Chapter 5: The Three Prophets

“How about it? I played pretty well, didn’t I? I jumped as the Idiot and managed to flush out the real Idiot, but credit goes to the Witch—she poisoned the Hunter card, otherwise it wouldn’t have been such an easy win.”
Li Peijun started his lively post-game analysis. Truth be told, their victory had little to do with him; the Witch’s blind poison took out the Hunter, and with the twelfth Wolf teammate hiding brilliantly, they cut down the eleventh Witch first, then the first Seer, pushed the fifth player who was just drifting along, and finally finished off the exposed fourth Idiot.
“We thought number nine was the Hunter, but it wasn’t until after we got rid of the Idiot that we realized the Hunter was already dead. Still, the Wolves had enough knives to win. I really lucked out this round—Chen Fan, stick close to me for good fortune. Your first win is thanks to me.”
Li Peijun was already quite triumphant. Chen Fan glanced at his ranking; though he was still on the last page, at least he wasn’t at the very bottom anymore.
Zhou Ji wasn’t fond of the Idiot setup—it demanded too much skill from the players, and most who played Seer, Witch, Hunter, and Idiot were novices. Being a good guy could drive you crazy; the logic would fall apart and the situation was impossible to read. Chen Fan was a prime example.
Zhou Ji suggested, “How about trying the Guardian setup? At least there’s some margin for error. Too many knives explode in the Idiot rounds—sometimes the badge flow gets locked out on the very first day, and the game experience is awful.”
“Doesn’t matter, I just want to win,” Chen Fan accepted the invitation.
The Guardian round was similar to the Idiot’s, but with the Idiot replaced by the Guardian, which gave the good guys more of an advantage. Even if players couldn’t distinguish the real Seer, at least there was still a chance to recover.
As always, Chen Fan took seat number six. Li Peijun and Zhou Ji sat right next to him, three in a row.
“Don’t give me the Seer, and preferably not a Wolf card either. Grant me a strong role, please,” Chen Fan prayed silently.
“If I get Wolf, I’ll make sure you reach the finals,” Zhou Ji laughed lightly and drew his card.
“Well, this is a real heavy hitter.”
Li Peijun was visibly pleased, feeling he’d drawn a card that relied on identity play, though his performance seemed purposely theatrical.
Chen Fan lifted the corner of his card, revealing the barrel of a gun.
“I’m a Hunter.”

Chen Fan calmly put down his card. He finally got a powerful role, but recalling his previous law enforcement experience, his gun had never taken out a single Wolf. Once, he even blindly shot and eliminated a double-medicine Witch.
“Night falls, please close your eyes.”
Chen Fan pulled the zodiac mask onto his face; though made of plastic, it looked decent enough. As a player who always kept his eyes closed, Chen Fan only hoped to carry the game this time.
The first night was a bit long. When Chen Fan finally removed his mask, his face was flushed from the stuffiness.
As usual, Chen Fan raised his hand to join the badge contest. No matter his role, as long as he wasn’t a Wolf, he almost always joined the contest, afraid of being caught under the badge and thrown into the Wolf pit.
“Except for players three and twelve, all others are contesting for the badge. Player six, please speak.”
“Hm? Am I first?” Chen Fan paused, quickly recovered, and said, “Number six here is a good guy card, contesting as usual. I think at least one Wolf is under the badge. If the Seer is in a late position, the first badge flow should check the two under-badge cards. That’s all.”
Li Peijun seemed to have held back for a long time, and couldn’t wait to speak: “Number seven here is the Seer. Last night I checked number six; number six is a gold card. I agree with six’s logic: badge flow should go three, then twelve. I’m strongly contesting for the badge. Over.”
“Hm? This guy’s the Seer? Is he for real? Or is he a Wolf faking it?” Chen Fan stared intently, but couldn’t spot any inconsistencies. This fellow always spoke casually, much like his usual chatty tone.
Zhou Ji was relaxed, his gaze drifting to the later positions. “Number eight here is the Seer. Last night I checked and killed number nine. Number nine, anything to say? Want your Wolf teammates to pull you out? Badge flow goes twelve, then three. We’ll see how these two vote before deciding.”
“Wow, the late positions are immediately jumping Seer, and the kill is pretty forceful. Who should I trust?” Chen Fan looked at the two Seers; though he couldn’t tell who was real, he felt inclined to believe number seven.
“Zhou Ji’s speech sounds more like a good guy faking an identity; he didn’t go after seven directly but threw a kill at a late position. Let’s hear nine’s speech first.” Chen Fan didn’t know why he was so certain—normally, he’d just mark someone as Wolf and attack without hesitation.
Player nine’s expression was a bit dull. He glanced at Zhou Ji’s determined face and said in surprise, “Number nine here is the real Seer. Last night I checked number three across from me; it’s a gold card. Number eight, are you withdrawing? If not, I’ll mark you and seven as Wolves. If you’re a good guy, stop messing things up. Badge flow checks six first; twelve is probably a Wolf in my view. Over.”
He stared at Zhou Ji, as if hoping he’d withdraw, but Zhou Ji only stared back, refusing to say those two words.
“Three Seers? Could there be another in the late positions? The Wolf team is getting aggressive.” Chen Fan was utterly confused; now that all three Seers hadn’t withdrawn, they were probably either non-god or Wolf cards.

“Number ten here to speak, a villager card. Personally, I lean toward number eight. If eight is faking, his actions look reasonable to me. There are so many late positions left to speak, it’s hard for a Wolf to kill the real Seer. But I’ll wait and see if any of these three withdraw.”
The others followed suit, mostly drifting along, with more people siding with Zhou Ji’s number eight. However, the badge winner would still be decided by the two under-badge players.
Chen Fan had a hunch: though number nine was forced to jump after being killed, he still had a high chance of getting the badge. The exaggerated performance of number seven, Li Peijun, was likely to get him eliminated this round.
When everyone finished speaking, none of the Seers had withdrawn. As a withdrawal card, Chen Fan had no voting rights in the first round—he could only watch the votes of numbers three and twelve.
“All players have finished speaking. Now, players not contesting for the badge, please prepare to vote.”
As expected, number nine received a vote from number three, the gold card; twelve abstained. The player Chen Fan saw as most likely a Wolf became the badge holder.
“Last night, player twelve died. Player twelve, please give your last words.”
Twelve pondered for a moment, scratched his head, and said, “Villager out. I couldn’t distinguish the Seer, so I didn’t vote. Personally, I lean more toward number eight. I think there could be four Wolves contesting, and number three’s gold card is probably real. I suggest tearing up the badge this round. Nothing else to say—good luck, good guys.”
With the badge in hand, number nine visibly relaxed and chose to start the reverse order speeches.
Zhou Ji glanced at number nine, then at number three. If the first speaker drifted too much, he’d easily get eliminated. Zhou Ji weighed his options and decided, “Number eight here is not the Seer.”
Chen Fan chuckled to himself, “You’re not the Seer yet you jumped in and caused trouble. If your speech isn’t clear, you’ll get rolled out.”
The players’ reactions matched—some were shocked, some confused. Zhou Ji’s behavior was indeed odd; if he were a fake jumper, he’d have fought to the end even under the badge. But a good guy refusing to withdraw made no sense.
Zhou Ji smiled, clearly prepared for this. “I’m a special card—a double-medicine Witch.”