Chapter 26 Horrifying Crimes 6: The Isolated Island Prison
Ling Yuanshan was persuaded by Wu Wangwang. Besides, since the lock had already been smashed, and he didn't know how to fix it, they might as well go in and look for clues as soon as possible.
Upon arriving at the police station, Ling Yuanshan first looked for surveillance footage and discovered that there were no cameras inside. He wondered why they weren't installed, even though there were cameras at the entrance.
Feeling a bit uneasy, Ling Yuanshan relaxed a little. After observing the police station building, he said to Wu Wangwang, "That's the paper database. Go look at the paper files, and I'll check the computer."
Wu Wangwang had no objection, but was curious about another question: "You know about computers?"
“I know a little. I started learning computers when I was very young, so I have some basic knowledge,” Ling Yuanshan explained softly.
"Does every child have to learn computer skills when they are young?" Wu Wangwang didn't understand this. She was very envious of Yahe's ability to use a computer in the last dungeon, and she was wondering if she should learn it too.
Ling Yuanshan paused, then shook his head: "No, only wealthier families can afford these kinds of specialized courses. Most children will probably only take some information technology classes, and in some places with high academic pressure, they won't even have these kinds of classes, only the subjects for the college entrance examination."
Human beings seem to have had a clear hierarchy of environments from ancient times to the present. Wu Wangwang stopped asking questions; she knew she wasn't a heretic.
The archive room was only about ten square meters, filled with shelves and a jumble of file folders and documents piled up haphazardly.
Wu Wangwang was an honest person. Since she was going to investigate, she started by looking at the first item on the first shelf. There was a list on it, a list of newly admitted prisoners, with numbers and names, as well as details of their crimes and the weight of their sins.
After reading the document, Wu Wangwang immediately took out her notebook and copied it down. Her handwriting was wild, powerful, and very beautiful.
After finishing writing, Wu Wangwang remembered that Ling Yuanshan still had something to say, so she poked her head out and asked, "By the way, young master, you went to the warden's place last night. Did you get any clues?"
Ling Yuanshan paused on the keyboard, and after a moment of silence, said, "There are no clues, but I have a strange feeling that I can't quite put my finger on."
Last night, Ling Yuanshan was taken to the warden's office. He originally planned to use the props to make a request to the warden after entering, since she was the referee. Even if the referee was not affected after the player used the props, she still had to cooperate with the player.
But once inside the office, Ling Yuanshan had a strange feeling. So after briefly asking the warden if he could go to another area and if there were any ways to get a faster sentence reduction, he was sent back to Zone 1.
At the time, a strange feeling lingered in my mind, and I couldn't figure out what was strange about it. Now that Wu Wangwang was asking me, that strange feeling became even more obvious.
Wu Wangwang went to get the second document: "Huh? I haven't seen many offices. What kind of strange one is it? Does it not look like a place where humans live, or a place that doesn't look like a referee's residence?"
After a long silence, Ling Yuanshan uttered a few words: "This doesn't feel like a place."
Upon hearing this, Wu Wangwang floated out of the archives: "Have you finally gone mad?"
Even a normal person wouldn't be able to describe it like that.
Unable to see if Wu Wangwang was floating in the darkness, Ling Yuanshan was lost in his own thoughts: "How should I put it? A normal office should have a table and chairs, and maybe some other things according to your own preferences, but the warden's office... is very out of place."
"Suddenly?" Wu Wangwang was truly confused now and began to wonder if Ling Yuanshan's brain had been eaten by something.
"Let me put it this way, after I was sent out of District One last night, we passed by many factories and finally stopped outside the hill on the island. The prison guards pushed me up the mountain, and I ended up in the warden's office. Normally, this office should be built on a mountain, right? But after I went in, I felt that this office was not on a mountain." Ling Yuanshan tried to describe that strange feeling in words.
But after saying it, Ling Yuanshan felt like he was talking nonsense.
Wu Wangwang understood: "Oh, I understand. You mean that on your way to the office, you came to a mountain, but the office is not actually in the mountain."
Ling Yuanshan was quite grateful that Wu Wangwang could understand; "More or less, but I'm not sure if I'm just imagining things or if it's really not on the mountain, so I didn't dare to investigate too closely."
In a dungeon, it's always good to be careful, even when facing a referee you can trust. Wu Wangwang didn't blame Ling Yuanshan for being overly cautious. She said, "It's okay, we can put this kind of problem aside for now. Let's look for information. Someone will be here by dawn."
The two worked hard all night and left the police station just before dawn. They then ran to the other side of Gate 1 to avoid being caught soon.
As they fled, the sky gradually brightened. Before dawn, there was no one on the road except for monsters crawling around, which did not attack pedestrians.
During the day, things were different. People started to leave their homes, carrying weapons. They would slash at any monsters they encountered, and then continue with their own business, leaving blood and flesh splattered everywhere. Cleaners would quickly come and clean it up, as if nothing had happened.
When Wu Wangwang described it, Ling Yuanshan didn't think much of it, but after seeing it with his own eyes, he felt a little uncomfortable.
Wu Wangwang noticed his expression and asked with concern, "Are you still feeling unwell?"
Ling Yuanshan covered his mouth and nose and replied, "I do feel uncomfortable with this behavior. Along the way, the monsters didn't actually attack anyone, but it was the people on the island who killed them casually."
In this instance, are the monsters the boss or the players?
As they were talking, another person on their way to work smashed the bones of a passing monster with a stick. The monster was limp all over, like some kind of mollusc, and only the bloodstains on its body proved that it was originally a humanoid creature that stood upright.
The monster, beaten so badly it couldn't stand, lay sprawled on the ground. People on the street used sticks to lift it up and threw it into the old town area before turning around and going to work.
The monster, thrown into the old city, struggled to move, still trying to find something to piece its body back together, so that it could return to the city like a human.
Ling Yuanshan, who was watching nearby, felt a pang of pity: "If they weren't like this, but rather kittens or puppies, wouldn't the entire city be abusing animals?"
Wu Wangwang calmly reminded: "Apart from protecting animals, it is not illegal to abuse or kill ordinary animals."
Clearly, in the City of Innocence, these monsters are probably classified as mosquitoes, something everyone would want to kill and would applaud.
Ling Yuanshan took a detour to another street before exchanging information with Wu Wangwang: "Last night I found on my computer that the police station's information is all archived and uploaded to another place after get off work every day. No wonder there are no surveillance cameras in the police station. It turns out they are not worried about information leaks at all."
Because all the information would be packaged and deleted, Ling Yuanshan spent the whole night searching but found nothing. He only knew the IP address of the receiving end, but he was unsure whether it was inside the City of Innocence or in an outer prison.
Wu Wangwang then pulled out her notebook: "I got some information about prisoners, I don't know if they are NPCs or players, and oh, look."
Wu Wangwang quickly flipped through her notebook, which was filled with writing, and found some copied police information at the back.
Ling Yuanshan took it and looked at it carefully: "On XX month XX day, a resident reported seeing a murder. Upon investigation, it was found that a monster had broken into the resident's home and was disposed of harmlessly by the resident..."
"On [Date], a group of people called the police, believing that someone's method of killing the monster was too cruel and seemed to constitute a crime, and requested intervention..."
"On [Date], a student reported to the police that her companion monster had been killed by a classmate. She couldn't find her monster in the old town and requested police assistance..."
There are countless similar cases of police reports, but because monsters have no human rights, they are all deemed invalid. The police neither help nor intervene, but instead educate the people who made the reports.
Seeing that Ling Yuanshan had read the last page, Wu Wang said, "These are just some of what I copied down. There's a lot more. It seems that because this kind of information isn't considered proper, the records have all been put in the database and haven't been uploaded."
If a piece is packaged and sealed, it is impossible to find.
The entire database contained mostly these kinds of alarm reports, apart from the registration information of prisoners arriving at different fixed times for each batch. There were also some financial reports, which Wu Wangwang couldn't understand and thought were unimportant, so she didn't write them down.
After reading it, Ling Yuanshan said gravely, "It seems we really need to find a way to figure out where the monster came from. If we don't figure this out, we'll never be able to get out."
After several days of searching, Wu Wangwang provided another piece of information: "Speaking of which, it seems that the monster never goes to the city center, especially around the tallest buildings. The monster never appears there. It usually moves around more in the area between the city center and the old town."
“Something’s definitely up to no good. Let’s go find out.” Ling Yuanshan made the decision immediately.
Then Ling Yuanshan took Wu Wangwang to a public restroom. He hid in a corner, took out a dress, and handed it to Wu Wangwang: "Here, change into this."
Wu Wangwang picked up the dress and unfolded it, discovering it was a graceful bohemian-style long dress that felt very soft to the touch: "What a beautiful dress! Why do you carry this with you?"
Ling Yuanshan took out another Republic-era robe and put it on without even taking off his prison uniform underneath: "They're all props. I don't have any storage props, so I can't bring things in from outside. But I've done a lot of dungeons, and apart from healing in the early years, the rewards have all turned into props."
After putting on the long robe, Ling Yuanshan's demeanor became more approachable, like a schoolteacher from the Republic of China era who would start reciting classical Chinese texts.
Wu Wangwang's skirt had long sleeves. Instead of going into the public restroom, she imitated Ling Yuanshan and wore the skirt over her clothes. The skirt was actually a bit long, covering her insteps. From a distance, she didn't look like a beautiful girl wearing a skirt, but rather a female ghost without feet.
Ling Yuanshan carefully adjusted the numerous bows on the collar and skirt of Wu Wangwang: "Your dress is called 'White Moonlight,' which means that whoever sees you wearing this dress will have a very good impression of you, and will tell you any important information you ask directly, that is..."
"What is it?" Wu Wangwang looked up in confusion.
"You just can't run into a pervert. Some people hate their 'white moonlight' (ideal love), maybe they want to kill her, or make her into a specimen to stay with them forever. In short, if you encounter that kind of pervert, the effect of the skirt will be amplified, and they will chase after you to kill you," Ling Yuanshan said somewhat embarrassedly.
Wu Wangwang fell silent for a moment. Why would they take out such a thing for her to wear?
Seemingly noticing the speechlessness and accusation on Wu Wangwang's calm face, Ling Yuanshan explained helplessly, "There's nothing I can do. This is the only modern girl's dress I have. Otherwise, I'd have to wear my wedding dress?"
Mentioning wedding dresses reminded Wu Wangwang of the bride's gown at the night sacrifice—a long, elaborate garment that required a trip up the mountain to pray to the gods, which was considered unlucky. She tugged at her skirt: "Then forget it. What about you? Why are you wearing this?"
Ling Yuanshan sighed deeply: "This outfit is called 'Teacher'. It allows you to be a teacher to many people. As long as the teacher asks a question, the student must answer it. Otherwise, they will be kept after class until they can answer it."
Wu Wangwang's eyes lit up: "Then let's go interrogate the prison guards and the warden!"
“…I’ve thought about that before, but I found that this outfit doesn’t work in the prison. After thinking about it, it might be because of the prison guard’s identity. The teacher’s identity can’t bypass the prison guard in the instance, or it might be a limitation of this instance. Anyway, I plan to try other NPCs.” Ling Yuanshan explained in a low voice.
Once they were almost dressed up, Ling Yuanshan even combed Wu Wangwang's hair, saying that he had learned these skills in the dungeon. Then, the two very different people swaggered off to the city center.
Wu Wangwang was alright, but Ling Yuanshan was really too conspicuous. A young man dressed in a Republic of China-era robe had slipped into a group of modern people, as if he had traveled through time.
After walking for a while, Wu Wangwang asked in a low voice, "Won't this be too obvious?"
The usually low-key Ghost Mother didn't want to be noticed, and always felt that her secret was about to be discovered.
Ling Yuanshan patted his clothes and replied in a low voice, "It's okay. They were staring at us because we're so good-looking. Otherwise, they would have thought we were cosplayers."
Wu Wangwang, whose English was not good, couldn't understand. She even learned the definition of the word "NPC" from the original owner's memories, while the original owner learned it from other educated players.
Wu Wangwang humbly asked for advice, which surprised Ling Yuanshan even more. "Aren't you a student? How many students these days don't know about cosplay?"
Even someone as oblivious to the world around him as Ling Yuanshan knew this, but Wu Wangwang's expression didn't seem fake, so he had to give a simple explanation.
After listening, Wu Wangwang noted down this point of knowledge, but their inquisitive gaze did not diminish along the way.
Upon entering the city center, this feeling intensified. Wu Wangwang stopped and tugged at Ling Yuanshan's sleeve: "Young Master, why do I feel... that they don't seem to understand cosplay either?"
Ling Yuanshan was taken aback, looking at Wu Wangwang in astonishment: "What do you mean?"
Wu Wangwang slowly approached Ling Yuanshan and whispered in his ear, "Didn't you say that all the students understand? But along the way, the adults, children, and old people we've met all think we're strange. I think this island is isolated from the world, and the people on the island must be too, right?"
It seemed that everything in this innocent city was similar to the outside world, from the architecture to the people's lifestyles. But now, reminded by Wu Wangwang, Ling Yuanshan quickly realized something: "You mean, the first humans on this island might not have known about this?"
“Yes,” Wu Wangwang nodded, “We don’t know where the monsters came from, but just like that, we don’t know where the people of the City of Innocence came from.”
Why do they live here? Why are they willing to let the prison send in batches of prisoners every now and then to arrest criminals?
Those prisoners were all death row inmates, vicious and ruthless killers. Especially the identity that Ling Yuanshan was impersonating—he was a drug addict and used people for experiments. Would such a person not want to continue experimenting in a place full of people?
The whole thing is bizarre, an operation that no human could possibly conceive of.
There seems to be some secret hidden behind the dungeon, and Ling Yuanshan has a premonition based on his experience that as long as they find this secret, they can clear the dungeon.
Ling Yuanshan's expression was grave: "It seems we still need to find out the reason for the establishment of the City of Innocence. Let's go find the government building."
Only humans could conceive that to know the city's most fundamental secrets, one must go to the center of government. After circling around, Ling Yuanshan confirmed that the tallest building was the core of the City of Innocence, with extremely high security, constant patrols, and identity verification required for entry and exit.
Despite wearing clothes with buffs, the two still couldn't pass the verification—the verification was for machines, which don't possess human emotions, so buffs targeting humans had no effect.
Wu Wangwang, hiding behind the flowers, raised her scissors: "Then let's break in."
Ling Yuanshan pressed her hand down: "Sister, think about it. We can't beat so many people, and there are other players taking advantage of the chaos. If we get ganged up on, my items might not be able to counter the items in the other players' hands."
"The props are really too dangerous," Wu Wangwang remarked.
Next, Ling Yuanshan and Wu Wangwang squatted outside the government building for a day and a night. During this time, two prisoners passed by. They didn't know if they were players. After passing by, they circled around outside a few times and left. Out of caution, they didn't dare to go over and say hello.
What if, like the previous players, someone rushes up and tries to arrest Ling Yuanshan to reduce his sentence?
As dawn broke again, Ling Yuanshan had dark circles under his eyes. He rubbed his face to wake himself up: "I've observed it enough. This building is guarded 24 hours a day. If we want to get in, we'll probably have to replace the staff."
Having experience with this kind of living witch, she paused for a moment, then asked, "Does it require transformation?"
Ling Yuanshan looked at her speechlessly: "You always use such weird words. That's called cross-dressing. It's okay, I've already chosen someone. See that guy in the work uniform? After get off work today, I'll follow him, knock him out, and then take his place at work tonight."
Wu Wangwang learned a new word, and she nodded: "Oh, what about me? Who will I become?"
“That one.” Ling Yuanshan pointed to a young woman in a suit dress in the distance.
Wu Wangwang remembered that the girl had to go out more than ten times a day since she started working, either to buy coffee or other things. She never had a break and was easily replaced. More importantly, she was about the same height as Wu Wangwang and had thick bangs and black-rimmed glasses, so it was probably impossible to tell that someone had replaced her.
It wasn't convenient to do things during the day, so the two of them found temporary jobs to earn some money and boxed lunches. Then, Ling Yuanshan used the money to buy various things, booked a room at a guesthouse, and cut Wu Wangwang's hair.
The original owner of this body was a poor girl. In order to make it easier to work, she cut her hair very short, only a little longer than a boy's buzz cut. After Wu Wangwang came, she hadn't cut her hair for a long time. She usually didn't tie it up and just let it hang down like a homeless person.
Later, when she went to work as a gardener at the Ling family's house, she learned how to style her hair in the classic maid style.
But later, when she went to school, the housekeeper reminded her to change her hairstyle to a long ponytail.
Ling Yuanshan was quite skilled. He took the scissors and quickly gave Wu Wangwang a thick, straight fringe. He trimmed the rest of her hair a little, then tied it into a low bun, making her look exactly like the girl in the suit dress.
When Wu Wangwang saw herself in the mirror, she exclaimed, "Young Master, you are amazing!"
Hearing Wu Wangwang's praise, Ling Yuanshan felt a little sad: "It's all thanks to the experience I've gained in dungeons over the years. You never know how some dungeons can torment players."
That's a very unfortunate fate.
Ling Yuanshan couldn't take it anymore after not eating or showering for two days, so he came to deal with it. Wu Wangwang also pretended that she was similar to a human in terms of her physical structure.
The guesthouse was very cheap, only 20 yuan a night, but Ling Yuanshan managed to cut the price in half, saying he wouldn't stay overnight, just wanted to take a shower. The owner couldn't resist the bargaining and agreed with a look of disgust. When they left, the owner glared at them fiercely.
They returned to the city center just as it was time to leave work. Ling Yuanshan targeted the repairman, knocked him unconscious, and returned in less than twenty minutes, having changed into his work clothes.
The woman in the suit dress, however, works much later; she always seems to have to work overtime.
When it got dark, the other party finally came out. Ling Yuanshan set off again, knocked the girl unconscious in a corner, and called Wu Wangwang over to ask her to change her clothes. Since she was a girl, Ling Yuanshan went to a nearby intersection to keep watch.
Wu Wangwang was too lazy to do anything. Seeing that it was almost time, she raised her hand and waved her hand, and the T-shirt she had just bought that day was put on the girl.
Emerging from the alley, Wu Wangwang asked, "Young Master, what about her and the repairman?"
Ling Yuanshan replied, "It's alright, I have a sleeping potion that can keep them asleep for a few days. They won't die, but we'll have to carry them to a safe place—"
Before he could finish speaking, Ling Yuanshan froze, looking around nervously: "Where is he?"
The alley was narrow, and Wu Wangwang was afraid of getting her clothes dirty, so she didn't walk side by side with Ling Yuanshan. At this moment, she peeked out from behind Ling Yuanshan and was surprised not to see the girl who had been leaning against the telephone pole: "Huh? She was here when I changed my clothes."
Ling Yuanshan protected Wu Wangwang and slowly backed away: "No, there must be some rule we haven't discovered. Let's get out of here first. As long as we're not dead, our plan will continue. Let's go, never mind, let's go to the municipal building."
The two quickly retreated from the alley and ran towards the municipal building.
In the City of Innocence, everyone returns home at night and doesn't wander around outside, except for the City Hall, which is guarded 24 hours a day. However, it also follows the same rule: no one leaves the building to go out on the street at night.
Ling Yuanshan kept a close eye on the time and managed to enter the municipal building using the two unlucky men's cards before the city's residents went out.
There were far fewer people inside the building than during the day, but everyone was diligently sticking to their posts.
Avoiding crowds and elevators, they took the stairs. Wu Wangwang then spoke, "Young Master, where did you hide that repairman? Now that the girl is missing, could the repairman you hid have also disappeared...?"
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Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: This game is pretty good. Beauty and hairdressing, sewing and cooking, fitness and health... After training, you won't have to worry about finding a job after being reborn. Rain or shine, I'll be waiting for you on the night of your return!
Ling Yuanshan: ...
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