novelsite Chapter 416 Sahir, dead!
Chapter 416 Sahir, dead!
The next morning.
Perhaps because he arrived early, Lin Feng had not yet seen Xia Ning and the two stewards at the entrance of Zhaixin Hall.
He and Wasim went in first and sat down at table number 56.
After sitting for a while, Xia Ning slowly walked to the center of the hall, her figure floating lightly, her clear and cool voice reaching everyone's ears:
"The dining rules remain unchanged today—a vote will be held to select one dormitory room, and all members of that room will be responsible for testing the food."
As soon as he finished speaking, the hall fell silent.
But the quiet was different from yesterday.
Yesterday's quiet concealed unrest, scheming, whispers, and factionalism.
In the quiet of today, everyone's eyes, without prior arrangement, all fell in the same direction.
Table number 47.
Sahir sat there, his short, stout body huddled together, his face sallow beneath his thick beard, his eyes darting around like a hare being targeted by a hunting rifle.
He knew, of course, that everyone was watching him.
He also knew what would happen today.
His lips were trembling incessantly, and his fingers were digging into the table so hard that blood seeped from under his fingernails.
The two roommates sitting next to him were looking at him with an almost desperate expression.
Xia Ning casually waved her hand, and the bronze recording stone slowly emerged from the ground. On the bronze mirrors on both sides of the wall, the dormitory number and the list of chosen ones appeared.
"Voting begins, three minutes allowed."
Those who refuse to vote will have their cells designated as poison-testing cells.
The representative of dormitory number 31, who was the first person to stand up yesterday to admit that he voted for number 56 and apologize to Wasim, was the first to walk to the recording stone.
"Number 47," he said crisply.
Immediately afterwards, the representative from dormitory number 18 stepped forward.
"Number 47".
Dormitory No. 25: "Number 47".
Number 39: "Number 47".
One after another, without any suspense or hesitation.
All the votes, like iron filings attracted by a magnet, flowed precisely and irresistibly toward the same number.
47 number.
Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
Xia Ning raised her hand and waved it lightly. Numbers slowly appeared in the blank spaces below each dormitory room on the bronze mirror.
Dormitory No. 47 - 30 votes.
Except for number 47 himself, all the other dorm rooms voted for them.
Below dormitory number 56, a lone vote, like an insignificant speck of dust, fell limply onto the bronze mirror.
Xia Ning's gaze fell on the bronze mirror, paused for two seconds, then turned to table number 47, her voice cold:
"The three people in cell number 47, please come to the window to collect your meals."
Sahir slumped in his chair like a lump of mud, his face turning from sallow to ashen.
"Room 47!" Xia Ning's voice grew louder, a hint of impatience flashing in her eyes.
The two fellow monks sitting next to Sahir exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and suddenly stood up.
One of the tall, thin men grabbed Sahir by the collar and practically yanked him off the chair.
"Get out of here! You've brought this mess upon yourself, and now you're dragging us down with you!"
Sahir shakes his head nervously:
"I didn't mean to... it was the ghost story walkthrough group... they tricked me..."
"What's the point of saying all this now!" Another roommate wearing black-rimmed glasses sighed.
Two fellow students, one on each side, supported him and dragged him to the four dark windows on the north wall.
Xia Ning stood to one side, her gaze sweeping over the three of them:
"Please make your choice!"
Sahir slumped in front of window number 2, trembling all over, his lips moving as he made his final prayer.
The tall, thin man stood in front of window number 1, his face ashen, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.
The bespectacled man stood in front of window number 3, his eyes red-rimmed, staring intently at the bottomless darkness inside.
Immediately afterwards, three pairs of pale, withered hands slowly emerged from the window, each holding a bowl of steaming vegetarian noodles.
The three of them carefully carried their bowls of noodles back to table number 47 and sat down.
All eyes in the hall were fixed on them.
Sahir sat in the chair, holding the bowl of noodles in both hands, but his fingertips seemed frozen and he didn't move at all.
His face was deathly pale, and a layer of cold sweat beaded on his forehead, trickling down his temples and dripping onto the plain noodles, creating small ripples.
"It's poisoned...it must be my bowl..."
His lips were moving incessantly, like the babbling of someone on the verge of death.
The tall, thin man sat opposite him, staring at the bowl of noodles in front of him, and took a deep breath.
Then, he picked up his chopsticks, picked up a few noodles, looked at them for two seconds, closed his eyes, and stuffed them into his mouth.
chew.
Swallow.
He opened his eyes, looked down at his hands, then touched his face. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with his body, he let out a long breath.
Then he looked up at Sahir, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
The man with glasses also picked up his chopsticks.
By the time he took his third bite, he noticeably quickened his pace—because he realized he didn't feel anything unusual.
All eyes were on Sahir.
"Please eat as soon as possible!" Xia Ning's voice came.
Sahir shuddered and abruptly raised his head, meeting Xia Ning's calm and unwavering eyes.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but only a muffled sound came out of his throat.
Then he lowered his head and picked up his chopsticks.
My hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold the noodles.
He picked one up and examined it for a long time, as if trying to determine if it was a venomous snake.
Then he closed his eyes and stuffed the noodle into his mouth.
He swallowed it whole without chewing.
Then wait without moving.
one second.
two seconds.
three seconds.
Nothing happened.
Sahir opened his eyes, a look of ecstatic relief at surviving a terrible ordeal appearing on his face—
However, the next second, his expression froze.
First, it was the throat.
It felt like a million needles were piercing his throat at once. He clutched his neck, his mouth wide open, but no sound came out.
Then comes the stomach.
The intense, agonizing pain was like an invisible hand, gripping his internal organs and twisting them violently.
"Ugh—ah—!!"
A piercing scream burst from Sahir's mouth. He sprang up from his chair and crashed heavily to the ground, his body contorted in a bizarre arc as he rolled wildly on the floor.
The bowl shattered, spilling leftover noodles and broth all over the floor.
His complexion changed from sallow to grayish-white, and then from grayish-white to bluish-purple.
"Help...help me..."
His voice was a breathy sound squeezed from deep in his throat, hoarse, broken, and full of despair.
No one moved.
Some people turned their faces away, unable to bear watching any longer.
Some people had blank expressions and empty eyes.
Some people even had a slight, almost imperceptible curve at the corners of their mouths.
The tall, thin man sat in the chair, his hands gripping the edge of the table tightly, but he did not get up.
The bespectacled man was deathly pale and trembling all over, as if he were watching a nightmare from which he could not wake up.
Sahir rolled on the ground for more than ten seconds.
The movements are getting slower and slower.
The sound grew fainter and fainter.
finally--
He stopped convulsing.
He lay on his back on the ground, his limbs stiffly outstretched, his eyes half-open with unfocused pupils, and a thin trail of dark red blood at the corner of his mouth.
It stopped moving.
The hall was so quiet that one could hear the flickering flame of the eternal soul lamp.
Xia Ning's gaze swept over Sashir's corpse, her expression remaining unchanged.
"The poison testing process is complete." Her voice was as cool as ever. "Everyone can now line up in an orderly fashion to receive their meals."