“The painting clearly records the scene of the pregnant woman being murdered by a knife-wielding man.”
The editor-in-chief was furious to the extreme: “I am telling you, if you do not go apologize to President Yin today, you do not need to come in tomorrow.”
“Come if you dare, I am not even happy to do this anymore!” With that, Shu Lan flung her press badge right in front of the man.
“Fine, you have guts!” The editor-in-chief flicked his sleeve and walked away.
“Who cares about you.”
Afterward, Shu Lan pulled out her keys and unlocked the door.
Although the reporter’s home was not large, it had all the essentials, exuding warmth and a strong sense of daily life everywhere.
However, the most eye-catching thing was the deity statue placed right at the entrance of the living room.
The statue was exquisitely carved, holding a sword in its right hand and a brush in its left, with a compassionate expression and a universal love for all living beings.
“Come on in, make yourselves at home and be casual.” Shu Lan brought out disposable slippers and then scurried off toward the kitchen.
The moment Mu Li stepped inside, he walked straight toward the deity statue, resting his chin in his hand as he scrutinized it closely.
Why did this look so familiar at first glance? Who on earth did it resemble? He could not figure it out.
He turned his head again and caught sight of the calendar hanging by the door: June 5. Glancing at the year, he hurriedly took it down to show them.
“Are we eighteen years in the past?”
Feng Yi was given a fright the moment he saw today’s date; the time difference between the world inside the painting and the real world was actually this massive.
Mu Li hung the calendar back up.
Shu Lan brought out hot pot base ingredients and a pile of food items: “We do not have anything fancy to treat you with at home, so let us just casually eat something.”
“How could that be right?” Mu Li said with a smile, while his body instantly materialized at the dining table, pressing his hands against the chair with an eager look.
He could finally recover some health points; the player loved this part of the process.
Feng Yi and the bespectacled passenger exchanged glances and also took seats at the table.
The hot pot was set to boiling, and the rich aroma drifted outward.
Everyone had been on the train for so long and was naturally starving.
“Sister Lan, what was the deal with that painting you mentioned?” Mu Li asked between bites.
The other two wanted the answer to this question as well, lifting their gazes to look toward the reporter.
“Oh, I just saw it inside the station platform.” Shu Lan picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks.
“There were a lot of people getting on and off the train, when a knife-wielding man rushed in and murdered a pregnant woman. Everyone was terrified out of their wits; I can still remember the looks of terror in the eyes of the passengers nearby to this day.”
“Then where is that painting now?” Feng Yi also raised his chopsticks.
“I do not know. It was probably taken away by the man who painted it.” Shu Lan shook her head.
“Do you happen to know who the painter was?” Feng Yi blurted out another question.
Upon hearing this question.
Mu Li and the bespectacled passenger slammed their bowls down and lunged forward to clamp their hands over Shu Lan’s mouth in a flash.
The movement was so abrupt that it startled Feng Yi, causing him to drop his chopsticks.
Simultaneously, the deity statue in the living room suddenly toppled over with a heavy thud. Everyone instinctively looked toward it before snapping their heads right back.
“What is wrong with you two?” Feng Yi picked up his chopsticks.
Why did the two of them suddenly synchronize their actions like that?
Mu Li was terrified out of his wits, nearly flipping the table over. The previous lesson was still fresh in his memory; he certainly did not want to be burned by fire a second time.
To be cautious, he asked the reporter: “Do you know the painter’s name?”
Shu Lan’s mouth was covered, so she could not speak and could only shake her head.
Both of them let out a sigh of relief and released their grip.
Mu Li reminded Feng Yi:
“I think a painting this dangerous is better left unquestioned regarding the painter’s name. What if whoever made it does not want their identity known and slaps some sort of taboo curse on anyone who has seen them?”
“Huh? What kind of taboo?” Feng Yi was dumbfounded, but the two of them had clammed up again.
He looked at this one, then at that one, having no idea what kind of secret game they were playing.
Once released, Shu Lan immediately stood up to right the deity statue, muttering in confusion: “How did the statue fall over? Was the wind too strong?”
“Right, I wanted to ask just now.” Mu Li raised his hand high: “Who is this deity? Why put him in the living room?”
Now it was the three of them looking at each other in bewilderment.
“This is the Divine Son.” After propping the deity statue back up, Shu Lan picked up a cloth nearby to wipe away the dust.
“Divine Son?” Mu Li tilted his head.
“Yes, Divine Son Lixi.”
The moment he heard that name, Mu Li spat out a mouthful of soup.
He nearly sprayed it all over Feng Yi, springing up like a frightened cat: “Do not spray that toward me.”
The bespectacled passenger hurriedly grabbed some tissues and wiped the corners of the youth’s mouth.
“Wait, who did you say?” Mu Li dropped his chopsticks, stood up, and stared in utter disbelief.
“Eh, you do not know? Is this not common knowledge everywhere?” After saying that, Feng Yi looked toward the reporter and the bespectacled passenger.
The bespectacled passenger nodded: “Indeed, stories of the Divine Son descending to vanquish demons are very popular among the older generation.”
However, Mu Li was an orphan; the orphanage probably did not teach such lore, so it was completely normal for him not to know.
Mu Li remained in a state of continuous shock: “Huh?”
“Come on, when I was a child, I always thought the Divine Son vanquishing demons was just a mythological story.” Feng Yi sat back down. “It was only when I encountered an evil spirit at age fifteen that I learned it was actually real.”
“No, this Divine Son is also named Lixi?” Mu Li pointed at the deity statue, an extremely bizarre expression on his face.
“Oh, you must mean General Lixi of the ancient Feng Dynasty sharing the same name, right? But actually, they are the same person. Legend has it that was his mortal incarnation.” Shu Lan straightened the deity statue.
The Feng Dynasty?
A general?
Mu Li’s jaw dropped wide enough to swallow an egg.
How on earth did his main account’s legendary deeds turn into a video game plot?
That was simply too absurd!
He hurriedly opened the game interface and switched to his main account. Very well, it still could not be interacted with.
The moment he clicked on his avatar, a line of text appeared:
[The player has perished together with the BOSS.]
[Congratulations to the player on achieving the Bad Ending.]
Mu Li let out a cold sound upon reading those lines, then scrolled further down.
He discovered that when the previous pixel version was upgraded and replaced with a holographic version, there had been a game plot submission event.
He had checked a box for his main account.
Oh, well that settled it.
Mu Li wiped his face, sat back down, and cleared his throat: “Ahem, let us continue talking about that pregnant woman.”
He finally understood why that deity statue looked so familiar; it had literally been carved using his own model.
The developers had to be doing this on purpose!
After placing the deity statue upright, Shu Lan dragged a whiteboard out from the study.
Then she began explaining to them just like a teacher during a lecture.
“The course of events was like this: the knife-wielding man murdered the victim, the passengers called for emergency services and reported it to the police, and the knife-wielding man fled the station.” Shu Lan wrote it down as she spoke, marking arrows to indicate the sequence.
“The ambulance arrived first, and after an examination, the doctors pronounced her dead. Here is the crucial part: she was not sent to a hospital, nor was she sent to a police station. She was sent directly to a crematorium.”
Shu Lan drew a massive exclamation mark in red ink next to “crematorium.”
“Destroying the corpse to eliminate evidence?” These four words popped up in everyone’s minds.
“Was the pregnant woman burned to ashes, which is why she disappeared?”
“No.” Shu Lan shook her head, writing on the whiteboard again. “The police rushed over immediately to stop the staff, but they could not find any trace of the pregnant woman whatsoever. A subsequent carpet search turned up zero clues.”
“I see.” Feng Yi looked thoughtful. “So the victim simply vanished like that.”
“Let us go through this step by step. This doctor pronounced the pregnant woman dead and was also the one who took her to the crematorium; he must know quite a lot.” Mu Li directed the spearhead toward the doctor.
None of the three had any objections: “Then we will go find the doctor as soon as we finish eating.”
Shu Lan had talked so much that her throat was parched, so she paused to take a sip of the tomato soup: “Mm.”
Suddenly frowning, she rushed to the restroom and vomited violently.
“What is wrong with her?” Feng Yi asked in confusion.
Mu Li blocked his mouth with a hand and whispered softly: “She is not human, after all. She probably cannot consume human food.”
Feng Yi realized the truth: when they first met her, she had already turned into a skeleton, and she was likely just a walking corpse now.
Shu Lan came back out: “Strange, I usually love eating tomatoes. Why does it taste so weird today?”
Her sole wish was to report the absolute truth about the entire incident.
Mu Li whispered a suggestion: “Once we investigate and clear all this up, should we also look into the cause of this reporter’s death?”
“Agreed!”
Without further ado.
Shu Lan led them to a hospital.
Mu Li found it very familiar: “Is this not the same hospital that checked me earlier?”
The red dot on the mini-map overlapped once again.
“Yes, but at this point in time, it had not fully developed yet; it is just a small hospital.” Feng Yi took a look around.
The four of them walked through the doors, and Shu Lan approached the front desk: “We are looking for Dr. Yang.”
The receptionist took one look at them and asked with a suspicious tone: “Are you reporters?”
“Huh?” Shu Lan was stunned. How could she tell at a single glance?
Seeing the look on the person’s face, the receptionist knew she had guessed correctly and hurriedly summoned the security guards.
“There have been so many people looking for Dr. Yang these past few days, and they are all tabloid reporters. If I let you in, I will be out of a job.”
Security guards had already surrounded them.
It seemed plenty of people wanted to report on this case, which was not surprising. However, the receptionist’s flat refusal to allow interviews made it feel off right away.
Mu Li wanted to step forward and pressure the young woman.
Instead, he heard Shu Lan say: “Wait, we are not reporters. I am here to pick up a medical checkup report.”
She was not lying, either; she had just resigned from her position under the editor-in-chief.
Hearing this, the security guards paused and looked toward the receptionist to see whether they should continue.
The receptionist began flipping through the logs: “What is your name?” She looked as though she would have security throw them all out if the name was not in the records.
“Shu Lan.”
The receptionist flipped through the pages and actually found the name, signaling the security guards to stand down: “You should have said so earlier. If you are picking up a checkup report, go to the main lobby.”
They let out a collective breath of relief, turned around, and entered the hospital, but they did not head toward the lobby.
Since the front desk was already this vigilant, the rest of the hospital staff would certainly be even less inclined to talk.
They decided to ask a patient instead.
In the second-floor hallway, they finally tracked down an informed patient, who pointed toward the depths of the corridor: “You mean Dr. Yang? He is in the third examination room down that way.”
After offering their thanks, they walked toward the examination room.
“That does not make sense.” Mu Li suddenly felt puzzled. “Something this major happened, and reporters even chased after him. Why is Dr. Yang still holding regular clinic hours?”
Shu Lan spread her hands: “Because the passengers all changed their stories, unanimously claiming that no one was injured. The deceased is gone, the witnesses are gone, and everything has been brushed off as a mere freak accident.”
Mu Li let out an “oh” of understanding: “Since it is classified as a freak accident, Dr. Yang’s criminal act of sending the deceased to the crematorium no longer holds up legally.”
They formed a surrounding formation outside the examination room doors to ensure he could not possibly escape.
Feng Yi kicked the door open and rushed inside, but found no trace of anyone.
Mu Li suddenly heard the sound of a thermos dropping to the floor behind him and turned his head to look.
He spotted a man staring at them in sheer terror, his face drained of color as if he had just seen a ghost.
After letting out a shrill scream, the man turned around and fled in a stumbling panic.
Mu Li and Shu Lan immediately gave chase upon seeing this. Hearing the commotion, Feng Yi emerged from the room, spotted Mu Li’s retreating figure, and hurried to follow.
The bespectacled passenger trailed lazily behind them.
Mu Li ran fast, cutting across an intersecting hallway: “You guys keep chasing him; I will head ahead to cut him off.”
Dr. Yang spotted the exit and prepared to flee outside, only to realize a youth had somehow blocked his path ahead.
Glancing backward, he saw that woman chasing right after him.
With pursuers both ahead and behind him, he had no choice but to head for the stairs.
Catching up to each other, the two exchanged glances and continued following.
Dr. Yang had no other options left and could only sprint all the way up to the rooftop. This was the sixth floor; taking one step forward meant plunging into an abyss.
There was no way out.
At that moment, both Mu Li and Shu Lan caught up, blocking him right at the rooftop entrance.
Mu Li slowly closed the distance: “You cannot run anymore. Tell us everything you know.”
However, Dr. Yang’s expression was clearly abnormal, his face streaked with tears as he trembled and slowly backed away:
“I did not kill you! You were already dead by the time I arrived. Why are you coming after me?”
Mu Li glanced behind him. Aside from the three of them, there was absolutely no one else there.
Who was he talking to?
“Then why did you send the deceased to the crematorium? Who gave you orders?”
Dr. Yang did not dare meet their eyes at all:
“It was that knife-wielding mental patient. His family gave me a huge sum of money to have you sent to the crematorium. They said everything had already been taken care of.”
At that moment, Feng Yi arrived on the rooftop as well: “What about the deceased? Why did she disappear?”
Dr. Yang’s legs shook violently, looking on the verge of a complete breakdown: “I really do not know! If you want revenge, go find that mental patient, do not look for me, do not look for me.”
As he spoke, he kept backing up until he was nearly at the edge of the rooftop.
One more step backward and he would plummet right over!