The loading circle on the screen finally vanished, replaced by a flood of posts about the "serial killer" in Sleepland.
Yan Jing skimmed the results and zeroed in on the two most useful threads.
One had been posted three months ago, while the other was from over two years back.
It matched the newspaper's claim—the serial killer had struck again after lying dormant for two or three years.
Yan Jing clicked the older post first.
Likely due to its age, the original poster's account showed as deleted.
The thread detailed one of the poster's Dungeon missions.
At the time, he was at the First Tier and had initiated a Ritual.
Originally, the task was simply to help the people of Sleepland clean up dreams, but midway through, they were suddenly notified of a mission change.
The reason, naturally, was the appearance of the serial killer.The leader of Sleepland despised this murderer for continuously striking in their territory and issued a Wanted Order.
Whoever caught him would be rewarded with a purple-quality item usable at the First Tier.
Purple-quality items were immensely valuable to begin with, and one usable at the First Tier was exceedingly rare.
Obtaining it would essentially secure the Rite required for the Second Ritual, allowing the player to rival even the top geniuses from the Clans.
So the players at the time went completely crazy, believing they had stumbled upon a massive windfall.
But unexpectedly, in just two short days, that "luck" devolved into a lingering nightmare.
Because the serial killer had only just appeared, information on him was incomplete. No one knew he was skilled at disguise.
So the players quickly fell into his traps, dying one after another.
According to the poster, the players at the time didn't dare go off alone. Once isolated, their former companions would no longer trust their identity, leaving them completely stranded.
And picking them off one by one was exactly what that killer did best.
By the time the Dungeon ended two days later, surprisingly, only four players had survived.
At the very end of the post, the poster wrote:
"I still don't dare fall asleep. I'm afraid I'll dream about the scenes from that Dungeon."
"I will never forget it. In the final two hours before the Dungeon ended, my friend and I were already celebrating our survival."
"But in the very next second, a companion standing beside us suddenly pulled out a Dagger and slit the throat of the friend I was talking to."
"I can no longer be considered a rookie, but as warm blood sprayed across my face and the companion who had fought alongside us smiled at me, casually slitting the throat of another stunned friend nearby, my body still couldn't stop trembling."
"Thankfully, in those final moments, I managed to keep my Mental Immunity Value from dropping below 60."
"He turned and left. He was incredibly fast and seemed to have some sort of speed-boosting ability."
"After leaving the Dungeon, I constantly recalled the details, trying to find a single flaw in that guy, but I only fell into confusion."
"His imitation of my companion was exactly the same, right down to his habitual movements."
"I asked the other surviving players, but they were badly terrified as well. Two of them refused to discuss the topic. The last guy briefly compared notes with me, and we didn't find anything unusual either."
"The only suspicious point was that when the guy impersonated my companion, he claimed he had caught a cold, and when he impersonated that other guy's companion, he said the food from the night before was too spicy."
"Does that guy get sick after disguising himself as someone else?"
"In the end, I had to give up investigating. I can only write this post to warn everyone not to choose the Sleepland Dungeon anytime soon."
"A cold... getting sick..."
Yan Jing read through the post carefully but didn't find any definitive clues.
But he didn't come up completely empty-handed, either.
The poster mentioned that, judging by the victims, Sleepland estimated the killer's rank to be around the First Tier.
Combined with Yan Jing's own experience of being hunted down while incarnated as the Cameraman, he could basically confirm that the guy's strength hadn't grown by much.
It was highly likely he hadn't yet broken through to the Second Tier.
Next, Yan Jing looked at the post from three months ago.
Its contents were largely the same. People in Sleepland had suddenly started dying, their throats likewise slit in a single, fatal strike.
The only difference was that this time, after the Sleepland Dungeon issued a Wanted Order, there were no large-scale casualties.
The players, in particular, had a very high survival rate; only one or two unlucky souls lost their lives.
Furthermore, the inner world residents who died in Sleepland this time were almost all ordinary citizens without a Tier. There wasn't even a single First Tier among them.
This led Sleepland to believe that the serial killer might have suffered some sort of accident, causing his strength to decline rather than increase.
Yan Jing closed his eyes and began organizing the available clues. He vaguely felt that he was on the verge of touching the truth.
But the truth was like an onion, wrapped in layer after layer. If he wanted to peel it completely, he had only one option left.
He first sent a friend request to Xu Weizhou, then summoned his System Panel.
Because his current character was neither dead nor fully unlocked, the [Draw Character] option on the panel was grayed out.
He selected [Historical Archives].
He selected [Yi Ji].
He selected [Enter the Inner World].
[...The journey to the Inner World is about to begin. The reward mechanics for this journey are...]
[Welcome to the Inner World.]
Opening his eyes again, Yan Jing found himself standing in the corner of a clearing. It was the same spot where he had logged out last time.
First, he found the place where he had buried the Key, which wasn't far away. After slipping the Key into his pocket, Yan Jing looked at the distant crowd and suddenly felt uneasy.
He felt as though something was missing, undermining his sense of security, as if a figure could dart out from a dark corner at any moment with a Dagger aimed straight at his throat.
Taking a deep breath, Yan Jing turned right, passed three trash cans, and then took a left turn. He saw Mantou, who was just about to head out, along with the heart above her head.
[70/100]
Now he felt at ease.
Yan Jing breathed a sigh of relief and walked over.
Mantou was currently trying to strap on her scooter helmet with trembling hands.
It was an action she performed every morning, but the difficulty was a bit high, so she couldn't guarantee success on the first try.
Suddenly, a pair of large hands reached under her neck and easily snapped the helmet buckle shut.
"Yi... Ji..."
Mantou looked at Yan Jing, who had suddenly appeared beside her, in pleasant surprise.
"Good morning."
Yan Jing's tone was gentle:
"Do you want to head to the market together today?"
"Okay... Okay..."
Mantou's brown eyes lit up. With a slight tremble, her hand reached into her jacket pocket, pulled out a stack of Eerie Coins, and held them out to Yan Jing:
"Yi... Ji... This is... from what we sold... yesterday..."
It was a total of twelve 100-denomination Eerie Coins. She shakily tried to stuff them into Yan Jing's arms.
But Yan Jing separated half of them, slipped them into her pocket, and smiled:
"Half and half."
As Mantou stared at him blankly, he explained: "You supplied the steamed buns, Mantou, and I supplied the stall. We split it evenly."
"Thank you for watching the stall for me yesterday."
"No... no... need to... thank me..."
Mantou lowered her head, her voice as faint as a mosquito's.
The two of them walked side by side toward the market.
Remembering the human who had come to buy steamed buns yesterday, Mantou looked up at Yan Jing, wanting to thank him.
But seeing that Yan Jing showed no sign of bringing the matter up, a flush of red crept up her neck, and she was ultimately too embarrassed to say it out loud.
'Next time. I'll say it next time.'
She silently cheered herself on.
They soon arrived at the market. It was still early, but uncharacteristically, quite a few people had already shown up.
The crowd consisted of Rotten Vegetable Village residents. Instead of staying at their own stalls, they had formed a tight circle, completely surrounding a particular spot.
Yan Jing looked in that direction. It seemed to be his own stall.
"Excuse me, did something happen up ahead?"
He asked an inner world resident who was standing on tiptoes at the edge of the crowd, trying to get a look.
Unexpectedly, the person glanced back at Yan Jing, immediately stumbled backward several steps as if they had seen a ghost, and stared at him with wary, fearful eyes.
Yan Jing's heart sank, but he continued leading Mantou forward.
Soon, it wasn't just that one person. Upon noticing his arrival, the tight circle of onlookers immediately scattered, retreating to the sides to sneak glances at Yan Jing.
Only when Yan Jing got closer did he realize the crowd hadn't been surrounding his stall after all.
It was the stall belonging to the old lady on his right.
The small wooden table there, used to display vegetables, was currently pasted with two crossed white strips.
This meant the stall had been sealed off.
"You're here."
Old Liu wasn't reading his newspaper today, nor was he wearing sunglasses. Judging by his expression, it seemed he had been waiting for Yan Jing to arrive.
"What happened to the old lady?"
Yan Jing asked as he and Mantou sat down.
"You haven't heard?"
Old Liu's expression was more serious than ever.
"No."
Yan Jing shook his head.
"She's dead."
Old Liu lowered his voice, his gaze locked onto Yan Jing's face, as if trying to catch the slightest movement from that camera head.
Yan Jing's heart truly skipped a beat, but since this camera head could only move its mouth, Old Liu naturally couldn't see anything.
"Everyone thinks I did it?"
Yan Jing chuckled.
"That's just the guess of a small fraction. After all, a lot of people saw what happened between you and her the day before yesterday."
Old Liu put away his serious expression:
"This morning, the Order Management Bureau issued an announcement saying that the serial killer is currently in the village."
"More people think it was that guy's doing."
He reached down to grab a notice placed under the table. As he did, Yan Jing caught a glimpse of a large tear at the wrist of his overcoat, revealing a scar underneath that looked like a fresh wound.
"What happened to your arm?"
Old Liu didn't answer his question. Instead, he placed the notice into Yan Jing's hands and said, "I believe the latter theory, because late last night, I ran into that guy."
'He ran into that guy, so the wound on his arm is...'
Hearing that Old Liu might have encountered the killer, Yan Jing wished he could interrogate him about the situation right then and there. But he suppressed his impatience, took the notice, and began to read.
[Emergency Notice]
[The serial killer known as the 'Disguiser', who previously committed crimes in Sleepland and Solitude Lane, has been spotted in Rotten Vegetable Village.]
[In accordance with the regulations of the Order Management Bureau, an S-Rank alert is now in effect. The village will be locked down for three days, and we vow to bring him to justice.]
[Please stay safe, do not travel alone, and be wary of acquaintances acting strangely around you.]
Yan Jing put down the notice and looked at Old Liu's arm:
"So your arm was injured by the—"
"It was definitely the 'Disguiser' who did it."
Chen Nian's voice drifted over from the side, sounding much weaker than before.
Yan Jing wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he heard a faint crackle of static under the voice, like a static-filled microphone from the Surface World.
He looked up and saw Chen Nian walking toward them.
His face was as pale as ever, and he wore a mask. Noticeably, he had changed into a white high-collared jacket today, completely concealing his neck.
"The old guy was definitely hurt by that guy called the 'Disguiser'."
Chen Nian said, pulling his collar down to reveal layers of bandages wrapped around his neck:
"Because late last night, I ran into that guy, too."