<h4>Chapter 1419: Game Over</h4>


    When Lin Sanjiu opened her eyes, she wondered if she had just experienced a terrifyingly vivid, blood-red nightmare. Not only had the grand prize died, but Silvan was dead too. Even she was—


    "Is everyone awake?" a somewhat familiar voice said, prompting her to sit up quickly. Before she could identify the speaker, she instinctively felt her temples. They were intact, not crushed as she remembered.


    However, the vivid memory of her temples being smashed with repeated blows made her feel nauseous.


    "I hope you remember," the voice continued with augh, "the game rules have stated that yers who die in the game won''t actually be harmed. You''ve just been revived, so confusion is expected."


    The grand prize!


    2


    Frantically, Lin Sanjiu looked around. The pain she felt was so intense, it was as if her skull had indeed been shattered. She gasped for air and whispered hoarsely, "Grand prize?"


    He had yed the role of a nt in the game, but since he didn''t genuinely take root, he should be fine now, right?


    "ording to the information I received, the yer who yed the catmint is undergoing treatment due to unique injuries," said a volunteer wrapped head to toe, standing amidst the yers. "He''s still in treatment."


    Treatment?


    "Who is treating him? And why is it unique?" Lin Sanjiu asked. She noticed Silvan slowly getting up from a far corner, seemingly struggling. They had returned to the apartment''s lobby, where the game had begun.


    "I don''t know about that," the volunteer said with a shrug, "but I know he''ll be fine. Once he''s back to normal, he''ll be brought back here. You''ll be notified, and you can collect him then."


    Everyone here spoke in such a way that the subject was often missing. Brought back by whom? The one treating the grand prize? Was the only one capable of treating a Veda the Veda themselves?


    ''Am I supposed to just wait?''


    "Are you out of your mind?!" someone shouted, pulling Lin Sanjiu out of her thoughts.


    She turned to see Leah – the in-game name of the ck-haired girl. Leah wasn''t yelling at her or the old man, Jessica, but at another girl, who yed Mr. Grant in the game. "Mr. Grant" was sitting on the ground, gaping, with a vacant expression, as if in disbelief. Although she and Leah didn''t get along, she remained silent under Leah''s tirade.


    "What were you and this old man nning to do to me?" Leah said, rubbing her throat. "Are you psychopaths?"


    Lin Sanjiu snorted. "If not, they wouldn''t have ughtered everyone in the building at the end."


    She looked up to see Silvan approaching her. The moment in the game when he, as Pink, had an ice knife plunged into his carotid artery, was likely to be material for her nightmares in the future.


    1


    It was impossible not to be angry, even if she kept reminding herself that they were just under the influence of the game.


    With a soft grunt, Silvan slumped down next to her, emitting the scent of figs. Every movement seemed to drain him, and hisplexion was no better than the others'', but he had made the effort toe over.


    "ughtered everyone?" said a sallowplexioned man, who yed the role of the beautiful woman named Ivy. Those who died early in the game seemed unaware of what happenedter.


    "All dead," replied a man with a face unfamiliar to Lin Sanjiu, "Except for Leah. In the end, they killed every character in the building, including me."


    "Who are you?" the middle-aged woman who yed Barbeque Brow demanded, squinting at him. "I''ve never seen you."


    "Alright, alright," the volunteer gestured for them to quiet down, noticing the crowd about to burst into a cacophony. Once everyone fell silent, he continued, "First, let me inform you of the game''s conclusion."


    Lin Sanjiu sighed. She wasn''t sure what kind of luck she had. Every time she persuaded someone, they died. By the end that she was aware of, almost all her "followers" were dead. Without asking, she knew she had failed this round of the game and would probably have to repeat it. The sheer terror of having one''s skull smashed while alive sent a shiver down her spine.


    "By the seventeenth day of the game, most yers were dead, leaving only Jetson and Leah alive. They both survived until the thirtieth day, when the game ended."


    "Wait," the elderly woman who yed Ms. Chen, interrupted, "Jetson died a long time ago."


    "He didn''t die," Lin Sanjiu said. "Our perception was distorted by the game."


    "What do you mean?"


    The girl who yed Jetson cleared her throat awkwardly. "Um," she nced at the boy who yed Marigold — he was giving her a cold look — and scratched her head. "Actually, it was Jetson who killed Marigold... but everyone thought Jetson was the one who died."


    Without waiting for the crowd to inquire, she continued, "I realized midway through the game... we have blind spots in this game, primarily due to... um, identity conflicts between the game characters and the actual yers.


    "Uh, my objective was to secretly get rid of my wife... because Marigold was a heavy burden for me," the girl ying Jetson said, ncing at her "wife" in the game, who was her friend outside of it. "I thought about it over and over, and it seemed that the only way to get rid of her without anyone realizing it was me who did it was to kill her."


    1


    "Did you really have to smash my entire head?" the boy asked angrily.


    "I''m sorry, I had no choice," the girl pleaded. "After all, I couldn''t let them see your face and recognize you as Marigold."


    "How did you find out that if we can''t see your face, we would have this kind of misunderstanding?" Ms. Chen asked, stunned — she was the first to be deceived.


    The girl ying Jetson gestured with her chin towards "Mr. Grant" and said, "It''s simple. I live next to apartment No. 2, and Mr. Grant always goes to apartment No. 2. Once, I overheard him talking to Jessica."


    "Mr. Grant" looked at her nkly.


    "He told Jessica that when he came, he overheard two women whispering at the bottom of the stairs, saying they only had two more portions left and there wouldn''t be any more after that," "Jetson" said, thenughed. "Once I heard that, I realized... the people speaking were actually me and Ms. Chen."


    Lin Sanjiu suddenly remembered, Ms. Chen had indeed told her that she always hid under the stairs when she secretly traded with Jetson.


    "It''s not a big deal that I overheard, but what caught my attention was that he said ''two women'' were trading." The girl, feeling a bit proud, patted her friend''s shoulder. "Even though I was ying a man and everyone heard my voice, since he didn''t see me in person and only heard my voice, he still thought based on physiological characteristics that the person speaking was a woman. I then thought, if I destroy Marigold''s face, then hide, and let everyone think based on physiological characteristics that the deceased was a man... would everyone think the dead person was Jetson?"


    That was exactly it. Everyone knew Jetson was a man, but they only acknowledged "this is Jetson" when they saw this girl''s face. When they didn''t see the face but only saw a male corpse, they instinctively thought "the deceased is a man, so of course, it''s Jetson."


    Silvan seemed to have realized this early on.


    "Why did only the two of you survive till the end?" Lin Sanjiu asked. "After Mr. Grant and Jessica killed us, were they..."


    "We were poisoned by Pink''s grandma." "Mr. Grant" nced at the middle-aged man ying Pink''s grandma.


    Thetter seemed dazed as if he had been avoiding Silvan''s gaze the entire time. When he heard the word "poisoned," he jolted. "Poisoned? I thought I grabbed sleeping pills."


    Shaking his head, he sighed. "My goal was to still have a grandson by the end of the game. I took some pill bottles while you were all looking for the baby in Apartment No. 2. I was in and out of consciousness; I really thought those were sleeping pills."


    "What was your n?"


    "I initially thought that as long as I kept a close eye on Pink, ensured he didn''t run away or get into any trouble, I would achieve my goal. The objective seemed so easy. But when I realized my proof of identity was missing, it dawned on me—what''s the use of having Pink alive if I can''t prove I''m his grandma?"


    Lin Sanjiu began to understand. "So, you nned to drug Mr. Grant and then dere that you''re his grandma?"


    "No need to dere," he said, shrugging. "All I needed was to live with him and care for him as if he were my own grandson. That''s how it was between Pink and me. Only difference was that he willingly moved in, then I treated him as my grandson."


    "What do you mean by ''he willingly moved in''?" Ms. Chen asked.


    "There''s no blood rtion between these two characters; I''m an orphan," Silvan said, seeming a bit self-mocking. "Seeing her in a daze, I figured she was an easy target. I moved into her ce, telling her I was her grandson. But when I found out even her identity was in jeopardy and she couldn''t look after me anymore, I knew I had to find another ce."


    Both Mr. Grant and the elderly Jessica shifted their gaze to Lin Sanjiu, the next potential target.


    2


    "Alright, I''ll announce those who passed," the volunteer interrupted. "You can continue discussing until the next game starts. Remember, those who didn''t aplish their tasks will have to y this game again."


    Everyone looked quite unsettled.


    "Leah''s goal was to survive for thirty days," the volunteer began, reading from a slip of paper. "After Mr. Grant and Jessica tied her up and then died, no one untied her. She survived without food or water till the end, although barely breathing. But since she''s still alive, she passed."


    Leah exhaled deeply—her final days must have been extremely torturous.


    "After Jetson killed her wife, she managed to make everyone believe that she was the one killed by her wife. Although the truth was discovered midway, those who found out didn''t survive until the end. Thus, she passed as well."


    "Jetson" looked somewhat surprised, probably not expecting her n to almost fail.


    "Pink sessfully gained Elizabeth''s recognition in the end, finding himself a new guardian. Hence, he passed."


    Lin Sanjiu and Silvan remained expressionless.


    "Elizabeth, your goal was to make everyone believe that you had psychic powers," the volunteer said. "Of the two who survived till the thirtieth day, both believed in your powers. Hence, you passed too."


    Now, Lin Sanjiu was truly stunned. Jetson''s belief was understandable, but Leah?


    "You mentioned a ghostin the building," Leah said somewhat sheepishly. "I thought everyonein the building had died except for me... but then I saw Jetson''s shadowthrough the window. Someone who was supposedly dead appeared on the secondfloor... Wouldn''t that be a ghost?"