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Once they chose that outcome, they would truly lose.

If the instance of the case failed to uncover the truth, it would restart endlessly. Almost every time, everyone involved would be burned to death in the villa upon reaching the ending. Second-generation Zhao and Basketball Qiao would repeat the same mistakes every single time. What was the point of that? Humans were really hard to understand.

[Because they

lost their memories

. They were always still themselves from that exact moment, so of course they would make the same choice. There was no such thing as a momentary difference in thought.]

[So, was the murderer Second-generation Zhao or Basketball Qiao after all?]

[No idea. I've watched this instance so many times. I've seen every character's perspective at least twice, and it feels like everyone is suspicious. But the crucial evidence has never been found. It's really strange.]

[Sigh, I can't bear to keep watching. I don't want to see my beautiful Zhen burned to death, QAQ.]

[Maybe this time there's hope? Basketball Qiao has already tested Zhen Liu several times. It isn't just Zhen Liu's attitude—I think Basketball Qiao can be won over too.]

But the condition that could not be spoken aloud for a truly perfect clear was to make Basketball Qiao and Second-generation Zhao believe the truth presented by the players. Otherwise, even if they really voted out the true culprit, the Class Reunion instance would continue.

It was not as though no one had ever resisted Basketball Qiao and Second-generation Zhao's temptation before. But they could only force a majority vote through, unable to persuade those stubborn undead.

Even that kind of majority-vote victory was already considered a rare and excellent clear.

What would Zhen Liu, participating for the first time, choose?

Naturally, he refused.

Just as Zhen Liu had told Basketball Qiao time and time again, "Your proposal is good, but I still want to choose the truth." Winning the game was indeed important, and so was the enormous prize money, but finding the truth was equally important to Zhen Liu. Even if the final conclusion might very well point to himself, "This feeling of giving it everything you have, yet still not necessarily winning and failing to find the key evidence... it fascinates me."

Second-generation Zhao flew into a rage. He had not expected Doctor Zhen to be someone so impossible to reason with. "Did you misunderstand and think we were trying to trick you? I can swear to heaven that there are no other conditions attached. We really don't care about winning."

He only wanted the lawyer dead!

Just like the choice he had made the first time, he knew Lawyer Jin was Jin Zhuang, a player, not the lawyer he had known. That was why he had not truly killed the other man in the game. He only wanted to prove that his decision back then had not been wrong. No matter how many people came, no matter what sort of people they were, they would make the same choice—the lawyer deserved to die!

Zhen Liu admitted it as well. "I believe you. You truly don't care about winning or losing, and I really can't figure out what exactly you want to do."

This was a rare situation in Zhen Liu's life, despite him being something of a willful lie detector. He could clearly tell that the other party was telling the truth, yet he still could not understand their motives.

The only explanation was that there was an information imbalance between them. There had to be some secret or rule hidden behind this that Zhen Liu did not know.

But those things could be investigated slowly later. They had nothing to do with the truth of this game.

"As long as us brothers vote together, you can't win. Understand?" Second-generation Zhao glared viciously at Zhen Liu, hoping he would bow to reality. Once the brothers entered a case game that belonged to them, they would recover their memories from before death and naturally be bound together. The remaining players were truly strangers. Even if they had known one another before, their differing positions meant they could never trust each other completely. What could the players possibly use to fight them?

But Zhen Liu smiled and shook his head at Second-generation Zhao again. "You aren't the only ones who can vote together."

Lucien immediately got what Zhen Liu meant and stepped to Zhen Liu's side. To be honest, Lucien's insistence on playing a love-struck fool had troubled Zhen Liu more than once, but at this moment, it became his salvation.

"The doctor and the professor can too." As long as the person playing the professor could hold fast to what the character truly felt and genuinely dare to be brave for love once, then the doctor and professor would also form a natural alliance of shared interests.

This game's mechanics were truly well balanced.

So the true key had always been Lawyer Jin's vote. The Orphan Card, which everyone had despised from the very beginning, had finally welcomed a different kind of dawn.

And Second-generation Zhao and Basketball Qiao had thoroughly offended Jin Zhuang.

"The one who can't see the situation clearly isn't me. It's you. If we want to win, we can force a victory through." This was also the outcome players who achieved the excellent ending generally chose.

Second-generation Zhao suddenly felt a wave of emptiness, as though he had experienced this scene countless times before. Yet he clearly had no memory of it. He was merely someone who had played a few instances, luckily recovered his memories, and begun solving his own case. He had to prove that he was right in order to clear the game. At least, that was what he believed.

If he was wrong, wouldn't that mean he had not only failed to protect his mother, but had also killed his own brother years later? The brother who trusted him, supported him, and stood behind him no matter what choice he made?

"But I don't want to choose that either." Zhen Liu had no competitive urge to convince the other side. He only wanted to find the truth. "Because our condition for winning is to hand the murderer over to the police, not to Brother Hao." At that moment, Zhen Liu finally understood the restrictive condition written on the mission line.

Second-generation Zhao froze completely. "What difference does that make?"

"It makes a huge difference. Let me put it this way: I reasonably suspect that no matter who we hand over, Brother Hao will burn us all to death in the end."

Although Zhen Liu was only making a bold conjecture, Second-generation Zhao seemed to be nailed in place.

[!!! Fuck, that's right. Every single time, no matter who gets handed over, everyone ends up being burned to death together.]

[I thought this instance just had a barbecue ending.]

[Wordplay, damn it.]

[No, no, no. The game is only a reenactment of what really happened. I think "go to the police when you're in trouble" is the sliver of hope given above. No wonder it's a beginner instance—the answer is right there in the question.]