Rainy Night Theater (17)

With the injection of the antidote, the high-ponytail girl's body swayed. She didn't collapse immediately, and her breathing gradually began to recover.

“What is this?” The muscular man froze for a moment.

Sun Hao rolled his eyes, though his voice sounded somewhat weary. “You idiot, can't you tell? That's the antidote. This classmate of ours must be the Doctor from the Citizen faction.”

The high-ponytail girl leaned weakly against Bai Ci's chest, her tears gushing out once more as she mumbled repeatedly, “Don't save me... Don't save me... Why did you save me...”

“I don't want to go on. I don't want to kill anyone, and I don't want to see any more dead people...” Her voice was faint, thick with despair.

Bai Ci gently patted her back, her tone soft and her attempts at comfort slightly clumsy. “Weiwei, don't be like this. Shanxi definitely wouldn't want you to die.”

“Think about it. If anything ever happened to me, I'd want Fu Liu to keep living well. He feels the same way about you. He liked you so much, he definitely wouldn't want to see you give up on your life.”

Filament also knelt down and took the high-ponytail girl's hand, her eyes rimmed with red as she comforted her softly. “Weiwei, Bai Jiu is right. Besides, we found a clue. Maybe we can all survive together without having to kill each other anymore.”

With that, she explained about the yellowed logbook they had found in the study and shared its contents with everyone present.

“As long as we find the secret of the Ninth Round, we might be able to end this game, and everyone will survive.” Filament's tone held a hint of conviction. She was pinning her hopes on this, and it was the only thing she could pin them on.

Bai Ci chimed in to encourage her. “That's right, Weiwei. Even though the records of the Ninth Round we saw were burned, maybe that notebook will change during the night.”

“You're a Madman, so you can act at night. When the time comes, you can go check the study. Maybe you'll find more clues about the Ninth Round. That way, we can get one step closer to the truth and end this game sooner.”

Sun Hao leaned against the doorframe, remaining silent for a moment before speaking up. “What a coincidence. When I was wandering around the stage and the auditorium today, I noticed a few things as well.”

“Even though this place has been renovated, if you look closely at the floor and the walls, you can still see traces of past fire damage.”

The high-ponytail girl gradually stopped crying, raising her tear-stained face. “Can it really... end? Can we really find clues?”

“Yes, we can. If we work together, we'll definitely find them.” Filament nodded vigorously. Whether it was possible or not, this was the only thing she could say right now to help her friend regain hope.

She took the initiative to help the high-ponytail girl up. “Weiwei, I'll go upstairs with you so you can rest and calm down. That way, you'll have the energy to look for more clues tonight.”

The high-ponytail girl didn't refuse. Leaning weakly against Filament, she cast a hollow look at the corpse on the floor. Tears welled up in her eyes again, but she didn't make a scene this time. She only whispered, “Thank you.”

Wu Tong supported Liu Siwei as they slowly walked out of the kitchen, heading toward the second-floor dorms.

Soon, everyone dispersed, heading to different areas to search for relevant clues.

However, their efforts yielded nothing. When everyone gathered to exchange information in the final moments of the daytime phase, they all shook their heads.

“Do we really have to wait until night?” Bai Ci pondered.

“If that's the case, once the Madmen and Citizens clash, the truth will remain forever out of reach. What a disgusting design.” Sun Hao flopped onto a seat in the auditorium, signaling his helplessness.

The first bell announcing the transition to the nighttime phase rang out, and everyone began making their way upstairs.

Once the nighttime phase began, Sun Hao, being the first Madman whose door was unlocked, was already waiting downstairs.

Leaning against a pillar at the edge of the stage with his hands in his pockets, he had grown impatient from counting the seconds. “They're taking forever. If we wait any longer, half the night will be wasted. How are we supposed to look for clues then?”

Just as he finished speaking, footsteps echoed from the stairway. Two figures walked down, one after the other. These two Madman teammates kept a distance of two paces between them, the tension between them palpable.

When they reached the bottom of the stage, neither of them spoke. They simply stood a short distance away from Sun Hao.

Seeing this, Sun Hao rolled his eyes hard and snapped, “I say, you two, can't you settle whatever grudge you have in private? Now is the time to look for clues, not throw tantrums.”

The two remained unmoved, continuing to ignore each other. One of the Madmen even deliberately took a step to the side, avoiding the other's gaze.

Sun Hao sighed helplessly, not bothering to urge them further. “Let me ask you something first. The person who died during the day—it wasn't one of you who did it, right?”

This question was met with two denials.

“How strange. Did a Citizen really kill the wrong person then?” Sun Hao muttered, but he didn't press the matter.

On the surface, neither of them had a reason to kill that person. If one of them really did it and refused to admit it, pushing for answers would yield nothing.

As for himself, technically speaking, he had been with the high-ponytail girl when the incident occurred, giving him an alibi.

When the high-ponytail girl had come to cover the long-haired woman's body, their eyes had met, and Sun Hao could tell she had something to say. So, he had invited her to move to the garden set to share information.

Though to be precise, the high-ponytail girl was actually questioning him. They had agreed not to kill anyone, so why had he killed the overalls man?

Given Sun Hao's behavior up to that point, the high-ponytail girl had naturally assumed he was the prime suspect for breaking the agreement. It wasn't until he produced his own poison to prove his innocence that her interrogation finally ended.

As Sun Hao recalled this, his gaze swept over his other two teammates. So, which of them was the one who killed the overalls man?

After waiting a while longer, there was still no sign of the high-ponytail girl coming down.

“What is she doing?” Sun Hao's tone grew more impatient. “What is she thinking, standing us up? Even if she doesn't care about the clues, she should have come down to ask who killed the guy she liked, right?”

The first Madman thought about it and said, “Maybe she was too shaken up during the day and fell asleep. Little girls are all like that.”

“Fell asleep?” Sun Hao sneered, shaking his head. “In her state, no matter how tired she is, she wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully.”

The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was off. The high-ponytail girl didn't seem like the type to miss the night phase just because of the blow she suffered during the day.

“Come on, let's go up and check,” Sun Hao said, turning to head toward the stairs. “I hope nothing's happened to her.”

Although the other two Madmen were still at odds, they knew they shouldn't act alone at a time like this, so they followed him.

The three quickly went up to the second floor and arrived outside the high-ponytail girl's dorm. Sun Hao reached out and tapped gently on the door. “Are you awake? Open up, we need to go search for clues.”

The room was dead silent, with no response whatsoever.