What happened next mirrored Su Mu's experience.
On stage, Linny warmed up the crowd with practiced ease, performing impressive magic tricks.
Then came their long-prepared transformation magic trick, which sent the whole audience into a frenzy.
Two wooden boxes were pushed onto the stage and into the center of the passageway, and a lottery machine was brought onto the stage to select lucky audience members.
As expected, the lottery machine chose the girl in the third seat of the seventh row, and she was escorted by Cowell into the wooden box in the passageway.
Then, Linny asked the audience to shout a countdown.
The moment the countdown ended, he emerged from the wooden box in the center of the passageway.
On the other side, dazzling fireworks erupted from the stage, and the water tank hanging above the wooden box fell straight down.
“Boom——！”
The water tank smashed into the wooden box without any resistance!
Shards of glass flew everywhere, and the water from the tank splashed onto the ground!
【Xiangling】：？！
【Xiangling】：The water tank fell？！
【Xiangling】：Isn't Cowell in the wooden box...
【Amber】：Ah？！
【Amber】：What happened?
【Amber】：Did the Traveler not manage to stop the water tank from falling?
【Kaeya】：It seems we've been influenced by Mr. Su Mu's perspective and prejudiced.
【Kaeya】：We assumed Mr. Su Mu stopped the water tank from falling, so we subconsciously thought the Traveler would do the same.
【Kaeya】：But the reality is completely different. The Traveler didn't manage to stop the water tank from falling, and Cowell, who was unconscious in the wooden box, was probably crushed to death by the water tank.
【Collei】：How could this be...
【Kamisato Ayato】：As I said, it seems I was right.
【Kamisato Ayato】：The gap between the Traveler and Mr. Su Mu's strength is greater than we imagined.
【Kamisato Ayato】：As a reference, the Navillettes in this world didn't manage to stop the water tank from falling either.
【Kamisato Ayato】：Mr. Su Mu could do this simply because he was strong enough to react correctly in almost an instant.
【Navillettes】：Indeed.
【Navillettes】：The whole thing happened very suddenly.
【Navillettes】：I didn't react in time, and the incident was already happening.
【Navillettes】：While I don't know Mr. Su Mu's strength, his combat instincts are far superior to mine.
As everyone expected.
Cowell, who was unconscious in the wooden box, was already dead.
Because of this change, all eyes turned to Linny, making him the prime suspect in the case.
“Hehehe... I know now, I know everything! To deceive us with such a simple trick, you must have underestimated us, haven't you?”
From the VIP seats above, Fontaine stood up, hands on her hips, and confidently said, “Great Magician, you are the mastermind behind the serial disappearance of girls, aren't you?”
“The whole incident happened during the magic show. The girl disappeared after being chosen, and your assistant died in this performance. Thinking about it now, the opening line seems more like a provocation!”
“From existence to nothingness, from nothingness to existence.”
“This line corresponds to what is happening now, right!”
These words caused an uproar in the audience.
The audience members readily agreed with Fontaine's words.
On the other side, the people in the chat group also looked shocked.
【Hu Tao】：Did I see that right?
【Hu Tao】：Did Ms. Fontaine get smarter?
【Xingqiu】：Oh my, what a surprise! It's hard to believe!
【Xiangling】：Could it be that Ms. Fontaine was just hiding her true strength? She was hiding in plain sight?
Just as everyone was marveling at Fontaine's transformation.
Navillettes turned around, looked up at Fontaine and said:
“Let's stop arguing.”
“Ms. Fontaine, may I understand this as your accusation?”
“Huh?” Fontaine was slightly startled, scratching her head. “Accusation? Isn't it a little early to accuse someone now?”
“Well...that...I think...”
Fontaine tried to explain, but she heard the audience cheering.
“Fontaine-sama's analysis makes a lot of sense!”
“It seems Fontaine-sama will be personally presiding over the dispute, I'm so excited!”
“I didn't expect the kidnapping and murder hidden behind the magic show to be revealed by Fontaine-sama!”
“Ah...ah haha... I mean, of course, everyone, I don't think the Traveler would turn a blind eye to her newly acquainted friend, right?”
Hearing this, Lumine nodded.
Fontaine secretly sighed in relief, saying:
“If so, let's have a real showdown!”
“Since this grand spectacle is inevitable, let it happen in due course!”
And so, with Navillettes' announcement, the real trial would be held again the next day.
【Amber】：Ms. Fontaine is definitely putting on a brave face, isn't she?
【Amber】：It feels like she was pushed onto the stage by the people of Fontaine.
【Kaeya】：Be confident, remove the “feels.” I think Ms. Fontaine was pushed onto the stage.
【Collei】：Being a god is so tiring? You also have to satisfy the audience's desire for entertainment. This is the first time I've seen this.
【Keqing】：Ms. Fontaine's performance is indeed a little stiff, even with some fancy rhetoric to cover it up, it's hard to hide her expression.
【Kujou Sara】：No matter what, it's finally time for my favorite deduction part. I wonder what kind of story the Traveler will experience, I'm so excited for the upcoming deductions.
【Ningguang】：Will it go smoothly?
【Ningguang】：I think we'll encounter all sorts of difficulties.
【Ningguang】：Not to mention Ms. Fontaine's hostile attitude towards the Traveler.
【Ningguang】：Even Linny and Linnet's true motives are still unknown.
【Ningguang】：The Fatui actively approach the Traveler and intentionally try to please her, which is a dangerous thing in my opinion.
【Ningguang】：The deeper the trust, the more painful the betrayal will be.
【Ningguang】：I haven't seen the Traveler have Mr. Su Mu's kind of strategic foresight from the very beginning.
【Ningguang】：Even now, she seems like a tool that is being used, unknowingly becoming Linny's proxy.
【Su Mu】：You have a keen eye, as always.
【Su Mu】：With you as my mouthpiece, I don't even need to speak.
【Ningguang】：Mr. Su Mu is flattering me. I'm just stating what I see.
【Ningguang】：Especially after experiencing so many things, the Traveler is still so unguarded. I couldn't help but say a few words.
【Hu Tao】：Hiss... That's so insightful!
【Hu Tao】：Although the Traveler was drawn into the vortex!
【Hu Tao】：She's just going with the flow, she hasn't thought about getting out of the vortex at all!
【Xingqiu】：If Mr. Su Mu hadn't set the example, I might not have realized these problems.
【Xingqiu】：I have to say, Mr. Su Mu does a better job in this regard. Until now, I haven't found any fault with him.
Seeing the chat group members gradually siding with Su Mu.
Lumine's heart felt inexplicably uncomfortable, but she couldn't refute them.
In fact, her heart felt so uncomfortable precisely because what they said was true.
Thinking about what was going to happen next, she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. It would be a disastrous social death.
Fontaine, my best friend, save me!