Ye Sangsang paused in her steps and turned towards the door.
She was holding only a phone, and her feet were clad in slippers, radiating a carefree, fearless ease.
"Knock knock knock"
As she approached the door, the knocking sound echoed again.
The wooden door panel vibrated, producing a crisp and loud noise, the knocking swift and urgent, imbuing a sense of urgency.
It evoked a deep sense of annoyance and an ominous premonition from within.
【Coming for me? (Ice cold expression)】
【Knock knock knock, it's making me really uncomfortable.】
【How thrilling, hehe, arriving early? Such boldness and skill.】
It was currently 7 PM, and her roommate would return in a while.
This period should be enough for her to resolve the current situation.
She leaned close to the peephole, observing the scene outside.
The knocking sounded again at that moment.
After a glance, Ye Sangsang frowned, "Victim's family member?"
Standing outside the door was a young man.
Covered by a hat, only his pale and gaunt jawline was visible.
She hadn't seen the victim's family member in person, but from the feel of it, he should be the one who had held her at gunpoint the previous two nights.
She had expected the real culprit to be disguised.
Did the victim's family member commit the murder?
Ye Sangsang pondered, her fingers on the door handle, pressing down.
With a "click," the door was pushed open by Ye Sangsang.
Ye Sangsang faced the knocker directly.
"Hello?" Ye Sangsang greeted awkwardly.
She had promised him she would give him an answer. Now that he had come to her door, she naturally had to open it.
The young man looked at Ye Sangsang, paused, his expression complex, "I thought you wouldn't open the door."
Ye Sangsang stepped back, her gaze fixed on his empty hands.
She didn't know if this man had anything hidden on him.
After the young man entered, Ye Sangsang surveyed the hallway and reached out to close the door.
Both sat on the sofa, Ye Sangsang standing up to pour a cup of water for the young man.
"Drink some water."
"No, thanks."
Ye Sangsang's eyes flickered and she stopped insisting.
Sitting on the sofa, she watched as the young man removed his hat, revealing his full appearance.
He was good-looking, with upturned ripple phoenix eyes, a high nose bridge, and tightly pressed lips. Had his temperament been normal, he would have been quite popular among people nowadays.
But due to his overly sharp facial contours, combined with his deadlocked gaze and pale complexion, he exuded a murderous aura that made one feel he might kill at any moment.
Ye Sangsang observed and mused that the victim's family member had quite a fierce aura.
However, she didn't have any special feelings about this aura, and in fact, she found it somewhat familiar.
After sitting down, she thought about where to start the conversation.
To be honest, Ye Sangsang didn't believe the victim's family member had killed Zhao Xinxin, especially considering that Zhao Xinxin wouldn't have provoked him.
So now, she needed to consider whether something happened after she sent him away that led to Zhao Xinxin's murder.
However, she didn't have the intention to uncover the truth, as the truth was already revealed, and no matter if the person beside her was human or ghost, they couldn't do anything to her.
"I've met Li Li and Jiang Feng, they are, like you, victim's family members." She added, "You know this, right?"
Ye Sangsang chose to start with this topic, not mentioning any explanations.
"I know, I came here for one purpose only, tell me where your father is. I just need to catch him, and I won't do anything to you."
The young man didn't take the water Ye Sangsang offered, his voice still dry, as if he hadn't spoken for a long time.
Ye Sangsang sat down, placed the water cup aside, and took out her phone to check the time, "This isn't a problem, judging by the situation, it should be soon."
"What? Is the person about to be found?"
The young man looked at Ye Sangsang with incredulity, what did "should be soon" mean? Were they about to catch Zhao Qing?
Did the person in front of him have such good intentions?
After observing Ye Sangsang, the young man couldn't believe her words.
Ye Sangsang found the threatening text message she had received and turned the screen towards him, "Did you send this?"
Previously, when she received the message, she felt it wasn't sent by Li Li or Jiang Feng. Both of them had directly threatened her in person and wouldn't send messages secretly.
"No, I wouldn't send these, I don't even know your number." He even didn't glance, directly denying it.
【Hahaha, it feels great to have a mouth.】
【Yes, talk directly, and don't hold back, or it might lead to misunderstandings that can't be undone, reality could really end in tragedy.】
【Not him, not Li Li or Jiang Feng, so it's the mastermind behind the scenes.】
Ye Sangsang looked at him, pondering for a moment, "Li Li and Jiang Feng were also reminded of what my father said to me back then, can I ask, where did you get this information from?"
"I received a letter."
He naturally extended his hand and unzipped the black coat.
Ye Sangsang knew he wasn't reaching for a knife to spill her guts, so she didn't flinch.
"I also brought it with me, the letter was well-reasoned, with your city and address, I wanted to know, so I came."
"The other day, seeing you living peacefully, I thought of my mother and brother, and I felt uncomfortable and acted impulsively, sorry."
He lowered his head, tears falling.
Landing on his clothes, wetting a small spot, the color deepened.
Ye Sangsang sat beside him, he was about three years younger than Zhao Xinxin, at twenty-two years old.
Bearing too much, it was normal for sudden feelings of grievance, sadness, anger, and impulse to arise.
However, she was curious, this man didn't seem to ask about the news of Zhao Qing being found.
Wasn't he most concerned about this?
"Buzz buzz buzz"
Ye Sangsang's phone vibrated a few times, she picked it up and saw it was a call from Li Li.
"That villager isn't from the village! There's no such person in the village!"
Li Li's voice was filled with anger, indicating they were completely duped!
"Let me talk," Jiang Feng snatched Li Li's phone and spoke to Ye Sangsang, "We didn't find that person, the police asked everyone, and no one knew him. It seems he just tricked us into coming to find you. You might be in danger, be careful, watch out for strangers."
Li Li and Jiang Feng reacted swiftly.
Realizing her amnesia was genuine, that Zhao Xinxin truly saw something that caused her to selectively forget.
Plus, they were led to her city, most likely to use them for a cover-up.
This meant she was definitely in danger.
Jiang Feng continued to babble, warning Ye Sangsang to be careful.
After confirming she wasn't the daughter of the murderer, and was also a victim, Jiang Feng's attitude improved significantly.
Ye Sangsang listened to the voice coming from her phone, her eyes noticing the situation beside her.
Her phone was on speaker, the person next to her could clearly hear the conversation.
When the person beside her reached into his chest area, her eyes turned cold.
Reaching out, she grabbed the water cup on the glass coffee table.
Quick and precise, she poured the entire cup of water directly onto the person's face.
The young man thought she just wanted to drink water during the call, completely not reacting to the fact that Ye Sangsang had noticed something was wrong.
He had planned to wait a bit before acting.
But the content of the three-way conversation didn't sound right to him.
Realizing the situation was off, he decisively pulled out a knife.
Unfortunately, before he could stab, a cup of water was poured straight into his eyes.
He instinctively turned his head and closed his eyes, his hand extending, ready to slash blindly.
Ye Sangsang finished pouring the water, holding her phone, dodged when his knife came toward her, then swapped the phone to her other hand, freeing her right hand, and with full force, slapped his face.
"Smack"
Before the young man could react, he felt a powerful force on his cheek.
Instantly, he felt a searing pain on his cheek, his head buzzing.
Following that, his hand holding the knife was seized, Ye Sangsang didn't move, just held it tightly.
He tried to pull his hand back to drag Ye Sangsang along, but a burst of strength came, the pain spreading from his arm throughout his body, contorting his face in agony.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh"
He screamed in pain, puzzled, how did the person in front of him notice his intent.
Ye Sangsang looked at him calmly, her hand exerting force again.
"Clang"
The sensation of pain turning to numbness washed over him, his hand releasing the knife, which fell to the ground.
"I surrender, help, stop squeezing."
He trembled, begging for help.
Ye Sangsang pushed back, making the other person fall directly onto the sofa. She bent down, picked up the knife, and tossed it onto the coffee table.
He struggled to get up, still intending to fight.
But when his eyes met Ye Sangsang's, he immediately gave up the idea.
Ye Sangsang picked up her phone again and replied indifferently, "Yes, someone did come, but they've been subdued."
"Huh?" Jiang Feng exclaimed in panic. But before he could ask more, Ye Sangsang had already hung up the phone.
Staring at the disconnected call, Li Li and Jiang Feng exchanged bewildered glances.
So someone had indeed encountered danger, but now it had been resolved, right?
"How did you know something was wrong with me?" the young man on the sofa asked.
Ye Sangsang sighed, "No, it's just that I saw you make a move, so I made one too."
["I'm so done with Sister Sang. Straight up—attack comes, shields go up, water comes, dams go up!"]
["Scary, I really thought he was the victim's family."]
["I was thinking, this guy's pretty emotional, no wonder he was deceived into entering."]
Ye Sangsang looked at him. What she didn’t mention was that, in her eyes, anyone who entered was a suspect.
Was the identity of a victim's family so shameful? Did it need to be wrapped so tightly, followed, and threatened, all for the sake of making it easier to kill and frame someone?
Once realizing this, the threats from a couple of days ago suddenly made sense. They wanted to stir Zhao Xinxin's guilt, ensuring a smooth entry today because they knew she would guiltily open the door.
Kill the person, then use the previous threatening surveillance footage to stage another "guilty suicide." Perfectly recreating their operation from fifteen years ago.
Earlier, Ye Sangsang had speculated that maybe the victim's family had left, and the killer had returned to knock on the door, and she had opened it, leading to her murder. But that didn’t make sense—why would she open the door, and why would the murder happen near the sofa, implying some kind of conversation.
Given that Zhao Xinxin would only open the door for the victim's family, and considering that the victim's family wouldn’t typically resort to violence, was this "victim's family" identity fake?
She just played along with a wild guess, never expecting that the victim's family identity was indeed fake.
That explained why this so-called victim's family hadn’t acted earlier but chose to do so now.
In any case, whoever entered, she had been on guard, subdued them, and sought the truth.
Thinking about the victim's family, Ye Sangsang reached out, picking up the knife that had been tossed onto the coffee table.
She held it inverted, placing the blade against the killer’s neck.
"Where is the victim's family?"
Ye Sangsang's action startled the killer, and he instinctively leaned back. But with that movement, the knife immediately sliced through his skin.
The pain made him freeze, his eyes trembling downward, not daring to move a muscle. He didn’t even dare to swallow.
"I don't know. My mission was just to kill you. Someone else will handle the aftermath."
He looked at Ye Sangsang, his eyes wide, hoping she would believe him.
He was betting that, given Ye Sangsang's boldness, she wouldn’t actually kill him.
But he lost the bet.
The next second, the piercing pain in his neck made his pupils widen.
"No, no, no... I know, I know! Don’t move the knife!"
The neck was one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body. With a bit of strength, even a bite could puncture and kill. And the knife, specially prepared for him, could easily sever his carotid artery and trachea with just a bit of force.
"Spit it out," Ye Sangsang moved the knife away and stared coldly at him.
The killer hesitantly divulged everything, looking utterly miserable.
He was a hired assassin, paid a million for this job, with someone else to clean up and take the fall.
He had thought everything would go smoothly, after all, his target was just an ordinary girl. But he had barely made a move when he was subdued.
Realizing the person in front of him was not to be underestimated, he pleaded for mercy, hoping Ye Sangsang would let him go.
Ye Sangsang glanced at the killer's clothes, then walked over to him.
After leaving, Ye Sangsang took out her phone and told her roommate to stay away temporarily. Then she put on a hat and a mask, heading straight toward the location the killer had provided.
She pulled out her phone and dialed the police.
After explaining the situation, Ye Sangsang knocked on the door of the target room.
["Playtime's over!"]
["Laughing out loud, Sister Sang is pretty kind."]
["The people inside probably didn't expect that a fake identity trick could be used against them! Excited to see the real culprit's 'surprise' face when the door opens."]
Zhao Xinxin and the killer had similar builds. With intentional disguises covering their faces and heads, the people inside likely thought it was the assassin returning, not realizing that the person knocking was actually the intended target.
So, the door quickly opened in front of Ye Sangsang.
She looked up, her gaze meeting the person who opened the door, and she gave a smile.
Two seconds later, the middle-aged man immediately realized and tried to slam the door shut.
Ye Sangsang extended her hand, holding the door open. With the other hand, she pulled down her mask.
Initially, the middle-aged man didn’t recognize her, but as Ye Sangsang revealed her face, he looked at her with terrified eyes, as if seeing a ghost.
Taking advantage of the man's momentary shock, Ye Sangsang barged in.
The man tried to attack, but Ye Sangsang swiftly pulled out a knife and held it against his neck.
With his clenched fists hovering just centimeters above Ye Sangsang’s head, he felt the pain on his neck and, gritting his teeth in frustration, lowered his fists.
Ye Sangsang forced the man inside, quickly spotting a young man tied up in the bedroom.
His build was very similar to the killer's, and even their facial features had some resemblance.
Ye Sangsang pulled out her phone again and called the police.
Seeing this, the man tried to make a move, but Ye Sangsang kicked his knee, forcing him to his knees, then knocked him to the ground.
Before the man could get up, Ye Sangsang stepped heavily on his head, leaning down to place the knife against his neck.
"Don't move, unless you want to die right now," Ye Sangsang said, savoring this moment as she gave him a slight twist with her foot.
The man stopped struggling, his face turning crimson and looking utterly wretched.
"How did you figure it out?! Our plan was so meticulous!" the man demanded.
Ye Sangsang remained silent, looking at the pre-prepared bottles of sleeping pills in the room, "You guys really can't resist repeating your mistakes. Thinking one trick can work forever, but it’s incredibly lame."
The police arrived quickly, as it was a single number reporting the incident. They even brought along the killer from the shared rental apartment.
The killer was stripped down to his underwear, glaring venomously at Ye Sangsang.
The victim's family was rescued.
This group wasn’t entirely incompetent. They had used soft bandages to secure the victim's family, intending to leave no traces.
This level of caution explained how they managed to drag out the case for fifteen years before anything was uncovered.
Ye Sangsang stepped off the man, and the police looked at her with newfound respect.
"There’s a knife, he was cooperative," Ye Sangsang handed the knife to the police, awkwardly explaining.
The police shook their heads, "It's fine, strictly speaking, this could even count as doing your civic duty."
When the police asked for Ye Sangsang's name, the rescued victim's family looked at her, his expression incredibly complicated, and he muttered a heartfelt "Thank you."
He had thought he was about to die here.
Ye Sangsang smiled at him, then the police took everyone away.
Meanwhile, the police in Yuncheng swiftly identified the suspects and began their arrest operation.
One of the accomplices realized something was off and quickly fled to another province.
But just as he was exiting the highway there, the police waiting nearby pounced and subdued him.
Times had changed since fifteen years ago—now, there was no escaping within the country.
After leaving the police station to complete her statement, Ye Sangsang received a call from Sheng Cui.
In the phone call, she wept with immense sorrow, as if releasing all the grievances and pain she had endured over the years.
The taunts and disdain that criminals' families faced, she had borne all these for fifteen years.
Even she herself had believed it was all deserved, and she and her daughter had lived under the crushing weight of profound guilt.
She had thought life would always be like this—even though she trusted her husband would never have done those things.
To her surprise, there was finally a chance for justice to be served.
She cried for over ten minutes before slowly saying, "The police told me they’ve confessed, revealing the location where your father's remains are buried. Come back."
Ye Sangsang merely "mm-hmm" replied, comforting her a bit before hanging up.
After hanging up the phone, she turned her head to look at the victim's family; he should be going back too.
Ye Sangsang traveled back overnight, and when she arrived at the burial site the next day, it was ten o'clock in the morning.
Her doubts were about to be resolved.
The bones were buried in a ravine, surrounded by lush trees, not far from the village.
It was drizzling at the excavation site, and the police, holding umbrellas, carefully dug out the remains from fifteen years ago.
At the sight of the bones, Sheng Cui covered her mouth and wept bitterly, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Her husband hadn't left fifteen years ago; instead, he had been killed in this village.
Just a short distance outside the village.
He had borne the stigma of being a murderer for fifteen years until the truth finally came to light.
Ye Sangsang's hypothesis was confirmed—Zhao Xinxin must have followed her father and witnessed either his murder or his burial.
At just nine years old, the enormous shock caused her to faint and develop a high fever when she returned.
Because the memory was too painful, she developed selective amnesia.
It was unclear whether the murderer had seen her or later learned that she had witnessed the crime and decided to silence her.
Ye Sangsang leaned toward the latter—the murderer had inadvertently discovered this information later and subsequently schemed to kill her to cover his tracks.
"Please accept my condolences," Li Li said to Ye Sangsang, standing by her side.
She looked at the bones with a heavy heart.
The man they had hated for fifteen years as the murderer was not the real criminal but another victim like them.
The true culprit had drained their family of money, murdered them, and lived a prosperous life.
A bitter smile crossed her face—had the truth not been uncovered, two more lives would have been lost.
"Do you know the details of their crime? How did those men frame him? I want to know why he ran at the time," Ye Sangsang asked.
The "he" she referred to was naturally Zhao Qing.
As the family member, the police naturally had to provide some explanations.
The interrogation had already concluded the night before.
Since the criminals had already revealed the burial site, they would have also disclosed the motive and process of the crime.
The rain drizzled on, and Sheng Cui, who was clutching Ye Sangsang's hand and weeping, also looked over.
She too wanted to know why her husband had run, since he wasn't the one who committed the crime.
Li Li glanced at Jiang Feng beside her, and the two sighed before recounting everything that happened behind the scenes in detail.
This case involved three perpetrators, who had engaged in some gray industries back then.
However, with the crackdown, their business became difficult.
After discussion, they set their sights on the three victim families.
They began by "accidentally" meeting and making connections with them.
Using their persuasive tongues, they lured the three families into their fabricated investment scam.
The investment was indeed a good one, but it required a difficult-to-obtain certificate.
The trio pretended they had connections and could secure these special certificates.
All it took was money to grease the wheels, about tens or even twenty thousand.
One of the three was a somewhat respected figure locally, so the victim families quickly believed them and began investing money to "facilitate the process."
The scammers convinced them that the money couldn't be transferred via savings accounts or bank cards; it had to be in cash, as the "officials" feared being reported and investigated.
The three families bought into this.
But after the scammers received the money, they began to ignore the families, responding only sporadically with vague promises.
Over time, the families realized they had been deceived.
The first family to realize the fraud threatened to report them to the police, as they had relatives in the force.
If they didn't get their money back, they would have the scammers arrested.
Hearing this, the trio, heartless and ruthless, decided to kill all those who knew about the scam.
They had found new opportunities locally and didn't want to give up their ventures.
After careful planning, they hatched a plan to frame someone else.
They targeted the brother of Zhao Qing's sister, as they knew him well.
They instructed Zhao Qing's sister's boyfriend to contact Zhao Qing for a job, asking him to come to the city to pick up goods at a designated location.
Once Zhao Qing arrived, they drugged his drink with leftover alcohol from the previous night, using the excuse of a business gathering.
Eager to work and unable to refuse, Zhao Qing drank it.
After taking blood samples and obtaining semen from street women, they quickly moved to strike at the first family.
As for the footprints, the killer wore shoes the same size as Zhao Qing's, making it simple to switch.
After waking up, Zhao Qing claimed he had been drunk, so they told him to go deliver the goods.
The delivery route had been meticulously planned to make the police suspect he was casing the area.
The second attack followed the same pattern.
Zhao Qing's poor drinking capacity left him oblivious to the tampering.
To avoid suspicion, they deliberately waited a few days before the third attack.
The three families were strangers to each other.
So when people started dying, no one connected it to the investment scam.
The trio initially considered only killing one family but feared the others might report them.
With blood already spilled, they decided to kill all three.
For the third attack, they again drugged Zhao Qing's drink.
This time, however, they brought a woman to the table, pretending she was Zhao Qing's girlfriend.
After completing the murder, Zhao Qing's aunt's ex-boyfriend woke him up, pointing to the woman beside him, claiming she was the boss's girlfriend.
Big Boss was involved in the underworld and would undoubtedly cut him if he found out.
Seeing Zhao Qing panic, Zhao Qing's aunt's ex-boyfriend pretended to be kind and handed him money from the crime scene, telling him to flee to another city for a couple of months.
Big Boss wasn't one to involve family, so he just needed to lay low for a while.
Zhao Qing, being timid, believed the lies and quickly got dressed, ready to leave.
He hadn't planned on taking the money but was forced to accept it by Zhao Qing's aunt's ex-boyfriend.
As he muttered about repaying it later, he took the money home to his wife, hoping it would sustain her while he was away.
Feeling guilty, Zhao Qing didn't reveal anything to his wife out of fear of worrying her. He knelt to apologize before leaving.
But the murderers were already waiting by the village entrance. As soon as Zhao Qing left the village, they murdered him with a knife.
To avoid detection, they even used a car to transport his body.
Later, they decided the forest here was a better hiding spot and returned a year later to bury the corpse.
The whole murder process went smoothly, and they never noticed they had been seen.
It was only later, when Zhao Xinxin's aunt casually mentioned that Zhao Xinxin had developed a high fever that night, speculating she might have seen something "dirty."
Two years had passed by then.
They began to suspect that Zhao Xinxin had witnessed something and decided to kill her as well.
But it was difficult to find an opportunity, as she rarely ventured out alone.
After several failed attempts, they gave up.
It wasn't until she graduated from university and joined a company that they found a new opportunity.
They hired a hitman, arranged for a victim's family member to be in the area, and planned to kill Zhao Xinxin, framing the victim's family member for the crime.
"If things had gone as planned, you would already be dead," Li Li said to Ye Sangsang, still trembling with fear.
Ye Sangsang remained silent.
In reality, Zhao Xinxin wasn't her, and she died unaware of what was happening.
Feeling guilty, she believed the victim's family member had come, unaware it was a trap.
She didn't know the original case and whether Zhao Xinxin's death had been properly investigated.
Ye Sangsang believed it was likely—with advancements in forensics, the tricks used a decade ago weren't as effective as they once were.
For instance, the abundance of surveillance cameras today wasn't available back then.
She wondered if the people behind it all had been caught.
Sheng Cui's eyes were filled with tears, her expression sorrowful.
Had she asked more questions, her husband wouldn't have died, nor would he have borne the stigma of being a murderer for so many years.
But it was all too late.
Soon, the bones were completely unearthed, and the coroner began taking photographs.
The surrounding area was filled with villagers, all silently observing the scene.
【Ah, all are victims.】
【Victims suffer dearly, while perpetrators thrive.】
【They should get the death penalty; these people are too vicious.】
As an investigator, Ye Sangsang normally had to stay until after the verdict was delivered.
Watching the remains being exhumed, she began to trace the timeline.
The suspects confessed to their murders without reservation, and with the evidence extracted from Zhao Qing, the three masterminds were sentenced to death in the first trial.
They appealed, but their appeal was dismissed. Due to the heinous nature of the crime, the original verdict was upheld.
When the judgment arrived in Ye Sangsang's hands, the case was officially closed.
At this point, no additional evidence was needed for closure, saving Ye Sangsang the trouble.
【Congratulations to player Ye Sangsang for perfectly completing the "Dark River" case instance. Instance evaluation: SSS.】
【Congratulations to player Ye Sangsang for receiving the SSS-level completion reward: Team Card X1.】
After the settlement, Ye Sangsang exited the instance world.
【Congratulations to player for once again perfectly completing an instance. You are one of the most outstanding humans I’ve encountered.】
"Thank you."
Ye Sangsang smiled, noticing an unread message notification.
【It’s all the details of this case. You can click to view.】
"New feature?"
【Yes, it’s for many broadcasters who want to know the full story, avoiding the time wasted searching online.】
Ye Sangsang clicked on the message, and the virtual popup changed, with many texts appearing.
The case details revealed that the incident began in 2000, reassuring Ye Sangsang.
The case first described the methods of the crime, time, and process in 2000, then jumped to 2015, detailing Zhao Xinxin's murder case.
When the police arrived at the scene and investigated Zhao Xinxin's death, they initially concluded it was a revenge murder by the victim's family.
At the same time, they quickly reviewed the surrounding surveillance footage, finding traces of what seemed like a victim’s family member stalking.
They swiftly located and investigated the victim's family, discovering they had rented a house in the same neighborhood.
Upon arriving at the house, they found the victim’s family member had overdosed on sleeping pills and died.
The scene indicated the room was occupied only by the victim’s family member, with all evidence of the crime present.
The police initially believed it was a revenge-driven suicide.
However, further investigation quickly overturned this theory, for they discovered a fingerprint left accidentally by the killer during the stalking.
This fingerprint did not match the victim’s family member, leading the police to believe it was a case of murder framed as suicide.
Deeper investigation revealed that more than one person had entered and exited the residence of the victim’s family.
After reviewing various surveillance footage, they quickly identified the killer and the middle-aged man.
Through the confessions of Li Li and Jiang Feng, the victim’s family members, the real perpetrators behind the crime surfaced.
Ultimately, after a month of diligent investigation by the police, the full truth was unearthed.
The case was completely resolved.
Like in the game instance, all involved parties were sentenced to death.
An exception was that in the instance, Zhao Xinxin didn’t die, and the killer wasn’t sentenced to death.
As for the middle-aged man, he was one of the trio and received the "death sentence package."
【Thank goodness, everyone who deserved it in real life got their just desserts.】
【I was really worried the case wouldn’t be solved, and the real culprits would get away.】
【My heart feels heavy; because of their greed, so many lives were lost.】
The live stream also showed the case details, and the chat was flooded with messages as the information unfolded.
After reading, Ye Sangsang paused, noticing a line that had little to do with the case itself.
The font was different from the previous texts, hand-written.
"If you survived the instance, I, on behalf of my daughter, thank you for giving her a good ending in that world."
Ye Sangsang knew this was written by Zhao Xinxin's mother by reading it aloud.
This case was likely also agreed upon by her to be uploaded and made into a game instance.
Hopefully, she’s found peace after the loss of her daughter.
Whether she has or not, after the public test, if she misses her, she can visit her within the instance.
If not fast-forwarded, the instance will continuously simulate; she saved her daughter, and can witness her life for a long time.
At this moment, the game instance gained meaning.
Regarding whether it could lead to obsession, Ye Sangsang felt it wouldn’t. At least when exiting the game, the vague memories would help one stay clear-headed.
After glancing through the chat, Ye Sangsang closed the live stream.
She hadn’t yet inquired about the team card.
【There are 72 hours left before the team mode updates. After that, game instances can accommodate 5 or more players.】
【Once team games stabilize, "Criminal Archives" officially enters public testing.】
Perhaps aware of what Ye Sangsang wanted to ask, the superintelligence gave the answer she sought.
Ye Sangsang raised an eyebrow; it seems the public test isn’t far off.
After chatting for a while, Ye Sangsang, seeing the time, decided to log off.
It was an ordinary day, except Ye Sangsang had a superintelligence as a conversation partner and found her leg movements more convenient.
In the following days, Ye Sangsang quickly cleared two instances.
Ironically, both reward instances granted her team cards.
She didn’t accept them, as she believed that if team strength disparity was too great, she’d struggle to advance timelines or face the need to restart with her teammates.
So even after 72 hours and the team mode’s launch, Ye Sangsang still chose not to enter any team games.
It wasn’t until ten days later, with "Criminal Archives" nearing the end of its public test—a month-long event—about to conclude.
Upon the superintelligence’s inquiry if Ye Sangsang wanted to try a group instance before the public test ended, she accepted.
The superintelligence told her that the team members would include the four strongest broadcasters currently.
She’d have a good gaming experience with them.
This team-up quickly attracted immense attention.
Upon entering the live stream, Ye Sangsang’s viewer count shot up to over two million in no time.
Her popularity swiftly climbed to the top.
The game instance was already pre-selected; Ye Sangsang only needed to click to enter after the countdown.
【Player, greetings. You’ve entered the game.】
【Instance "Perfect Murder" begins. Please follow the game rules.】
【Your identity card has been drawn.】
【Criminal.】
【Your mission in this instance is—to perfectly commit a crime.】
