Chapter 94 Chapter 7 It was already 10 o'clock in the evening when we finished work that day...

It was already past ten o'clock in the evening when they finished work that day. Just as Li Zheng had said, it was already very late, and he was the last one to leave as usual.

In order to better protect the scene, the entire Qingshui River Park was tightly surrounded by layers of security lines, and all entrances and exits leading to the park were blocked by mobile roadblocks and guarded by several police officers in shifts.

As the two passed through one of the entrances and exits, the newly-shifted officer stood up and greeted Li Zheng with a full-throated, "Hello, Captain Li!"

Li Zheng hummed.

I glanced at the strange young police officer behind me who looked very energetic. He looked young and energetic. He should be a new recruit this year, right?

It’s great to be young.

His eyes involuntarily moved to Wei Sheng standing beside him. He looked like he was only in his twenties, right?

"Have you graduated yet?"

"Huh?" Wei Sheng paused, seemingly not expecting him to ask this question. "Graduated."

"A few years."

"Hahaha, actually I skipped a grade."

"How old are you?"

"Age isn't important. Although I'm young, I'm mature at heart."

Even though he knew the person in front of him was not a suspect, due to his profession, Li Zheng couldn't help but use an interrogation tone when questioning.

"How old?"

"twenty."

So he is the same age as his younger brother and sister?

So young.

As if seeing the unspoken brat in Li Zheng's eyes, Wei Sheng blurted out: "Actually, I..."

"Actually, what are you?"

Li Zheng, who had drooped his eyelids and looked listless, immediately followed up with the question like a shark smelling blood when he heard this.

“…………”

Ahead was the parking lot, and Li Zheng walked towards his car. In fact, as he walked, he could clearly feel the young man beside him keeping pace with his own. If he moved faster, he would move faster. If he slowed down, he would slow down too.

Was it to take care of his injured foot?

Ever since his leg injury, Li Zheng has seen different looks from different people.

Especially in the early days when his walking was more obvious, he mostly received pity and sympathy.

Later, after he demonstrated his abilities, the eyes that looked at him gradually grew more admiring. Of course, beneath some people's admiration, there was a subtle smugness hidden, perhaps even unnoticed by the person themselves.

This mentality can probably be interpreted as: No matter how capable you are, you are still a cripple...

Li Zheng didn't care.

Including when he met Wei Sheng outside the park in the evening, Li Zheng naturally noticed that his eyes were intentionally or unintentionally on his legs.

It's normal.

It's nothing.

He is not that sensitive yet.

But as they got along, Li Zheng soon discovered that this young man named Wei Sheng was different from everyone he had met before. There was no mockery, pity or sympathy in his eyes, but something else that was hard to describe.

What?

They were only a few steps away from the car. Seeing him following closely, Li Zheng directly asked, "Which hotel are you staying in? I'll take you back first."

"No need." Wei Sheng refused subconsciously, then added as if to make amends, "You've been tired all day, how can you drive?"

He said in a serious tone: "Officer Li, this is fatigue driving, it is very dangerous, and it will cause an accident."

"…………so what?"

Li Zheng opened the back door, put the thick stack of documents in his hand in it, and closed the door.

"Are you planning on driving me back first and then driving back to the hotel?"

"But that would be too much trouble."

“………”

“…………”

"Then tell me."

"How about this, don't you rent a house outside? I can stay there for one night. This way I don't have to go back and forth and cause trouble."

"oh?"

Li Zheng didn't say anything, just looked at him.

Those eyes, those eyes as sharp as an eagle, those eyes that seemed to be able to see through everything.

Wei Sheng clearly felt that he was just being glanced at casually by him. The hairs on his body stood up and his arms were covered with goose bumps.

As expected, he is the NPC with the highest insight.

He hadn't said anything yet, hadn't revealed his origins, his real name, or his age, but he seemed to see through him completely and knew exactly what tricks he was playing.

[Do you think it's possible that he already knows my true identity? ]

The mechanical voice said in a serious tone.

[Probably not. Although Li Zheng has the highest insight among all NPCs, he is only an NPC after all. At least in the predetermined ending, he never awakens.]

【should? 】

【Based on data deduction, 87% probability.】

[How many NPCs have awakened to become players so far? ]

The system was silent for two seconds, as if it was thinking or searching.

[Not sure, but it shouldn't be that many. After all, after the protagonist appears in a few years, there will be more and more awakened NPCs. That's when the story begins. We're in that period now, so there should be... maybe one.]

It's really useless.

This system seems to have only carried out a few missions, its emotional training is insufficient, and it has only a superficial understanding of human emotions, showing a rigid pattern.

【Aren't you going to look for the "First Generation Awakening NPC"? 】

I have more important things to do now.

【What's up? 】

[Are you annoying? Can you please stop bothering me? ]

【……】

Generally, when recruiting rescuers, the system needs to pay some rewards in advance to attract the taskers to sign up themselves. Very few people will take the initiative to sign up after reading the task introduction. There are even fewer people who will automatically recommend some taskers when the task is generated.

Most of these people have some deep or shallow connection and entanglement with the rescue target. Except for a very small number who will refuse, the vast majority will accept it.

The system's previous few tasks were empty under the recommended list. When it saw the accompanying recommended tasker for the first time, it was very happy.

But soon...

It found that it was too early to be happy.

This host was very difficult to deal with. After being found by the system, he first carefully inquired about the task rewards and how much he could get under different circumstances. He bargained for at least half an hour and carefully read the densely packed "Notification Service Terms" and "User Agreement".

After reading it, he asked about the system's serial number, where it was produced, how many missions it had completed in the past, how it was rated, what permissions were involved during the mission, whether the mission could be changed midway, and whether any mission clauses that would harm the rescue target would be issued.

So smart.

How can there be such smart humans?

The inexperienced system almost thought that someone was sent by the higher-ups to inspect, so it answered honestly.

[Okay, I'll remember this. I have your ID. If you violate any rules, I'll report you and have you destroyed immediately...]

【………】

Because the host had little experience in system missions, he seemed not very satisfied with him at the time. However, a turning point came when the host read the information about the rescue mission and agreed immediately.

There is relatively little introduction about this rescue target. After all, he is just a supporting character. His full name is not even on the information page, only three words: Police Officer Li.

Officer Li comes from a simulation game. There is almost no fixed main plot in this game, and the player has a high degree of freedom. He can engage in ordinary farming, planting flowers and fishing, or go out to work and earn money, fall in love with different NPCs, do nothing, or even kill NPCs in various ways.

Whenever a case occurs, NPC Officer Li will come over with dark circles under his eyes to seriously interrogate the player. The player needs to use various methods to clear Officer Li's suspicion of him. The whole process is very interesting.

There are many maps in the game, some big, some small, and some very fantastic. Among them, the map where Officer Li is located is the smallest of all maps. This map called Qingtan is also known as the Novice Village.

If nothing unexpected happens, Officer Li will probably always be a novice NPC, fighting wits and courage with the players, but if the story always stays like this, it will be boring.

So a few years later, one NPC after another awakened. Some went crazy because they couldn't accept that they were just game NPCs, some chose to hide secretly, and some began to release themselves and commit crimes continuously. One of the awakened NPC became the protagonist of a comic.

In order to find out the truth behind the strange situations happening around him and himself, the protagonist pursues the matter all the way. In the process of finding one player and awakening NPC after another, he meets many different people and encounters many different stories. He also finds out that he is a second-generation awakening NPC and that other NPCs have awakened before him.

The protagonist named the previously awakened NPC the first generation, followed the clues to find the serial murder case several years ago, and began to search for the truth of the world.

The ending of the comic is open-ended, and the finale just stops at the scene where the protagonist is about to choose whether to stay in the game or go to the real world.

The comics sold well, and later a linked game was released. Whether it was the plot, the development in the middle, or the ending, it was an interesting story.

But Officer Li is not the protagonist.

Whether he is an NPC in the game after the final truth is revealed, or a suspect who committed suicide out of fear of crime in an old unsolved case that was solved halfway through, he has only one name: Police Officer Li.

In the end, no one knew Officer Li's full name. They only knew his last name was Li, that he worked diligently, that his leg was injured for unknown reasons, and that when he walked fast, his shoulders were noticeably uneven. They also knew that he smoked a very cheap brand of cigarettes...

An unknown minor supporting role.

A loser.

When the system heard the host say that he would choose this one, the system actually didn't quite understand.

What did the host say at that time? The system searched hard in the files where it stored its memories.

By the way, the host at that time said that he liked Officer Li. Because he liked him so much, he didn’t want him to die in obscurity, so he really wanted to save him and see him, and was willing to give up everything for this.

Is this what it's like if you like...?

How did you fall in love with it?

The system still seems unable to turn this corner.

[But Officer Li doesn't know you at all, and doesn't even know you exist. You...]

What can you understand?

Just a mentally retarded person.

Wei Sheng was about to scold this artificial idiot who couldn't understand human language, but the next reminder from the system stopped all his thoughts.

【The target is watching you.】

【The target is watching you.】

The conversation in the mind took only a moment to play in reality. When Wei Sheng was still thinking about how to make the police officer Li, who had the highest sensitivity, suspect him, this time, police officer Li did not ask anything.

He threw something at Wei Sheng.

Wei Sheng took it and it turned out to be a car key.

"Will it open?"

Wei Sheng set his eyes on the slightly old car. Oh, isn’t this Officer Li’s car? He has seen it too many times in comics and games.

This kind of retro design is very rare. He took a lot of screenshots at the time, and now he can see the car clearly in front of him.

It is difficult to describe Wei Sheng’s excitement at that time.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Not sure if it was an illusion, but Li Zheng found that he seemed very familiar with his car.

"You edited this yourself, didn't you?" Although the sentence was in the form of a question, the tone was clearly certain. "It's a very good edit."

The car was almost scrapped when it was bought. The previous owner almost sold it as scrap metal. After Li Zheng bought it back, he dismantled it inside and out. Almost every part of the car was modified by him personally in his limited free time.

The back row was the most spacious. After all, he had built it so that he could take his sister out to play in the future. Of course, Li Zheng didn't intend to explain it in such detail, nor did he feel obligated to tell him.

"Can you drive?"

The car was an older model with a manual transmission. He wasn't sure if the young man in front of him had ever driven a car of this type, since most new cars now had smart driving.

"Of course."

Because he was being watched by Officer Li, Wei Sheng suddenly had the urge to show off. He sat in the passenger seat, got familiar with the car briefly, turned the key to start the car, and when he drove out of the parking space, he even showed off his driving skills.

Outside the window, there were mottled shadows of trees, and the night breeze mixed with the fragrance of grass and trees seeped into the car through the window that was not closed tightly. Suddenly, it started to drizzle outside.

Vehicles left Sanyuan Town, where Qingshui River Park is located, and gradually entered the city. It was the evening rush hour, and the closer we got to the city, the more congested the traffic became.

The rain has stopped.

A short car horn sounded outside the window, and clear water droplets slowly slid down the window. Colorful signs were erected on the brightly lit streets. Everything looked crooked when viewed through the car window.

Not long ago, on the way into the city, it was drizzling outside and there were few cars on the spacious driveway. The two people in the car were listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the ground and chatting about some random and interesting things.

Wei Sheng liked listening to Li Zheng tell his stories, especially those small details that were not recorded in the character introduction or appeared in the comics. He picked up those precious pieces carefully like piecing together a puzzle, and the more piece he picked up, the happier he was.

Li Zheng talked about the interesting things he had seen during his internship at Jinghai, as well as the teachers, classmates, and cafeteria food he met when he was studying at school.

Li Zheng said that Qingtan City is surrounded by mountains. He said that he once drove there for a trip. The scenery there is very beautiful. There is a valley where all worries will disappear without a trace if you just stay there for a while.

In addition to these, Li Zheng also talked about the case, the work arrangements for the next day, and said that he would go to Sunshine Community again tomorrow. He said that this month would probably be very busy.

"My place is very old and small. If you go there, you'll probably have to sleep on the sofa or on the floor. I think it would be better for you to sleep in a hotel."

He also advised in the same way.

But Wei Sheng refused.

"I'm not picky about those. I don't care about my bed. I can sleep well no matter where I am."

Then he stopped talking.

Just then, vehicles were entering the city, stopping and starting along the traffic flow. The rain had stopped, and the sound of horns coming one after another outside the window added a bit of irritation.

In this atmosphere, Officer Li, who was sitting in the passenger seat, rolled down the window and suddenly said, "I don't think I've ever told you where I live."

“…………”

"You seem to be quite familiar with my car."

Because it was an old model that had been discontinued and he had modified it himself, other colleagues in the bureau needed a long time to get used to driving his car, including his two apprentices, who would rather take a taxi than drive his car.

But this young man, who looked like he was called Wei Sheng, got the hang of it quickly and was very familiar with the vehicle.

Given his family background and his age.

This doesn't make sense.

Due to work reasons, Li Zheng always noticed some tiny details that others could not notice, sometimes it was an inadvertent glance, sometimes it was an imperceptible micro-expression or subconscious little movement.

Most of the time, these details often bring him unexpected gains.

He did the same this time.

The young man in the driver's seat was obviously not prepared for his sudden attack. His hands gripping the steering wheel were visibly clenched, and his knuckles were slightly white.

"Well, I've heard of this before. As for cars..." He cleared his throat, "Actually, I'm quite knowledgeable about most vehicles..."

He glanced at Li Zheng's reaction out of the corner of his eye. "Hmm," Li Zheng thought to himself, "it's like a student who, after answering a question, looks up to check the teacher's expression to see if they've answered correctly."

But will he be allowed to get away with it so easily?

"You're not from a public university, are you?"

This is not a question but a statement with certainty.

“………”

Before he spoke, Li Zheng continued to casually drop one "bomb" after another.

"You don't need to come up with any excuses. When I was chatting with you before, I specifically mentioned a lot of things about Gongda. I got some details wrong in some of them, but you didn't refute me, but instead followed my words."

“………”

"Then I tried a few more times, and from what you said I was sure you definitely didn't go to school there."

“………”

He asked questions slowly and calmly, as if he was interrogating a prisoner, his eyes wandering over Wei Sheng's face, not missing any of his subtle emotional changes.

"When I asked you today why you came here, you were observing the environment carefully. Why? Was it because you felt there were too many people around? Was it because you wanted to say something that others couldn't hear?"

The vehicle moved forward slowly for a few hundred meters, and the dripping sound outside the window became more and more shrill.

"You want to find a space to be alone with me, right? Right now, it's just you and me in the car."

"Tell me, what do you want from me?"

"What is your purpose?"

The traffic was stuck again.

Wei Sheng turned off the engine.

The streetlight shining through the car window allowed Li Zheng to see his facial expression clearly. He was examining a suspect, and he quickly formed his own judgment.

From the young man's unconsciously tensed muscles, raised eyebrows, dilated pupils and other facial muscles, it can be judged that the young man is obviously in a state of tension and excitement.

His lips trembled slightly, his eyes were red, and he seemed to be trying hard to suppress something. What was he suppressing?

Soon, he found out.

"Okay, Officer Li. I originally thought I knew you well enough, and even thought I was the person who knew you best in the world, but, but... you are more perceptive than I thought."

Wei Sheng's breathing was rapid, his chest heaving violently, and a strange blush appeared on his face, as if he was too happy, and even his voice was trembling noticeably.

In the past few years of his career, Li Zheng has interrogated countless suspects and witnessed many clever and eloquent arguments. Even when the evidence is right in front of him, some people can still deny it without blinking, or admit it frankly. He has seen too many people acting crazy and pretending to be stupid.

So he was not frightened by Wei Sheng's actions. He calmly repeated what he had just said: "So what is your real purpose?"

He knew his address and the type of car he usually drove. He said he wanted to find him before he came to Cheongdam, and went straight to the scene after arriving in Cheongdam. Why did he deliberately get close to him like this?

Li Zheng was very curious about this question.

He was also mentally prepared that Wei Sheng would quibble and deny it, but it didn't matter. He had the patience to pry open his mouth little by little and get the answer he wanted.

Li Zheng had even anticipated several possible reactions from the young man, including how to respond to his different reactions.

Even if he couldn't get any results tonight, Li Zheng was confident that by the next day, or at the latest by the evening of the third day, he would be able to find out the true identity of the young man in front of him.

must.

However, Wei Sheng did not deny it as he expected. He did not even make any excuses that Li Zheng had imagined.

He was no longer as tense as before, and his whole body was obviously relaxed, leaning his center of gravity on the back of the chair.

She turned her head and looked at him intently.

Watching intently.

Looking at him as if he was the only one in the world.

"Purpose?"

“…To protect you.”

Li Zheng's expression was blank for a moment. He probably thought he had misheard, and asked again, which was very unusual: "What did you say..."

"To protect you." Wei Sheng spoke again in a serious tone, "I said that I came to you for only one purpose, and that is to protect you and save you."

“………”

Li Zheng felt like his brain was like a rusty machine. He could understand every word, but when they were put together, he couldn't understand anything.

What does it mean to protect him?

What does it mean to save him?

For some unknown reason, the car in front and the car in front of them started arguing, and several car owners stuck in the back stuck their heads out to watch the farce.

Li Zheng seemed oblivious to the farce.

Seeing that he didn't seem to understand what he was saying, Wei Sheng added: "Believe me, I am reborn."

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