In the game Lin Jiu had provided, Fang Tian had spent over half an hour cracking the clues, peeling them back layer by layer to finally pin Song Cai as the "mastermind behind it all." But now he had to spend the time ahead overturning his own verdict, finding some way to prove Song Cai's innocence. This back-and-forth made him feel rather like a clown.
Still, Lin Jiu had drunk the "jasmine tea" Fang Tian offered, and her emotions were gradually steadying — only the fleshy buds coiled around Song Cai hadn't receded in the slightest. She stood to one side, silently waiting for him to go on.
Fang Tian knew the Calming Tea Leaves alone were far from enough. The tea's mood-steadying effect lasted about 30 minutes, and within those 30 minutes he had to talk Lin Jiu into sparing Song Cai. Even if he had to invent a halfway-decent reason, he had to invent one. He knew full well that to change Lin Jiu's mind, he could only go back to the case itself.
For instance, the game Lin Jiu had given him still held a few points he hadn't been able to make sense of.
"Before I rushed over here, I went over the three-year-old case with Officer Feng. She said that three years ago, no one, in any statement, ever mentioned the puppet monster that hunted you."
"So what?"
"So there's plenty here that doesn't add up. You told me the reason you went to Cat Whisper Café that night was to meet an online friend. Suppose the person who invited you was Song Cai, and he'd already laid out a plan to attack you — that plan would have far too many holes. He'd have to make sure the main hall was packed when you arrived, and that you ended up alone in the cubicle. Anyone passing by in that window could have spotted the puppet monster and called the police."
If you fingered Song Cai as the real killer without resolving the remaining doubts, then the three-year-old disappearance looked like a murder pulled off on pure luck —— only with luck so absurdly good that even heaven lent a hand could he have attacked Lin Jiu under so many noses without being seen.
Song Cai couldn't speak, but hearing someone defend him, he nodded over and over, all but bursting into tears.
Lin Jiu was unmoved. "Maybe he was just lucky."
"Then what was the point of the attack?"
Fang Tian raised a second question, one he'd thought up on the spot after reading Song Cai's circumstances in the car. "The disappearance three years ago directly caused Cat Whisper Café to fold. As the attendant, Song Cai lost his job, took seven odd jobs one after another, and now has to work at a market and live in a dump like this."
From Lin Jiu casually gifting him a game skin worth over ten thousand, Fang Tian could guess her family was rather well-off. So the only motive he could think of for Song Cai was kidnapping Lin Jiu to extort ransom from her parents — but from the wounds on her body, the attacker had been out to kill from the start.
Lin Jiu didn't argue. She lowered her head, lost in some thought of her own.
Seeing this, Fang Tian struck while the iron was hot. "If you kill Song Cai now, you'll seal the three-year-old case shut for good — define the killer as an ordinary criminal with no motive to speak of, who killed on luck alone, and all the remaining doubts will likely never come to light. Lin Jiu, you've searched for three years. Do you really think the killer you've been hunting all this time is a man like this?"
Lin Jiu shot Song Cai a glance.
This skeletal man had long since dissolved into tears. Hanging upside down, snot and drool smearing his face, the smell of blood in the room now seemed laced with the faint reek of urine; at some point a wet patch had spread across Song Cai's patched trousers.
She frowned, her gaze returning to Fang Tian, as if waiting for him to continue. She also saw Feng Xi, standing soundlessly outside the rental door — gun gripped in both hands, her face carrying not just wariness now but a flicker of astonishment.
"I'll help you find the real culprit. You know where I live. If I've lied to you, you can find me anytime."
At that, Lin Jiu finally gave a slight nod. The buds coiled around Song Cai like thick rope loosened and, all at once, retracted into the vent. With a muffled "thud," the lower half of Song Cai's body was spat out; he hit the floor face-first, his front teeth cracking hard against it.
There wasn't a patch of unbroken skin on Song Cai's body. The pain in his front teeth made him want to weep, even as it gave him the feeling of a man returned from the brink of death.
As Song Cai rolled about on the floor in pain, dragging a smear of blood across it, the ventilation pipe overhead had already vanished without a trace. Lin Jiu took a step toward the still-lit computer screen, and beneath the midnight moonlight her figure gradually dimmed, until at last she seemed swallowed into the screen.
At the same time, a dialogue box popped up out of thin air.
『Quest: "Ghost Server, and the Player Who Doesn't Exist" (Difficulty: F-rank). You received a mysterious link inviting you to play a game together.』
『Quest updated: uncover the truth of the disappearance together with Lin Jiu.』
『Special reminder: Lin Jiu can now fight for you.』
Fang Tian figured this was likely the final step of the F-rank quest series, because after the quest updated, the system popped up a Lin Jiu character panel for the first time.
『Congratulations, Player, you have obtained a new Compendium entry and gained 1 free attribute point.』
『Lin Jiu (Ghost / Aberration): a girl who vanished in the Cat Whisper Café case three years ago; a ghost able to travel freely through the online world.』
『Danger level: F-rank』
『Weakness: unknown』
『Note: she has begun trending toward aberration, her emotions often unstable. Appreciator, please make friends with caution.』
***
"Fang Tian, Fang Tian!"
Feng Xi's shout dragged him back to reality. He noticed she'd already given Song Cai some basic first aid — though the man's eyes were still vacant and dull, staring fixedly ahead, his mouth muttering, "Ghost, there's a ghost!"
"Song Cai needs further treatment. I have to take him back to the station."
"Sure, go ahead. I'll grab a cab back to school."
"No. You're coming back with me."
"Really, I'm not hurt. This is the perfect time to catch up on sleep."
"I still have questions for you. I heard the last thing you agreed on with Lin Jiu. If you can't help her find the killer, today's Song Cai will be your fate."
Feng Xi saw through the evasion in his eyes and weighted her words. "So from this moment on, you are a party to the case. You have a duty to cooperate with our investigation, and we have a duty to protect your safety."