Chaos, it was pure chaos.

When the light turned back on, everyone looked around to see what had happened, but what they weren’t expecting to see was that standing near them was the bloodied body of a man, who had come here just like them, or rather had been trapped in.

His skull had been torn in two; it was a disgusting sight, how blood flowed from his head to his body, painting his clothes in the crimson color of blood. Many had gotten sick from the sight. It was also frightening to know he wasn’t fully dead yet, as he slowly moved his hand, as if trying to grab something.

This didn’t last long, of course, as before anyone could calm down, his hand stopped moving, and with the blood stopping, it was clear that he was dead, and now trapped in time like everything else that didn’t hold essence.

The body belonged to, if he had to say, a baker, as he still had the white flower on his body, and now, it will eternally be there.

It was a tragedy, yes, but he hadn’t known him, and neither was he someone important so far, which was why he had chosen him. Someone who is quiet can hold the most secrets; he knew best, since he also had yet to say a word, and he was one of the killers.

He was surprised his teammate hadn’t tried to kill anyone yet. It made him think he was someone shy or someone very good at acting. His eyes instantly went towards the detective. He was someone smart, who was at the moment controlling the game. He had also made it so he didn’t get his advantage in the first round. So he could be his teammate, trying not to kill anyone to earn trust.

But there was one very good reason why he wasn’t the other member of the Abyss.

He was cunning; he already knew this.

So if he really was the killer and wanted to gain trust, he would have also selected someone, so that he would stop him from killing. Since, of course, if they chose a different person, no one died.

There was the chance that he was just thinking that he wouldn’t kill anyone, that he was too nervous, or not prepared to do it.

But he didn’t think he was a person who would take such a risk.

So if he knew he wasn’t the other member of the killer party, why hadn’t he taken him down? He was a threat after all.

Because he was of use.

He had already won everyone over, so he was going to use this opportunity to instill his view in them, hoping to share it with everyone without drawing attention to himself.

But also because he knew that taking control so only one would only lead to ruin in the late game.

When so many have died, the people will stop feeling safe and start to question him. In that situation, he either calms everyone down and gets things back, or falls under the pressure.

But people can also start to question early on in the game.

…

…

“This is horrible! We shouldn’t have let this happen! We should have voted in the first round.”

The farmer blurred out, a remark that would have been tossed out by anyone who could think clearly. But in the moment of panic, this caught fire, with many people turning on the detective, even if he was right, and they had taken his side not long ago.

People could change, and very fast.

“We should vote you off, after all, only a killer would say to skip voting, because they were scared!”

“Yeah!”

“Vote him out!”

“Kill that murderer.”

…

…

“I would like to oblige.”

Everyone turned their heads to him, staring at him with utter confusion. The farmer frowned, trying to say something, but he cut him off before he could start.

“Let’s say we had voted, do you know what chance we have to vote one of the Abyss out?”

The man scratched the back of his head.

“I don’t, and neither do I get why that’s important!… You must be the second killer; your guys are trying to protect your teammate!”

The farmer hit the table with his fist, screaming.

No one dared to speak a word; they were scared for whatever reason.

“It’s a one in then chance. And it doesn’t matter, it’s too low of chance to randomly vote someone off.

Do I have to remind you that we’re playing with human lives?”

The fisherman tried to say something in response, but he couldn’t figure anything out. So he just wrongly accused him again.

“That… damn, you’re a murderer, you’re trying to protect your friend!”

Aether sighed, resting his head in his palm, and giving him a slight, cocky smile.

“This is the single reason why I think you’re not fit in this game. If you had paid attention to the game, you would have seen that no one showed their card to another; it was also in the rules. The Abyss shouldn’t know who else has the card, or at least that’s what I speculate. But even if I were one of them, in your right mind, do you think that a good thing for me to do would be to protect my teammate while everyone is against them? You don’t think, you’re driven by emotion, you’re an inconvenience.”

The detective glanced at him with interest, with a slight smirk on his lips, so he responded with a bright smile. Of course, both knew that behind the other’s smile was something hidden inside. But, they also knew that the other person understood the game to a good degree, a great tool to use.

…

“Then we should vote him off, right?… The mother said, pointing a finger at the farmer.

“I don’t believe that he is one of the Abyss, but I also can’t confirm he isn’t, and because of how he has acted so far, he is a good candidate. I won’t vote for him myself; maybe he’s acting, but someone who’s a killer wouldn’t act like this, accusing people, and putting themselves in the middle of the attention.

Or who knows, maybe he’s just bad at being the killer. I’ll skip, since I don’t know who it is.”

The detective sighed, looking at how nervous and scared everyone was to face the night.

“I shall also skip. I don’t think voting is worth it at the moment.”

…

Everything had gone perfectly. He had done just what he wanted: to get the blame off the detective, but also give everyone three options. Vote for the farmer, skip the voting, just like he and the detective had done, or just take the chance and vote for someone.

Voting worked similarly to killing; the lights turned off, and you were told to point to who you wanted to vote out. If you wanted to skip, you pointed to the air. This way, you can’t look to see what others vote and go with the crowd. But it also showed at the end who voted for whom.

…

When the light turned back on, he had expected most to have their hand up, but to his surprise, only he and the detective had done it. The rest had voted for someone.

Aether looked around, counting the votes, and came to an interesting observation.

‘A tie? That’s… weird for this early.’

Half had voted for the farmer, and the other had surprisingly voted for the teenage boy. It was strange how half of them came together to vote a child off. But when had they even spoken to each other to do it…

…or was it just that they were all that evil that they thought the same?

‘The younger someone is, the less they know. But did they really think this when someone like the farmer, someone old, made such remarks?’

…

“It has seemed that we will have a tie… normally there will be a tie breaker, and I’ll ask you to vote again… but in this game, both the people die in a tie.”

…

Everyone was in shock, maybe looking at the dead bodies of the farmer and the innocent boy, opened their eyes that their actions had consequences.

But the game didn’t let them think over everything, as the lights turned back on, for another night.

…

Sixteen remained; so far, things were going splendidly. Not only was he able to kill two without being stopped by his teammate, but two had also been voted off. Of course, it wasn’t his doing, but he was very happy about it.

He also confirmed one thing, that the mayor was still alive, or at least, had been after the second round of voting. With one dying in the first round, that meant nineteen remained, and since only two skipped, that meant there were seventeen votes…

But that’s an odd number, which could only mean that the mayor’s second vote had taken place.

It wasn’t special, but something good to know going into the third round of voting.

…

“Now that four have died, the game will change slightly…”

‘Huh?’

…

The next second, the chains unlocked, letting everyone be free…

Which only meant chaos.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep