Chapter 235: Merlin’s Double Game (Third Update)
Reporter, or rather, what Merlin told Eivass when they first met was not wrong.
This ritual originally had two paths. The closer you got to the top, the more detached from reality you became, making it easier to investigate the beginning and end of the story, and thus earn a higher score.
But the closer you got to the bottom, the greater your chances of winning. Because under such circumstances, the advantage of dying quickly was the greatest.
The ritual created by Great Philosopher was not difficult. Its main challenge was that it began immediately after reading the rules, leaving no time for discussion or thought.
On his own level, no investigation was necessary. He only needed to kill everyone immediately, then commit suicide, only to start the investigation on the next level. By doing so, he gained “first level” initiative.
Therefore, as long as he ensured he was the first to die, and after committing suicide, confirmed that there were absolutely no Ascenders on that level at the first possible moment, he would have found the zeroth level. Consequently, the lower one descended, the more say they had. Through this strategy, whoever reached the zeroth level first would have a surefire win—not only a win, but the ability to eliminate anyone at will.
“Because the person who killed everyone on their birth level only needs to successfully reach and identify the zeroth level—then only they would know if this is the zeroth level. All other information from everyone else will inevitably be flawed. They only need to find anyone not on their team, and then, through suspicion of them being Merlin, or by discussing descending together, kill them. Regardless of whether this person is Merlin or not, they would be directly declared as having lost.”
Eivass spoke word by word, his gun slowly pressing against Pure White’s temple. Wisteria’s gaze grew nervous, while Quicks stood by with his eyes closed, resting, too lazy to speak. Pure White sighed, “Believe me or not… I did not do such a thing.”
“I also did not say you did such a thing; I apologize. But you certainly had the opportunity to do so.”
Seeing that Pure White was not angry at all, and could remain calm even in this situation, Eivass’s tone softened. “After all, among everyone here, you are on the lowest level.”
“Then what about Merlin?” Wisteria couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t this reporter just admit to being Merlin?”
Although she had just testified for the reporter, she was quickly convinced by the logic of Fox and Pure White. Fox and Pure White belonged to two different factions, and Merlin could not impersonate two people at once. Therefore, the logic they both agreed with was more reliable than what the reporter had given.
“In conclusion, we cannot kill him,” Eivass said calmly. “There are three situations. One is that this is the zeroth level, in which case you absolutely cannot kill the reporter—if you do, I will kill Pure White.
One is that this is not the zeroth level, but the first level. Excluding the lying reporter, Quicks must have come from the fourth level or above. Then Sherlock would be on one of the levels 5, 6, or 7. When he descends, he will bring a lot of information and will push Merlin out.
The worst possibility is that this is neither the first nor the zeroth level, but the second or third level. Then at least one of my companions will be on the top or bottom level, and the other will be Topaz. We might as well wait here for the person from the top level to bring information before making a decision—he investigated alone, and must have obtained the most information and passed through the most levels. Daiya, the reporter, the dancer—he must be one of these three. We might as well wait for him.”
“—No need to wait.”
At this moment, the reporter suddenly spoke. His expression turned cold abruptly. His ten fingers interlaced powerfully, and his body leaned back naturally. He spoke slowly in a cold, arrogant, and calm voice, “Ask whatever you want to ask, I’m here.”
Undoubtedly, the reporter had now become the “Detective.”
“How many levels did you descend?” Eivass asked.
“Three levels. On the first level, I met Mr. Topaz. He was playing the dancer, acting foolishly, and was investigating at a snail’s pace… but I also saw that he couldn’t investigate anything. On the second level, I saw the bodies of that couple and the Supervisor… the third level is here.”
The Detective said calmly, “However, I only descended three levels, but there are five people here… so I judge that I may have descended more than three levels. Seeing your current actions and the atmosphere on the table… I infer that Merlin might have just been using my body. Then he should have accompanied some or all of you down several levels. But since there were three corpses in my second descent, and they are all present—why not let him tell us if the number I said is correct?”
“It’s correct,” Quicks slowly opened his eyes and replied. “These are the people I killed.”
After a brief silence, Pure White sheathed his sword. Eivass also thought for a moment before slowly lowering his gun.
“I am Fox,” he said to the Detective, confirming. “If you are truly the Detective… tell me, what do you want to do most right now?”
“…Of course, it’s to find Miss Lulu first.” The Detective showed a hint of disdain. “My level, then Mr. Topaz’s level, then Mr. Quicks’s. After that, there are the three of you.” He gestured to Eivass, Wisteria, and Pure White. “The three of you cannot be Merlin, because this body was just occupied by Merlin. That means I descended from at least the sixth level. In other words, if Miss Lulu is not on the seventh level, she is on the first level. I’m worried that if she’s on the first level, she’ll commit suicide twice and be eliminated… so let’s go down quickly.”
He said, as if realizing something. The Detective scanned the room, glanced at the cups on the table, and then looked at the gun in Eivass’s hand. As if he had thought of something, he paused slightly and calmly looked at Eivass, “If they don’t want to, why don’t the two of us go down and see first.”
Looking at the Detective’s gaze, Eivass was silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. His eyes also gradually brightened. “Interesting… it’s getting interesting,” he muttered.
Seeing the Detective like this, Eivass realized that his previous deductions still had flaws—the premise of the “Sure-Win Method” was that Merlin was not present. Merlin could disguise NPCs as Ascenders, making the zeroth level appear not to be the zeroth level, thereby luring the other party to continue descending. From this perspective, if this ritual did not have Merlin, it was simply unfair. Because as long as the person on the first level chose this strategy, their chances of winning were extremely high. And no matter how others operated, it would not affect their winning percentage. It was like a Jenga game; removing blocks from the bottom affected the blocks above, but removing blocks from the top had no effect on those below.
Would Great Philosopher create a ritual with such loopholes? Furthermore, almost all seven people here had connections. And although there were nine seats on the first floor, the room numbers only went up to room 206. If there were two more people, where would they live? If the number of rooms had changed, why hadn’t the seats?
Considering all this, Eivass boldly came up with a possibility—from the very beginning, this was a seven-person ritual. This was a ritual ground specifically for an Absent Seat Ritual. Then the nine seats were not excessive, but an implication. Besides the front desk, there should be another “existence” in this inn. In other words, Merlin was inevitably present in this ritual! This ritual was established from the start with Merlin’s presence!
Then, who induced Eivass to think of this Sure-Win Method? — It was Merlin.
Thus, Eivass understood why Merlin’s acting had been so clumsy before. Rather than letting them win, he hadn’t been properly acting at all. Because it was not important at all. So he was waiting for me here.
“I am thinking about a question,” Eivass said slowly. “Are you… truly the Detective?”
“…What, you stupid fox? What trick are you trying to pull again?” The Detective frowned deeply. “You think I’m still Merlin?”
“I don’t know. I really can’t tell,” Eivass replied sincerely. “I don’t know if this is the second test question Merlin gave me.”
Even if the Sure-Win Method merely “existed,” they could now be on the zeroth level. As long as Pure White on the first level had removed this layer, they would now be on the zeroth level. And as long as this was the zeroth level, Eivass could not make a move against the Detective. Otherwise, Sherlock would be directly eliminated by him.
But if this was not the zeroth level, and Eivass took it for the zeroth level, thus choosing to kill others or no longer commit suicide himself, he would stop on this level and be eliminated. This was the first layer of the game.
And the reporter, who had previously acted nothing like Sherlock, suddenly became like Sherlock. If Eivass followed his suggestion, he should now commit suicide with him. That is to say, the current “reporter” was again persuading Eivass to make a move.
But the problem arises… — Is this truly Sherlock who descended into the “Reporter,” or was it Merlin who changed his tone and started acting seriously? Is what he says trustworthy or not? This was the second layer of the game.
Now Eivass had nowhere to escape. He had no place to gather evidence, and Pure White would not provide him with more information.
Is it or is it not the zeroth level.
Is it or is it not Sherlock.
A combination of two, a total of four possibilities. — All of them pointed to difficult problems for Eivass, and making one mistake in two questions would lead to defeat. Only by answering all correctly could he win.
“It’s more like gambling than deduction… a one-in-four chance,” Eivass chuckled softly. “But I’ll take it.”
Update complete!
