S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 117

Screen Murderer 13 –  Virtual and Real

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What is the most embarrassing thing in this world?

Talking behind your boss's back only to find out they're right behind you. This definitely qualifies as one of them, a major social faux pas.

Here's Tang Xing, gossiping about Wang Meiyun to Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, and lo and behold, Wang Meiyun walks in.

Mind you, there's an observation room outside the interrogation room, with just a layer of one-way glass separating them. Who knows how long Wang Meiyun had been listening?

Tang Xing's expression right now could be described as "lifeless".

But what was even more fatal was seeing Zhan Zhao's smile.

It's clear that Wang Meiyun's sudden arrival not only didn't catch Zhan Zhao off guard but was within his expectations.

Sometimes, a person's expression isn't just an expression, it can reflect a variety of messages.

Take, for example, when you're having a meal, and someone asks you, "Is the food good?"

You reply, "It's good."

The "it's good" response, coupled with the right expression, can have multiple meanings:

It could simply mean – it's good.

Or it could be sarcastically conveying – it's not good.

It can even express something super complex – the food is really not good, but out of appreciation for treating me, I'll reluctantly say it's good. Next time, it's on me, and I'll treat you to something truly delicious. Let's make plans for next time...

And Zhan Zhao's smile at this moment gave Tang Xing a super complex feeling.

From Tang Xing's perspective, he interpreted the meaning behind Zhan Zhao's smile like this – Everything you just said was heard by Wang Meiyun, so what's your next move? You don't know how much she heard, whether she'll just lightly reprimand you or you'll end up like Jin He. Are you scared?

In summary – choose, are you with the police or with Wang Meiyun?

The atmosphere in the interrogation room suddenly felt frozen.

Tang Xing's agent quickly intervened, "Er, A'Xing, can we leave now? Look, Boss Wang is personally here to pick you up."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang both felt that the agent's intervention was a godsend, especially his use of "Boss Wang", which was a subtle reminder to Tang Xing of whom he had offended.

"Er..." In the end, Tang Xing made a choice, shaking his head, "I... I still have some important clues to tell the police."

Wang Meiyun stood behind Secretary Zhang the whole time, obscured by a shadow due to the lighting, which made her appear even more sinister.

In fact, it wasn't just Tang Xing who was set up by Zhan Zhao, Wang Meiyun was also set up.

Before Zhan Zhao entered the interrogation room, didn't he whisper a few words to Zhao Hu?

At that time, Zhan Zhao told Zhao Hu, "Tang Xing's agent kept calling and addressing someone as 'Boss Wang, Boss Wang,' he was probably contacting Wang Meiyun. If Wang Meiyun personally comes to pick him up later, take her to the observation room next to the interrogation room. When you're in the observation room, don't open or knock on the door, just watch from behind the glass. When Wang Meiyun wants to come in, then knock on the door."

So, in fact, Wang Meiyun had been standing in the observation room listening all along.

While Tang Xing was spilling the gossip, Wang Meiyun was there the whole time, her face turning pale, yet she didn't come in to intervene.

It wasn't until Zhan Zhao suddenly asked Tang Xing if he had known that Jin He would die that Wang Meiyun seemed very angry and wanted to come in. Zhao Hu beat her to it, knocking on the door and entering before her.

......

After Tang Xing made his choice, Zhan Zhao across from him gave him another smile.

The meaning behind this smile was quite simple and straightforward – good choice!

As an adult, Tang Xing's decision to stay at the police station instead of going back with the company's people left everyone powerless against him.

Being his boss didn't work for Wang Meiyun either. She could only give Tang Xing a more sinister glance before turning and leaving.

Zhao Hu casually closed the door behind Zhan Zhao, this time making sure to escort Wang Meiyun's group out of the observation room and even closing the observation room's door, preventing them from hearing what Tang Xing had to say.

Wang Meiyun stormed off in the direction of the elevator with a sour expression.

As the elevator doors opened, Ma Xin happened to be going downstairs to the forensic room to collect the autopsy report of the flower shop owner. Upon exiting, she came face to face with Wang Meiyun.

Ma Xin had seen Wang Meiyun twice before while attending events with Jiayi. They knew each other, and Ma Xin initially wanted to greet her, but Wang Meiyun seemed not to recognise her at all and briskly entered the elevator.

Secretary Zhang followed suit, while the agent wiped his sweat and apologised to Wang Meiyun at the elevator door, feeling like he probably couldn't even stay in Dong Group anymore.

Once the elevator doors closed, Ma Xin grabbed Zhao Hu, who was seeing the guests off, and asked him, "What's going on? That expression was like she wanted to eat someone!"

Zhao Hu chuckled and winked at Ma Xin, signalling towards the agent standing nearby.

Ma Xin immediately understood and headed back to the forensic room. Zhao Hu extended his hand, placing it on the shoulder of Tang Xing's agent, "Ai, buddy, wanna grab a coffee at the cafeteria?"

"Huh?" The agent still wanted to hear what was happening with Tang Xing, but Zhao Hu dragged him into the elevator, and off they went downstairs for coffee.

......

At this moment, the atmosphere in the interrogation room was completely different from before.

Bai Yutang had stopped reading the magazine and was leaning back in his chair, observing Tang Xing.

Zhan Zhao asked him, "Let's continue our previous conversation. Why did you know in advance that Jin He would die?"

Tang Xing looked at the two in front of him helplessly, then sighed, "Ai... I knew because someone told me in advance."

With that, Tang Xing took out his phone and placed it on the table. "I'm quite cautious about these things. Usually, people don't contact me directly, they call my agent instead. But occasionally, calls come directly to me, and I always record them."

Tang Xing opened up an audio file and gestured for Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang to listen.

On the phone, a very eerie voice could be heard, deep and hoarse, reminiscent of the voice of a demon in a horror movie, "If you don't want to end up like Jin He, keep your mouth shut."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang furrowed their brows. That voice... they both simultaneously recalled the voice that Fei Mu heard when calling his blind date.

Bai Yutang frowned. "This voice seems to be appearing quite frequently..."

"I received this yesterday, and another one this morning." Tang Xing opened another audio file.

On the phone, the same voice could be heard saying, "Tonight is Jin He's death. If you can't keep your mouth shut, you'll be next."

Tang Xing slumped on the table, looking despondent. "You know I'm the most cowardly. I was so scared when I received this call last night that I couldn't sleep all night. I got another one this morning, and I've been on edge all day..."

"This could be a prank call." Zhan Zhao was puzzled. "Did you really believe it?"

Tang Xing shook his head. "This is the voice of a character."

"What character?" Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang asked, perplexed.

"Jin He and I have known each other for many years. We were high school classmates and good buddies." Tang Xing explained. "When we graduated from college, Jin He was making games, and I worked as an actor for him. Back then, we didn't have much money, and our only hobby was playing games. Tang Xing developed a game, and we often played it together. In this game, there's a character called the 'Founder' who predicts when someone will die. This voice is also created by Jin He using voice-changing software."

"So, this is a voice from a game character?"

Tang Xing nodded.

"What's the name of the game?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"New World." Tang Xing replied.

Tang Xing's answer instantly energised Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang. They were onto something!

"Have you played that game?" Zhan Zhao continued to inquire.

"Of course I have. I played it a lot a few years ago when the game was still in the testing phase. We were roommates back then, and Jin He often dragged me into playing and discussing the experience." Tang Xing recalled. "Later on, Jin He gained recognition from the game company because of this game, leading to his subsequent development... But the game was eventually shut down."

"Do you know why it was shut down?" Zhan Zhao asked. "Was it due to violating content regulations?"

"It doesn't seem like it." Tang Xing shook his head. "I heard Jin He mention once that the copyright was bought at a high price by someone, and then the buyer shut down the servers."

"Did he know who the buyer was?" Zhan Zhao followed up.

Tang Xing shook his head again.

"Could you introduce that game to me?" Zhan Zhao's sudden interest in this particular game was noticeable.

"Mhmm... The game has quite extensive world-building and complex content." Tang Xing pondered for a moment before explaining, "The game's background is set in a psychiatric hospital with many patients suffering from severe delusions. In their delusional worlds, they imagine various monsters. There's a medical and technological team that created an intelligent program called 'New World'. This program captures the monsters imagined by the patients. The program then nurtures these captured monsters in a virtual world... Over time, the monsters in New World start to fight, evolve, and grow in number. Eventually, due to a laboratory operation error, the New World system connects to the outside network and escapes."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were taken aback. "Escaped? The program escaped?"

Tang Xing nodded. "To us, New World may just be a program, but in the virtual world, especially in the world where those monsters live, it's like their creator."

"New World released the entire monster world onto the global network. With unlimited space and resources, New World grew even larger. Eventually, it took control of some biological laboratories and materialised the monsters from the virtual world. The day the first monster was born was called the New Era. The program New World also named itself the 'Founder.' It became the creator of new rules on Earth, a new deity. Countless monsters were continuously created, and the real world was assimilated with the virtual world. Humanity suffered from attacks by numerous monsters, and eventually, the entire Earth became a true New World. Humans were forced to participate in the game and fight against the monsters. The rules of human society were completely changed, and the Founder established a new set of rules for human survival. This is the background story of the entire game, and Jin He even made an animated adaptation of this plot."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded mechanically and said, "Oh", signalling for Tang Xing to continue.

"The gameplay is like this: the Founder announces the fate of the chosen one, such as when they will die. The player, as that character, must try to avoid attacks from various monsters. If they survive until the time specified by the Founder, they clear the level, otherwise, they die. When playing this game, players participate as the chosen one. Each time they enter the game, the first thing they hear is the voice of the Founder, who informs them of their fate. Of course, the game can also be played multiplayer, forming teams. The Founder randomly selects a team member and announces their fate, while the other teammates must try to rescue them and help them survive that time... I played this game for a long time, so the memory of that voice is still fresh in my mind."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang were not really gamers. Although Zhan Zhao could be considered somewhat of a homebody, he was more of a bookworm.

They didn't play games much and couldn't quite grasp the gaming experience, but Tang Xing's explanation was pretty clear. It sounded like a science fiction horror game... But why would a voice from a game appear in a real phone call?

"And," Tang Xing explained the reason for his fright, "this game has another feature. If the team fails to rescue the target, that rescued person immediately turns into a monster and starts hunting down the team members until they're all killed." Tang Xing scratched his head. "When I saw Jin He charging out like that, I immediately thought of the scene in the game where characters turn into monsters, that's why I was so scared."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang sat there in a daze, needing some time to digest. This development seemed to go beyond their expertise – Could it be that this case was unfolding similarly to the story in the game? Had a program from a lab escaped, attempting to control the real world?

As a science fiction enthusiast, Zhan Zhao mentally replaced the game with a novel, finding it easier to accept. It seemed to explain why that voice would appear in various phone calls – Wasn't it akin to humans battling AI?!

Bai Yutang rubbed his forehead – Weird as it sounded, the case was getting out of hand. If they couldn't handle the real world, how were they supposed to deal with the virtual one? Were they going to pull the plug?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: April 11, 2024 by Angel

Edited: September 25, 2024 by Angel