You said you were going to make games, how did you become the richest man without doing anything?

Chapter 625

Tang Yin's gaze was as calm as a bottomless lake. He only said, "...No comment."

Those four short words made the atmosphere in the hall even more oppressive. Zhao Gang's analysis was undoubtedly correct, and for that very reason, Tang Yin couldn't respond. He couldn't lie, but he couldn't show any unnecessary emotion in front of everyone. Even the slightest hesitation could become the trigger that destabilized the human camp.

Gao Zhijie glanced at him coldly, curled his lips, and said in a bad tone: "Okay, then among the other six people, who will be hanged today?"

Zhao Gang lowered his head in thought for a moment, then raised his head and looked at everyone: "I haven't started to think about it yet, what do you think?"

The rest of the people looked at each other, no one said anything, just shook their heads silently, as if trying to avoid the question.

Zhao Gang sighed and turned his gaze to Gao Zhijie: "Uncle Gao, what do you think?"

Gao Zhijie obviously already had the answer. His brows furrowed slightly, and his voice was low and decisive: "Hang Hualu."

A hint of surprise flashed across Zhao Gang's eyes, and then a thoughtful look appeared: "Is it because she voted for Granny Rong yesterday?"

Gao Zhijie nodded without any hesitation: "Yeah."

Zhao Gang turned to Hua Lu in the crowd, his eyes probing: "Hualu, do you have any objections?"

Hualu stood in the corner, her eyes lowered as if she was thinking about something. After a moment, she raised her head with a faint smile on her face: "If necessary, hang me. I have only lived in the Hidden Mist Village for a short time, so it is normal if everyone does not believe me."

Her tone was chillingly calm, but then she changed the subject, her voice rising slightly: "It's just that I want to say something."

All eyes in the hall were focused on her, as if every word she said could change the situation in the next second.

"I am the Spider's protector."

This short sentence was like a bomb, instantly stretching everyone's nerves to the limit.

"What!?" Qian Jin widened his eyes, his tone filled with disbelief.

Gao Zhijie's brows furrowed even more tightly, and a hint of coldness appeared in his eyes: "Spider? Then, who did you protect on the first day?"

Qian Jin quickly agreed, saying loudly, "Right, right! No one died at that time, so it's better to understand the situation!"

Hua Lu's eyes swept over the crowd calmly, and she spoke in a steady tone: "The day before yesterday, I protected you, Uncle Gao."

Gao Zhijie was stunned, and the expression on his face changed slightly, but he still didn't speak, just looked at her with complicated eyes.

"I see." Qin Yi sneered, his tone tinged with sarcasm. "It's indeed possible. The old man has been putting on airs since day one. The wolf must want to kill him."

Hua Lu ignored Qin Yi's sarcasm and continued, "I was protecting Qin Ming yesterday."

Qin Ming frowned slightly, his tone revealing a hint of doubt: "Protect me? But I didn't show much yesterday."

Hua Lu smiled slightly, a look of calmness in her eyes: "To be honest, compared to Old Man Gao, Qin Ming is more worthy of living. I cannot deny that I do think so."

She paused, her tone adding a touch of rationality and calmness: "As a protector, I don't want to waste the power of the protection."

Zhao Gang was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke, his tone revealing a hint of suppressed fatigue: "...What should we do now?"

The hall fell into silence again, and the expressions on everyone's faces became solemn.

Tang Yin's brow furrowed slightly, his gaze flickering between Hua Lu and Master Lang. Logically, everything made sense—if, as he suspected, Hua Lu was directing Xiao Mei from behind, her self-declared identity was clearly a sophisticated trap. However, her current identity wasn't a snake, but a spider.

At this moment, a hoarse but somewhat funny voice broke the suffocating silence: "...That..."

Master Wolf slowly raised his head, revealing a mouthful of broken yellow teeth, and grinned: "I'm a spider too... hehe."

As these words were spoken, the air seemed to resound like an invisible thunderclap. Everyone froze, staring at each other, their expressions shifting from shock to confusion. In an instant, the atmosphere in the hall grew even more eerie.

Master Lang and Xiao Mei were always marginal figures at the banquet. They didn't participate in the discussion at all, and except for speaking out during voting, they were almost completely silent the rest of the time. Everyone tacitly regarded them as "floating votes," not even bothering to question their logic—after all, their comments were often incomprehensible and never truly impacted the situation. However, Tang Yin found that he had underestimated these "harmless" people.

Gao Zhijie broke the silence, his voice hesitant: "...Grandpa, is it true?"

Mr. Wolf still had that silly smile on his face, no emotion visible on his face, and his voice was hoarse and slow: "I am a spider."

"I am the spider." Hualu retorted without hesitation, her tone hinting at a hint of coldness. "This old man is lying."

Master Wolf shook his head, still maintaining that unfathomable expression: "You're the one lying, right? Hehehe."

Qian Jin couldn't help but hold his forehead with his hand, his tone revealing deep helplessness: "...I'm sorry, Master Lang, I always thought you were an old man with dementia. But, do you really understand the current situation?"

Zhao Gang turned his gaze towards Gao Zhijie, his tone inquiring: "...Uncle Gao, was Master Wolf like this at previous banquets?"

Gao Zhijie took a deep breath, his brow furrowed. "He's been like this for a long time. He was completely useless at the banquet, and he didn't even have the logic to vote."

Qin Ming frowned slightly and turned to look at Tong Xiaoliang: "...Xiaoliang, you have a good relationship with Master Wolf, right? What do you think?"

Tong Xiaoliang hesitated, but still spoke: "Master Wolf told me that his mind is very clear."

Qian Jin snorted coldly, his tone revealing annoyance that he couldn't conceal: "...What a hassle."

Zhao Gang said nothing more, but turned to Mr. Wolf. His tone became unusually low, even threatening: "So, Grandpa, who did you protect on the first and second days?"

"Listen carefully, we have already risked our lives. If you dare to deliberately make trouble here..." Zhao Gang's tone became more serious, and a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes.

Master Wolf was stunned for a moment, then he grinned, raised his hand, slowly extended a skinny finger, and pointed at someone: "...I protected him."

Everyone's eyes followed his finger - he was pointing at Qin Ming.

Zhao Gang stared at Master Wolf with a sharp gaze. He said in a low voice, "The first day or the second day?" Master Wolf was stunned for a moment, blinking his cloudy eyes, as if he didn't understand. "Huh?"

Wang Lina frowned, with a hint of impatience in her tone: "Master Wolf, do you mean that you have been protecting Qin Ming for the past two days?"

Master Wolf lowered his head and thought for a moment, then grinned, revealing his broken teeth: "Oh... yes, I protected him for two days."

Zhao Gang's expression changed slightly, and his voice became even deeper: "...In other words, the Wolf's first day target is Qin Ming?"

Chen Xiang nodded slightly beside her, as if thinking: "Indeed...I can understand it."

Qin Yi, who was standing aside, had a slightly dark complexion, and his tone revealed a bit of confusion: "...Master Wolf, why did you choose my eldest brother to protect?"

Master Wolf turned his head, his face wrinkled with laughter: "No reason."

Tong Xiaoliang frowned and asked tentatively, "Just a random choice?"

Master Wolf nodded, as if he didn't take the question seriously at all: "Oh, yes, hehe."

The hall was silent, and everyone stared at each other, no one able to judge the truth of these words. Mr. Wolf's attitude was too casual, even a little careless, and his silly smile made it difficult to tell whether he was pretending to be stupid or was truly confused.

But what is going on?

Tang Yin's voice broke the silence. He frowned and spoke in a low and calm tone: "Raccoon..."

His words startled everyone and they all turned their eyes to him.

Tang Yin raised his head, his eyes swept across the crowd, and continued, "I should have mentioned it before, about the protector of the raccoon dog."

Qin Ming raised his eyebrows slightly, a hint of doubt in his tone: "...Is it because there are raccoon dogs in Qianming Shrine?"

Qian Jin sneered upon hearing this, his tone full of disdain. "...But, that's not an official legend, is it? To infer the existence of humans living with wolves based on a folk song is a bit far-fetched, isn't it?"

Tang Yin ignored Qian Jin's dissatisfaction and said with a firm look: "...Well, anyway, let's not worry about whether the raccoon dog exists or not."

He paused, his voice suddenly becoming cold. "What's clear at this point is that at least one of Hua Lu and Master Lang is lying, right?"

There was silence in the hall, and no one objected to this statement.

Tang Yin looked around at the crowd, his mind clearly understanding that they were both lying. He tilted his head slightly, his peripheral vision gracing Hua Lu. Her downcast eyes seemed to conceal some unspoken determination.

Tang Yin could roughly understand her purpose - she was protecting the real spider.

She directs and controls Xiao-Mei, meaning that the Spider's protected targets are determined by Hualu. Now that she's speaking out as the Spider, the information she's sharing is likely true. In other words, she's acting as the Spider's agent, and the benefits of this are obvious—even if she dies, she can still protect the real Spider, Xiao-Mei.

However, Tang Yin's brows furrowed ever more tightly. He knew that once Hua Lu died, Xiao Mei would lose her clear instructions, and the effectiveness of the protection would inevitably be severely weakened.

In the hall, time seemed to stand still, everyone was lost in thought, and Tang Yin's gaze became increasingly profound.

Tang Yin's eyes flickered slightly as his mind quickly reviewed the situation. From Wolf's perspective, if the Spider's Protector hadn't died unexpectedly, it would undoubtedly be a huge blow. Wolf should have known who the biggest threat was, but the Spider, who should have been killed, was still alive, which would inevitably disrupt their plans.

Originally, the Spider's protector was supposed to conceal his identity, but Hua Lu had been forced into a desperate situation by the vote and had no choice but to do the opposite. However, what Tang Yin never expected was that Master Wolf would actually jump out at this time and lie that he was a spider.

Today was the third day of the banquet, and a majority was gradually forming. However, the wolf had chosen not to lie about being a snake or a crow. Tang Yin's brow furrowed slightly. If the wolf had pretended to be a crow, it could at least confuse the remaining wolves, thereby increasing confusion and the chances of victory. However, lying about being a spider was almost meaningless.

Even if Master Wolf claimed he was protecting someone that night, and even if no one died, everyone could still suspect that it was Wolf's own drama. Lying about being a spider was not only inefficient, but also foolish. Unless... Tang Yin's eyes darkened, and a cold speculation flashed through his mind—raccoon dog.

If raccoon dogs really exist, Mr. Wolf's behavior may be to reveal his identity to the wolf camp.

Just as Tang Yin lowered his head in deep thought, Gao Zhijie's voice broke the deadlock, with his usual cold and hard tone: "...Hua Lu, you are lying."

Hualu raised her head, her eyes clear and firm, her voice without the slightest wavering: "I didn't..."

Gao Zhijie sneered, his tone as sharp as a knife: "Then why are you saying it now? You've been voted out several times before. Didn't you want us to hang you?"

Hua Lu nodded lightly, with a hint of indifference in her tone: "Yes, I did say so."

Gao Zhijie pressed on, his gaze etched with an undeniable coldness. "We're really going to hang you this time, so why are you claiming to be the Protector?"

Hualu fell silent, her eyes lowered, as if she were lost in thought, or perhaps it was as if the words had touched a soft spot within her. Was it to protect Xiaome? Or was it because she had been forced into a situation where she had no way out? No one knew.

Seeing that she didn't answer, Gao Zhijie snorted coldly: "...There is already a conclusion."

Zhao Gang looked around, his eyes falling on everyone. His voice was low but with a hint of tentativeness: "What do the others think?"

Chen Xiang raised her head and said calmly, "I'll listen to Qin Ming. That way it will be easier to gain everyone's trust."

Qian Jin frowned and looked at Hua Lu with complicated eyes, his tone revealing a hint of hesitation: "... Hua Lu... you really are the spider's protector, right...?"

Tong Xiaoliang folded his arms, leaned against the wall, and said lazily: "Well, it feels like both of them are lying."

Qin Yi turned his head suddenly, glanced at Tong Xiaoliang coldly, and said in a low voice with a hint of anger: "Xiaoliang, if you don't know how to speak, don't speak."

At this moment, Xiao Mei whispered in a timid and trembling voice: "...Sister Hualu."

The hall fell silent again, everyone's eyes fixed on Hua Lu. Her expression remained calm, but her clenched fingers betrayed her inner tension. The air seemed to freeze, and everyone's breathing became especially clear.

Hualu: "...Don't worry, I will protect you."

Wang Lina: "Isn't this too weird? This is so unfair. Hualu has been working hard for the Hidden Mist Village, but she has to endure all your slander and defamation."

(End of this chapter)