Ding!
[Time Remaining: 12 minutes!]
[Chop chop~ Catch the Villain before the time runs out!]
Fateless stared at the third dead body laid flat, face down on the stage. The man's town crier's costume soaked in red, dripping off the floor stage.
Truly, these deaths were phenomenal, like a warm dream escapade for him. But something irked him to the point of insanity.
Although no one had noticed it yet, it was clear as day. Not only does this mini game toyed with the 'script', but it was dragged too long, as if this was a private puzzle show to a Force.
He hated it.
Ding!
[Act 3 shall commence!]
[Act 3: The Mayor Buries his Secret!]
'Funny how I don't know what secret my character hides. What a poorly written script.'
[Act 3.1: The Villain reveals himself!]
The muttering around the stage grew tighter, quicker. Everyone kept glancing at Fèi Míng now, their shoulders stiff, their breaths echoing sharply on the stage.
The last message didn't help him at all. Not only were they suspicious of him, but now the game had depicted him as the villain. His previous acts didn't help either. What an inconvenience.
Fèi Míng then shifted his gaze to Dot.
Dot was fidgeting so hard his fingers wouldn't stay still. His eyes darted everywhere except the stage floor.
But before Fèi Míng could take a full breath—
click.
The stage lights died instantly.
An heavy blackout that engulfed the entire hall into darkness.
Quickly, gasps broke through the dark.
"W-what's happening?!"
Someone's heel scraped against the floor. Another voice cut through the confusion, until a man yelled.
"Wait—what—AH—!"
…
"What's HaPpeninG?!!... I'm scared."
Multiple fast stabbing sounds pierced through flesh repeatedly.
Stab!
Everyone instinctively knew that was the killer, but no one wanted to risk it all to save the victim, nor tried stopping him.
STAB! STAB! STAB!
When the lights snapped back on, several people flinched from the brightness.
Fèi Míng lowered his gaze.
Two players lay near the foot of the stage. Their necks, backs, and chests were sliced open in sloppy, deep punctures. One man's hand pressed down on his own wound in a trembling, useless attempt to keep something inside. He collapsed backward with a short exhale.
Then a scream tore through the gurgling noise.
Nyx clutched onto Eris, her whole body shaking. When Eris turned toward her, she froze. Nyx had a long, curved slash running from her cheek down toward her jawline. A fresh, red, and already swelling cut.
Eris gasped. Then she spun toward Fèi Míng.
"YOU—! YOU DID THIS!!!"
The raw volume made several people jump. Their feet shuffled back, creating space around him. Or rather, to stay away from him.
Fèi Míng paused. The accusation wasn't surprising—people were predictable when scared—but the intensity of her voice pulled a small, involuntary raise of his eyebrow.
Pinboy's eyes widened, shifting into crescent shapes as a delighted grin spread across his face.
He skipped a few steps toward Fèi Míng, gaze fixed on his cheek. "…You— you got a little bit of blood on you." He reached forward and used the edge of his costume sleeve to wipe at the smear like he was cleaning a smudge off a favorite toy.
Eris lunged forward, cutting him short of breath.
She yanked him back, and slapped Fèi Míng across the face.
"You monster! You're despicable—how could you—how DARE you hurt Nyx?! You're the villain here! Don't you feel guilty for what youve done?!" She yanked his strings.
'Actually... I don't.'
Pinboy hit the floor with a harsh grunt. He pushed himself up, face twisted in a rare flash of anger. "Are you crazy?!" He shoved Eris back. "Stop pulling at his strings! It'll snap!"
Eris pulled tighter on the strings connected to Fèi Míng. "He has blood on him! He did it! He killed people! He hurt Nyx!"
An adult man in a crisp white suit walked straight into the space between them and caught Eris by the wrist before she could attack again.
He lifted her arm up in the air, keeping her at a distance.
"Young lady," he said, voice monotone. "I will plead with you to stop these theatrics. He is not the killer."
Eris's mouth opened, but the man's sharp stare pinned her silence down.
Fèi Míng wiped the lingering blood from his face with the back of his hand. Something small and hard moved between his teeth. He spat it out onto the floor, now staring at a broken tooth, slightly red at the root.
'Not another stupid version of Helena. Now my tooth is broken. What a brainless idiot.'
The man in the white suit raised a hand before anyone else could talk. His voice stayed monotone.
He tugged at the edge of his collar, showing the thin, rusty streak of blood sitting there.
"If we go by your logic, Miss. Then this makes me the killer too, doesn't it?" he said.
"Yet, your dress seemed to be stained in blood. So are you the killer too? Or are we only pointing fingers when it's convenient?"
Eris froze. Her mouth parted, but no words came out. Lowering her head, she mumbled something inaudible. Her face still scrunched up in anger.
Pinboy stepped into her space and gave her a sharp knock on the head with his knuckles. Boink!
"Ow—!" she hissed, holding the spot.
"Cry later." Pinboy leaned forward. "You didn't go after him because of justice. Don't pretend. I shot the first man because the crowd wanted blood, not because he told me to do anything. Why didn't you run at me, hm? Why didn't you slap me around?"
He tilted his head toward Nyx.
"You panicked the moment little Nyx got hurt. That's all. You don't care about the dead men behind you. Bias looks ugly on you, bitch."
Eris barely had time to process the situation when Fèi Míng walked up to her. He caught Eris by the wrist.
"What the— let go." She tried pulling back, but his grip on her tightened.
"Let go of my hand! D-don't touch me!"
He tugged her forward, and she stumbled, muttering and cursing him aloud.
He stopped directly in front of Dot—the feeble looking boy who had the investigator role.
"If you're so pragmatic about justice," Fèi Míng announced, "there. Have your justice."
He pointed at Dot's face. Dot couldn't even hide the tremor in his lips.
"Because he is the killer."
Dot flinched. His eyes darted around as if the truth would vanish if he looked everywhere at once.
"W-wait—no, no— I'm the investigator," he sputtered. "Why would I kill anyone? I—I'm not the—he's lying! He's—look at him! He—he's the one—!"
His finger shot up at Fèi Míng, but his hand was shaking too badly to make it convincing.
Fèi Míng rolled his eyes and sighed. 'This is mildly annoying…'
"An investigator won't announce he's an investigator in a scenario with a killer," he started.
"Let's follow a movie logic, given this game is a 'show'. Investigators don't advertise themselves. When I mentioned we only state our roles, you outed your purpose, too. Not to raise suspicion, I see."
His eyes held Dot in place. "Timid boys don't volunteer to be targets unless they're hiding something behind their back."
Fèi Míng turned Dot slightly with one push. The crowd gasped. The back of Dot's shirt had a large dragged smear of dark, sticky blood. A failed attempt to rub something off.
He'd wiped the knife used there.
"Besides, the two bodies there were the one closest to him. The blackout was just a lucky advantage of being the villain." Fèi Míng finally said.
Dot cracked. He gritted his teeth, his eyes bulging out as he wrenched free from Fèi Míng's grasp.
"I had to lie!" he screamed. His voice lost all human softness. "If I said my real role, I'd be the next one killed by the system! I didn't want to die— I didn't— I didn't—!"
Pinboy looked over his shoulder, bored. "Oh. If Dot isn't the real investigator, then who is?"
Fèi Míng exhaled slowly. 'My mouth is starting to hurt from talking this much.'
"Does this script even make sense to you?" he asked. "It feels like someone was piecing broken parts together and forcing them to stick. There wasn't any real script to follow. Whoever wrote this isn't inside the game. They're watching from above."
He raised a finger.
"The real investigator is the puppeteer. The one with the strings. It has to be attached and controlled by something. Investigators make up scenarios to see which one fits a case. Like a puzzle. Some other player had to be up there."
A ripple moved through the group. Nobody talked. Even Eris stood still.
"But wouldn't that make us 21 players? W-what you're claiming doesn't make sense," some player asked.
He turned to the speaker. "We were nineteen players from the start. Everyone ignored the number because you were all too busy panicking."
Pinboy's eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh, I got it," he said, "behind every attraction, there's always a performer. The real Investigator is the Performer!"
Several people started counting under their breath.
He was right. They all knew it.
"And to think you wanted to blame me for that," Fèi Míng finally said. The edges of his lips tugged, mocking the stupid strategy someone like Dot had pulled.
Dot snapped. "ARGHHHH!!! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU! YOU RUINED MY LIFE!" Angry tears streaked his face. "If you just FUCKING shut UP!"
He lunged at Fèi Míng with the knife in pure desperation as he yanked the strings pulling him back until it broke.
But the ground suddenly shook under them, and the Runic board flashed up.
[Congratulations! You have Cleared the mini-game: Puppet Show!]
[The Villain Has Been Caught!]
[All respective threats will be pulled away.]
Dot froze mid-step. His breath hitched. Then the strings around him tightened. They dug into his skin, pulling tight enough to twist the shape of his arms.
He screamed in agony. His voice cracking along the way into an inhumane scream.
He fought the pull, but the strings only tightened more.
POP!
His shoulder dislocated. Then one arm tore free from his body. RIP!!!
"A—ahh… AHHH!!! MY ARM!!!"
SPLURT!
One string shot straight through his skull.
And he fell off the stage.
[All surviving roles will receive rewards shortly. Do hold on.]
All the strings released everyone, including the corpses, and slid back into the darkness above.
A beat of silence stretched until Olive stepped forward. His voice returned in a whisper as he leaned close to Fèi Míng.
"You were the actual villain, weren't you?"
Fèi Míng's eyes lowered to him. "You can talk now."
"Of course I can. My role was the smelling beggar," Olive muttered. "If I talked when I wasn't allowed, my head would've been the one impaled."
He sized Fèi Míng up. 'This bastard. What the hell does he really want?' he thought. "And what you pulled off just now, idiot, was inhumane. We awakeners feel everything sharper. I saw what you did."