The moment Xia Yue recognized the shriveled head, her legs gave out. She slumped against the wall, face bloodless, clearly in no state to arrange offerings or light candles.

Lin Yu, though startled, remained composed.

Partly because the kitchen’s horrors had desensitized him.

Partly because someone had to complete the task—so he chose calm.

Sometimes, performance shaped reality.

By the time he repositioned the head at the shrine’s base and relit the candles with nearby matches, his earlier dread had dulled.

The true challenge hadn’t been the mechanics—just the nausea.

Task done, he ushered Xia Yue out.

In the hallway, she managed a shaky smile.

"Thanks, Detective... I owe you one."

"Don’t mention it," Lin Yu shrugged. "Next task’s on you."

"Right. Teamwork makes the dream work."

She leaned against a window frame as crows cawed outside. But her smile was brittle now.

That head had been a grim reminder:

This was still a death game.

That was no prop. It was the real remains of a life extinguished.

As Lin Yu and Xia Yue reached the stairwell to ascend for their next task, footsteps echoed from below.

Too late to hide—they came face-to-face with Chen Zhuo and Xu Xiumei.

The chubby boy froze.

"Careful, Teacher Xu! They're ambushing us!"

He heroically... shoved Xu Xiumei forward as a human shield.

Lin Yu sighed.

"We're just heading upstairs. Unlike you—your assigned tasks aren't up here, are they?"

Chen Zhuo bristled. "We don't owe you explanations!"

Dragging Xu Xiumei, he retreated downstairs.

Lin Yu tracked their movement. Given the castle's layout, they were likely circling to the other staircase.

"Not just the thug and thief... even the 'harmless' otaku and teacher are acting shady."

Lin Yu couldn't help but mutter under his breath.

Running into two suspicious pairs in a row made him wonder if there was something fundamentally off about this game.

Xia Yue tilted her head. "What was suspicious about those two? Just that they were outside their task area?"

"Yes, and more importantly—they were together outside their tasks," Lin Yu said, his tone serious. "Think about it: if I suddenly asked you to go somewhere unrelated to our mission, would you agree?"

Xia Yue paused, considering. "Well... it depends on your reason. If it made sense, maybe?"

Lin Yu nodded. "Now flip it. If you wanted to convince me to go off-task, what reason could you give that’d make me trust you completely?"

The question stumped her. After a long silence, she gave a wry smile. "Okay, that is weird."

"Exactly. Especially Chen Zhuo—he seemed to trust me as the 'Detective' earlier. But this inconsistency is good. It helps narrow down the wolves."

Seeing Xia Yue's renewed unease, Lin Yu softened his tone.

"Still, with you here, I’m not too worried!" Xia Yue perked up again. "Let’s finish our tasks—then you can expose them all at the meeting!"

Lin Yu agreed, and they pressed on.

But after those encounters, both moved with heightened caution. The tasks themselves were tedious, and by the time they finished the last one, exhaustion weighed heavily on them.

"Ugh, I’m wiped. Worse than a double shift!" Xia Yue groaned as the dim sky outside darkened completely.

"DONG—"

The deep toll of a bell signaled the approach of 7 PM. Meeting time.

"Let’s go."

Lin Yu felt utterly drained—like surviving finals week only to face an evening dress rehearsal.

They trudged back to the meeting room, where the other five were already seated.

Yu Longguo raised an eyebrow as they entered.

"Surprising. No deaths today."

Bao Liu frowned. "What’s that supposed to mean, Soldier?"

Xia Yue, settling into her seat, glared. "Isn’t that a good thing?"

"It is," Yu Longguo said coldly. "But it also means the wolves are more patient than I thought. If they’d killed today, we’d have leads. That was the point of pairing up."

"That’s heartless!"

Yu Longguo sighed. "Wake up. This is a death game. Even if the wolves never kill, humans must eliminate two wolves to survive. And elimination? That’s death."

"At least two will die. That’s the bare minimum."

Xia Yue fell silent. The others too.

Finally, Chen Zhuo clapped his hands.

"Look, humans have the advantage! The wolves wasted their first-night kill opportunity. And with the Detective here—"

All eyes turned to Lin Yu.