Live streaming platform, comment section.
[Ah, I knew it wasn't a novice!]
[It's over, we lost]
[There's still Ms. Jian's vote]
[What use is one vote, it can't turn the tide]
[Unless...]
[Unless...]
[Unless... wait, unless what?]
[I don't know why, but I feel it's like that]
[Me too...]
[What's with this strange premonition?]
[It must be that way!]
[It is that way!]
[Is it really that way?]
[Which way are you talking about?]
[Those who know, know]
[If you don't know, you'll understand soon]
[Death to riddlers]
...
――
"How can this be?" Andrei was the first to speak, asking in disbelief, "I bet wrong?"
Liu Sau-chi also said: "No way, is there a mistake?"
Connor Lee looked at Min-cheol Park, who shook his head: "It's not me either, really not."
"It must be you," Ran-er Kim said, "Agassi, you're too good at acting."
Min-cheol Park, at a loss for words, simply took out his capsule toy: "Look for yourself."
Ran-er Kim opened it and saw the paper was blank too.
"It's really not you?" She looked at Wu Lie, who ranked third in votes.
Wu Lie was also direct, opening his own, which was, of course, equally blank.
Everyone became restless. The top three in voting weren't the culprit? This... Zhang Xue'er had a thought and looked at Jian Jing: "Who did Teacher Jian vote for?"
Daniel said: "I guess Ms. Jian is the only one who voted correctly. I wonder if I'm wrong."
"You guess," she smiled.
Daniel laughed and took out the paper: "I think everyone is waiting for the answer in my hand." His gaze swept over the guests with varying expressions, "Now, let me announce the final vote."
He cleared his throat: "Jian Jing identified..."
"Jian Jing," he said.
Time froze instantly.
When Jiang Baiyan was declared innocent, some people had already had a premonition, but even when that premonition was triggered, this answer was still unimaginable.
Yet reality was precisely so.
There was a buzzing in their ears, as if the brain couldn't immediately process the audio captured by the ears, couldn't provide feedback, and thoughts drifted to the distant universe.
What? What was just said?
They instinctively doubted, was it an auditory hallucination? How could the answer possibly be this?
However, reason and intuition said, yes, it is so, this is right.
Of course she won.
It could only be in this way, of course it was this way.
Wataru Kojima blinked and asked a foolish question: "Are you serious?"
Jian Jing stood up, bowed slightly to everyone, and said happily: "Thank you all, especially you, Mr. Kojima."
――
The live streaming platform exploded, the page became extremely laggy, and many comments and bullet screens became jumbled.
[What does this mean? I don't understand?]
[Why did Teacher Jian identify herself??]
[Did I miss something?? What's going on???]
[Ahhhhh I knew it!!]
[Damn, sure enough!!]
[Teacher Jian is the murderer???? I don't believe it!!!!!]
[How can a detective become the murderer???]
[I'm dumbfounded]
[Ah, for viewers following Teacher Jian, what a huge narrative trick!]
[Am I the only one who cares that Teacher Jian won?? Damn, so cool!!]
[Put "Jian Jing is awesome" on the public screen!!]
[Teacher Jian is awesome]
[Goddess rules!!]
[From now on, I can't call her little princess anymore, I have to call her Queen]
[So satisfying!!!!!!]
[Extremely satisfying!!!!!!!!]
[Blown away!!!!!]
Everyone wanted to continue discussing, but the server couldn't handle it and crashed.
The page went completely white.
――
The scene was extremely quiet, everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Daniel heard the viewership numbers through his earpiece, his smile impossible to suppress: "It's unbelievable, my heart is racing now. So, is the answer as we thought?"
He stepped forward and picked up the capsule toy she had handed over.
He opened it, inside was only a piece of paper.
It was a candy wrapper with writing on it:
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what flavor you're going to get.
On the back was another line of text.
Congratulations, murderer.
――
Time went back to a few days ago, when they were drawing capsule toys.
Jian Jing ate an extremely sweet chocolate, peeked at others drawing lots, thought nothing had happened, but unexpectedly, the next second, she saw words on the candy wrapper.
This luck, she didn't know whether to call it bad or good.
But... having been a detective for so long, being the murderer was also exciting, her thoughts immediately became lively, eager to try.
This time, the opponent was no longer just one murderer, but fourteen detectives.
Exciting, too exciting.
-
At 11:30, Jian Jing came to Dan's rest room.
There was only a plastic mannequin on the sofa, with a tablet on its lap, playing audio, but only static, indicating Dan was resting.
She wrapped her fingers with a handkerchief and turned off the player.
The operation interface popped up, displaying: You have murdered Dan, please write down your crime process.
Jian Jing entered a few lines of text.
Five minutes later, a notification popped up.
[Passed review, please place the body in the last position and leave within 10 minutes]
The plastic mannequin was light, Jian Jing had no trouble moving it.
At 11:45, she left the study.
――
12:32.
Jian Jing came to the study for the second time, the plastic mannequin on the ground had turned into a realistic silicone dummy.
It had no head.
Her feelings were quite complex.
――
"Congratulations, Murderer," Daniel announced the result loudly.
Pop.
The colored balls above burst open, golden confetti fluttered down like snowflakes, lavish and luxurious, stimulating everyone's hearts.
The color of gold always easily provokes heartbeats.
Is this confetti? No, this is money!!
One million, dollars!
Jian Jing, with exceptional composure, smiled and greeted everyone: "Thank you all."
"I told you, didn't I, sweetheart, you're a big, big surprise." Daniel hugged her, praising enthusiastically, "You hid it so well, I think at least tens of millions of people now want to know how you did it."
Speaking of this, Wataru Kojima had something to say: "All the clues didn't point to you, what did you do?"
"Mr. Kojima, this is the puzzle I set," Jian Jing sat back in her chair, smiling, "Given that I am the murderer, deduce it."
Revealing the murderer's identity at the beginning, like narrative tricks, are classic tropes in detective fiction.
Wataru Kojima's DNA was triggered, and he unconsciously began deducing: "From the start, you knew about the reincarnation technique, that notebook."
His thoughts gradually became clear: "The adoption certificate was your deliberate misdirection, you erased a line, making us notice this certificate, and also altered Ms. Yu's details. We discovered the flaws in this, subconsciously believing that what you wanted to conceal was your background, but in fact, the evidence that would truly betray you was still the notebook."
Jian Jing's strategy was ultimately very simple, sell you a flaw that's not easy to discover, misdirect attention, while at the same time handing the fatal clue right under everyone's noses, openly and frankly.
"I should have looked at that notebook carefully," he regretted.
Jian Jing "comforted" him: "Even if you looked carefully, you wouldn't have found the problem. The page I removed, I actually told you all about it already, it was about love spells."
Was there an immortality technique in the notebook? Yes, but the show team couldn't carelessly write it out, otherwise it would be too unfair for the person who drew number 4.
They cleverly hid it in the page numbers, only by taking apart the entire thread-bound book and piecing together the patterns at the bottom of the pages could one obtain a string of codes.
Following the code's hints, searching for the corresponding text in the book pages would reveal the introduction to the immortality technique.
Removing the page about love spells not only concealed it from view but also ensured they couldn't piece together the truth.
"If not the murderer, the notebook is an advantage for number 4, if the murderer, it's a hint," Jian Jing praised the show team, "An amazing idea, you're really too good."
Daniel: "It's you who's too great."
(Show team: F*ck, what luck!)
Mr. Kojima sighed: "This is a nested trap."
She had dug countless pitfalls. While others thought the problem lay with the adoptive parents, he discovered the birth parents, believing he had cracked the key to the puzzle. Who could have imagined there was still a series of backup plans?
One couldn't help but be impressed.
"Even if you knew about the elixir of immortality in advance, how could you be sure Daniel would use it?" Wataru Kojima asked. "This should have been a secret. You and Daniel had only just met. How did you know something even his family wasn't aware of?"
Jian Jing smiled slightly. "Why don't you guess?"
When playing the detective, it was thrilling to reason step by step. Now, as the culprit, appreciating her own work had its own unique flavor.
Ah, she could somewhat understand Wang Shi's feelings now.
Crime was indeed an art form.
Wataru Kojima had to guess: "Did the witch reveal herself to you?"
She shook her head.
Daniel testified: "The witch never appeared." The implication was that there wasn't even an actor; it was just a plot device.
Wataru Kojima frowned in thought, unable to come up with an answer for the moment.
Jian Jing looked at the other guests and said with enthusiasm: "What about you all?"
Support had to come from her own people. Zhang Xue'er boldly spoke up: "I'll take a wild guess. That night, did the fiancée also go to see Daniel?"
She continued, "Although it's a bit cliché, considering the character setup, it's not impossible."
Jian Jing was as gentle as a spring breeze towards the girl, encouraging her: "You're on the right track."
Wu Lie also joined in, pondering: "The fiancée is materialistic and vain. Was she trying to please Daniel and accidentally discovered the problem?"
"The fiancée really longed for a life of luxury. Her outfit when she appeared was particularly lavish," Kumiko Terauchi, being attentive, tried hard to recall, finally remembering some details. "But when I went to your room, I saw that all the jewelry was very cheap. Were you trying to get something nice from Daniel and ended up discovering the secret room?"
Jian Jing nodded: "That's correct. My character isn't just materialistic; she also has a habit of petty theft, sometimes pilfering small pieces of jewelry. She's also very skilled at picking locks. That's how she snuck into Daniel's bedroom and discovered the secret room."
"I see," everyone realized.
However, Liu Sau-chi frowned slightly and said, "If this was part of your character setup, there should have been clues to hint at it." He looked at Daniel, subtly questioning, "Why didn't we notice this?"
Daniel said, "There must be hints for key character clues."
Jian Jing glanced at him casually and smiled, "Mr. Liu, you're wrongly blaming the production team. In my room, there were many mismatched pieces of jewelry – emerald earrings, a ruby ring – corresponding to what the madam and the second daughter wore at the banquet that evening. This hinted at my actions."
But Kumiko Terauchi shook her head: "I didn't notice the things you mentioned."
"I returned them," she winked, saying with pleasure, "Remember? After the banquet, I was looking for people everywhere. Yes, I was trying to chat with the gentlemen, but I didn't forget to slip into your rooms and return things that didn't belong to me."
Min-cheol Park gasped in disbelief: "You dealt with the evidence that early?"
"The game began the moment we arrived on the cruise ship," Jian Jing said calmly. "After receiving my character profile, I started understanding her background, personality, and hidden secrets. Knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory. When I found out I was the murderer, the first thing I planned wasn't how to kill, but how to eliminate the most damning evidence."
She paused, then added, "A person without suspicion would actually draw attention. Having suspicion but being unable to commit the crime is the best cover."
Valeriya couldn't help but agree: "It's true. I never suspected you because you were here for the first time."
Although Jian Jing demonstrated extraordinary perceptiveness, when considering who might know about the secret room, everyone's deductions were based on character profiles.
The fiancée, meeting everyone for the first time and boarding the cruise ship for the first time, couldn't possibly know about the secret room.
The chain of evidence was missing the most crucial link. Unable to connect the dots, people's suspicions about her always remained on the periphery, never delving deeper.