Sun Taikong jumped back in shock. "Fuck! Did you really have to-" he began, before cutting himself off. It didn't take much to see that this couldn't have really ended any other way. Instead he turned to Dr Uwem. "Come on doc, you're the expert here. Any advice? Anything? When he wakes up he's still gonna believe she's dead, and now he's going to think we tried to finish the job by hitting him too."

"What the fuck?!" Amethyst yelled, running over to the two men. She stepped right over where Snake was supposedly collapsed. "Is he even going to wake up like that?!"

Juanli gasped and hopped back as the General wielded THE HAMMER magnificently. "Oh General you were... I suppose such a cunning strategy should be expected from one so wise and experienced." She said nodding with respect at him.

"But oh I don't know if we had another choice, he was hysterical and maybe he won't remember it once he wakes up...it was a heavy blow to the head after all." Juanli bit her lip as she tentatively stepped forward.

"Whoever Fujisaki thinks Snake is, she's clearly direly important to him." She eyed the spot where Fujisaki thought Snake was.

Then idly moved her foot to tap the floor there. For curiosity's sake.

---

“Frankly, I’ve been wanting to do that since the washroom incident.” Mao dropped THE HAMMER to the ground. “First things first, we should restrain him while we can.”

"It seems impossible that Mao can see Snake..." Dr. Uwem said as he looked up just in time to see Mao wields the sledgehammer. That's when it hit him like a brick wall; Mao never saw Snake, he lied to distract Fujisaki.

"Fujisaki, look out!" He shouted, except his warning came too late as the sledgehammer have struck Fujisaki. He steps away and then looks at Mao.

"What the hell, Mao?!" The doctor yells out in shock. And then Sun asked him what they're going to do.

"Uh... Maybe we might have to restrain Fujisaki somehow... Maybe with a rope? If we didn't find any rope, we'd have to sedate him..." He said, as he processed what was happening. "Damn... Why'd this have to happen?"

"I mean regarding his Spectre Syndrome," Sun Taikong explained impatiently. "Is there nothing we can do to convince him that Juanli didn't just murder someone precious to him? He's going to be a problem so long as he believes that, even if we restrain him."

"I... I don't know!" Dr. Uwem shouts as he points his cane at Fujisaki. "This is something that I'm trying to figure out!"

Fujisaki crumples to the ground—unconscious, but still alive.

“Sun, help me take him to the dungeon,” Mao says, stooping to grab Fujisaki’s chest.

“Uhh, of course, sir!” Taikong replies, grabbing his legs.

“I believe Monk left the keys there,” Mao continues, “We can lock him back in his cell. He shouldn’t hurt anyone that way.”

Taikong nods along and helps carry Fujisaki down the hall. The others watch from a distance, all with the same thought on their minds.

He’d be a sitting duck there. What if Cat went after him?

From that moment on, the group doesn’t stay together for long. They’re far more distrustful, keeping their distance and staring each other down with considerable suspicion. They wait for Amethyst to find evidence to give them a target for their fury.

…

Amethyst sits in the corner of the server room, typing furiously on the keyboard.

“Hmm? What are all these files?”

She clicks deeper into the code. It looks like someone had been using Yang’s technology not to predict the outcome of battles, but to predict the location of several people on a certain day: the Advent of the Year of the Rat.

“Did Cat think deleting these would be enough to hide them from me?” she scoffs, “Idiot.”

Amethyst checks the files, looking for clues on who they’d been called for. Most of them list the subject’s name prominently at the top.

She continues to scroll through, taking note of how many times the protocol had been run. Ten times…but there were eleven people in the building. Who was missing?

Obviously the one person Cat would know the exact location of.

“Huh, you’re the odd one out?” she mumbles, “Well, I’ve got you now, sicko.”

BANG!

———————

“Did you hear that?” Mao asks.

“Afraid not,” Amandi replies, “What did it sound like?”

“A gunshot.”

The two are alone in the entrance hall. They exchange nervous glances.

“I think it came from near the server room,” Mao says, “Let’s go.”

Mao charges down the hall, leaving Amandi to slowly follow him. It takes an aggravatingly long amount of time, but soon he reunites with Mao. The old general stands, arms crossed, with his back to the server room.

“I think we’ll be needing your expertise, doctor,” he simply mutters.

A feeling of dread overtakes Amandi as he looks into the room.

Amethyst lies face-down on the keyboard. Blood flows from her head in channels between the keys. The monitor in front of her is shattered, shards of glass covering the inside.

Nearby, a computer lies gutted on the floor. Sparks of electricity bounce from its torn wires. Circuitry lies in pieces nearby.

Amandi doesn’t need to step inside to know that Amethyst is gone.

…

Slowly, the others (bar Fujisaki) filter in and discover the gruesome scene…

---

"So, someone shot Amethyst... Why? I think it's time to take notes of where everyone was at the time of the gunshot." Dr. Uwem said.

"Mao and I were in the entrance hall." The doctor explained as he looks to Mao for confirmation.

"Shit, shit, shit..." Sun Taikong grimaced as he took in the scene. It was nothing new for a soldier like him, but it hurt all the same. He looked around at the others, seeking out potential guilt in their eyes. "Which one of you? Which of you fuckers did this, huh?" he roared, looking about ready to hit someone but not having a suitable enough target in sight. "She was trying to help!"

Mao was genuinely shocked by Amethyst's body and shaken for a moment. How could they have been so stupid? He took a cursory look at her body, but he couldn't find a useful observation.

"Uwem is correct." He said after a brief pause. He then added reluctantly, "We locked Fujisaki in the cell as well, so he should also be considered innocent for now."

He looked between Private Sun, Juanli, and Mei. There was no doubt one of them was behind this.

Unless...? No, it seemed impossible. Could there have been a fourth person? Even if Fujisaki was just insane, there had to be a player with a Snake bracelet. Were they hiding?

"Fffffuck," Mei mutters to herself, grimacing at the body. She takes in a deep breath and then looks around. "Okay... the motherfucker that did this evidently didn't want Amethyst finding something useful, but most of us should be accounted for. That leaves... Taikong, Juanli, me or the Snake player as the last suspects..."

The nurse bites on her thumb's fingernail as she considers those options, "... but we have no evidence of the latter even fucking existing, beyond the room and Fujisaki's hallucinations. For now, the best we can do is just not split up."

"Yeah? Can we really guarantee that Uwem and Mao were together the whole time?" Sun Taikong shouted, stepping back from the group and flicking between them with wild eyes. "I wanted to trust you all, I really did, but every time something happens, you all go crazy! For all I know, one of you did this just to steal her points, and next you'll be after the rest of us!"

Juanli cowered at the back of the room, far far away from the body of Amethyst "M-M-Maybe we can just search everyone? See who has a gun?" She clutched her handbag to her chest and hugged it for support "Oh I'm glad Sunny's not here...I just want to wait here."

---

"You're only suggesting that because you've already thrown the gun away! You know we won't find it on you!" Sun Taikong yelled at Juanli, growing increasingly paranoid. Then he turned to the others. "Or maybe one of you really does have a gun right now, and plans to shoot us if we try anything like that! Where did you even get a gun from? Did you smuggle it in? If you're Cat, weren't the killer bracelets already enough for you?"

"W-- Wait!" Mei calls out as he steps back from the group, looking increasingly forlorn, "You're right, it could basically be fucking ANYONE here, but-- if you go off alone like Amethyst, you'll get picked off, too! We don't have much of a choice, just please understand that!" She pleads in an entirely different tone than anything she's said before.

Something in Mei's voice managed to get through to him, as Sun Taikong clutched his head with an anguished yell but otherwise stayed where he was. "You're right, of course..." he said, before letting out a sob. "Why? Why did this have to happen? We could have done this right! Instead we betray each other, hurt each other, kill each other..." He was a wreck, but at least he seemed somewhat stable now.

Mei quickly walks up to the man to place a comforting hand on his right shoulder. "W-We'll deal with it, okay? You'll be fine. You've been in worse situations before, right? You can just... take some time if you need it."

Her words don't sound very certain.

Sun Taikong nodded mutely, before collapsing into a seated position on the ground, where he hung his head.

Mei retracts her hand as the man collapses, staring at it in a very forlorn way. She frowns, figures he should be let alone for the time being and turns to the others. "Well? The least any of you could do right now is give us a plan if you can think of one."

“Let’s do what Juanli said. Even if one of us ditched the gun, I’d be a lot more comfortable knowing nobody has one right now.”

"No objections from me, obviously." Mei adds.

Sun Taikong looked up at General Mao and gave him a piercing stare. "Can you and the doc swear that you can vouch for each other? If we can trust the two of you, then you should be the ones to search us. Everyone else, keep your hands above your head until the search is over." Focusing on disciplined action was helping him to calm down, though the haunted look never left his eyes.

"We should search both of them, actually. Especially him," Mei glares at Mao, "Your little fucking stunt with the escape door started all of this, remember? So, when you search me, bet your ass I'm searching you too."

“We heard the gunshot together, but I got here much faster than he did.” Mao didn’t feel that detail meant anything but better to share anything that has a chance of being relevant.

He glared at Mei for her language, but ultimately agreed. “The Doctor and I will search everyone. Then Mei and Sun together can search us.”

He slowly began his search, waiting on the GM post for a result.

The group conducts a thorough search, but no one in the group has a gun...

---

“It’s possible that one of us is the culprit, so we should all be on alert.” Mao advised. “We should look for the Snake player now. Together. It’s a good idea to check in on Fujisaki as well.”

“Are you sure you locked Fujisaki’s cell?” Juanli asks, “Maybe he did this! He took that gun from Monk’s cell and shot him!”

“I’d think someone would have seen him walking around with the gun,” Mao replies. “All the way across the facility, at that…”

“But Mao and I didn’t see anyone when we headed to the server room,” Amandi says, scratching his chin. “So how did the killer get away? How’d they get past us?”

“W-Well, we know it wasn’t Mao or Amandi,” Taikong helpfully adds, “The two of them were together when the shot went off.”

“Not necessarily,” Mei says, “Doctor, did you actually hear the gunshot?”

“I admit…I did not,” he replies.

“Then Mao could have made it up, rushed there before you, and shot Amethyst in the head.”

“Good lord! I did no such thing!” Mao replies.

“I’m just being open-minded,” Mei replies, “We’re all suspects here. Hell, maybe one of the people who escaped came back and shot her.”

“Are you even listening to yourself?” Juanli asks, “Fujisaki is the only person screwed up enough to pull a stunt like this!”

“Okay, everyone calm down!” Taikong shouts, not remotely calm. “If we just talk it out, we can work through this!”

“Yeah, cause talking has worked excellently so far!”

“We should at least examine the scene first,” Mao says, stepping through the room and peering into every nook and cranny.

“Where do you think you’re going, General?”

“Oh, shut up! At least he’s trying to help!”

“How peculiar…”

“Hold on,” Mao mumbles, “What’s this?”

He braces himself on the wall and reaches down behind one of the massive server towers. He grabs a small object wedged behind it and pulls it out. It’s a small, black pistol.

“Put your hands in the air, you murderer!”

He twirls the gun behind him, pointing it directly across from him and right between the eyes of…

---

Amethyst froze, bearing an expression like she’d been hit by a truck. She grasped her head.

“Amethyst?” Monk said, “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve made my decision,” she declared, “I’m voting Betray.”

“What?” Monk shouted.

“I thought we agreed that wasn’t a good idea,” Taikong said, “You’re going to get us all killed!”

“I just…have a feeling that this is the better choice,” Amethyst replied.

“You’re going to have to be more specific than that!” Monk said.

“I don’t know what to tell you!” Amethyst shouted, “But I’ve made my choice, and I’m not changing my mind.”

The group heard X chuckling from the corner of the room.

“I didn’t expect it to come to this,” she mumbled, “But don’t worry…I have a plan to save them.”

She crouched down by the air vent…

…

“Attention, players. The Battle of Wood will end in exactly thirty minutes. Ensure that you are back in your rooms at that time. I will begin calling groups to submit their answers in fifteen minutes.”

“Additionally: to prevent excessive point loss, the Meridian Gate at the door to the West Wing will be temporarily disabled.

…

“Lord Rooster, please submit your answer.”

Fujisaki left the tent alone. He strolled purposefully toward the dungeon, perfectly set in what he planned to do.

…

“Lady Monkey, please submit your answer.”

Amethyst left the room. Taikong and Monk followed close behind her. The two of them stopped as she passed into the throne room and watched from a distance, ensuring she made it back safely. Monk remained by the door, taking a drag on a cigarette.

…

“Lady Sheep, please submit your answer.”

Monk watched as Suyin left the playroom, walking away from him. She seemed to drift across the floor like a ghost before disappearing from view. Monk decided to return to the server room.

…

“The battle has been lost. Lady Sheep’s team will now be trapped in the Dragon room.

“The Wood key will be awarded to Fujisaki. This key opens the large door in the entrance hall. A Meridian Gate stands just beyond that opening. Only four players may pass through before it changes into an Afterlife Gate. After the first player passes through, the gate will remain open for only twelve minutes before closing permanently.

“I hope you enjoyed the Zodiac Game.”

Fujisaki steps out of the War Room, admiring the keycard in his hand. Juanli follows him out, expression stormy, reaching into her bag…

“Take it,” Fujisaki says.

Juanli stops in her tracks. He was handing the Wood Key to her.

“I trust you not to do something stupid with it,” he explained, “We need to calmly discuss this. Decide who we trust to leave.”

Juanli wordlessly took the card and stared at it, deep in thought.

Suddenly, X came barreling out of the hallway. She turned and rushed down the entrance hall, heading toward the throne room.

“What,” Fujisaki elucidated.

And then around the corner came the rest of Amethyst’s group, chasing after her. Taikong turned to the group as they exited the tent, throwing his hands in the air.

“She said she had some plan! I don’t know!” he shouted, “We’re just trying to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”

Amethyst paused for a moment, out of breath.

“Geez, I didn’t think a psych patient could sprint that fast…”

Fujisaki nodded and raced after X, but Amandi began to fall behind. He hurried after the group as they followed X into the hallway. About half a minute passed when—

“BOOM!”

Amandi cautiously entered the hallway, he walked down it, turned the corner, and discovered an odd scene.

Soot and rubble caked the walls and floor, seeming to pour from the Meridian Gate at the end of the corridor. The rest of the group lay scattered throughout the hall, dazed but still alive. They slowly got to their feet, trying to regain their bearings.

Amandi stared down the corridor right at X, who walked into the hall with soot covering her pristine bandages. A sardonic grin was on her face.

“Hmm, for once it seems I may have been wrong,” she said, “Ah, well. Let’s call it a learning experience.”

[Only those in Amethyst or Fujisaki’s group may post at this time. You are not expected to do anything now except try to figure out what in tarnation is going on.]

---

Amethyst coughed up some soot, before she managed to start raspily yelling. "What was that?! Did you just bomb something?!"

"Jesus Christ!" Monk shouted as he got up. "What the hell was all that about?! Were you trying to bomb them out of there or something?"

---

“WHO?!” Juanli declared pointing an accusing finger at the two leaders “Which one of you DID THIS?!” She gestured wildly back at the locked Dragon room completely uncaring about the explosion.

---

"What is going on?!" Dr. Uwem yelled. "Why'd the bomb go off?! I thought there were a few hours left, due to the coins we donated!"

He looks towards X.

"X, what the hell happened?!" He demanded as he points his cane at her. "Sun said that you have some sort of a plan?! What did you do?!"

"What the hell are you blaming us for!?" Fujisaki snaps at Juanli, but quickly tries to get up and and face the doctor.

"Did someone push the button?" He calls out, though not really expecting anyone to answer.

"Even worse, Rabbit. They both did it! They are both traitors. Perhaps Rooster wanted the key for the advantage in leaving, but since he has given it away, it's more likely he has an Ax to grind against the Sheep," X muses, responding to Juanli's question.

She turns on a dime to face Dr. Uwem, her hands in the air seeing the cane pointed at her, "There is no problem. I pressed the switch to explode the door to the Dragon's room. I had the foresight to take the bomb out of the room as Amethyst told us her plan. It seems the plan has taken the path of the pear. The door is untouched by the blast. It seems Cat wants no such usage of the bomb."

".... I see." Dr. Uwem said, though he's more angry at her. "X, we'll have to talk about it later, but first...."

He turns towards the other people. "Is anyone hurt? Are there any injuries that needed to be tended to?" Dr. Uwem asked, concerned for the wellbeing of the other players.

Sun Taikong didn't seem to be doing so well. He was crouching down on the ground, hands clamped firmly over his ears, just like the time Monk had started firing a gun in the dungeon. He didn't seem aware of the others around him, and was hyperventilating.

"It is a blast only designed to kill a child and I followed safety precautions. You would rather I stay idle while the others starve and eat one another. You are being rash in your judgement, Dr. Uwem," X resigns her smile to a small frown. "The real victims are those who have been trapped by the leaders."

Monk walks to the end of the hallway and peers through the Meridian Gate, being careful not to actually cross the threshold (or go near X, because she is scary).

The antechamber behind the throne is completely trashed. It seems a bomb was certainly detonated here, judging by the ash covering nearly every surface. It was powerful enough to burn through the wallpaper, revealing hard steel around the dragon room. Large metal shutters are closed over the dragon door, hiding the interior from view.

Monk is vaguely reminded of some scientific concept he’d heard about involving a cat and a box but feels this might not be a good time to bring it up. Instead, he shares what he sees with the others.

---

"That's concerning, Monk." Dr. Uwem said after hearing Monk reports his findings. He then went to check on Sun.

"Sun, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" The doctor asked