Chapter 169 Mental Breakdown

"This round, let's vote out 11. Number 2 is my confirmed innocent, pass." Su Yuhe gave a side glance, seemingly hinting to her two teammates.

Number 3 was in a complete mental tangle, and he was hardly the only confused person at the table. "First of all, I am the actual Hunter. You, Number 6, wearing my clothes, automatically landed in my wolf pile. Following that logic, since you are backing Number 11, then Number 11 must be the fake Seer."

He continued, "During that critical vote last round, you didn't shift your vote and stubbornly stayed on Number 11's team. I simply can't let that go."

"Aside from Number 10, nobody else even mentioned Number 7 earlier. I initially threw Number 7 into the wolf pile because her words and actions didn't match up, but then Number 7 ended up supporting Number 4—and that's the strange part. Two wolf suspects of mine ended up supporting rival Seers."

"As for who to believe... honestly, I have no clue. Right now, nobody's claimed identity on this table is convincing enough. Numbers 2 and 12 are both single-side confirmed innocents, Number 10 hasn't claimed a role, and Number 9 claimed a strong role, though we can't rule out a fake..."

Number 3 the Hunter went around the circle and finally settled on a relatively clean card. "You, Number 5, didn't take a side on the first day, didn't receive a confirmed innocent check, and haven't claimed a specific role today. In my eyes, that actually makes you look village-aligned."

"Sigh, at this point, we can only cross that bridge when we come to it. Number 11 definitely wouldn't dare give me a guilty check, which means I'm a Hunter sitting on a confirmed innocent read. Should we just vote out Number 6 first? I'd love to find out if he really is the White Wolf King."

Number 2 was even more muddled. After receiving a confirmed innocent check, he felt completely untethered, and his speech was nothing short of muddying the waters.

"I'm just a plain villager, and right now I can't trust a single soul, right? So I'll just go with my gut. This Number 10 has huge issues—why is a plain villager acting so aggressive? If she just stayed low-key and coasted like me, how great would that be."

"Actually, the biggest question is who the White Wolf King is. It couldn't possibly be Number 7, who just got poisoned—the probability of that is way too low. Since you all agree that the White Wolf King wouldn't be on a counter-stacked team, the only hardheaded ones blindly taking a stand are Numbers 6, 9, and 10."

"I propose we vote out Number 10 first. Anyway, the White Wolf King won't just sit back and watch himself get voted out without doing anything; he's bound to self-detonate and take someone with him before his speech ends, am I right?"

"Once we catch the White Wolf King, the rest will be much easier to handle." Number 2 clapped his hands together, his face beaming with joy, convinced that the deadlock had been perfectly resolved.

Player 12 raised her head slightly, not even bothering to cast a cold glare. "I have an absolute facepalm moment right here to hand over to you, Number 2."

"I originally wanted to play a balanced game, but since the Witch's poison has already been used, I suppose we can't do that anymore." Player 12 frowned and deliberated, "How about we vote out you, Number 11? And then you hand the sheriff badge to me so I can lead the town?"

Seeing Number 11's indignant expression, Number 12 took her words back. "Is it really necessary... Well, who should we vote out then? I haven't the slightest idea either. I'm just a weak role card, and I'm very passive, you know. I don't know whether 3 or 6 is true or false, so let's wait and hear your investigation target first."

Upon hearing the subtle hint confirming his Guard identity, the wolf team's victory was practically sealed. Chen Fan only needed to detonate a plain villager card, and leave the remaining endgame for his teammates to play however they pleased.

Still, Chen Fan was in no rush. As long as he kept his cool, the initiative of the board firmly remained in the hands of the wolves. Who knew if this confirmed innocent was just playing sly and letting slip information on purpose to set a trap for him?

"If we believe Number 4 is the Seer... there are still 3 wolves on the board, and the White Wolf King is likely Number 3."

"If we believe Number 11 is the Seer... there are still 3 wolves on the board, and the White Wolf King is this Number 6."

Player 12 weighed and compared the two scenarios back and forth; the impact of either situation on the game was practically identical. The only difference was that the Sheriff would have an extra 0.5 vote weight.

Since a coherent, single-sided logical thread was impossible to piece together and every explanation had contradictions, Number 12 simply declared, "Let's just vote out you, Number 11. After all, the Sheriff badge is in your hands, and playing a balanced game later on won't be very convenient. Remember to pass the badge to me when you die. Pass."

Number 11 returned an exasperated yet polite smile and said, "Are you an electronic scale at a farmers' market? Constantly obsessing over balance, feeling uncomfortable and losing sleep if one side is lighter by a single gram?"

"You, Number 3, are my investigated innocent, so what? But this Number 6 is indeed not on my side—I am a Seer without a team."

"This Number 6 has been messing around from start to finish. If I were a bluffing wolf and knew my team had a loose cannon like that, I'd definitely assign him to play a delayed counter-clandestine role, or just have him blend into the background like Number 2, that intellectually challenged villager, so he doesn't draw any aggro."

"Number 2, do you even know how to play? How did you even survive this far, by pulling other people's internet cables? If you had even half of Number 10's reasoning, this game would've been over ages ago."

"Where is the White Wolf King? I'd love to know myself. Who on this table has been aggressively inciting votes? Number 6, Number 9, Number 10—that's it, right? Excluding the poisoned Number 7, the White Wolf King definitely has to be among these three."

The more Number 11 talked, the more agitated he became, continuously banging on the table. "I seriously give up on you people. Number 6 probably isn't the White Wolf King, just a plain old counter-aligned wolf. Number 10 is a stubborn villager, right? Then you, Number 9, must be the White Wolf King."

"Let me spell out who the four wolves are: 4, 6, 7, and 9, right? Of course, I'm not saying Number 6 is 100% a wolf; there's a tiny, microscopic chance in my mind that you're just an ignorant villager who doesn't even understand the rules of the game, fine?"

"You, Number 9, are acting stubborn? I don't buy it. No strong role card plays like you do. You couldn't possibly be the Witch, taking Number 4's side and then helping us balance the votes? Are you suffering from a split personality or some psychological disorder?"

"And you, Number 12, talking about being a weak role card—we were already short on plain villagers, and you couldn't wait to stand up and claim a role? Isn't that practically telling the wolves, 'I'm not a plain villager, don't drop the night kill on me'? Is that any way to speak?"

"Who says a Seer has to speak while cowering? I refuse to accept this. A great prophetic card that gathers so much information at night, only to be suspected and cross-examined all day—do you take me for a criminal?"

"As this game's Seer, I am going to stand tall and play with absolute integrity. You bunch of good guys who can't tell right from wrong, failing to recognize who the real Seer is, don't deserve to win at all."

"A Seer who doesn't even leave Sheriff investigation targets, and you people actually accept her? Her defense is garbage, yet so many people are still lending her their votes, and you're telling me she has no team? Who would believe that? The game state was crystal clear, yet all of you went off the rails, jabbering on about balance. I'll give you a big fat balancing act!"

"If you're not voting out Number 4, what are you waiting for? If the White Wolf King is here, self-detonate already! It's got to be you, Number 9, there's no running away from it. Put on a show and light up the most dazzling fireworks in the night sky for me, and pick anyone at random from this table to drag down with you as a垫背 (scapegoat)."

By the end of his rant, Number 11's speech had devolved entirely into emotional, meta-gaming personal attacks. Chen Fan usually despised people like this—clearly lacking in skill, yet resorting to all sorts of cheap emotional outbursts out of frustration while remaining utterly self-satisfied.

"I won this game purely through my 'skill' (meta-gaming), what right do you have to call me bad."

Though he didn't know how much impact Number 11's tirade would actually have on the table, Chen Fan decided he still needed to teach him a little lesson.

"Didn't you say the White Wolf King isn't on your team? Well then, fine, let me play your role for a moment."

"Number 6 is the White Wolf King, self-detonating to take Number 2 with me."