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Thinking it over, Zhen Liu felt that his mission path was pretty damned unfair. Not only did he have to figure out whether he was the murderer, he also had to figure out whether the person he secretly loved was the murderer. One of Zhen Liu's side missions read like this—if the person you secretly loved was the murderer, would you choose to protect him? (Successfully protecting him earned 6 points.) But if he was a good person, then his main mission would be to solve the case and catch the murderer, directly conflicting with the side mission of protecting the person he secretly loved.

Zhen Liu suddenly had a bold thought: could the other players' missions contain similar contradictions? Did they also have people they needed to protect?

You covered for him, and he covered for someone else. That was how the truth became so baffling.

In other words, whether they could win in the end depended entirely on each person's choices.

Of course, this was only Zhen Liu's own rather immature speculation for now. Whether it was true or not remained to be seen.

The five players all sat around the dining table in the hall. Each of them could use their light screen at any time to record information they learned from the others. Only they themselves could see their own light screens—though the livestream viewers could see them too. The one thing guaranteed was that the other players could not cheat by peeking.

Before everyone sat down, Second-generation Zhao spoke up with a suggestion. "How about we sit where we sat during dinner last night?"

Basketball Qiao had already pulled out the first chair and looked at Second-generation Zhao strangely. "Why? Do you suspect someone already made a move during the banquet? The victim died in the early hours of the morning. Do you know something?"

"Just a precaution."

The seating arrangement was a minor matter. Since Second-generation Zhao had said so, no one particularly objected to replicating their positions from last night. There were only five of them, so their seats were easy enough to remember, and nobody sat in the wrong place. Still, Zhen Liu did not know if he was overthinking it, but after Second-generation Zhao made the suggestion, Lawyer Jin exchanged a glance with him that carried a faint sense of, You're being a little too meddlesome.

It was hard to say whether Lawyer Jin felt Second-generation Zhao was meddling because he was the murderer and did not want too much information exposed, or because he was a good person but, due to his competition with the other players, did not want Second-generation Zhao giving hints to a newbie.

In any case, seated along the left side of the long table were Second-generation Zhao, Basketball Qiao, and Lawyer Jin, in that order. On the right sat Professor Lu and Doctor Zhen. The victim had sat alone at the broad end of the table last night because he thought it was the host's seat, just like in television dramas. In other words, the two people closest to the victim during the banquet had been Second-generation Zhao and Professor Lu, while Lawyer Jin had been the farthest away.

It could be said that everyone's seating position was rather delicate, each one containing some anomaly that did not match their personality.

Now, it was three against two, facing each other across the table.

The veteran player, Second-generation Zhao, had already spoken once, so he temporarily took on the role of moderator. "Same old rules. Let's start with introductions. Are there any newbie players here?"

No one spoke. Only an idiot of a newbie would admit it himself.

Before Zhen Liu could even finish thinking that, Basketball Qiao raised his hand and obediently confessed, "I've only played once before."

"I know. We worked together in your last round. It's fine—if there's anything you don't understand, I'll help you again." Second-generation Zhao looked exceptionally helpful and fond of playing teacher. "Let's begin with introductions. I'll go first, then Professor Lu, Basketball Qiao, Doctor Zhen, and Lawyer Jin. We'll alternate sides like that. Is that okay?"

Second-generation Zhao's final question clearly was not directed at everyone present. His gaze had remained fixed on Lawyer Jin at the very end.

Because of this, Zhen Liu drew a conclusion: not only had Second-generation Zhao recognized Basketball Qiao, whom he had cooperated with once before, he might also know Lawyer Jin. And Lawyer Jin was likely a veteran player even more skilled than Second-generation Zhao.

Although Lawyer Jin said nothing, there was faintly an implication that he was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes.

In other words, the three people opposite Zhen Liu had a natural bond between them and had formed a small, if unstable, group first. A genuine newbie like Zhen Liu seemed a little like an orphan.

Lawyer Jin truly deserved to be called a veteran player who had played many rounds. Unlike Xiao Zhao, he was not unprofessional enough to temporarily slip out of character. He raised his hand, glanced at the gold watch on his wrist, and urged, "Whoever it is, hurry up and start. I have an important client to meet on Monday, and I don't want this sort of thing delaying my schedule."

Compared to the victim, Lawyer Jin cared more about his career. It was even possible to sense that, compared to the tension of socializing for the sake of socializing last night, he seemed to have relaxed after the victim's death today.

Basketball Qiao chimed in as well. "Yeah, yeah. Whoever the murderer is, just confess already. Don't get everyone burned to death by Brother Hao."

Zhen Liu had no idea whether that was Basketball Qiao's character setting or the personality of the player portraying him. In any case, being able to say something like that was rather... remarkable.

The unfortunate Xiao Zhao began painfully leading the group.

No one knew what the Second-generation Zhao in the game's setting actually looked like. But in this round, he looked exactly like Xiao Zhao. His slightly drooping brows diminished what should have been fairly handsome features, giving him the overall air of an insecure, honest man—a far cry from the arrogant, domineering rich second-generation heir described in the script.

Xiao Zhao was fine when he fully committed to acting, but when he stepped out of character as he had now, his indecisive nature was exposed without reservation.

It was not that he would completely let others manipulate him.

It was that he was easily swayed.

Second-generation Zhao set an example for everyone and gave a very standard self-introduction. "My name is Second-generation Zhao. I'm thirty-five, a rich second-generation heir by profession—living off my parents. My father is Boss Zhao, a famous wealthy businessman in our city. This villa is also a guesthouse operated by my family's company. I lent out one of our family's properties for everyone to hold this class reunion.

"My timeline last night was simple. I ate here with everyone first. After the banquet ended, I went back to my room to play games. I played until very late before going to sleep, and then I seemed to be woken up by the commotion not long afterward.

"I had no relationship with the victim, Ying De. We were just middle school classmates. That's all."