Chapter 22: The Mysterious Death Threshold 2

  The candle flickered out and then reignited, revealing No. 8's figure in the darkness.

  No. 8 was a short and dark-skinned young man in his early twenties, looking rather foolish.

  Moreover... he was always grinning from ear to ear, seemingly completely unaffected by this killing game.

  "I think it's No. 4, and also... uh... what numbers were they again? Ah yes! Yes, Nos. 1, 2, and 6! I'm sure they're all thieves! How could the constables possibly be lying? Anyway, I don't believe them! I'll vote for No. 6!" The dark-skinned young man with a big smile on his face said, grinning foolishly with an extremely confident expression.

  $$9 is a young man in his twenties, wearing a white vest and sporting a mohawk haircut, looking quite spirited. However... his furrowed brow exudes an air of severity, seemingly with a not-so-good temper.

  The 9th Mo Xi Gan hairstyle youth first glanced disdainfully in the direction of the dark 8th black dwarf youth: "How can a yamen officer possibly tell lies? According to you, a yamen officer should be honest and not lie? Then let the thieves one by one take out their knives?"

  The 9th Mosegan hairstyle youth laughed at the 8th black dwarf youth, but his psychological tendency was not much different: "Of course... in my opinion, team 1, 2, 4, and 6 are indeed thieves!"

  $$10 wore a casual suit on top and a pair of blue-gray jeans on the bottom, with a faint stubble on his cheeks, in his twenties or thirties, with a handsome charm that most boys don't have, unique to mature men.

  "No. 4 just said that their original intention was to check No. 14, but they were blocked, so they checked No. 15 instead."

  No. 10, a young man in jeans and a suit, pinched his slightly stubbled chin: "In the case of No. 14, everyone saw that he was wearing something to conceal his figure, so it's natural for the police officer to check him first. Therefore, what No. 4 said has some credibility."

  "I'll listen to the next person's speech and then say something... it's not good to say for now..." The young man in a suit with a slight wave of his eyes, which were slightly lowered, flashed a thoughtful expression on his face.

  $$11 is a woman in her thirties, wearing a black female suit, with a serious expression on her face, not smiling or talking nonsense.

  "No. 10 does have a point, but...” No. 11, a serious-looking woman in a suit, paused for a moment: “This doesn't rule out the possibility that No. 4 is intentionally using the situation with No. 14 to gain the trust of others. After all, who knows if he's a yamen runner or not? And who knows if No. 14 has been investigated or not? Not even No. 14 himself knows!"

  "But! I still think Team 1 is a bunch of thieves! Look at their speeches, they're almost all sharp-tongued, they must be thieves!" The suit-clad girl with the serious face had a look of certainty.

  $$12 is a bald-headed man in his twenties or thirties. Only...

  This bald head is smiling, even wearing a pair of nearsighted glasses, looking very scholarly, and doesn't have an evil appearance that matches his bald head at all.

  The bespectacled man with the messy hair hesitated for a moment, then suddenly raised a finger to his lips and nodded solemnly: "Team 1, 2, 4, and 6 are definitely thieves! As for the reason... intuition! I'm sure I'm not wrong!"

  "First of all, I am indeed a yāyì (a low-ranking government official), and 16th, 3rd, and 7th are my fellow yāyì companions."

  No. 13 is a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, wearing black and blue sportswear, with a sports headband on his head, although not particularly handsome, but looks exceptionally refreshing.

  "What I was going to say, my fellow officer in front has already explained. Compared to us, how did No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6 speak?" The boy with the moving head hesitated for a moment.

  "No. 1 didn't issue a civilian certificate, but No. 2 did give one to No. 4. However, No. 4 claimed to be a yamen runner. Think about it, could a yamen runner possibly act like this? It's clear that they didn't discuss it thoroughly last night and were reported for investigation and killing, so they decided to make a desperate move." The leader of the 13th movement looked around at the darkness: "Vote for No. 6, No. 6 was investigated and killed last night."

  Understated elegance, shrouding An Yi's true form, the darkness receded, but others still couldn't see An Yi's body.

  An Yi quietly watched as one by one the candles in front of her went out, without saying a word.

  "After a brief silence, An Yi spoke slowly: 'To be honest, neither of the two teams' speeches had any major issues.'"

  "First of all, let's talk about team 1, 2, 4 and 6..."

  "Yes! Team No. 1's speech is terrible! However..." An Yi added emphasis to her tone: "But this can only show that the people in this team are not good at language expression, it cannot prove that they are thieves."

  "Starting from the 16th, the 6th reported to kill, and the 1st immediately got up to serve as a witness, refuting the 16th. And...” An Yi hesitated for a moment: "The 1st directly pointed out that the 16th was a violent jump!"

  "Number 1 has already been confirmed to be a bandit on the 16th, it's absolutely impossible for a civilian to question this! It must be someone with an identity, either a government official or a thief!" An Yi furrowed his brow: "But Number 1 doesn't have a citizen's certificate. If we only rely on this method of identifying officials, strictly speaking, the credibility is indeed not high. However..."

  "Combining the 4th supplement with the sentence 'same verification, same killing', the unreasonableness in it becomes reasonable. Because of the same verification and killing, No. 1 couldn't issue a civilian certificate!" An Yi glanced at the darkness around him: "In that case, this logic is convincing."

  "As for the conflict between No. 2 and No. 4's speeches, it can also be explained by this reason!" An Yi sighed: "The foundation is the same, but the verification is different, No. 2 was short of breath, so he issued a civilian certificate to No. 4, which is also possible."

  "So... excluding the disadvantage of Team 1's speech and just looking at the logic..." An Yi said, pausing slightly here.

  "Team 1 didn't need to take such a huge risk if they were thieves. Reporting No. 6 for elimination and then jumping out like this is completely unnecessary!" An Yi pondered for a moment: "Even if No. 6 was indeed a thief, even if he was eliminated during the day, Team 1 could still take down No. 16 at night. Although that would put them at a disadvantage, it wouldn't be a huge one!"

  "But the fact is, not only did No. 1 stand up, but No. 2 also stood up with him, which is a bit too reckless! " An Yi looked around at the darkness: "If this team is a group of thieves, do they need to do this? It's completely unnecessary to make such a reckless move! And their speech is so bad! If they're really thieves, aren't they just asking for death?"

  "Same here. Ji and for similar reasons, Team 16 also...” An Yi paused again to choose his words carefully: “Team 16 rose up and reported the kill of No. 6, while No. 1 directly stood up! And with No. 2, that makes two team cards for Nos. 1 and 2! In fact, at that time, even No. 6 could barely be counted as half a card, making it two and a half cards in total!"

  "If team 16 is the thief, then there's no need for player 3 to stand up at all! With just one jump from player 16, they found not only cards 1 and 2, but also suspected card 6 of being a constable card! If player 3 were the thief, what would be the point of standing up?"

  "With this logic, two teams, it seems that neither of them has a big problem. However...” An Yi let out a silent sigh: “Both teams have stood up! One of them must be the yamen, and one of them must be the thieves!”

  "So which of the two teams is the thief?" An Yi's voice suddenly rose: "It's Team 16! Team 16 is the thief!"

  "Team 16 is a thief team because they dropped the knife!" An Yi glanced at the extinguished candles one by one and couldn't help but speed up his speech.

  "This knife was dropped by No. 3! Because... he said something he shouldn't have said! 'I and Nos. 16, 7, and 13 are all sworn brothers.' These words were spoken by the young man in the short pants, No. 3!" An Yi's lips moved quickly: "At first glance, this sentence doesn't seem to be a problem, it can even be said that it's a very sunny attitude for a yamen runner. But..."

  "But the yamen would never say that!" Looking at the number of candles that had already gone out, An Yi's face changed slightly as he continued to speed up his speech: "At least in the position where the 3rd shorts youth spoke, under those circumstances at the time, if the 3rd shorts youth was a yamen, it would be absolutely impossible for him to say this! He said that sentence, then he must be a thief!"

  "Let's put ourselves in their shoes and think about it. In a situation where a yamen official might be executed during the day, would they worry that other officials wouldn't jump into action?"

  "Maybe in a primary arena, but in a professional one..." An Yi shook his head: "In a primary arena, dying is about revealing your identity. A yamen (government official) dying during the day can still have some value. In certain situations, the value might even be greater; but in a professional arena, dying doesn't reveal your identity! A yamen dying during the day cannot produce any subsequent value at all! To put it bluntly, it's just a pointless death."

  "In a mode where the plaque is not turned over, it is absolutely impossible for the yamen to allow his companion to die during the day." An Yi hesitated and said: "Of course... it's not that the yamen doesn't have the possibility of abandoning the yamen during the day, but that possibility is too small, too small! Even smaller than existing in theory!"

  "In contrast to the yamen runners... it's too normal for thieves to abandon their companions in broad daylight!" An Yi suddenly glanced in the direction of the young man in black shorts No. 3: "So... No. 3 said that sentence, only possible with one purpose - coercion!"

  "Thieves! Thieves! The main direction should be 'hiding'. Without absolute certainty, the thieves are likely to abandon their companions and continue hiding!"

  "No. 3 said that because he was afraid of the powder puff girl No. 7 and the athletic boy No. 13 hiding! Afraid of No. 7 and No. 13 not daring to jump! So, intentionally pulled them up, making them have no choice but to jump!"

  "It's only when No. 3 is indeed a thief; at the same time, he also lacks confidence in his fellow thieves, Nos. 7 and 13! That's when coercive actions will occur. This action perfectly fits the thief's stance!"

  Moreover, this also involves the positions of No. 7 and No. 13! Especially the position of No. 13! If Team 16 is indeed a yuyi team, they would be delighted to see their fellow yuyi teammates slowly jumping out! With No. 13's position, even if the situation starts to become unfavorable for them in the end, they can still set up a naked vote and get an opportunity to speak again after PK!

  "As for how No. 3 got the confidence to directly pull off a team jump...” An Yi sighed: “It's because of No. 2! The bespectacled girl with the pug nose also said something she shouldn't have!”

  "It was because of that sentence, she noticed 3rd, 4th and 6th were also bailiffs! That sentence was...” An Yi shook his head with a bitter smile: “Six votes! The sentence ‘six votes’ that 2nd deliberately emphasized. It was the words spoken by 2nd saying there would be six votes smashing onto 16th's head!”

  "If Team 1 and 2 really have 6 votes, they would be eager to hide this matter and hope that the thieves will continue to jump out stupidly! Especially that one vote from No. 6! If No. 6 is a civilian, then No. 16 reported her for investigation and killing, no matter what, No. 6 will definitely follow Team 1 to vote against No. 16!"

  "If the yamen's hand was as firm as iron, holding 5 votes, they wouldn't be afraid of four thieves jumping out! They'd even wish for all the thieves to jump out and have a PK! Therefore... " An Yi sighed again in frustration: "If she didn't emphasize it, that would be fine; but once she emphasized it, No. 3 directly saw through her as a paper tiger..."

  "Emphasizing that 2nd point is too forced! It's completely unnecessary to say it like that! The more you emphasize, the easier it is for people to see the problem." An Yi suddenly chuckled and shook his head: "Of course, the 2nd point being emphasized is a bit forced. But... even if 3rd is certain that 4th and 6th are officials, and there's no way they'd get 6 votes, that kind of behavior is still very reckless."

  "Looking at the situation of team 16, it seems that it was likely to be 16 who flew solo and found the yeyifu (police) card. And 16's solo flight was quite successful! In the case where No. 1's speech was not good, No. 2 jumped out as the yeyifu (police) again! This is equivalent to one thief drawing out at least two police cards. But the result..."

  An Yi looked again in the direction of the young man in black shorts No. 3: "As a result, No. 3 changed his mind temporarily and turned it into a life-and-death situation. Even..."

  An Yi couldn't help but glance at the direction of the 16-year-old boy with a buzz cut and vest, "I reckon that by now, numbers 16, 7, and 13 have already cursed number 3 to death in their hearts!"