The numbered doors reopen. Everybody steps back into the entrance hall that they’ve gotten so familiar with. Each group seems to have brought a pedestal with them, now placing them on the ground. Oliver, Seven, and Pigeon are all looking towards the ground.

Everybody did a headcount…nine. Had the narrator been lying?

Giggles ran up to them. “So? What was the evil in the room?”

The Narrator materializes once again. “Alright, everyone! Here are your results!”

Group A: 3 BP
Group B: 2 BP
Group C: 2 BP

“Aww….how unfortunate. Triton, Saturn, and Doctor—you guys are on the lynching block! Everybody be sure to vote! No-lynch is an option! And just so you all know, every single door has been deactivated! That is, except for the [9] door! You can open that one more time!” The Narrator dissipates.

“W-What?” Triton said. She then smiled. “Well, fine. I guess we can see what the three of these guys have been hiding. Hey, Oliver! Yon! Help me out here.”

The three of them walked towards the RED and pressed their palms against it. Triton triumphantly threw down the lever and the door opened.

The three of them didn’t step in. They just stood there, rigid.

Saturn walked up to them and peered over their shoulders. “What. The. Fuck.” There was nothing else to say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ius54l96xe0

In the middle of Door [9], a man in a business suit lay dead. He was in his sixties, had light red hair already graying down the middle, and had a somewhat sturdy physique. His body was covered with stab wounds. Blood poured everywhere, and intestinal organs were slipping through the fingers of his right hand—the hand that was attempting to clutch the wound.

“Bastards!” Leo screamed at Group C. “You killed him, didn’t you?!”

“N-No. We promise!” Oliver stammered. “I-I-I-it…damn it.” He knew it looked terrible.

“It appears that the Narrator…set a trap for us.” Seven looked down, somewhat ashamed.

Pigeon tried to remedy the situation. “Look. N-None of us know this guy or who he is, right? As far as we know, The Narrator just…I don’t know. Did this himself.”

“The body is still somewhat fresh.” Yon realized. “It does not yet have the smell that comes with decomposition. However…I think it’s safe to say that this man was dead before the group entered Door [9]. And I’m not an expert, or at least I don’t think I am, but I wouldn’t put the age of this body over 12 hours old.”

Triton looked over at Doctor. “What do you think?”

Doctor’s reaction was different from the others. He was surprised, sure. However, his eyes were also tinged with anger and…a faint trace of sadness.

Someone else hadn’t spoken during the entire ordeal…Luna.

Luna’s face had gone completely pale. Her mouth was agape, horrified at the sight of the man.

It was the longest nine seconds the group had ever experienced—slowly, the door shut.

Luna scrambled towards the door and began to bang on it. “N-No! No!” She looked at the ceiling, towards nobody in particular. “Open the door, damn it!”

She began to beat her fists on the door, attempting to open it. Saturn and Leo eventually grabbed her, pulling her away and restraining her.

She had gone completely hysterical, tears streaming down her face and horror filling her eyes. Eventually, she calmed down. The two men dropped her to her knees.

Luna buried her face in her hands, sobbing. Sobs eventually turned into laughter…Luna looked up at the ceiling, tears of blood streaming down her face from where her nails had dug in. She just laughed and laughed and laughed, like the cruelest joke in the world was being told to her. She laughed until her voice wouldn’t let her anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCTh6TW4smo

The group eventually calmed Luna down…or at least the best she could. Doctor offered to take her to the side of the room. He draped his arm around her and whispered words of comfort in her ear, doing her best to ameliorate the situation.

The Narrator suddenly materialized again. “Wow, wasn’t that fun? I thought you guys would enjoy the show!”

“You fucking bastard!” Leo yelled. “You’re toying with lives here!”

“Hey, you guys should be thanking the killer! After all, nobody has to get lynched now! I mean, I guess you guys still can if you wanna…but voting no-lynch is perfectly viable now!”

“Thanking the killer?” Oliver asked.

“That’s right! One of you murdered that man!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GLYF5O1gMY

“Y-You’re joking, right?” Yon asked. “T-There’s no way you can be serious.”

“I never joke! I’m a reliable narrator! Anyway, it’s up to you guys to solve it! Time for a new mechanic! This is…“Who Killed the Russian? Featuring: Nine!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A65mN9Wxoi0

-A dead body was found behind Door [9]. The Narrator calls him “The Russian”, and claims that one of the players killed him
-Luna and Doctor had especially peculiar reactions to his corpse

When a crime occurs, it’s up to the players to figure out who committed it

-Once six players agree it’s time to vote for who the culprit is, then everybody votes to decide who should be “blackened” (player one can agree it’s time to vote for the culprit and then player six might not decide until three rounds later. The votes pile up in that way and don’t necessarily have to occur in one phase. These votes are more during the entire game)
-If you are blackened, you are unable to use stealth (all items on your person will be revealed, as well as new items you pick up), you’ll no longer be able to kill a player and get away with it, and you’ll no longer be able to vote. BP gambles will also no longer be private
-You are allowed to blacken a dead player
-Blackened mechanics are not meant to be abused. Players are intended to vote for who they think the culprit is, not attempt to blacken an annoying player. Failure to follow this rule will have repercussions (exception to this rule is when the culprit is voting to blacken someone else, or a player knows who the culprit is and can’t blacken them because that goes DIRECTLY against their win condition)
-When a culprit is blackened, nobody will be given any indication on whether or not this was correct

Current Crimes:
-Who Killed the Russian?
-Who is Zero?

“Alright.” Seven says. “We found the [Hades] key. It’s probably to that basement door.”

The group didn’t want to leave the topic alone, but they decided to put it to the side for now. Everybody walked towards the basement door. Pigeon inserted the [Hades] key, unlocking it.

It appeared that it wasn’t actually a traditional door to the basement. It was in fact, an elevator. Everybody glanced at each other before wordlessly stepping inside.

During the ride down, Saturn decided to break the silence. “So…if we can just vote no-lynch every round…there’s no problem right? Nobody has to die.”

Everybody seemed to agree, but also knew in their hearts of hearts that it was too good to be true.

The elevator arrived downstairs. The door opened, revealing a room with another door on the other side…Door [9].

“Another Door [9]…” Triton stammered.

“We have bigger things to worry about. Look.” Yon indicated a chain-link fence that barred half of the room. It wasn’t the fence he was indicating, however. It was the other side.

A large, mechanical beast resided there, letting out a quiet, yet earth-shattering beep every time. The display of it read “2:50:47”…just under three hours.

“What the fuck…t-that’s a fucking bomb!” Oliver screamed.

The Narrator materialized once again. “That’s right! Let me explain. The bomb started at 12 hours. You guys spent about 4 voting for rooms, another 5 in the rooms (usually would be 4 but I extended it slightly), and now you have 3 left to kill someone. If someone dies, the bomb gets 12 hours added to the cycle. So, yes. Voting no-lynch is an option. However, if nobody dies…this sucker blows up! HAHAHA! But uh…somebody did die. The Russian. So you guys CAN vote no-lynch this round but if you want another twelve hour cycle…”

The chill of the narrator’s laugh ran down the group. “You’re asking us to kill someone?” Pigeon shuddered. “Forget it. We’re not playing your game.”

“You don’t have a choice! You got three hours! (Real-time, 5:00 EST tomorrow). By the way, voting for somebody outside of Group B is the same as voting no-lynch. Have fun!”

-The Door [8] group bet the least BP. The lynch options are between Triton, Saturn, and Doctor. Alternatively, you can vote no-lynch. However, that means someone will have to die in the next round
-There’s a bomb in the basement. If someone doesn’t die every 12 hours, the bomb goes off
-There’s another [9] door in the basement