On the night the 2018 Los Angeles All-Star Game bench was announced, Yang received a call that made him shudder.

The phone's voice has been specially processed to make it impossible to tell who is speaking, a bit like the masked doll character in the horror movie Chainsaw: the eyes are black and red, the face has two spiral blushes, only the jaw opens and closes mechanically, and he often rides a children's bicycle. Yes, it's that character, and even the principle of being scary is the same. The mask itself is just an in-game prop, and it's the mastermind behind the mask that is really terrifying.

The deity who has masterminded all the murderous dilemmas, but no one has ever seen the true face.

The jigsaw that hides behind a mask and a video to play with everyone's life and fate.

Who will he be?

1/

Yang Yiming, who was still shocked by this phone call, walked back to the rented apartment, and Yu Xiaochun was also watching TV in the living room to pass the time, and observed that his friend's expression was a little lost, so he asked, "Yiming, what's wrong with you?" Why do you seem to have lost your soul? ”

"Oh, Koharu, you're watching TV."

Yu Xiaochun glanced at the TV, and then looked back at Yang Yiming, which seemed to say, "Isn't this obvious", but he didn't say so, just asked: "What's wrong with you, today's training volume is a bit large?" There's still food in the fridge that you can eat when you heat it up. ”

"No, I'm not hungry, I ate at the gym. Thank you. Yang Yiming threw his sports bag on the ground, went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. Yu Xiaochun could hear him directly drink the entire glass of water, then pour another glass, and then come out again, pull out a dining chair in the living room, and sit down:

"I got a very strange phone call."

"Phone? You're not going to get a call from your ex-girlfriend too, are you? Yu Xiaochun received a call from his first girlfriend Tang Wen before, and his mood has finally calmed down in the past few days, and he can joke about it.

"That's not the case." Yang Yiming stared at the water cup in a daze, there was a small whirlpool in the center of the cup, which may have been formed by the impact of the water flow when pouring water: "First of all, the gender is not right. At least, I don't think so..."

"What do you mean, you can't even figure out whether the other party is a man or a woman?" Yu Xiaochun thought in his heart that although Yang Yiming's English ability was not excellent, the gender of the speaker was not always clear.

"No, I mean... The person who called seemed to be using some kind of sound processing technology, a bit like the kind in Conan and Chainsaw..."Yang Yiming swallowed hard, "I guess based on the content of the call, it is a man, probably my colleague, a basketball player." But you know what, I'm not sure. ”

"Oh? Tell me what the phone call is about. was described by Yang Yiming so vaguely, Yu Xiaochun suddenly became interested.

"Hmm. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to tell you clearly, so I recorded the second half of the call. Listen to it and give me some advice. ”

Yang Yiming took out his mobile phone from his pocket and put it on the dining table, and played the recording:

“… Being an All-Star is an honor you get, no matter how you get it. ”

Turn down the volume on the TV, and the eerie jerky voice rings out in the empty living room space.

2/

The two of them listened to the call three or four times, and were silent.

When he heard it for the fifth time, Yang Yiming finally couldn't hold it back, pressed the pause button for the recording playback, and asked, "So Xiaochun, you also listened to it, what do you think?" ”

"I..." Yu Xiaochun wanted to speak and stopped.

"It doesn't matter, whatever comes to mind, just a little bit." Yang Yiming read through his mind and encouraged.

"Okay..."Yu Xiaochun sorted out his thoughts and stated: "First of all, I think your judgment is definitely not wrong. Naturally, the caller should also be a basketball player, your peer. This sentence, '... So I want to congratulate you, I'm happy for you. I am glad that you have achieved so much that when anyone surpasses you, everyone will feel that the one who conquered the mountains is greater and more worthy of admiration'. This is clearly a statement of challenge that only athletes would say. Only athletes with the best mental quality will compliment their opponents while motivating themselves by defeating great opponents. The person who can say such things is by no means an ordinary person, at least a professional footballer. ”

"Well, I think so too. Anything else? ”

"And then there's the line, 'Being an All-Star is an honor you get, no matter how you get it.'" It's already seared on you like a seal. In the future, anyone who talks about you and evaluates your career will say, "This is a player who can be selected as an All-Star in his rookie season, which is something that no one else can compare." There are two doubts here, one is that the other party seems to be unwilling to be selected for the All-Star team, and even has some doubts, maybe he is not satisfied with your behavior of canvassing for Chinese fans? But whether it is jealousy or doubt, the other party seems to be very concerned about the fact that 'a rookie can be selected as an All-Star'. He even went so far as to say, 'This is something that no one else can compare.'" Who can't compare? Naturally, there are other rookies who are not eligible to be selected. So I reasoned that he might be just like you, a rookie in the class of '17! ”

"Oh? After you say this, it seems that there is some truth to it. Yang Yiming drank his saliva and affirmed Yu Xiaochun's conjecture, "Sure enough, you are more powerful in using your brain." Any other reasoning, Koharu? If it's really our rookie from the same class, who would it be?! ”

"It's... I just can't really think of it. Yu Xiaochun's face was embarrassed. He has listened to this recording many times, but if he wants to say who in this year's rookie may make such a phone call, he really has no clue: "I think in fact, every rookie is possible, after all, if you are selected this time, there will always be people who feel controversial and suspected of canvassing." If you look at it from this perspective, it may be more likely that the rookie who was expected to be selected as an All-Star but ended up missing out is more likely. But really, all rookies can't wash away suspicion..."

"No, no, I still think your reasoning in the first half makes more sense. If the other party cares so much about my All-Star starter, then he must have something to do with this vote. What's more, at this juncture today, he must have just learned that he was not selected for the All-Star bench..."

"If that's the case..."

"Do you remember the list of the results of the last round of voting?!"

"Remember, it could only be one of the four of them!"

Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics, seventh in the Eastern Conference frontcourt.

Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers, third in the Eastern backcourt.

Kyrie Kuzma, Los Angeles Lakers, eighth in the Western Conference frontcourt.

Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles Lakers, seventh in the Western backcourt.

Yu Xiaochun knocked out the avatars and data of the four people on the laptop, arranged them together, and pushed them in front of Yang Yiming's eyes:

"Who do you think is more suspicious?"

Yang Yiming browsed through the four faces that were slightly as young and green as him, trying to connect them with the mechanical stiff voice after the phone call was recorded:

"You don't know who I am. … I will overcome you - from this day forward, I will be completely different. I will put my mark on the mountains. ”

Who is it that hides his identity, not only to defeat himself, but also to put a stamp of shame on the other side just as the conqueror did with a defeated prisoner of war?

This is no ordinary challenge letter.

This is a life-and-death declaration of war!