Author: 颜凉雨 / Yan Liang Yu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 128: Demon

The situation was clear now: someone had impersonated the tour leader and sent messages to the young man. The source of the incident in the restaurant with the two girls wasn’t the tour leader’s two-timing, but someone revealing it.

The young man and the two girls were already dead. No matter how much they guessed, they could no longer confirm anything with them.

The sun had already set 4/5 of the way, and in a little while, it would be completely dark.

After returning the tour leader’s phone, Wu Sheng’s gaze swept over everyone—the two close male university friends and a female friend who were watching the tour leader being bandaged, the long-distance lover who still took the time to check his phone in the midst of the chaos, and the backpacker who was helping another female friend bandage the tour leader.

“Take out your phones. I need to check your messages.”

All five travelers refused. “Why should you check our phones?”

“Why am I still being investigated when I’m like this?!” The tour leader slapped the sofa, his bloodied bandage adding a lot of deterrence and persuasion to his words.

Six unlocked phones were reluctantly handed over, and Wu Sheng lined them up on the coffee table, checking them one by one.

His four companions gathered around, not necessarily expecting to find anything but showing support for their advisor.

The messages on the two male university students’ phones were mostly between themselves—

A: How about those two girls?

B: Vulgar.

A: Not vulgar at all. They smile so sweet.

B: I meant you’re vulgar.

A: …

A: I really want to be a bird.

B: To fly happy?

A: To be lightweight.

B: As a grown man, can’t you stop thinking about losing weight…

The messages on the two female friends’ phones were mostly to the tour leader—

Tour leader: Can you give me a chance?

C: You’re flirting is too cliché.

Tour leader: Your making me toss and turn, since you flirted with me first.

C: Me?

Tour leader: When we gathered, you smiled at me, and then my tooth started to ache.

C: What does that have to do with a toothache???

Tour leader: You look too sweet.

C: …

Tour leader: Do you have navigation on your phone? Help me find a place.

D: Where?

Tour leader: In your heart.

D: Please roll off smooth like a well-rounded ball.

Tour leader: I can roll away, but I’m afraid no one will be there to catch your tears.

D: I’m not paying the remaining amount for the tour.

Tour leader: ???

D: Consider it as compensation for emotional distress.

Tour leader: Miss, I was wrong [crying and hugging legs]

The backpacker’s phone had no messages.

The long-distance lover’s phone, naturally, was all mushy texts with his girlfriend—

Long-distance lover: Baby, I miss you so much that I is going crazy.

Girlfriend: Me too, sob sob.

Long-distance lover: Baby, people keep dying in this tour group. I’m scared.

Girlfriend: Don’t worry, which tour doesn’t have deaths? I’m here for you.

Long-distance lover: Baby…

Wu Sheng browsed too quickly. Except for Xu Wang, who always relied on his “language skills”, the others could barely read a few lines before he scrolled down, leaving them unable to follow a complete context.

Yet, it was the last long-distance lover’s chat record that shocked them. Just a few lines were enough to suffocate them with the stench of sappy romance.

Xu Wang always thought he was in a “pre-relationship” state, but after reading other people’s love chats, he suddenly felt he was still in the single dog phase!

But now was not the time for envy or jealousy.

The sun was about to set completely, and their only hope, checking the phones, had turned up nothing. At least from these people’s chat records, Xu Wang couldn’t discern any flaws or clues.

Wu Sheng put down the last phone, took out his own, and quickly typed something in his notes.

“What’s this?” Xu Wang asked as he watched him type strange dialogues in his notes.

Wu Sheng didn’t look up. “Chat records.”

Xu Wang asked, “Whose?”

Wu Sheng said, “The person who said the tour leader messaged him.”

The young man who had shown Wu Sheng the messages had died after falling down the elevator shaft. Except for Wu Sheng, no other companions had seen his messages.

From the typing speed alone, it was clear that Wu Sheng had firmly memorized those messages. He was thinking, and though he could have done it in his head, he typed out these chat records for Xu Wang to see.

There were two short conversations in the chat records—

Tour leader: Gather, handsome.

Young man: ?

Tour leader: Stop smiling foolishly. I’m talking about you.

Young man: Am I handsome?

Tour leader: Very handsome.

The second was at noon—

Young man: I think, I might have fallen for you.

Tour leader: Think about it again.

Young man: Really, I truly like you.

Tour leader: Sorry, but I really don’t.

As Wu Sheng finished typing the last word, Xu Wang’s eyes narrowed, catching some information at lightning speed.

He quickly picked up the row of phones on the coffee table, checking them a second time, comparing them with the messages in Wu Sheng’s notes.

“Do you have an idea now?” Wu Sheng waited until he had finished comparing all of them before asking.

Xu Wang put down the last phone of the long-distance lover, turned to Wu Sheng, and thoughtfully said, “You’ve already figured it out, haven’t you?”

Wu Sheng’s lips curled up in a confident smile, like always before an exam. “I need your confirmation, class representative.”

Xu Wang smiled and finally nodded solemnly. “The representative gives his stamp of approval.”

The three companions watched in confusion, while outside, the sun finally set behind the mountain, extinguishing the last ray of light.

“Ding—”

[Cheat Sheet]: Please identify one person as the demon within five minutes. You only have one chance to accuse. The countdown will begin now, and it will be announced whether the accusation is correct when the time is up.

Xu Wang looked steadily at Wu Sheng.

Their three companions also became serious.

The seven people from the tour group, sensing something was amiss, looked around in confusion. The injured tour leader, half lying on the sofa, directly asked, “What’s going on?”

Wu Sheng calmed himself, raised his head, and slowly scanned all the travelers, finally raising his hand and firmly pointing at one person. “You are the demon.”

The backpacker.

Qian Ai, Chi Yingxue, and Kuang Jinxin were stunned. This guy had been like a non-entity the whole time, not doing anything notable but also not showing any suspicious behavior.

The remaining six people from the tour group who were not accused were also baffled, completely not understanding what Wu Sheng was talking about.

The backpacker looked at Wu Sheng calmly. His tone remained even and orderly; even his confusion seemed well organized. “What demon?”

Wu Sheng had taken less than ten seconds to make his accusation, but the five-minute countdown was still ongoing.

Enough time for the backpacker, and everyone else, to understand.

“The demon who created all these accidents,” Wu Sheng said.

The tour leader, directly concerned, sped up his thinking. “So, it’s this bastard who capsized my boat?!”

Qian Ai, picking up his phone irritably, threw it back. “It’s because you flirted with four at once that it’s only natural for your boat to capsize!”

The backpacker tilted his head and smiled. “I caused the accidents? Do you have any proof?”

Everyone immediately looked at Wu Sheng, waiting for the suavely standing detective to slap the backpacker’s face with evidence.

Wu Sheng also smiled. “No.”

The group: “……”

His companions: “……”

Xu Wang leaned back in the armchair, leisurely waiting for their advisor to pin the demon to the ground.

“There’s no evidence to prove you’re the demon, but there’s also no evidence to prove you’re not,” Wu Sheng added.

The backpacker shrugged. “That’s a strange argument. Just because I can’t prove my innocence, you say I’m the culprit?”

The long-distance lover timidly interjected, “Yeah, if you asked me to prove the accidents weren’t my doing, I wouldn’t be able to either.”

Wu Sheng: “……”

There was no other explanation for how he survived until now and managed to maintain a sweet romance amidst dangerous situations other than sheer luck.

Without further nonsense, Wu Sheng opened the messages on the other six phones, along with the fake messages the tour leader supposedly sent to the young man that he had just typed in his notes. All the chat records were laid out on the coffee table, clear for everyone to see.

“I can’t find evidence that you’re the demon, but I can rule out the other six,” Wu Sheng said.

“Just spit it out.” Lao Qian couldn’t hold back anymore. He was anxious and agitated. “What did you see in those messages?”

Wu Sheng spread his hands. “I noticed the demon’s literacy skills are better than the six of them.”

Qian Ai: “Specifically, how?”

“The use of grammar*.” Kuang Jinxin, who had been quiet, fixed his gaze on the seven phones on the table and spoke up.

*Clarity: Referring to the use of ‘的’, ‘地’, and ‘得’‘. These are particles in Chinese that are often mixed up and used wrongly. If you noticed, the text messages that you read had grammatical issues. These are translated purposefully to highlight this. The breakdown of the particles:
(的) Used for possessive of descriptive particles, equivalent to “‘s” (ex: Wang Xu’s apple/my car/his book).
(地) Used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct, equivalent to “-ly” (ex: happily, sweetly, merrily).
(得) Used after a verb or an adjective linking it to following phrase indicating effect, degree, possibility, equivalent to “so” or “enough”.

Qian Ai and Chi Yingxue frowned simultaneously, the former immediately leaning in to re-read the messages, while the latter seemed indifferent but sneakily glanced at the lit phone screens.

Wu Sheng looked at the first male university student, reciting their message contents without needing the phone. “‘Not vulgar at all. They smile so sweet.’ It should be ‘sweetly’.”

His gaze moved to the second university student. “‘Fly happy.’ It should be ‘happily’.”

He then looked at the first female friend. “‘You’re flirting is too cliché.’ It should be ‘your’.”

Next was the tour leader. “’Your making me toss and turn, since you flirted with me first.’ It should be ‘you’re’.”

Then the second female friend. “Roll off smooth.’ It should be ‘smoothly’.”

Finally, he turned to the long-distance lover. “Actually, you were the most suspicious. You were holding your phone the whole time. Before checking the messages, I even imagined how you, under everyone’s watchful eyes, impersonated the tour leader to send messages to the young man and deliberately sent the wrong name in messages to the two girls in the restaurant…”

“You’re imagining too much…” The long-distance lover looked innocently aggrieved. “I was just in a relationship…”

Indeed, his relationship had attracted more animosity than the demon himself.

But now, Wu Sheng decided to forgive him. “‘I miss you so much that I is going crazy.’ It should be ‘am’.”

He picked up his own phone and deleted all irrelevant words from the note, leaving only three sentences—

Tour leader: “Stop smiling foolishly. I’m talking about you.”

Tour leader: “Very handsome.”

Tour leader: “Think about it again.”

Now everyone saw clearly: the text was all grammatically correct.

“I’ve ruled out everyone else. The only one I can’t rule out is you, who left no messages.” Wu Sheng gave the backpacker a gentle smile. “Holmes said, when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

Xu Wang stood up from the armchair and walked over to Wu Sheng, shaking his head regretfully at the backpacker. “You shouldn’t have chosen a straight-A student who crammed detective movies for three nights as your opponent.”

The five-minute countdown ended.

“Ding—”

[Cheat Sheet]: Accusation correct. Begin your fight.

The companions: “……”

Wasn’t identifying the demon enough? Nobody mentioned there would be a battle!

“Whoosh—”

The flames in the fireplace suddenly leaped out like a dragon, igniting everything around the hearth. The carpet, tables, walls—everything caught fire in an instant.

Amidst the blaze, the backpacker took off the backpack he had been carrying all along, lowered his head, and raised his eyes, his mouth curling into a creepy smile on both sides.

The tour leader stood up from the sofa along with the other five travelers, moving to both sides of the backpacker. Their movements were stiff, as if controlled by something. After positioning themselves, like the backpacker, they lowered their heads and raised their eyes to look at the five companions.

The difference was that they weren’t smiling. Their expressions were blank, and their eyes were lifeless. Only the color underneath their eyes was rapidly darkening, as if ink had spilled, quickly spreading darkness.

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