Newbie Scenario: Class Reunion (13)

The first round of group discussion was forced to a stop just like that.

Second-generation Zhao went out to look for more clues, Basketball Qiao said he wanted to go back to his room for an afternoon nap, while Zhen Liu chose to stay in the living room and sort through his own clues, along with all the information he had heard from the others.

Basketball Qiao did not go straight back to his room. Instead, he went to the kitchen and boiled himself a kettle of hot water. He was carrying his cup through the living room toward his room when he saw Zhen Liu studying things alone. He poured Zhen Liu a cup as well, then came over to chat. "You're still looking into it?"

Zhen Liu nodded.

"We can just vote for Lawyer Jin together." Basketball Qiao's hatred for Lawyer Jin was astonishingly high. He could not even be bothered to hide it in front of Zhen Liu anymore. "I have footage proving he had a motive to kill."

Professor Lu had been right. Someone really had placed a recording device in the living room beforehand.

It had not been Second-generation Zhao, but the seemingly most guileless newbie, Basketball Qiao. Then when he mentioned Lawyer Jin's conflict with the victim in the living room during his initial introduction, it probably had not been accidental either. He had wanted to put Lawyer Jin on guard so that, after everyone scattered to search for evidence, he could record the footage he wanted.

Zhen Liu neither approved nor disapproved of Basketball Qiao's methods. Everyone had their own way of playing the game. He merely asked Basketball Qiao a question in return. "Don't you think it was strange that Lawyer Jin and Professor Lu suddenly started fighting?"

"He was trying to stop everyone from agreeing to a public vote. It wouldn't have helped if he was the only one who disagreed." At the time, only Zhen Liu had yet to state his opinion. Lawyer Jin had not dared gamble, so naturally he had to think of another way. Basketball Qiao understood that much. "Only the murderer would not want everyone to vote him to death, right?"

But Zhen Liu had a different thought. "It's also possible that he's genuinely a 'good guy' who really wants to win."

Zhen Liu did not believe Basketball Qiao had failed to consider such a simple possibility.

Yet from the latter half of the discussion onward, Basketball Qiao seemed focused solely on dragging Lawyer Jin down. Or rather, Zhen Liu even felt that he was currently the only one wholeheartedly trying to solve the case.

Basketball Qiao was silent for a long while before tilting his head and asking Zhen Liu, "Is the truth really that important?"

"Of course," Zhen Liu blurted out instinctively. No matter what the truth was like, he believed it ought to be restored. Then he quickly reeled in his emotions and joked, "...No, money is what's most important."

Money was not omnipotent, but without money, nothing could be done.

Zhen Liu had understood that truth a long time ago.

Newbie Scenario: Class Reunion (13)

While a player was stuck in the Black Room, the other players could visit him.

Given Jin Zhuang's current position as someone universally despised, he had never expected to receive a visit himself. When the visitation light came on, he even suspected for a moment that there was something wrong with his eyes.

The visitor was none other than Doctor Zhen.

It was surprising, yet not entirely surprising.

Among the five players, Doctor Zhen was the only one who had not shown too much hostility toward Jin Zhuang. Jin Zhuang felt that all his dignity as an experienced player had been utterly cast aside that day. He gave Zhen Liu, standing outside the bars, a self-mocking smile.

The Black Room holding the player was an independent space created by the game. It contained all kinds of furniture and appliances. Rather than a Black Room, it felt more like a vacation home. It would have been perfect if not for the bars at the entrance restricting Lawyer Jin's freedom.

Zhen Liu had brought his own chair and sat outside the bars, intending to have a proper talk with Jin Zhuang.

Zhen Liu did not bother with pleasantries. He got straight to the point. "Do you think Second-generation Zhao and Qiao Basketball's hostility toward you is directed at you personally?"

"What else could it be?" At the start, Jin Zhuang had thought victory was already in his grasp and that he could call the shots, since his little group accounted for three of the five players. But what happened? Things changed in an instant. Two traitors had emerged from their three-man team, leaving Jin Zhuang, now in the minority, temporarily unable to tell whether they had betrayed the organization or he had.

Zhen Liu did not know how to put it tactfully, so he could only speak frankly. "Have you considered the possibility that their character alignments require them to act that way?"

If side quests could require them to protect others, then there could also be side quests requiring them to "kill" others.

Jin Zhuang had actually considered that as well. Second-generation Zhao's intentions during the earlier discussion had been too obvious, and he had pointed it out at the time. It was just that... "It can't be that both characters have a grudge against mine, can it?"

"Three people." Professor Lu's provocation toward Lawyer Jin had been quite obvious too. But if Professor Lu and Jin Zhuang had not known each other before, the possibility of a personal grudge between them was low. In other words, everyone's "dislike" of Lawyer Jin was more rooted in their characters. In fact, Doctor Zhen did not fundamentally have much of a favorable impression of Lawyer Jin either.

Zhen Liu even felt Lawyer Jin's character could star in a webnovel—Universally Despised, I Reached the Peak of Life by Solving Cases.

Zhen Liu had previously suspected that Lawyer Jin was Doctor Zhen's unrequited love interest, which was why he had not made any moves. But Zhen Liu no longer thought so. From a writer's perspective, Lawyer Jin already had bonds that ran too deep with the other characters. Adding Doctor Zhen into the mix would make things too complicated. This was a newbie scenario; it would not be that complex.

"You should start with the characters' past stories and think carefully about what grudges Brother Hao or you might have with Second-generation Zhao, Qiao Basketball, and Professor Lu. Otherwise, your character will be very difficult to play."

"Will you help me?" Lawyer Jin caught the implication in Zhen Liu's words.

Zhen Liu did not agree right away. Instead, he laid out his condition. "If you're willing to share your story with me, along with any grudges you think of later between your character and the other characters."

"No problem!"

After visiting Lawyer Jin, Zhen Liu went to see Professor Lu as well. This old man's living conditions were even better than Lawyer Jin's. Zhen Liu did not know whether it was just his imagination, but he felt the appliances in Professor Lu's room were more advanced. Professor Lu looked utterly relaxed. When Zhen Liu arrived, he was reclining against the headboard, reading a... cookbook.