After that, we did another scouting round around the garden, but there was nothing left except for weeds, dirt, and stones. We quietly returned to our room. When we passed by Butler Li, he still maintained that surly expression; not a single word was exchanged between us.
As soon as we reached the front of the living room, we saw Pham Bach Kha's group already waiting. I was about to speak about the tape in my hand, but they were faster:
-"We just found... a strange photo."
Ky Kha Nhien held out an old photograph. In the picture was a family of three: two children and a middle-aged man. However, the man's face had been torn and scratched to shreds, as if the perpetrator wanted to completely erase his identity.
I narrowed my eyes at the tears and asked quickly:
-"Where did this photo come from?"
-"Under the dining room floor..." - Tu Qinghe replied, her voice trembling slightly - "I dropped my chopsticks earlier and noticed a warped floorboard. But since the butler was standing right there, I didn't dare move. Once the group split up, I went back to flip it over... Sorry for not saying anything sooner."
I nodded:
-"It's okay, it really wasn't convenient with him around."
-"How about your side?" - Pham Bach Kha looked toward us.
Yashu didn't explain much, simply and silently holding up the mud-covered cassette tape:
-"We dug this up at the base of the apple tree in the garden."
She pressed the play button. That same eerie "scritch-scratch" sound from before echoed once again through the silent hallway.
After listening to the tape, I took the opportunity to mention the clues I had just gathered:
-"Oh, one more thing. While passing by the Mistress's room, Xi Yong'an and I heard a very mournful crying sound. I didn't have a chance to tell you then because Butler Li appeared out of nowhere and cut us off."
-"Crying?" - Pham Bach Kha repeated, his eyes showing clear calculation - "We have quite a few clues now; let's try to string them together and see if we can investigate anything."
I looked down at the items placed on the table, my mind automatically listing everything the group had found so far:
1. The Secret Room: Inside was a blood-stained bed and many frantic scratch marks on the walls.
2. The Toy Room Upstairs: The decoded slip of paper featured a six-pointed star and two arcs - most likely the code to the safe in Butler Li's room.
3. The Tape Under the Apple Tree: Eerie sounds of "Scritch-scratch," "Click-clack," and "Thud" - sounding like the disposal of a body.
4. The Strange Photo: An image of two little girls and a man whose face was brutally blacked out.
And that's not counting the small but haunting details: from food shaped like a brutally murdered man and girl, to the names "Xue Xue and Yan Yan" deeply carved into the apple tree trunk outside.
All these puzzle pieces were pointing toward some horrifying secret buried within this house.
Yashu was the first to break the silence with her deduction:
-"I think the blacked-out man in the photo is the murderer. He might have imprisoned one of the two girls, or both, or even the mother in that secret room. But looking at the scratches, I lean toward the hypothesis that the victim was a child."
Pham Bach Kha nodded, continuing with a significantly lowered voice:
-"This person must have a very twisted psyche. The victim would have to be imprisoned for a long time to leave that many scratch marks on the walls. He didn't kill them immediately; he wanted to enjoy their torment."
He paused for a beat, his eyes filled with suspicion:
-"The problem is Butler Li. Don't you all find it strange? If he were an accomplice, why would he prepare dishes that resemble the crime scene like that? Is he intentionally leaving clues?"
Tu Qinghe spoke up hesitantly:
-"But... if the butler is on our side, then who is the 'hunchbacked demon' we saw? Could it be... that's actually the Mistress?"
Ky Kha Nhien, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a lazy air, suddenly spoke up as well:
-"There's one more thing. About that tape at the apple tree - if it really implies the father murdered someone and disposed of the body, why did he have to do it? Because he lost interest in the victim? I don't think so. Perhaps he was discovered by someone."
Kha Nhien paused for a moment, his listless eyes scanning the rest of us:
-"But here's the issue: Why couldn't the person who discovered the secret escape him? From what we know, this house had the Mistress, the two children Xue Xue and Yan Yan, Butler Li, and the father. If the mother found out, shouldn't she have screamed or run away? If she's dead, then who is the woman we heard crying? Has she turned into a ghost?"
-"You're being too long-winded." - Tu Qinghe interrupted, her annoyance clear - "In short, what are you trying to claim?"
-"Seems like someone here doesn't like hearing me talk much, huh?" - Ky Kha Nhien smirked, then let out a long yawn before leisurely continuing: "Fine, my point is: maybe the father locked one child in the secret room, and for some reason, the other child accidentally saw it. And children... well, you know, they are very easy to control and eliminate."
Listening to Ky Kha Nhien's deduction, I thought to myself: (He's smarter than I thought.)
I gave a slight nod, then spoke to push the hypothesis further:
-"If we go by Ky Kha Nhien's analysis, the only ones truly left alive here are the Mistress and Butler Li. So the biggest question is: Why did the father and the imprisoned child die?"
I paused for a beat to let everyone reflect, then slowly continued:
-"Perhaps after eliminating the child who accidentally discovered the secret, the Mistress and the butler finally realized the other child was missing and called the police. When the police stormed in, cornered and desperate, the father killed the child in the secret room and was then taken down on the spot. That might be why his face was erased from the photo - as an insult to the perpetrator."
-"But if everything ended like that, then..." - Yashu frowned, following my train of thought: "Who is the hunchbacked demon hunting us? It can't be Butler Li, as he's secretly providing clues. As for the Mistress... that thing's decaying, old face and hunched gait don't seem to match the image of a mother."
I carefully pulled out the paper with the six-pointed star, my gaze contemplative:
-"So, in the end... we still have to break into Butler Li's room once to see the truth clearly."