S.C.I Mystery Series Volume 5 Chapter 220

The Intelligent Killer 25 – Upgrade

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Bai Yutang followed Bai Ye out of the car, still not quite understanding what Zhao Jue had asked Bai Ye to do.

Bai Ye observed the terrain around the neighbourhood while explaining that Zhao Jue wanted them to severely beat up the administrators of Magic Company without revealing themselves and help Yu Yang escape.

Bai Yutang frowned and asked Bai Ye to explain what "without revealing themselves" meant.

Bai Ye thought for a moment, "Simply put, it means pretending that Yu Yang lured them over, then tried to kill them, but due to inexperience, they managed to escape."

Bai Yutang looked at Bai Ye, who was trying to explain clearly. He understood the literal meaning, but what was the purpose of doing this?

After roughly checking the terrain, Bai Ye took Bai Yutang back to the surveillance van, saying it would be better for Zhao Jue to explain the specifics.

In the car, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue seemed to have reached a consensus after some discussion.

Bai Yutang asked for a detailed explanation.

Zhan Zhao asked Jiang Ping to play the recording of the phone call Yu Yang had made earlier.

After listening to it, Bai Yutang looked at Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue.

Zhan Zhao whispered to him, "Zhao Jue has speculated a bit."

"Speculated?"

Although Zhan Zhao seemed a bit reluctant, he still snorted, "I think there's some logic to it."

Bai Yutang nodded and asked Zhao Jue to elaborate.

Zhao Jue said, "First, we need to break out of our fixed mindset."

At this moment, all SCI members, including those not in the car, were listening to Zhao Jue's analysis through their earpieces... It felt like this opening line was in Zhan Zhao's usual style, suggesting that the next part might not be in Chinese...

"We set a trap for Yu Yang, so we all know the murderer is not Yu Yang, he was 'framed', right?" Zhao Jue asked.

Bai Yutang nodded.

Everyone else also nodded silently – Aiyo, the first sentence was understandable!

"Yu Yang thinks so too," Zhao Jue continued. "From the perspective of a game participant and a criminal, he would think that other players are hunting him and wouldn't suspect the police of setting him up, right?"

Bai Yutang nodded again.

"Then what would the game officials think of this situation?" Zhao Jue asked.

Bai Yutang thought for a moment – The other party said they would send investigators to investigate.

"Now, we can start speculating," Zhao Jue patiently explained to everyone. "What are they sending investigators to investigate? In Yu Yang's case, there are usually two possibilities. First, Yu Yang didn't actually kill anyone. But since Yu Yang didn't mention to customer service that he was framed, the game officials would see this as an accident, right? The second possibility is that Yu Yang lied, and he did kill someone. But from the customer service response, Yu Yang killing someone doesn't affect his status as a game tester. On the contrary, the prey dying might even lead to a level up. This 'level up' is quite subtle. Since Yu Yang didn't kill anyone, the other party doesn't know he was framed, and Yu Yang answered that the police didn't find him, why are they sending investigators? What are they investigating? Can they access the crime scene? Can they interfere with the police investigation?"

Bai Yutang furrowed his brows slightly, "And the other party has been monitoring Yu Yang, so they are sending investigators to investigate Yu Yang, not the murder case?"

"So my speculation is..." Zhao Jue smiled slightly, "There is a third possibility."

So far, everyone has understood Zhao Jue's analysis smoothly, but a third possibility? If Yu Yang didn't kill the person, nor was it someone else, and suicide was ruled out, what could it be?

"The person was indeed killed by Yu Yang, but Yu Yang himself doesn't know it," Zhao Jue said mockingly. "This is another kind of 'levelling up'!"

At this point, Bai Yutang understood what Zhao Jue was trying to convey. "Is this the true purpose of Magic's game? Levelling up?"

Everyone understood that this was not an ordinary kind of levelling up, but an extraordinary one.

Previously, while SCI was investigating this case, they couldn't figure out what the game company was trying to achieve with all their mysterious actions.

If it was just to encourage crime, turning good people into bad people, and bad people into worse ones, there were many ways to do that. Why collect so much data and create a game with a witch character?

But now, linking the events together, everyone finally understood that what the company was really seeking was a method, an alternative kind of levelling up.

Coincidentally, Yu Yang's various actions, both what he did and didn't do, when viewed together, fit this alternative levelling up perfectly.

Yu Yang was originally just a level-four harasser. If he committed a level-one crime without knowing it himself, he would have levelled up in the true sense.

Simply put, the role of the witch in the game was akin to a hypnotist. The entire program, including the witch's actions, was designed to hypnotise the game's participants, making them "level up" after being hypnotised, transforming from a level-four criminal to a level-one criminal without their knowledge. This was the true value of the sample data and the real direction of the game's development...

If Zhao Jue's speculation was correct, then Yu Yang's series of actions would indeed lead the game officials to believe that he had levelled up significantly, making his subsequent methods to cover his tracks and escape appear extremely sophisticated, far beyond Yu Yang's original capabilities.

The forged phone signals created by Jiang Ping acted as bait for Magic Company, luring the investigators to the scene.

If the investigators arrived and Yu Yang had set a trap to try and kill them, it would undoubtedly show that he had levelled up significantly, possessing the highest data value. Magic Company would spare no effort to investigate Yu Yang... This way, Yu Yang would become SCI's biggest bait to lure Magic Company.

"And then?" Bai Yutang asked Zhao Jue. "What do you plan to do with this bait?"

"Just reverse our original plan," Zhao Jue hinted. "Think about it, if you were the head of Magic Company, with many level-one, two, and three hunters at your disposal, and a level-four hunter suddenly levelled up beyond level-one, what would you do?"

Bai Yutang softly said, "Oh," thinking it was indeed a good idea. "The game officials might send level-four and above, level-three, two, and even level-one hunters to hunt Yu Yang, to test his capabilities?"

Zhao Jue snapped his fingers, "Exactly! We can use Yu Yang to capture more and more game test players. The more we catch, and the higher their levels, the closer we get to the game's core. Initially, we were in the light while they were in the dark, but this way, we could hide behind Yu Yang, turning the situation around... Isn't this more effective than a direct raid?"

Bai Yutang thought it was a good idea. At this moment, Zhan Zhao suddenly chimed in, "How about... we deceive Yu Yang as well?"

Everyone was stunned.

Zhao Jue, however, laughed and nodded, "Mhmm! Sure enough, you truly are dark."

Zhan Zhao winked at Bai Yutang, "This would make things easier."

Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "Make Yu Yang think he has become a dangerous person?"

Zhan Zhao whispered, "Think bolder."

Bai Yutang felt a bit helpless, "Really?"

Looking at Zhan Zhao and then at Zhao Jue, Bai Yutang asked, "Are you two planning to hypnotise Yu Yang?"

Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue both smiled.

Zhao Jue said, "Think about it, every time you act, it's best if Yu Yang doesn't cause trouble, right? How can we make him cooperate? We can't knock him out every time or use tranquillisers like dealing with a tiger in a zoo... Hypnosis would be the best method."

Bai Yutang listened and felt a bit swayed, it did make sense.

"If necessary, we could even create a level-one personality for him..." Zhao Jue hadn't finished speaking when Zhan Zhao pulled him aside.

Zhan Zhao glared at him – Dangerous things can't be done!

Zhao Jue wrinkled his nose and glanced at Bai Ye.

Bai Ye gestured to him – Low profile!

Zhao Jue pursed his lips – Fine.

Both Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at him – Sure enough, there's someone who can control you too, huh?

After discussing and finalising their plan, it was almost dark.

Ma Han and Zhao Hu, who had been monitoring, suddenly reported a situation. They noticed Yu Yang opening his door to take a look. Seeing no one in the corridor, he stepped out and looked down the stairs, holding a phone as if contacting someone.

Ma Han was wondering what he was doing when Zhao Hu suddenly sprang downstairs.

Ma Han was puzzled by what was happening when he saw Yu Yang waving to someone downstairs and speaking a few words before hanging up the phone.

Looking down, Ma Han saw a food delivery guy with a delivery box also waving upstairs...

Ma Han was speechless – Yu Yang was scared but still knew when he was hungry.

The delivery guy hung up and entered the apartment building to wait for the elevator.

At this moment, someone came panting down the stairs – it was Zhao Hu.

Zhao Hu was quite sharp. As soon as Yu Yang came out with the phone, he guessed that the guy might have ordered food and quickly went downstairs to intercept the delivery guy.

Zhao Hu stopped the guy and asked, "Delivering to the seventh floor?"

The delivery guy nodded.

Just then, Bai Yutang's voice came through Zhao Hu's earpiece, "Yu Yang is in the corridor, let's go up and catch him."

Zhao Hu told the delivery guy, "Give it to me, I live with him."

The delivery guy handed the food to Zhao Hu, and by this time, Bai Yutang had already come up the stairs from the other side.

Zhao Hu took the elevator to the seventh floor.

Yu Yang seemed quite cautious, likely not mentioning the exact room number when ordering the food, just telling them to deliver to the seventh floor. He came out to wait near the elevator.

When he heard the elevator doors open, Yu Yang looked inside and saw Zhao Hu with the food.

Seeing Zhao Hu smiling, Yu Yang felt something was wrong. As he turned around, Bai Yutang appeared behind him.

From the opposite building, Ma Han shook his head as he saw Yu Yang being grabbed and pulled into the room, his mouth covered.

Bai Yutang and Zhao Hu dragged Yu Yang back into the room. Yu Yang was so scared that he begged for mercy, saying he hadn't leaked any game secrets and asking the company for another chance.

Bai Yutang and Zhao Hu found him quite amusing. Zhao Hu took out handcuffs and cuffed him, "Look at you. Where was this cowardice when you were stalking girls?"

Yu Yang seemed a bit dumbfounded at the sight of the handcuffs.

At this point, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue also entered.

Bai Yutang picked up the jacket Yu Yang had left by the bed and gave it to Zhao Hu, telling him to take it to Bai Ye.

Meanwhile, Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue focused their attention on Yu Yang.

Zhao Jue squatted down, looked at the panicked Yu Yang, and gently patted him, waving a finger in front of his eyes, "Now, focus..."

‿︵‿︵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: July 30, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 30, 2024 by Soojin