You Draw Lots

Jiang Cheng had visited the second floor yesterday, just as the girl had said.

The boy's and girl's bedrooms were easy to tell apart. One was filled with all kinds of dolls, while the other had posters of various military weapons plastered across the walls, with military journals on the desk as well. The whole room reeked of military fandom.

Next, both groups turned their attention to Jiang Cheng and the girl.

"This family seems to have had a violent argument. We found many smashed plates and cups in the trash can, and some of them still had traces of blood on them," Jiang Cheng said.

The girl added, "There were also some marks on the wooden stair railing. We analyzed them and determined that they might have been scratches left by fingernails."

This was a clue they couldn't ignore. Several of them went to the stairs and followed the direction the girl pointed. Sure enough, they found some marks left by friction.

The burly man went up and ran his hand over them. His expression changed slightly. "That's right. They're scratches."

A family of four, a poor family atmosphere, smashed tableware, scratches, and a young girl who might have been imprisoned.

No matter how they put the clues together, they all seemed to point to a family tragedy.

There had once been a girl who suffered severe abuse here.

"So what do we need to do next?" the male clerk muttered softly. "Rescue the poor girl?"

"Whatever happened here belongs to the past. We have no way to change the past," the woman with a mole on her lip said. "All we can do is uncover the truth and then end the mission."

"But haven't we already deduced the truth?"

The burly man grew increasingly impatient. "What truth have you deduced? How was the girl abused? Who participated in abusing her? Is she dead or alive? You don't know any of that, so how can you end the mission?"

After being shouted at by the burly man, the male clerk was so frightened that he didn't dare make a sound.

The girl looked at the male clerk with pity in her eyes.

Grrr.

Grrr.

Everyone looked toward the source of the sound. The fat man awkwardly covered his stomach. "Uh..."

"Forget it. We've searched almost all of the first floor. Let's prepare something to eat," the burly man said. After being busy all morning, he was starting to feel hungry too.

Just as everyone was preparing to cook, a voice came from behind them. "There's still one place we haven't checked." Jiang Cheng pointed at the bathroom where the middle-aged man's corpse had been. "I think there might be clues there."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions turned solemn. Everyone knew what Jiang Cheng was thinking, but convincing themselves to go in and check was difficult.

After all, someone had already died there. It was hard to say whether entering the bathroom would trigger some taboo that caused death.

When they had divided up the search areas, everyone had tacitly avoided that place.

In the end, reason overcame fear. The burly man took a deep breath and said, "He's right. There's a good chance clues are hidden there. It's risky, but if we don't solve the mission, everyone will die."

The woman with a mole on her lip unusually did not argue. She clearly understood the stakes as well, but still said sarcastically, "Then who's going?"

Jiang Cheng cut in, "Who has entered the first-floor bathroom? Just entering the doorway counts."

Everyone raised their hands.

Jiang Cheng counted them before continuing, "Then everyone might have triggered the death taboo. So this isn't merely about finding clues anymore. It's also about saving your own life."

The girl frowned and asked, "Then we can't all go in together, can we?"

The burly man rubbed the stubble on his chin and nodded. "The space inside is too small. If too many people go in and something happens, we won't be able to move freely."

"That's right." Jiang Cheng nodded. "I reckon two people should be enough."

"Then who's willing to go in?" the male clerk, huddled at the back, asked excitedly.

Everyone fell silent.

"All right, let's decide by drawing lots. That's fair to everyone." Jiang Cheng spread out his hand.

"Fine!"

"I agree."

After making the preparations, Jiang Cheng took out several slips of paper. Two of them were shorter. In full view of everyone, he rolled the slips into small bundles and placed them one by one in his palm. "The people who draw the short slips will go in. Any objections?"

"There's definitely nothing wrong with this method, but..." The fat man stared at the small paper rolls in Jiang Cheng's hand and swallowed. "Why are there only five slips? There are six people here."

The others noticed the problem as well and looked at Jiang Cheng in confusion.

"Because I'm not drawing," Jiang Cheng said naturally.

Everyone froze, then grew somewhat angry. The burly man shouted, "What gives you the right not to draw?"

"Because I've never been in the bathroom."

"You've been here for an entire day and night, and you've drunk so much water. How could you not have used the bathroom?" The male clerk seemed to have found an outlet for his frustration and shouted hysterically, "You're just trying to cheat! Just make him go in alone!!"

The woman with a mole on her lip stared at Jiang Cheng with an unfriendly expression and sneered, "Trying to pull a fast one here comes with a price."

"I know." Jiang Cheng's expression didn't change. "But I really haven't been to the bathroom. I have proof."

He raised his hand and pointed in one direction, roughly toward the windowsill. A gust of wind happened to blow past, lifting one corner of the curtain and revealing two mineral water bottles placed behind it.

One bottle was full, while the other was only half full. Both contained a pale yellow liquid that was definitely not the color of normal mineral water.

Under the morning light, it gave off an alluring sheen.

"What is that..." The male clerk's eyes suddenly widened.

"Mm-hmm." Jiang Cheng nodded, admitting their guess with slight embarrassment. "I thought the bathroom was too dark, so I..."

The burly man looked at Jiang Cheng with a complicated expression. "..."

Then the woman: "..."

The male clerk: "..."

The girl: "..."

The fat man: "...You're one damn clever little bastard!"

Since Jiang Cheng hadn't entered the bathroom, no one could say anything. The remaining five people drew lots, while Jiang Cheng craned his neck to watch from the side.

In the end, the burly man and the male clerk were the lucky ones selected.

After the two of them opened the bathroom door, they discovered that the middle-aged man's corpse was gone.

The bathroom wasn't very large. There was no way it could conceal an adult corpse.

"This isn't the world we came from," the woman behind them suddenly said. "It's normal for inexplicable things to happen here. You'll get used to it."

Just as she said, the burly man showed no surprise. The male clerk, however, was miserable. He whimpered and clung to the doorway, so the burly man kicked him inside.

The others waited outside.

The search went very efficiently. In less than five minutes, the two of them came back out. The burly man was holding a piece of white toilet paper.

They first closed the bathroom door, then everyone went to the living room. The burly man unfolded the toilet paper, revealing a lock of hair inside.

"I found it in the bathtub. It wasn't there yesterday."

The burly man was very cautious and didn't even touch the hair with his hands.

The hair was very long. It should have belonged to a woman.