Chapter 10: suicide

The silence lasted for several minutes, as everyone processed this unbelievable fact. 

After a moment, Officer Brown was the first to open his identification card, which indeed read "Deceiver." 

One by one, the others flipped over their cards, all of them displaying "Deceiver."

"You're impressive..." Lawyer Piotrowski nodded approvingly at Lucas. "But how did you realize that we were all already dead?"

Lucas pointed to his own sketchpad and said, "It's not difficult. I've been thinking, why is the room sealed? Why are there lines drawn on the walls and floor? Why is there a clock placed in the center of the table? And why did the werewolf-man force us into a 'halftime break'?"

"The average person's air consumption is 0.007 cubic meters per minute, which means 0.42 cubic meters per hour. There are ten people in this room, so the total air consumption per hour would be 4.2 cubic meters."

"According to the werewolf-man, we not only slept in this room for 12 hours but also played the game for nearly 1 hour. If we multiply 4.2 cubic meters by 13, we get the number '54.6'."

Lucas circled the "54.6" on his sketchpad and continued, "This is the volume of air we should have consumed."

He glanced around the room and added, "But how many cubic meters are there in this room altogether?"

Everyone followed his gaze.

"The organizers left us clues," Lucas said, pointing to the lines drawn on the walls and floor. "They divided the walls and floor into many squares, each with a side length of about 1 meter. The number of squares on the walls is 3 by 4, and on the floor and ceiling is 4 by 4. So, the dimensions of this room are 4 by 4 by 3, totaling 48 cubic meters."

"And how can a 48 cubic meter room accommodate 54.6 cubic meters of air?" Lucas frowned, looking disheartened. "After all this time, the air should be getting thin, but we haven't felt any shortage of oxygen..."

Dr. Escano pondered for a moment, then took Lucas's sketchpad and pointed to the "49.14" written on it. "What does this number mean?"

Lucas, with a serious expression, looked at Dr. Escano and replied, "This is also the amount of air that needs to be consumed, but calculated for 'nine people'."

"Nine people?" Dr. Escano was puzzled. After all, there were clearly ten people in the room consuming air. Why did Lucas calculate the quantity for "nine people"?

"I made a bold assumption," Lucas said expressionlessly. "Suppose the werewolf-man 'is not human.' Would our air supply be sufficient? Obviously, it wouldn't be enough."

"What kind of lunatic are you?" Dr. Escano frowned. "Making such bizarre assumptions?"

"Is it hard to understand?" Lucas gestured to the headless corpse beside him. "Dr. Escano, you should be very familiar with skulls. Can a human, with one hand, crush a skull?"

Dr. Escano didn't answer because he knew it was utterly impossible. Not to mention a human skull, even a rabbit's skull would not be easy to crush with one hand on a table.

Lucas withdrew his gaze and looked at the others. "Time is running out. I've already written down my choice. Now it's up to you, but remember, if anyone's answer differs from mine, everyone present will be 'punished.'"

The others felt a bit timid. Facing a creature that could kill at will, they now had to "vote to eliminate" him.

Was he willing?

Jessy glanced at the werewolf-man out of the corner of her eye and noticed he remained motionless, his profound gaze piercing through the snow wolf mask, lost in thought.

"Oswald, let's go all in!" Jessy waved her hand dramatically and also wrote down "werewolf."

After hesitating for a moment, the others also wrote down their answers.

Lucas glanced around and saw that without exception, everyone had written down "werewolf."

The clock struck 1 o'clock, and the game ended.

The werewolf-man slowly approached and said, "Congratulations, everyone. You have survived the 'Deceiver' game. Now, I will personally administer the 'punishment' to the losers."

Before anyone could react, the werewolf-man pulled a handgun from his pocket, turned the barrel towards his heart, and pulled the trigger.

A deafening sound, unimaginable in the narrow room, reverberated. 

In such a confined space, the sound was slow to dissipate, and everyone felt a ringing in their ears. 

Then, the snow wolf's head clutched his chest and began to scream in agony. 

The immense screams quickly overshadowed the gunshots, resonating incessantly in the room, sending chills down everyone's spine. 

With blood pouring from his mouth, the snow wolf howled in pain, and after more than a minute, the sound gradually subsided into painful groans.

"What... what's happening?" Jessy stared at the werewolf-man in disbelief. "Did he really...?"

After a few more minutes, even the groans ceased. 

The nine people in the room suddenly realized their legs were functioning again. 

Dr. Escano was the first to stand up, walking to the werewolf-man and checking his pulse. He found it had stopped beating.

"Hey!" Dr. Escano shouted at the snow wolf, "The game is over. How do we get out?!"

But the silent body offered Dr. Escano no answers. 

The others slowly stood up. 

The room remained unchanged, except for the addition of a corpse.

"It's strange... Did we really die?" Brittany seemed to still be grappling with the question. She reached out her slender hand and slapped herself hard.

"Ouch!" Brittany exclaimed. "It still hurts... Why can I feel pain after death?"

Jessy shook her head in exasperation. "What, you've died before?"

"I..." Brittany hesitated for a moment. "I don't think so..."

"Well, who knows what happens after death? Judging from the situation, this might be hell," Jessy said, glancing uncomfortably at the two corpses in the room. "Not only can I feel pain, but I can also smell the stench."

"What are we then? Souls?" Writer Walter asked.

Dr. Escano, after checking his own body and finding his heartbeat, body temperature, and pulse were all normal, and he was breathing normally, despite not consuming oxygen, concluded that death was indeed a mysterious thing that defied medical knowledge.

"Whatever we are, I don't want to spend the rest of my days trapped in this small room," Officer Brown said. "Let's find a way out."

Officer Brown walked over to the snow wolf's head and casually picked up the gun lying beside him. 

This action startled the others, who instinctively moved away from him. 

Officer Brown skillfully opened the gun chamber, checked it, then removed the magazine, finding it empty. 

This was both good news and bad news. 

The good news was that they didn't have to worry about anyone using the gun to harm others, but the bad news was that they had no means of self-defense if they encountered other dangers.

Jessy, bold as ever, slowly reached out and removed the snow wolf's head mask, revealing a man whose face was completely decayed. 

His eyes were rolled back, devoid of any signs of life.

"What a terrifying face..." Jessy remarked, feeling a shiver run down his spine.

Lawyer Piotrowski nodded in agreement.