Besides the additional doll in the second-floor exhibition room, Jing Minghe and the others found no other clues.
Gong Liang and Ning Ping had vanished right under their noses, and Fang Chao's death was equally inexplicable.
To leave the instance as soon as possible, everyone gathered in the first-floor dining hall after the art troupe members had eaten and gone up to the fifth floor.
Xia Rong spoke first, "We must figure out the purpose of this instance as quickly as possible. Gong Liang and Ning Ping have suddenly disappeared, a suspected doll of Ning Ping has appeared in the second-floor exhibition room, and then there's Fang Chao's tragic death."
Xia Rong's eyes scanned the group before he continued, "So, besides the overall purpose of the instance, we also need to understand the reasons for the disappearance of those two people and Fang Chao's death, lest we fall into the same trap ourselves."
"Didn't they say the small door on the sixth floor opened into a flower garden?" An Ruo glanced at Gu Chenhui, then quickly averted her gaze, focusing on Jing Minghe. "But just now, that small door wouldn't open no matter what?"
"Who knows," Gu Chenhui replied. "Perhaps, it's not the right time."
For Xia Rong, An Ruo, and Si Lian, who were unaware of what had happened, Gu Chenhui's answer temporarily resolved their doubts. However, for You Mi and the others, who had witnessed Gu Chenhui crashing through the door, such a reply only deepened their questions.
Jing Minghe was feeling hungry. Fortunately, it wasn't past mealtime, so he went to get some food.
Seeing the food, Si Lian felt another wave of nausea. She truly admired Jing Minghe for being able to eat after seeing Fang Chao's corpse.
Jing Minghe said as he ate, "The fifth floor, like our fourth floor, has eleven rooms. Each room door also has a name on it. This indicates that the art troupe should also have eleven people. However, whether it was during our first encounter last night or the indirect glimpse we got of the art troupe members today, I counted them. There are indeed eleven names, but based on the people we've seen, there are only ten."
Jing Minghe's words successfully furrowed the brows of Qiao Qiao and You Mi.
You Mi asked in confusion, "What do you mean 'indeed eleven names, but ten seen'?"
Gu Chenhui explained on Jing Minghe's behalf, "The people we've seen so far include the director Quan Zhe, deputy director Ding Wang, doll caretaker Liu Mei, and lighting technician Chen Cai. These four we encountered in the hallway when we were going upstairs for clues after breakfast. Later, before the performance, at the entrance of the first-floor dining hall, we saw doll stylist Li Zhong, prop master A Mo, and sculpture artist Ya Wei."
Chi Hao added, "When I went downstairs behind Fang Chao and the others, I met two people talking with Hu Feiyan. Their name tags read: stylist assistant Cheng Xiao, and sculpture assistant Qi Meng."
As Gu Chenhui and Chi Hao spoke, Si Lian mentally counted. Thinking they had finished, Si Lian questioned, "That's only nine people."
"And," Jing Minghe added, "before the performance, we all saw someone on stage being directed by Quan Zhe and Ding Wang. That's logistics staff Wei Hao. The last one, the 'most outstanding puppeteer' Luo Yu, as Quan Zhe called him."
He paused, then continued, "Except for Luo Yu, everyone else is someone we've all actually seen. As for Luo Yu, we... can't see him."
"Right!" You Mi nodded emphatically. "Besides that, there's also the sculpture artist Ya Wei, her face..."
The thought of that black-hole-like face sent a shiver down You Mi's spine.
"So, these two people are key?" Xia Rong exclaimed, as if he had grasped something. "I get it! The purpose of this instance might be to figure out how to make these two people appear? No, to make these two people visible to everyone!"
Jing Minghe didn't necessarily agree, but he lacked sufficient evidence to refute Xia Rong's theory, so he let them continue their speculations and deductions.
"Ah!!!"
A woman's scream echoed from upstairs.
Jing Minghe and the others quickly stood up. Since all their own people were present, the scream must have come from someone in the art troupe.
Was the real plot about to begin?
This time, before Jing Minghe could speak, others had already sprung into action.
The group followed the sound to the third-floor lounge and found a woman slumped on the floor. She was Cheng Xiao, the assistant to the doll stylist Li Zhong, whom Chi Hao had mentioned. Opposite Cheng Xiao was the large wooden crate. Sudan Novel Network.
To their surprise, the crate had been empty when they checked earlier, but now it was different.
The lid of the crate was open, and inside lay a corpse, crammed in a strange posture. Judging by her attire, it was confirmed to be the prop master A Mo.
"How could this happen?" Si Lian questioned. "It's only been about an hour since we checked, how did she die so quickly? And we didn't hear a sound."
"Isn't that normal?" Gu Chenhui chuckled. "What murderer can commit a killing without being heard? When someone kills, even impulsively, they'll instinctively try to avoid making too much noise that outsiders could detect, unless..."
"Unless what?" Si Lian pressed.
Gu Chenhui raised an eyebrow and deliberately lowered his voice, a hint of fear in his tone, "Unless, he wants people to witness the process of him killing."
Si Lian trembled and took half a step back, widening the distance between herself and Gu Chenhui.
Xia Rong and An Ruo looked at Si Lian with a hint of sympathy.
Cheng Xiao was still crying hysterically, whether from fear or the grief of seeing her friend's body was unclear.
Just as Jing Minghe was about to step forward to examine the scene, art troupe director Quan Zhe and deputy director Ding Wang entered.
Quan Zhe shouted as he walked, "What's going on? What happened? Cheng Xiao? Why are you crying?"
Before Cheng Xiao could answer, they had already walked to the wooden crate and, upon seeing A Mo's corpse, wore expressions of shock.
They both asked in unison, "What happened?"
"Di-Director," Cheng Xiao finally stopped crying, sobbing, "Sister A Mo... she's dead."
"I see," Quan Zhe sighed heavily, turning to the empty air behind him and saying, "Luo Yu, take Cheng Xiao back first and have Ya Wei look after her."
Afterward, Jing Minghe and the others watched as Cheng Xiao, seemingly supported by someone, walked out of the lounge, glancing back repeatedly.
After Cheng Xiao left, Quan Zhe turned to face Jing Minghe and the others. "I apologize for startling you guests. May I ask if you guests saw our colleague before this?"
"No," Jing Minghe replied with a serious expression. "We've been chatting together the whole time. We didn't see her, nor did we hear anything."
"Oh dear, oh dear," Hu Feiyan suddenly appeared like a ghost. "What's going on here?"
She said this as she walked closer to the wooden crate. "Good heavens, isn't this Miss A Mo? How did she die? Who killed her? Oh my, Mr. Lu's people will be here soon, how are we going to explain this?"