Chapter 1 The Room With No Doors

• An antiquated tungsten bulb, suspended in the center of the room by a black wire, flickered with a dim glow.
• The serene atmosphere was like a drop of ink spreading through clear water, permeating throughout the room.
• In the heart of the room was a large round table, which looked quite worn and weathered. At the center of the table, a small ornate clock stood, its intricate patterns catching the eye. At that moment, it was ticking away steadily.
• Seated around the table were ten individuals, each dressed distinctly from the others. Their clothes appeared somewhat worn, and their faces were smeared with a fair amount of dust.
• Some of them were sprawled out on the table, while others were reclined in their chairs, all deeply asleep.
• Beside these ten individuals, a man stood quietly. He wore a goat head mask and was dressed in a black suit.
• Through the worn-out goat head mask, his gaze was piercing as he watched the ten individuals with keen interest.
• The clock on the table began to chime, its minute and hour hands both pointing toward the number “12”.
• From a distant place far beyond the room, the deep tolling of a bell could be heard.
• At the same moment, the ten men and women seated around the round table gradually regained consciousness.
• They first looked around in confusion, then turned to gaze questioningly at each other.
• It seemed that no one could recall why they ended up here.
• “Good morning, you nine.” Goat Head was the first to speak. “I'm thrilled to meet you all here. You've been slumbering in my presence for twelve hours already.”
• The man standing before them was dressed in such a peculiar way that it gave everyone a start under the dim light.
• His mask seemed to be made from an actual goat's head, with much of the hair having turned yellow and black, clumped together in knots.
• The goat head mask had two hollow spaces carved out for the eyes, revealing his cunning gaze.
• With every move, the unique scent of a goat wafted over, carrying a subtle hint of decay.
• A man with tattooed arms paused for a few seconds before he finally noticed something off about the situation. Hesitant, he addressed Goat Head, “Who... are you?”
• “I'm sure you all have this question, so let me introduce myself to the nine of you.” Goat Head happily waved his hands, looking as if he had prepared the answer long ago.
• A young man named Skyler Kinsley sat at the spot farthest from Goat Head. He swiftly surveyed the situation inside the room and, after a moment, his expression turned serious.
• This room was really quite peculiar.
• There were no doors here, only walls.
• In other words, this room was completely enclosed, with the walls, roof, and floor all sealed off. Yet, curiously, there was a table placed right in the middle of the room.
• So, how did we end up here?
• Could it be that they sent us over first, and then built this room around us afterward?
• Skyler cast another glance around. Regardless of whether it was the floor, the walls, or the ceiling, all were adorned with crisscrossing lines. These lines segmented the walls and floor into numerous large squares.
• Another thing that caught Skyler's attention was the fact that Goat Head addressed them as nine people.
• Seated around the round table were ten individuals, no matter how he counted. Including Goat Head, there were a total of eleven people in the room.
• So what did he mean by only “nine of us”?
• He reached into his pocket, and as expected, his phone had already been taken away.
• “No need to introduce yourself,” a cool-tempered woman said to Goat Head. “I advise you to cease your actions immediately. I suspect you've held us captive for over twenty-four hours, which is the crime of false imprisonment. Every word you utter from now on will be recorded and could serve as incriminating evidence against you.”
• As she spoke, she disdainfully rubbed at the dust on her arm, as if being dirty bothered her more than being imprisoned.
• The words spoken by the aloof woman indeed served as a wake-up call for everyone present. Regardless of who the other party was, the audacity to kidnap ten people single-handedly had undoubtedly broken the law.
• “Hold on...” A middle-aged man in a white coat interrupted everyone's train of thought. He slowly turned his gaze toward the aloof woman and asked, “We've only just woken up. How do you know we've been captive for twenty-four hours?”
• His tone was steady and strong, yet he had hit the nail on the head.
• The cool and composed woman casually pointed to the clock on the table and responded, “The hands of this clock point to twelve, but I'm a night owl, and the last time I checked the time at home, it was already midnight. This suggests that we've been held captive for at least twelve hours.”
• After she finished speaking, she pointed toward the walls around them and continued, “You must have noticed that there's no door in this room. This suggests that someone went through a lot of trouble to get us in here. He said we've been asleep for twelve hours, and now the clock is pointing at twelve again. This means it has gone around at least twice. That's why I suspect we've been here for more than twenty-four hours. Any objections?”
• After hearing her response, the man in the white coat cast a cold glance at the woman, his gaze still filled with suspicion.
• After all, in such a situation, this woman was far too composed.
• Would a normal person, faced with such a kidnapping, respond with such calmness?
• At that moment, a robust young man clad in a black T-shirt spoke up. “Goat Head, why do you say there are nine people here when there are actually ten?”
• Goat Head remained silent, not responding immediately.
• “D*mn it, I don't care how many people are here!” The man with the tattooed arms cursed. He tried to push himself up from the table but found his legs were too weak to support him. Left with no choice, he continued to point at Goat Head and threatened, “Listen here, you dumb*ss. You probably don't realize the severity of messing with me. I could really end your life.”
• As these words were spoken, the expressions of the men present gradually turned serious. Indeed, right now, they needed a leader. If they could manage to subdue Goat Head together, the situation would still be under control.
• However, everyone found that their legs felt as if they had been injected with something, rendering them completely powerless at that moment.
• Hence, the tattooed man could only resort to verbal threats against Goat Head, loudly hurling insults at him.
• Skyler remained silent, gently stroking his chin. His gaze was fixed on the clock on the table as he lost himself in thought.
• Things didn't seem as simple as initially thought.
• He understood that when Goat Head spoke of “nine participants,” it implied that if there were ten people present, it only confirmed that one among them was not a participant.
• Who was he then?
• There were six men and four women in this room. Could one of them possibly be the kidnapper?
• Goat Head fell silent, slowly making his way to Skyler's side before positioning himself behind a young man.
• Everyone followed his gaze, only to realize that the young man was different from everyone present. Despite the dirt on his face, he was radiating a smile of pure joy.
• Goat Head slowly raised his hand, placing it gently on the back of the young man's head.
• The young man's smile grew increasingly peculiar. He cast an excited glance at everyone, giving off the impression that he had known something all along.
• Following that was a dull thud, as Goat Head brutally slammed the young man's head onto the table.
• A red substance, akin to spilled paint, rapidly spread across the table in an instant. Specks of blood splattered on the faces of everyone present.
• The young man's head had exploded like a smashed watermelon after being slammed against the table.
• Outside the room, the distant tolling of a bell was heard once again.
• Skyler was closest to the deceased man, so he felt an unidentified object sticking to his face, warm and sticky.
• He had always deemed himself emotionally resilient, yet he hadn't expected to be trembling at this moment.
• The woman sitting to the right of the deceased froze for three seconds before her face contorted in horror, and she let out a piercing scream.
• This piercing scream shattered everyone's mental defenses.
• Could a being capable of shattering the toughest bone in the human body, the skull, with a mere slam against a table, still be considered human?
• How could his frail body unleash such immense strength?
• Then, Goat Head slowly began to speak. “The reason ten people were prepared is to use one of them to quiet you all down.”