HP - Chapter 12

Typhoon Night Murder Files 07

"Who?"

"What's your name?"

Cui Shuying fumbled in the dark to locate the speaker and turned off the sound.

A trembling voice echoed in the darkness: "Someone attacked me!"

This time, everyone recognized it—it was Lin Huaiping's voice.

Xu Hangjia’s voice was trembling too: "Are you sure it was a person?"

"I... I think I'm going to die! I'm bleeding!" Lin Huaiping screamed in terror. "Save me! Someone help me!"

His fear spread like a virus. Several more screams rang out in the living room.

"Lin Huaiping, where are you?"

"I'm so scared!"

"Something hit me!"

"Everyone, calm down!"

People frantically turned on their phone flashlights, directing the light toward the source of the voice.

Lin Huaiping was crouched on the ground, clutching his face, blood trickling through his fingers.

Zhou Zhi stepped forward quickly with a grim expression to examine him. He gently moved Lin Huaiping's hand aside, revealing several scratches of varying depths on his face—the deeper wounds were steadily bleeding, while the shallower ones had only broken the skin.

"It just missed your eye. Fortunately, the wounds aren’t too deep," Zhou Zhi reassured him. "I'll get the first aid kit. Disinfecting and applying some ointment will be enough."

"Who did this?"

The wind howled outside, rattling the doors and windows.

After a brief silence, Zhong Xu's calm voice broke through: "With such strong winds outside, it’s unlikely that a bear or wolf could break in. Besides, the door is already locked."

Ji Zhou suddenly interjected: "The person who hurt Lin Huaiping is among us."

"Is there a flashlight?" Mu Xingchao asked.

"In the storage room. There are also scented candles," Ji Zhou said. "Let's go get them together."

The faint glow of the scented candles flickered to life, and everyone put away their phones again to conserve battery power.

The fragrance of the candles drifted through the air—it was said to have a calming effect, but no one could feel calm at that moment.

After disinfecting and applying ointment, Lin Huaiping gradually calmed down.

"It was pitch black, and suddenly something like a knife slashed across my face—just once, but it hurt so much I thought it had stabbed into my eye. I didn’t even have the strength to fight back. Who actually did this? Were they jealous of my handsome looks and decided to slash my face? Sigh, I wonder if it'll leave a scar."

No one was in the mood for jokes. After carefully examining the wound, Zhou Zhi said, "It doesn't look like it was made by a knife."

"Right," Liang Qing suddenly said. "Earlier, something hit me. It scared me... around this spot..."

He turned on his flashlight, crouched down to search for a moment, then stood up holding an object.

It was a stainless steel fork—the same one that had been on the dinner table earlier—now stained with streaks of blood.

"Even a fork can be deadly," Zhou Zhi, usually gentle, now said in a chilling tone. "Is the killer planning to strike again?"

"If this is a prank, just come forward," Lin Huaiping said with a weak smile. "I don't hold grudges."

"Why are you looking at me?" Xu Hangquan protested angrily. "It's true that my character enjoys scaring people, but this really wasn’t me. The fork is so sharp—how could I possibly joke around with it?"

Xu Hangjia also said: "It wasn’t my brother. He was right next to me the whole time."

Liang Qing raised a new question: "The room was so dark at the time. How could anyone so precisely slash Lin Huaiping with a fork?"

"Yeah, how was that possible?"

"There are two possibilities," Mu Xingchao said calmly, and everyone leaned in to listen. "One, the target may not have been Lin Huaiping—he might have just been unlucky. Two, it actually wouldn't be hard to identify Lin Huaiping in the dark. He smells strongly of smoke."

Many people instinctively sniffed the air and indeed detected a faint tobacco scent on Lin Huaiping.

Lin Huaiping's face turned pale.

He hadn’t been a smoker originally, but started due to the influence of the immersive mechanism. In just a few short hours, he had already finished an entire pack of cigarettes.

"This analysis sounds quite reasonable."

"Guess those hundreds of episodes of Detective Conan didn’t go to waste."

Xu Hangjia said, “It probably wouldn't be easy for a girl to injure him with a table fork, right?”

Zhou Zhi followed up, “There’s a significant strength difference between men and women, and Lin Huaiping is fairly tall, so it would probably be...”

"I was sitting on the sofa," Lin Huaiping interrupted. "And with everyone walking around, I wasn’t on guard."

Unconsciously, everyone began to put a little more distance between themselves and the people around them.

"I have a suspicion," Xu Shuangyuan said. "Could this have something to do with Jiang Zhi?"

The cigarette nearly fell from Lin Huaiping’s mouth. “Are we talking ghosts now?”

Xu Hangjia wasn’t amused and responded sharply: “There are no ghosts in this world!”

"That’s not what I meant," Xu Shuangyuan quickly brought the conversation back on track. "Based on the clues about Luo Fang, it seems he had a motive to harm Jiang Zhi. So Lin Huaiping, what was your relationship with Jiang Zhi like?"

Lin Huaiping reacted strongly, blurting out, “Jiang Zhi is my cousin. We had a good relationship.”

"You watch Conan too?" Xu Hangjia seemed to find Xu Shuangyuan’s theory ridiculous. “So next, what—someone’s avenging Jiang Zhi, locked us all in here, and is going to kill us one by one?”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t Jiang Zhi’s boyfriend, Sang Long, be the most suspicious?” Liang Qing said, looking at Ji Zhou with schadenfreude.

"Not necessarily," Xu Shuangyuan said, his gaze drifting—seemingly unintentionally—toward Xu Hangquan.

Xu Hangquan lowered his head, lost in thought.

“Stop with the wild guesses,” Lin Huaiping stood up. “I’m really tired. I’m going back to sleep. Let’s talk again when the next bell rings.”

A few people noticed Lin Huaiping's eyes were evasive, as though he was deeply unsettled.

Seeing this, everyone gradually returned to their rooms.

"Aren’t you going back to rest?"

Warm candlelight lit up Zhong Xu’s face. She leaned against the sofa, seemingly lost in thought.

Ji Zhou approached and sat beside her.

"It’s been a while since the last bell rang. It should ring again soon."

After a moment of silence, Ji Zhou’s soft voice broke it: “What will happen if we don’t clear the game?”

“We’ll probably die,” Zhong Xu said, her voice calm.

"You... aren't scared?"

Instead of answering, she asked in return: “Why did you enter the game?”

“...Because of a terminal illness.”

“Then that’s it. We all came into this game because of death—so why should we fear death?”

“Because once there’s hope of surviving, death becomes more frightening,” Ji Zhou said. “Besides, if we can live well, why would we want to die?”

What’s so great about the real world anyway?

That’s what she thought, but what Zhong Xu said was: “Then do your best and live well.”

“I have clues I received after completing my character’s task. They’re related to Jiang Zhi,” Ji Zhou looked into her eyes, earnest and sincere. “We can share information. It’ll increase our chances of winning.”

"Silly child, aren't you worried that I might be the murderer?"

"I'm not worried," he said, decisive and firm—though it was unclear where that confidence came from.

Zhong Xu stared at him for a long moment, then said, "Alright, let's hear it."

Ji Zhou once again showed that same bright smile he had at the beginning, his clear eyes dazzling under the candlelight.

"Yes, boss."

"The day Jiang Zhi had her accident, we were celebrating the photography award she'd won over a month earlier. Everyone was gathered at a hotel party—every one of our friends attended..."

But for some reason, Jiang Zhi was in a terrible mood that day. Emotionally unstable, she threw a massive fit just because she didn’t like the background music. Then she left the party, riding off on her motorcycle and abandoning everyone behind. Not long after, Sang Long received a call about her accident.

The main cause of the crash was loss of control due to excessive speed. Jiang Zhi suffered a serious head injury and died on the spot.

Because she had been emotionally agitated when she left—and no one suspected foul play—an autopsy was never performed.

Ji Zhou continued, "As far as I remember, Jiang Zhi was excellent on a motorcycle. She had even entered competitions. Winning that award was something she’d dreamed of for a long time. But oddly enough, her mood that day was awful—she blew up over the smallest things, and insisted on leaving the party... If she hadn’t gone, maybe the accident wouldn’t have happened."

"Anything else?"

"There are a few fragmented pieces of info," Ji Zhou recalled seriously. "About a week before the accident, she had just taken her motorcycle in for maintenance."

"At first, she didn’t seem to be in such a bad mood. But after she went to change clothes and came back, something about her seemed off."

"She loved drinking cola. That day, because she was upset, she had several glasses... Anyway, if Jiang Zhi’s death wasn’t an accident, then these little details could be the key clues."

After Ji Zhou finished speaking, he noticed Zhong Xu had fallen deep into thought. He waited for a while but couldn’t help asking, "What clues did you get on your side?"

Zhong Xu curled the corner of her mouth: "Not telling you."

"...?"

Ji Zhou was stunned.

Zhong Xu said, "Young people need to experience a little of the darker side of the world. This is for your own good."

"...."

The bell rang again.

Lin Huaiping held up his phone and walked inside.

On the screen, the room had heavy blackout curtains drawn. Every piece of furniture exuded a sleek, high-tech feel. Dazzling lights spilled across the walls and floor, creating a vibrant, immersive gaming atmosphere. In addition to a massive display monitor and a pair of ergonomic gaming chairs, there were also two rather retro-style game consoles.

“I’ve already checked it out—the setup’s pretty good,” Lin Huaiping said. “But I don’t know about the internet speed. The signal on this damn island sucks.”

A few new messages popped up in the WeChat group.

[Which friend is this? The place actually looks pretty nice. How much is it per night?]

Grinning, Lin Huaiping sent a voice message:

 "I don’t know what it costs—my friend invited me to stay for free. She’s a girl, pretty simple and kind-hearted. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have opened a guesthouse in a godforsaken place like Buji Island."

[Running a guesthouse alone must be tough. Why don’t you ask if she’s hiring? You don’t have a job anyway—might as well work for your friend.]

"I’ve got other plans," Lin Huaiping replied. "Another friend of mine—the one I mentioned before, an executive at a publicly listed company—recently asked if I wanted to take a small leadership role at her place. I’m still thinking about it… What do you guys think, should I take the offer?"

[Damn, you’ve got a lot of friends.]

[Take it. Then you can finally pay back the 50 yuan you owe me.]

"Our group’s been close since junior high," Lin Huaiping went on. "We’ve known each other for years, so I always feel bad turning them down. I told you before—two of the girls have been especially good to me. They’re beautiful, from rich families... How could I ever be good enough for them?"

[Junior high? Didn’t you drop out before you graduated?]

[Can you ask one of those rich beauties to lend you 50 yuan to pay me back?]

"What do you mean I didn’t graduate?" Lin Huaiping shot back. "Yeah, I was kind of a punk back then, but I still got my diploma later, alright!"

Someone posted a few cat photos in the group, and the topic immediately shifted to pets. Everyone quickly became obsessed with the charming cats.

"The most beautiful breed has to be Bengal cats—just a bit pricey," Lin Huaiping chimed in. "One of my friends bought one for 80,000 yuan. Said the monthly cost of caring for the cat was more than raising a person. Tsk. Too bad it ran away later."

[Can you borrow 50 yuan from that friend to pay me back?]

Lin Huaiping exited the chat, lit a cigarette, sank into the gaming chair, and got ready to enjoy a smooth, satisfying round of gameplay.

1. 民宿 (mín sù) – A type of guesthouse or homestay in China, often privately run and more personal than a hotel; popular for its cozy, local experience.

2. 混球 (hùn qiú) – A slang insult meaning "scoundrel" or "jerk"; informal, slightly vulgar.

3. 初中 (chū zhōng) – Junior high school; refers to grades 7–9 in China’s education system.

4. 八萬 (bā wàn) – 80,000 yuan; emphasizes luxury or extravagance, especially in the context of pet ownership.

5. 養人 (yǎng rén) – “Raising a person”; used comparatively to emphasize the high cost of raising a pet.

6. 電子競技椅 / 電競椅 (diàn zǐ jìng jì yǐ / diàn jìng yǐ) – "E-sports chair" or "gaming chair"; a popular status symbol in Chinese gaming culture.

7. 微信群 (Wēi xìn qún) – WeChat group chat; essential in Chinese digital communication, used widely for both casual and professional interaction.

Characters (Players)

• 终栩 (Zhōng Xǔ)

  • Role: Protagonist 

  • Game Role: Later assumes the identity of 宋慕思 (Sòng Mùsī), the idealistic guesthouse owner with a hidden agenda tied to her friend’s death.

• 季舟 (Jì Zhōu)

  • Role: Self-proclaimed "萌新" (newbie)

• 老玩家 (Lǎo Wánjiā, Veteran Player)

  • Role: Experienced survivor

• 瘦弱男人 (Shòuruò Nánrén, Thin Man)

  • Role: Terrified newbie

• 眼镜男 (Yǎnjìng Nán, Glasses Man)

  • Role: Silent observer

~~~~~~

• 宋慕思 (Sòng Mùsī) – The protagonist; a quiet, introspective young woman who organized the friends' gathering and owns the 民宿 (guesthouse). Hides complicated past relationships.

• 江栀 (Jiāng Zhī) – Outgoing and sociable; Song Musi’s close friend (闺蜜) but also entangled in a love triangle involving Sang Long.

• 崔书颖 (Cuī Shūyǐng) – Another extroverted friend in the trio; makes Song Musi feel like a third wheel at times.

• 桑隆 (Sāng Lóng) – Jiang Zhi’s current boyfriend and Song Musi’s ex; their past relationship is a hidden source of tension.

• 骆方 (Luò Fāng) – A timid, cowardly classmate whom Song Musi dislikes. Later revealed to have a peanut allergy. [Dead]

• 徐杭泉 (Xú Hángquán) & 徐杭佳 (Xú Hángjiā) – Self-centered siblings; both are classmates disliked by Song Musi.

• 周至 (Zhōu Zhì) – A smooth-talking, socially adept classmate (possibly a surgeon); Song Musi finds him insincere.

• 梁青 (Liáng Qīng) – An insecure and overly sensitive classmate; another person Song Musi dislikes.

• 牧星朝 (Mù Xīngcháo) – A hypocritical rich kid (富二代) with a photography hobby; Xu Shuangyuan’s boyfriend.

• 许双园 (Xǔ Shuāngyuán) – Proud and arrogant; Mu Xingchao’s girlfriend, whom Song Musi resents.

Sevyn here ~~~

No death update