An old tungsten - filament lamp hung in the center of the room by a black wire, flickering with a dim light.
The quiet atmosphere was like ink dripping into clear water, spreading and permeating throughout the room.
In the very center of the room stood a large round table, looking worn - out and battered. In the middle of the table was a small mantel clock with intricate patterns, ticking away at the moment.
Around the table sat ten people in various attires. Their clothes seemed tattered, and their faces were covered with a fair amount of dust. Some of them were lying on the table, while others were slouching back in their chairs, all sound asleep.
Beside these ten people, quietly stood a man wearing a goat - headed mask and a black suit. His eyes, peering out from the worn - out goat - head mask, stared at the ten people with great interest.
The mantel clock on the table chimed. The minute hand and the hour hand both pointed to 'twelve'. From a distant place outside the room, a deep and low bell sound could be heard.
At the same time, the ten men and women sitting around the round table gradually woke up. After coming to their senses, they first looked around in confusion, and then glanced at each other with puzzled expressions. It seemed that none of them remembered why they were here.
"Good morning, nine of you," the goat - headed man spoke first. "I'm very glad to meet you here. You've been asleep in front of me for twelve hours."
The man's attire was really strange, and in the dim light, it startled everyone. His mask seemed to be made from a real goat's head. Many of the hairs had turned yellow and black, knotted and stuck together. Two holes were dug out at the eye - positions of the goat mask, revealing his crafty eyes. His every gesture not only exuded the unique muttony smell of a goat but also carried a faint rotten odor.
A man with a tattooed arm was stunned for a few seconds before finally realizing the unreasonableness of this situation. He hesitated and then asked the goat - headed man, "Who... are you?"
"I believe you all have this question, so let me introduce myself to the nine of you," the goat - headed man said cheerfully, waving his hands. It seemed he had already prepared the answer.
A young man named Qi Xia sat farthest from the goat - headed man. He quickly surveyed the situation in the room. After a moment, his expression became solemn.
Strange, this room is really strange. There is no door, and it's surrounded by walls on all sides. In other words, the four walls, the ceiling, and the floor of this room are all enclosed, yet there is a table right in the middle of the room.
So, how did they get here? Could it be that people were brought in first, and then the walls were built?
Qi Xia looked around again. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all covered with criss - cross lines, which divided the walls and the floor into many large squares.
Another thing that caught Qi Xia's attention was what the goat - headed man referred to as 'nine people'. No matter how he counted, there were ten people sitting around the round table. Including the goat - headed man himself, there were eleven people in this room. What did 'nine people' mean?
He reached into his pocket, and as expected, his phone had been taken away.
"There's no need to introduce yourself to us," a cold - looking woman said to the goat - headed man. "I advise you to stop your actions. I suspect that you've detained us for more than twenty - four hours, which constitutes the crime of illegal detention. Every word you say now will be recorded and could form evidence against you."
As she spoke, she rubbed the dust off her arm in disgust, as if she was more annoyed about being dirty than being detained.
The cold - looking woman's words did wake everyone up a bit. No matter who this person was, daring to kidnap ten people alone had definitely crossed the bottom line of the law.
"Wait a minute..." A middle - aged man in a white coat interrupted everyone's thoughts. He slowly looked at the cold - looking woman and asked, "We just woke up. How do you know we've been detained for 'twenty - four hours'?"
His tone was calm and forceful, but it hit the nail on the head.
The cold - looking woman pointed at the mantel clock on the table without haste and replied, "The clock here points to twelve o'clock. I have a habit of staying up late. The last time I checked the time at home, it was already twelve o'clock. This means we've been detained for at least twelve hours."
After that, she pointed at the surrounding walls and continued, "You should have noticed that there's no door in this room. This shows that this person went to great lengths to get us into this room. He said we've been asleep for twelve hours, and now the clock is pointing to twelve again, which means it has at least gone around twice. So I suspect it's'more than twenty - four hours'. Is there a problem with that?"
After hearing this answer, the man in the white coat gave the woman a cold look, still with suspicion in his eyes. After all, in this situation, this woman was too calm. Would a normal person be able to say what she said so calmly in the face of this kind of abduction?
At this time, a strong young man in a black T - shirt asked, "Goat - head, why are there ten people here, but you say there are nine?"
The goat - headed man remained silent and did not answer immediately.
"Son of a bitch, I don't care how many people there are here..." The tattooed - arm man cursed. He tried to stand up by pushing the table, but found that his legs were too weak to support him, so he could only continue to point at the goat - headed man and say, "Asshole, I advise you to be sensible. You may not know how serious the consequences will be if you mess with me. I'll really kill you."
As soon as he said this, the expressions of the men present gradually became serious. At this time, a leader was indeed needed. If they could subdue this goat - headed man together, the situation would still be under control.
However, everyone found that their legs seemed to have been injected with something and couldn't exert any strength at this moment.
So the tattooed - arm man could only threaten the goat - headed man verbally, shouting and cursing loudly.
Qi Xia didn't say a word. He reached out and gently stroked his chin, staring at the mantel clock on the table, lost in thought.
Things didn't seem to be as simple as they thought. He knew that what the goat - headed man said was 'nine participants'. If there were ten people here, it could only mean that one of them was not a participant.
Then who was he?
There were six men and four women sitting in the room. Could one of them be the 'kidnapper'?
The goat - headed man didn't say anything more. He slowly walked to Qi Xia's side and stood behind a young man. Everyone followed his gaze and only then noticed that the young man in front of them was different from everyone else in the room. Although his face was also dirty, there was a strange smile of happiness on it.
The goat - headed man slowly raised his palm and placed it on the young man's后脑勺.
The young man's smile became even more eerie. He looked at everyone with an excited expression, as if he had known something for a long time.
With a dull thud, the goat - headed man slammed the young man's head onto the table. Something pink - white splattered out like spilled paint, spreading horizontally across the table in an instant. Everyone's face was splattered with blood spots.
The young man's head was actually smashed to pieces on the table.
Outside the room, a distant bell sound rang again.
Qi Xia was very close to the deceased. He felt something unknown sticking to his face, warm and sticky. He thought his psychological quality was strong enough, but at this moment, he couldn't help but tremble.
The girl sitting on the right side of the deceased was stunned for three seconds, and then her face distorted, and she let out a shrill scream.
This scream shattered everyone's psychological defenses.
To be able to smash a human's hardest skull on the table with a hand, was that goat - headed man still 'human'? How could his thin body unleash such a powerful force?
The goat - headed man slowly said, "The reason why I prepared ten people was to use one of them to make you all quiet down."