Chapter 1: The Empty House

An old tungsten filament light bulb hung from a black wire in the center of the room, flickering with a dim glow.

A quiet atmosphere, like ink dropped into clear water, spread and diffused within the room.

In the very center of the room was a large round table, looking quite worn. In the middle of the table stood a small mantel clock with intricate patterns, ticking at this moment.

Around the table sat ten people dressed in various ways. Their clothes looked a bit worn, and their faces were stained with a lot of dust.

Some were slumped on the table, while others were leaning back in their chairs, all deeply asleep.

Beside these ten people, a man wearing a goat head mask and a black suit stood silently.

His gaze pierced through the worn goat head mask, staring at the ten people with great interest.

The mantel clock on the table chimed. The minute and hour hands both pointed to "twelve."

From a distant place outside the room, a deep bell sound could be heard.

At the same moment, the ten men and women sitting around the round table slowly woke up.

After gradually becoming fully conscious, they first looked around in confusion, then looked at each other with doubt.

It seemed no one remembered why they were here.

"Good morning, nine people," the goat head spoke first. "It's a pleasure to meet you here. You have been asleep before me for twelve hours."

The attire of the man in front of them was truly strange, startling everyone in the dim light.

His mask seemed to be made from a real goat's head, with many hairs having turned yellow and black, knotted and stuck together.

Two empty holes were dug out at the eyes of the goat mask, revealing his cunning eyes.

With every move he made, he not only exuded the unique musty smell of a goat but also a faint scent of decay.

A man with a tattooed arm was stunned for a few seconds before finally realizing the absurdity of the situation. He hesitantly opened his mouth and asked the goat head: "You... who are you?"

"I believe you all have this question, so I will introduce myself to the nine of you," the goat head said happily, waving his hands. It seemed he had prepared the answer long ago.

A young man named Qi Xia sat the farthest away from the goat head. He quickly surveyed the situation in the room. After a moment, his expression became serious.

Strange, this room was really too strange.

There were no doors here, only walls on all four sides.

In other words, the sides, roof, and floor of this room were all enclosed, and yet there was a table in the center of the room.

If that were the case, how did they get here?

Could it be that people were brought in first, and then the walls were built?

Qi Xia looked around again. Here, whether it was the floor, walls, or ceiling, there were horizontal and vertical intersecting lines. These lines divided the walls and floor into many large squares.

Another point that bothered Qi Xia was the "nine people" the goat head mentioned.

No matter how you counted the people sitting around the round table, there were ten. Including the goat head himself, there were eleven people in the room.

What did "nine people" mean?

He reached into his pocket and, as expected, his phone had long been taken away.

"You don't need to introduce yourself to us," a cold-faced woman spoke to the goat head. "I advise you to stop what you're doing soon. I suspect you have detained us for over twenty-four hours, which constitutes 'illegal detention.' Everything you say now will be recorded and will form testimony against you."

As she spoke, she impatiently rubbed the dust off her arm, as if she hated being dirty more than being imprisoned.

The cold-faced woman's words indeed sobered everyone up a lot. Regardless of who the other party was, daring to kidnap ten people alone had already crossed the line of the law.

"Wait..." A middle-aged man in a white coat interrupted everyone's thoughts. He slowly looked at the cold-faced woman and asked, "We all just woke up, how do you know we've been imprisoned for 'twenty-four hours'?"

His tone was steady and forceful, yet it hit the nail on the head.

The cold-faced woman calmly pointed to the mantel clock on the table and replied, "The clock here points to twelve o'clock, but I have a habit of staying up late. The last time I looked at the clock at home, it was already twelve o'clock. This means we have been imprisoned for at least twelve hours."

After she finished speaking, she pointed to the walls around her and continued, "You should have also noticed that there is no door in this room, indicating that this person made an effort to get us into this room. He said we have been asleep for twelve hours, and now the clock points to twelve o'clock again, which means it has gone around at least twice. Therefore, I suspect 'over twenty-four hours.' Is there a problem?"

After hearing this answer, the man in the white coat gave the woman a cold glance, his eyes still filled with suspicion.

After all, in this environment, this woman was too calm.

Would a normal person facing such a kidnapping calmly say what she said?

At this moment, a muscular young man wearing a black T-shirt opened his mouth and asked, "Goat head, why are there ten people here, but you say there are nine?"

The goat head remained silent and did not answer immediately.

"Kam Ga Chan, I don't care how many people are here..." the man with the tattooed arm cursed. He pushed off the table to try to stand up, but found his legs were weak and couldn't exert any force. So he could only continue pointing at the goat head and said, "Fun Cheung, I advise you to be sensible. You might not know how serious the consequences are of offending me. I will truly take your life."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the men present gradually became serious. At this time, someone was indeed needed to take the lead. If they could subdue this goat head together, the situation would still be under control.

However, everyone found that their legs were completely useless, as if they had been injected with something.

So the tattooed man could only threaten the goat head with words, cursing loudly.

Qi Xia didn't speak. He gently rubbed his chin, staring at the mantel clock on the table, deep in thought.

Things seemed not as simple as he imagined.

He knew that what the goat head said was "nine participants." If there were ten people here, it could only prove that one of them was not a participant.

Then who was he?

There were six men and four women sitting in this room. Could one of them be the "kidnapper"?

The goat head stopped talking and slowly walked towards Qi Xia, standing behind a young man.

Everyone followed his gaze and realized that the young man in front of them was different from everyone else present. Although his face was also dirty, it was filled with a happy smile.

The goat head slowly raised his hand and placed it on the back of the young man's head.

The young man's smile became even more eerie. He looked at everyone with excitement, as if he had known something for a long time.

Only a dull thud was heard as the goat-headed person slammed the young man's head violently onto the table.

Something powdery white, like spilled paint, instantly spread horizontally across the table. Specks of blood splashed onto everyone's faces.

This young man's head was actually smashed to pieces on the table.

Outside the room, a distant bell sound rang out again.

Qi Xia was very close to the dead man. He felt an unknown object stick to his face, warm and sticky.

He thought his psychological quality was strong enough, but he didn't expect to tremble at this moment.

The girl sitting to the right of the dead man was stunned for three seconds before her face finally twisted and she screamed.

This scream broke through everyone's psychological defenses.

Could that goat head still be a "person" to be able to smash the hardest human skull on a table with his hand?

Why could his thin body exert such powerful force?

The goat head slowly opened his mouth and said, "The reason I prepared ten people is to use one of them to quiet you down."