Chapter 23

As everyone checked their messages and the people from the kitchen gradually emerged into the restaurant, a heavy silence fell over the room.
Brother Yong broke the silence.
He spoke slowly, word by word, "She blocked the camera!"
"She's an investigator, and she blocked the camera. Did she forget what her job is?!"
Brother Yong’s tone was almost filled with frustration and disappointment.
Lu Zize’s gentle voice followed, "Brother Yong, what’s done is done. There’s no use saying more. The Divine Eye has issued a mission. Should we go after eating, or go now?"
"Still eat? Eat nothing. Let’s go."
Brother Yong stood up decisively and strode out of the restaurant.
Lu Zize was a step slower. He hurriedly got up and said to the players present, "Hurry up and follow. If anyone’s hungry, I’ll buy you something to eat when we get back."
Given the urgency, no one delayed. They immediately followed Brother Yong and the others to the parking lot.
Among the twelve people present, two players had car keys. Squeezing in, two cars could still fit ten players.
Lu Zize and Brother Yong got into one car first, but they didn’t invite the players to join them. With Brother Yong’s foul mood, the players were too intimidated to ask if they could ride in that car.
So it was tacitly agreed that each car would carry five people.
"The one surnamed Gu."
Brother Yong’s voice suddenly rang out. He was sitting in the passenger seat, the window half-down, revealing his anxious face.
Brother Yong looked at Gu Yi’an and Tang Jiu beside her, his tone impatient. "You and your friend, come to our car. Hurry up."
Hearing this, Gu Yi’an didn’t mind Brother Yong’s tone. She and Tang Jiu immediately got into the car.
As soon as the two of them were seated, the car started immediately.
The other two cars carrying players followed closely behind.
The atmosphere in Gu Yi’an’s car was undoubtedly tense.
The two in the front, one driving quietly, the other with a terrifyingly grim expression.
The bad mood in the front was palpable to those in the back.
Tang Jiu poked Gu Yi’an.
Gu Yi’an shifted her gaze from the camera in the car and looked at Tang Jiu.
"Are you hungry?" Tang Jiu asked quietly.
"A little," Gu Yi’an answered honestly.
She had been in this world for over five hours now.
"Here."
Tang Jiu opened her palm, a single candy resting quietly in it.
Gu Yi’an raised an eyebrow slightly and glanced at Tang Jiu.
Tang Jiu grabbed Gu Yi'an's hand with her other hand and placed the candy in it.
"Brother Lu treated us, he bought it. It's not poisoned. I just had one myself."
She pointed to her own cheek, which was bulging on one side.
The car was quite cramped, and although Tang Jiu didn't speak loudly, she made no effort to hide her words. Lu Zize, sitting in the driver's seat, overheard.
He chuckled, "Such a big candy store, how could the candy be poisoned?"
He paused, then suggested gently, "Let's save the snacks for later. The people we're about to meet might make you uncomfortable."
There was a hint of implication in Lu Zize's words.
Brother Yong suddenly spoke up, "Zize, do you think she did it on purpose?"
"Brother Yong?"
Lu Zize seemed surprised by the question.
He thought it over seriously before replying, "Sister Man doesn't usually seem like the type to do something like this. It might have been an accident."
"An accident? Another accident." Brother Yong repeated the word mockingly and said nothing more.
Tang Jiu and Gu Yi'an sat in the back seat, wisely keeping silent.
An accident usually refers to something extremely coincidental.
The game's hint had already stated: there are no coincidences in this world.
So this murder case couldn't be an accident either.
Twenty minutes later, Gu Yi'an and the others saw Sister Man sitting on the steps of the residential building's stairwell, crying.
She was dressed in the black uniform of an investigator.
Under the fluorescent light of the stairwell, her face was deathly pale, her eyes red and filled with tears.
Hearing footsteps, Sister Man looked up and saw Lu Zize and the group ascending the stairs.
"Lu Zize, He Yong." She sobbed uncontrollably.
"Sister Man."
Lu Zize called out softly, stopping a few steps away from her and looking down at her.
Brother Yong expressionlessly stepped past Sister Man and reached the door of unit 201.
"What are you still sitting there for?"
He then glanced at the players below, "Aren't you coming up?"
Sister Man sniffled, "The door isn't locked."
The players weren't sure how to face Sister Man, who was supposed to be their team leader but was now a murder suspect. Hesitantly, they passed by Sister Man and Lu Zize.
Sister Man said to Lu Zize through her tears, "Lu Zize, you should quit being an investigator."
A trace of helplessness crossed Lu Zize's expression.
He sighed, "Sister Man."
"Don't waste your breath on her. You come in too. Leave two newcomers to watch her." Brother Yong abruptly cut off Lu Zize.
Lu Zize hesitated, glancing at Sister Man.
Sister Man held back her tears and said to him, "Go with him. I'll be fine."
Lu Zize said softly, "Sister Man, don't run. If we investigate thoroughly, there's a good chance we can clear your name."
Sister Man cried quietly, "I won't run."
Lu Zize nodded and looked toward the players.
The group realized he was about to choose someone to stay and watch Sister Man. Some immediately averted their eyes.
Gu Yi'an took a step toward Brother Yong, making her stance clear. Tang Jiu followed her, moving closer to Brother Yong as well.
Seeing this, Lu Zize pointed to one male and one female player who seemed willing to stay and said, "You two keep Sister Man company for a while."
Those two players were a novice female player and an experienced male player.
With an experienced player present, the others weren't too worried about Sister Man trying to escape.
Seeing that Lu Zize had made the arrangements, Brother Yong pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Gu Yi'an was close by and entered second.
The entrance was a foyer.
She saw a closed shoe cabinet and, on the floor beside it, a pair of men's leather shoes and women's high heels placed closely together.
The place felt intensely lived-in.
Brother Yong tossed a box over and instructed stiffly, "These are disposable shoe covers for her home. Everyone put them on. And the disposable gloves handed out when we got out of the car, put those on now too."
After Gu Yi'an and the others complied, they walked past the foyer.
To the right of the foyer was the living room, and to the left was the dining area.
The floor was clean and tidy, not looking like a place where anything had happened.
The sofa, coffee table, TV stand, and dining table were all in their proper places.
At first glance, nothing seemed amiss, but Brother Yong stood in the living room, scrutinizing the surroundings for a while.
Seeing his reaction, Gu Yi'an took a closer look at the room.
This time, she finally noticed something unusual.
There were no cameras visible in the house!
Or rather, the cameras were all blocked!
Almost at the same moment, Brother Yong realized this too. He walked over to one wall and yanked away what looked like a pillowcase.
As soon as the pillowcase was removed, a pitch-black lens immediately appeared before everyone's eyes.
Furious, Brother Yong threw the pillowcase in his hand onto the floor.
His gaze swept around, and he spotted another obstruction elsewhere. He immediately strode over and tore it away.
Underneath was yet another dark camera lens.
"Brother Yong."
Lu Zize entered the room a step later, just in time to witness Brother Yong's frantic search for cameras.
Lu Zize reminded him, "We should be looking for the body."
His words echoed what Gu Yi'an was thinking at that moment.
Why wasn't Brother Yong searching for the body but obsessively looking for cameras instead?
Brother Yong threw down the item in his hand, suppressing his anger as he said, "She did this on purpose. She covered all the cameras."
Lu Zize remained calm. Facing the agitated Brother Yong, he patiently soothed, "Sister Man and her husband were a married couple. There might have been private moments, we can't jump to conclusions based on this alone. Let's search the other rooms first and find the body."
Lu Zize gestured to Gu Yi'an and the other players, saying, "You can also search separately, but remember not to disturb the scene."
Brother Yong's expression seemed as if he had already made up his mind about something. He stormed straight through the hallway and violently pushed open the doors to the other rooms.
Lu Zize's eyes were filled with helplessness as he had no choice but to follow along.
With both of them gone, the players naturally hurried after them.
To be honest, the players were completely baffled, unsure of what they were actually doing.
What connection did their actions have with the game?
The players couldn't figure it out and could only follow Lu Zize and the others' arrangements.
Gu Yi'an, among the players, also headed toward the room.
But when her gaze swept over the cloth-wrapped camera above the hallway, she suddenly understood something.
Gu Yi'an grabbed Tang Jiu's arm tightly.
"Not good, they're in danger."
Without hesitation, Gu Yi'an turned and walked in the opposite direction.
Tang Jiu was a beat slower to react but quickly realized Gu Yi'an intended to go outside. She immediately said, "Leave the fighting to me."
With a leap, Tang Jiu dashed ahead of Gu Yi'an and rushed out the door in a few steps.
The other players were stunned.
"What happened?"
"Hey, where are you going?"
The players called out after Gu Yi'an.
Gu Yi'an ignored them. Clutching the small coffin she had just taken out, she sped toward the entrance.
After Tang Jiu had gone outside, there was still no movement at the door, which made Gu Yi'an deeply uneasy.
The distance wasn't long, and once Gu Yi'an broke into a run, she reached the entrance in no time.
Two corpses instantly came into her view.
Tang Jiu stood beside the bodies, looking at Gu Yi'an, who had just arrived. "Throats slit. We're too late. She's already escaped."
Too late.
Gu Yi'an glanced at the bodies and averted her gaze.
She asked, "Is anything missing from them? Their work IDs? Probably not."
Gu Yi'an dismissed her own speculation.
Tang Jiu shook her head and said bluntly, "I took the veteran players' items. Their work IDs are all here."
The other players, belatedly catching up, crowded behind Gu Yi'an and peered out.
"What's going on? How did they die? Was it that Sister Man?"
Having experienced the earlier car accident, these players weren't too shaken by the sight of corpses, but they were utterly confused.
"Who else could it be?"
Tang Jiu shrugged. "I don't get why Sister Man waited for us to arrive before escaping. And why she had to kill two people before running."
Gu Yi'an thought for a moment and said, "She did it on purpose. We shouldn't try to understand her with normal logic."
Tang Jiu's eyes lit up. "You're smart, tell us. How did you know they were in danger?"
The other players chimed in, echoing the sentiment. "Yeah, beauty, tell us."
"If you don't explain, I might not even know how I died in this game."
"Goddess, enlighten us."
These people had no shame when it came to flattery.
Gu Yi'an glanced back at them.
Realizing they were too close, they quickly stepped back and looked at Gu Yi'an with ingratiating expressions.
Gu Yi'an felt a bit helpless under their gaze.
She wasn't the type to keep things to herself, so she began to explain, "I guessed. Because Brother Yong said she did it on purpose."
When Brother Yong had removed the cover from the camera earlier, he mentioned that Sister Man had done it intentionally.
If you started from that point, then Sister Man had deliberately covered the camera to carry out a premeditated murder. She had intentionally called them, saying she was afraid of the enforcement team, yet deliberately leaked information to lure them into investigating.
Gu Yi'an remembered the first notification message sent by the Divine Eye system in their restaurant. It stated that the murder had been committed between 8:42 AM and 8:42 PM, a full twelve-hour window.
Although Gu Yi'an didn’t know how long the cameras needed to be covered before the Divine Eye system would issue an investigation task to the investigators, Sister Man’s deliberate phone call at exactly 8:42 PM inevitably raised suspicions that she had planned it.
The Divine Eye was likely capable of monitoring phone calls.
Just moments ago, all cameras in the room had been covered, including those in the hallway. The only way the Divine Eye system could have learned about Sister Man’s murder was through the phone call, which prompted it to send them the investigation message.
This explained why Brother Yong, upon seeing the covered cameras, remarked that she had done it on purpose.
"But what does her doing it on purpose have to do with her killing these two and fleeing?" Tang Jiu asked.
"Law enforcement team, buffer time."
A gentle male voice answered Tang Jiu’s question.
Lu Zize had appeared behind the players at some point.
Moreover, his gloves were now stained with blood.
The players’ gazes drifted over the bloodstains, intentionally or not.
Even though Lu Zize still appeared frail and scholarly, the players remained highly wary of him.
Unfazed by their cautious glances, Lu Zize patiently explained, "Our investigation can’t deliver results too quickly. Otherwise, it would be seen as perfunctory. We need at least two hours before we can hand it over to the law enforcement team. That gives her time to escape. She can evade the authorities during this window."
"Then why didn’t she flee earlier? Why wait for us to arrive?" a player asked, puzzled.
"Because dismembering a body takes time. More than you’d think."
Lu Zize calmly stated the fact.
He continued, "Brother Yong and I just found some of the body parts she hid. Brother Yong is still searching for the rest."
A novice female player covered her mouth and slipped outside, unable to bear listening to Lu Zize any longer.
Noticing her reaction, Lu Zize said, "Why don’t you all head back first? Brother Yong and I will reassemble the body and return later."
From outside came the sound of the female player coughing violently, as if choking on her own breath.
Another player’s eyes lit up with an idea, and he spoke up, "We can’t let you and Brother Lu handle all the work. We newcomers can contribute too."
Gu Yi'an glanced over and recognized the newcomer as the novice male player who had claimed during the day that he had offended a god.
Lu Zize smiled, his expression tinged with a hint of innocence. "Then you stay. The rest of you can head back first."
The players present all sensed a familiar pattern.
Wasn't this just a replay of what happened during the day?
The newbie male player who had spoken earlier twitched the corner of his mouth, his face full of regret, but he stubbornly insisted, "Alright, Brother Lu."
Lu Zize glanced at the other players and instructed, "It's late. On your way back, stop by a late-night snack shop and grab something to eat. It's on me."
As he spoke, his gaze settled on Gu Yi'an. "As for the money, Gu Yi'an, you take the card. It's inconvenient for me to remove my gloves."
Gu Yi'an had sensed trouble the moment Lu Zize looked at her.
The other players, hearing Lu Zize call Gu Yi'an, tactfully made way for her.
Gu Yi'an walked over calmly and, under Lu Zize's direction, retrieved a bank card from the right pocket of his uniform.
"Don't move. I'll tell you the password."
Fine.
Gu Yi'an stood still.
She could feel him drawing closer.
He recited a string of numbers, his voice gentle and pleasant.
"Remember it?"
Gu Yi'an gave a slight nod.
Lu Zize chuckled softly. "Don't tell anyone."
Then, under the curious gazes of Tang Jiu and the other players, Gu Yi'an set off with them on the journey back.
The night in Sinless City was quiet and peaceful.
Countless cameras, operating around the clock, monitored the city's public security.
Children played freely in the square while adults sat on benches along the roadside, chatting idly.
Gu Yi'an and the others randomly picked a late-night snack stall, ordered a few dishes, and then simply waited for the food to arrive.
Waiting was usually dull and tedious, so some players started striking up conversations with those nearby.
"I have a mouth ulcer. I bought some vitamins today, hoping it'll heal quickly."
Another player asked, "Why not just buy some medicine?"
"Well, that Brother Lu said medicine only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. I'm lacking vitamins in my system."
Gu Yi'an didn't join the players' conversation. Watching the children in the distance, she suddenly remembered something and asked the person next to her, "Did you call the funeral home?"
Those two players had died, but their bodies hadn't been collected yet.
The person next to Gu Yi'an was Tang Jiu, who replied nonchalantly, "Forgot. No need to worry. Once they finish piecing things together, they'll definitely call the funeral home anyway. One body or three, it's all the same to carry."
A customer passing behind them overheard Gu Yi'an and Tang Jiu's conversation and stared at them with a doubtful, uneasy expression, likely imagining something terrifying.
Gu Yi'an glanced at them and took out her work ID.
Tang Jiu also promptly produced her work ID.
One of the customers, after examining their IDs, took out his phone and started tapping away.
A moment later, he found what he was looking for on his phone.
The customer immediately gave them an apologetic smile and hurriedly dragged his companions away.
After they left, Gu Yi'an took out her phone, unlocked the screen, and said, "We forgot something very important."
"What is it?" Tang Jiu asked, playing along.
"We can go online!"
As long as they had internet access, they wouldn't have to rely on Lu Zize and the others to learn about this world's rules.
Investigators and law enforcement teams, these were all things Lu Zize had told them. Who knew if they were hiding something?
From Gu Yi'an's perspective, Lu Zize's words were full of contradictions.
After Lu Zize saw the text message from the stranger Liu Han on her phone, he had the law enforcement team dispatched in less than two hours.
Tang Jiu had also mentioned that Lu Zize once used the law enforcement team to mediate a fight between two butchers.
So why did it take two hours for Sister Man’s case to be handed over to the law enforcement team?
The whole situation was riddled with doubts.
Gu Yi'an tapped the browser icon on her phone, entered "Shenyan Special Administrative Zone," and clicked search.
The next second, the search engine displayed nearly a hundred thousand results.
"Huh? Internet access?"
Tang Jiu was a beat slow to react to Gu Yi'an's words, then she saw the search results on Gu Yi'an's phone.
Tang Jiu blurted out, "You really can go online!"
The other players who had been chatting noticed their commotion and looked over.
"Can phones access the internet?"
"Can we play games?"
The player who mentioned games was glared at by the others.
Gu Yi'an stared at her phone screen.
It clearly showed that Shenyan Special Administrative Zone was known as the "Sinless City."
She scrolled through the results, her eyes skimming one after another. She noticed that all the content praised the beauty of Shenyan Special Administrative Zone, saying it had good public security, prosperous citizens, and a peaceful life. She couldn't find a single mention of any shortcomings.
But nowhere in the world is absolutely perfect.
Gu Yi'an’s gaze inadvertently drifted and landed on a camera hidden among the fake potted plants on the table.
She thought, just this one thing alone was enough to make it unbearable.
Gu Yi'an added a suffix to her search and tried again.
This time, she got over a thousand results.
These results were mostly complaints from residents of the Sinless City, lamenting that they had no privacy and were living in an era of complete exposure.
Gu Yi'an felt she still hadn’t grasped the key point.
None of this seemed like direct clues related to clearing the game.
As she pondered, the owner brought out their food.
Tang Jiu said, "If you can’t figure it out, don’t force it. You’re just stuck right now. When you come back to it later, you might suddenly understand."
Other players chimed in, "The boat will straighten itself when it reaches the dock. If you can’t figure it out, just set it aside for now. Speaking of which, this game is so much better than the last one where we were chased by ghosts. My legs don’t hurt as much."
A new player asked, "Why do my legs hurt? It only grabs legs!"
"Ah, from running, of course! Running for your life."
As everyone chatted around the dining table, the distance between them seemed to shrink naturally.
Gu Yi'an had already settled the bill in advance. While others used facial recognition, she paid with a card, a rare sight.
Gu Yi'an glanced at the nearby convenience store.
"Wait here for a moment. I’m going to the store."
Upon hearing this, Tang Jiu said, "Are you buying toiletries? When we shopped earlier, Lu Zize asked us to grab a set for you."
Gu Yi'an had indeed planned to buy some supplies.
She hadn’t expected someone else to have already considered her needs.
Her eyes flickered slightly. "Then let’s head back."
The day’s hustle had finally come to an end.
Everyone returned to the rooms on the second floor of the office building.
Before bed, they made do with washing up in the restroom.
One female player muttered about wanting to wash her hair, but she only complained, not daring to actually do it.
After some discussion, the seven players decided that four would keep watch during the first half of the night, and three during the second half.
Gu Yi'an chose the first watch.
Tang Jiu and two other male players joined her.
The three of them pulled out the snacks they had bought during the day, laid them out together, and sat around them as if having a tea party, even inviting Gu Yi'an to join.
Gu Yi'an, however, was examining the cabinets along the side wall. She acknowledged the invitation but didn’t join them.
Brother Yong had only said not to touch anything, but he hadn’t forbidden looking.
Gu Yi'an scanned the cabinets up and down and finally spotted what looked like bloodstains near the left cabinet leg.
"Damn!"
One of the male players suddenly cursed loudly, startling those in their sleeping bags into shifting restlessly.
Gu Yi'an, Tang Jiu, and the others immediately turned to look at him.
The male player lamented in agony, "My phone died while I was gaming. Why didn’t they give us chargers?"
Gu Yi'an and the others could only feel a mix of helplessness and amusement.
This male player clearly lacked experience.
He hadn’t noticed that no one else was using their phones much.
Since it wasn’t a big deal, Gu Yi'an turned her attention away.
"Thump, thump!"
"Thump, thump!"
An unusual noise suddenly came from behind the curtains.