"Is this really the time to keep hiding the truth?"

Ma Jie sat at the dining table, poured a glass of wine, poured a bit into his hand, and rubbed it on his elbow as if it were medicinal wine.

After the power outage, everyone rushed out of the basement, and everyone got a bump or bruise.

"You all received the photos too, right? Aren't you going to say something?"

Yu Duola shot back unceremoniously: "Say what? How you and Xu Haolong spread false rumors about Teacher Zhang back then?"

That's right, my only connection with this group was twelve years ago.

In our first year of high school, our homeroom teacher committed suicide by jumping off a building.

The cause was three students accusing her of molestation.

Xu Haolong, Ma Jie, Hu Mo.

"You act like you're so innocent, Yu Duola. Have you forgotten that you were the one who advised Xu Haolong to claim the teacher was molesting students?"

"Haha, I was just joking! Who told you guys to take it seriously! I'm baffled. How could anyone think that just to get rid of a strict homeroom teacher, they could turn a joke into false rumors about her?"

"Everyone! Let's think about how to escape from here!" I rubbed my temples and couldn't bear it anymore, interrupting the two of them.

I suggested searching the mountain tomorrow.

It's clear someone is playing tricks in the dark. If they are not in the villa, then they must be outside. Tomorrow, whether the road is passable or not, we have to search the mountain.

But Hu Mo interrupted me, pouring some wine on Yu Duola's scraped palm as he said mockingly, "How could a few of us search the damn mountain?"

I couldn't help but turn around and glare at him, "Fine, then what do you suggest?!

"I don't know!" Hu Mo pursed his lips tightly. "Besides, I had nothing to do with what happened back then."

Ha! Nothing to do with him! When the police came to the school to investigate, Hu Mo was the one who kept backing up the other two!

Three people spreading a lie make it seem like the truth! If three students claimed it happened, even if it wasn't true, it became "true"!

The final straw that broke Teacher Zhang was also provided by Hu Mo.

He knew how to manipulate photos. When the issue escalated, he photoshopped Teacher Zhang's face onto an adult film, spreading it all over the internet.

During that time, all you could hear were voices condemning Teacher Zhang.

Some even posted those pictures at her home.

"How dare you lecture me?!" Hu Mo banged the chair and stood up, "You lied to the police too, didn't you? The day Xu Haolong accused Teacher Zhang of molesting him, she was tutoring you after school! Why didn't you tell the truth?! If you had told the truth, the police wouldn't have believed us and none of this would have happened!!"

I almost laughed in disbelief at this absurd logic!

"Why should I testify for her? Besides, this has nothing to do with me! Yes, she was tutoring me that day, but I have no obligation to keep answering the police's questions! Isn't my time valuable too? With them constantly questioning me, how was I supposed to continue my studies?!"

"Wang Tiantian, calm down," Ma Jie stepped in to mediate. "Ultimately, it's because Teacher Zhang was mentally too fragile. She went and jumped off a building during the investigation, how could someone that fragile be a teacher?"

Ma Jie and I agreed on one thing: the urgent matter is figuring out how to escape.

The person behind all of this is definitely related to Teacher Zhang.

From the emails inviting us here to the arrangements in the basement.

"So, who were Teacher Zhang's close associates? Who could be the culprit?"

Leave it to someone in the media to shift the topic so cleanly and steer it in the right direction.

I couldn't help but want to retort at him; back then, he didn't accuse Teacher Zhang directly but continuously hinted to the police that she was involved in misconduct.

Without him, the police and school wouldn't have believed Xu Haolong's simplistic accusations and wouldn't have suspended Teacher Zhang for investigation.

But at least he was right about one thing: the culprit is definitely related to Teacher Zhang!

"I remember... Teacher Zhang had been divorced for a long time. At that time, she had a daughter in sixth grade, so she should be in college by now..." Yu Duola spun her uninjured hand around her phone, pondering aloud.

College, daughter, twenty-one or twenty-two years old...

Everyone's eyes instantly focused on the only outsider: the college girl Hong Hong.

Hong Hong, sitting on the perimeter, was stunned and then frantically defended herself, "I'm just a greedy part-time college student!! I really don't know anything! I just picked up this gig on a part-time platform because it paid so much!"

Ma Jie downed the wine in his glass and walked towards her, "What's your last name? Where are you from?

Your family? What's your family's contact number?"

Although Ma Jie wasn't as tall and strong as Xu Haolong, his long stint in media made him particularly menacing when interrogating people.

Hong Hong, flustered, tried to stand up and back away, "No, it's not me, really..."

Ma Jie glared at her fiercely, and as she tried to run, he quickly grabbed her hair.

The muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably, just as he was about to say something—

"Puh!!!"

He sprayed a mouthful of blood, splattering Hong Hong's head and face.

"Ah!!!" Hong Hong screamed, flailing her legs and collapsing to the ground.

Ma Jie crumpled like a deflated balloon, suddenly kneeling and collapsing on the floor, convulsing.

I quickly went over to check his eyes. His pupils were dilated, his pulse racing, his nerves twitching...

Symptoms of acute poisoning.

Soon, Ma Jie stopped convulsing. His breathing and pulse ceased, and his body lay twisted on the ground, eyes wide open in a deathly stare.

Everyone froze; Yu Duola was the first to react, quickly throwing her wine glass away.

There was something wrong with the wine.

While we were searching the basement, someone had poisoned the wine.