Chapter 79: Great! The detective solved the mystery and we are saved! [VIP]

The moment Songshan Xun lifted the quilt, his right hand reflexively reached for the empty belt around his waist. The dull pain of his knuckles hitting the edge of the bed made him completely sober.

More than a month ago, he was still undercover as a military police officer in the GGS on Leibo Street, passing intelligence to his companions and preparing for the later plan to wipe out it.

This plan was shattered when Player suddenly arrived at this place.

This being, whose origins are unknown but undoubtedly extremely powerful, has forcefully integrated everything in this place in a way that completely defies common sense.

The various organizations that were originally like a pile of loose sand and fighting against each other could not survive a single round under her hands. She used supernatural powers of unknown origin to turn them into obedient sheep under her command.

He got up and walked to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and the warm water flowed steadily into the porcelain basin.

The originally resolute face of the person in the mirror suddenly became a little blurred in the mist. He was surprised to find that he actually looked a little simple and honest at that moment.

This was probably due to her diligent farming under Player. It turns out that her ability can not only change other people's psychology, but also their appearance?

Ah, speaking of this, Matsuyama Xun certainly did not escape the clutches of Player.

Unable to resist or refuse, he would not even have the slightest thought of wanting to hurt her. Even if she ordered him to die, he would probably do it without hesitation and end his own life.

He heard his own steady breathing as he tightened the toothpaste cap. After a while, this realization now brought not fear but a kind of reassuring certainty.

Starting today, his work was scheduled until the evening, so he had enough time to think, recall and weigh.

He thought back to the earliest days.

After all the great changes, the government contacted him immediately, which saved him from the intense inner struggle and the fight between his left and right brain.

He was ordered to stay here and pass on Player's information.

It would be better to say that there is an "insider" who can get close to this Player. The bigwigs above would probably wake up laughing in their dreams.

At first, he could still nervously report her movements to others, but the intelligent AI that Player used to arrange their work and monitor everything - they secretly called it the e-Eye of God - silently approved of his "betrayal".

Otherwise, why hasn't he been expelled by the Player yet?

He knew how powerful Player was, and he knew that everything he did was of no importance to her, so with her ability, he could communicate with the outside world honestly.

But this is only the initial situation.

As time went by, he clearly felt that his submission to Player was becoming more and more profound, and the balance between the two sides was gradually becoming unbalanced.

He is aware of his previous thoughts and beliefs, but he can no longer empathize with his yesterday self.

It is better to say that it is precisely because of his clear mind that he can stand from the perspective of an observer and clearly see everything that is happening on this land.

His original belief, his desire... can only be better realized in front of Player, his boss, his master.

Matsuyama Xun brushed his teeth, spit out the foam in his mouth, then shaved and finished washing up.

Everything was settled. He took the initiative to turn off the communicator signal, knocked on the hidden surveillance in the room, and called for the "Eye of God".

It appeared silently, opened a crack in front of the screen, and took away the communicator.

Only after Ai left did he realize that his heart was beating wildly.

Now, it's time to prepare for the evening's work.

——

"The spy has betrayed us." The system showed Lin Chen the communicator given by the spy.

"Ah? Do we have spies? Why?" The player didn't understand and was shocked.

She was just simply building a farm, how could there be elements that were different from her style!

Then I looked at the content of the communicator. It was all useless and repetitive words and phrases. I had heard a lot of them when I was in America. It was boring.

So the communicator was broken down into basic materials.

After completing this insignificant task, Lin Chen continued to wander around the farm to see if there was any place where he could earn moral points.

Perhaps because the NPCs here are all the player's property, they are immune to the fear of zero morality. However, because of this, the player cannot gain morality points by helping them with their work, because in name and in reality, it is the player doing things for themselves, and it does not count as a good deed.

Only by helping the NPC in a way that shows concern for him or her can you gain moral points.

The NPC Xiaobai is very nice. If you help her bring lunch from the cafeteria, she will give you some morality points. If you bring her drinks, she will give you more.

However, players have tested that this behavior only gives rewards the first time, and you cannot use this to exploit the bug.

whispering sound,

After lunch, he left the place in a huff.

Good entry

Lin Chen, who needed help, ran over and poked his shoulder, "Something's bothering me."

It is the tone of a declarative sentence.

"Ah... how should I put it," the NPC with the good entry held his forehead anxiously. "Qiansha has been sleeping for ten hours and hasn't woken up yet. She doesn't respond when I call her. I called a doctor, and he said she's healthy and doesn't seem sick... I'm wondering if she has some kind of supernatural power."

The player opened the system and searched for "Qiansha." He glanced at the resident's dashboard—ah, the clever NPC—and found no debuffs. It was just a case of sleeping too long, not a big deal.

So she told Nakahara Chuuya firmly, "She's fine."

Sleepy Children: You notice that the children around you have fallen into a deep sleep from which they cannot be awakened, and this symptom is gradually spreading. Could this be some new type of flu that only affects minors? You are very curious and decide to find out.

Lin Chen was silent for a moment, then continued with a normal expression, "But sleeping for too long can easily cause problems. We should find a way to wake her up."

Lin Chen followed the quest instructions and went to the smart NPC's room. He turned on his [Insight] skill and walked around, interacting with items such as [Finished Homework], [Mihara Chisa's Painting], and [A Pot of Succulents].

Good Entry NPC: "Anything you've gained?"

Lin Chen turned over the clever NPC's pillow, took out the candy underneath, put it in his mouth, put the pillow back, and turned to the entry NPC and said, "No."

She opened the panel and took a look. The mission instructions had been updated and the target location was now in an orphanage in Yokohama.

"Where are you going?" The NPC with the good entry keenly noticed the player's movements and said, "I'll go with you."

Lin Chen nodded, picked up the NPCs with good entries, and before he could say anything, he clicked the anchor point to teleport to the vicinity of the orphanage.

"Hey! You..." The NPC with the good entry was cut off just as he started. After the player put him down, he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, and finally took a deep breath and said, "Forget it... Let's go."

——

The files from the police station piled up like a mountain on the desk. Edogawa Ranpo leaned over the edge, his fingertips fiddling with a glass bead that shone in the sunlight.

When Yosano Akiko pushed the door open, she saw him breathing on the beads.

"There are reports from all over the city." Jingzi placed the newly arrived folder on the corner of the desk. "Over ten new cases last night."

Ranpo's glass beads rolled into the pen holder with a "ding" sound: "Come on, Jingzi, it's time to go out."

"Where are you going?"

"Western Suburbs Orphanage." He knocked the lamp over as he straightened up. "The very beginning of this completely—perplexing—case."

Fukuzawa Yukichi leaned out from the first floor and said, "Be careful."

Edogawa Ranpo tilted his head back to meet his gaze, then waved his hand with a smile, "Okay, President. I have a feeling this time there's absolutely no danger!"

Jingzi: "What equipment should I bring?"

"This." Ranpo pulled a bag of candy from his pocket. "And the sharp eyes of a famous detective."

As the old car drove through the shopping street, Ranpo was folding candy wrappers into small boats. While waiting at a red light, Akiko couldn't help but ask, "What do you think is the reason so many children are asleep?"

"There was no advance notice, no threatening letter, and no family has received any message asking for money. No organization or individual has claimed responsibility for L before or after this, and there have been no similar cases recently..." Edogawa Ranpo listed all the possible reasons that were overturned one by one.

"Well, I have three other theories." Ranpo put the boat next to the car window and raised a finger at Akiko. "First, it's someone's special ability, causing children to fall asleep. There's absolutely no file that matches this ability, but maybe?"

Jingzi: "What about the first possibility?"

Ranpo raised the first finger: "First, it's group psychology. But the comatose children are in different schools and communities, and they haven't even seen the same TV programs."

"The third one?"

Ranpo stretched lazily, the spring breeze carrying cherry blossoms brushing against his hair. "Third, they chose to sleep."

"Just like Jingzi loves to read novels and stay up all night without wanting to go to sleep. Every time the president comes to check on you, Jingzi curls up in her quilt in a cold sweat, not daring to make a sound."

"Hey! There's no need for that kind of analogy!"

The iron gate of the orphanage appeared in front of him. Ranpo opened the car door and jumped out. "Yoshi, the famous detective makes a brilliant appearance!"

——

"Yoshi, the famous detective makes a brilliant appearance!"

Lin Chen stood at the door of the orphanage, watching a squinty-eyed NPC jump out of a car and shout out lines.

Lin Chen's eyes lit up as he automatically searched for keywords.

A famous detective! The famous detective who appears when the player is playing the puzzle game? This must be a story NPC specially arranged by the producer for the player!

When the player is staring at the puzzle scene in silence, the player kindly prompts: "It seems that the doll over there looks a little different" / "Where is the victim's XX?" / "There seems to be blood here! Could it be related to the murderer?"

Of course, occasionally some games will make this NPC the player's competitor, and the competition will see who can find clues and uncover the murderer in the shorter time.

Some players with a bad taste or simply a strong desire to win will SL countless times, just to win in a very short time. Then they will enjoy the shattered expression of the NPC who was left far behind. From then on, another NPC lost his dream and denied himself.

But Lin Chen is not that kind of person.

Or maybe she was not that kind of player at the moment, and she didn't want to use her brain, but at the moment she met her detective!

All of this is fate (the producer)'s arrangement! It seems I have to retract my brain, which almost grew out of it.

Lin Chen walked over and poked the detective NPC.

The detective NPC looked her over, opened his green eyes, and leaned closer, nose to nose. "It's you, yeah, so that's it. I get it!"

A strange light flashed across the detective's glasses. "Let's go to the orphanage first, Ms. Player. This incident will definitely be resolved successfully!"

Normally, this would be a flag thrust into the NPC's corpse, but this is a story NPC whose modeling is clearly different from the other NPCs! Just follow what the NPC says.

Lin Chen nodded and walked into the orphanage happily.

"Hey, Miss Lin Chen." The NPC next to the player frowned fiercely and said in a low voice, "Who is that person? Good guy or bad guy? Are you just going to listen to him and leave? What if he tricks you into going ahead to explore and die?"

"Kill him." The player smiled heartily.

Yes, we players are the fourth plague, we can kill whoever we want. When we hate an NPC the most, the whole city must be buried with it. All eggs must be shaken to scatter the yolk, all birds and beasts must be skinned and shaved, and all nearby earthworms must be dug out and cut vertically.

The NPC was silent for a while. I don’t know why the NPCs in this game particularly like to be silent. It may be a feature of the game.

Lin Chen ignored him and walked into the orphanage with brisk steps.

"Player!" Akiko lowered her voice and exclaimed in Edogawa's ear, "Is it that player—the one whose wanted number skyrocketed in just one month, whose total number of superpowers remains unknown, and who recently took control of Leibo Street and transformed it into a farm?!"

"You know it all, Akiko." Ranpo shook his head and jumped up and down, each time stepping right on the center of the tile. "I remember you collected every wanted poster for her? From the first screenshots from the surveillance camera to the most recent one where she made a V sign to the camera..."

"...Stop talking, detective!" Akiko quickly covered Ranpo's chattering mouth. "At this distance, she can hear it, right? She'll definitely hear it, right?!"

"I heard it." Player Cat Mouth stopped at the door of the building with an expressionless face.

"Eh, eh?" Jingzi let go of her hand in panic, took a few steps forward, and then stopped, "That..."

"You want an autograph?" Player showed an expression that said, "I'm too popular, there's nothing I can do about it." He confidently took out a piece of paper and a pen, and with a flick of his hand, his flamboyant handwriting appeared so powerful that it could be seen through the paper.

Lin Chen thrust his autograph into his shy little fan's hand, and she, feeling incredibly understanding, couldn't help but give him a thumbs-up. He happily nodded, saying you're welcome, and then followed the instructions inside the building.

The expression of the NPC with good entries is so complicated that the player cannot understand it.

Lin Chen walked past him quickly and followed the task instructions all the way to the game room.

In the game room, the players' eyes slowly scanned the piles of building blocks and dolls.

Nakahara Chuuya squatted down to check the puzzle pieces, while Lin Chen turned on [Insight] and interacted diligently with every interactive item.

The detective NPC and the fan NPC followed the player in while whispering. The detective NPC even happily took out a bag of candy from the pile of dolls.

Fan NPC: "...Don't take other people's children's treasures casually, Ranpo-san."

Detective NPC: "That's no problem, Akiko. Just consider it as part of their reward to the great detective!"

As the text of all interactive items flows through the player's smooth brain like water, the task description is updated immediately.

Edogawa Ranpo came over and asked, "What did you find?"

The player repeated the quest instructions verbatim, "You noticed something: the description of the events leading up to this incident sounded familiar... Yes, this is one of the treasures you scattered around, and you're a little surprised it caused such a big impact. But now isn't the time to dwell on this. It's time to retrieve it. You know where to go, right? — What? I don't know!"

Ranpo suddenly took out his glasses and wiped them. When he put them on, the lenses flashed with a cold light, his cape fluttered, and a passionate and generous background music sounded: "Well, well, well, it's time for the great detective to come and save everyone who is like a clumsy baby!"

Yay, it’s the super smart detective NPC, we are saved!

Nakahara Chuuya: "Hey, why are you pushing a blower behind him and using a speaker to play background music for him? Is this the final mystery of some suspense anime? It's too perfunctory, right? You haven't done anything at all? You're going to get scolded by the audience, right? You definitely will!!"

Chuuya, who had become the one making fun of others, held his forehead with his hand and said, "Forget it, let's not say anything, just leave it at that..."

The player who just opened his mouth persisted in expressing his thoughts: "It doesn't matter, I can go after the audience who cursed us."

"That's not the question at all..."

Ranpo, who ate the candy while the two of them were talking, said, "You have the ability to shrink, right, Ms. Player? You definitely do!"

The player looked at the NPC who made such a confident promise and looked through his backpack in confusion.

I actually found an item! It was [APTX4869: The scientist who created it dreamed of eternal youth for humans, but passed away before completing it. Therefore, this is a semi-finished drug. Ingesting it has a 95% chance of poison and a 5% chance of rejuvenation. It has a 100% chance of rejuvenation for special NPCs.]

The player saves the game silently.

"Save point created successfully"

Break off a tablet and swallow it.

He died with blood coming out of all his orifices.

I'm not willing to give up, so I reload the game and take medicine.

Bleeding from all seven orifices.

Load the game and take medicine.

Seven orifices...

By repeatedly reloading the game and taking medicine, the player finally won that 5% and successfully shrunk himself to seven years old.

The game really makes the probability clear! So, as a player, what I hate most is gambling on probability!

Furious, Lin Chen noticed that the NPC's expression had become more complicated than ever before, and poked his shoulder—yes, even if the player turned seven years old, they were still taller than the eleven-year-old NPC—in an attempt to trigger a conversation: "?"

The NPC was silent for a moment, his expression struggling, "..."

The detective NPC leaned in to observe his expression, then said happily, "So that's how it is! That's how it is! It's time!"

He patted Nakahara Chuuya's shoulder and turned to the player. "This is it. Just give it to me."