Super God: If I punch you, you will die

"Isn't this a talisman? You should carry it with you."

"Didn't Lin Yan say he lost it?"

"I was really annoyed by what you said back then, so I just made things up. How could I possibly lose the precious amulet you gave me?"

"..."

Maria silently accepted the amulet, and I was speechless.

"Goodnight everyone." Lin Yan couldn't find anything to say, and could only watch them leave with an utterly exhausted expression. Only after the door closed and he heard the automatic lock click did he finally manage to breathe a sigh of relief.

Once he could finally breathe again, he realized that Lin Yan had been clutching Beatetrich's letter the whole time. His sweaty palms had caused the paper to tilt, revealing that there was actually a second page. Because the papers were pressed together, Lin Yan had previously thought there was only one page. The second page had no text. Instead, a magic circle was drawn on it in blood-red ink.

Each of the previous magic circles was different, and this one was the first time I had ever seen one.

The design is very simple, consisting of a circle and two triangles of different sizes inside the circle.

But as is customary, it is also written in Hebrew, which obviously has some meaning.

Lin Yan was eager to know what this was, but Maria, the only one who understood the meaning of the magic circle, had already been banished. He believed that the magic circle also contained another message that Beatrice wanted to give them.

What on earth is the meaning of this magic circle? Damn it.

If we just kick all the suspicious people out and stay here until morning, will all this really be over? Will everything really be resolved when the typhoon passes and the sea lions cry out in despair? But this letter that suddenly appeared in the study kicked all those thoughts away.

The letter clearly states that the witch wins when the time is up. Does this mean the witch will make her move when the time is up?

Is she planning to use that terrifying magic that could kill six adults at once this time?

No, we should think back. What exactly does "when the time comes" mean? Lin Yan didn't understand anything.

"That way, we're safe, absolutely."

Despite saying this, Princess Natsumi Ushiro dared not fire her rifle; a tense expression remained on her face.

"Of course, we're still worried too. At least, we won't be able to relax until we hear the sea cat's cry again. I wonder if you all find the mystery of Lord Ushiromiya Kinzo's inscription interesting? I think you all know that you don't have much time left, so please don't naively think that you can escape this island just by waiting for the storm to pass. There are only two possible outcomes to this game: either I win, or you all win. If time runs out, I win; there's no tie. Please don't misunderstand."

October 5th, 23:30

Sun. October 5, 1986

The study of Ushiromiya Kinzo.

After banishing Genji, Kumazawa, Nanjo, and Maria, none of them uttered a single word.

All the suspicious people were banished.

Knowing that some of them might be innocent, they were still banished, exiled from the paradise where there was no need to suspect one another.

But the motive for their exile stemmed from one of the worst sins: mutual distrust among humans. If they could accept the existence of the nineteenth person, accept the existence of witches, perhaps they could still trust each other and keep warm together in this study?

In that instant, I agreed to the decision to exile all suspicious individuals, but was that really the right thing to do?

The silence, which seems endless no matter how long we wait, silently punishes us for the sins we have committed.

Princess Natsumi of the Right Palace did not let go of her rifle for a moment. She sat deeply on the sofa with her body facing the door. It is believed that she probably does not plan to sleep tonight and will keep a close watch on the door.

Let Zhi peer through the crack in the window, where the curtains were drawn, at the courtyard and the large house surrounding it. It was unclear whether he was looking for suspicious figures outside or simply answering his own question.

Zhu Zhixiang sat sideways next to Consort Xia of the Right Palace, with a zombie-like expression, and occasionally took out the inhaler she used when she had an asthma attack and put it in her mouth.

I was just told that Zhu Zhixiang likes Jiayin, but the feelings seem to be very faint, and she herself hasn't even realized it. How to put it? This is what they call "the onlooker sees more of the game than the player."

If that's the case, perhaps she only realized her feelings after her beloved died.

That must be very sad.

That inhaler was the one Jia Yin had given her before; she probably remembered that.

As for Lin Yan, he planned to find out the meaning of the magic circle drawn on the second sheet of paper, so he kept flipping through Ushiromiya Kinzo's collection of books.

This stemmed from his rebellious spirit. Even though retreating into the study was tantamount to turning to a defensive posture, Lin Yan still hoped to at least maintain the offensive of trying to find the key.

Anyway, there's still plenty of time until tomorrow morning, and no one will say anything no matter how Lin Yan uses that time.

No one seemed interested in the magic circle.

They probably thought that Lin Yan and the others wouldn't understand anyway, and even if they did, they would only receive more unpleasant messages for no reason. Lin Yan agreed with this.

But Lin Yan couldn't ignore it, so he pretended to check the data while killing time.

"You're really helpful. Did you find any clues?"

"I have absolutely no clue. Just finding books written in Japanese is exhausting enough. It's amazing how many languages ​​Grandpa can read."

"Lin Yan, aren't you sleepy? You should take a nap while others are still awake. Although Aunt Natsumi Udai-no-miya said she would keep watch for everyone, her body can't handle it. It's better to take turns resting."

"Then you go to sleep first. I still have some things to check. I'll sleep when I'm sleepy."

"You want to check the magic circle from earlier?"

“That’s right. Anyway, we have plenty of time. I think it would be very interesting to find out what information our Miss Beatrice is hiding in this magic circle.”

"Stop talking. Doing this kind of thing too much will make you lose your mind."

"Don't worry, Maria assured me that I have absolutely no talent in spiritual power. Hehe."

"Aren't we being too suspicious of Maria?"

"Zhu Zhixiang, you can't think about such things now."

“But Mom, if Maria has nothing to do with this and the murderer is someone else, then that murderer will definitely choose their target carefully. If she is killed like this, it would be the same as us watching her die.”

A heavy silence descended once more.

It seems that Zhu Zhixiang regrets acting on impulse and saying those things.

She's always been like this—she goes too far with her mischief and only regrets it afterwards.

“I understand how you feel, but Maria did have contact with the murderer and repeatedly made statements supporting him. I feel much more at peace now that she’s been kicked out of this study.”

"Aunt Xia Fei is really something else. Is she just joking around with a nine-year-old girl?"

Even Lin Yan himself found these words insincere. He had felt uncomfortable with Maria several times today and doubted her true identity. Moreover, Lin Yan couldn't deny that he even felt a sense of relief when Maria was kicked out of the study.

"If that's the case, I will apologize to them tomorrow. The responsibility for kicking them out will fall entirely on me, so you don't need to be upset about it."

There is a tragic determination in these words from Princess Natsumi Udai.

To protect her daughter, she resolutely drove away any suspicious individuals.

That's a kind of awareness. Even if the outcome results in leaving a suspected person to die, it's something you can't do but bear all the responsibility yourself.

"Why does Maria always say those kinds of things? She's just tightening her own noose."

"I think the reason why Maria is so obsessed with witches or magic might be because of Aunt Roza."

"Was it Aunt Lou who caused this? How did she get involved?"

"I think Lin Yan, you must have noticed that Maria's real father has been missing for a long time, but her aunt has always claimed that he was just on a business trip abroad."

"The Ushiromiya family does tend to avoid talking about Aunt Roza and her husband."

“I think Auntie has also considered remarrying, but Maria’s existence has become a shackle for her, so I think there are really a lot of difficulties in this process. After all, Auntie’s beatings and scoldings of Maria are sometimes very emotional.”

"I feel the same way. Aunt Louza seems to be trying hard to like Maria, which means she doesn't actually like Maria. I believe she still harbors resentment towards Maria for hindering her remarriage." Louza indeed doesn't like Maria; she lacks a mother's awareness.

0105 Scars [Please Subscribe]

“Mother’s emotional rejection must have left a deep scar on young Maria’s heart. Then she found an interest in the occult to fill the void in her heart, and she just dived into it. You know what? For Maria, the image of a witch is not negative at all. Didn’t we look at Maria’s notebook yesterday at the beach?”

"I remember it was covered with lots of happy-looking doodles."

Last night, when they suspected the existence of witches at the beach exit, Maria got excited and started talking about witches at length. But in the notebook Maria opened, there wasn't a single page depicting witches as ugly.

The witches depicted above each have their own unique characteristics; they are beautiful, cute, and happy.

Contrary to the men's imagination of witches, Maria wears a beautiful dress and can grant people any dream, bringing happiness to everyone with her magical powers. Therefore, Maria is sad because she cannot receive maternal love, and thus regards the witch as someone who can save her and make her happy, seeking relief from this.

I believe that one day a witch will appear and use magical powers to make me happy.

Even if you believe this in your heart, the faint dream will eventually fade away as you grow up; that's reality.

If someone claiming to be the witch of Rokkenjima appeared in front of her, saying they would take her to a golden land where she could find happiness, "At this point, I'll be frank, I think it was probably wrong of us to drive Maria out—no, including Genji and the others."

"Indeed, it was very awkward."

Zhu Zhixiang had previously refused to be with her in person, and she must be feeling extremely guilty now.

"Then how do you intend to explain this letter? Apart from the four people behind me, no one had the ability to put the letter on the table. I witnessed it myself. If those four are innocent, how could they possibly put the letter in this secret room with eight people present?"

"Exactly, when this is mentioned, all four of them seem very suspicious, but that's terrible. Yes, terrible."

"Terrible? What's so terrible about it?"

"It may not be of any help now, but I still want to turn the chessboard over. In other words, if the four of them really are the murderers, then things don't make sense."

"Exactly. Placing the letter openly on the table like that is tantamount to announcing that it was placed there by these few people. That's right, it doesn't make sense. If it were to be placed there, it should have been placed under the door, making it look like it was slipped in from the hallway. Yes, it's obvious that if it wasn't made to look like it was placed there by someone outside the door, they would become a suspect."

"Yes, that's exactly it. If the murderer is among those four, placing the letter in the center of the table like this only increases their risk and does them no good at all."

However, setting aside the question of what magic trick was used to place the letter on the table, if we assume that the letter came from someone other than the four of them—that is, if the person who brought the letter was outside the study—then this letter would have a very significant meaning.

"Stop talking, Lin Yan. None of this matters now."

Princess Xia of the Right Palace was the first to understand the meaning behind my words.

No, perhaps she noticed this much earlier than I did, but simply didn't say it.

“If the murderer stays outside the study, but we hide in this secret room that we can’t interfere with from the outside, the murderer will be helpless. That’s right, when I talked about Grandpa disappearing from the study, didn’t I say that Grandpa might have left on his own? If the murderer tampered with something to force us to leave the study on our own.”

Maria had mentioned it when she found the scorpion's magic circle on the doorknob of this study.

She said that Beate Lizzie couldn't get through the door, but perhaps she could get the person inside to leave the study on their own.

"If that's the case, then we've been completely tricked by the murderer and have sent out new candidates for human sacrifice."

“Genji and the others aren’t stupid. If they want to protect themselves, they will quickly find a place with the second-highest level of security to hide in.”

Princess Natsumi's words did not answer the question.

Princess Natsumi Ushiro had already noticed this. She had long realized that if the murderer wasn't in the study, then the letter was a trap, but since they had already been exiled, there was no point in risking bringing them back.

For Princess Natsumi Ushiro, protecting us children is her only and most important duty right now, and she believes that some sacrifices are inevitable in order to achieve this goal.

"Aunt Xia, if I may ask a pointed question, if Zhu Zhixiang had been behind you at the time, would you have kicked her out as well?"

"..."

"It may be a bit cruel, but Aunt Xia Fei is playing the role of a mother, trying to protect her daughter, and she is willing to endure criticism to drive them away. I don't blame her for that. It's just that, no matter how I put it, I just think Zhu Zhixiang really has a good mother."

"That's right. Despite all the events that have happened this morning, Aunt Natsumi Ushiro has remained calm and has been leading us all. If even Auntie had lost her composure, we might all have been killed. So, I think we should thank Auntie."

"thank you all."

"So, Lin Yan, this is what you're trying to say, right? I hope Mom can treat Maria as her daughter too."

"..."

“I’ve always loved Adam and Mary like my own sister, but after everything that’s happened, my mind is a mess. I said a lot of hurtful things to her. We should stay with Adam and Mary, no, we should stay with everyone. None of us are the murderer. The murderer who committed this series of events is the witch, it’s Beatrice. Isn’t that right? So, let’s stop suspecting each other.”

After listening, Princess Xia closed her eyes for a while.

It's unclear whether she was enduring a recurring headache or simply lost in thought.

"Zhu Zhixiang is my most precious daughter, born after my husband spent twelve years after we got married. I would be willing to turn into a devil to protect her."

The speaker emphasized this last sentence slightly, revealing that it was merely empty rhetoric, yet it also conveyed a firm resolve: even if it meant hardening one's heart and becoming a monster, one must protect one's daughter. This resolve stemmed from guilt.

This day has been far too long.

So much has happened today, pushing them to this point. Do Lin Yan and the others really deserve to face tomorrow?

"Found it, this is the magic circle."

Lin Yan kept flipping through the book and finally found the same pattern as the magic circle drawn on the second page of the letter. He then let Zhiye come over to take a look.

The name of this magic circle is the Third Magic Circle of Mars. The text written in Hebrew is part of Psalm 77:13 in the Old Testament.

"A God as great as you is unique."

As for the meaning of the magic circle, it is 'suspicion', which creates internal conflict and causes the enemy to fall apart.

"real or fake."

I doubt there are any words that can describe our current situation and state of mind so accurately.