There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

As he had expected, this little girl didn't seem like someone who could be easily intimidated; she even dared to attempt another assault.

Only this time she didn't succeed, after all, Qiuzi was already dead.

Xu Shuo stood up and made his way to the rest area, saying, "Zhang, I have other things to do tonight, I'll go with you some other time."

Officer Zhang watched her retreating back without saying a word.

The girl's figure was perfectly outlined by her dance attire. Although she wasn't tall, the curve of her long legs was incredibly exquisite, swaying with the grace of a swan as she moved.

Under the bright lights, her shadow gathered an inch beneath her feet, moving as if lotuses bloomed with each step.

Officer Zhang's gaze flickered, she looked down at her own shadow below, then turned to stare at Lanruo, who was lying rigidly on the ground, motionless.

She slightly increased the distance between herself and Lanruo.

Her shadow followed her movements, the previously merged grey shadow of Lanruo now stretched apart, a clear boundary forming under the incandescent light.

Seeing this, Officer Zhang quickly stood up and stepped back several paces, completely distancing herself from Lanruo.

This girl had no shadow!

...

In the rest area, Xu Shuo was browsing on his smartphone; he opened a social media app and poked at Xuena's profile picture, but got no response.

The shadow beneath him always clung to an inch of his feet; even as the girl sat on the bench swinging her legs, it didn't change in the slightest.

Xu Shuo played idly with his phone, lifting his eyes to glance at the woman in the dance room who was cautiously studying Lanruo.

This game indeed started with the deceased.

The game opened with Qiuzi's witnessed death, followed by various characters entering the scene: police officers, dancers, teachers, priests, and Qiuzi herself—as the deceased.

Xu Shuo wasn't blind to the basic outline of the story.

From a group of more than twenty people, Changying narrowed it down to just three, and in secret, she went out of her way to stir up conflicts and battles between them, as if to awaken the darkness in their hearts.

In this story, Qiuzi was the perfect White Swan—pure and elegant, representing the side of light.

Lanruo was thoughtful and embodied the unrestrained desires of the Black Swan, yet she couldn't achieve the pure innocence of the White Swan.

Logically, if it really were about finding the dancer who could best portray darkness, Lanruo would have been Changying's first choice, but the latter had set her sights on Qiuzi instead.

She continuously tempted Qiuzi to compete with Lanruo, wanting her to unleash the presence of the Black Swan. Unfortunately, until her death, Qiuzi remained a White Swan.

Only after death did she touch upon darkness.

And Xuena had been the perfect Swan Princess from the start but had broken her wings, now unable to take flight.

Clearly, Changying hadn't forgotten to continue tempting her too.

So, who exactly is the "Dancer in the Dark"?

Xu Shuo played a matching puzzle game on his phone, casually thinking about the plot, but by the time Officer Zhang had finished examining the body, and it was nine o'clock in the evening, Xuena still hadn't replied to him.

It looked like she wasn't coming today.

Xu Shuo stood up and directly changed out of his routine clothes in the rest area.

Officer Zhang was about to call out to him to say something, but just then she turned and saw this scene, so she silently turned her head away.

Although she really wanted to look, the more mesmerized she became, the less she could control herself.

After waiting a while, soft footsteps approached, and Officer Zhang turned her head again, seeing the girl standing slender and tall in a white long-sleeved dress.

She seemed to look even paler than before.

Officer Zhang glanced at the shadow beneath her feet and frowned slightly, "Are you really not going to come with me tonight? I plan to bring Lanruo as well, her current state is a bit strange."

Xu Shuo smiled and did not engage, instead saying, "Zhang, I will be performing as the main character in three days, let's talk about it then."

With Lanruo now unable to take the stage, his only competition was Xuena—of course, it was now uncertain whether Xuena could perform either.

Originally, he had intended for Xuena to go on stage.

Upon hearing this, Officer Zhang hesitated before asking, "Qiuzi, do you know what day it is in three days?"

Xu Shuo didn't even glance at the corpse on the ground and headed towards the door, his voice playfully trailing behind, "It's time for me to perform~"

Officer Zhang: "..."

"Oh, and no need to turn off the lights after leaving."

As the girl's voice faded, so did her figure at the doorway. Officer Zhang did not stop or try to keep her there.

The two had hardly had a meaningful conversation since they met, but some things were clearly understood by both.

Whether Qiuzi was still human, they probably all knew by now, but because her identity was still useful for the time being, everyone refrained from speaking up.

Conveniently, Xu Shuo wanted their help to advance the plot.

After all, he still had Character Cards to fill out.

...
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The dance studio quieted down. Watching the girl's departing figure, Officer Zhang sighed helplessly.

She pondered things, becoming lost in thought for a while until the silence became too profound. She then snapped back to reality, looked around the spacious and empty dance studio, and considered that probably everyone who danced here was not normal.

Unsure if it was a psychological factor, Officer Zhang felt a chill and shivered.

After informing her temporary teammates about the situation, she put away her phone, pulled Lanruo's corpse up to rest on her shoulder, and prepared to take it back.

Under the light, only her own shadow was reflected.

However, in reality, as Lanruo dangled her legs at the tip of her toes, a small black spot was spreading, pitch dark as if it were the dead of night, moving with her body, just like a shadow.

But because the black spot was not obvious and it spread very slowly, Officer Zhang had not yet noticed.

Reaching the doorway, Officer Zhang intended to turn off the lights by habit, but just as her hand was about to hit the switch, the girl's last words popped into her head—

"No need to turn off the lights when leaving."

Thus, the finger that almost pushed the switch froze.

Qiuzi wouldn't have said that for no reason, right?

Thinking it over, since she wasn't responsible for the electricity bill anyway, whether or not the lights were off didn't matter, so she decided to leave them on.

Officer Zhang moved her finger away from the light switch and left the dance studio door ajar, leaving but a crack from which a beam of light spilled into the hallway outside.

The hallway lights, which had been somewhat dim just earlier, had now returned to their normal brightness, as if what she had seen while coming upstairs had been an illusion.

Only, the security guard was nowhere to be seen.

Officer Zhang's expression grew heavy, and though she had initially planned to take the elevator, she suddenly felt that the confined space seemed unsafe. She decided to just continue carrying the body up the stairs.

The girl's corpse was extremely cold, pale without a hint of color, exuding a chilling, eerie sensation,

If it weren't for her strong mentality and the need to investigate, Officer Zhang would not want to drag her along.

As the two traversed, two shadows were cast under the light.

One was a normal grayish-black human silhouette; the other was a subtle one under the tip of the toes, starting to spread, slowly and eerily dark.