Chapter 6
Edward Quan ·
A neat line read:
“Vương Ngưng is covered in deadly poison. Touch her and die.”
For a moment, I had no words.
One sentence had made everyone hesitate.
That delay had sent her falling to her death.
Trịnh Văn Văn smiled bitterly.
“Honestly, the note was why I didn't notice anyone entering the cottage. Or when Hướng Bắc disappeared.”
I sighed.
The killer had been extraordinarily careful.
“Let's find her first.”
What I hadn't expected was that no one was searching.
They had all gathered in the hall.
Mạnh Phàm sat on the floor, refusing to move.
“I'm not going. Neither are you.
“Whether the killer follows the numbers or not, Hướng Bắc's probably dead.
“But I'm alive!
“Are you going to abandon a living person for a dead one?”
Nothing persuaded her.
And her words did make a kind of sense.
“Then Vạn Phong can stay and protect you,” Hướng Nam said. “The rest of us will find my sister.”
Mạnh Phàm shook her head at once.
“No! Who knows if he's the killer? It's his resort. Cutting off our escape and the phone lines makes him the most suspicious.
“If it's him, I'll die even faster.”
His face alternated red and white.
He looked ready to hit someone.
“Who do you trust, then?”
“No one. Staying together and watching one another is safest.”
I had considered that too.
But it was like drinking poison to quench thirst.
Food was limited.
In the end, we would starve together.
Besides, we couldn't keep everyone in one room forever.
Perhaps for a day or two.
Within three, someone would be unable to bear it.
If the killer found an excuse to leave, one fire could burn us all.
Of course, holding out might offer hope.
Perhaps the staff would notice something wrong and return.
That would break the deadlock.
But everyone simply wouldn't stay put.
Hướng Nam wouldn't agree.
Her sister was missing.
Alive or dead, until a body was found, she would keep searching.
What if she went alone and met danger?
What if she was the killer?
What if she used the chance to wipe us out?
Or Hướng Bắc was the killer?
Or both sisters?
However I looked at it, locking ourselves in one room was foolish.
“I think we should all search together,” I said. “That's safer.”
“I'm not going.”
Mạnh Phàm remained stubborn.
Vạn Phong lost his temper.
“Then stay in your fucking room!”
“Fine. But all of you must stay together. Not a second apart.”
He laughed angrily.
“You certainly have demands.”
“If you're together, the killer can't come for me. Then I'll be safe.”
I couldn't decide whether she was clever or stupid.
After killing so many people, could the murderer really not slip out of sight?
By the time we returned, she might be playing cards with the King of Hell.
At last, Vạn Phong agreed.
“All right. Your way.”
Before we went, I told her, “Choose a ground-floor room. Lock the door, then break a window so you have an escape route.
“Don't end up burned alive like Hoàng Kiện.”
She listened and did exactly that.
We began looking for Hướng Bắc.
First, the whole building.
Nothing.
Then the grounds.
The moment we left, I couldn't shake the feeling that Mạnh Phàm wouldn't live much longer.
Near sunset, we still hadn't found Hướng Bắc.
Everyone understood.
The place wasn't that large.
After so long with no sign, something had probably happened to her.
I patted Hướng Nam's shoulder.
She could only cover her face and sob.
Returning to the villa, we stepped into the hall.
Everyone froze.
Mạnh Phàm had been stripped naked and hung upside down from a beam.
Both wrists were cut.
Blood covered the floor.
Trịnh Văn Văn hurried forward, examined her, and shook her head.
“She bled out.”
I sank painfully onto the floor.
My line of reasoning hadn't been wrong.
The killer had simply skipped me.
Deliberately or by mistake, I didn't know.
Now Mạnh Phàm was dead.
In number order, Hướng Bắc was next.
Then Hướng Nam.
Hướng Bắc was still missing.
Perhaps she would appear before us in some grotesque way.
Since Tôn Kiều, too many had died.
Each new death drove another knife into the survivors' minds, tormenting our already fragile nerves.
Vạn Phong finally broke.
“Fuck! Which one of you is it? Just kill me!
“Dương Dương, is it you? Hướng Nam? Trịnh Văn Văn?
“Please, just kill me!”
He was truly close to collapse.
Whether he survived or not, he had organized the reunion.
The resort was his.
He couldn't escape trouble.
Trịnh Văn Văn held him and soothed him.
“All right. Let's rest. Everyone's exhausted.”
Hướng Nam wiped her tears.
“No! I have to find my sister.”
Already irritated, I answered coldly.
“Going out now is asking to die.”
She looked at me.
“Then... will you come with me?”
I silently shook my head.
She seemed to understand.
Turning, she walked straight toward the sunset.
Her figure faded.
Her shadow stretched far behind, as though stamped onto my chest.
I couldn't go with her.
If my survival really was the killer's mistake, only Hướng Nam and Vương Ngưng had visited that night.
Vương Ngưng was dead.
That made Hướng Nam the likeliest suspect.
Going with her would be suicide.
There was another person we couldn't ignore.
Hướng Bắc.
Without a body, we couldn't assume she was dead.
Perhaps she was the killer.
Vạn Phong suggested three separate rooms, close together.
If anything happened, we could help one another.
Mine was beside his.
Trịnh Văn Văn's was opposite.
We wished one another goodnight and closed our doors.
None of us knew whether we'd be able to say “good morning.”
Around nine, someone knocked at my door.
I asked several times who it was.
No answer.
Holding a dagger in a reverse grip, I opened up.
Hướng Nam, covered in blood, collapsed into my arms.
“Vạn Phong! Văn Văn! Come quickly!”
They arrived almost at once.
Perhaps neither had been sleeping deeply.
Her throat was cut too.
Unlike the others, she was still conscious.
She coughed.
“My... sister...”
She forced out those words.
Then died.
I didn't know what she meant.
Had she found her sister?