The most important inn rule was that guests couldn't leave the inn at night.
In the second half of the night, the deductionists each tested the rule in their own way.
Some tried going downstairs and out the door, while others tried the windows. The moment they were about to leave the inn's boundaries, they were overcome by a chill of terror, and their instincts kept warning them not to do it.
In the end, Quinn managed to make a straw doll. He pushed open the window and threw it outside.
The instant it hit the ground, water began spurting from its body. It gathered around the doll's mouth and nose, then completely engulfed it. Before long, the doll was soaked through and falling apart, no longer fit to serve as a sacrifice. It turned into a sinister breeze and returned to Quinn's hand.
"You really can't go out. Otherwise, this is what happens." Quinn's gaze went blank for a moment, probably as he read the notification on his system panel.
Ren Yi knew what Quinn's sacrifice could do. The straw doll was similar to a substitute puppet, but it could also serve as a kind of "early warning" tool. If you stuffed the doll's mouth with someone's bodily material—including, but not limited to, hair, fingernails, or an eyeball—it could simulate that person's chances of survival in a given environment.
For instance, a sea demon wouldn't drown in water, but Ren Yi would.
If you put the sea demon's hair in the doll's mouth and submerged it in deep water, nothing would happen to the doll.
But if you used Ren Yi's hair instead, after being immersed for a while, the doll would take on the appearance of someone who had drowned.
Whether the doll "died" or not, it counted