Sixteenth day (1) Guarding the tree stump waiting for rabbits

  It was a very quiet night, and the curfew policy seemed to be effective. Everyone was well-behaved, and no one went out at night. Each person stayed in their own small room, except for three boys who shouted in the corridor at midnight saying they were going to the bathroom, and there were no other people who went out.

  The calmness of the first night was natural, after all, everyone was like a startled bird at this moment, and there was no trust between each other, no one wanted to be the suspect.

  But who suffers the most after curfew?

  It was Hou Mingyu, of course. When we got up in the morning, we gathered in the dining hall, counted the number of people, and confirmed that no one had sneaked out in the middle of the night before everyone remembered Hou Mingyu.

  It seems like everyone has forgotten about Hou Mingyu since yesterday afternoon, I'm too excited to enter the bridal chamber, others are probably scared of Hou Mingyu and have chosen to forget him.

  To be honest, Hou Mingyu may not necessarily be a murderer, but rather someone who has been used by others.

  I think there are many people who have such thoughts, but at this moment human nature has triumphed over everything, and the most fundamental aspect of human nature is self-interest. No one will be the first to raise this question, because they may be regarded as Hou Mingyu's accomplices.

  Especially them, they've said several times that I'm an accomplice of Hou Mingyu. Yesterday, Hou Mingyu even kidnapped Xiao Ai. From any perspective, I have no good feelings towards him at all. The cruel things they did back then are now coming back to haunt them. I really do hope to see these beasts die here.

  But what I find strange is that others seem to have forgotten him too.

  In the morning, when everyone remembered Hou Mingyu, they rushed over to see him. As a result, before entering the house, they smelled a strong urine smell. Several girls covered their mouths and noses at the door, and Fengyue said, "We won't go in."

  After finishing speaking, he didn't care whether we opposed or not, and turned to lead several girls away. Xia Ai didn't want to go in either, and followed the three of them into their room.

  The curfew policy only takes effect at night, and during the day I don't worry that any of them will suddenly commit a crime, after all, from Da Peng's or Xiao Bu Dian's death, the suspicion falls on the man.

  It is obvious that a woman does not have enough strength to hang an adult man.

  And as for these girls, they are either beautiful and elegant, or gentle and refined, or mysterious and enchanting, but no matter how you look at them, they don't seem like murderers. On the other hand, looking at these boys, each of them has a shifty gaze, with an unreturnable past, each one looks like a scoundrel, like a murderer.

  Ma Tiancheng took a glance at the door and said, "You guys figure it out yourselves."

  After finishing speaking, he turned around and followed Juju away without looking back.

  I shouldn't have gone in, after all the smell of urine inside was really pungent, but I'm a curious person, I don't know if Hou Mingyu is dead or alive, and I don't know if he died without drinking water that night or not, so I followed a few students and went in.

  Two donkeys and a little fatty might be worried about my safety, covering their noses at the door watching me.

  I went in and took a look, Hou Mingyu was extremely miserable. Let's not mention the fact that he had urinated on the bed. Because of his constant scolding yesterday, someone had stuffed a piece of rag into his mouth, which hadn't been removed all night. The saliva had soaked through the rag. With his head tilted to one side, Hou Mingyu suddenly opened his eyes when he heard our voices and kept stammering.

  Xiao Bin had just taken down the tattered cloth when Hou Mingyu suddenly burst into tears and wailed loudly.

  He burst into tears and shouted while crying, Are you human? Are you human? You... you...

  Hou Mingyu cried pitifully, and I watched with great delight.

  Several students were actually good friends with him, and they had a great time together every day. Perhaps seeing him made them feel their own fate, and everyone's face was filled with unbearable expressions. Xiao Bin said, "If you weren't possessed by a ghost, we wouldn't be treating you like this."

  If you weren't a murder suspect, we wouldn't be able to tie you up like this either.

  Hou Mingyu gave Jin Sanpang a vicious look and said, "You framed me, you abused me. If I can get out of here, I'll definitely sue you, I'll have all of you arrested."

  Zhang Dazhuang had been holding a piece of mantou in his hand all along, he handed it over and stuffed it into Hou Mingyu's mouth. Hou Mingyu spat out the mantou and said, "Thirsty, thirsty, give me some water."

  A whole night and an entire afternoon without drinking water, no one could bear it. Zhang Dazhuang picked up a thermos beside him, which was naturally empty. He went out to knock on the doors of several female students, took out a thermos from inside, and poured a cup of water for Hou Mingyu.

  Hou Mingyu finished drinking the water, feeling it wasn't enough, and asked for another cup. After downing two cups of water, he regained some energy. Looking at Xiao Bin, Hou Mingyu pleaded, "Please, let me go, okay?"

  Xiao Bin said, I don't dare to make a decision on this matter.

  Hou Mingyu said, "On a day like this, I'd rather die here. Do you want to kill me?"

  Xiao Bin thought for a moment and then said, "I really don't dare to let you go. If you are the real murderer, then... we're all in danger."

  Hou Mingyu said, I really am not, really am not.

  Xiao Bin said, I've said this before but it doesn't count, everyone thinks you're highly suspicious.

  Hou Mingyu was eager to escape, he hastily said, "Isn't the dead person already dead? I'm tied up here, it's impossible for me to be the one. Didn't the murderer kill again?"

  I shuddered as if struck by lightning, originally standing at the back of the crowd to watch the excitement, I suddenly rushed over and grabbed Hou Mingyu's neck with one hand, trembling with rage, saying "How did you know he was dead? Who told him?"

  The boys around all shook their heads, I looked at Xiao Bin and said, "Was it you who said that when you let him pee yesterday?"

  Xiao Bin said, "I didn't say anything. I just came over and he suddenly jumped up, then pushed me out. At that time, I fell to the ground. I was lucky to have had time to shout loudly. What would I say to him?"

  My unusual movements made Er Baozi and Xiao Pangzi rush in from the doorway, both of them asking me in unison, "What's wrong?"

  I pointed at Hou Mingyu and said, he knew Xiaobudian was dead.

  The two donkeys were stunned for a moment, then one of them asked, "Who said that?"

  Several boys were quite afraid of Erzi, they all shook their heads. I told Xiaopang to go ask the girls who told him.

  Xiao Pang said, "Is it that urgent?"

  I said, Hou Mingyu is so suspicious that everyone can't even hide from him. Who would dare to talk to him about those things? If it wasn't for Xiaobin mentioning it yesterday when he let him pee, others wouldn't have had time to avoid this room. Go ask those girls quickly.

  Xiao Pang ran out and came back with a few girls after a while. Xiao Pang said they all said no.

  I asked Fengyue, who came to his room yesterday when I returned from the pagoda tree?

  Fengyue said that at the time, we discussed with several boys to help him go to the toilet, but they all disagreed. We three didn't want to take care of it either, so we all went back to rest for a while. If you say he came to his room, I don't remember very clearly. If he did come, it was also the three of us who came together. I wouldn't dare go alone.

  Si Yao said, right, we don't dare either.

  I said, are you sure you didn't tell him about the dead person on the pagoda tree when you came back?

  The wind and moon shook his head and said, I didn't say anything anyway.

  I looked around and found that Hou Mingyu was also stunned, sitting there blankly.

  I asked Hou Mingyu, you tell me, who told you after all.

  Hou Mingyu shook his head and said, "I don't know."

  I gritted my teeth and said, you know, right? You still have an accomplice here.

  Hou Mingyu said, I really don't know who said it, but I just have this image in my mind, a person hanging from a tree, yes, that's the image.

  I rushed up again, the dagger in my hand escaped and was placed on his neck, there were screams all around, no one dared to move. The second donkey shouted, what's wrong with you? Don't be impulsive, don't be impulsive.

  I told Hou Mingyu, you'd better tell me who it is, otherwise I'll really kill you.

  Hou Mingyu was very afraid, he looked around and then at me, before saying with a sob, I really don't know.

  The two donkeys slowly walked over and said, "Brother, don't be impulsive, it's not worth killing him. What happened after all."

  I took another look at the others, everyone was terrified. I said, he has an accomplice. His accomplice killed Xiaobudian to help him clear his suspicion. Didn't we always think that Xiaobudian's death didn't make sense? This is the reason.

  Xiao Pang walked over, grabbed my wrist, I slowly put down the dagger, then Xiao Pang suddenly gave Hou Mingyu a punch, Hou Mingyu was hit on the bed, Xiao Pang went crazy and kept hitting his head.

  Now it's my turn to pull the cart. I pulled Xiaopang away, and Xiaopang was already in tears. He said, "You killed my brother just to clear your suspicion?"

  Hou Mingyu was originally weak and hadn't eaten or drunk anything, his body was extremely frail. After being beaten up like this, he fainted and fell to the ground.

  I don't know if Hou Mingyu is true or false, others are unclear and dare not come forward. I pulled Xiaopang away, Fengyue looked at Hou Mingyu, then looked at me and said, what's going on?

  I said, I made it very clear that Hou Mingyu was tied up here and couldn't have known about Xiaobudian's hanging. Right? Unless someone told him. Yesterday, after you all came back from the village, someone else went into Hou Mingyu's room and told him these things before letting him go. Why say this? Because that person is Hou Mingyu's accomplice, he was helping Hou Mingyu clear his suspicion.

  Fengyue said, but wasn't Hou Mingyu drugged by someone yesterday? Actually, I thought about it and felt that he was also a victim. Today, I still plan to find an appropriate time to discuss releasing him.

  This is also what I thought before, and I guess most people have this idea too.

  But this is exactly what our partner wants us to think.

  On the one hand, there was a death in the village and Hou Mingyu had a perfect alibi. On the other hand, he was drugged and became a victim. These two guarantees were to help Hou Mingyu clear his name, let's release him.

  I didn't speak, but kept looking at Fengyue. Fengyue dodged my gaze and said in a low voice, "I was wrong."

  I nodded and said to the other male students, "There is still one of Hou Mingyu's accomplices among us. This accomplice wants us to let him out. There are three possible reasons for this. The first is that he is afraid Hou Mingyu will not be able to withstand being tortured and will reveal his identity. The second is that they have a deep emotional connection and cannot bear to see him suffer. The third... is that he may have a large-scale massacre plan and lacks sufficient manpower."

  I slowly said this sentence, and then kept looking at everyone's expression. Every single person's expression was either completely stunned or utterly terrified.

  It's clear that this accomplice can hide here all the time, absolutely not a superficial person like Hou Mingyu and Ai Ya. It seems that Hou Mingyu is such an idiot, the other party revealed such important information to him in order to make him feel at ease, told him about their plan, but he blurted it out in no time.

  It's fortunate that he slipped up, otherwise we might have really let him go today, and that would be equivalent to giving that killer a powerful helper, one who could kill us all.

  The person hiding in the dark, the one who killed Xiaobudian, he is the real mastermind and the real killer.

  I feel a chill, this person is hiding around us, he's coldly carrying out his own plan.

  But I know nothing about him.

  This man is like a giant spider, and we are the small insects on his web. We know he's lurking around us through the vibrations of the web, waiting for an opportunity to pounce on us.

  But we just don't know when and where he will swallow us into his bloody mouth.

  "What should we do then?"

  I say, it's actually very simple. Once Hou Mingyu wakes up, we'll start interrogating him and use every method to make him talk. Someone like him must have a weakness, there must be a breakthrough point. As long as he cracks, it will become clear who is behind the scenes trying to kill us all. However, for now, let's just leave. The smell in here is really... I can't take it anymore. Let's agree to meet at 12 pm after lunch and come back together to interrogate Hou Mingyu. I don't believe that by this afternoon, I still won't be able to crack him.

  The smell in this house is really pungent, everyone generally retreated and went out. I said in the corridor, let's four of us go to the mountain cave first and take a look. Since we can receive signals, then we'll record it every day to see if there are any rescue personnel. I will come back before lunch, anyway he won't wake up for a while.

  Others nodded, and the four of us walked out. Xiao Pang said in a low voice, "Do we really have to leave the hotel at this time? Won't there be any accidents?"

  I asked Erzi, where is yesterday's ladder?

  The two donkeys said, what's going on over there? I always feel that something is wrong, Hou Mingyu won't let people kill and silence others, will he?

  I said, of course there will be unexpected things. Hou Mingyu is muddled and we may not be able to interrogate him, but at this moment he is a bait. The room opposite him is empty, isn't it? We'll go up the ladder, hide in the room, and wait for someone to come and kill him to silence him.

  The four of us exchanged a glance, stifling our laughter, and found the ladder in the corner, hidden in the room opposite Hou Mingyu's. We took turns peeking through the small gap in the wooden board to spy on Hou Mingyu's house.

  Just wait for the backstage mastermind to jump into the net.