Zhang Bin was found in the shadowy southern woods.

His eyes were closed, leaning against a tree, and if it weren’t for the blood covering his head, he could have easily looked like he was just asleep. Though no one wanted to believe it, the worst had happened.

"I looked all over the nearby area and couldn’t find him, so I thought I’d try going a little further and check the woods where we were chopping earlier. I hadn’t walked far before I saw… this," Lu Wanting stammered as the others gathered around her.

Everyone crowded around, their faces a mix of emotions.

“This… this can’t be happening,” Rong Rong’s eyes were wide with shock, her hands falling limply as she collapsed to the ground.

Fang Chen noticed he could breathe easily now, as if the added rule had been lifted by the presence of a victim.

Li Duo arrived last, bringing along the bloodstained axe. Yan Xuan took it and stepped forward to inspect.

“He’s dead. Zhang Bin has only one wound on his entire body—on his skull, and the mark matches the axe.”

“Are you sure?” Liu Mang questioned.

Yan Xuan chuckled softly. “Why would I lie about it?”

“Let a few more people check, just in case the tribute’s trying to deceive us,” he said with a barely hidden hostility.

“Go ahead.” Yan Xuan stepped back, giving them room.

Liu Mang took a deep breath and signaled to Li Duo. Together, they stepped forward to confirm.

Moments later, Liu Mang returned, face dark. “It’s true.”

Unable to hold it in any longer, Rong Rong’s quiet sobs turned into hysterical wails. She couldn’t comprehend how the person who’d been at her side just hours ago now lay dead before her.

Fang Chen couldn’t help but feel pity for the girl. As the most timid among them, she’d initially only found courage clinging to Zhang Bin, avoiding any interaction with the others. When she’d finally mustered some bravery, her emotional anchor had been violently ripped away.

Everyone was feeling the weight of it. Lu Wanting opened her mouth, but no words of comfort came out. In this grief, no one could offer solace, because they were now forced to face the imminent necessity: the voting trial.

Zhang Bin’s death was indeed tragic, but the harsh reality was that the killer—the tribute—was still among them.

Fang Chen looked around; everyone exchanged wary glances, a growing fear spreading in their eyes. Each was now gripped by a primal dread, but among them was one whose twisted expression was merely an act. One who, pretending to blend in, was in fact the tribute behind this tragedy.

As the sun began its descent and darkness settled over them, the group made their way to the tool shed together.

On the wall, nine axes hung in a neat line.

Zhang Bin had been killed in a single blow. No one could have expected that the axe skills they’d practiced and shared just yesterday would be put to such grim use.

Fang Chen mentally replayed the murder scene. With such a deep wound, that level of force would have soaked the axe in blood, likely staining even the wooden handle, making it impossible to wash out.

The remaining nine axes on the wall were clean. It seemed the murder weapon was indeed the axe Rong Rong had found.

The walk back was silent. Each person kept a measured distance from the others. At the very end of the line, Rong Rong trudged along, resigned, biting her lip. Her gaze held anger and resentment, fixed on everyone she looked at.

In the hall, the carpenter was already waiting.

He looked exactly the same as he did last night: his head still half-attached, hanging at an odd angle, and his sinister smile twisted sideways by ninety degrees. His whole posture radiated impatience.

Not giving them a moment to catch their breath, he rubbed his hands together. “You’re free to discuss amongst yourselves. In one hour, the voting will begin.”

Once everyone was seated, the trial began—

“Bang!” Rong Rong slapped the table and shot up from her seat.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” She pointed a trembling finger at Bai Li. “You were paired with Zhang Bin, which means only you could have approached him alone without anyone suspecting!”

“That's nonsense!” Bai Li snapped back. “Would I be that stupid? If I were his partner, wouldn’t that make me the prime suspect after his death?”

“Maybe you used reverse psychology!” Rong Rong, now bold and resolute after her loss, glared at him, barely holding on with the last of her strength.

Fang Chen thought to himself that something didn’t quite add up.

“Wait!” Liu Mang interrupted their argument. “I don’t get why the tribute would leave the weapon so far away.”

“If Zhang Bin was killed in the woods, they could’ve just left the axe there. Why go through the trouble of bringing it back?”

It was as if they wanted everyone to find out quickly.

Li Duo chimed in quickly, “Could it be that Zhang Bin wasn’t dead yet? Maybe he was hit and tried to escape from the tribute?”

“Impossible,” Liu Mang shook his head, explaining further. “We all checked his injury; the cut was too deep, definitely fatal in one blow. And with how far apart the yard and the woods are, there’d have been blood trails along the way.”

Yet no traces of blood had been found around the yard.

It seemed they needed to understand why the axe ended up in the yard to figure out who the tribute was.

Fang Chen crossed his hands and rested his chin on them. “Let’s go over the sequence of events.”

“Thanks to the gathering rule, we last saw Zhang Bin at 2 PM. Then we found the blood-stained axe at 3 PM and discovered his body at 4 PM.”

“Zhang Bin died instantly, and the wound matches the axe.”

“So, the tribute must have killed him between 2 PM and 3 PM.”

“Everyone should state where they were during that time and if they had any witnesses.”

As he finished, Fang Chen frowned slightly.

Everything was going too smoothly, almost as if they were being led down this path deliberately.

Meng Qiyan spoke up first. “I wasn’t feeling well this afternoon, so I stayed in the inner courtyard. I was never away from Rong Rong for more than ten minutes.”

“Same here,” Lu Wanting raised her hand.

Rong Rong nodded, acknowledging their statements.

Li Duo added, “Liu Mang and I were in a more distant spot to the north, even farther from the woods. This guy doesn’t have much stamina, so I was teaching him some basic martial arts.”

“We didn’t lose sight of each other for more than ten minutes,” Liu Mang confirmed.

Fang Chen glanced at Yan Xuan. “Same here. We didn’t leave each other’s sight.”

Everyone had a partner who could verify they hadn’t been out of view for more than ten minutes.

And considering the distance from the courtyard to the tool shed, Fang Chen estimated that with his own physical endurance, it would take at least three to four minutes to sprint each way. To reach the woods further south, it would require even longer.

For the tribute to have left the yard, killed Zhang Bin, and then returned would have taken at least twenty minutes.

In other words, everyone had a solid alibi.

Everyone except Bai Li.