This Character is Suspected of Cheating! [Unlimited Flow]

【Death Prison】 on Hopeless Star is a special prison. No prisoner who enters it has ever survived to complete their sentence. The oppressive environment has driven everyone insane.

In that instance hint, the phrase "driven everyone insane" was very likely meant literally.

Combined with the drugs they had been injected with, the corridor doors being locked, the complete lack of supervision, and the daytime death-match training...

Another wave of unconsciousness washed over He Yu. He could clearly feel that the moment the lights went out, his body was falling asleep, while his consciousness was irresistibly dragged into darkness.

He understood.

Tonight, they were all "madmen."

The moment that thought appeared, the last trace of his consciousness caught a blurry announcement—

【Hidden rule triggered. System notification: Due to the influence of the instance storyline, contestants will soon enter a "State of Madness." The Night of Chaos has begun!】

Just as he had expected.

A moment later, He Yu completely fell asleep.

At the same time, all the other contestants were likewise unable to resist as their consciousness was swallowed by darkness.

Before lights-out, none of them had intended to sleep.

Using He Yu's Precognition Card, they had all seen "Annie kills He Yu." Regardless of their individual thoughts, not a single one of them had wanted to fall asleep that night. They only lay on their beds because they were following the prison rules.

Gathering together to chat hadn't brought any serious consequences before, so they had gathered together again.

As for what would happen if they stayed awake after lights-out, nobody knew. So they all decided to obey the rules for the time being and lie down to observe ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) the situation.

If nothing unusual happened, they planned to get up again after a few minutes and continue discussing things.

But something strange happened.

After the lights went out, their previously clear minds became hazy. Their eyes refused to stay open, and drowsiness rapidly overwhelmed them. It was even worse than after dinner, when they had been drugged unconscious. They couldn't resist it at all as their consciousness sank deeper and deeper.

Something's wrong!

Ling Buchen bit through the tip of his tongue, trying to stay awake.

It was useless.

His consciousness was still gradually being dragged away.

His physical condition was slightly stronger than He Yu's, so he remained conscious a little longer and clearly heard the hidden rule notification.

The Night of Chaos...

Ling Buchen was frantic.

But his consciousness could no longer control his body.

In the end, he too was completely swallowed by darkness.

Everyone else experienced the same thing.

The instant they heard the hidden rule, they all realized—

He Yu had triggered it.

He must have figured something out.

But there was nothing they could do except worry.

A Night of Chaos. A State of Madness.

Didn't that mean Annie killing He Yu was very likely to happen?!

No!

They had to stop it!

Wanrenzhan struggled wildly, trying to sit up, trying to stay conscious.

His mind was screaming in panic, but the body lying on the bed merely twitched slightly before becoming completely still again.

"He Yu..."

Zhen Xing silently repeated those two words.

Just before darkness claimed him, the only thing left in his mind was endless regret.

They should have killed Annie.

No one had expected the Night of Chaos.

No one had expected to completely lose consciousness.

Before Eugene was swallowed by darkness, only a single thought remained in his mind—

He Yu... is done for.

Duan Yuchen heard the rule notification and tried to sit up.

But he too could only helplessly sink into darkness.

Now he understood why the Precognition Card had shown Annie killing He Yu while nobody stopped it.

Because none of them could stop it.

When Qu Wu first saw the Precognition Card, he couldn't understand why Annie would kill He Yu.

No matter what Annie's identity was, there was absolutely no reason to do it.

If Annie was the murderer, killing He Yu would only expose himself.

If Annie wasn't the murderer, he still needed He Yu's help to identify the real killer.

Unless Annie had already found a way to escape prison and decided to kill everyone except himself because he couldn't determine who the killer was...

Otherwise, killing He Yu made absolutely no sense.

Now he understood.

It was because of the Night of Chaos.

Because of the "State of Madness."

Before he had time to think through any more details, Qu Wu also completely lost consciousness.

Before falling asleep, every one of them felt despair.

None of them wanted He Yu to die.

Yet they had no conscious control over themselves to stop it.

The thought that they couldn't protect him filled them with hopelessness before darkness consumed them.

Among everyone in the instance Kill the Prisoners, probably only Qiong and Siya paused for a brief moment after hearing the hidden rule trigger. Before they even understood what had happened, they too fell into darkness.

—

5:00 a.m.

"Ding—"

The familiar wake-up bell echoed through the corridor, jolting He Yu awake.

"Wake up."

"He Yu, get up."

Familiar voices were calling him.

His head throbbed painfully.

It felt as though he hadn't slept all night. Every muscle in his body ached, and it took considerable effort just to open his eyes.

When he finally did, Zhen Xing, Eugene, Wanrenzhan, Duan Yuchen, and Qu Wu were all standing beside his bed, each wearing an extremely complicated expression.

Slowly sitting up, He Yu accepted the hand Zhen Xing extended to pull him up.

On the bed behind him, Ling Buchen had also just awakened. Shaking his head, he climbed off his bed.

Duan Yuchen's expression was grave.

"Annie is dead."

The fingers massaging He Yu's temples paused.

His gaze shifted toward Annie's bed.

Someone lay motionless there.

The entire room was in disarray.

Ling Buchen's blanket was missing.

He Yu's blanket lay on the floor.

There were two blankets piled on Annie's bed.

Wanrenzhan's face was swollen.

The room looked like it had been torn apart.

The Night of Chaos had indeed been chaotic.

Without saying a word, He Yu shook his head, got out of bed, and headed outside.

Seeing how uncomfortable he looked, Zhen Xing asked worriedly,

"Feeling awful?"

He reached out, intending to massage He Yu's temples, but He Yu raised a hand to stop him.

His voice was hoarse.

"I'm going to wash my face first."

Duan Yuchen frowned.

"He Yu, you really should improve your physical condition. Your combat power is too low, and your body suffers because of it."

They had all effectively gone without proper sleep.

Yet everyone else looked perfectly alert.

Only He Yu was obviously exhausted.

Without commenting, He Yu walked into the corridor, passed through the equally messy hallway, and entered the washroom.

Removing his glasses, he splashed cold water across his face.

The icy water cleared the exhaustion from his mind.

In the mirror, his complexion was pale.

Without his glasses, some of his usual coldness disappeared, replaced by an almost fragile appearance.

He looked as though he could be broken with a touch.

Yet the moment one met those focused black eyes...

That illusion vanished.

So did every trace of apparent weakness.

He was never as fragile as he appeared.

He Yu quietly met his own gaze in the mirror.

Then he slowly put his glasses back on and returned to Room 705, where everyone was waiting.

Tiny droplets of water still clung to his face, and the collar of his shirt was damp from the splashes.

He walked back at an unhurried pace.

The droplets hanging from his jade-white skin sparkled beneath the lights.

Everyone stared at him for a moment.

Duan Yuchen couldn't help thinking—

He Yu was unbelievably good-looking at every moment.

Simply looking at him was a visual feast.

He Yu casually wiped away a droplet rolling down his cheek.

His hoarse voice sounded again.

"What happened? How long has he been dead?"

Zhen Xing snapped out of it and shifted his gaze away from He Yu's face to Annie's body.

"The body's already cold. He must have been dead for quite a while."

He Yu nodded and walked over.

Annie lay peacefully on the bed.

The bedding was a mess.

Besides Annie's own blanket, Ling Buchen's blanket was also lying on the bed.

Duan Yuchen explained,

"We only woke up a short while ago. Zhen Xing, Eugene, Qu Wu, and I came in together and discovered Annie was already dead."

After a pause, he added,

"I pulled the blankets away. Ling Buchen's blanket had been covering his face."

Ling Buchen walked over curiously.

"So... was he smothered to death?"

Eugene rolled his eyes but still answered,

"Do you think Federation bodies are that easy to suffocate?"

The Federation's powerful physique wasn't reflected only in combat ability.

They could also go long periods without sleeping, eating, or even breathing.

Annie was an expert.

Smothering someone like him to death would be extremely difficult.

He Yu bent down.

His long, slender fingers felt Annie's pulse, checked the temperature of several parts of his body, lifted his eyelids, then opened his mouth for inspection.

The entire examination was carried out with perfect calm.

Eugene asked in confusion,

"What are you doing?"

"An autopsy."

Everyone paused.

They immediately remembered the Dawn Training School instance.

Back then, He Yu had been the first to notice the anomaly surrounding the eighth victim and had even produced the killer's portrait.

Federation citizens relied on their intelligent terminals.

Here, they only had wristbands.

None of them could determine how Annie had died.

He Yu's personal skills were actually far more useful.

After finishing the examination, He Yu wiped his hands with the blanket before speaking with certainty,

"He's been dead for at least three hours. Lights-out was at 23:00. It's now 5:00. That means he was killed before 2:00 a.m."

He paused.

"As for the cause of death..."

His gaze settled on the two obvious bluish bruises around Annie's neck.

Duan Yuchen answered,

"Strangulation."

The marks were unmistakable.

Apparently the killer had strangled him through a thin blanket, making the fingerprints too blurred to identify.

The only thing obvious was how much force had been used.

Exactly the same way the Precognition Card had shown He Yu dying the previous night.

He Yu straightened up and looked around at everyone.

"So..."

"Shall we discuss what happened last night?"

Eugene immediately nodded.

"Of course. I'm dying to know."

After a slight pause, he muttered quietly,

"...Though I'm also relieved."

Relieved.

Relieved that Annie had died.

Not He Yu.

No one commented on Annie's death itself.

They were all more interested in what had happened during the Night of Chaos.

Who the killer was.

After all, before losing consciousness, many of them had shared the same final thought—

They should kill Annie.

If Annie had survived, then the one lying dead now might have been He Yu.

That was something Zhen Xing and the others absolutely couldn't accept.

Which was why, when they discovered Annie's corpse first thing in the morning, nobody showed any particular emotion.

If they had remained conscious last night and Annie had attempted to kill He Yu...

They would have killed Annie themselves.

Someone had been destined to die from the moment the hidden rule was announced.

Now they were simply grateful that the dead one was Annie rather than He Yu—or themselves.

—

All the beds had been folded away except for Annie's.

The remaining seven contestants gathered between He Yu's and Wanrenzhan's beds, some sitting, others standing.

He Yu sat on his own bed with his long legs comfortably stretched out.

Ling Buchen sat beside him.

Zhen Xing stood on the other side, leaning against the wall.

Across from them sat Wanrenzhan and Eugene.

Duan Yuchen and Qu Wu stood at the doorway, blocking anyone outside from seeing in.

The NPC prisoners had all awakened and were gradually heading toward the washroom.

Shadows continuously passed outside the door.

The two men standing there completely blocked everyone's view.

With Annie dead after the Night of Chaos...

For a long moment, nobody spoke.

Eventually, Duan Yuchen looked toward He Yu.

"Let's start from the beginning. Were you the one who triggered the hidden rule last night?"

He Yu nodded calmly.

"Yes. I carefully reread the rules and noticed the instance description mentioned that all of us have mental problems."

He said quietly,

"Our mental instability may not simply come from being imprisoned for too long. It could also be related to us being experimental subjects who were injected with drugs. Mental instability, locked corridors, no supervision... all of that suggests we could go insane and cause something terrible."

Combined with what the Precognition Card had shown—

"Annie kills He Yu."

The hidden rule had naturally been triggered.

At night...

They would all go mad.

"And then?" Eugene asked.

He Yu looked at him calmly.

"And then what?"

"What happened afterward?"

He Yu spread his hands.

"I don't know. I fell into a deep sleep."

Wanrenzhan shifted uneasily without speaking, lowering his head.

Zhen Xing slowly opened his eyes.

Ling Buchen maintained his usual blank expression.

Eugene frowned.

"You seriously don't know anything? That can't be right..."

Hearing that, He Yu suddenly smiled.

His almond-shaped eyes curved gently as he swept his gaze across everyone before calmly evaluating each of them.

"Eugene doubts me, which means you remember something."

"Wanrenzhan feels guilty."

"Zhen Xing has been unusually quiet today."

"Duan Yuchen is trying too hard to appear normal."

"Ling Buchen is pretending to be innocent."

"And Qu Wu is bluffing."

Everyone: "..."

Qu Wu coughed awkwardly.

"Was it really that obvious?"

He raised his hand solemnly.

"First of all, I am definitely not the murderer. I never received any system notification. But... something a little unusual did happen last night..."

He Yu's smile remained unchanged.

He carefully observed everyone's expressions before pushing up his glasses.

"As expected."

"Something happened to every one of you."

"We're short on time. Later we'll need to discuss the prison break with Qiong, so let's all be honest."

"Did everyone do something last night?"

"Something that makes each of you suspect you might have been the one who killed Annie?"

Based on his own memories and everyone's reactions...

Something was clearly wrong.

None of them cared very much whether Annie lived or died.

But they were all acting far too calmly.

Almost as though they had already known Annie would die.

As though...

They were all hiding something.

Wanrenzhan abruptly raised his head, eyes wide.

"So I wasn't the only one who remembered something from last night?!"

Everyone: "..."

If He Yu wanted to fish for information...

He never missed.

Zhen Xing sighed helplessly.

Instead of leaning against the wall, he finally sat beside He Yu and spoke first.

"It seems everyone experienced something similar."

"I'll start."

"I really don't know what happened last night."

"But midway through, I briefly regained some memories. Not consciousness—just memories."

In other words, Zhen Xing had been unconscious the entire time.

But after waking up, he could remember fragments from the previous night.

Those fragments alone had made him unwilling to reveal anything.

If he had actually killed Annie...

Exposing those memories might cause everyone to mistake him for the murderer.

The core objective of this instance was simple—

Kill the murderer.

If everyone believed he was the murderer, countless people would come after him.

That would be extremely dangerous.

So he had remained silent, observing everyone else.

He hadn't expected...

They were all in almost exactly the same situation.

Everyone stared.

"...So we're all the same?"

Zhen Xing looked at He Yu.

"When you went to wash your face... were you wondering whether you killed Annie too?"

He Yu nodded.

Since he had already pieced together several clues, there was no point hiding anything.

"When I first woke up, I had a fragment of memory."

"That fragment made me suspect I killed Annie."

"But I know I'm not the murderer."

"Everyone knows the murderer role could easily have been assigned to me in this instance. I hadn't found anyone else behaving suspiciously, so I washed my face first to clear my head and give myself time to think."

"After I came back, I examined Annie's body and confirmed he'd been strangled."

"That made me suspicious."

"Then I noticed..."

"Everyone else was acting strangely too."

He deliberately looked around at everyone.

"Based on the cause of death alone, Ling Buchen and I would normally be less likely suspects."

"Annie's physical abilities were extremely strong."

"If he could resist, neither of us should have been capable of strangling him."

"But if he couldn't resist..."

"Then either of us could have done it."

"Judging by the condition of the bed, Annie appears to have resisted."

"That lowers both Ling Buchen's and my suspicion."

Crossing his legs into a more comfortable position, He Yu continued calmly,

"The person who killed Annie isn't necessarily the murderer."

"So..."

"What memories did the rest of you recover?"

Wanrenzhan finally spoke.

"I never regained consciousness."

"But I remember He Yu being in danger."

"I wanted to kill Annie."

"That's my first memory."

"I don't know whether I actually did anything."

Eugene frowned.

"What time was that?"

Wanrenzhan rolled his eyes.

"How would I know? I wasn't conscious."

Zhen Xing asked,

"What did the room look like compared to now?"

Wanrenzhan thought carefully.

"He Yu was asleep under his blanket."

"The room wasn't messy yet."

He Yu looked at him.

"You said your first memory."

"So there's a second one?"

Wanrenzhan: "..."

His face instantly turned bright red.

He looked away guiltily without speaking.

Duan Yuchen frowned.

"This isn't the time to hide things."

"We need to gather information as quickly as possible."

"The killer isn't necessarily the murderer."

"Besides, all of us are potential suspects."

"There's nothing worth concealing."

Wanrenzhan finally blurted out,

"...I think I tried to sleep with He Yu."

"I remember trying to take his clothes off..."

Everyone: "!!!"

Wanrenzhan stiffened his neck, face burning crimson.

"I wasn't conscious!"

"I don't know why I did something like that!"

"But don't worry."

"I'll take responsibility."

His voice became unexpectedly gentle as he looked directly at He Yu.

He Yu: "..."

Expressionless, Zhen Xing said,

"You were dreaming."

"Nobody needs you to take responsibility."

He fixed Wanrenzhan with an icy stare.

"My memory is that I went to kill Annie."

"But I ran into Wanrenzhan trying to strip He Yu."

"So I beat Wanrenzhan up."

"Actually, I intended to kill him."

Unfortunately...

He hadn't succeeded.

Wanrenzhan was still alive.

Wanrenzhan stared blankly.

"So the swelling on my face..."

"...You did that?!"

Zhen Xing merely looked back coldly, completely unapologetic.

Wanrenzhan ground his teeth in anger.

He wasn't even sure what he was angrier about—

Being beaten...

Or being stopped.

Either way...

He was furious.

He jumped to his feet and glared at Zhen Xing.

Zhen Xing calmly returned the stare.

He Yu remained completely composed.

"So."

"Wanrenzhan's first memory was wanting to kill Annie."

"His second memory was attempting to assault me."

"Because of that first memory, you suspected you had already killed Annie."

Wanrenzhan blushed again but nodded.

He Yu then turned to Zhen Xing.

"You arrived afterward."

"You also came to kill Annie."

"But instead, you found Wanrenzhan."

"So your only recovered memory is beating him."

"Since you didn't know Wanrenzhan's first memory, you concluded you might have beaten him first and then killed Annie afterward."

Zhen Xing nodded.

"That's exactly what I thought."

"But I only have that single memory fragment."

Eugene tilted his head in disbelief.

"So..."

"Things got that wild last night?"

Wanrenzhan had nearly slept with He Yu.

He had almost succeeded.

Then Zhen Xing arrived and beat him senseless.

The entire sequence sounded utterly ridiculous.

He Yu finally turned toward Eugene.

His gaze sharpened.

"And you?"

"What memory did you recover?"

Eugene shrugged.

"Mine's very simple."

"I remember Qu Wu getting out of bed and going next door."

"I don't know why."

"But I remember wanting to help him."

He glanced toward Annie's body.

Normally, contestants disappeared immediately after death.

But because this instance assigned everyone identities, Annie's corpse remained.

The contestant himself, however...

Was completely gone forever.

That was the brutal reality of the Top Talent Show.

People died at any moment.

Eugene continued,

"Since I followed Qu Wu a little later, I don't know what happened first."

"But when I entered Room 705..."

"Qu Wu was already unconscious."

"Annie was still standing."

"My memory ends there."

He sighed helplessly.

Viewed by itself...

His memory really made him look suspicious.

Fortunately...

Everyone else's situation was similar.

Wanrenzhan looked confused.

"Why would you help Qu Wu?"

Duan Yuchen explained,

"Because of the instance background."

"You and Qu Wu are close."

"During the Night of Chaos we lost our consciousness and acted according to the story."

"So naturally you'd help him."

"And Wanrenzhan harassed He Yu."

"While Zhen Xing protected He Yu."

Looking toward He Yu, he continued,

"We don't remember anything from the Night of Chaos."

"But the versions of us during that time did."

"Wanrenzhan and Zhen Xing both tried to kill Annie because of you."

Before going to sleep, both of them had firmly believed—

Annie would kill He Yu.

During the Night of Chaos...

They decided to strike first.

He Yu nodded.

"That reasoning makes sense."

Eugene looked suspiciously at Qu Wu.

"So why did you come into this room?"

"Were you also here to kill Annie?"

"Is that why you fought?"

Because of the instance background, Eugene and Qu Wu had been close.

That was why he instinctively followed Qu Wu.

But once awake...

Their relationship returned to normal.

He had no intention of blindly helping Qu Wu anymore.

Last night he had only followed him.

He had no idea why Qu Wu entered Room 705.

Qu Wu looked embarrassed.

Suddenly, Ling Buchen spoke.

"During the Night of Chaos..."

"Qu Wu came here to kill He Yu."

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