Chapter 339: A Duel Of Intelligence (1/2)

I turned on the cell phone and played the recording. ”Song Yang, looks like you’ve smartened up!” came Deng Chao’s smug voice. “Yes, that test was just a warm-up. This is the real one. As you can see, there is a group of innocent students trapped inside. You have a pile of books in front of you with a question in each book. Once all the questions are answered, you can save everyone. Please send your answers via WeChat. If you get one wrong, then you fail. You must answer all the questions on your own, without help from others. Any request for help or secretly rescuing the hostages will be regarded as cheating. You will be severely punished!”

I handed the phone to one of my classmates and placed him in charge of typing and sending the messages, while another classmate would keep track of the time.

Then, I quickly picked up the first book and flipped through the contents, finding a card within that read, ”No. 9: You are resting at home when you receive a call from a stranger who wants to visit next Friday. You don't want to see him, so you tell the stranger: ‘I’m very busy next Friday. I have a meeting in the morning and a student's wedding to attend at 1:00 pm. Then I have to rush to a funeral for my friend's child at four. It also happens to be my grandfather's seventieth birthday so I really don't have time to receive your visit.’ Which of these following excuses won’t hold up under scrutiny?”

I chewed my finger and contemplated for a few seconds before yelling, ”Write the answer for question No. 9. The funeral excuse doesn't hold up under scrutiny. No one starts preparing for a funeral two weeks in advance.”

I threw the book and card aside, quickly picking up the second one. This time, the question was, ”No. 2: You recovered from an operation and were discharged from the hospital. Your family held a grand party to celebrate your recovery. During the party, you noticed the cake tasted a little strange but the others insisted that it was fine. That night, you suddenly died alone in your home. What is the reason for this?”

My first reaction was poisoning but the question wouldn’t be too complicated so I reread it again and quickly gave the answer. ”For No. 2, the answer is–the person in question suffered nerve damage during the operation and didn’t notice the gas leak at home.”

”Song Yang, you have five minutes and thirty seconds left!” shouted one of the students. “So hurry up!”

”I know!” I nodded.

Without even thinking, I yelled, ”The answer to No. 7 is homicide. The murderer shot the Japanese knife into the victim’s chest with a bow.”

I threw the book aside and picked up the fourth one. ”No. 1: A patient was stabbed to death with a fruit knife in the hospital. The murder weapon was found in the garden. There were no fingerprints on the handle but many ants crawling all over it. After your investigation, the three most suspicious patients were the abdominal tuberculosis patient in Ward 5, the diabetic in Ward 7 and the patient in Ward 9 suffering from nephritis. Who is the murderer?”

Without a moment’s delay, I shouted, ”The answer to No. 1 is the diabetic!”

The diabetic had glucose in his sweat, hence the ants.

The fifth question was, ”No. 3: when you were interrogating a criminal suspect, you found that he was both deaf and dumb and could only communicate through writing. After the trial, you said something to him, and when he walked out of the room, you suddenly realized that he was the murderer. What were the words you said to him?”

”The answer for No. 3–you can go!” I blurted.

The boy who was typing the answer suddenly cried out loud, assuming I was asking him to leave. ”I’m talking about the answer!” I explained.