The weapon by the pillow

Chapter 32 Someone has some ulterior motives!

"A little scheme!"

Upon hearing the old man utter this word, the other three looked at him with some surprise.

"You mean... someone's got designs on you?" the slightly overweight man asked.

The old man did not answer directly, but instead said to the middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses:

"Fourth brother, I remember... after that incident, didn't we 'clean up' a batch of related small items? We were afraid of leaving behind any 'souvenirs'."

"Souvenirs! Hmm..." The bespectacled middle-aged man known as "Fourth Brother" nodded. "We disposed of a batch. The ones confiscated by Jin Dafu, and the 'trinkets' from several other people involved, were all disposed of. Logically speaking... there shouldn't have been any omissions."

"But this die doesn't look newly made."

The old man's gaze returned to the tablet. "Wooden, patina, looks like it's been polished for many years. The missing corner... the cut is new, though."

The fourth brother frowned: "You suspect... it was left behind by one of the 'participants' back then? And now you're bringing it up... to make a fuss?"

"They'll definitely make a fuss about it. For example, they've already come up with a lipstick, and they'll probably come up with something else to grab attention..." The old man put down his teacup, looked at the cards in his hand again, glanced at them, and casually picked up the dice on the mahjong table and tossed them lightly.

"However, the significance of him throwing this die is quite significant! Does he want us to see it? Does he want to drive some pathetic bastards crazy? Or does he want the chess pieces in the room, and the flies watching the show outside, to guess based on the die?"

He paused, swirled his finger around, and finally tapped lightly on the "North Wind" sign.

"I think the person who organized this gathering has some ulterior motives."

The old man spoke slowly, his tone still calm, but suddenly turning cold. The implication in his words sent a chill down the spines of the other three. "He wants to muddy the waters, to divert attention elsewhere. Dice... one, two, three... is he counting heads? Or counting order?"

He looked up at the slightly overweight man: "The internet is a place rife with gossip! Too many people talking at once makes it easy for rumors to spread! You need to handle this. Go online, to those forums and live streams, and stir things up. Don't let them keep focusing on the dead men like Jin Dafu and Zhang Zhiqiang, or that old dispute over the demolition. Talk about other possibilities… like, a crime of passion? Like, is Li Wan involved in other troubles? Like… does that dice symbolize some kind of 'game' or 'gambling'?"

The slightly overweight man immediately understood: "Got it! I'll arrange for an online army right away, and contact a few 'reliable' self-media outlets and so-called 'insiders' to release some dubious information to muddy the waters even further!"

"The best course of action is to catch the source and make him bring trouble upon himself!" The old man nodded, then turned his gaze to the still-attractive woman: "Ah Fang, you should make some moves on your end too. Isn't there a female captain surnamed Cheng in charge of the police force? Her mentor is no pushover! Find her some 'other things' to do. Make her busy, at least... throw her into disarray."

The woman stubbed out her cigarette, smiled sweetly, but the fine lines at the corners of her eyes betrayed a chill: "Don't worry. I know Cheng Jing well. I know how to keep her 'busy'."

"And fourth brother," the old man said, turning finally to the bespectacled middle-aged man, "you go to the vicinity yourself, but don't get too close. Keep an eye on things. If... if the situation really gets out of control, or if the person who organized this is reckless and wants to cause trouble..." His eyes suddenly sharpened for a moment, "You know what to do. Be clean."

The middle-aged man pushed up his glasses, a glint in his eyes behind the lenses, and coldly uttered two words: "Understood."

The old man refocused his attention on the card table, picked up a card, and played it without even looking at it—it was a blank card.

"Alright, let's get back to the game." He regained his calm demeanor. "Those petty squabbles outside won't amount to anything. We need to play this game properly."

The sound of shuffling the cards rang out again.

In Room 403, Building 7, Anpingli, no one was playing cards; they were just playing dice.

Viewers were getting impatient, as the same sieve kept appearing in the live stream.

The plot didn't move forward; instead, the story got stuck on a die with a missing corner!

Like Li Kai, who examined the chipped die over and over, trying to find more clues, he looked more like an old cat playing with a ball of yarn than searching for clues. It seemed only Cheng Tan was squatting beside the box, checking the hidden compartments, repeatedly searching for any other concealed items.

"There's nothing but dice," Cheng Tan said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"This die must be the key!" Li Kai insisted. "It's hidden so well, it must be an important token or clue! The missing piece... the missing piece must have meaning!"

Lin Qian suddenly said, "Don't you guys think the timing of this die's appearance is a bit strange?"

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked, turning his head.

"That voice—the mastermind—guided us to the secret room, to the box, and then told us that there was a hidden compartment in the bottom of the box, containing a 'switch' to open the second secret room."

Lin Qian began to analyze, "What we found was a seemingly unrelated die. This doesn't make sense. If he really wanted us to open the second secret room, why didn't he just tell us the method directly, or give us the real 'switch'? Instead, he gave us a riddle-like die?"

Wu Wenbin interjected, "Unless... opening the second secret room requires this die as part of the 'key'? Or, is the die itself a 'map' or 'password' pointing to the location of the second secret room?"

"A password?" Cheng Tan's eyes lit up. "A die has six sides, with numbers from one to six. A missing corner corresponds to one, two, or three. Could this be some kind of numerical password? Or a sequential password?"

Lynx was completely baffled: "What password? Where do I enter the password? There's not even a keyboard in this room!"

Upon hearing Cheng Tan's words, Yingzi seemed to be deep in thought. He squatted down again and carefully examined the opened square hole, the small platform below the hole, and the camphor wood box that had been taken out.

"If the second secret chamber truly exists, its entrance might not be here," the shadowy hand said slowly, stroking the walls of the opening. "This vertical passage and platform are merely for storing this box. The entrance to the second chamber might be elsewhere in the room. This die might be telling us where the entrance is, or how to open it."

"The rest of the room?" A-Zhe and Xiao-Fei shuddered in fright, instinctively looking around at the mottled walls and dark corners.

Others are also thinking about this issue.

Like that policewoman smoking, her hair flying in the wind.

Amidst the flashing police lights, her expression was grim; she felt she was facing a humiliation.

This disgusting "judgment seat" is like judging oneself and the helplessness of this large group of people.

"Who were those five people from back then?" Cheng Jing pondered. "Zhao Jianguo and Wang Bin are dead, leaving three others. If tonight's 'reenactment' requires five 'peaks,' then besides the eight known individuals in the room—Li Kai, Cheng Tan, Wu Wenbin, Shadow, Lin Qian, Mountain Cat, A Zhe, and Xiao Fei—could there be...?"

Her little thoughts were interrupted by a voice coming from the walkie-talkie:

"Team Leader Cheng, the thermal imaging of the target room in Building 5 has changed! Three figures are moving! It looks like... they're packing up to evacuate!"