Left with no option, the group decided to proceed to their next destination in the middle of the night.
"Next, we're heading to the suspect Yuan Haotian's house. I rember it's Apartnt 1302, Unit 2, Building 13, Dayang Garden. It's about five kiloters from here. Are we excited?" Gu Mian, holding a map, stood under a faint street lamp with his arms spread wide, looking just like a tour guide.
Actually, they didn't need to go. The surveillance clearly showed that Yuan Haotian was the murderer. They could go directly to court for trial now.
Keke didn't understand why Gu Mian would make this redundant move. She guessed Gu Mian was perhaps worried about Chu Changge, or maybe he felt there were still suspicious points about the case. She didn't question Gu Mian's decision and just followed quietly.
When Gu Mian and his group left Li Shu's house, it was already past midnight, and there were few cars on the street. Even if there were, they had no money left. The money for their previous taxi rides had all been squeezed out of Coach Che. He was now completely cleaned out, unable to shake a single coin loose even from his underwear. So, the group had to walk to Dayang Garden in the dead of night.
Bai Lu clung to the group tightly; she was utterly terrified after that episode. Since she started playing this global ga, she had rarely confronted ghosts directly. In previous instances, encountering a ghost basically ant death. Just now, when she saw Cao Deren and Zhang Shengli blocking the bedroom door, she really thought she was done for. Fortunately, there was so powerful individual among her teammates who had managed to drive the two ghosts away using an NPC.
But what about next ti? She didn't think her teammates would be able to drive away the ghosts every ti. They should hurry up with the verdict so they could leave this instance. Thinking of this, Bai Lu subtly inched closer to Coach Che.
Feeling slightly safer, Bai Lu finally spoke under the dim light, "We're so unlucky! We ran into a ghost less than half a day in. This is the fastest I've ever encountered one."
Hearing the word "unlucky," Gu Mian reached out and adjusted the hem of his clothes slightly.
Bai Lu then got to what was bothering her: "After Cao Deren and Zhang Shengli turned into ghosts, they'll kill indiscriminately, right? We're clearly here helping with their case, yet they want to kill us…"
Gu Mian classified the ghosts he had encountered into two categories. The first kind were those who retained their consciousness. So of these would only seek revenge on their enemies and wouldn't harm others. So even had a conscience and would help living people in danger, like those few driver ghosts in the taxi. Others killed based on their mood—if they were in a bad mood, they'd kill a few; if their mood was good, nothing would happen. The other kind were ruthless ghosts, commonly known as Evil Ghosts. They killed anyone they saw, regardless of who they were, having completely lost their minds.
But Cao Deren and Zhang Shengli didn't seem like the second type of ghost. They hadn't torn Coach Che apart when he tried to push them. Or could it be that NPCs in the instance have a special privilege of not being attacked by ghosts?
While pondering, Gu Mian continued to walk on the dimly lit road. Several moths fluttered their wings around the street lamp. The leaves of the cedar trees in the green belt swayed gently in the wind, casting flickering shadows of trees and fluttering moths on the ground.
"And that pumpkin accessory shop…" Bai Lu continued from behind, "Maybe we could find so clues there as well."
Gu Mian glanced at the map in his hand. The Pumpkin Accessory Shop was near Dayang Garden, so they could conveniently stop by after leaving Yuan Haotian's house.
"Actually, we don't need to go... The surveillance footage clearly shows that Yuan Haotian killed the two victims. We could just make the judgnt now," Bai Lu said hesitantly, unsure of herself. She felt this would make the instance too simple, and she was afraid it might be a trap set by the instance. But the video was clear, unless the instance had created a fake surveillance video to confuse them.
Keke also thought of this and spoke softly, "I rember that the surveillance cara at the entrance to Li Shu's ho looked very new, as if it had been installed not long ago." She had ntioned this to Gu Mian in the corridor before. Also, the position of the cara was very strange, aid directly at the door. She had never seen anyone install a cara in such a position.
"Just to be safe, let's go to Yuan Haotian's house first," Gu Mian waved his hand at the others. He didn't have the keys to Yuan Haotian's house, so they would have to break in.
At this point, Gu Mian noticed Chu Changge had sent a ssage in Xiao Qiao's group chat.
[Chu Changge]: Gu Mian, could you ask Coach Che how many groups of players entered this instance in the previous few runs?
Upon seeing Chu Changge's ssage, Gu Mian glanced at Bai Lu, then pulled Coach Che, who was beside her, over.
Bai Lu wanted to follow, but Keke grabbed her and said, "Sis, I'm so scared. Can you stay with , please?"
Why are you clinging to instead of your precious doctor! Bai Lu fud internally.
When Gu Mian pulled him, Coach Che imdiately clutched his chest protectively, afraid that Gu Mian would tear his clothes off in a search for money.
Gu Mian looked at Coach Che, who was clutching his chest, and asked, "I'm asking you: the last ti players entered this instance, how many were there, and how many groups were they split into?"
Seeing Gu Mian was only asking an irrelevant question, Coach Che relaxed, replying, "Eight people, two groups."
"And the ti before that?"
"Twenty-four people, six groups."
"What about the ti before that?"
After so reflection, Coach Che replied, "Four people, one group."
"Okay, you're dismissed." After getting his answer, Gu Mian tossed Coach Che aside.
Then, he started typing in the chat box.
[Gu Mian (Chin looks so good)]: The cases of our three groups are not related.
Wait a second? Gu Mian stared at the suffix after his nickna. What is this? Who added it?
This was Xiao Qiao's group. Besides the mbers themselves, only the group owner could change nicknas. The answer was obvious.
Gu Mian silently stared at the suffix after his nickna. Xiao Qiao really has a deep obsession with chins.
A few seconds later, he saw Chu Changge's reply.
[Chu Changge]: Okay.
Then, Fatty, who was spectating, also chid in.
[Fatty Knight unafraid of challenges]: Doctor, Brother Chu, what are you two talking about? You're being so cryptic, I don't understand a thing!
Gu Mian looked at the eight characters of "Fatty Knight unafraid of challenges," deep in thought. He definitely changed that himself.
anwhile, Chu Changge on the other end had closed the group chat. He looked at another group of judges led by Wang Youcai in front of him and said, "Our groups' cases have no relation to each other."
Yes, the two groups had happened to et at the school. Several victims from Wang Youcai's group were high school students at this school, and his group was there to investigate information about these victims. The suspect in Chu Changge's group used to attend this school, so Chu Changge was there to investigate the suspect's past.
After the two groups bumped into each other, Wang Youcai, recalling his previous encounter with Gu Mian's group, voiced a doubt, "I also bumped into another group at a hospital earlier. Could it be that our groups' cases are connected in so way?"
This led to the conversation between Chu Changge and Gu Mian in the group chat.
As for why Chu Changge didn't have Gu Mian directly ask Coach Che if the cases were connected, it was primarily because Coach Che might not know the answer. Secondly, if asked directly, Coach Che might lie. Only by asking a seemingly irrelevant question could they get an unguarded answer from Coach Che.
Chu Changge planned to analyze this question based on the number of players and groups in previous instances. If the instance was designed for the cases of multiple player groups to be connected, then the number of players entering each ti would likely be between eight and sixteen, forming two to four groups. It would be extrely difficult to set up more than four cases that seed unrelated on the surface but were intricately linked. Besides, players could easily spot the connections. However, if there was an instance with only one group of players, it would an the premise—that the instance was designed for the cases of multiple player groups to be connected—was false.
Chu Changge originally intended to analyze this himself, but Gu Mian had directly seen through his intentions and provided the answer.
Wang Youcai looked at Chu Changge curiously, "So sure of that? Who told you?"
Chu Changge adjusted his glasses without answering.
Seeing that the other party remained silent, Wang Youcai decided not to press further.
He glanced at the moon in the sky, "It's getting late. We'll look for clues around the school first. Where are you guys headed?"
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