With the generator task completed, Lin Yu and Xia Yue hurried to their next assignment: preparing offerings and lighting candles in the second-floor chapel.

Though the time limit was more lenient, neither wanted to dawdle.

Their earlier cooperation seemed to have thawed Xia Yue’s reserve. The timid woman now walked with a spring in her step—even after Lin Yu’s cold demeanor.

Adrenaline? Dependency? Lin Yu mused. Death games do weird things to people.

As they navigated the castle’s winding halls, Xia Yue suddenly spun to face him, walking backward.

"Lin Yu... have you used your Detective ability yet?"

Her posture was open, vulnerable. No guard at all.

Lin Yu hesitated. "No."

"Why not?" She tilted her head. "How will you use it?"

Lin Yu’s voice turned tactical.

"As the information hub, I’m the wolves’ prime target. If I reveal a human today, it helps you—but if two wolves remain tomorrow, I’m dead. And so are you."

Xia Yue blinked, processing. Then—

"So... your plan?"

"I’ll wait until the evening meeting. Analyze their statements, then expose the most suspicious one."

Xia Yue’s eyes crinkled. "Wow. With you here, we might actually survive."

Their conversation carried them past the central staircase—

When voices echoed from above.

"Fuckin’ tasks! Scraped my damn hand!"

"Yeah, Six. This shit’s rigged."

Bao Liu and Yao Zhengye.

Lin Yu yanked Xia Yue into a shadowed alcove, clamping a hand over her mouth.

"Quiet. They could both be wolves."

Xia Yue’s eyes widened.

From the stairs, Bao Liu’s growl carried:

"This castle’s a goddamn maze!"

"Seriously, if the owner lived here, they’d piss themselves trying to find the bathroom at night..."

"You think anyone actually lived in this dump?"

Bao Liu and Yao Zhengye’s voices faded as they descended to the first floor.

Only then did Lin Yu release Xia Yue.

She wriggled free, flustered, clutching her sleeves. "L-let’s go!"

They walked in silence until Xia Yue finally whispered:

"Detective... why suspect both of them?"

Lin Yu’s voice was icy.

"Their first task was refueling equipment on the third floor. The second was in the utility room—both 15+ minute jobs. There’s no way they finished both already. So why go downstairs?"

Xia Yue recalled their words. "They said... they were looking for others?"

"Why would humans need to hunt people down?"

Her face paled. "So they’re... wolves?"

Lin Yu didn’t confirm. "Suspicious, at least."

His certainty was partly performance—detectives don’t waffle—but doubts nagged him.

Two wolves paired together? Too convenient.

And without prior coordination, how’d they confirm each other so fast?

If he were a wolf, he couldn’t imagine safely probing a partner’s allegiance in such a short time.

The inconsistencies piled up.

"Detective? We’re here."

Lin Yu snapped back to reality—they’d nearly passed the chapel door.

"Sorry. Distracted."

Inside, the prayer room was unnervingly pristine compared to the castle’s decay.

Heavy curtains blocked all light; only wall sconces illuminated the space. Opposite the door stood a waist-high shrine carved with lunar phases, housing a headless, muscular statue.

Beneath it: an offering-laden altar... and two kneelers.

Xia Yue gasped.

"That—!"

She pointed to the altar’s centerpiece—a shriveled, irregular sphere Lin Yu had mistaken for fruit.

Now he saw it clearly:

A human head.

Features scraped away.