There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

In the afternoon, Xu Shuo unremarkably solved an unremarkable script and afterwards, he even took the opportunity to nap on the sofa in Script Space.

When he awoke, his mind was well-rested, but his body protested.

"Tsk," Xu Shuo helplessly massaged his neck.

He had a stiff neck again.

Sleeping on the desk was really not advisable, but placing a multi-functional recliner in the office would make the space too cramped.

If the new project went well, he might as well change to a new office location!

Muttering to himself, Xu Shuo plunged back into his busy work.

In the afternoon, he followed Pei Sheng to the internet famous street to sign off on the renovated offline game store, and Li Ziwen came along this time.

After all, he would be responsible for the matters here for a while.

The store's sign was already installed, sharing the name with the studio—Radiance·Mystery City.

"What the hell is 'Mystery City'?" Xu Shuo was startled for a moment; he remembered that when they had settled on the store's name before, Pei Sheng only mentioned using "Radiance."

"Just borrowed a bit from the recent craze of escape rooms," Pei Sheng said with quite a bit of pride, "I'm clever, right? It's just a name anyway!"

"Well done."

Xu Shuo looked approving and patted his shoulder in encouragement, "Next time you decide on your own, go dig for mines in Africa."

Pei Sheng: "..."

Li Ziwen was holding a file, giving him an ordinary glance.

The three of them pushed open the glass door and entered the store, where the reception desk was lit up and a girl was typing on a computer behind it.

Suddenly detecting someone coming in, she looked up in surprise, "Sorry, we haven't opened yet... uh, boss?"

The last word from the girl was directed at Li Ziwen, who pushed his glasses up and gestured with his eyes towards Xu Shuo next to him.

But clearly, the message wasn't conveyed by his look.

The girl walked out from the reception desk feeling a bit awkward, continuing, "Boss, I've finished handing out flyers for today and am now getting familiar with the operating system."

Since Xu Shuo had assigned tasks earlier, Li Ziwen had already recruited a few offline shop assistants, including two hosts for the Scripted Murder Game and two receptionists.

The store was renovated with two floors: the first floor was a tea break room that could also operate as a regular milk tea and dessert shop.

The second floor was the gaming area; the hall was quite spacious. The facilities hadn't been completely set up yet, with just a simple few rows of sofas and tables, but they could also develop simple board games in the hall later on.

There were three themed rooms for the Scripted Murder Game, and a short hallway was partitioned to the left of the hall, just as Xu Shuo had instructed last time; the end of the hallway faced a wall, and lateral windows looked out onto the street outside.

Two restrooms were built behind the second-floor reception desk, separated for men and women, and the overall decoration and layout of the second floor looked quite comfortable.

"We can open on the 20th this month, so during this time I've had people distribute flyers outside and get familiar with the hosting process for the Scripted Murder Game," Li Ziwen said.

"That's a few days ahead of schedule," Xu Shuo nodded.

"Pei Sheng's renovation team is very efficient, and the previous store didn't need much repair. After my inspection, I also sped up the process, because the longer we delay, the more we have to spend," Li Ziwen explained.

Hearing this, Pei Sheng who had just been mocked came over again, proudly saying, "See, I told you I get things done well!"

Xu Shuo glanced at him, "You are indeed quite good in the business aspect."

But his whimsical nature was not suitable for a management level. The Pei family probably realized he couldn't turn things around and simply kicked him out to brave the waves on his own.

In the literal sense of the term.

As for the Scripted Murder Games to be conducted offline, the scripts that had been selected before were already produced, and he had also bought a few scripts that were currently popular in the circle.

Moreover, Xu Shuo borrowed quite a few manuscripts from Script Space to stock the shelves, and also picked a few slightly challenging and difficult ones to become "city limited" ones to keep in the store. These would only be introduced on the app but not playable.

Want to play? Come to the store!

This was the only method Xu Shuo could think of so far to make money using Script Space.

After all, there were a ton of high-difficulty script replays on the forums; you could understand the story without even playing it yourself, so why not use it?

Pei Sheng was flipping through the well-made scripts at the reception desk and suddenly said, "Hey, how about we play a round right here to see how it feels?"

"There's no host," Xu Shuo said.

"Can't she do it?" Pei Sheng looked toward the receptionist who had followed and stood by.

"I don't want to play, I'll be the host," Li Ziwen pushed up his glasses.

"Then we won't have enough people, and some of the game props still aren't equipped," Xu Shuo added.

"Then let her play with us, three people are enough, right!" Pei Sheng angrily said, "A simple script for three people shouldn't need that many props!"

"Are you really that idle," Xu Shuo sighed.

Anyway, Pei Sheng was kicking up a fuss to play a round!

The girl who was involuntarily decided to be in the game was somewhat stunned; she had also found out that Xu Shuo was the real boss and now she was stealing glances at the young man, feeling somewhat awkward.

Pei Sheng quickly rummaged through a pile of scripts and indeed found one for three players, pointing at the cover he shouted, "Let's play this one!"

Xu Shuo glanced at the script's title, then he gave Pei Sheng a meaningful look.

He didn't refuse any longer and turned to ask the girl beside him, "What does Xiaoxia think? It's okay if you don't want to play."

They had just been informed of each other's names.

Ji Xiaoxia hurriedly waved her hands, "No problem, I can play!"

Xu Shuo nodded, then looked toward Pei Sheng, who was both expectant and smug, his eyes deep, the corners of his mouth curling into a rather gentle smile.

Li Ziwen averted his gaze to the side.

…

Half an hour later.

"No way!" Pei Sheng shouted in confusion, "How could I be the murderer?!"

"The evidence is all laid out here, what more do you have to say," Xu Shuo tossed the clue card on the table, his tone firm and allowing no room for interjection, "Alright, can we start voting now?"

Li Ziwen pushed his glasses, "Let's start voting."

Ji Xiaoxia timidly cast her vote for Pei Sheng.

Pei Sheng fumed, "I don't accept this! Let's do it again!"

He quickly flipped through another script.

…

Another half hour later.

Pei Sheng: "Hey? How did I end up being the murderer again?!"

Xu Shuo: "The author saw you near the victim's house that night, time coinciding exactly with the real time of death, and you didn't leave the city at all that day, what more do you have to say!"

Li Ziwen took off his glasses and wiped them, "Let's start voting."

Ji Xiaoxia once again cast her heartfelt vote for Pei Sheng.

…

Another half hour later.

Pei Sheng, unable to contain his anger, "I'm telling you Xu Shuo, it's impossible for me to draw the murderer role three times in a row!"

Xu Shuo rested his elbow on his knee, propping up his chin, and lazily said, "But this time, the police have already collected your fingerprints at the scene, and both the nanny and I have alibis, there's no chance we committed the crime."

"This is framing! You're framing me! Let me see your script!" Pei Sheng angrily tried to snatch his script.

Xu Shuo didn't move aside, allowing Pei Sheng to grab the script away.

After flipping through a few scenes, Pei Sheng's temples throbbed and, gnashing his teeth, he lunged over, "Just as I thought, there's a problem! You slander me time and again, I'll fight you over this!"

Xu Shuo snickered, "You're both bad and still want to play."

This sentence directly set Pei Sheng off!

Before the tragedy in the private room could unfold, Li Ziwen called to the receptionist to leave quietly and wait.