It was now 4 a.m., and the countdown in the upper-right corner showed only 13 hours remaining.
The girl: “There’s something the Countess said that’s been bothering me. She said there aren’t many good people on this ship. Does that mean other NPCs have also done bad things that we don’t know about?”
Ji Nansheng thought for a moment and decided to investigate the Countess’s room.
When in doubt, search for evidence.
They first went to the Count and Countess’s room. The Count’s withered, lifeless body hadn’t been taken care of yet, and it was still laying on the velvet bed.
Whether the lights were on or off, it was quite terrifying either way.
In the end, faced with the choice of pretending the body wasn’t there by turning off the lights or confronting it head-on with the lights on, they chose to keep the lights on and face the body.
Nervously and cautiously, they turned the room upside down, but all they found were the couple’s clothes and belongings.
The Countess’s toiletries were neatly arranged on the counter, but they all appeared unused and brand new.
Ji Nansheng thought for a moment. “Let’s check the room next door.”
The Countess had stopped being close to the Count half a year ago, so she probably went to another room after the Count fell asleep, returning only when he was about to wake up, so the Count wouldn’t notice.
The four left the Count’s room and went to the room next door.
As they crouched down and quietly pushed the door open. the previously dark room suddenly lit up. They were startled and subconsciously looked around.
In the room that was luxuriously decorated as the one next door, a man was already sitting on a single sofa. His posture was casual, his gaze commanding, and there was a notebook on the table in front of him.
Ji Nansheng blurted out, “Dijia.”
Dijia crossed his long left leg over his right. “I found the Countess’s diary.”
His gaze swept over the leather-bound notebook in front of him. Clearly, it was the Countess’s diary.
Just as the four of them were about to step forward to read it, Dijia suddenly picked up the notebook. “Who do you think the Siren is?”
The girl: “I don’t know. I’m starting to doubt if there even is a Siren. There are many geographical explanations on Baidu Encyclopedia, and many areas with magnetic disturbances where ships lose their way and disappear. Maybe this place is one of those dangerous areas, and the legend of the ‘Siren’ arose because ships kept vanishing here.”
The muscular man: “Even though what you said makes sense, the Countess mentioned the Siren when she jumped into the sea. She said the Siren told her everything, so there must be a Siren. Plus, we’ve seen strange phenomena more than once—like the ghostly figure that dragged the man down, and the one that strangled the man in the hall. How do you explain those if there’s no Siren?”
Dijia nodded. “Good point. So there definitely is a Siren. Based on that, who do you think the Siren is?”
The four looked at each other.
Dijia said confidently, “Let me tell you, the Siren is the Countess.”
The girl exclaimed, “But she just jumped into the sea and died!”
Dijia: “Do you think a Siren would die in the sea? She faked her death to throw off our suspicions. No one would suspect a dead person of being the Siren.”
Dijia asked in a deep voice, “Do you agree with me or not?”
The group was silent.
“To convince you, she even created this diary,” Dijia casually tossed the diary onto the table. “Look for yourselves; it details each guest’s name and the evil deeds they’ve committed. This was all to make you trust her more and absolve herself.”
Ji Nansheng and the others took the diary with doubt and huddled together to read it.
The Countess’s diary began six months ago.
[February 16th, 1843, light snow]
[The Count finally agreed to my request to host a cruise for my birthday six months from now.]
[My hands are still trembling with excitement. There’s half a year left, and I know I can do it.]
[February 18th, clear skies]
[The Count said this was my birthday banquet and asked me to think about which guests I wanted to invite.]
[Yes, this is my birthday banquet. I need to think carefully about which guests to invite.]
[February 20th, clear skies]
[Today, I nearly ran over the wife of the general manager of Jiaman Department Store with my carriage. She looked dazed, so I brought her to my tea room, where she told me a strange story. After hearing it, I knew who to send the first invitation to.]
[The general manager of Jiaman Department Store, his wife, and his brother were my first invited guests.]
After reading this part, Ji Nansheng and the others looked at each other and continued flipping through the pages.
The rest of the diary detailed the Countess’s selection criteria for her guests.
Each guest was chosen for a reason—some for murder, some for theft, some for spreading rumors.
“So, the guests on this ship are all criminals,” the muscular man said. “That explains why the audience at the circus show was getting more excited as they watched someone being eaten by the beasts.”
Ji Nansheng was about to turn the page when he suddenly heard footsteps.
Looking up, he saw Dijia had already risen from the sofa and was heading toward the door.
Ji Nansheng called out, “Where are you going?”
Dijia yawned, “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. You guys can keep reading.”
With that, Dijia walked out.
As soon as Dijia’s footsteps faded, the muscular man quickly closed the door and asked in a hushed voice, “What do you think Dijia’s true identity is?”
The girl: “He’s too unconventional.”
The blonde player added, “And super strong. He’s been insisting the whole time that the Countess is the Siren.”
Ji Nansheng: “Actually, when the Countess jumped into the sea, Dijia’s words flashed through my mind too.”
“If the Countess is the Siren, she wouldn’t have died if she jumped into the sea.”
“But I didn’t say it out loud because I couldn’t find direct evidence to prove the Countess was the Siren. All my assumptions were based on the idea that she was. If she’s not the Siren, none of it adds up.”
The muscular man: “Why did you think the Countess was the Siren? Was it because Dijia kept telling us she was from the start?”
The girl: “Yes, Dijia’s been insisting the whole time, without any reason, that the Countess is the Siren.”
Ji Nansheng frowned slightly. “At first, I thought the two of them were in it together—accusing each other just to distance themselves from one another, making us think they were enemies, so we wouldn’t suspect they were working together.”
“But if they were in it together, Dijia’s reaction doesn’t make sense. Now that the Countess has committed suicide, our suspicion of her has dropped to its lowest point. Yet, he still insists she’s the Siren. That’s superfluous.”
The girl: “So what is their relationship?”
Ji Nansheng frowned even more. Unable to figure it out, he could only continue flipping through the Countess’s diary.
When they reached the final page, they discovered that even the people in the circus weren’t innocent.
The circus ringmaster had once forced an inexperienced performer onto the stage because of money, and the performer fell to their death.
He also killed a lioness with a hunting rifle to make his show more exciting and stole her cub from the den.
