The Vanished Wife (1)
Professor Pan said, "Xiao Chen might not recognize you right away, since it's been a long time. His cognitive abilities are naturally behind those of other children. Don't be sad, he should be able to remember you after a while once he gets used to you."
Qin Man was somewhat saddened, but she managed to control herself.
She could only glance at Qu Chen a few times, and Qu Chen was also secretly looking at her.
At this moment, Jian Tanxi suddenly thought of something, pulled Qu Chen away, and whispered to him, "Xiao Chen, was that really your mother who just appeared? If not, then cry."
Qu Chen looked at Jian Tanxi blankly, seemingly not understanding what she meant.
Jian Tanxi remembered that Qu Chen had the ability to "detect lies." Perhaps she should let him approach Qin Man again and try.
So, Jian Tanxi brought Qu Chen to Qin Man's side and pushed him towards her.
Qu Chen didn't cry or make a fuss. Instead, he looked at Qin Man a few more times and then took Qin Man's hand.
It seems that Qin Man is real; Qu Chen just didn't recognize his mother at first.
Jian Tanxi's doubts were dispelled.
To thank Jian Tanxi and Professor Pan for taking care of Qu Chen, Qin Man gave them some props.
One of the items was a time machine; pressing it would reveal the exact time. Jian Tanxi pressed it and found that it was 9:00 AM on October 2nd.
A new month has arrived, and her ability's count has been refreshed, so she can use it with confidence now.
Just then, a person jumped down from a tree not far away. Stretching, the person walked towards the crowd, saying, "How did they teleport me up in a tree? It took me so much effort to climb down..."
At this moment, Jian Tanxi recognized the man and called out, "Xie Wei!"
Xie Wei was pleasantly surprised to see familiar faces and ran over to Jian Tanxi and Professor Pan, saying, "Wow, you're all here! I'm so lucky to have run into my teammates from the last game..."
Then, he looked at Qin Man and asked, "And who is this?"
Jian Tanxi then introduced Qin Man and Xie Wei to each other.
After waiting for a while and not seeing any other teammates, it seemed that only the five of them were participating in this game.
Just then, a piece of paper floated over, on which was a picture of a young girl wearing a light pink lace dress.
She addressed the crowd: "Welcome to the new round of the game—The Vanished Wife. I am the referee for this game, Princess Pearl. The participants are: Jian Tanxi, Qu Chen, Qin Man, Pan Xian, and Xie Wei, a total of five people."
The game rules are as follows:
Ms. Jin, the richest woman in City B, has suddenly disappeared, and her husband, Mr. Liang, has reported her missing. Players need to take on the role of detectives to find Mr. Liang's vanished wife. You are currently outside the Jin family villa; you can go inside to investigate or investigate elsewhere.
Find the missing Ms. Jin and obtain her recording. In the recording, she will explain where she went and what she did during the time she disappeared. Once you pass the test, you will be considered to have passed the test.
However, for three days, you are not allowed to contact ordinary citizens of City B, but only a few people related to this case. After three days, there will be no restrictions.
Jian Tanxi asked, "Is there a time limit for the game?"
Princess Pearl: "Five days."
Why are we not allowed to contact ordinary people for three days?
"These are the rules; you just need to follow them."
Professor Pan asked, "What if we find Ms. Jin already dead?"
Princess Pearl: "Well, there's nothing I can do then. It just means the mission failed."
Professor Pan: "..."
Qin Man asked, "Since you haven't declared our game lost, it means Ms. Jin is still alive, right?"
Princess Pearl: "I don't know either. You're the detectives. If Ms. Kim is already dead the moment you find her, then I'll declare the game over. I won't declare the game over until you find her."
After saying that, Princess Pearl disappeared.
At the same time, players will have an additional detective's badge.
Xie Wei said, "What should we do next? Should we go into the villa and investigate?"
Everyone else agreed.
So Xie Wei went up and knocked on the door first.
After a while, an elderly man in his eighties opened the door.
Xie Wei asked, "Excuse me, is this Ms. Jin's home?"
The old man replied, "Yes."
"You must be the Jin family's butler?"
"Yes."
The old man spoke slowly, and his eyes were not very bright. He slowly looked the players over and asked, "Who are you?"
Jian Tanxi said, "We are detectives. We heard that Ms. Jin has gone missing, so we came to investigate."
Next, Jian Tanxi and the others presented their detective credentials.
The old man said, "Please come in, I'll go and inform Mr. Liang."
The group went inside and saw a young gardener pruning the flowers and plants in the garden, and two middle-aged nannies sweeping the floor in the corridor.
Qu Chen seemed a little scared and hid behind Qin Man. Then, he grabbed Jian Tanxi and the others, trying to drag them all out.
Jian Tanxi said to Qu Chen, "Xiao Chen, we still have some things to do. Let's leave after we finish the investigation. This family must have some good food. Shall we go and eat?"
However, Qu Chen still dragged everyone towards the door. Jian Tanxi, Qin Man, and the others weren't actually dragged away by him, but they were all a little puzzled.
Seeing Qu Chen's eyes constantly glancing at the gardener and the two nannies, Jian Tanxi and the others also sized up the three of them.
The gardener and the nanny looked over, but soon they went back to what they were doing.
Jian Tanxi simply walked up to the gardener and asked, "How long have you been working as a gardener for the Jin family?"
Gardener: "It's been a few months, hasn't it?"
Does Miss Jin usually pay attention to you servants?
"Not really."
Are you familiar with Miss Jin?
"I guess I'm somewhat familiar with it... after all, I've been working here for a few months now."
"The flowers here are growing well. I wonder what kind of fertilizer they use?"
"We use organic fertilizer. If you're interested, I can give you a bag later."
"No need, I don't usually grow flowers. May I take a look at the roots of the flowers?"
"Yes, but please be careful not to get your clothes dirty."
The gardener did indeed move aside, and Jian Tanxi casually glanced at the base of the flowers, finding nothing unusual.
She smelled the fertilizer at the bottom and it seemed to be just ordinary fertilizer, without any bloody or rotten smell.
Then, Jian Tanxi asked, "By the way, do you dislike children?"
No, why do you ask that?
Do you usually feel impatient or disgusted when you see children?
"Of course not. There's a child among you who I think is quite cute."
"Okay, thank you for liking it."
Jian Tanxi walked over to her companions. She noticed that Professor Pan was chatting with the two cleaning ladies, while Qin Man, Qu Chen, and Xie Wei were standing still.
Qin Man asked Jian Tanxi, "Why were you chatting with that gardener just now?"
“Xiao Chen gets scared whenever he sees the gardener and the nanny, and I feel like there might be something strange about these people. So, I went to test the gardener.”
Qin Man seemed to realize something and asked with some fear, "Do you suspect that Ms. Jin was buried in this garden by the gardener?"
"I had my suspicions, but I couldn't ask directly, or I'd alert him. I chatted with the gardener for a bit and he didn't seem to have any problems on the surface; he was quite easygoing. I initially thought that maybe he glared at Qu Chen, which scared Xiao Chen. But he said he didn't dislike children and even thought Xiao Chen was cute."
In my opinion, he doesn't seem like the type of person who would suddenly glare at someone or make faces at them.
So, there might be other reasons why Xiao Chen is afraid of him. Let's try to keep him here first, and then investigate further.
Qin Man nodded: "Yes. But, if Ms. Jin really dies, how should we leave the instance?"
"Until we find her, no one can say for sure whether she's alive or dead. Let's just take it one step at a time."
After a while, Professor Pan also came over. He had also become suspicious of these servants. Seeing that Jian Tanxi was chatting with the gardener, he went to chat with the nanny and tried to get information out of her.
Jian Tanxi asked, "Professor Pan, did you manage to get any information out of him?"
Professor Pan shook his head: "No. The two nannies seemed quite ordinary, not like they had any secrets. They said they had been working for the Jin family for several months, responsible for cleaning, but they didn't know where Ms. Jin had gone."
I asked them who was paying their wages since Ms. Jin had disappeared, and they said it was Mr. Liang.
I observed them carefully again and didn't find anything about their clothes or appearance that would frighten the child.
So, I don't quite understand why Xiaochen is afraid of these servants.
Qin Man said, "Perhaps we're just overthinking it... It's normal for Xiao Chen to be afraid of strangers sometimes. Children with autism are naturally timid, and even healthy children can be scared when they suddenly see a group of strangers."
Qin Man's explanation sounded quite reasonable.
However, Qu Chen still insisted on leaving, making "go, go" sounds.
At this point, the players uncontrollably walked out of the villa.
Jian Tanxi and the others weren't surprised, but Qin Man was astonished: "What just happened? Why did we suddenly come out?"
Jian Tanxi said, "Sister Qin Man, you don't know yet, do you? Xiao Chen has the power of words; whatever he says will come true. That's why we were controlled by his power of words just now."
"I see... I was quite pleased to hear him say the word 'walk'... So, does that mean we'll be controlled as soon as Xiao Chen opens his mouth, no matter what he says?"
"That's how it is at the moment; we haven't found a way to crack it yet."
Qin Man was somewhat frustrated: "But I really hope that Xiao Chen can learn to speak, just like a normal child... Given the current situation, is it better to let him continue to be mute?"
"Sister Qin Man, don't worry. I think that once Xiao Chen can speak normally, his Word Magic will definitely disappear. Giving a normal person Word Magic is a huge bug, it's impossible. At this stage, we can teach Xiao Chen some words that are beneficial to us and let him help us pass the level."
Is it really possible?
"Yes. When you weren't around, Xiao Chen used his Word of Power to help other players many times."
Qin Man burst into tears of joy: "That's wonderful... But we still have to go in and investigate. What if Xiao Chen says 'let' go' again if we go in again?"
Professor Pan said, "We can distract Xiao Chen so that he doesn't see the gardener and the nanny."
As he spoke, Professor Pan picked a flower and handed it to Qu Chen.
Qu Chen indeed became interested in the flower, staring at it intently and ignoring everything else.
Professor Pan carried Qu Chen on his shoulder, with Qu Chen's head down.
"That way, he won't be able to see anyone else."
Qin Man smiled and said, "You really have a way."
At this moment, the gardener arrived at the villa entrance and said to the players, "Why are you all out here? The old butler is waiting for you inside."
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