Chapter 20 ~ Third Game Pt.2 ~
The players present heard Gu Yian’s words, went quiet, and then kept silent.
As a matter of fact, at the start, there were veteran players who thought about imitating Gu Yian’s actions to also fiddle with their phone but their attention was immediately drawn away by the new players telling them their new player hint.
The new player hint concerned whether or not they could clear the game in the future, and so they naturally cared more about long-term matters.
After Gu Yian said this, those with quick reactions began to try unlocking their phones to check the email.
Unlocking the phone wasn’t hard, they just needed to put it at a certain distance, find the set angle, and let the front camera at the top of the phone capture the player’s face clearly, and then the phone would unlock successfully.
While they were experimenting with their phones here, Gu Yian turned and walked towards the two-story office building that was ten or so meters away.
In the two game worlds she experienced, she had to explore around outside to find clues.
It was too much of a waste of time to stand at the starting point.
“Hey, how come you’re leaving first?”
The one who spoke was the female player who pressured the new players into giving out their new player hint.
She turned her head and called out to the players standing in the same spot, “We have a mission, let’s go.”
She took the lead to follow Gu Yian’s figure.
The other players exchanged glances and also planned to move.
Suddenly, there was movement at the main gate of the yard.
The silver electronic security gate automatically retracted to make room for a car to pass through.
A dusty white car drove into the yard.
This car attracted the attention of all the players, including Gu Yian.
Everything in a game world was worth the players caring about.
Gu Yian was almost at the entrance to the office building, but when she heard the noise she still stopped to watch.
The players stopped and looked at the car driving up the flower bed road.
When those players, who happened to be blocking the road in front of the car, realized they and the rest were standing in the middle of the road they tried to move to the side.
Unexpectedly, just as they moved their legs something suddenly happened.
The car swiftly accelerated and charged towards the players in front of it.
A scene that no one was willing to see occurred.
Two players were knocked to the ground.
But the car didn’t stop and directly ran over their bodies.
The female player screamed.
This horrible shriek drew everyone back to the present.
Gu Yian immediately ran over to where the traffic accident happened.
The car braked hard after hitting the two people.
The ear-piercing sound of the brakes rang.
The car finally stopped and, the moment it stopped, the doors of the driver’s seat, the passenger’s seat, and the back seat opened at the same time and three men in black uniforms stepped out.
Gu Yian rushed to the traffic accident and a veteran player examined the conditions of the two players who were struck.
“There’s no saving them.”
The veteran player announced their diagnostic result.
Gu Yian was blocked outside by the crowd, but she could still see the bright red blood on the ground.
Two lives in the blink of an eye.
This was God’s Game.
Of those three men in black uniforms who came out of the small car, an older man took the lead while the two younger ones followed behind him. The three of them walked to the accident site.
The crowd of players stared at the three men warily.
“You all are the unlucky bastards who were thrown here to die by God’s Eye?”
The older man’s tone wasn’t nice when he spoke.
The players were strangers here and still weren’t clear why the man would say this, but they heard the meaning in his words and realized that what awaited them was likely death.
The older man didn’t have much interest in talking to the players and he passed through the crowd that automatically avoided him before he looked back and ordered the two younger men in uniform behind him.
“Call the undertaker and have them drag two more back.”
“You take this group of poor suckers to register.”
The older man handed over tasks to the two younger men who were probably his subordinates.
He turned his head again to glance at the players.
“How come there’s so many women?”
The older man furrowed his brows.
He didn’t intend to avoid others with his words and, although his volume was not loud, all the players present heard him clearly.
The complexions of several female players already changed, but everyone was sensible and knew that in their current situation they couldn’t randomly provoke this person who knew a lot of clues.
The female players pretended they didn’t hear this.
The older man withdrew his gaze and he didn’t stay any longer. He walked towards the car and clearly wasn’t going to care about things anymore.
One of the two uniformed men who remained had a square face, sturdy build, and was at least 1.8 meters tall. He took out his phone and gave the funeral home a call.
The other man wore black-rimmed glasses and, although his height wasn’t too far from the person next to him, his body was slender and he was quite good-looking, so he seemed elegant and frail-looking and like he was easy to speak with.
This young man, with these black-rimmed glasses and a historical intellectual air, looked at the players and introduced himself, “My name is Lu Zize. I can be considered your senior and, like you, I am also a junior investigator.” ¹
His voice was gentle, not too loud, and very nice to hear.
Lu Zize introduced himself and politely suggested, “You’re all junior investigators, but you haven’t reported for duty yet. I’ll take you inside to register.”
He spoke somewhat like it was a discussion and this gave the players the opportunity to speak.
A player asked, “We’re going to leave them?”
That player was referring to their companions who were already silent on the ground.
Lu Zize lowered his eyes, looking at the horrible sight on the ground, and then raised his head to look at the players with a calm expression. “Don’t overreact. This is the situation we’ll be facing every day in the future.”
“But you were the ones who hit them!” The player who asked Lu Zize was very unhappy with his indifferent attitude.
It was clear these three people drove their car into people but they treated it as unimportant, as if it were unrelated to them, and directly called the undertaker to come pick them up.
Lu Zize faced this player’s anger with his previous good nature and said, “This was an accident. I’ll take everyone to report in first and then I’ll explain this matter.”
Gu Yian listened to their conversation and placed her gaze on the car.
That older man returned to the car, started it up, looped around the other side of the flower bed towards the main gate, and then drove out of this yard.
“Lu, what rubbish are you saying to them? Just take them to the office.”
The uniformed man who was making a call ended his call and saw that Lu Zize hadn’t organized the group of players yet and that these people even wanted to ask them for an explanation, so he seized the right to speak at once.
This person wasn’t as approachable as Lu Zize.
He spoke with a hot temper and the player, who had just questioned Lu Zize, saw that the situation wasn’t in his favor and so he immediately stopped speaking.
The contingent of players were quiet.
“Brother Yong, thank you.” Lu Zize thanked Brother Yong who helped him call the group to order with some gratitude.
The man in the uniform, who was called Brother Yong by Lu Zize, waved his hand. “The team leader went to wash the car and he’ll be back in an hour. Take them quickly to register.”
Lu Zize nodded, looking obedient.
He turned to address the players, “Follow me then and don’t dawdle. When the team leader returns, we still have matters to deal with.”
The tone of his words was still very gentle.
Lu Zize walked a few steps towards the office building.
The players looked at each other and followed him slowly, dragging their heels.
The disregard of life by Lu Zize and the others made the players especially vigilant towards him.
Gu Yian was also a cautious member and she held her black phone in one hand while her other hand gripped her small coffin prop tightly.
She had a feeling that she could also use this prop in this world. Although she didn’t know why the other players’ offensives against ghosts couldn’t be used, so long as she could use hers that was good enough.
Maybe it was because she had this confidence, but Gu Yian did not hesitate to catch up at all.
Very quickly, she became the lead of the players.
The other players followed closely behind Gu Yian.
Lu Zize, who was leading the way, walked a while before he looked back and found that Gu Yian was only a few steps behind him.
His eyes brightened.
He paused for a second, waiting for Gu Yian to catch up, and then took the initiative to say, “Actually, you’re not the only ones scared. I am too.”
Gu Yian didn’t expect Lu Zize to strike up a conversation with her.
The content of their conversation was even that he was afraid too.
What was a grown man like him afraid of?
But since he spoke, she took the opportunity to ask, “Are you afraid of accidents?”
The group of them stepped into the office building and two cameras pointed at Lu Zize, who was at the very front, before the door of the office building automatically opened at once, and then they turned into a side corridor.
There were rooms on both sides and the only lights were the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Every few meters there were cameras on the walls that turned to point at the people who came in.
Gu Yian and the others, who had just come in from the outside, only felt that the corridor was dark and had a gloomy feeling.
Everyone’s footsteps echoed in the corridor.
Lu Zize explained, “Since about a month ago, every day investigators have died unexpectedly. Originally, this office building had more than 50 staff members, but now there’s just four of us left.”
“Four?” Gu Yian was confused.
“Sister Man went home. She doesn’t live with us.”
Lu Zize stopped, glanced at the position of the lock, and then pushed open a door with the nameplate of the director. “Give me your work badges and I’ll register everyone.”
Gu Yian had already looked at her own work badge early on and, apart from a somewhat unusual string of work numbers, there was nothing strange on it. She readily gave out her work badge and won Lu Zize’s grateful smile.
He was just like a new salesperson who had joined the company and upon meeting a cooperative customer would thank them sincerely.
There didn’t appear to be anything special about it.
Lu Zize sat in the position of the director, turned on the computer, and his fingers flew over the keyboard while he looked at Gu Yian’s work badge.
His fingers were slim and his nails were kept short and clean. They were a pair of beautiful hands.
“Registered. In the future, you can freely enter and exit the Investigation Bureau, but avoid unauthorized places. They don’t use facial recognition there and, if you enter recklessly, you could be killed by mistake.”
“From now on, we’ll be colleagues.”
Lu Zize handed back Gu Yian’s work badge along with a large smile.
Even through those black-rimmed glasses, Gu Yian could feel the sincerity in his eyes.
Gu Yian returned the favor and also gave a small smile.
“Thank you.”
She stepped back and let the other players come forward.
Right behind Gu Yian was that female player who forced the new players give out their new player hint at the beginning.
She smiled brilliantly, handed over her work badge, and said, “Senior Lu, can you tell us about the accidents that happened? We’re really afraid we’ll meet those accidents ourselves. If you tell us, we can guard against it in advance.”
Lu Zize froze for a second, as if he was frightened by the female player’s warmth. After he took her work badge, he politely said, “Please wait a moment. After I finish registering everyone, I’ll explain these matters clearly.”
He quickly registered the female player and then placed the work badge in front of the desk.
The female player saw Lu Zize’s actions and interest appeared in her eyes.
She picked up her work badge and then pretended to ask casually, “Senior Lu, aren’t you going to give me a tip too? It won’t be good if I accidentally go into a place I shouldn’t go into.”
Lu Zize looked at the female player. His expression didn’t change much and his tone was still as gentle as before.
“I already said it once and you were all present in the office, so I won’t say it a second time.”
The female player looked at Lu Zize and then at Gu Yian who was waiting at one side. She smiled, “I understand, Senior Lu, I also like good-looking people.”
She left the front of the desk and walked directly up to Gu Yian, flashing her work badge.
“Let’s get to know each other. My name is Tang Jiu.”
The other players craned their neck to look at the action on Gu Yian’s side.
Lu Zize methodically registered the players, but his gaze would also go over to them.
Gu Yian looked at the work badge revealed by the female player, Tang Jiu. The girl in the photo smiled brilliantly.
Gu Yian spread open her own badge.
She replied, “Gu Yian.”
Tang Jiu smiled and she placed her hand casually on Gu Yian’s shoulder before she suddenly moved her head very close, whispering beside Gu Yian’s ear, “You’re really smart. I love smart people.”
“Twice now I was one step slower than you.”
“Why don’t we work together? You’ll be in charge of the brains, and I’ll be in charge of the work. Let’s clear the game together.”
Gu Yian wasn’t used to others being too close to her, so she moved back half a step, pulling away from Tang Jiu.
She knew which two times Tang Jiu was talking about.
The first time was when she left their starting spot and avoided the car accident.
The second time was when she took the lead and caught up to Lu Zize, and thus obtained his goodwill.
Gu Yian felt that these two times were because she had enough luck.
Her experience in the previous two games told her that she couldn’t sit around and do nothing, and it was because she had a prop in hand that she had the confidence to follow Lu Zize right away.
Neither of these two matters were something she could have guessed on her own.
It was like how she was lucky enough to clear the first game because she guessed the meaning behind the new player hint right and, in the second game, God gave her the hint that they didn’t like her address for them.
Gu Yian told her, “You’re thinking too much. Those were only coincidences.”
She had self-awareness and knew she didn’t have the corresponding ability, so if she stubbornly pretended to be a smart person then she would only harm others and ultimately herself.
Tang Jiu disagreed, “I understand. You smart people reject others in such a tactful way.”
She didn’t believe Gu Yian.
Gu Yian saw Tang Jiu’s clingy appearance and could only helplessly say, “You’re the smart one, so why do you have to say it’s me?”
Tang Jiu noticed immediately that the game was extremely difficult and forced the new players into giving their hint. She also sensed right away that props which could attack ghosts couldn’t be used and, when Gu Yian was about to leave, she brought all the other players to follow her.
It could be seen that Tang Jiu definitely wasn’t a simple person.
“Look, and you still say you aren’t one.”
Tang Jiu said with complete confidence, “You must be a smart person to be able to find out that I’m a smart person.”
Her logic left Gu Yian speechless.
This was some genius logic.
On the other side, Lu Zize finished registering everyone and he stood up to walk to the middle of the room, facing everyone.
“This should be your first time coming to the City of Innocence.”
Gu Yian looked at the Special Investigation Bureau Zone under God’s Eye that was written on her work badge.
Was the Special Zone under God’s Eye the same as the City of Innocence in Lu Zize’s words?
Lu Zize continued, “The God’s Eye System exists here and all evil has nowhere to hide; however, sometimes there are small troubles.”
“The cameras controlled by the God’s Eye System are located in every corner, including bathrooms, toilets, and bedrooms. There are always some inappropriate matters in these places and so, when it’s necessary, we’ll use clothes and other similar objects to cover the lenses for a period of time and then remove the covering later.”
“The problem is precisely this. Sometimes, we’ll forget to remove the covering. When the God’s Eye System detects that a lens has been covered for a long time, it will send a mission to the Investigation Bureau and dispatch investigators to look into these abnormal conditions.”
“Yes, this is what we investigators have to do.”
There was a straight-forward player who blurted out, “How’d we end up being the same as a neighborhood committee auntie?”
Lu Zize looked questioningly at that player.
After the player spoke, he carefully thought about it again, felt he spoke wrongly, and apologized, “I thought wrong, we’re not neighborhood committee aunts. It’s just, uh, our investigation work is… a bit too wide-ranging, isn’t it? What if someone just went to the bathroom, forgot they covered the camera, and left?”
Lu Zize had a good temper and showed no anger at all upon hearing this.
“There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s better to be safe than sorry. If someone is in danger, then our investigation is meaningful.”
After Lu Zize finished explaining an investigator’s work, the majority of the players were relieved inside.
This investigator job was too relaxed. They just had to pay a visit and ask some questions, it was too easy.
Gu Yian was different from those players and, after she finished listening to an investigator’s job, she concentrated one hundred percent of her mind on what Lu Zize would say next.
Sure enough, Lu Zize still had something to say.
His voice this time was a little despondent and it wasn’t as gentle and clear as before.
“Apart from these tasks, us investigators also have a new mission.”
“We’re to investigate the cause of death of the former investigators.”
All the players realized that the new task Lu Zize mentioned was absolutely critical in this game.
They focused all their attention on Lu Zize who seemed to have sunk into memories.
Lu Zize’s gaze had no focus as he recalled, “Their deaths looked like accidents, such as suffering a heart attack, not being careful and falling from a tall building, choking to death, falling down stairs, walking at night and falling into a ditch with sharp rocks… including the car accident just now. We stepped on the brakes, but for some reason it became the accelerator.”
“This many still counts as accidents?” The player who made the sarcastic comment earlier about their investigator’s job being like a neighborhood committee aunt once again asked a question.
His question was also the skepticism of the other players.
The deaths of so many people in such a short time could no longer be counted as an accident. Moreover, the cause of death for these people were all sorts of strange and, at a glance, it wasn’t any sort of normal death.
Lu Zize listened to the players question and answered patiently, “The God’s Eye System also deemed it abnormal. The accidental death rate in our City of Innocence is close to zero, however in just a month or so, the Investigation Bureau had more than 50 accidental deaths and this is a very abnormal matter.”
“What is even more frightening is that these accidental deaths are still continuing to occur. You all saw that, in today’s accident, two new investigators lost their lives.”
Having said this, Lu Zize changed the subject and asked, “Most of you here must have offended someone and were sent here through an error of circumstances, right?”
The players had still been immersed in the shadow of the terrifying atmosphere Lu Zize described that, when they were asked whether or not they offended someone, they were all stunned for a while.
It was the stupidly bold player, who had kept talking since earlier, that said without hesitation, “Us? We must have offended God.”
The veteran players tossed this player a death stare.
The expression in their eyes confirmed this was a new player.
One must know that God, with their pettiness, was always watching them!
Lu Zize glanced at the player who spoke and then showed a bit of confusion. “God? Do you mean the God’s Eye System? It’s only an artificial intelligence and doesn’t have anything like human emotions.”
He looked towards the players and gave a gentle smile, “My question was presumptuous. Now that everyone’s registered, I’ll take you all to get your work clothes and, along the way, bring you around to familiarize yourselves with this place.”
Lu Zize’s words continued to be warm and, indiscernibly, it made people feel close to him.
When he said he would bring the players to familiarize themselves with this place, the reservation of the players was no longer as large as it had been at the beginning.
The players had no objections and waited for Lu Zize to lead the way.
But something happened at this time.
Ding!
Suddenly, this noise sounded in eleven places within the entire office at the same time.
Gu Yian reflexively looked at the black phone in her hand.
The sound she heard seemed to have come from her hand.
The phone screen lit up.
Gu Yian raised her eyes and glanced in Lu Zize’s direction. He was also checking his phone.
She raised her own phone and looked at the contents.
The phone showed that she had received a new message.
The sender was God’s Eye.
Gu Yian opened the text message.
“The former team leader, Liang Shi, died in a car accident on Xihuan Road in the Special Zone under God’s Eye at 3:24 PM. As of now, Junior Investigator Qian Xiaoman is appointed as the new team leader of the Investigation Bureau and will take office immediately.”
The team leader was dead?
Gu Yian recalled that Lu Zize and the other man called the older man team leader.
It wasn’t just Gu Yian who reacted to this point and the other players, such as Tang Jiu, reacted immediately to how “team leader” was referring to the older man who appeared and then left after the car accident.
In less than half an hour, another person actually died.
None of the players could stop themselves from looking at Lu Zize.
Even though Lu Zize looked bookish, he was still the only senior at present and also the only person who was not a player.
Lu Zize sensed that everyone was looking at him and he lowered his phone, expression as calm as before.
But this time it was a while before he slowly spoke, “Leader Liang died in a car accident. I also don’t know whether or not the next death will be me. For our own lives, we need to speed up our investigation about the truth of the death of the former investigation members.”
None of the players spoke. They also agreed on this point.
The frequency of deaths right now was too high. In the blink of an eye, three people died without any warning. Who knew whether or not the next one dead would be themselves?
The unknown was always frightening.
“I’ll take you all to get work clothes.”
This time Lu Zize didn’t say he would take everyone around to familiarize themselves with the place.
He brought everyone to the room where work clothes were stored.
“On the left are men’s clothes and on the right are women’s clothes. The sizes are on the clothes. Decide for yourselves and take two.”
There was a male player who wanted to get close to Lu Zize and so he jokingly asked, “Senior Lu, can we grab more than two sets?”
Lu Zize nodded, “You can.”
His temper and character were still as excellent as before, but he didn’t say anything further.
The players saw with their own eyes that Lu Zize was not in a good mood and so they didn’t make trouble for themselves by stepping up and striking a conversation.
Lu Zize watched the players select their clothes before he told them he would wait outside for everyone and then left.
The investigator work clothes were very loose. Gu Yian chose two small sets from the women’s clothing, but they were still one size too large.
Gu Yian’s gaze unintentionally swept across the upper part of the room and there were two black lenses aimed at them as they picked work clothes.
On the way here, there was no place that didn’t have cameras.
Gu Yian left the room after she finished picking her work clothes and she could be considered the first female player to come out.
After she came out, she saw Lu Zize standing by the wall, looking at information on his phone with an unclear expression.
He probably didn’t want to be disturbed, right?
Gu Yian was just about to walk to the other side.
But who knew that Lu Zize would notice that someone came out and, upon raising his head and seeing her, he asked, “Done choosing?”
This question was pure nonsense.
Gu Yian was carrying her work clothes in her arms. If she wasn’t done choosing, then why would she come out?
Lu Zize had intentions to speak and Gu Yian happened to want to extract information from him, so she said, “Done choosing.”
She walked to a spot about one meter away from Lu Zize before stopping and then asked, “Senior Lu, do we have work after this?”
Not far away, two male players who had already chosen their clothes and come out saw this scene of Gu Yian and Lu Zize talking and a deep confusion settled on their faces.
How come Lu Zize ignored them when they spoke?
But when changed to Gu Yian, it turned into Lu Zize taking the initiative to throw out a topic?
The characters in this game were also sexist? Good-looking girls were also given special treatment?
This game was truly a bit too realistic, wasn’t it?
Gu Yian could feel the gaze of those two players.
But she was used to being watched by others all the time and so she ignored them.
Lu Zize said, “Actually, you don’t need to call me senior. I only came here a few days earlier than everyone, so you can just use my name. Originally, there was a job for everyone today, but Leader Liang has passed away and the new leader is Sister Man, who took leave to go home. We’ll wait until tomorrow and see Sister Man’s work arrangements.”
When he said this, he looked at his phone again before continuing, “In the days that I’ve been here, the team leader has changed twice. Who knows if those accidents were really accidents or not.”
Gu Yian saw Lu Zize’s actions and realized what he had been looking at was probably a notification message sent by God’s Eye, similar to the message they received earlier about Leader Liang’s death.
For Lu Zize to look at these notifications when he was alone showed that perhaps his mood was not as calm as he showed.
Gu Yian calmly said, “They’re not accidents.”
She added, “These many accidents are rather too coincidental. There are no coincidences in this world, only meticulous plans.”
Lu Zize heard Gu Yian’s words and lowered his eyes, as if he was looking at the phone in his hand.
He said, “We believe this too. Everyone wants to find the person calculating everything.”
Gu Yian couldn’t see anything strange in Lu Zize. She thought for a moment and then said frankly, “And that person is among you.”
The two male players who sidled over to eavesdrop on Gu Yian and Lu Zize’s conversation were stunned.
Wasn’t this female player’s method wild?
She just said this conjecture directly to someone who could be the culprit.
Was she not afraid that she really guessed right and, in the next second, would have an accidental death?
The complicated mood of the two eavesdropping male players in this moment was difficult to describe.
Lu Zize heard Gu Yian’s words and his expression was the same as always, without too much of a change.
He raised his eyes and his voice was as gentle as before.
“Before I came, those investigators had also guessed this. They killed each other and, later, they all died. This was a scandal and it is also included in the accidental deaths list.”
His words appeared reasonable.
Gu Yian didn’t find anywhere that was wrong with Lu Zize and so she smiled lightly and eased the atmosphere.
She said, “If it’s not someone in the Investigation Bureau, then wouldn’t it be like looking for a needle in a haystack if we wanted to find that person?”
“There’s the God’s Eye System. If someone wanted to create an accident, then they’ll naturally lurk around the accident site. The God’s Eye System will catch every suspicious person in the course of the accident and, through calculations, finally determine the list of suspects.”
This method was inconceivable to Gu Yian. “There’s no need to examine the site? When an accident happens, there will definitely be many clues left on the scene.”
Lu Zize saw Gu Yian’s expression and there was a smile in his eyes. “This is what we investigators have to do. Examining the accident site is also one part of investigating the cause of death of those investigators.”
If it was like this, then that was good. It wasn’t entirely based on artificial intelligence.
Gu Yian suddenly recalled a matter. “That senior is still downstairs. Is he gathering clues?”
At the time, there were three people who got out of the car. One was the older team leader who already died. The other two young men in uniform were Lu Zize and the man called Brother Yong by Lu Zize.
Gu Yian remembered that Brother Yong didn’t enter the office building with them.
Lu Zize explained, “If Leader Liang’s car accident wasn’t an accident, then later we will have to infer the cause of the accident based on the clues Brother Yong finds.”
It looked like this Investigation Bureau was still a bit reliable. There was someone working.
While Gu Yian and Lu Zize were conversing, the other players discovered they were chatting and, out of fear of missing clues, they quickly and casually grabbed two sets of clothes and came out.
They huddled together and listened to Gu Yian and Lu Zize’s conversation with perked ears.
Lu Zize noticed movement outside and he adjusted his glasses before saying, “I’ll bring everyone to the place where we rest at night. Without our lead, no one should randomly walk around.”
When the group of players heard this, they thought to themselves that Lu Zize wanted to shake them off and act alone.
“Senior Lu, are you going somewhere? Can you take us there?”
The one who asked was that female player called Tang Jiu.
Hearing this, Lu Zize asked, “Everyone wants to follow?”
His eyes swept across the players present.
Gu Yian shook her head.
Since Lu Zize didn’t want the players to follow him, they would make a nuisance of themselves if they went over.
Gu Yian’s response was in agreement to Lu Zize’s feelings.
He looked at her and smiled.
But when he looked at the others, the smile in his expression dimmed by a lot.
Lu Zize’s tone was still gentle.
He said, “I’m going to buy ingredients at the local market. Under the recent circumstances, we’re also not at ease in eating outside food and so we decided to make these ourselves. Since everyone wants to follow me, then you can help me carry things. For now, follow me upstairs. Everyone can put away their clothes.”
He didn’t bring up the suspicions the players had towards him.
But this attitude of his made the other players nervous.
The players innocently followed Lu Zize to the second floor.
Lu Zize pushed open the door to a room with the nameplate archive room.
“This is where we live.”
Gu Yian followed closely and so she was the first to step into the room.
She examined this room.
It was clear this was a room remodeled from a large archive room.
The window was closed tightly but the curtains were drawn open, so there was sufficient light.
Gu Yian only took a quick look around and already saw four cameras at work.
Cameras were the most common object here, so this wasn’t any surprise.
One side of the room had bookcases and also a stack of large boxes.
In this empty room, there were three places on the floor at the side with bedding.
From the messiness of the bedding, it could be seen that people lived here.
“Because we’re worried about accidents, we’ve been like this in the Investigation Bureau these several days.”
Lu Zize continued, “Leader Liang’s previous concern about there being more women among the newcomers was precisely because of this problem. Everyone sleeps together at night and, with so many women, there will always be some inconvenience.”
His words weren’t hard to understand.
In other words, everyone slept in the same room at night.
The female players present, including Gu Yian, looked at the situation in the room, heard Lu Zize say that the men and women would sleep together, and didn’t feel so great.
If the female players needed to change clothes, then there was no room.
This was nothing for the male players. They didn’t need to be concerned at all.
Special circumstances required special treatment.
Gu Yian also couldn’t accept this at first but, when she calmed down, she quickly accepted this fact.
Lu Zize told them, “If you take down the box on that side, there’s sleeping bags. If you don’t want to live here, then you can find a hotel or guest house later. If you’re alone, then you must be careful and guard against accidents. Oh right, does everyone have money?”
What answered him was the silence of all the players.
It was already considered good for God to arrange identities for them.
To still want money was nothing more than a dream.
Although new players didn’t know about this point, after they surreptitiously caught a glimpse of the expression on the veteran players, they could also figure this out.
Everything was understood and no words were necessary.
When Lu Zize saw this, how could he not know that these newcomers had no money.
But he was someone with good temper who didn’t get angry because the players suspected him and so he also didn’t make things worse when he saw that they were poor. Instead, he suggested, “Everyone should find a place to put their work clothes.”
After the players put down their work clothes, Lu Zize’s gaze swept over each and every player before finally landing on Gu Yian.
“Stay here first and rest for a while.”
Following this, he looked at the others. “You can all just follow me.”
The other players saw this scene and almost everyone had question marks on their faces.
What did this mean?
Let her rest, but make them go to work?
Everyone was a player, but this difference in treatment was a bit too obvious, wasn’t it?
Facing the questioning eyes of the players, Lu Zize very calmly asked, “Didn’t everyone want to go out with me?”
These players exchanged glances. They certainly did want to go out with Lu Zize.
But the player who was staying behind was Gu Yian, the one who always made the right decisions.
Seeing that Gu Yian was staying behind, these players hesitated. They wouldn’t have made the wrong choice, right?
At this moment, the female player, Tang Jiu, stepped out and said warmly, “Exactly, Senior Lu. Please be sure to tell us if there’s anything we can help with.”
Once Tang Jiu stood out, the veteran players and new players more or less had confidence and, because there was an example to follow, they also brimmed over with enthusiasm and were attentive.
“I’m a man, so I’m strong enough to carry anything.”
“I can select vegetables. I’m the one who picks all the vegetables at home.”
Lu Zize and the others left amid all this flattering.
The room where only Gu Yian was left became extremely quiet.
The room was too large and too spacious.
Any slight movement would be magnified.
Formless terror enveloped Gu Yian.
She pulled out a prop on her. It was the sage card.
On the black card, the gold word of “sage” was especially beautiful.
Calm.
Don’t think in a bad direction.
Think more about things that have to do with clues.
Judging from the things she encountered in her first game, so long as she listened to Lu Zize and stayed obediently in this room there definitely wouldn’t be any problems.
Gu Yian put away the card but she still held the small coffin in her hand.
Her phone had already been put back in her pocket.
Gu Yian looked around this somewhat messy room.
Since everyone was gone, she should start searching for clues from this room.
So long as someone lived here, there would be traces left behind by him.
First, she would air out this room a little.
She didn’t smell anything, but it was also weird for it to be too clean.
Gu Yian walked over to the window and tried opening opening a small crack.
She didn’t feel any breeze.
Gu Yian pushed open the entire window.
She looked outside.
There were no trees outside, only two sawed off stumps and a bungalow on the side that covered a small area. She could see the residential buildings outside the fence at a glance.
Gu Yian didn’t look for long. She turned her body and her eyes inadvertently swept across the window glass.
She froze.
No matter how she looked at them, those tiny dark red dots looked like blood droplets left behind after a spray of blood.
Gu Yian backtracked and observed the window again.
This time she saw even more details.
The window was wiped by someone, but it was clear the person who wiped the window wasn’t too patient and he only wiped it once, so there was a faint bloodstain along the edges of the window.
The window glass might not have even been wiped.
From this detail, Gu Yian looked at the wall below the window.
The wall was pure white.
Gu Yian tilted her head back to look at the ceiling.
The ceiling and wall were not the same shade of white at all.
She came to a conclusion.
People died here before and it was unknown whether they were killed or if they had accidental deaths. Moreover, this room was painted over again.
Ding!
This notification noise suddenly echoed in the empty room.
Gu Yian jumped and then realized immediately that it was her own phone’s sound.
Did someone send her a message?
Gu Yian pulled out her phone.
Her screen showed that the sender was an unknown person called Liu Han.
She paused for half a second.
Was this phone able to automatically recognize unknown people and display their names? Or was this a contact name originally in the phone?
Gu Yian felt uncertain and she first tapped the phone icon and checked her contacts.
Her contacts page was blank, which meant that this stranger, Liu Han, was automatically recognized by the phone system.
This phone system knew a little too much.
Gu Yian thought this as she began to read the text message.
The content of the text wasn’t long, but it made her frown slightly.
“Do you know how infatuated I am with your looks?”
Gu Yian turned her head and looked behind her. There was no one at the door and no one in the room.
Who sent this spam message?
If this was the real world, this sort of text message was nothing out of the ordinary.
Gu Yian had received many text messages like these and she completely blocked the people who sent them.
But this time she was in a game world.
Who had seen her?
Where did he get her phone number?
She didn’t even know her own phone number in this world.
This world didn’t seem to have any ghosts, so that meant it could only be a person.
Someone was spying on her!
Ding!
It was another text message from the stranger, Liu Han.
“Yes, I’m looking at you.”
Chapter 20 ~ Third Game Pt.2 ~
The players present heard Gu Yian’s words, went quiet, and then kept silent.
As a matter of fact, at the start, there were veteran players who thought about imitating Gu Yian’s actions to also fiddle with their phone but their attention was immediately drawn away by the new players telling them their new player hint.
The new player hint concerned whether or not they could clear the game in the future, and so they naturally cared more about long-term matters.
After Gu Yian said this, those with quick reactions began to try unlocking their phones to check the email.
Unlocking the phone wasn’t hard, they just needed to put it at a certain distance, find the set angle, and let the front camera at the top of the phone capture the player’s face clearly, and then the phone would unlock successfully.
While they were experimenting with their phones here, Gu Yian turned and walked towards the two-story office building that was ten or so meters away.
In the two game worlds she experienced, she had to explore around outside to find clues.
It was too much of a waste of time to stand at the starting point.
“Hey, how come you’re leaving first?”
The one who spoke was the female player who pressured the new players into giving out their new player hint.
She turned her head and called out to the players standing in the same spot, “We have a mission, let’s go.”
She took the lead to follow Gu Yian’s figure.
The other players exchanged glances and also planned to move.
Suddenly, there was movement at the main gate of the yard.
The silver electronic security gate automatically retracted to make room for a car to pass through.
A dusty white car drove into the yard.
This car attracted the attention of all the players, including Gu Yian.
Everything in a game world was worth the players caring about.
Gu Yian was almost at the entrance to the office building, but when she heard the noise she still stopped to watch.
The players stopped and looked at the car driving up the flower bed road.
When those players, who happened to be blocking the road in front of the car, realized they and the rest were standing in the middle of the road they tried to move to the side.
Unexpectedly, just as they moved their legs something suddenly happened.
The car swiftly accelerated and charged towards the players in front of it.
A scene that no one was willing to see occurred.
Two players were knocked to the ground.
But the car didn’t stop and directly ran over their bodies.
The female player screamed.
This horrible shriek drew everyone back to the present.
Gu Yian immediately ran over to where the traffic accident happened.
The car braked hard after hitting the two people.
The ear-piercing sound of the brakes rang.
The car finally stopped and, the moment it stopped, the doors of the driver’s seat, the passenger’s seat, and the back seat opened at the same time and three men in black uniforms stepped out.
Gu Yian rushed to the traffic accident and a veteran player examined the conditions of the two players who were struck.
“There’s no saving them.”
The veteran player announced their diagnostic result.
Gu Yian was blocked outside by the crowd, but she could still see the bright red blood on the ground.
Two lives in the blink of an eye.
This was God’s Game.
Of those three men in black uniforms who came out of the small car, an older man took the lead while the two younger ones followed behind him. The three of them walked to the accident site.
The crowd of players stared at the three men warily.
“You all are the unlucky bastards who were thrown here to die by God’s Eye?”
The older man’s tone wasn’t nice when he spoke.
The players were strangers here and still weren’t clear why the man would say this, but they heard the meaning in his words and realized that what awaited them was likely death.
The older man didn’t have much interest in talking to the players and he passed through the crowd that automatically avoided him before he looked back and ordered the two younger men in uniform behind him.
“Call the undertaker and have them drag two more back.”
“You take this group of poor suckers to register.”
The older man handed over tasks to the two younger men who were probably his subordinates.
He turned his head again to glance at the players.
“How come there’s so many women?”
The older man furrowed his brows.
He didn’t intend to avoid others with his words and, although his volume was not loud, all the players present heard him clearly.
The complexions of several female players already changed, but everyone was sensible and knew that in their current situation they couldn’t randomly provoke this person who knew a lot of clues.
The female players pretended they didn’t hear this.
The older man withdrew his gaze and he didn’t stay any longer. He walked towards the car and clearly wasn’t going to care about things anymore.
One of the two uniformed men who remained had a square face, sturdy build, and was at least 1.8 meters tall. He took out his phone and gave the funeral home a call.
The other man wore black-rimmed glasses and, although his height wasn’t too far from the person next to him, his body was slender and he was quite good-looking, so he seemed elegant and frail-looking and like he was easy to speak with.
This young man, with these black-rimmed glasses and a historical intellectual air, looked at the players and introduced himself, “My name is Lu Zize. I can be considered your senior and, like you, I am also a junior investigator.” ¹
His voice was gentle, not too loud, and very nice to hear.
Lu Zize introduced himself and politely suggested, “You’re all junior investigators, but you haven’t reported for duty yet. I’ll take you inside to register.”
He spoke somewhat like it was a discussion and this gave the players the opportunity to speak.
A player asked, “We’re going to leave them?”
That player was referring to their companions who were already silent on the ground.
Lu Zize lowered his eyes, looking at the horrible sight on the ground, and then raised his head to look at the players with a calm expression. “Don’t overreact. This is the situation we’ll be facing every day in the future.”
“But you were the ones who hit them!” The player who asked Lu Zize was very unhappy with his indifferent attitude.
It was clear these three people drove their car into people but they treated it as unimportant, as if it were unrelated to them, and directly called the undertaker to come pick them up.
Lu Zize faced this player’s anger with his previous good nature and said, “This was an accident. I’ll take everyone to report in first and then I’ll explain this matter.”
Gu Yian listened to their conversation and placed her gaze on the car.
That older man returned to the car, started it up, looped around the other side of the flower bed towards the main gate, and then drove out of this yard.
“Lu, what rubbish are you saying to them? Just take them to the office.”
The uniformed man who was making a call ended his call and saw that Lu Zize hadn’t organized the group of players yet and that these people even wanted to ask them for an explanation, so he seized the right to speak at once.
This person wasn’t as approachable as Lu Zize.
He spoke with a hot temper and the player, who had just questioned Lu Zize, saw that the situation wasn’t in his favor and so he immediately stopped speaking.
The contingent of players were quiet.
“Brother Yong, thank you.” Lu Zize thanked Brother Yong who helped him call the group to order with some gratitude.
The man in the uniform, who was called Brother Yong by Lu Zize, waved his hand. “The team leader went to wash the car and he’ll be back in an hour. Take them quickly to register.”
Lu Zize nodded, looking obedient.
He turned to address the players, “Follow me then and don’t dawdle. When the team leader returns, we still have matters to deal with.”
The tone of his words was still very gentle.
Lu Zize walked a few steps towards the office building.
The players looked at each other and followed him slowly, dragging their heels.
The disregard of life by Lu Zize and the others made the players especially vigilant towards him.
Gu Yian was also a cautious member and she held her black phone in one hand while her other hand gripped her small coffin prop tightly.
She had a feeling that she could also use this prop in this world. Although she didn’t know why the other players’ offensives against ghosts couldn’t be used, so long as she could use hers that was good enough.
Maybe it was because she had this confidence, but Gu Yian did not hesitate to catch up at all.
Very quickly, she became the lead of the players.
The other players followed closely behind Gu Yian.
Lu Zize, who was leading the way, walked a while before he looked back and found that Gu Yian was only a few steps behind him.
His eyes brightened.
He paused for a second, waiting for Gu Yian to catch up, and then took the initiative to say, “Actually, you’re not the only ones scared. I am too.”
Gu Yian didn’t expect Lu Zize to strike up a conversation with her.
The content of their conversation was even that he was afraid too.
What was a grown man like him afraid of?
But since he spoke, she took the opportunity to ask, “Are you afraid of accidents?”
The group of them stepped into the office building and two cameras pointed at Lu Zize, who was at the very front, before the door of the office building automatically opened at once, and then they turned into a side corridor.
There were rooms on both sides and the only lights were the fluorescent lights on the ceiling. Every few meters there were cameras on the walls that turned to point at the people who came in.
Gu Yian and the others, who had just come in from the outside, only felt that the corridor was dark and had a gloomy feeling.
Everyone’s footsteps echoed in the corridor.
Lu Zize explained, “Since about a month ago, every day investigators have died unexpectedly. Originally, this office building had more than 50 staff members, but now there’s just four of us left.”
“Four?” Gu Yian was confused.
“Sister Man went home. She doesn’t live with us.”
Lu Zize stopped, glanced at the position of the lock, and then pushed open a door with the nameplate of the director. “Give me your work badges and I’ll register everyone.”
Gu Yian had already looked at her own work badge early on and, apart from a somewhat unusual string of work numbers, there was nothing strange on it. She readily gave out her work badge and won Lu Zize’s grateful smile.
He was just like a new salesperson who had joined the company and upon meeting a cooperative customer would thank them sincerely.
There didn’t appear to be anything special about it.
Lu Zize sat in the position of the director, turned on the computer, and his fingers flew over the keyboard while he looked at Gu Yian’s work badge.
His fingers were slim and his nails were kept short and clean. They were a pair of beautiful hands.
“Registered. In the future, you can freely enter and exit the Investigation Bureau, but avoid unauthorized places. They don’t use facial recognition there and, if you enter recklessly, you could be killed by mistake.”
“From now on, we’ll be colleagues.”
Lu Zize handed back Gu Yian’s work badge along with a large smile.
Even through those black-rimmed glasses, Gu Yian could feel the sincerity in his eyes.
Gu Yian returned the favor and also gave a small smile.
“Thank you.”
She stepped back and let the other players come forward.
Right behind Gu Yian was that female player who forced the new players give out their new player hint at the beginning.
She smiled brilliantly, handed over her work badge, and said, “Senior Lu, can you tell us about the accidents that happened? We’re really afraid we’ll meet those accidents ourselves. If you tell us, we can guard against it in advance.”
Lu Zize froze for a second, as if he was frightened by the female player’s warmth. After he took her work badge, he politely said, “Please wait a moment. After I finish registering everyone, I’ll explain these matters clearly.”
He quickly registered the female player and then placed the work badge in front of the desk.
The female player saw Lu Zize’s actions and interest appeared in her eyes.
She picked up her work badge and then pretended to ask casually, “Senior Lu, aren’t you going to give me a tip too? It won’t be good if I accidentally go into a place I shouldn’t go into.”
Lu Zize looked at the female player. His expression didn’t change much and his tone was still as gentle as before.
“I already said it once and you were all present in the office, so I won’t say it a second time.”
The female player looked at Lu Zize and then at Gu Yian who was waiting at one side. She smiled, “I understand, Senior Lu, I also like good-looking people.”
She left the front of the desk and walked directly up to Gu Yian, flashing her work badge.
“Let’s get to know each other. My name is Tang Jiu.”
The other players craned their neck to look at the action on Gu Yian’s side.
Lu Zize methodically registered the players, but his gaze would also go over to them.
Gu Yian looked at the work badge revealed by the female player, Tang Jiu. The girl in the photo smiled brilliantly.
Gu Yian spread open her own badge.
She replied, “Gu Yian.”
Tang Jiu smiled and she placed her hand casually on Gu Yian’s shoulder before she suddenly moved her head very close, whispering beside Gu Yian’s ear, “You’re really smart. I love smart people.”
“Twice now I was one step slower than you.”
“Why don’t we work together? You’ll be in charge of the brains, and I’ll be in charge of the work. Let’s clear the game together.”
Gu Yian wasn’t used to others being too close to her, so she moved back half a step, pulling away from Tang Jiu.
She knew which two times Tang Jiu was talking about.
The first time was when she left their starting spot and avoided the car accident.
The second time was when she took the lead and caught up to Lu Zize, and thus obtained his goodwill.
Gu Yian felt that these two times were because she had enough luck.
Her experience in the previous two games told her that she couldn’t sit around and do nothing, and it was because she had a prop in hand that she had the confidence to follow Lu Zize right away.
Neither of these two matters were something she could have guessed on her own.
It was like how she was lucky enough to clear the first game because she guessed the meaning behind the new player hint right and, in the second game, God gave her the hint that they didn’t like her address for them.
Gu Yian told her, “You’re thinking too much. Those were only coincidences.”
She had self-awareness and knew she didn’t have the corresponding ability, so if she stubbornly pretended to be a smart person then she would only harm others and ultimately herself.
Tang Jiu disagreed, “I understand. You smart people reject others in such a tactful way.”
She didn’t believe Gu Yian.
Gu Yian saw Tang Jiu’s clingy appearance and could only helplessly say, “You’re the smart one, so why do you have to say it’s me?”
Tang Jiu noticed immediately that the game was extremely difficult and forced the new players into giving their hint. She also sensed right away that props which could attack ghosts couldn’t be used and, when Gu Yian was about to leave, she brought all the other players to follow her.
It could be seen that Tang Jiu definitely wasn’t a simple person.
“Look, and you still say you aren’t one.”
Tang Jiu said with complete confidence, “You must be a smart person to be able to find out that I’m a smart person.”
Her logic left Gu Yian speechless.
This was some genius logic.
On the other side, Lu Zize finished registering everyone and he stood up to walk to the middle of the room, facing everyone.
“This should be your first time coming to the City of Innocence.”
Gu Yian looked at the Special Investigation Bureau Zone under God’s Eye that was written on her work badge.
Was the Special Zone under God’s Eye the same as the City of Innocence in Lu Zize’s words?
Lu Zize continued, “The God’s Eye System exists here and all evil has nowhere to hide; however, sometimes there are small troubles.”
“The cameras controlled by the God’s Eye System are located in every corner, including bathrooms, toilets, and bedrooms. There are always some inappropriate matters in these places and so, when it’s necessary, we’ll use clothes and other similar objects to cover the lenses for a period of time and then remove the covering later.”
“The problem is precisely this. Sometimes, we’ll forget to remove the covering. When the God’s Eye System detects that a lens has been covered for a long time, it will send a mission to the Investigation Bureau and dispatch investigators to look into these abnormal conditions.”
“Yes, this is what we investigators have to do.”
There was a straight-forward player who blurted out, “How’d we end up being the same as a neighborhood committee auntie?”
Lu Zize looked questioningly at that player.
After the player spoke, he carefully thought about it again, felt he spoke wrongly, and apologized, “I thought wrong, we’re not neighborhood committee aunts. It’s just, uh, our investigation work is… a bit too wide-ranging, isn’t it? What if someone just went to the bathroom, forgot they covered the camera, and left?”
Lu Zize had a good temper and showed no anger at all upon hearing this.
“There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s better to be safe than sorry. If someone is in danger, then our investigation is meaningful.”
After Lu Zize finished explaining an investigator’s work, the majority of the players were relieved inside.
This investigator job was too relaxed. They just had to pay a visit and ask some questions, it was too easy.
Gu Yian was different from those players and, after she finished listening to an investigator’s job, she concentrated one hundred percent of her mind on what Lu Zize would say next.
Sure enough, Lu Zize still had something to say.
His voice this time was a little despondent and it wasn’t as gentle and clear as before.
“Apart from these tasks, us investigators also have a new mission.”
“We’re to investigate the cause of death of the former investigators.”
All the players realized that the new task Lu Zize mentioned was absolutely critical in this game.
They focused all their attention on Lu Zize who seemed to have sunk into memories.
Lu Zize’s gaze had no focus as he recalled, “Their deaths looked like accidents, such as suffering a heart attack, not being careful and falling from a tall building, choking to death, falling down stairs, walking at night and falling into a ditch with sharp rocks… including the car accident just now. We stepped on the brakes, but for some reason it became the accelerator.”
“This many still counts as accidents?” The player who made the sarcastic comment earlier about their investigator’s job being like a neighborhood committee aunt once again asked a question.
His question was also the skepticism of the other players.
The deaths of so many people in such a short time could no longer be counted as an accident. Moreover, the cause of death for these people were all sorts of strange and, at a glance, it wasn’t any sort of normal death.
Lu Zize listened to the players question and answered patiently, “The God’s Eye System also deemed it abnormal. The accidental death rate in our City of Innocence is close to zero, however in just a month or so, the Investigation Bureau had more than 50 accidental deaths and this is a very abnormal matter.”
“What is even more frightening is that these accidental deaths are still continuing to occur. You all saw that, in today’s accident, two new investigators lost their lives.”
Having said this, Lu Zize changed the subject and asked, “Most of you here must have offended someone and were sent here through an error of circumstances, right?”
The players had still been immersed in the shadow of the terrifying atmosphere Lu Zize described that, when they were asked whether or not they offended someone, they were all stunned for a while.
It was the stupidly bold player, who had kept talking since earlier, that said without hesitation, “Us? We must have offended God.”
The veteran players tossed this player a death stare.
The expression in their eyes confirmed this was a new player.
One must know that God, with their pettiness, was always watching them!
Lu Zize glanced at the player who spoke and then showed a bit of confusion. “God? Do you mean the God’s Eye System? It’s only an artificial intelligence and doesn’t have anything like human emotions.”
He looked towards the players and gave a gentle smile, “My question was presumptuous. Now that everyone’s registered, I’ll take you all to get your work clothes and, along the way, bring you around to familiarize yourselves with this place.”
Lu Zize’s words continued to be warm and, indiscernibly, it made people feel close to him.
When he said he would bring the players to familiarize themselves with this place, the reservation of the players was no longer as large as it had been at the beginning.
The players had no objections and waited for Lu Zize to lead the way.
But something happened at this time.
Ding!
Suddenly, this noise sounded in eleven places within the entire office at the same time.
Gu Yian reflexively looked at the black phone in her hand.
The sound she heard seemed to have come from her hand.
The phone screen lit up.
Gu Yian raised her eyes and glanced in Lu Zize’s direction. He was also checking his phone.
She raised her own phone and looked at the contents.
The phone showed that she had received a new message.
The sender was God’s Eye.
Gu Yian opened the text message.
“The former team leader, Liang Shi, died in a car accident on Xihuan Road in the Special Zone under God’s Eye at 3:24 PM. As of now, Junior Investigator Qian Xiaoman is appointed as the new team leader of the Investigation Bureau and will take office immediately.”
The team leader was dead?
Gu Yian recalled that Lu Zize and the other man called the older man team leader.
It wasn’t just Gu Yian who reacted to this point and the other players, such as Tang Jiu, reacted immediately to how “team leader” was referring to the older man who appeared and then left after the car accident.
In less than half an hour, another person actually died.
None of the players could stop themselves from looking at Lu Zize.
Even though Lu Zize looked bookish, he was still the only senior at present and also the only person who was not a player.
Lu Zize sensed that everyone was looking at him and he lowered his phone, expression as calm as before.
But this time it was a while before he slowly spoke, “Leader Liang died in a car accident. I also don’t know whether or not the next death will be me. For our own lives, we need to speed up our investigation about the truth of the death of the former investigation members.”
None of the players spoke. They also agreed on this point.
The frequency of deaths right now was too high. In the blink of an eye, three people died without any warning. Who knew whether or not the next one dead would be themselves?
The unknown was always frightening.
“I’ll take you all to get work clothes.”
This time Lu Zize didn’t say he would take everyone around to familiarize themselves with the place.
He brought everyone to the room where work clothes were stored.
“On the left are men’s clothes and on the right are women’s clothes. The sizes are on the clothes. Decide for yourselves and take two.”
There was a male player who wanted to get close to Lu Zize and so he jokingly asked, “Senior Lu, can we grab more than two sets?”
Lu Zize nodded, “You can.”
His temper and character were still as excellent as before, but he didn’t say anything further.
The players saw with their own eyes that Lu Zize was not in a good mood and so they didn’t make trouble for themselves by stepping up and striking a conversation.
Lu Zize watched the players select their clothes before he told them he would wait outside for everyone and then left.
The investigator work clothes were very loose. Gu Yian chose two small sets from the women’s clothing, but they were still one size too large.
Gu Yian’s gaze unintentionally swept across the upper part of the room and there were two black lenses aimed at them as they picked work clothes.
On the way here, there was no place that didn’t have cameras.
Gu Yian left the room after she finished picking her work clothes and she could be considered the first female player to come out.
After she came out, she saw Lu Zize standing by the wall, looking at information on his phone with an unclear expression.
He probably didn’t want to be disturbed, right?
Gu Yian was just about to walk to the other side.
But who knew that Lu Zize would notice that someone came out and, upon raising his head and seeing her, he asked, “Done choosing?”
This question was pure nonsense.
Gu Yian was carrying her work clothes in her arms. If she wasn’t done choosing, then why would she come out?
Lu Zize had intentions to speak and Gu Yian happened to want to extract information from him, so she said, “Done choosing.”
She walked to a spot about one meter away from Lu Zize before stopping and then asked, “Senior Lu, do we have work after this?”
Not far away, two male players who had already chosen their clothes and come out saw this scene of Gu Yian and Lu Zize talking and a deep confusion settled on their faces.
How come Lu Zize ignored them when they spoke?
But when changed to Gu Yian, it turned into Lu Zize taking the initiative to throw out a topic?
The characters in this game were also sexist? Good-looking girls were also given special treatment?
This game was truly a bit too realistic, wasn’t it?
Gu Yian could feel the gaze of those two players.
But she was used to being watched by others all the time and so she ignored them.
Lu Zize said, “Actually, you don’t need to call me senior. I only came here a few days earlier than everyone, so you can just use my name. Originally, there was a job for everyone today, but Leader Liang has passed away and the new leader is Sister Man, who took leave to go home. We’ll wait until tomorrow and see Sister Man’s work arrangements.”
When he said this, he looked at his phone again before continuing, “In the days that I’ve been here, the team leader has changed twice. Who knows if those accidents were really accidents or not.”
Gu Yian saw Lu Zize’s actions and realized what he had been looking at was probably a notification message sent by God’s Eye, similar to the message they received earlier about Leader Liang’s death.
For Lu Zize to look at these notifications when he was alone showed that perhaps his mood was not as calm as he showed.
Gu Yian calmly said, “They’re not accidents.”
She added, “These many accidents are rather too coincidental. There are no coincidences in this world, only meticulous plans.”
Lu Zize heard Gu Yian’s words and lowered his eyes, as if he was looking at the phone in his hand.
He said, “We believe this too. Everyone wants to find the person calculating everything.”
Gu Yian couldn’t see anything strange in Lu Zize. She thought for a moment and then said frankly, “And that person is among you.”
The two male players who sidled over to eavesdrop on Gu Yian and Lu Zize’s conversation were stunned.
Wasn’t this female player’s method wild?
She just said this conjecture directly to someone who could be the culprit.
Was she not afraid that she really guessed right and, in the next second, would have an accidental death?
The complicated mood of the two eavesdropping male players in this moment was difficult to describe.
Lu Zize heard Gu Yian’s words and his expression was the same as always, without too much of a change.
He raised his eyes and his voice was as gentle as before.
“Before I came, those investigators had also guessed this. They killed each other and, later, they all died. This was a scandal and it is also included in the accidental deaths list.”
His words appeared reasonable.
Gu Yian didn’t find anywhere that was wrong with Lu Zize and so she smiled lightly and eased the atmosphere.
She said, “If it’s not someone in the Investigation Bureau, then wouldn’t it be like looking for a needle in a haystack if we wanted to find that person?”
“There’s the God’s Eye System. If someone wanted to create an accident, then they’ll naturally lurk around the accident site. The God’s Eye System will catch every suspicious person in the course of the accident and, through calculations, finally determine the list of suspects.”
This method was inconceivable to Gu Yian. “There’s no need to examine the site? When an accident happens, there will definitely be many clues left on the scene.”
Lu Zize saw Gu Yian’s expression and there was a smile in his eyes. “This is what we investigators have to do. Examining the accident site is also one part of investigating the cause of death of those investigators.”
If it was like this, then that was good. It wasn’t entirely based on artificial intelligence.
Gu Yian suddenly recalled a matter. “That senior is still downstairs. Is he gathering clues?”
At the time, there were three people who got out of the car. One was the older team leader who already died. The other two young men in uniform were Lu Zize and the man called Brother Yong by Lu Zize.
Gu Yian remembered that Brother Yong didn’t enter the office building with them.
Lu Zize explained, “If Leader Liang’s car accident wasn’t an accident, then later we will have to infer the cause of the accident based on the clues Brother Yong finds.”
It looked like this Investigation Bureau was still a bit reliable. There was someone working.
While Gu Yian and Lu Zize were conversing, the other players discovered they were chatting and, out of fear of missing clues, they quickly and casually grabbed two sets of clothes and came out.
They huddled together and listened to Gu Yian and Lu Zize’s conversation with perked ears.
Lu Zize noticed movement outside and he adjusted his glasses before saying, “I’ll bring everyone to the place where we rest at night. Without our lead, no one should randomly walk around.”
When the group of players heard this, they thought to themselves that Lu Zize wanted to shake them off and act alone.
“Senior Lu, are you going somewhere? Can you take us there?”
The one who asked was that female player called Tang Jiu.
Hearing this, Lu Zize asked, “Everyone wants to follow?”
His eyes swept across the players present.
Gu Yian shook her head.
Since Lu Zize didn’t want the players to follow him, they would make a nuisance of themselves if they went over.
Gu Yian’s response was in agreement to Lu Zize’s feelings.
He looked at her and smiled.
But when he looked at the others, the smile in his expression dimmed by a lot.
Lu Zize’s tone was still gentle.
He said, “I’m going to buy ingredients at the local market. Under the recent circumstances, we’re also not at ease in eating outside food and so we decided to make these ourselves. Since everyone wants to follow me, then you can help me carry things. For now, follow me upstairs. Everyone can put away their clothes.”
He didn’t bring up the suspicions the players had towards him.
But this attitude of his made the other players nervous.
The players innocently followed Lu Zize to the second floor.
Lu Zize pushed open the door to a room with the nameplate archive room.
“This is where we live.”
Gu Yian followed closely and so she was the first to step into the room.
She examined this room.
It was clear this was a room remodeled from a large archive room.
The window was closed tightly but the curtains were drawn open, so there was sufficient light.
Gu Yian only took a quick look around and already saw four cameras at work.
Cameras were the most common object here, so this wasn’t any surprise.
One side of the room had bookcases and also a stack of large boxes.
In this empty room, there were three places on the floor at the side with bedding.
From the messiness of the bedding, it could be seen that people lived here.
“Because we’re worried about accidents, we’ve been like this in the Investigation Bureau these several days.”
Lu Zize continued, “Leader Liang’s previous concern about there being more women among the newcomers was precisely because of this problem. Everyone sleeps together at night and, with so many women, there will always be some inconvenience.”
His words weren’t hard to understand.
In other words, everyone slept in the same room at night.
The female players present, including Gu Yian, looked at the situation in the room, heard Lu Zize say that the men and women would sleep together, and didn’t feel so great.
If the female players needed to change clothes, then there was no room.
This was nothing for the male players. They didn’t need to be concerned at all.
Special circumstances required special treatment.
Gu Yian also couldn’t accept this at first but, when she calmed down, she quickly accepted this fact.
Lu Zize told them, “If you take down the box on that side, there’s sleeping bags. If you don’t want to live here, then you can find a hotel or guest house later. If you’re alone, then you must be careful and guard against accidents. Oh right, does everyone have money?”
What answered him was the silence of all the players.
It was already considered good for God to arrange identities for them.
To still want money was nothing more than a dream.
Although new players didn’t know about this point, after they surreptitiously caught a glimpse of the expression on the veteran players, they could also figure this out.
Everything was understood and no words were necessary.
When Lu Zize saw this, how could he not know that these newcomers had no money.
But he was someone with good temper who didn’t get angry because the players suspected him and so he also didn’t make things worse when he saw that they were poor. Instead, he suggested, “Everyone should find a place to put their work clothes.”
After the players put down their work clothes, Lu Zize’s gaze swept over each and every player before finally landing on Gu Yian.
“Stay here first and rest for a while.”
Following this, he looked at the others. “You can all just follow me.”
The other players saw this scene and almost everyone had question marks on their faces.
What did this mean?
Let her rest, but make them go to work?
Everyone was a player, but this difference in treatment was a bit too obvious, wasn’t it?
Facing the questioning eyes of the players, Lu Zize very calmly asked, “Didn’t everyone want to go out with me?”
These players exchanged glances. They certainly did want to go out with Lu Zize.
But the player who was staying behind was Gu Yian, the one who always made the right decisions.
Seeing that Gu Yian was staying behind, these players hesitated. They wouldn’t have made the wrong choice, right?
At this moment, the female player, Tang Jiu, stepped out and said warmly, “Exactly, Senior Lu. Please be sure to tell us if there’s anything we can help with.”
Once Tang Jiu stood out, the veteran players and new players more or less had confidence and, because there was an example to follow, they also brimmed over with enthusiasm and were attentive.
“I’m a man, so I’m strong enough to carry anything.”
“I can select vegetables. I’m the one who picks all the vegetables at home.”
Lu Zize and the others left amid all this flattering.
The room where only Gu Yian was left became extremely quiet.
The room was too large and too spacious.
Any slight movement would be magnified.
Formless terror enveloped Gu Yian.
She pulled out a prop on her. It was the sage card.
On the black card, the gold word of “sage” was especially beautiful.
Calm.
Don’t think in a bad direction.
Think more about things that have to do with clues.
Judging from the things she encountered in her first game, so long as she listened to Lu Zize and stayed obediently in this room there definitely wouldn’t be any problems.
Gu Yian put away the card but she still held the small coffin in her hand.
Her phone had already been put back in her pocket.
Gu Yian looked around this somewhat messy room.
Since everyone was gone, she should start searching for clues from this room.
So long as someone lived here, there would be traces left behind by him.
First, she would air out this room a little.
She didn’t smell anything, but it was also weird for it to be too clean.
Gu Yian walked over to the window and tried opening opening a small crack.
She didn’t feel any breeze.
Gu Yian pushed open the entire window.
She looked outside.
There were no trees outside, only two sawed off stumps and a bungalow on the side that covered a small area. She could see the residential buildings outside the fence at a glance.
Gu Yian didn’t look for long. She turned her body and her eyes inadvertently swept across the window glass.
She froze.
No matter how she looked at them, those tiny dark red dots looked like blood droplets left behind after a spray of blood.
Gu Yian backtracked and observed the window again.
This time she saw even more details.
The window was wiped by someone, but it was clear the person who wiped the window wasn’t too patient and he only wiped it once, so there was a faint bloodstain along the edges of the window.
The window glass might not have even been wiped.
From this detail, Gu Yian looked at the wall below the window.
The wall was pure white.
Gu Yian tilted her head back to look at the ceiling.
The ceiling and wall were not the same shade of white at all.
She came to a conclusion.
People died here before and it was unknown whether they were killed or if they had accidental deaths. Moreover, this room was painted over again.
Ding!
This notification noise suddenly echoed in the empty room.
Gu Yian jumped and then realized immediately that it was her own phone’s sound.
Did someone send her a message?
Gu Yian pulled out her phone.
Her screen showed that the sender was an unknown person called Liu Han.
She paused for half a second.
Was this phone able to automatically recognize unknown people and display their names? Or was this a contact name originally in the phone?
Gu Yian felt uncertain and she first tapped the phone icon and checked her contacts.
Her contacts page was blank, which meant that this stranger, Liu Han, was automatically recognized by the phone system.
This phone system knew a little too much.
Gu Yian thought this as she began to read the text message.
The content of the text wasn’t long, but it made her frown slightly.
“Do you know how infatuated I am with your looks?”
Gu Yian turned her head and looked behind her. There was no one at the door and no one in the room.
Who sent this spam message?
If this was the real world, this sort of text message was nothing out of the ordinary.
Gu Yian had received many text messages like these and she completely blocked the people who sent them.
But this time she was in a game world.
Who had seen her?
Where did he get her phone number?
She didn’t even know her own phone number in this world.
This world didn’t seem to have any ghosts, so that meant it could only be a person.
Someone was spying on her!
Ding!
It was another text message from the stranger, Liu Han.
“Yes, I’m looking at you.”
