APP: Chapter 160

“What? It isn’t Xie Chi? It is Xie Qiuying?”

The moment Jiang Shuo heard the news, deep surprise filled his quiet and cold eyes.

Gu Yu nodded, his always flattering face full of solemnity. Jiang Shuo had already talked about the order of death and this conclusion was very convincing. They thought Xie Chi would undoubtedly die but Xie Qiuying was the one who died. Did they go in the wrong direction? Was the order of death wrong?

Xie Qiuying’s actions had been slightly strange so they had been preparing to pay more attention. Now Xie Qiuying was dead…

Gu Yu expressed his guess. “Was there a death substitute or an identity card exchange?”

Jiang Shuo’s expression was gloomy. He made a quick decision and ordered coldly, “Go and see.”

Gu Yu followed.

Xie Qiuying’s death made everything confusing.

***

Xie Chi’s group of three rushed to Xie Qiuying’s room and almost couldn’t hold back their nausea when they saw the corpse on the bed. Xie Chi’s throat moved and he suppressed his nausea as he covered his nose. To the side, Ren Ze’s face was ugly as he retched.

This room had been struck by lightning and the entire body was burned, exuding a strong scent that was mixed with the smell of blood. It was simply hell on earth. Xie Qiuying on the bed could no longer be called a human being. She was mutilated by an unknown object and turned into several pieces of flesh and blood. The crows raised in the castle were tearing at her delicate skin with their beaks, pecking at the delicious food underneath and drinking blood. Their yellow beaks were stained red with blood and their black feathers were also wet with blood.

This group of crows was raised by people and wasn’t afraid of people at all. They didn’t pay attention when the actors came and just dedicated themselves to enjoying the feast.

Ren Ze suggested, “I’ll go closer and take a look—”

Xie Chi frowned and interrupted. “No need.”

She was absolutely dead. There was no need to check again. Ren Ze stopped.

The other actors saw that Jiang Shuo arrived and consciously gave way. Jiang Shuo saw the dead Xie Qiuying and his expression instantly became gloomy. She was really dead.

Liang Zhen had rushed over to check. She came out and shook her head at everyone. Obviously, she had found nothing. Xie Chi had been silently observing. Liang Zhen hadn’t missed any details. She truly didn’t find anything.

Xie Qiuying was dead. Ye Xiaoxiao had never been so shaken. Did they really guess wrong? Xie Qiuying’s previous crying didn’t seem to be false. If she really was the tarot witch or related to the witch as they speculated, how could she be dead?

All the actors were gathered here. Xie Chi calmly examined everyone’s faces before lowering his eyes. Jiang Shuo and Gu Yu knew the order of death. Liang Zhen seemed to be quickly realizing it. Apart from them, the rest didn’t know.

It was easy to guess since there was a trend among actors. The higher the title, the more indifferent they were to death. Previously when Liang Wen asked for help, everyone except Ye Xiaoxiao rejected her. This showed there was no Virgin Mary in this group of actors. At present, the expressions were normal and they were ignorant of the death order. The greater the change in expression, the more thoughts they had.

Liang Zhen had rushed in to check. She must’ve realized that Xie Qiuying’s death was strange. In addition, the one who died was just a cannon fodder. Why was the cold and merciless Jiang Shuo so gloomy? It must be that Xie Qiuying’s death completely negated his speculation and caused him to fall back into the unknown, making him deeply irritable.

Xie Chi glanced at Jiang Shuo, not knowing what he was thinking. Then he said in a deep voice, “Let’s go.”

It didn’t make sense to stay any longer. Ren Ze and Ye Xiaoxiao nodded and followed. Jiang Shuo’s cold eyes passed over the actors in front of him and onto the back of the distant Xie Chi. A sense of crisis appeared in his heart. His eyes narrowed.

Gu Yu was the most observant. He saw this and whispered in Jiang Shuo’s ear, “Should we deal with him in advance?”

Xie Chi was a huge variable. At present, Xie Qiuying’s death was strange. They couldn’t determine if Xie Chi had played a hand in it. If Xie Chi had found a way to change the order of death, it implied…

Gu Yu’s heart jumped twice. There was a person who was silently far ahead of them. Was this really the case…?

If this was the case then Xie Chi couldn’t stay alive. For them, the movie itself was much more dangerous than Xie Chi. If they were calculated by Xie Chi so they were killed by the instance, it wouldn’t be worth the loss.

Gu Yu didn’t dare take this risk. The risk was already bigger than the possibility that Xie Chi had an important role and killing him would destroy the instance itself. After all, that was an extremely rare situation. It might be one or two times in 100 times. However, if Xie Chi had really grasped important clues and left them behind then the crisis brought about by this person would be countless times greater. It would be uncontrollable and unpredictable.

Gu Yu couldn’t allow this to happen. His heart was even more determined and he whispered into Jiang Shuo’s ears to persuade him. He knew that Jiang Shuo might not be willing to listen to him. Jiang Shuo always liked to find the perfect solution rather than make a decision in a hurry. If they really decided to act ahead of time when the plot was unknown, Jiang Shuo would have to take the risk in killing Xie Chi. He was obviously unwilling to do this.

Gu Yu could only persuade Jiang Shuo that Jiang Shuo knew himself and was confident. Gu Yu was timid, afraid of death and would never leave any future troubles behind. It was just that he had no power to make decisions.

Jiang Shuo seemed to be weighing It. The light in his eyes flicked and killing intent appeared and disappeared. Finally, he said, “Wait another night or two.”

Gu Yu sighed with relief. This wasn’t a refusal so Jiang Shuo’s heart was already moved. No matter what, they still had time to wait and see. Jiang Shuo’s strength meant they could definitely afford to wait one or two nights. Then later…

Gu Yu suddenly lost his confidence. He was surprised by his own thoughts. He was next to Jiang Shuo, the app’s movie emperor. Yet he lost his confidence just because of Xie Chi. Gu Yu felt Jiang Shuo’s eyes that were as sharp as a sword and lowered his head in shock.

***

Once on the second floor away from everyone, Ren Ze whispered, “Xie Chi, what did you do?”

Ye Xiaoxiao immediately stared at him.

Xie Chi stood still, his expression unpredictable. “I didn’t do anything.”

“What?” The answer shocked Ye Xiaoxiao and Ren Ze.

Xie Chi did nothing but Xie Qiuying died?

Ren Ze murmured, “If it isn’t you…”

Xie Chi raised his head and confirmed it in a low voice. “It wasn’t me. I thought I would be the one who died second.”

He paused. He knew what Ren Ze and Ye Xiaoxiao were thinking and added, “It isn’t Jiang Shuo or any actor.”

Ren and Ye Xiaoxiao exchanged looks. “Why then?”

“Is the death order wrong? Or did we go in the wrong direction?” Ren Ze came closer and tried to keep calm. He was a bit flustered. If they had gone in the wrong direction then what should they do? The firm sense of security from having clear clues disappeared all at once.

Xie Chi shook his head and smiled meaningfully. “No, what happened just confirmed our guess is correct.”

“Isn’t Xie Qiuying dead? The death order is messed up…”

Xie Chi refuted it. “It isn’t messed up.”

Ren Ze was stunned.

Xie Chi’s voice was steady. “She was originally an extra one and we didn’t count her. In the death order, I am the one who dies next.”

Ren Ze’s mind became clear again. Yes, Xie Qiuying’s death didn’t interfere with their deduction about the death order because they had already crossed Xie Qiuying out…

Ye Xiaoxiao hurriedly asked, “Then why is she dead?”

This was what she was most puzzled about. Ren Ze also stared at Xie Chi with tense eyes. Xie Chi leaned against the stone pillar of the castle next to her. He didn’t immediately answer the question and first asked, “The phenomena is that Xie Qiuying is dead, right?”

The two of them nodded.

“We can’t see through the essence from the perspective of the phenomena. Then we should look at the purpose and then use it to understand the essence.”

“What do you mean?” Ren Ze asked hurriedly.

Xie Chi asked back, “If you are the tarot witch and some opponents already know about the order of death and them knowing this is unfavorable to you, what would you do?”

Ren Ze thought about it. “I will want to kill those who already know.”

“What if too many people already know? There is you, me, Ye Xiaoxiao, Jiang Shuo and even Liang Zhen.”

Ren Ze racked his brains and couldn’t think of anything.

Ye Xiaoxiao’s eyes brightened. “I know! If there is no way to kill all insiders at once then she will want to mislead us and let us completely deny the deduction about the order of death! Xie Qiuying’s death happened to achieve this goal! It is equivalent to releasing a smoke bomb!”

The moment she spoke, her heart jumped and her breathing became short. If Xie Chi’s guess was true, how cunning was the opponent?

Ren Ze also realized. “Then Xie Qiuying is the opponent…”

Xie Chi nodded. “Yes, I only suspected her at first but there was no actual evidence. Then she suddenly played this game of escaping through death which proves she has a problem.”

“Escaping through death?” Ren Ze caught the key words. “You mean, she isn’t dead?”

Xie Chi sneered. “She might be the same as the blood demon.”

Blood demon…

Ren Ze’s heart shook. The blood demons could gain immortality by replacing their bodies. If the tarot witch had the same magic as the blood demon, could the tarot witch have other bodies or… could she possess someone? Things had become more complicated.

Xie Chi continued, “I told her my guess in order to force her to act in advance and confirm it. Yet in fact, I really didn’t do anything.”

Ye Xiaoxiao frowned and expressed her opinion. “Isn’t it stupid to do this? She might confuse Jiang Shuo and Liang Zhen but for someone like you who has accumulated a certain amount of information, you won’t be fooled. You figured it out just now after thinking about it…”

“No.” Xie Chi shook his head and denied it directly. “This is the smartest thing she did.”

“I said that the purpose of the phenomena is to kill me, right?”

Ye Xiaoxiao nodded.

Xie Chi asked, “Who in this instance wants to kill me?”

Ye Xiaoxiao didn’t understand the question but still answered it. “Jiang Shuo and Gu Yu.”

Xie Chi asked back, “If the second one who should be dead turned into Xie Qiuying instead of me, what would Jiang Shuo think?”

Ye Xiaoxiao thought about it and answered uncertainly, “Jiang Shuo might think… you found something to let Xie Qiuying die for you. Then… Jiang Shuo might be wary of you…”

Ye Xiaoxiao’s voice abruptly stopped and she could no longer speak. Beside her, Ren Ze was pale. Xie Chi sighed. “So I put myself in the pit.”

“She is forcing Jiang Shuo to act against me to get rid of the crisis. Her death not only confused Jiang Shuo and Liang Zheng, making them think the order of death is wrong. It will also make Jiang Shuo act to kill me. This is killing two birds with one stone.”

“In the final analysis, her purpose isn’t to hide herself at all. Is it useful to know she is the tarot witch? No. We have to know the rules of the game to play it. Does knowing the identity of the opponent have any effect on this?”

Xie Chi’s tone was calm. “She isn’t afraid of us knowing she has a problem because can we kill her? No.”

“The thing she wants to hide has always been the rules of the game.”

The two people felt numb and sweat dripped down their foreheads. The atmosphere was extremely depressed for a while. Then Xie Chi smiled.

“Those who desperately want to hide are often the ones most afraid.” He paused. “The tarot witch’s eagerness to cover up the rules illustrates that the rules of the game can kill her.”

“In addition, she didn’t kill me with her own hands but is borrowing Jiang Shuo’s hands. This proves she is currently weak or restricted by the rules. She can’t act directly.”

Proofreader: Purichan