So she was using this chance to make a show of strength... Igola understood in his heart that Annan's words were all but explicitly saying, *I know all of you want to seize it, but no matter what schemes you harbor, I will be the ultimate victor.*
Compared to empty threats, this confidence—as if holding everything firmly in the palm of her hand—was far more intimidating.
"Still, if it goes like this, everyone will guess correctly and end up with the same score, which makes things rather dull." Annan pondered for a moment. "Besides, if people have to ask the questions themselves, they might be too embarrassed to ask certain delicate things... Ah, I know!"
From a nearby drawer, she produced a pad of slips. "This is 'thoughtographic memo paper.' It automatically transcribes whatever is on a person's mind in standard No. 4 font. In other words, you can't identify the writer by their handwriting; it functions like an anonymous note."
She then brought out a black box. "Each person will write a question and drop it into this box. We'll draw three out to ask, so no one will know who asked what. With this many safeguards in place, you can feel free to ask whatever you're curious about, right?"
Looking at such a complete set of props, Igola knew Annan had prepared all of this well in advance. Perhaps she had been waiting for them to lash out and make demands, just so she could seize the opportunity to propose this game... But why this game?
What purpose did Annan hope to achieve through it?
The moment Igola received his slip of paper, he suddenly realized the intriguing nature of the game.
First, it was established that everyone present was bound to answer honestly.
Second, the questions were drawn at random, with no one knowing who had submitted which.
That meant Igola could easily ask, *Are you planning to murder Igola, Yaxiu, Archibald, and Lisi?* and thereby learn whether Annan intended to pull up the weeds by their roots after the Weaving Ceremony. Moreover, since he would merely be one anonymous participant among the group, he wouldn't draw Annan's hostility for it!
No... It would be a waste to use such a rare opportunity solely to interrogate Annan. After all, everyone else was also bound to answer honestly; he could easily devise a brilliant question to draw out the truth from everyone—
Igola froze.
He finally understood Annan's intent.
It was a shameless, despicable open conspiracy, yet even after seeing through its cleverness, Igola could not help but walk right into it.
No wonder the game was called *Guessing the True Heart*. The focus was never 'the true heart'—it was 'guessing'!
Whenever you tried to dredge up the darkness of human nature, you would only ever receive the answer you sought. Human nature could never withstand scrutiny, and one's true heart should never be put to the guess!
"Brother Banjie, do you have a small mirror?" Lisi asked suddenly. "I want to see if Aunt Bogin braided my hair nicely."
"Of course, Miss Lisi." Banjie casually produced a small mirror, though no one could tell where he had pulled it from.
*Clap.*
Once everyone had dropped their slips into the box, Annan lightly clapped her hands. "Now that the questions are collected... Mr. Bogin, please preside over the upcoming answering and guessing rounds. After all, I provided both the box and the paper. If I ran the game as well, I'm afraid you would suspect I rigged something."
Igola could hardly refuse such a reasonable request. He drew a slip of paper from the black box, his pupils instantly dilating slightly.
"Question."
"If given the opportunity, would you murder the other five people present in order to seize the divine wish?"
"Oho," Annan said with a smile. "What a thrilling question."
Everyone placed their gold coins beneath their handkerchiefs and entered the guessing phase. Annan spoke first. "I believe the number of people who answered 'yes' is zero."
"I have a different view." Harvey wagered a silver coin. "I say one."
"One for me as well," Igola followed.
Yaxiu held out his hands. "I'm not like you two. I choose zero."
Banjie chose zero as well. Lisi alone wagered two silver coins. Everyone was slightly taken aback, but quickly understood—perhaps in Lisi's eyes, Annan and Banjie were both villains who controlled her, so she naturally assumed both of them were capable of murdering the rest.
Yet that was impossible. At the very least, Banjie would never do it—because the option of 'murdering the other five people' included murdering Annan.
Although Yaxiu and the others didn't know how long Banjie had lived with Annan, Banjie was a man in his sixties. To him, Annan was practically a daughter. On top of that, he had no children of his own; how could he possibly murder Annan, his sole living family in the real world?
Turn it around, however, and the story changed. If Annan was sufficiently blinded by ambition, she might very well be willing to murder Banjie to satisfy her desires.
That was why Igola had wagered on one person: if anyone present was likely to answer 'yes,' the most probable candidate was Annan.
Yet when the handkerchiefs were lifted, everyone froze.
Four 'no's, two 'yes'es.
Among the six of them, two were willing to murder the rest without hesitation for the sake of the divine wish!
Igola swept his gaze across the room. First of all, he had answered 'no,' Lisi was certainly a 'no,' and Banjie was overwhelmingly likely a 'no.'
That meant the ones who chose 'yes' could only be among Annan, Yaxiu, and Harvey!
Even if Annan occupied one of those spots, one of either Yaxiu or Harvey was guaranteed to be a butcher who had already steeled his heart!
Harvey went without saying; ever since he escaped Shattered Lake Prison, he had been hurtling toward ruin. Igola felt that his escape was merely a way to pick the most wretched death possible for himself. As for Yaxiu, although Igola believed he was not that sort of person—since both the faint sympathy Yaxiu showed Lisi and his past actions proved he had not lost his humanity—
What if it was all an act?
Besides, even if everything in the past had been genuine, did that prove there was no darkness in his heart at this very moment?
He could show compassion to a little girl, lose his temper at Igola over Ronald, and attack the Everlasting Presence to avoid hurting Igola... but he could just as easily harbor murderous intent for the sake of the divine wish.
The Third Law of Swindlers: everything in this world has a price for betrayal; as long as the price is high enough, even sunlight can forsake the sun.
Faced with a reward as immeasurably vast as a divine wish, any choice Yaxiu made would be completely reasonable. Even if he was genuinely kind, that wouldn't prevent him from being occasionally cruel.
Furthermore, Annan might not even be the other 'yes.' Compared to former death-row convicts like them, Annan had ultimately been a law-abiding operative in the gray zones—evident from the fact that she was ranked on the lists, where illegal acts heavily docked one's standing.
Annan had likely killed very few people in her life. Could someone whose hands had barely tasted blood really steel herself to murder Banjie, who had followed her for years, and an innocent little girl like Lisi?
Between Yaxiu and Harvey, was it one of the two... or both?
On the other side, Yaxiu had arrived at a similar thought.
At most, only one 'yes' could have come from Banjie and Annan. He was a 'no,' and Lisi was a 'no,' which meant one of the 'yes'es had to belong to either Igola or Harvey.
Among them sat a vicious killer willing to slaughter everyone to claim the divine wish.
When Yaxiu looked up, he found Igola staring right at him.
This was the terror of guessing the true heart.
When you guessed at another's heart, they would guess at your thoughts in turn. Once the seeds of suspicion fell into the darkest corners of the mind, they would sprout during the next argument, grow tall and sturdy through subsequent conflicts, and eventually catch fire from the sparks of rage like a blazing torch, staining the heart's darkness the color of blood.
"This is trouble," Yaxiu sighed. "Lisi, who would've thought there were actually two bad guys here..."
He pretended to speak with Lisi to deliberately evade Igola's gaze, but Lisi merely cast him a cold glance, devoid of her earlier warmth.
It was as if she were looking at a clump of weeds, her eyes devoid of any innocence, carrying instead a detached cruelty.
Yaxiu blinked, wondering if she had already entered her rebellious phase.
"Only Lisi guessed correctly, so Lisi earns one point while everyone else remains at zero." Annan seemed completely unfazed by the previous question. "Next one, please."
Though sunlight streamed brightly outside, the atmosphere in the living room had turned oppressive. Igola sighed inward. The very first question had already sown seeds of suspicion in everyone's hearts; what would happen with the second was terrifying to imagine.
He drew the second slip from the black box, his eyebrows shooting up, and lunged across the table to grapple with Yaxiu.
"Ya! Xiu!—"
"How do you even know I wrote it?!"
"Who else would be this bored besides you?!"
Harvey picked up the slip Igola had dropped and couldn't help bursting into laughter.
"Haha, q-question."
"Do you think Igola should wear pretty girls' clothes?"
Chapter 228