Ruan Xiao's signal never came on. Xia Xiqing looked at the notebook and was only three minutes left before the first round of voting.

This one-to-one setting is really tormenting. If the other party does not choose him, he will not be able to connect with the signal no matter what.

In the last two minutes, Xia Xiqing closed the red knob and selected the only blue knob.

What he never expected was that the noise of the radio disappeared as the blue knob turned on.

“…Ziheng?”

"I am here."

His voice suddenly soothed Xia Xiqing's restlessness that could not wait for Ruan Xiao. Xia Xiqing took a deep breath and said, "I'll vote soon."

"Yeah." Zhou Ziheng's voice was very calm, "I hope no one would be voted out in the first round. No one has figured out the situation now. It is too dangerous to vote rashly."

Zhou Ziheng's statement is safe and friendly, which is what Xia Xiqing thought. He originally wanted to abstain in this game, but to be honest, abstaining is also risky. If someone votes for him, he will not even have a chance to resist.

"Don't abstain." Zhou Ziheng suddenly spoke, as if he had the ability to read his mind, and immediately read out his mind.

Xia Xiqing frowned, gave up the question of [how did you know I would abstain], and directly chose the next step of question, "Why can't you abstain?"

"I just talked to Ruan Xiao. I know you really want to contact Ruan Xiao now and use her to complete the information in the third space, but she should not be able to connect with you for the time being."

"Why?" Although she asked this, Xia Xiqing actually discovered that Ruan Xiao and him had only passed the signal once, and after she forced him to cut it off, she could never contact Ruan Xiao again. If he followed the strategy of others casting a net and trying it out, he would never be able to contact Ruan Xiao at once.

"She thinks you are a killer." Zhou Ziheng's tone was still calm. "We all understand our identity now, but the killer's standards are very unclear. This time there is no murder, no literal murderer, but in Ruan Xiao's concept, there is the initiator."

Xia Xiqing suddenly understood what Zhou Ziheng meant, "She thought it was me who was the first time and space that caused all this? Oh, I understand, if I had not turned off the phone, hadn't committed suicide, nor had I chosen to travel through time and space, everything would not have happened." Speaking of this, Xia Xiqing smiled with a sarcastic meaning, "This kind of idea can also be logically self-consistent, and there is no problem."

The next moment, he changed his tone again, "But why should I believe you?"

Zhou Ziheng didn't say anything.

Xia Xiqing continued to ask, "What if you are playing a divisive plan? I voted for Ruan Xiao, and then you can vote for her."

Zhou Ziheng's tone still did not fluctuate, "Do you think I would use such a stupid trick? If I just disagree, wouldn't Ruan Xiao really want to vote for you, and you didn't vote for Ruan Xiao in the end. None of you left, wouldn't I be exposed?"

Xia Xiqing didn't say anything. Although he suspected Zhou Ziheng's intention to do this, it was indeed that this method of disagreement was too direct and stupid, and the chance of failure was so high that it was not like a method that smart people would choose.

"Don't worry, I will abstain, Shang Sirui will definitely abstain. If you abstain, you will be the one who leaves."

"What if you are a killer?" Xia Xiqing still doubted Zhou Ziheng's intentions, "Then I can't believe anything you said."

Unexpectedly, Zhou Ziheng directly refuted, "Even if I am a killer, I won't lie to you."

He paused, giving up lobbying, "Anyway, this is just a matter of risk. If you are willing to bet on your life for my sincerity, I don't care."

The last sentence is really ambiguous.

Although Xia Xiqing was so smart, his heart couldn't help but tremble when he heard this. He took a breath silently, pretending that he had not had any trouble.

The two-minute countdown ended, and the announcement from the program team rang again.

"Dear players, the first round of voting begins now! Please enter the killer candidate in your mind."

Zhou Ziheng said nothing to interfere with Xia Xiqing's choice. Xia Xiqing took out the program team's mobile phone and clicked on the input box.

If Zhou Ziheng really didn't lie, his decision now is likely to send himself out.

But if he lies, he may throw Ruan Xiao out.

"Please confirm your choices and countdown begins."

"three--"

"two--"

"one--"

Xia Xiqing finally clicked to send.

"Voting results are submitted, please wait for liquidation."

The world suddenly became quiet. The silence of only one minute made Xia Xiqing feel extremely long and difficult. Until the announcement from the program team appeared again.

"In this round of voting, the one who was executed was-"

He couldn't help but take a deep breath.

"No one. There is a draw in this round of voting. Please continue the game. The next round of executions will begin in half an hour. Please seize the time and find the killer!"

Xia Xiqing lowered her head and stared at the words Ruan Xiao sent on her phone. So Zhou Ziheng really didn't lie to him. Ruan Xiao did believe that he was a killer.

"Let's discuss the issue of the time and space plot now." Zhou Ziheng did not mention the voting just now, and directly entered the next topic. "Tell you frankly, I have only found two plot lines so far, one of which happens to be consistent with Ruan Xiao's, so if you want to know Ruan Xiao's plot, I can tell you too."

Xia Xiqing smiled meaningfully, "It's saving my life and giving me clues." His tone rose slightly, and he felt a sense of cunning and joking, "Don't you think you're too biased?"

If it were Zhou Ziheng who used to be Zhou Ziheng, he would have been so angry that he was reluctant to answer the conversation, but what Xia Xiqing didn't expect was that Zhou Zi recognized it directly.

"I'm already biased."

This straight shot caught Xia Xiqing off guard, and he almost got knocked down if he failed to catch it.

"I think we should be considered allies." Zhou Ziheng added another sentence, making the former less ambiguous.

"Ally..." Xia Xiqing smiled, "Then I want to ask you, what is your first plot line? If you dare to lie to me, I will definitely not form an alliance with you in every episode of "Escape Day" after this episode."

After hearing this angry threat, Zhou Ziheng couldn't help laughing, "I won't lie to you. To be honest, my first plot line is the time-traveling that began after you committed suicide in the first time and space. To put it bluntly, it is the plot line of the second time and space. By the way, Si Rui should have said about your suicide."

"Yes." Xia Xiqing made a special correction again, "It's not me who committed suicide, but the male protagonist committed suicide. Please don't let anyone play the role."

"It will be clearer with you." Zhou Ziheng's voice was filled with a smile. "The purpose of my travels in the second time and space is to save the heroine who committed suicide at the railway station, that is, Ruan Xiao, so I traveled to the time when Ruan Xiao headed to the railway station. At this time, Ruan Xiao was on the 420 bus."

"I drove to chase after me. The car drove too fast and almost hit a truck full of oranges around the corner. The orange packaging spread and fell all over the ground. I could only help them pick it up. When I arrived at the train station, I couldn't find Ruan Xiao. Later, I heard news on the radio that the truck that almost collided with me collided with the 420 bus heading to the train station at another intersection. The truck overturned, ten people were injured on the bus and two people died."

Zhou Ziheng took a breath and said the ending with a certain sigh, "The heroine played by Ruan Xiao is one of them."

Sure enough...it's really a butterfly effect.

"Which number is this plot line of Ruan Xiao's clue?" Xia Xiqing asked.

“No. 2.”

In the clue No. 2... Xia Xiqing was at home all the time, shutting down his phone and not going out. He was the boyfriend who originally existed in the space-time No. 2, but did nothing.

Time traveler Zhou Ziheng entered the 2nd space and tried to save the ending but failed. Shang Sirui did not have the clue of No. 2, which means that Shang Sirui did not travel to the 2nd space.

What about Zhou Ziheng after the failure?

"Then what? Where have you been?" Xia Xiqing asked quickly.

"I committed suicide, I want to try again, this time I want to stop that truck and can't let it appear on the road where the 420 bus will appear."

"So... have you entered Space 3?" The clue of Space 3 is what Xia Xiqing always wanted. He was a little excited, "What is the ending of Space 3?"

"I'm not dead, nor Ruan Xiao." Zhou Ziheng added a definition to such an ending in a plain tone, "Happyending in a sense."

Ruan Xiao in Space-3 is not dead.

This important information allowed Xia Xiqing to get the answer to the question of turning on the fax machine. Without saying a word, he walked to the notebook and entered the answer.

twice.

As the starter's girlfriend, Ruan Xiao experienced two deaths in total.

Soon, an email reply appeared on the screen of the fax machine.

[Congratulations, the answer is correct.]

Soon, the fax machine sent out a piece of paper. Zhou Ziheng seemed to hear the fax machine's voice and asked, "Is there any new clue?"

"Yes." Xia Xiqing was waiting for the piece of paper, "Are you about to be able to go out? You only have two plot lines, and you should be able to completely restore the puzzle now."

“…It’s almost.”

Xia Xiqing took out the piece of paper, frowned, and the paper in her hand was blank. It seemed that the program team did not intend to let him know the truth so easily. Xia Xiqing, immersed in the sense of loss, did not hear Zhou Ziheng's voice, "What did you just say?"

"I said it's soon."

Xia Xiqing thought of what Shang Sirui said at the beginning that he only got half of the ultimate clues, so Zhou Ziheng should be the same. He can't get out with his own strength. Could it be that his current show of kindness is because he knows that there will be clues to his partner in his room?

But this is illogical. If the program team follows the principle of matching the butterfly effect and plot, it should be that the ultimate clues between a male protagonist and a female protagonist will be spliced ​​together to get the final key.

He should try to find Shang Sirui to see if the clues between the two of them match, and to eliminate Shang Sirui's defense against him.

In addition, Zhou Ziheng only mentioned the ending of the third space-time without passing. In Shang Sirui's mouth, what happened in the third space-time was far more than a simple happyending. As a time traveler, he died in the third space-time.

All of this seems calm, but in fact it is a surging undercurrent.

"Then I have to hurry up and get on the progress." Xia Xiqing took the blank paper and said to himself, "I won't tell you anymore, I want to cut off the signal now."

"Are you looking for Shang Sirui again?"

"So smart." Xia Xiqing laughed, and the hearty laughter sounded particularly nice in the transmission of current.

Just before he turned off the signal, Zhou Ziheng suddenly spoke again, "Wait a minute."

"What's wrong?"

"After getting clue No. 3, switch to time and space."

Xia Xiqing was a little confused, "Why?"

Before he could answer, Zhou Ziheng cut off the signal by himself. Only Xia Xiqing was left squatting on the radio halfway and dazed alone.
To be continued...