bring back the lubricating oil, but we fail because we can't find where to add it?"

"Don't worry about my safety. This was a dangerous game from the beginning... Besides, I already told you. This life was one I picked up anyway."

She clasped her hands behind her back and tilted her head slightly as she spoke, her tone relaxed and her expression playful.

After hearing Xia Yue say that, Lin Yu nodded. "All right. According to the task assignments, only the otaku-and-teacher group is on the first floor right now. Hurry back, and you should be fine."

"Try to keep it within five minutes and thirty seconds. If it takes longer than that, you'll be in greater danger."

Lin Yu spoke calmly.

As for why it was five and a half minutes, he did not explain it to Xia Yue.

"I'll definitely hurry back. We've got a countdown, after all!"

Xia Yue smiled, then left the engineering room and casually closed the door behind her.

In an instant, Lin Yu was alone inside the room.

The calm and self-assured expression on Lin Yu's face vanished at once.

He rubbed his face vigorously.

Even during those moments alone with Xia Yue just now, he had still been "acting."

He had been playing the role of a conceited and clever "detective" who liked keeping everything under his control.

Why five and a half minutes?

Lin Yu had merely blurted it out at random. In his view, the sooner Xia Yue returned, the better.

"If I could really gain extraordinary observation and logical-analysis abilities just by making people think I'm some kind of 'famous detective,' that would be great..."

Lin Yu rubbed his temple, feeling rather troubled.

He considered himself reasonably intelligent. After all, Jiangcheng Media's acting program ranked among the top three nationwide, and its admission scores were extremely high.

He had also found his acting classes and his self-study of psychology fairly easy.

Because he had joined the Drama club and often performed onstage, he had fairly strong mental resilience as well. He could force himself to calm down quickly.

Lin Yu even felt that he did have a certain advantage when it came to "analyzing other people."

But in a game where people could die, Lin Yu clearly felt that his intelligence and composure... were both far from enough!

After all, Lin Yu was only a second-year acting student. His greatest advantage was merely his wealth of stage-performance experience.

He could not keep track of everyone's movements, nor could he truly see through what everyone was thinking and identify the werewolf outright. Even more impossible was maintaining complete calm between life and death!

In fact, Lin Yu had vaguely felt ever since earlier that something about this game was "wrong." From the rules to the reactions of the others, all kinds of details were abnormal!

Yet he could not figure out how to explain those abnormalities.

But...

Even if he was not clever enough, he still had to fight to keep playing.

Lin Yu adjusted his state of mind.

"If I can't figure out a problem, I'll set it aside for now."

"I have to make good use of this five or so minutes of time alone."

With that thought, Lin Yu began searching the room with his eyes.