Chapter 84: The Haunted Campus, Sunshine Doll (22)

“Oh? Is that so? Well, I’m truly moved.”
The person who knows you best in this world is yourself.
So, what kind of character would Tang Mo be? Tang Mu was more than clear. She only encouraged and acted in matters that benefited her; if there was nothing in it for her, she wouldn’t even spare a glance.
For Tang Mo to urge her so insistently, it must mean that somehow, this would work to her own advantage.
Before Tang Mo could continue with her pointless chatter, Tang Mu cut her off. “Enough with the nagging. I’m about to set up the questions. As for you, go cool your heels somewhere else.”
Tang Mo spat, “Damn you…”
Tang Mu quickly shifted her consciousness, severing the stream of curses that Tang Mo was about to unleash.
Eliminating twenty-eight people in one go was certainly no easy task.
At this stage, no matter how she set the rules, it was hard to exclude herself from the outcome.
Still, she wasn’t entirely at a loss.
There were three possible approaches.
1. Eliminate everyone in Class Six, Grade Two, except Tang Mu.
But this directly violated the rule against mentioning names, so the condition for death was invalid.
2. Eliminate all owners of the orange, red, yellow, green, blue, and purple scarfed weather dolls…
But among the owners of the green scarfed weather dolls, three people remained.
3. Eliminate everyone in Class Six, Grade Two, except for transfer students. But this would include Jing You and Yin Jun-cai…
No matter how Tang Mu set the questions, she could never catch all twenty-eight in one net.
So, she moved to a fourth approach.
A forced game.
The losers would be eliminated, and only the final winner would survive.
She set the challenge: All students in Class Six, Grade Two must play a mandatory tabletop game called “Where’s the Witch?”. The cards include Witch, Prophet, Black Witch, Werewolf, King, Attendant, Knight; Boulder, Pit, Freeze, Poison Arrow, Oil Cauldron, Scissors, Stone Pillar, Cliff, as well as number cards.
There were twenty-nine students in the class, including Tang Mu. Each would receive five to ten cards. Playing a number card allowed you to advance that many spaces.
Before playing, everyone had to draw an identity card, which could not be changed once selected. The hierarchy was Witch > King > Prophet > Werewolf > Knight > Attendant. Players must play cards in the order of their identity cards.
Once all number cards were played, attack cards could be used.

Attack cards could be played on oneself or on others.
To win, a player must reach the twenty-first space exactly when they run out of cards. Otherwise, they must start over.
On their turn, a player could choose to pass and keep their cards or play all their cards and pass the turn to the next person.
The twenty-nine students were divided into four groups of seven or eight.
Players could eliminate each other. Whoever drew the Witch identity card gained an extra life. The question setter could ensure she drew the Witch card. But in the end, only one out of the twenty-nine could survive.
Death conditions: losing the game, being attacked, or running out of cards before reaching the twenty-first space.
Methods of death: not limited to one type.
Spectators at death: the whole class.
...
Setup complete.
Tang Mu reviewed the game, checking for any loopholes. Only after confirming everything was correct did she press confirm.
Though Tang Mu knew setting up this game would introduce many variables, she didn’t mind. After all, the game wouldn’t let her win easily. Rather than striving for simplicity, she might as well stir the waters, forcing the NPCs into confusion so they couldn’t fathom her intentions, and let pure competition reign.
Even if this so-called “fair competition” meant twenty-eight opponents against Tang Mu alone.
Having finished the setup, Tang Mu deliberately forgot her eight o’clock appointment with Zi Yushu that evening. She went straight to sleep.
How long Zi Yushu would wait in some corner was not Tang Mu’s concern.
7:30 AM, dawn.
The teacher entered the classroom, arms weighed down with a thick stack of exam papers.
Once everyone received their paper, the students stared blankly at the “question” written at the top.
“A game?”
One student voiced doubt.
“Why are we playing a game during an exam?”
“Yeah, and this game is so hard… I can’t even understand the instructions.”
But the teacher ignored their complaints.
She held four identical sets of cards.

The cards, still sealed in their boxes, were distributed after the exam instructions were handed out. The teacher began unpacking the boxes and took out all the identity cards.
“From now on, I’ll assign each of you a number from one to seven. Since there are twenty-nine students, one person will be singled out. That person will be assigned the number zero. Whoever draws the zero card can stand up and choose a group to join, and play ‘Where’s the Witch?’ with their classmates.”
She also produced a special identity card.
The card displayed the Witch.
“Whoever draws the zero card will also receive the Witch card unconditionally. I don’t need to explain what it means to have the Witch identity, do I?”
“Alright. Now, everyone, draw your number cards.”
The teacher threw four bundles of paper slips marked one to seven into a black box. Then, she wrote a zero, crumpled it, and tossed it in as well.
Now, each student had to go up to the podium and draw a slip.
By the time Tang Mu’s turn came, most of the class had already drawn.
She ambled up, randomly picked a slip, and returned to her seat. Opening her palm, she saw a large “4” written on it.
Whether by chance or fate, Tang Mu seemed destined for this “4”.
When everyone had drawn their number, the teacher called out loudly from the podium, “Who drew the zero?”
“It’s me,” Zi Yushu raised his hand.
Watching Zi Yushu raise his hand, Tang Mu felt a twinge of imbalance.
Two days ago, she had set up Zi Yushu so precisely, yet he hadn’t died. Last night, lying in bed, she wondered: since Zi Yushu could transfer the weather doll to someone else, what about the birthdate? If he changed his residence card, could he slip through the cracks?
Returning to the classroom today, she found it was indeed so.
There were still forty-nine desks, twenty-nine occupied, and twenty empty. On each empty desk lay the cause of its owner’s death.
On the vacant desk in the southeast corner, it was written, “Birthdate: November 9.”