Xu Jiaojiao had always comforted Song Liru and was the person she trusted most.
By the same token, she was also the person who could most easily make a move against Song Liru.
If anyone else had suggested going out to clear her head, Song Liru probably would have refused.
But if it had been Xu Jiaojiao, Song Liru would very likely have agreed.
"If Xu Jiaojiao could provide another alibi, I could believe she was innocent. Unfortunately, her witness was Xu Zijian, the person I'd been most suspicious of earlier."
"So the two of them naturally became the main people I kept an eye on."
"I devised a question for Xu Jiaojiao. I asked why, when she went to collect supplies, she hadn't come to me, the closest person, but had instead gone to Xu Zijian on the second floor."
"When I devised that question, I'd already thought it through. If Xu Jiaojiao gave either of the following two answers, she was definitely the killer."
"The first-Xu Zijian was a fitness trainer, so he was stronger than me and better suited to carrying supplies."
"The second-she was closer to Xu Zijian, and he was more approachable than me."
"As it turned out, Xu Jiaojiao gave me the second answer."
"That confirmed it for me. She was definitely involved in Song Liru's disappearance."
Qin Ning raised an eyebrow slightly. "Why?"
Why would those two answers establish Xu Jiaojiao's guilt?
Shao Lan smiled faintly. "Because neither answer holds up at all."
"The first, that Xu Zijian was stronger, comes with a prerequisite: some of the supplies Xu Jiaojiao needed to carry had to be heavy."
"But we were sitting right in Xu Jiaojiao and Zhang Fang's room," Shao Lan said. "Was there anything heavy in there?"
Qin Ning frowned slightly.
As far as she remembered, there really hadn't been.
The only things in Xu Jiaojiao's room that could be called supplies were a few plastic bags of food and two thick pieces of clothing. Even a child could have carried them.
"I don't know whether Xu Jiaojiao also thought that excuse would give her away, but she chose the second one-that she was closer to Xu Zijian."
"She might have thought there wouldn't be any flaws in that, because something as subjective as being close to someone can't be disproved."
"But it's actually the exact opposite." Shao Lan looked at Qin Ning. "Again, out of the eight of us, who was closest to Xu Jiaojiao?"
"Song Liru," Qin Ning said quietly.
"Exactly." Shao Lan nodded. "Song Liru."
Among the female players, Xu Jiawei was distant and Qin Ning aloof, and neither mixed much with the others. Xu Jiaojiao and Song Liru were the closest.
Xu Jiaojiao had always been very attentive to Song Liru, who depended heavily on her in turn. They had spent most of their time together, like a pair of close sisters.
Yet when Xu Jiaojiao went out to collect supplies, she hadn't even considered asking her close friend whether she wanted to come along.
Instead, she had skipped over Song Liru and gone straight to Xu Zijian, with whom she'd had little contact.
"If she didn't ask me because we weren't close enough, why didn't Xu Jiaojiao ask Song Liru, the person she was closest to?"
"The reason is simple. She knew Song Liru wasn't in her room."
Qin Ning held the Miao Saber, its tip and her fingers both faintly cold.
When Shao Lan had suggested going over the timeline, she'd thought it made sense but hadn't considered it any further.
She hadn't expected every detail to contain so much information.
And Shao Lan had been perceptive enough to pick up on every bit of it.
With a single question, he had backed Xu Jiaojiao into a corner-if there was a flaw in her story, she was bound to expose it.
"So the truth is that Xu Jiaojiao and Xu Zijian never collected any supplies. They were lying," Shao Lan said. "The two of them went out together to kill Song Liru."
Qin Ning lowered her eyes.
After a long while, she asked quietly, "Why would they do that?"
Shao Lan shook his head. "I don't know."
It was hard to imagine someone like Shao Lan saying he didn't know. Qin Ning gave him a surprised look.
"What? I'm not a god." Shao Lan chuckled. "Just like you, this is only my second day here."
"I think Xu Jiaojiao and Xu Zijian have information we don't, but right now, I have no way of knowing what that information is."
"Our best bet would be to find Song Liru, even if it's just her body."
"There's a saying in forensic medicine: the dead can speak. If we find Song Liru, she should be able to tell us a lot, whether she's dead or alive."
Qin Ning raised an eyebrow. "Are you a forensic pathologist?"
"No." Shao Lan shook his head. "I'm just an idle man who likes to read."
He hadn't revealed his profession, and neither had Qin Ning. By tacit agreement, they didn't pursue the subject.
"Where do you think the body would be?"
"Two possibilities. Either it's hidden in the village, or it was dumped in the sea."
"If it was dumped in the sea, we're completely out of options. We can only try our luck in the village first."
"There are plenty of houses beside the Guesthouse that belong to the villagers. Many are empty and look as though no one's lived in them for a long time. Song Liru might be hidden in one of them."
Qin Ning glanced at Shao Lan. "You want me to help you search?"
"That's up to you," Shao Lan said. "Whether you search and how you do it are your business. They aren't part of our deal."
By this point, he had explained almost everything about this piece of information. Qin Ning asked, "Do you have any other information you want to trade?"
"Not for now," Shao Lan said. "But since I took on more risk in this trade, could you throw in one question for free?"
"Go ahead."
"Have you ever killed anyone?" Shao Lan asked.
Silence.
After a long while, Qin Ning calmly raised her eyes.
"Yes."
Shao Lan didn't seem surprised. "In an Instance, or in the real world?"
"If I remember correctly, I only agreed to give you one question," Qin Ning said calmly. "That's your second."
Shao Lan shrugged. "All right. Can't slip one past you."
"This was a pleasant trade," Shao Lan said. "I look forward to the next one."
Qin Ning nodded.
Neither said anything more. They passed each other and took different paths at the fork.
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