Chapter 74. Cornelia Became a Great Detective Two-in-one (1/2)

Several men and women were gathered in the villa's living room.

They were almost all in groups of two or three, standing relatively scattered.

Neither the dark night sky, nor the magnificent snowscape, nor the howling cold wind could move them.

Because the situation in the living room was not harmonious.

In the center of the living room was a half-foot-high mini-stage covered with a bright black floor.

On the stage were a classical grand piano and a leather piano bench with a dim luster.

Besides the piano and the bench, there was one other person on the stage.

Or rather, a corpse that hadn't completely turned cold—

A thin middle-aged man was lying prostrate on the piano keyboard, dressed in luxurious clothes.

He looked as if he had just finished playing a soul-stirring piece of music and then fell into a deep, exhausted sleep.

What was horrifying was that a winding stream of fresh blood seeped out from under him, forming a nearly circular pool of blood on the stage floor, on which a ferocious dagger covered in blood lay quietly.

The crimson blood flowed down along the edge of the middle-aged man's clothes and the piano keys, and the edge of the breast pocket handkerchief exposed from his left chest pocket had been dyed completely red.

This pool of blood reflected the light brown lacquer of the piano and the seemingly weathered, thin body of the performer, revealing a chilling dark color.

At the same time, the prompts were still being updated continuously, and everyone was holding their breath and paying close attention.

【Each challenger has a key that can open a blessed bedroom.】

【Each bedroom can accommodate a maximum of two challengers. If the number is exceeded, the blessing will become invalid.】

【Solving the puzzles of the ancient mansion is of great significance to the side of the Regular Challengers.】

【Among the Regular Challengers, one is a detective.】

Both I and Cornelia couldn't help but touch our pockets and found that there was indeed a key inside.

In addition, the clothes on our bodies seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable.

It wasn't that they didn't fit.

It was just that they were put on in too much of a hurry.

It was as if we had just gotten out of bed, hastily changed clothes, and rushed downstairs.

This must be related to the plot background.

Generally speaking, the two of us were not at all concerned about the plot.

But.

This time, Cornelia's attire was very special.

She was wearing a detective's beret and a beige tweed coat.

Even though she did nothing, she had already attracted the attention of the entire room.

And I, standing beside her, seemed to be her assistant.

“Hey, that's not right, why would such a special identity be given to Cornelia?”

Some of the students watching from outside were puzzled.

“Generally speaking, a special identity doesn't necessarily come with special abilities, but it often serves as a foreshadowing. For example, in a mystery plot, the identity of a detective is often given to the person 'most likely to expose the enemy's identity'.”

“She will also become the primary target of attack for the Rebellious Challengers...”

Then, the most basic plot information also began to update.

【Opening Scene: The master of this mansion, Sir Olock, woke everyone up thirty minutes ago by playing a locally famous "Blood Revival Overture".】

【His performance was wonderful. Anyone who knew a little about music, or even a homeless person who knew nothing about music, should applaud him.】

【But no one would have admired or appreciated it at that time, because it was six in the morning, and the residents were all sound asleep, indulging in the warmth of their beds, enjoying an incomparably comfortable rest.】

【His magnificent music woke up one resident's sweet dream after another, making them angry, helpless, and pained.】

【After he had been playing for a while, a furious resident finally couldn't bear it anymore and decided to go to the living room to stop the performance.】

【But before the resident could turn on the living room's main lights, the piano music had already stopped.】

【Next, a piercing scream woke everyone up completely.】

【So gradually, everyone gathered in the living room, shocked, alert, and thinking.】

【Core Plot Progress 1/3】

At this point, the prompts finally stopped.

From the mechanics of the Shadow World, the werewolf and the witch hidden in the dark with absolute power had too much of an advantage.

So, to find out their identities during the day when they could be countered, one must rely on plot clues.

And the werewolf and the witch also needed to find ways to secretly stop the progress of the mystery-solving.

The master of the mansion probably didn't commit suicide, but it looked too much like a suicide.

But the current clues made it difficult to point out who the murderer was.

So everyone in the living room looked at Cornelia.

They seemed to be waiting for her to speak first.

Cornelia looked at the crowd with a blank expression.

She didn't speak, and her gaze didn't flinch at all.

Her silence did not make people feel puzzled. Instead, it made many challengers feel a sense of relief.

She was indeed a steady person, with the aura of a detective.

But time passed, second by second.

The atmosphere in the living room seemed a bit stiff.

Cornelia looked at me helplessly.

I was patting my cheeks with both hands, as if trying to wake myself up.

This weather indeed easily made one feel sleepy.

“What's wrong?”

I noticed Cornelia's gaze, met her eyes, glanced around, and immediately understood Cornelia's predicament.

She was completely lost and had no idea what was going on.

“Just say whatever you want to say, feel free to improvise. Just think of me as your assistant.”

I tilted my head slightly and whispered in her ear.

“Mm.”

Cornelia nodded.

Then she looked at everyone and said sincerely: “I haven't thought of anything. Please don't count on me.”

“Hah.”

Hearing this, a beautiful girl with an elegant temperament laughed.

It seemed that Cornelia's words had slightly eased the tense atmosphere in the living room.

“In any case, let's all have a chat first.”

This beautiful girl took over the conversation.

She looked to be about 16 years old, with a slender figure and an exquisitely beautiful face. It was not hard to guess that she was probably a noble in the real world.

“My name is Lilith, a second-year student at Filowen Academy. I'm good at puzzle-solving types of Shadow Worlds.”

After speaking, she looked at Cornelia, smiled, and asked:

“Miss Detective, if you have no clue, would you mind handing your job over to me?”

Cornelia hesitated a little.

All the challengers present knew that Cornelia, with the identity of a detective, was equivalent to the leader of the whole group.

Her words carried weight.

Just as she was about to look at me for instructions, I gently patted her back.

She immediately understood my meaning—

Improvise, don't look at me.

So Cornelia nodded towards Lilith.

She had become a detective in a daze and was afraid of dragging all the challengers down.

And just then, a seemingly smart person came forward, willing to take over her job.

It couldn't be better.

A slight curve appeared at the corner of Lilith's mouth.

“Thank you for your trust, Miss Detective.”

Although the content of her words was very humble, Lilith's tone did not hide the arrogance in her bones.

It was as if she was proud of getting back the identity that should have belonged to her.

PART 2

“If no one minds, let's just chat casually first.”

Lilith very naturally took the lead in the conversation.

She knew that there was no need to induce everyone to reveal their information through questioning, interrogation, and other methods.

Except for those Resurrection Church members on the wanted list, the cultists lurking in the dark all had seamless alibis for their identities.

It was impossible to distinguish them just by talking.

After speaking, she sat down on the sofa on her own.

Cornelia silently labeled her in her heart as 【Young Miss】.

And a tall, heroic-looking girl who had been following Lilith all along still stood behind the sofa.

Then she was 【Young Miss' Guard】.

It seemed that everyone understood that this state of mutual vigilance could not advance the puzzle-solving task, so the others gradually began to move a bit closer to the sofa.

“The three of us are knights from the Lolan Kingdom.”

A rather cheerful-looking young man pointed to himself and the two companions beside him and said.

Then they started introducing themselves one by one.

Cornelia couldn't remember so many people's names at once, so she summarized them as a team of three, 【Kingdom Knight】*3.

They came to challenge the Shadow World to boost their year-end performance.

Very realistic. Cornelia felt that there shouldn't be any problem with these three.

And the last two remaining were a pair of twin sisters, standard beauties, who also looked like students.

“We are third-year students at Brotia Academy. I am an assassin, and my older sister is a healer.”

Although the two looked similar, the younger sister's eyes seemed to tilt upwards, looking slightly more assertive, while the older sister's eyes drooped downwards, looking pitiful.

【Assassin Younger Sister】 and 【Healer Older Sister】. Cornelia labeled the last two.

Besides me, Cornelia, and the Cat Teacher, the other seven were all foreigners.

But being foreigners had its advantages.

They might not have heard of me and Cornelia.

After all, this world was too big, and there were too many strange people and interesting things.

Even if other challengers had heard of our glorious deeds, they probably didn't know what I and Cornelia looked like.

Finally, all the others had finished introducing themselves and looked at the taciturn great detective Cornelia and her assistant.

Before Cornelia could speak, I said first:

“My humble name is Bachel, and I am my young lady's attendant. She is not fond of words, so please forgive us.”

Then he bowed gracefully to everyone and retreated behind Cornelia again.

This time, he only wanted to be the man behind Cornelia.

To hide his achievements and fame.

Cornelia immediately understood.

“My name is Olive.”

Cornelia's identity was innocent, there was no need to proactively expose any information.

My meaning was precisely to tell her not to say too much.

The other challengers' eyes couldn't help but light up.

So Miss Detective is also a young lady from some noble family?

Thinking about it carefully, since the Shadow World had chosen her as the hope of the regular challengers, she must have some extraordinary qualities.

And the fact that she had been acting so low-key was probably because she was hiding her skills.

Not just her identity, but also her intelligence.

So she was the type to be deeply hidden and possess great wisdom while appearing foolish.

This made 【Young Miss】 Lilith a little embarrassed.

She couldn't help but size up Cornelia again.

Well, this calm, restrained, yet elegant feeling either meant she was not a noble, or she was a great noble who was deeply hidden.

I actually misjudged her just now.

Looking at it this way, it wasn't that Miss Detective had no ideas.

Instead, she wanted to maintain a state of watching from the sidelines, observing everyone as an outsider.

Brilliant.

Then let's have a good competition.

A flame of fighting spirit seemed to ignite in Lilith's eyes as she watched Cornelia for a moment.

“But there is a very serious problem right now.”

Lilith scanned the crowd and continued, “Where is the tenth challenger?”

There were only nine challengers present.

“Isn't it the one on the piano?”

A 【Kingdom Knight】 asked.

Lilith shook her head.

“Obviously not, that person is clearly a native character of the Shadow World. The Shadow World won't have a situation where a challenger is guaranteed to die at the start, so we are still missing one challenger, and we don't know if he is friend or foe. This undoubtedly greatly increases the difficulty of our reasoning.”

Everyone fell silent.

It was indeed quite ridiculous!

It was clearly stated that all challengers would start in the living room, but no matter how they counted, there were only nine people.

“Miss Olive, do you have any thoughts?”

Lilith looked at Cornelia and asked.

“I don't think this question is important.”

Cornelia, adhering to the principles of improvising and that more words lead to more mistakes, answered this way without misleading the other challengers.

After speaking, she didn't intend to explain any further.

Lilith was silent for a moment, and probably understood Cornelia's meaning.

Indeed, continuing to dwell on this issue here was meaningless.

An extremely simplified way of thinking.

“Alright, since Olive has said so, let's skip this topic for now.”

Lilith showed a relieved smile and continued:

“I suggest that we try to act together as much as possible during the day, at least staying within each other's line of sight. After all, there is strength in numbers.”

“If we can't find the enemy's identity on the first day, we will have to split up and hide in our bedrooms at night.”

“If two people working together have the means to temporarily resist a Rank 6 werewolf, then I suggest two people stay together.”

“If two people working together would also be instantly killed by the werewolf, I suggest splitting up into individuals to increase the number of distractions. No matter who is attacked, they must leave clues as much as possible.”

“Olive, what do you think?”

Cornelia: “Okay.”

Seeing Cornelia nod, everyone else also agreed.

If everyone stayed together at night, it was very likely they would be wiped out by the werewolf.

After all, even if eight people worked together, they would still be cut down like vegetables in the face of a surprise attack from a Rank 6 werewolf.

Using the protection of the rooms was the correct solution.

But this meant they had to face a cruel situation—

It was very likely that there would be victims.

And the victims would also have the opportunity to exchange their lives for information.

So next, everyone began to explore the structure of this mansion together.

The mansion had two floors, with five bedrooms on each floor, numbered 101-105 and 201-205 respectively.

For safety reasons, everyone agreed not to disclose which room their key corresponded to on the first day.

The first floor had a living room and a kitchen with plenty of food, while the second floor had a study and a huge library.

Apart from briefly exploring the exterior of the mansion—the cliff, the severed bridge, and the extremely harsh weather that was about to drown people.

The rest of the time was almost all spent in the study and the library.

They were trying their best to find relevant clues.

Before they knew it, it was nine o'clock at night.

There was still one hour left until the werewolf's activity time.

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