"I'll poison Player 12."
Liu Zheng said.
The reason was simple: Player 12 hadn’t taken off the Witch’s disguise when speaking during the daytime.
So Liu Zheng could only assume Player 12 truly knew someone had been killed last night and that the killer was himself.
Who besides the Witch knew the correct attack target?
Only the werewolves.
If Player 12 were a real good guy wearing a fake identity and happened to guess the attack target correctly, then he’d only have himself to blame.
The Witch role isn’t easy to fake, and anyway, a Witch who’s already used a cure has little reason left to protect anyone else.
No sooner had he finished speaking than the scene before Liu Zheng shifted instantly.
He appeared in front of a small cottage, then, as if his hand were no longer under his control, opened the window.Inside, Player 12 sat dozing in a chair.
Liu Zheng produced a purple vial of reagent and gently shook it.
The compound inside mixed thoroughly; black smoke billowed from the bottle’s mouth.
He blew once at the opening, and a thick cloud of black smoke flooded into the room.
The black smoke formed a demonic face and swallowed Player 12 in one gulp.
He snapped his eyes open—his eyeballs had turned pitch black like the poisonous smoke.
Player 12 clutched his throat and issued a silent, agonized scream.
Liu Zheng couldn’t see his expression, but by the way the mask trembled he could tell how intense the pain was.
After a dozen seconds or so, Player 12 let go of his throat and clawed at the mask on his face instead.
The veins in his hands bulged from force, but he couldn’t budge the mask even an inch, only leaving futile streaks of blood.
Finally, he stopped struggling.
What remained in the black water of dissolved flesh was only a mask.
"That’s miserable."
Liu Zheng said with pity.
If you don’t have the strength, don’t randomly wear other people’s clothes. See? You’re dead now.
He closed the window and walked back toward his own house.
Moonlight spilled over him, and a long red demonic shadow trailed behind.
Back inside, a sudden wave of drowsiness hit him and Liu Zheng sank into a deep sleep.
"Daybreak. Players, please open your eyes."
When the Moderator’s voice woke him, he found himself already standing at the doorway.
The other players were similarly gathered, including the Player 12 he had poisoned yesterday.
All of them, by tacit agreement, came to sit before the square’s statue to await the Moderator’s announcement about last night.
"Last night Players 12 and 5 both died, no final words."
When the Moderator finished speaking, Player 12 immediately dissolved into a puddle of black water, while Player 5 became a shattered corpse.
A double death—what a pity.
If the Guardian had guarded the right person, the villagers could basically have declared victory.
Of course, Liu Zheng also knew he couldn’t let every good thing go his way, so he wasn’t too upset.
"Triggering second-round random Divine Punishment: Collective Exile."
"After the player selected for execution this round is decided by vote, the two living players closest to them will also be banished."
"Sheriff, please choose the speaking order for this round."
Holy crap!
No sooner had the Moderator finished than everyone’s pupils trembled.
This second-round punishment was terrifying; a poor vote here could make either the werewolves or the villagers bleed out instantly.
After the Sheriff chose the speaking order, the players spoke in turn.
The speech content need not be detailed here—essentially everyone accused others of being wolves.
Players 9 and 11 spoke consistently: they both demanded the Sheriff strip Player 3 of the Sheriff Badge.
In truth, it didn’t matter much who came out this round.
The chance of two or three werewolves sitting together was very low.
Whoever got voted out, the werewolves would benefit—just in different amounts.
One could only say that this round’s Divine Punishment really messed with people’s minds, as if the Moderator were deliberately balancing the situation.
After some urgent thinking, Liu Zheng relaxed his brows.
Even in an extremely unfavorable situation, he found the optimal solution.
"Player 8 speaking. Isn’t the only real chance to win right now to vote out Player 10?"
His voice was resolute.
"Between Players 9 and 11, regardless of which one is the true Seer, isn’t there a wolf among them?"
"Player 10 has already revealed as a villager. Executing him at worst costs one villager, one divine role, and one wolf."
"At best, it’s one villager traded for two wolves—an absolute profit."
"So, we don’t need to care whether Player 3 is the real Sheriff or whether they found a guilty verdict. Just unanimously vote out Player 10 and finish this."
"Player 10, rest easy. We will avenge you."
"That concludes my speech."
Liu Zheng ended that round of speaking.
Anyone with eyes could see his plan was the most reasonable for the villagers.
Anyone who stubbornly fought it must be a werewolf.
During the voting execution, almost everyone voted for Player 10, including Player 10 himself.
Only Player 9 differed; he still voted for Player 3.
"Day phase ends. Night phase begins in two hours."
When the Moderator’s voice fell, three gallows sprang up from the ground, hoisting Players 9, 10, and 11 into the air.
"Shh~"
Watching them writhe in agony, Liu Zheng thought these people playing Werewolf were a little sick.
The death execution was fake, but the death experience was real.
If you came here to play often, wouldn’t you die several times a day?
But given that the world itself was already abnormal, Liu Zheng suddenly felt everything was normal again.
Seeing the other players revel in their victims’ agony, Liu Zheng shook his head and returned to the carpenter’s cottage.
The Rooster was pecking at sweet potatoes.
Saying it was eating was generous—more accurately, it was playing while eating.
It chased a sweet potato around, scattering peels and crumbs all over the room.
Liu Zheng unceremoniously grabbed it and gave it a few taps on the rump.
"Cluck! What are you doing?"
The Rooster complained in annoyance.
It tried to peck at Liu Zheng’s hand, but he nimbly dodged.
"Eat properly and stop making a mess. I couldn’t control Napoleon, and I can’t control you either."
"The master wouldn’t care how I eat."
The Rooster said.
"So he left because of you, then."
Liu Zheng retorted.
"No he didn’t. I don’t want to talk to you anymore."
The Rooster flapped angrily and struggled until Liu Zheng let go.
Then it walked straight to the kitchen and returned to its coop.
Liu Zheng ignored it because he had to consider the situation.
Now Players 1, 5, 9, 10, 11, and 12 were dead.
Survivors were Players 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8.
It was known that either Player 9 or 11 must be a wolf; Players 1 and 12 were likely wolves; Players 5 and 10 should be villagers.
So the best-case scenario left one wolf remaining, most likely Player 3.
The worst case left three wolves.
If there were three wolves left under normal circumstances, the villagers would already have lost.
But considering the Divine Favor Card and the Divine Punishment mechanics, a comeback was still possible.
Also, this game was not only Werewolf; the key to victory might lie outside voting.
With that in mind, Liu Zheng went to the kitchen and knocked hard on the basement floorboard.
"Want to go find your master?"
he asked.
"Want to."
A few seconds later, the Rooster pushed up the board and, looking dazed, said so.
"Then let’s go."
There were only two hours of activity time, and the forest was not small.
Liu Zheng picked up the Rooster and left the cottage.
Immediately his gaze narrowed.
Players 2 and 6 waited at the door for him.
From the shadows a few other eyes flickered faintly.
2 and 6 fell in beside Liu Zheng without speaking, clearly intending to act with him.
But Liu Zheng didn’t want that.
He suddenly pointed in one direction; the other players instinctively looked that way.
Then Liu Zheng took off running.
After being revived by the potion, this Witch’s body had become much stronger.
By the time the other players reacted, he had already run a considerable distance.
They wouldn’t let him just run away, and immediately chased after him.
However, with that head start they could never close to his side—they remained several paces behind.
This approach risked revealing identities, but Liu Zheng no longer cared.
A Witch who’d used both potions was no different from an ordinary villager.
Besides, he carried the Divine Favor Card: Unstable Compound; the more he exposed himself, the less likely werewolves were to kill him.
Liu Zheng didn’t know if werewolves’ daytime physicality was weakened, but even if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t dare chase him because that would expose them.
The gap widened. By the time Liu Zheng reached the forest entrance, the others were tens of meters behind him.
Without hesitation, he plunged down the eerie woodland path.
The players who arrived later glanced at each other, then dispersed in different directions.
Some followed Liu Zheng into the forest; some returned to the village.
That didn’t concern Liu Zheng.
He now stood at a crossroads in life.
Eight branching paths opened before him, each one looking identical.
When he had entered the forest there had only been a single straight path out.
Of course, spatial folding wasn’t surprising in this world.
"Hey, time to use your power."
Liu Zheng set the Rooster down.
"Use what power?"
The Rooster looked puzzled.
"Your master said you could find him."
"I’m just a chicken, not a hunting dog."
The Rooster had no intention of leading; it busied itself scratching for bugs in the grass.
Just as Liu Zheng was pondering, a black shadow suddenly descended from the sky.
The Rooster had no time to react before a pair of sharp talons grabbed it and lifted it into the air.
???
So the Rooster was the bait—the actual guide belonged to someone else, huh.
Seeing the rapidly rising owl, Liu Zheng hurried after it.