The Anarchic Consort
chapter-1081

Chapter 1081: Found the Murderer

“All of you are ok, right?” Cold sweat immediately covered the shopkeeper’s forehead. He hadn’t forgotten how the last young man died. He had been stabbed to death by these steel pipes!

Helian Weiwei laughed lightly. “There was a small accident, but it was all within our control. We were in too much of a hurry when we entered just now, so there were many things that we didn’t ask in detail. Shopkeeper, do you still remember when these students first came here, which one told you they wanted to play in the escape room with the Sobbing House theme?”

“I don’t remember it very clearly, but now that you ask, I think it was this young man.” The shopkeeper turned his head and looked at Chen Feiyang.

Chen Feiyang sneered. “We decided to come here together. When I called to make the reservation, they were all right next to me. I wasn’t the one who suggested it.”

Helian Weiwei only glanced at him and didn’t respond to him. Instead, she furrowed her eyebrows.

She still felt that something was very strange.

That’s right!

“Shopkeeper, why are these steel pipes so sharp?” Helian Weiwei looked at the shopkeeper’s face and tried to see if she could gather any clues from his expression. “Aren’t you afraid that someone might get hurt while going through this escape room?”

The shopkeeper paused for a moment, then said, “The design of the game doesn’t include steel pipes coming out like that, so I’m also very puzzled as to where these steel pipes came from!”

“These steel pipes would have been fitted during the renovation process. You’re the shopkeeper here, so how can you say you don’t know where these steel pipes came from?” Helian Weiwei didn’t accept this response.

When the shopkeeper heard Helian Weiwei’s question, he realized she must have misunderstood. “Miss, I know a thing or two about fengshui, but I’m really not familiar with these mechanisms. Besides, I wasn’t the one who designed this room either. Those in this industry have to come up with a new theme and puzzles from time to time to maintain interest, otherwise the customers would be able to read up on the puzzles on the internet and solve everything quickly, and they’ll lose interest very quickly. It’s very important for us to attract returning customers, so we have to keep changing the theme in order to keep them coming back. These youngsters are a good example. It’s not their first time at my shop. They’ve come before that terrible incident happened, and back then, there were six of them.”

“Wait a minute, you’re saying that when they came to play through Sobbing House, it wasn’t their first time coming to this shop?” Helian Weiwei’s eyes suddenly flashed and were filled with sharpness.

“That’s right. Is there a problem?” The shop owner looked at Helian Weiwei strangely.

The rest didn’t understand why Helian Weiwei would react like this either.

After all, they really couldn’t guess what Helian Weiwei could possibly be thinking about.

Helian Weiwei looked at those steel pipes again, and a shocking thought popped up in her mind: “When did the Sobbing House theme come out? Did they come to play not long after this theme came out?”

“How do you know?” The shop owner looked at Helian Weiwei in surprise. “In fact, before Sobbing House was open to customers, one of them called me, but I don’t remember who it was. I think it was a boy. He asked me when the new theme would be open to customers, and I was puzzled, because I hadn’t announced anything about a new theme online, and I was quite upset that this youngster had found out.”

Helian Weiwei’s eyes shone even more brightly. “You mean he knew in advance that you were going to do this Sobbing House theme?”

“Yes! Don’t you think it’s strange?” The shopkeeper was still shaking his head.

But Helian Weiwei had grasped the deciding factor.

The person who knew in advance about Sobbing House was the murderer!

She was still wavering between the two boys.

If she could get evidence of who this person was, everything would be easy to solve!

But since there was no announcement, how did the murderer know about this Sobbing House?

Helian Weiwei replayed the recordings they heard when they entered the escape room in her mind.

Every room’s unlock code, every voice recording, and even every scene’s arrangement were all related to Dong Sichun’s death.

If the scene of the murder reflected the killer’s innermost desire.

Then wasn’t this too much of a coincidence?

Helian Weiwei suddenly paused and turned to look at the shopkeeper. “You said that you weren’t the one who designed this room. So how did Sobbing House come about?”

“Ah, this.” The shopkeeper tilted his head as he tried to recall. “I remember that at that time, I put a post in the online shop to solicit ideas. On one hand, I wanted the shop to be more popular. On the other hand, I could use this as an inspiration to create more escape rooms. Business in the shop had always been good, so I would give bonuses to those who provided ideas. The bonuses weren’t much, ranging from 200 to 1000 bucks…”

“But you didn’t expect to receive a complete design for the perfect escape room,” Helian Weiwei cut the shopkeeper off and spoke very clearly. “This design not only gave you ideas, but actually planned the entire room out, including the backstory, the script for the recordings, and even the design of the mechanism. Everything in this design would make the room very terrifying yet mysterious at the same time, which was totally the ideal escape room to you, so you just took the other party’s proposal wholesale.”

The shop owner was completely shocked. He really didn’t think that she would guess what happened to this extent!

“Master, were you able to use divination to reach this conclusion?”

Helian Weiwei smiled and didn’t answer his question. Instead, she asked, “Have you ever seen the person who provided the design?”

“No, but the plan he provided was too perfect. Even the operation of the mechanism and the content of the hints given by the walkie-talkie were all in the plan. It was also very easy to construct. I did say that I would treat him to a meal, but ever since he gave me the plan for the secret room, none of my emails to him made it through, and I did not even know where to send the money.” The shopkeeper shook his head regretfully. “But I can see that this person really loves to play such escape room games. His thoughts were very meticulous and even included the design of the mechanisms and a detailed blueprint of the room. He’s really incredible!”

Helian Weiwei laughed again and the corners of her mouth curved into a faint teasing smile. “I think I know who the murderer is now.”

“Murderer? ” The shopkeeper did not understand. “What murderer?”

Helian Weiwei looked at him. “Shopkeeper, Zhang Heng’s death at your place was not an accident, but a long-planned conspiracy.”