There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

[You have entered the theater.]

When he first opened his eyes, his nose was greeted by a faint scent of flowers and rice.

Xu Shuo surveyed his surroundings, finding himself in a typical rural adobe house, and in front of him on the stove something was cooking, with white smoke curling from the iron pot and the sound of boiling water.

But it was clear the fragrance of flowers did not come from this pot of congee.

The scent of flowers seemed to come from outside.

Turning his head to look, Xu Shuo saw an osmanthus tree in the courtyard, laden with buds about to bloom, its lush canopy extending to the kitchen window.

He turned his gaze back, picked up the ladle, and while stirring the bubbling porridge, he opened the Player's Handbook to check his character information.

Character: Wang Tiezhu.

Role: Osmanthus Village hunter.

Such a grounded name made Xu Shuo pause before he raised his hand to touch his cheek, feeling a rough texture.

Such a handsome Wang Tiezhu would probably be a rare sight.

[Main Quest: Cremate the bride's body.]

Xu Shuo paused again at the sight.

Translation: Murderer?

That wasn't right, it was only the cremation of a body, not about killing someone.

But which bride was so unlucky?

Xu Shuo continued to look through his character profile while scooping up a bowl of steaming mixed congee.

The pot of porridge contained unknown meats, unknown wild vegetables, sweet potatoes, and other down-to-earth ingredients; it was a messily cooked porridge.

Having just entered into his character, Xu Shuo immediately felt a sense of hunger.

Therefore, the porridge that lacked any aesthetic appeal to him seemed oddly delicious at the moment.

Then he took a small taste...

Ptui.

No salt.

Not only was there no salt, but there was also a strong, rank smell of meat.

What a waste of the rice in the pot, although there didn't seem to be much rice in it to start with.

Xu Shuo had never had to eat such unpleasant food, even in the hardest of times. He set the bowl aside and noticed that the first item in his inventory was a pyramid of food.

Generally speaking, props placed at the front of the inventory after entering a script are there for the script's purposes.

Otherwise, the appearance of this plate of pastries would be too strange.

But what use was a plate of food?

Could it be one of those props that looked like food but had special effects?

Xu Shuo took out the prop.

The entire plate of pastries had a sweet, cloying scent of osmanthus. There were fourteen pieces in total, arranged in three layers, with the topmost layer having just one piece, forming a pyramid shape.

Then, Xu Shuo noticed that the piece on top had a bite taken out of it.

It looked as if he himself had bitten it?

Was this really edible?

Xu Shuo took down the piece, bit into it again, and from the taste and texture, he deduced that it was indeed edible food.

Which was perfect since he was super hungry right now.

However, as Xu Shuo was eating the third piece, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him—

Wait a minute! The plate of Osmanthus Cake he was eating was supposed to be a prop for gaining the bride's favor!

Xu Shuo: "..."

Swallowing the piece of cake in his mouth, he rearranged the remaining pieces in a different way.

Originally, the bottom layer had nine pieces of cake arranged in a square, but now he placed five pieces in a circular shape, the second layer was still four pieces, and the top layer remained a single one.

The newly reconstructed pyramid, as a result, had an extra piece.

So that piece was naturally eaten as well.

Wiping his mouth, Xu Shuo looked thoughtfully at the plate of Osmanthus Cake.

He unexpectedly remembered that the bride was the big BOSS of this script and that the bride would randomly drop many items~

No wonder the forums were full of script strategies; sometimes when players' inspiration was sparked, they indeed had a certain chance of recalling related clues.

Xu Shuo took the iron pot off the stove and set it aside, ready to cook another batch of food.

The mere four pieces of Osmanthus Cake were far from enough to alleviate his hunger; in fact, eating a little had only made him more eager to fill his stomach.

The kitchen was a bit messy, with some animal furs hanging on the wall and a basin containing bloody water and half a piece of rabbit meat beside it.

Xu Shuo picked up a new pot and found half a bucket of animal fat and a piece of salt from the corner.

No wonder the porridge was tasteless; he really had to use the salt sparingly.

But Xu Shuo didn't need to save.

So he boldly used it!

But just as he was clattering around busily, a piercing scream suddenly came from afar, spreading an atmosphere of fear and despair through the air, much like those screams coming from a crime scene.

Xu Shuo paused in his movements, then continued chopping vegetables.

Meanwhile, the screams persisted intermittently in the distance.

Xu Shuo rinsed a bowl of rice and poured it into the pot.

At that moment, another wave of noisy commotion rose up from the bottom of the mountain.

Xu Shuo added the vegetables to the pot as well.

At that time, the bustle from afar began to subside.

Xu Shuo added a few more logs to the stove.

No matter the chaos outside,

he had to fill his stomach first!

Cooking porridge was undoubtedly the fastest option, and perhaps that was why the character, upon returning from hunting, had directly cooked a pot of stew, but the flaw of that stew was the completely unprocessed rabbit meat.

Having no choice, he had to fend for himself.

Xu Shuo stared straight at the bubbling water in the pot.

He patiently waited for the food to cook.

But just then, a series of urgent footsteps came from not far away, and Xu Shuo abruptly turned to look.

Before long, a figure appeared at the entrance of the courtyard, and this person also happened to see Xu Shuo squatting next to the stove through the open kitchen door.

The two exchanged glances for a moment.

After a pause, the young man cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted towards the bottom of the mountain, "Tiezhu is at home! He's cooking dinner right now!"

After the shout, the young man turned and walked towards the kitchen.

His face was covered in sweat, and while wiping it off, he asked, "Tiezhu, when did you get back? What are you cooking?"

Xu Shuo: "I've been back for quite a while, cooking porridge."

By this time, the young man had already entered the kitchen, took a glance at the rice porridge simmering on the stove, then looked at the pot of stew on the floor that was already cooked.

"Didn't you already cook a pot?" he said, pointing at the stew on the floor.

"It tastes terrible," Xu Shuo replied without changing his expression.

"You're always so picky... wow, there's even meat in there, can I have a bowl?" the young man couldn't help licking his lips.

Xu Shuo pointed to a chipped bowl beside him: "Help yourself."

No sooner had he spoken than the young man had already grabbed the bowl, quickly scooped up half a bowl from the pot, and gulped down a big mouthful.

After eating, the young man smacked his lips, "That's quite tasty actually, and there's a nice meaty flavor."

Xu Shuo: "..."

Xu Shuo thought vaguely that perhaps he had been eating too well lately, and his palate had become too discriminating.

After the young man finished another bowl, Xu Shuo asked, "What happened outside? I heard all that noise while I was cooking."

The young man's expression was complex: "Old Li's daughter-in-law and son just died."

He didn't specify the cause, and the complex look on the young man's face wasn't one of incredulity; in fact, there was a sense of it being all too familiar, though the expected fear and bewilderment were not any less.

Xu Shuo then frowned and asked, "So why did you come to find me? Do you suspect that I was the killer?"

The two shouts the young man had yelled earlier revealed two pieces of information—his location, his actions.

Only when searching for a murderer would one rush to confirm the whereabouts and activities of a suspect, to deduce whether they had the opportunity to commit the crime.

Xu Shuo's respawn point wasn't at the crime scene, he didn't have any murder tools on him, and there was no such information in his character profile, so he actually didn't know if he was the murderer or not,

But regardless, it was right to start by clearing himself of suspicion.

...