Knock, knock! Knock!

After what felt like an eternity, the long-awaited sound finally came from outside the door.

“FBI, open up!”

William didn’t mind the wait.

He was used to solitude. Outside of the annual ball, when the special identity holders would make their appearance, he always sat alone in this empty Main Hall.

Only here could he still feel Mary’s presence.

Even in the suffocating silence, it was as if she were right beside him.

Year after year. Day after day.

“Please, come in.”

Despite the mocking summons, his voice was calm and gentle.

He sounded less like an old monster who had lived for decades and more like the rising star pianist he had once been, a darling of high society.

Creeeak…

The heavy door swung slowly inward.

There was no one outside. Only a small, round object rolling across the floor.

“A boring trick.”

William waved his hand.

The grenade, its pin already pulled, vanished from the floor.

A second later, an explosion rocked the air several hundred meters from the cruise ship, erupting over the open sea.

But to the vast ocean, the blast was less forceful than a single crashing wave.

Hearing no commotion from inside, four figures emerged from the side of the doorway.

Bei Lang shot Wu Wang a dark look and whispered, “Brother Yan, if you were really going to throw a grenade, why didn’t you warn us?”

They had planned to charge in as soon as the door opened.

Who could have guessed that Yan Shuangying would actually pull out a grenade, yank the pin, and toss it inside? The stunt had forced the other three to dive for cover.

“Didn’t I mention it on the way here?” Wu Wang shrugged.

The other players were speechless.

Honestly, it was impossible to tell which of his words were serious and which were complete nonsense.

“Relax,” Wu Wang said. “If William couldn’t handle a simple grenade, it would just prove he’s a fake.”

“And since he could handle it, we’ve learned that brute force is useless against him.”

His explanation left them stunned.

It seemed to make a strange kind of sense, but it also felt like hopelessly twisted logic.

Still whispering among themselves, the group approached the long dining table.

Seeing William seated at the far end, everyone instinctively assumed a defensive posture.

Ms. Black Cat tensed. The moment she saw the black-robed, bound figure sitting beside William, she knew they were in deep trouble.

“Care for a drink, my honored guests?” William asked softly.

Four glasses filled with red wine materialized on the table.

The gesture was a clear invitation for them to sit.

The group exchanged glances, not daring to move.

Thud.

Gulp, gulp…

A strange sound broke the silence.

The others whipped their heads around to see Wu Wang, who had already taken a seat and was chugging his drink.

“Ha! Now that’s some fine wine!”

Everyone’s jaw went slack.

He was still wearing the Decade Suit’s mask!

The man hadn’t even lifted it. The red wine was just pouring down his chest and onto the floor. That gulping sound was just him imitating the sound of swallowing!

What the hell are you yelling “fine wine” for? the others thought in unison. You could drink a gallon like that and still pass a breathalyzer test!

Couldn’t you at least try to be convincing? There’s a suspected Instance boss sitting right across from us!

“Since you have no intention of tasting my wine, let’s discuss something else.”

William calmly flicked a finger.

The pool of red wine on the floor vanished instantly, leaving the room as pristine as it was before.

“I can promise you all one thing.”

William’s eyes narrowed, making him look even more like a vampire.

“As long as you can make 【The Warrior】 voluntarily say ‘I choose to die,’ the rest of you will live to see the end of this voyage.”

“How about it? A very fair deal, is it not?”

It was a classic tactic, designed to sow discord.

This was William’s warm-up act for every ritual.

In recent years, he hadn’t even needed to lift a finger. The other identity holders would torture 【The Warrior】 themselves until their target finally chose death.

On the surface, he still maintained the facade of the young pianist from long ago.

But in reality, after so many years of Sacrifice, after seeing the true, dark face of high society, his heart had long since become twisted and corrupt.

“Fair?”

Before the others could even process William’s words, Wu Wang let out a cold laugh.

“The advantage is mine. Why would I need to discuss fairness with you?”

The moment the words left his mouth, the other players nearly lost their composure.

Brother Decade, who the hell gave you the nerve to say that? they screamed internally. Was it Fish Leong’s “Courage”?

And “the advantage is mine”?

What advantage? Where?

This guy just made a grenade vanish with a wave of his hand! We’re not even in the same league!

If he wanted to, he could probably make us disappear just as easily.

This damned Nightmare-level Instance! There’s no way out!

“Oh?”

William leaned forward, a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

“Do tell. What advantage is that?”

He was genuinely intrigued. This strangely dressed man had supposedly been killed by Number Four, yet he had shown up at the ball last night very much alive.

He’d even managed to trip up Captain Cook, a man who had served William faithfully for decades.

What other tricks did he have up his sleeve?

But Wu Wang’s next words made William’s expression freeze.

“You don’t actually know which of us holds which identity, do you?”

At this, the other players’ expressions turned strange.

William… doesn’t know our identities?

“Oh? And what makes you say that?” William’s composure returned in an instant.

Wu Wang, with a complete lack of courtesy, propped his feet up on the dining table.

He leaned back and said smoothly, “Because Mary doesn’t love you anymore.”

BANG!

The word had barely left his lips when the entire dining table exploded into fine dust.

Clearly, a nerve had been struck.

His feet now resting on empty air, Wu Wang simply crossed his legs and quipped, “Lies don’t hurt, but the truth is a sharp blade.”

He continued his assault. “Let me guess. You can’t enter the 【Back Kitchen】, can you? You can’t command the waitresses, either. And now it turns out you don’t even know our identities.”

“Oh, my poor old baby.”

“It seems that aside from footing the bill for this cruise ship, nothing important on it has anything to do with you.”

“Just like how you’re unimportant in her heart.”

Wu Wang’s words were like daggers, each one twisting deeper.

William’s deathly-pale face contorted with a terrifying, ferocious rage.

Even Wu Wang’s own teammates were completely dumbfounded.

Did you bring us here just to commit suicide? they wondered in horror.

Do you really think this is some video game where the tank has to taunt the boss?

If he snaps, we all die with you!

However, this was all part of Wu Wang’s plan.

He had been uncertain about a few things before, but William’s attempt to sow discord had confirmed his suspicions.

His logic was simple.

Number Five had come here earlier to retrieve his clue. This proved that Mary had initially wanted the players wiped out as quickly as possible.

Why? To stop William’s plans.

If the special identity holders were eliminated early, the ritual would fail. It wouldn’t matter how many more people William sacrificed after that.

Then there was the 【Back Kitchen】. Mary herself had said he could only enter because he was 【The Warrior】. That proved that Mary saw 【The Warrior】 as the key to reawakening her own consciousness.

But this time, she wanted the ritual to fail. That was why the Identity Cards had never appeared in the players’ rooms.

Therefore, the one who distributed the cards wasn’t William. It was Mary.

After learning that Mary wanted William dead, and that the waitresses were her subconscious clones, Wu Wang was certain William had no control over them.

Taking all this into account, the conclusion was obvious.

William had no idea who 【The Warrior】 was.

He was just fishing, trying to identify them based on their reactions!

And, most importantly…

Before coming to the Hongmen Club…

Wu Wang had gone to the 【Back Kitchen】 again.

He had met more Marys.