Everyone turned to look at me, their eyes filled with suspicion.

"No, it really wasn't me!" I tried my best to defend myself. "I was just trying to…"

"Shut up! Stop making excuses!" Before I could finish, Dwayne cut me off sharply.

Only his bloodshot eyes remained fixed on me with pure hostility.

Dwayne started directing everyone.

"Listen to me. We vote him out first. Think about it. Oliver died, but the game didn't end. That means Oliver wasn't the undercover agent. And who pushed us to vote him out? This guy. He pointed all the suspicion toward Oliver. If it weren't for him, none of us would have voted at all. He directed the whole thing!"

Cheryl nodded in agreement, and suddenly, my situation became dire.

"I noticed something wrong with him from the start. When Oliver suspected Helen, he defended her and provoked Oliver on purpose to shift all suspicion. He's definitely the undercover agent."

Cheryl sounded completely convinced, and judging from the logic, I really had become the most likely suspect.

"Wait, let me explain. I…."

"Shut up!" Dwayne cut me off again. "There's nothing to explain. You're just trying to confuse us. You're the undercover agent!"

Rebecca, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke, her voice trembling. "Why won't you let him finish? What you're doing now is trying to force us to turn against him. You're the one confusing everyone."

"Shut your mouth, you stupid woman! Do you even know what you're saying?" Dwayne snapped and kicked Rebecca hard.

Rebecca grabbed her stomach, her face twisting in pain as she collapsed.

"My stomach… It hurts… It really hurts…"

"What the hell are you doing?" Helen screamed at Dwayne.

"Oliver already said that you took huge fees to defend criminals, just to make money. You're the kind of person who'd do anything for profit. Who knows if you sneaked into this game for money or for some filthy reason? You'd even attack a pregnant woman. Who knows what kind of rotten heart you have?"

Cheryl covered her mouth while staring at Dwayne in horror.

His face had turned an ugly shade, and in an instant, the balance shifted. His position became far more dangerous than mine.

I didn't know whether he was the undercover agent, but I did know one thing: I wanted to survive.

"In this game, the last one standing wins. The undercover agent would definitely know all of our identities from the beginning. They'd work as hard as possible to eliminate us in the early rounds. So think carefully. Who's been stirring up alliances and confusion from the start? All of you know the answer," I said.

When I finished, the situation became clear.

Dwayne was now completely cornered.

"You stupid women! Do you even know what you're doing? What kind of poison did that loser feed you? You're a bunch of brainless idiots!" he snarled.

Dwayne thrashed wildly, the chains on his body rattling loudly. His neat suit was hanging crooked on him, making him look pathetic.

I pushed my glasses up and looked at him calmly.

"If I remember correctly, the person you defended back then was the son of the former city commissioner. Do you know what that guy did? He and his friends assaulted a 17-year-old girl, and they murdered her afterward. For your own gain, you forged medical records and claimed he had mental issues. Because of you, that monster walked free!"

Cheryl curled her lip into a mocking smile and looked at Dwayne with disgust.

"No wonder. You even had the heart to attack a pregnant woman. Everyone, listen. Whether he's the undercover agent or not, we need to vote him out first. Even if he isn't the agent, he'll still hurt us later just to protect himself. Please vote for him with me!"

The speakers crackled again.

"You all seem to be enjoying yourselves, but let me remind you not to forget the rules of the game. None of you has stated your sins for this round. Please hurry. One minute remaining."

I quickly looked at the timer on the wall.

With all the fighting earlier, we had completely forgotten about time.

I opened my mouth to speak, but another thought hit me. If I revealed the full truth about my own crime, it could be used against me in the next round.

Wasn't that exactly what happened to Dwayne?

Suddenly, I understood the true nature of this game. It was called The Judgement Chamber, meaning they were judging us by our sins.

If I wanted to survive, I couldn't reveal everything.

So, I chose the least heinous sin. "I'll go first. I once killed a kitten out of jealousy."

Cheryl hesitated, then spoke. "When I encouraged that husband to kill his wife, she was already pregnant."

Rebecca stepped back slightly. "I knew my mother-in-law was allergic to peanuts. I still added a lot of crushed peanuts into her soup and convinced her to drink it. Then, I sent everyone else away. She suffocated to death."

Helen bit her lip. "My best friend was pretty, and I hated her for it. I pretended to be close to her, but I talked about her nonstop behind her back. Because of how close we were, everyone else believed the lies I told."

Everyone said their crimes lightly, almost calmly. None of them cared about the wrongs they had done in the past. They only cared about surviving the moment.

Every person here hid something rotten inside themselves, wrapped neatly under a human mask.

Now, that mask was being torn apart, exposing the darkest and ugliest parts within.

"You may vote now. You have one minute."

The speakers sounded again.

Dwayne had stopped struggling. Oliver's corpse lay right next to him, and soon, he would face the same fate.

"It's him… It's him. I know it. I just know it! It has to be him!" Dwayne's hair was a mess, and he kept mumbling frantically, "It's him. It has to be him!"

Suddenly, a wild, chilling look flashed in his eyes.

"I know. I know everything now. It's all…"

The broadcast cut him off. "Dwayne Malone is eliminated."

The next instant, Dwayne's tank began filling rapidly.

Water surged in until the entire tank was full.

Dwayne thrashed desperately, cold water flooding into his nose and mouth. He gasped and sputtered, blowing bubbles as he fought for air, his limbs flailing wildly.

"Help…help me… Hel…"

Everyone turned away again.

A person could hold their breath for no more than five minutes, but under terror and violent panic, even two minutes was rarely possible.

Those few minutes felt unbearably long.

Dwayne died with his eyes wide open, drowned inside the tank.

The broadcast sounded once more.

"The game continues."