Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 180
After Zhou Qian returned to his camp, he quickly shared his insights with everyone: When players meet a murderer, they are taken to an empty area, then sent back into the past.
That past is a meticulously constructed trap set by the murderer.
Everyone who appears there, whether intentional accomplices or unwittingly manipulated, are all parts of the setup.
Anyone who learns about your background could become a witness to testify against you.
Therefore, once players are sent back to the past, they must trust no one.
The core of surviving this game wasn’t complicated: destroy evidence, and if necessary, eliminate witnesses.
To clear your own name, if the murderer cannot personally appear to accuse you, you could even redirect suspicion toward others.
The key principle was simple: do not let even a hint of suspicion fall on you.
As Zhou Qian’s teammates spread these rules among themselves, the fifth round of the game began—
This time, the murderer selected someone from the Peach Blossom Legion.
While waiting, Zhou Qian stood leaning against an iron pillar alongside Bai Zhou.
Zhou Qian glanced at the cage’s exterior, then at Bai Zhou. “Now you’re not worried anymore, right?”
Bai Zhou: “Still worried.”
Zhou Qian: “?”
Bai Zhou: “Worried you’ll hit too hard.”
Zhou Qian laughed, nudging him with his elbow. “Even you crack jokes now, Zhou Ge?”
After smiling, Zhou Qian asked, “Am I impressive or what?”
“Mm.” Bai Zhou reached out, brushed his bangs aside, and said seriously, “As expected of you.”
“Yeah, yeah, as expected of you, Qian’er!”
It was He Xiaowei, panting heavily as he ran over.
Zhou Qian handled command, but it was He Xiaowei’s job to run messages and ensure their game strategy spread among all players.
He pulled out a tissue, wiped his sweat, and asked, “Qian’er, now that our side’s stable, what do you think will happen next?”
Zhou Qian glanced toward the cage gate. “At the start, the system gave us plenty of time per round. But that won’t last. I think the game pace is about to speed up.”
He Xiaowei blinked. “Oh, right! Fifty-five murderer rounds… five hours isn’t enough!”
Each of the first five rounds took roughly 7 minutes.
At that rate, 55 murderers selecting players would take at least 385 minutes. That was over 6.4 hours. But the world’s inversion was set for midnight, which was only 5 hours away. This was impossible.
Before He Xiaowei could say more, the dice fell again. The system announced a new rule:
From the next round onward, each King would only have 30 seconds to decide, and each chosen player would have 30 seconds to walk to the murderer.
Including the travel time to and from the empty ground, each round would now take only 2 minutes.
With 35 minutes already passed, the remaining time was enough for murderers to complete 132 more rounds.
The early phase gave players extra time to discover the rules.
Now, that grace period was over.
If players hadn’t figured it out by now, the system wouldn’t spare them.
Fortunately, Zhou Qian had already seized control.
Thinking this, He Xiaowei added earnestly, “Qian’er, really, as expected of you.”
“These are just simple truths,” Zhou Qian replied seriously. “Take the faster pace, for example. If you’ve played games before, it’s obvious. But under deadly pressure, people overlook simple things.”
He Xiaowei’s eyes widened in realization. “I get it! Stay calm, think it through, and we’ll find solutions as quickly as you do!”
“…” Zhou Qian paused, then said, “Yeah… staying calm is always the first step.”
……
Thirty minutes later, the accelerated game had pushed through 14 more rounds.
Of these, murderers had been Kings 9 times, players 5 times.
Peach Blossom’s side got the King role twice.
Peach Blossom had adopted a tactic: when cards displayed numbers, their group revealed them openly to their teammates, letting their Kings quickly target Zhou Qian’s camp.
Zhou Qian’s side, however, used the opposite approach.
They’d had the King role 3 times. None of those Kings were Zhou Qian.
Yet every time, he directed their choices.
To everyone’s surprise, especially Peach Blossom’s, Zhou Qian never targeted them.
Instead, he sent his own people:
One was Hidden Blade’s disciple, another was Meng Bie, and the third was a skilled player who had survived in between Feidu and Peach Blossom’s factions before joining Zhou Qian’s camp.
Each time Zhou Qian sent his own allies, Peach Blossom’s side stared in disbelief.
On the third occurrence, Zhou Qian signaled He Xiaowei.
He Xiaowei stepped forward to the “border” between the two sides and shouted loudly:
“See? Qian Ge truly wants cooperation for everyone’s benefit! He’s finding a win-win solution so we can all clear this game together!
“We’re not like Peach Blossom, who casually sacrifice their own!”
“Why did so many from Feidu, and their recruited players, switch to us? Because they saw the truth! They’re smart!
“Now it’s your turn to wake up! We dare send our own against murderers because we know they’ll return alive. We hold the key info.
“If it’s an extreme case, we’ll even send our strongest ourselves. Look—” He gestured at Bai Zhou. “See? Rank One, god-tier player. What’s there to fear? Join us, and you’ll be safe!”
As soon as He Xiaowei finished speaking, the third player Zhou Qian had sent out to cooperate with the murderer successfully returned.
With that, both He Xiaowei’s rousing words, repeated from Zhou Qian, and Zhou Qian’s action of sending out only his own people three times in a row were more than enough to make a point.
Many of those on Peach Blossom’s side weren’t truly members of the Peach Blossom Legion; they had been forced to join after entering the game and were being used to gather information.
Unlike those from Feidu, who had been directly swayed by the “S You Start With a Picture, Everything Else You Make Up” incident and followed Hidden Blade to Zhou Qian’s camp, these players hadn’t experienced such an immediate shock.
But from Peach Blossom’s ruthless “kill a few as a warning” tactics, their constant gunpoint intimidation, and their blatant treatment of them as expendable tools, they had long since realized that Peach Blossom was far from benevolent.
The only reason they had submitted until now was because Peach Blossom had a stockpile of weapons.
But guns were useless against the murderers.
To survive, they needed information and a leader who fully understood the game’s rules.
At this point, they had no reason left not to leave Peach Blossom and follow Zhou Qian instead.
Unknowingly, one person took the first step forward toward He Xiaowei.
Once someone led the way, many others couldn’t help but follow suit, stepping forward toward Zhou Qian’s side. They genuinely wanted to leave Peach Blossom’s camp.
But the next instant, their steps halted—
Peach Blossom’s members raised their guns and aimed at them.
The group clenched their teeth in frustration, fists tightening, eyes reddening with suppressed anger.
Yet it was undeniable: Zhou Qian’s side didn’t have enough bullets to outgun Peach Blossom.
These were all players who had entered the dungeon alone. They had no deep bonds with the “teammates” beside them, and none would willingly sacrifice themselves to take a bullet just so others could defect to Zhou Qian’s side.
As unwilling as they were, they had no choice but to stop for now.
Zhou Qian noticed all their expressions but said nothing for the moment.
Just then, Round 20 of the game began—it was the murderer’s turn to be King.
The murderer randomly selected someone.
Zhou Qian saw it was Zhang Datie from Peach Blossom’s group heading to the gate to meet the murderer.
He glanced at the murderer and immediately recognized him: the owner of the shipping business he had investigated earlier.
Zhang Datie walked nervously toward the gate. Judging by his expression, he had no clue about the office building case.
That wasn’t surprising—
After Zhou Qian’s team finished exploring that area, Feidu’s group had taken control of it.
However, since Zhou Qian had altered the evidence in the basement, Feidu likely still didn’t understand what had happened there.
Even when Xu Yang handed over information to Peach Blossom to prove his loyalty, it contained nothing about the true events of the office building.
Zhou Qian narrowed his eyes slightly and strode directly to Zhang Datie.
Zhang Datie clearly didn’t expect this. Hearing footsteps and turning around to see him, he looked shocked.
Zhou Qian said simply, “Time’s short. Keep walking to the murderer.”
Zhang Datie gave him a puzzled look but didn’t dare delay. He quickly reached the gate, met the murderer, and continued toward the open ground with him.
At that moment, Zhou Qian also stepped to the gate and loudly revealed several key points of the case.
Both the murderer and Zhang Datie froze mid-step and turned back simultaneously.
The murderer’s gaze was full of hatred, while Zhang Datie looked at Zhou Qian with gratitude.
Ignoring them, Zhou Qian walked to the “borderline” between the two camps and stood beside He Xiaowei. He faced the Peach Blossom players held at gunpoint.
Sweeping his gaze across them, then at those still aiming guns, Zhou Qian spoke.
“In the past half hour, murderers became King 9 times. From my side, 6 people went out and all returned. From Peach Blossom, 3 went out and only 2 came back.
“This proves I’ve mastered not only all case information my team uncovered but also everything Peach Blossom’s side has. On top of that, I can see every card number you hold. So—”
Zhou Qian smiled. “I control who lives and who dies when facing the murderers. Information and visibility—those are my weapons, my advantage. Smart people already switched to my side.
“And by ‘smart people’, I mean not just unaffiliated lone players but also you—Peach Blossom’s conscripted grunts.”
“So, all of you…”
Zhou Qian glanced at Peach Blossom’s coerced recruits. “Don’t be afraid. Just come over. They won’t dare shoot. Because—”
His smile remained pleasant, but his gaze chilled the air.
“These conscripts aren’t truly Peach Blossom’s members. They’re not my enemies, so I won’t harm them. But those holding the guns? That’s different.
“So join my camp. Defect. Zhang Datie is your example. Come to me, and I’ll give you the clearance method. Beyond that, I’ll lead you to the true hidden reward.”
He paused, noting the curiosity on their faces, then added with calculated temptation:
“Do you know what I saw when I first stepped out for the King’s Game? I met the World Spirit. I learned this world’s secret—and I know where the real Blue Harbor lies. Only with me can you win.”
Among Peach Blossom’s gunmen, Shan Sheng, clearly playing along, was first to lower his weapon slightly, sighing with a troubled look.
Seeing him waver, others began exchanging hesitant glances as well.
Everyone thought the same thing:
Zhou Qian makes sense. We came here for the hidden reward. Why fight him? Cooperation benefits everyone. If we join him now… he’s the only one who can win.
But wait—why exactly does our organization even insist on killing him?
Zhou Qian, smiling faintly, seemed to read their minds.
He spoke up.
“Priest wants me dead for personal reasons. You’re just his hired hands, doing jobs for Peach Blossom’s resources—that’s fine. But risking your lives? Not worth it.
“And even if we set that aside, you’ve seen it yourselves—you can’t kill me.
“So why bother?”
Many lowered their guns, swayed by his words.
Still, one clear-headed voice spoke up:
“It’s easy to say now… Sure, in this dungeon defecting to you has no cost. But outside, Peach Blossom never forgives traitors. If we betray them, we’re dead men walking!”
He wasn’t wrong. His words cooled many who had been ready to move.
Zhou Qian simply smiled.
His gaze swept over them. “Rules are rules. I won’t force you. But true loyalty isn’t built that way.
“If you want to come, my doors are open. With today’s numbers, I already match Peach Blossom.
“Their lost support is their own doing. And here, no one will think you’re fickle traitors. Decide as you see fit.
“But for now—” He turned sharply to Shan Sheng and Ren Yi.
“I won’t force you to join my camp. Let’s talk trade instead: Surrender your guns, and I won’t kill you.
“If you don’t, next time my people are King, I’ll personally send all those with guns out.”
His expression hardened, smile vanishing. His tone turned threatening.
“But if you disarm, just like Zhang Datie, I’ll share the key to clearing this game. You have one minute to decide.”
As they spoke, Zhang Datie returned safely.
Then, in Round 21, another murderer-King chose someone from Zhou Qian’s side.
Zhou Qian signaled He Xiaowei, who quickly checked information with the chosen player. Moments later, that player also returned alive.
Zhang Datie’s and this player’s safe returns only further confirmed Zhou Qian’s words.
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