I'm Not a Flame-Chaser - Chapter 200

In places unknown to anyone, an exaggerated smile quietly emerges.

April Fools' Special: The Snowy Mountain Villa Hero Team Annihilation Incident 3)

The snow and wind howled, and the road home still seemed endless.

Lin sat alone by the stove, the flickering firelight flashing across his face as the firewood crackled and popped.

"Aren't you going to rest?" Mobius asked softly, unusually gentle, from behind him.

"...I'm afraid no one will dare to sleep tonight." Lin gently patted the hand that was on Mobius's shoulder.

It was like some kind of threatening letter, and the malice it spread sent chills down everyone's spine.

A prank? Or is someone lurking near the house?

No one knows.

But while waiting for the blizzard to stop, everyone else will probably keep their doors and windows tightly shut.

"That piece of paper... who do you think wrote it?"

In that silent moment, Mobius asked a question in a chilling tone.

"..."

Lin actually understood Mobius's idea. The sentences written on the paper were probably about the methods of murder, which corresponded to a total of thirteen people. If you include Su, who had already disappeared, there were fourteen people in total.

In other words, the person who wrote the crime notice could also be among them, the "The Extra Person".

However, this cannot rule out the possibility that it was the murderer's scheme to deliberately incite infighting. The most obvious point is that everyone is now afraid to be with other people.

"Phew... I still can't think of anything." Lin shook his head, still completely baffled, with all sorts of possibilities. "Let's go back to the room."

The fire in the hall went out.

A pair of cold-blooded eyes opened.

Lin and Mobius, dressed neatly, walked into the hall and greeted the others who were already there.

It was clear that most of them looked listless and hadn't slept well, and the wind and snow outside the window continued to fall, further aggravating their gloomy mood.

"Who else is missing?" Lin counted the number of people and found that two were missing.

The others exchanged glances, and Sakura, always quick to notice, added, "Chrono and Kevin haven't arrived yet."

"..."

Lin had a bad feeling, and he turned around and walked quickly toward Kevin's room.

Apart from Lin and Mobius sharing a room, the men all lived on the first floor, while the women lived on the second floor. The top floor was a tea room and a storage room, so he quickly arrived at Kevin's door.

At this moment, Chrono walked over from the corridor. Seeing Lin arrive so aggressively, he asked suspiciously, "What's wrong?"

"Have you seen Kevin?" Lin asked.

"Not yet, I just came out of my room."

Without saying a word, Lin started knocking on Kevin's door, and with considerable force, the sound of which should have alerted everyone in the villa.

"Kevin!" Lin shouted.

But the silence inside was frightening.

This noise would wake up anyone, let alone someone sleeping, even someone upstairs.

Besides, Kevin doesn't sleep in; he's an office worker.

At this moment, Chrono also realized something was wrong. He rushed to Lin's side and prepared to break down the door.

"Wait a minute." Lin shook his head to stop him, but Eden had already walked over with the keys.

Lin took the spare key, which only the owner of the Eden villa had, and inserted it into the keyhole. The two clicks made him pause for a moment.

This type of door can only be locked once from the inside; it can only be locked twice from the outside using a key. In other words, this door... is locked from the outside!

Without thinking twice, he pushed open the door and entered—

"Boom!"

Crimson red filled his vision.

Everyone stood dumbfounded at the doorway, staring at the window through which hot air and the aroma of meat wafted in. Suddenly, a pillar of fire shot into the sky, dispelling the cold wind.

A "fire man" tied motionless to a dead tree in the snow is burning fiercely.

His white hair gradually curled, turned black, and turned to ash in the flames.

"Kevin!"

Without hesitation, Lin and Chrono went to the open window and jumped out, arriving next to the bound Kevin. However, the flames had already engulfed Kevin's body, and even splashing snow on him couldn't stop the burning.

Lin smelled a pungent odor; was it... gasoline?

Under the desperate gaze of everyone, Kevin burned fiercely in the flames...

"Bang!"

"Who is it?!"

At this moment, Kosma appeared even angrier than Chrono, and the usually taciturn man was now roaring with heart-wrenching fury.

"Who killed Kevin?!"

Lin squatted silently beside Kevin's charred body, which was burned beyond recognition, leaving no trace of his former handsomeness.

"Mad One sets himself on fire in the ice."

This is the second sentence on that piece of paper.

Clearly, this time it demonstrated its accuracy to them in a more direct and terrifying way.

Even with such deep pain, Lin still had to investigate Kevin's body; otherwise, before the police arrived, more of them might be killed.

Moreover, Kevin's "burning at the stake" is clearly shrouded in mystery.

First, the paper said "self-immolation," but Kevin was tied up and motionless at the time, which clearly indicates that someone rendered him unable to move before setting him on fire.

Moreover, the description of "Mad One" doesn't seem to apply to the very calm Kevin at all.

Lin examined Kevin's body, but it was burned so thoroughly that all the clothes and hair were reduced to ashes. Even if he tried to examine it carefully, he couldn't find any clues.

"It must have been one of you who did it!" Kosma's hysterical roar made Lin turn around.

"Kevin's door was locked from the outside, wasn't it? I saw Lin lock it and turn around twice! Someone dragged him out of the room, tied him up, set him on fire, and then left the room, locked the door from the inside, and went back into the villa!"

"..."

That's right, right now, that's the only possibility.

Kevin himself couldn't have locked the door from the inside twice; it's only possible that someone locked the door from the outside, and that person might have locked it twice more when leaving after committing the crime.

However, it cannot be ruled out that He did it on purpose, just to tell them...

He was among them.

"Eden, has Kevin's key been found?"

Eden was forcing herself to remain calm and not look at Kevin's body, but a hint of sorrow crept into her eyes. She nodded listlessly, "It's on the bedside table in the room..."

So, does that mean the only way to lock the door is with a spare key...?

"Could it be you, Eden!" Kosma immediately shifted his target to Eden.

"Kid, calm down!" But the usually reckless Chrono was much calmer at this moment. He stopped Kosma, "Anyone can steal the spare key from Eden!"

"Then tell me... who killed Kevin..."

Everyone fell silent.

Yes, who did it...?

Cracks began to appear among the fourteen people who were once inseparable.

The instigator, meanwhile, is laughing and watching all of this.

April Fools' Special: The Snowy Mountain Villa Hero Team Annihilation Incident Part 4)

"Now let's report on our respective schedules."

Lin stood wearily beside the sofa, looking at the stiff atmosphere among the crowd. He could only muster his energy to collect clues.

"Lin... I think... it's better not to do this now..."

At this moment, Aponia, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up to stop Lin. She looked at Lin with a calm expression.

"..."

Lin looked around at the silent, head-down people and sighed heavily.

If he asks about the itinerary now, it will only increase everyone's suspicions. And if he takes each person to a private room for questioning, his personal credibility will not be enough to prove that he is not the murderer.

If they were complete strangers sitting here, this situation wouldn't have happened. But it's precisely because they are close friends that this contradiction becomes even more pronounced.

But this can't go on.

Lin felt a strong sense of unease; he sensed that this was just the beginning...

The successive deaths of Sue and Kevin left the room completely devoid of warmth; even with the fireplace still burning, only coldness spread.

In order to prevent more victims, they unanimously decided that everyone should stay together in the living room until the police arrived.

"Lin, come here."

The call of Chrono interrupted Lin's thoughts. He looked up and saw a white-haired man wearing a mask standing at the door of his room, nodding at him.

A slight tug came from his arm. Lin looked down and saw that Mobius, who had been resting with his eyes closed, had opened his eyes and was looking at him with a cold gaze.

Her meaning was clear: don't go.

"..." But Lin gently pushed her hand away, stood up, and walked into the room with Chrono.

Because he knew that Chrono wouldn't come looking for him for no reason.

As expected, Chrono locked the door as soon as he entered. Then, he pressed his ear against the door to make sure no one was following him before lowering his voice and saying to Lin, "Lin, I think I know who the murderer is."

As soon as he uttered those words, Lin felt a strong sense of unease, but he couldn't immediately pinpoint the source of it.

Perhaps influenced by the emotions of others, Chrono's voice was very low, and with the mask blurring his voice, Lin could barely hear what he was saying and could only concentrate on listening to him speak.

"... Chrono, you don't need to pull me here alone. Others will listen to what you have to say." Lin shook his head. "Besides, even if you get my support, it won't be of much use. What you need to do is tell everyone your thoughts and let them make their own judgments."

"But what I'm talking about is related to you, to be precise... it's related to you and Mobius."

"..."

Lin's expression changed upon hearing Chrono mention his wife's name, and Chrono, noticing this, continued, "Do you know why Aponia said we shouldn't discuss this anymore? That woman, hmph..."

"Is it related to Aponia?"

"Because there was something wrong with her schedule. Judging from the situation at the scene, someone killed Kevin and then left his room and locked the door, right? And you said that you and Mobius were the last two people to arrive besides me, which eliminates the three of us based on the timing."

They all agreed that Chrono wasn't stupid, but it was somewhat unexpected that he could patiently organize his words in a way that wasn't at all aggressive or sarcastic.

"Then I just heard Kosma to himself..."

At this moment, Chrono's voice was lowered to the absolute minimum.

"'Aponia came from the guest room area on the first floor.'"

"..."

The guest room area on the first floor?

As mentioned before, this villa has three floors. The men's living area is on the first floor, and the women's is on the second floor. Logically, Aponia should have come to the living room from the second floor.

In other words, back then in Aponia...

"Hmph, I knew this woman would make a move, but I never expected Kevin would fall into her trap..."