Newbie Instance: Class Reunion (9)

DM's inorganic voice rang out again: [Before the first group discussion begins, each player must submit their answers.]

As before, only each player and the viewers in their livestream could see their respective answer boards. Most of the questions were related to the players' side quests. There were ten questions in total. Whoever answered the most correctly and the fastest would receive bonus points in the final scoring system. As for how many points, that depended on the specific rules.

333 reminded Zhen Liu at the right moment: [Write down the answers you're sure of. It's fine to leave the ones you don't know blank for now. This isn't the final submission; you'll have plenty of chances to revise them later.]

Zhen Liu was puzzled. Since only the final answer counted, what was the point of the game setting up this stage in advance?

Soon, after all five had submitted their answers, Zhen Liu got his answer—

DM announced the results: [A player has correctly guessed a secret another player needs to hide. Please submit relevant evidence before the game ends. If verification succeeds, the player whose secret was exposed will lose the bonus-point privilege for one side quest.]

—The game had clearly been designed to stir up trouble.

As long as there was life, there would be troublemaking.

Newbie Instance: Class Reunion (9)

After a single notification from DM, the atmosphere in the room immediately changed.

"Didn't we agree to help each other secure that point?" Basketball Qiao was the first to speak. He looked deeply shaken and stood up straight from his seat, his face full of utter disbelief.

The fragile trust barely established among the five players, who had not been particularly familiar with one another to begin with, crumbled in an instant. Their eyes were filled with wariness toward each other. Though any mature adult could guess that, by the end of the game, there was a high chance they would stab each other in the back for that point—none of them would get to keep it. But having it laid bare so early and so directly still felt different.

Everyone instinctively began to wonder: Who had guessed the secret? Had they guessed one person's secret, or everyone's? And who had been unlucky enough to be exposed so quickly?

That last question made everyone look toward Lawyer Jin without prior agreement.

The suspected victim. Lawyer Jin did not feel any better because of their sympathy. He only felt that, as an experienced player, he was losing face. In a panic, he slapped the table and rose, pointing at Professor Lu. "Was it you?!"

Such an action not only revealed Lawyer Jin's hostility toward Professor Lu, but also made it clear that Lawyer Jin considered Professor Lu the greatest threat among the players present.

The two sides were swiftly drawn.

At least in Lawyer Jin's eyes, the situation was now him, Second-generation Zhao, and Basketball Qiao against Professor Lu and Doctor Zhen. Though the three of them might not be innocent among themselves, he still preferred to suspect those outside his circle. Doctor Zhen was not especially aggressive, while Professor Lu was too mysterious and difficult to read. And, most difficult to admit, Lawyer Jin had always felt that Professor Lu did not take him seriously at all.

In fact, Lawyer Jin had guessed correctly.

More precisely, Professor Lu did not take anyone present seriously. Even though Lawyer Jin was already baring his fangs and claws, Professor Lu merely sat there casually, gave him an indifferent glance, and answered, "If I wanted to, do you think DM would lack evidence?"

After that look, Lawyer Jin seemed nailed in place, unable to move another step.

Lawyer Jin kept encouraging himself inwardly. What are you afraid of? You shouldn't be afraid. But no matter what, his body could not withstand the pressure and move forward. In the end, he could only act tough with his words. "Y-you, what do you mean?"

In the end, Professor Lu smiled. For some unknown reason, he let Lawyer Jin off the hook and, unusually, spoke a long sentence. "I mean, if I had hidden a recording device in the living room beforehand, then I would know exactly what you did. How could I possibly lack evidence?"

Professor Lu's words were heavily suggestive.

And the chilling hypothesis he had raised sounded anything but baseless.

Lawyer Jin stared at Second-generation Zhao and Basketball Qiao beside him, his pupils shaking. Anyone who could have prepared in advance had to have known that he had clashed with the deceased in the living room. Doctor Zhen and Professor Lu had both been upstairs at the time, so it was unlikely they had happened to witness it. In other words, the one who had betrayed him was ultimately one of "their own"!

Basketball Qiao had already admitted that he had witnessed that scene. Second-generation Zhao claimed he had seen nothing from the kitchen, but the kitchen was semi-open, making him even more suspicious.

Zhen Liu had no choice but to speak up and stop the confrontation from escalating. "Their answer might not have been aimed at you."

"Then what could it have been for?" Lawyer Jin had suffered several setbacks and was now thoroughly flustered, incapable of thinking rationally.

Zhen Liu did not answer directly. He merely asked Lawyer Jin a question in return. "None of us are playing for the first time. Everyone knows what an answering stage like this signifies. If they knew it would expose them, what would they gain by answering anyway?"

Ordinary people who did not want to offend others or expose their ambitions too early would not rashly write down an answer during the first round. Of course, another reason ordinary people did not answer rashly was that if they wrote down the wrong answer, even if they corrected it later, it could still affect their overall bonus points.

Zhen Liu had not written down a single answer he was uncertain about.

Lawyer Jin froze. Right—by drawing battle lines so early, the other party would only make everyone wary. It was definitely better to strike at the end, catch others off guard, and deny them any chance to retaliate.

"So, for now, I think the killer deliberately filled it in to make us focus on suspecting and fighting each other." The killer certainly could not stand to see the good-aligned camp getting along. The earlier they sowed discord, the better they could prevent everyone from sharing information.

Lawyer Jin was convinced. The killer truly stood to gain the most.

And he had... indeed fallen for it.

How embarrassing.

Zhen Liu's livestream exploded.