novelraw Chapter 41: Sea of Darkness - (41)
Chapter 41: Sea of Darkness - (41)
Because there was little information available about Depriver No. 233, the players could only analyze up to this point.
In the first death notification, players only knew that Depriver No. 233 had committed murder.
Who did Depriver No. 233 kill? In which city did he commit the murder? Why did he do it? What is his true identity? … These critical questions remained unanswered for the players.
Finally, the second death notification allowed players to gain more insights into Depriver No. 233 through a series of events.
Who did Depriver No. 233 kill? Fang Zhi.
In which city? Tonglin City.
Why did he kill? For a quest.
What is his true identity? A resident of the Jingchu region.
From complete ignorance to being able to narrow down possibilities, it took just one notification and one quest.
[464L: If Depriver 233 doesn’t cease his actions, it will become increasingly difficult for him to conceal his tracks until he is fully exposed. There’s a very crucial question I want to ask—how powerful is Depriver 233? Is he strong enough to contend against all players and even rival the lethal force of firearms? If he isn’t at that level, unless there’s something wrong with his mind, he’ll surely go into hiding from now on, making it extremely challenging for us to trace his movements again.][465L: I believe Depriver 233 won’t stop killing; he needs to upgrade. Once there’s one instance, there will likely be more.]
At post 465, the discussion about Deprivers abruptly halted.
This was due to the forum’s new notifications containing two death alerts, which caused an uproar among the players.
The subsequent threads in this highly active post not only focused on discussing Depriver No. 233, but also included an analysis of Depriver No. 777.
Depriver No. 777… The numbering pattern seems quite regular, reminiscent of Kui Xin’s own number, 233. She couldn’t help but suspect that perhaps all Depriver numbers concealed some sort of consistent rule. However, there are currently too few known Deprivers to support her conjecture.
As the second Depriver to gain recognition on the forum after Kui Xin, the existence of No. 777 held immense significance.
His emergence indicated that more Deprivers were hidden among the populace.
“Three individuals: Proxy No. 388 killed Proxy No. 1339, and then Depriver No. 777 killed Proxy No. 388. These three players must have had some connections in the real world.”
First Floor: “If there was just one report of a Depriver killing a Proxy, I would be ninety-nine percent certain that the Depriver’s purpose is solely to seize superhuman abilities. However, these two reports suggest something unusual. Based on the simplest logical deduction, could it be that Depriver No. 777 and Proxy No. 1339 were friends? After Proxy No. 388 killed Proxy No. 1339, the Depriver sought revenge by killing Proxy No. 388. Alternatively, all three might have been friends, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, they turned against each other, leading to a chaotic fight where the other two died, and Depriver No. 777 emerged as the ultimate victor?”
8L: The actions of Depriver No. 233 next door made me envision a two-hour crime action film, while the deeds of Depriver No. 777 conjure up an ethical drama filled with love, hatred, and emotional conflicts.
9L replying to 8L: Don’t make light of others’ suffering; it’s not remotely funny. If we must compare it to a movie, then it would be a chilling horror film—a real-world horror unfolding before our eyes.
10L: Judging from the number of posts in Chinese versus foreign languages on this forum, Chinese players don’t have any significant numerical advantage. The game “Crimson Earth” doesn’t favor nationality specifically. Therefore, Depriver No. 777 is not necessarily Chinese; it could be a foreigner. It can’t be that unlucky for two consecutive murderous Deprivers to both be from here.
11L: I’m genuinely puzzled. This is modern society—aren’t they afraid of getting caught after committing murder?
12L: If they were afraid, they wouldn’t do it. Their confidence in killing might stem from their superhuman abilities.
13L: Don’t forget that some countries abroad have no restrictions on firearms. Killing someone overseas is much easier compared to doing it domestically; our country is relatively safer.
27L: Now it’s even worse—not only do Deprivers kill Proxies, but Proxies also kill each other. The motivation for Deprivers to commit murder might be driven by personal gain, but what about the Proxy? Can we still trust anyone in this world?
28L: I believe that evil has never stemmed from a specific identity or group; it can only originate from individual actions. Being a Depriver and the pursuit of self-interest cannot justify taking another’s life. Good people don’t suddenly turn bad just because they become Deprivers, and being a Proxy doesn’t mean one should automatically be considered an exemplary citizen. Evil lies within human hearts, not external factors.
There are seven billion ordinary people in the world, but there are fewer than ten thousand surviving players.
The number of instances where players intersect in the real world is exceedingly rare. If such encounters occur, one could almost consider them to have been chosen by fate. Therefore, finding informed individuals on forums like these is incredibly difficult, unless there’s a situation akin to Kui Xin’s regional quest announcement.
Without the notification following the completion of the regional quest, Kui Xin’s identity would have remained even more concealed.
However, this discussion thread gave Kui Xin an idea. Depriver No. 777 might not necessarily be from China; she should broaden her search beyond just Chinese-language posts.
Up until now, Kui Xin had only learned exam-oriented English, with limited proficiency in spoken language and recognizing words primarily taught in textbooks. Reading English threads was genuinely challenging for her, let alone some posts in other languages.
As a forum with a mix of international players, it implemented a feature where text prompts, floor markers, webpage buttons, and official pinned threads were displayed in Chinese for Chinese users and in their respective national languages for foreign users. This aspect has even been discussed in a separate thread.
Players from different countries sometimes translated for each other in particularly active threads. Although these translations were often machine-generated with numerous errors, they still served as channels for information exchange. Every bit of intelligence was valuable, as having sufficient knowledge was critical to survival in the Second World.
Kui Xin concentrated on searching the homepage for translation threads and foreign keywords amidst a dizzying array of strange letters. After about ten minutes, a user proficient in English posted a translation.
“Translation of a post by user ‘Z·D’ from the neighboring forum; search keywords in English include gun, killer, and police. Summary: A shooting incident occurred in the city mentioned in the original poster about one and a half hours ago. He suspects that the shooter is a Depriver and is asking if the time of the shooting aligns with the death notifications on the forum.”
First Floor: Here’s the translated content below, which corresponds to the posts made by the original poster in the neighboring thread on the first floor, 3L, 8L, and 16L, respectively. The translation quality is average, so please bear with it.
Shootings occur almost daily in my city, but I swear this particular incident was really different because the police nearly crossed paths with the perpetrator yet let him go! The surveillance cameras along the street where the shooting happened were functioning well, and within less than five minutes, the police arrived and cordoned off the scene. However! The masked assailant, holding a gun and covered in blood, emerged from the apartment where the shooting took place. He effortlessly crossed the blockade, and the police acted as if they didn’t see him, continuing their investigation while completely ignoring the culprit! I will share the video link shortly.Our city’s police may be a bunch of incompetent fools, but I doubt they would be foolish enough to overlook the murderer. It was highly visible, especially with the culprit covered in blood and holding a semi-automatic rifle. Yet among all those policemen at the scene, not a single one reacted to the murderer without even raising their guns defensively. This is extremely unusual!I believe it might be due to some form of spiritual hypnosis or superhuman ability. When the police released the surveillance footage seeking suspects, I was utterly shocked. Apart from a superhuman ability, what else could explain this?The city where the shooting occurred is in the Central Standard Time zone (CST). The police announced that the incident timestamp was 00:51. Now, we just need to determine if the shooting time coincides with the forum’s death notification time. By comparing these times, we can potentially identify whether the perpetrator is Depriver No. 777.1L: It must be a spiritual-type superhuman ability!
2L: Someone quickly convert the time zones! Our forum has players from various time zones around the clock, so surely someone noticed.
3L: At the time of the shooting, our country’s local time was approximately 14:51. Their night corresponds to our daytime, so there were definitely many people browsing the forum. We now await confirmation of the exact notification time.
[18L: Oh man, I saw it too, and it left a deep impression on me because I had ordered food delivery at that time. While waiting for the delivery, I was browsing the forum, and the food arrived around 2:50 PM! I hadn’t even opened the packaging when I stumbled upon the death announcement on the forum; it scared me so much that my heart nearly stopped! The timing matches perfectly!]
[19L: Case solved! Anyone good with English, quickly inform the OP from the neighboring thread to hurry up and move to a different city!]
[20L: It’s far from being solved yet. All we can infer is that he might be a Depriver, but we don’t even know his true identity. The OP mentioned the killer wore a mask, so there’s no guarantee they’ll catch him.]
[22L: It seems unlikely they’ll catch him. With such a powerful superhuman ability, even the police seem powerless against him!]
[23L: How were the surveillance records from the crime scene released? Wouldn’t the police typically not disclose footage involving such eerie circumstances?]
[24L replying to 23L: Uh… maybe it was to aid in issuing a wanted notice? After all, a warrant needs to include distinctive features of the suspect.]
[25L: Assuming Depriver No. 777’s superhuman ability falls under spiritual deception, his deception couldn’t fool the surveillance cameras—it could only deceive human eyes. You can see his body clearly captured on camera.]
26L: Why do I feel that Depriver No. 777 is even more audacious than Depriver No. 233? They dared to directly appear under surveillance.
28L: Perhaps he didn’t notice the surveillance camera. Some cameras are hidden in obscure corners, and you wouldn’t spot them unless you carefully looked up. Maybe this Depriver No. 777, thinking his superhuman ability could deceive others’ eyes, let down his guard and overlooked the presence of surveillance.
29L replying to 28L: That guess seems somewhat far-fetched…
30L replying to 29L: It’s not far-fetched; reality has witnessed even stranger occurrences. You’re overestimating the invincibility of Deprivers. Simply put, most people in the world are ordinary individuals with average intelligence and temperament. It’s quite normal for them not to cover every aspect perfectly. However, at the end of the day, 28L’s speculation remains just that—a guess. Only Depriver No. 777 himself knows what he was truly thinking. His exposure was remarkably easy, giving me a similar impression as Depriver No. 233—he had no fear due to some assurance.
Post 31: Agreed. Depriver No. 777 is simply overconfident. Just now, I sneaked to the neighboring forum and checked the video link posted by their moderator—damn, this killer is truly composed. They casually strode through a crowd of police officers with a gun raised. Are all Deprivers top-tier experts?
Post 32: I think you’re overlooking something. Depriver No. 777 may possess more than two superhuman abilities… It’s not only by killing players that one can obtain such abilities; eliminating awakened beings or Variant Blood individuals in the Second World works similarly. When a player dies, it gets reported, but NPC deaths do not trigger any announcements… Nobody knows what experiences players undergo in the Second World. The Second World isn’t peaceful; there are even localized anti-terrorism conflicts happening. There’s a chance of becoming mercenaries or soldiers within those scenarios.
Reply 33 to Post 32: Hiss… terrifying.
Kui Xin finished reading the most valuable discussion threads on the forum and rubbed her temples.
When she refreshed the forum again, she noticed that one type of post had dominated—team formation threads.
She clicked on a few team formation posts, casually browsing before losing interest. Most of these posts requested private messages for inquiries about desired nationalities or regions. Players intended to conceal their true information and avoid revealing too much personal data within the public threads.
In reality, players forming alliances were an inevitable phenomenon.
It could effectively increase survival rates, whether grouping up in the First World or the Second World. For instance, in the First World, if encountering a Depriver’s attack, players could promptly react, unite against common enemies, and share vital information. Similarly, in the Second World, facing perilous situations, they could seek assistance from other players.
It was foreseeable that in the not-too-distant future, Deprivers’ existence would become increasingly challenging. They couldn’t form teams with other players and faced hostility and opposition from Proxy players as well. With one misstep, there was always the risk of being preemptively targeted.
Kui Xin took some time to digest the intelligence gathered from the forum.
Players’ understanding of Depriver No. 233 remained superficial, and their speculations based on available information were not entirely accurate—this was favorable.
As for Depriver No. 777… from Kui Xin’s perspective, his presence could be advantageous. She vaguely sensed that Depriver No. 777’s modus operandi was more audacious and reckless. With him taking the forefront, he would serve as a good target, effectively drawing attention away from her.
The fact that Depriver No. 777 was not currently in China was a relief. Kui Xin didn’t need to divert much focus towards him; she could concentrate fully on her own tasks.
Kui Xin glanced at her watch—it was already nearing evening. She had been incredibly busy throughout the day, without even a chance to eat.
While using her superhuman abilities extensively to kill Fang Zhi in the morning, she became ravenously hungry and felt hollow inside. When absorbed in the forum earlier, she hadn’t noticed her hunger, but now, with her mind relaxed, the sensation immediately took over, leaving her slightly dizzy from starvation.
Kui Xin went to the kitchen and prepared extra portions of food, intending to have both lunch and dinner together.
The next morning at 6:30 AM.
Kui Xin donned her raincoat and deliberately exited through the neighborhood’s rear entrance, which lacked surveillance cameras. She navigated through streets and alleys, minimizing her appearance under CCTV coverage.
Before leaving, she noticed a message from the hacker.
The Hacker: “We arrived in your city last night and are staying at a hotel. Have you thought about where we should meet?”
Kui Xin glanced at the message but did not reply; instead, she powered off her phone to avoid revealing her location through tracking.
She had envisioned several potential meeting spots: firstly, a large shopping mall; secondly, a park square near government offices; and thirdly, a restaurant with private spaces yet bustling with people and comprehensive surveillance.
However, none of these locations met Kui Xin’s requirements. To avoid being too secluded, she needed a quiet place that was difficult for eavesdropping or prying eyes, while still having some foot traffic.
Her search for such a spot wasn’t solely for herself, but to avoid arousing suspicion in The Hacker.
Kui Xin had two plans in mind—either conduct a transaction or initiate the next hunt.
Her decision would be based on the hacker’s approach and capabilities.
The Hacker group wasn’t solely focused on recruitment; they had some matters unsuitable for discussion via text messages that required a face-to-face meeting with Kui Xin.
It was another overcast day, with a light drizzle falling from the sky.
Upon reaching the shopping mall, Kui Xin tilted her head to observe the building.
Having lived in this city for many years, she had grown accustomed to the various structures around her. However, this was the first time she scrutinized the urban architecture with a critical eye.
Surrounded by numerous tall buildings, this six-story shopping mall appeared somewhat diminutive. Its top floor housed a public badminton court, which saw minimal use during rainy weather. Kui Xin chose this location for their meeting.
Because the rooftop badminton court was spacious and rarely used, it was less susceptible to eavesdropping or surveillance. Vehicles entering the area would pass multiple security cameras, but pedestrians could either take the elevator upstairs or bypass the cameras using the fire escape stairs located on one side of the mall.
Kui Xin did not immediately proceed to the badminton court to wait for them.
She turned away and took a detour to a taller building not far from the shopping mall. This building housed a senior citizens’ activity center. At its base, she navigated through twists and turns to find the fire escape staircase, then climbed several floors on foot. The skydeck of this building was usually open, allowing groups of elderly people to gather for tea, conversation, and mahjong games. Naturally, because of the rainy weather, no one was present today, giving her exclusive access to the skydeck.
Standing at the edge of the skydeck’s railing and looking down, she had a clear view of the public badminton court on the top floor of the shopping mall. With an unobstructed line of sight, it served as an excellent sniping position.
Kui Xin felt a habitual urge, sensing something heavy that seemed missing from her hands. If only she could have a K80 rifle right now.
After surveying the surroundings, Kui Xin descended from the building’s skydeck and took a roundabout route to a small plaza nearby. She powered on her phone and sent a message to the hacker.
Kui Xin: “Badminton court on the rooftop of Baihua Shopping Mall, 9 PM sharp.”
The hacker: “No problem.”
Having sent the message, Kui Xin once again powered off her phone. She circled back to the building housing the seniors’ activity center, huffing and puffing as she climbed several floors to return to the skydeck. Periodically, she glanced at the badminton court atop the mall and the streets outside, calmly waiting like a hunter for prey.
Her deliberate decision to leave the building to send the message aimed to prevent any risk of location exposure when turning on her phone and connecting to the network.
On her way to the shopping mall earlier, Kui Xin hadn’t taken the subway, resulting in a considerable amount of time spent traveling. Now it was past 8 PM.
To check the time, she pulled out the basic flip phone from another pocket and began waiting idly.
As it approached 9 PM, a dark gray sedan drove onto the avenue below the mall. The car model appeared unassuming, but with keen eyes, Kui Xin recognized it as a luxury vehicle. During her second year of high school, there was a classmate who loved flaunting his wealth; his family’s nanny always picked him up after school in this exact model. He had casually remarked, “This car isn’t too expensive—just a few million at most. It’s known for being one of the most stable and conservative models among high-end vehicles.”
The car was somewhat distant, preventing Kui Xin from seeing its license plate number.
Silently, she watched as the dark gray sedan attempted to park in the underground garage but was stopped by mall security. Due to yesterday’s torrential rain, the underground garage had accumulated water. Reluctantly, the sedan made a U-turn and parked in the open-air parking lot outside the mall instead.
Two men and one woman emerged from the car. The taller man wore a white shirt and casual pants, while the woman donned a light green dress. The remaining individuals, who appeared to be around Kui Xin’s age, were shorter than the others and wore a blue hoodie, as well as black-framed glasses on their face.
They entered the mall through the main entrance, disappearing from Kui Xin’s line of sight.
“Could they be them? It seems like… But why aren’t they avoiding surveillance? Is it due to a lack of awareness or because hackers will delete the camera records?” Kui Xin speculated silently.
After three minutes, the trio who had exited from the dark gray sedan arrived at the badminton court, looking around as if searching for someone.
Now, Kui Xin was nearly certain about their identities.
She still didn’t take action, but calmly stood at the edge of the skydeck, observing them from a blind spot outside their line of sight. She watched for over an hour.
During this time, the glasses-wearing youth frequently glanced down at his phone and tapped on the screen, seemingly sending messages. The woman in the light green dress held an umbrella, her high heels tapping the ground with growing impatience, while the remaining tall man, frowning, continually scanned their surroundings.
Apart from these actions, the trio did not make any further moves.
Feeling reassured, Kui Xin confirmed her initial suspicion—everyone associated with the Hacker faction was ordinary individuals. Even if they might possess superhuman abilities, their thinking remained that of typical people.
She intentionally left a time gap to test if they would tamper with anything, but they didn’t, indicating that their purpose for meeting her was relatively genuine.
Kui Xin turned and descended the stairs.
Before heading to the badminton court, she needed to go downstairs and note down the license plate number of the car driven by the hacker group.
“How come this little girl still hasn’t arrived? Check again to see if she responded,” the woman sighed.
The glasses-wearing teenager glanced down at his phone and said, “No response… She wouldn’t bail out at the last minute, would she? We know her home address; surely she must realize fleeing won’t help.”
“What difference does knowing her home address make?” the woman asked. “Given how resistant this girl has been, showing up uninvited would only force her further, wouldn’t it? It’s natural for her to be afraid and want to avoid the situation. We’re strangers, after all. If she genuinely doesn’t want any contact with us, we should let it go as if nothing happened, allowing her to live a peaceful life.”
“Alright, let’s wait another ten minutes,” the man said. “If she doesn’t show up by then, we’ll leave.”
“Do you think she might call the police?” the glasses kid expressed his concern. “She did so last time.”
“She won’t call the police.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Woman’s intuition.”
“…Uh, okay,” the glasses kid reluctantly agreed.
“As soon as I see her, I’ll be able to gauge whether she is trustworthy or not,” the woman stated. “I hope she comes. At least if she does, we can confirm that she isn’t Depriver No. 233. That way, we eliminate one person from our search, narrowing down the scope.”
Her superhuman ability was “Malice Marking,” which lacked combat potential but enabled her to discern the true character of individuals.
For those harboring malicious intent, she would see a mark above their heads with a hue leaning towards black. Conversely, for those with benevolent intentions, the mark atop their head would tend towards white. Simultaneously, the deeper the malice someone held against her, the darker the color of the malice marker became.
At that moment, footsteps echoed from the corridor leading to the badminton court as a girl clad in a raincoat breathlessly ascended the stairs.
She stood at the entrance without moving forward or making a sound, vigilantly observing the three people on the badminton court, seemingly ready to flee at any instant.
“Hello, are you Kui Xin?” The woman dressed in a green dress asked gently.
Kui Xin didn’t reciprocate with a greeting; instead, she scrutinized all three of them. “Who is Xie Ganqing?”
“It’s me.” The tall man stepped forward.
In truth, Kui Xin had recognized him at first glance. He closely resembled the photograph displayed on Capital University’s outstanding graduates page, clearly indicating they were the same person.
“You refused to reveal your identities during our chat, saying we would discuss it upon meeting face-to-face. Now that we’ve met, can you introduce yourselves?” Kui Xin got straight to the point.
“Yuan Lu, from the provincial capital,” the woman said.
“Yu Qiwen,” the glasses kid said. “I was the hacker who initially contacted you. I used a vocal modulator. Sorry for deceiving you and causing you to visit the police station.”
This approach was taught by Yuan Lu—admitting fault upfront to avoid provoking Kui Xin’s resistance.
Seeing the malice indicator above Kui Xin’s head, Yuan Lu felt relieved. It wasn’t black, but gray, signifying her neutral stance, neither benevolent nor malicious. Yuan Lu had never encountered pure white or pure black; people’s attitudes are always complex and variable. The colors she observed were often either leaning towards light gray or dark gray, as even the kindest individuals’ thoughts may not be entirely “white.”
If it were Depriver No. 233, encountering three Proxies who actively sought her out would not result in neutrality; black would be the norm. Kui Xin couldn’t possibly harbor much goodwill towards these three individuals who approached her abruptly, making Yuan Lu feel that her gray malicious intent marker was very genuine.
Kui Xin pretended to nervously bite her lip and refused to get closer to them.
“Are you still monitoring my phone?” She chose to ask this question first.
Yu Qiwen hastily clarified, “We haven’t monitored your phone since our initial communication. I’m not a voyeur either. At that time, the main purpose was to confirm that you weren’t ‘that person’ and also to prevent information leaks. Now that our objectives have been achieved, I won’t do it again. Sorry!”
He apologized once more.
Kui Xin’s expression slightly softened. Observing Yu Qiwen’s demeanor closely, she felt that he likely wasn’t lying.
Yuan Lu noticed a subtle change in the malicious intent indicator above Kui Xin’s head—it had lightened a bit from gray.
“We didn’t come here just to meet you but also to verify a few matters with you. We hope you can answer our questions,” Xie Ganqing began. “I can offer a payment of one million as compensation, and for any additional valuable intelligence, each piece will add another one million.”
Kui Xin hesitated. “This amount of money seems too unreal.”
Xie Ganqing pondered for a moment. “Don’t worry; if your answers prove useful to us, I will honestly pay the compensation as agreed. Not a single cent less; it will all belong to you. If you’re concerned that such a large sum suddenly appearing in your account might raise suspicions, I can help you open a confidential private account at a foreign bank.”
“… Have you posted trade threads on the forum before?” Kui Xin recognized his tone.
“Indeed, I’ve posted threads about trading alien creature intelligence. It appears you have seen those posts,” Xie Ganqing said. “Unfortunately, no transactions were made in the end, as some well-meaning players provided informative explanations.”
Kui Xin remained silent.
It turned out they had been circling around the same person all along. It seemed that the players formed quite a tight-knit community, inevitably leading to encounters sooner or later. However, this was unavoidable—the current player base was simply too small. On the forum, there were only a handful of Chinese players posting, and even fewer of their threads sparked intense discussions. Over these three days, Kui Xin became familiar with several usernames.
“You may ask, but I’m not obligated to answer,” Kui Xin slowly replied.
“Where did you encounter Fang Zhi?” Xie Ganqing asked.
The reason for posing these questions face-to-face was to minimize the chances of deception. When engaging in direct conversation, the likelihood of someone lying decreases significantly.
“I encountered him on my way back from work,” Kui Xin said.
“Can you be more specific?” Xie Ganqing pressed further.
If she provided any more details, it would involve revealing Su Rong’s involvement, as they met at the bottom of Su Rong’s residence building.
“I saw him near the residential area by Qionghua Avenue and then followed him for quite a distance,” Kui Xin replied.
Xie Ganqing meticulously asked, “What was Fang Zhi’s state at that time? Was he panicking, trying to evade someone, or perhaps searching for someone?”
“Well, I couldn’t really tell if he was panicked; his face was covered very securely.” Kui Xin adopted a thoughtful expression, recalling the incident. “He was walking exceptionally fast; I almost couldn’t keep up with him. Does that qualify as being panicked?”
Yu Qiwen and Yuan Lu exchanged glances.
Xie Ganqing paused before continuing, “When he realized you were following him, what did he say when he turned around?”
“He asked why I was following him, so I said, ‘Sorry, I mistook you for someone else.’ He responded with ‘Are you out of your mind? You’ve been trailing me all this time. If you follow me again, I’ll beat you up,’ and I apologized several times quietly,” Kui Xin recounted. “Then he left.”
“In which direction did he go?”
“I already mentioned this when Yu Qiwen made the first call… South…”
“My apologies; I just wanted to confirm it again.”
Xie Ganqing asked, “After parting with Fang Zhi, where did you go?”
Kui Xin looked at him perplexedly. “Are you a police officer? Why such detailed questioning?”
“My apologies. You can skip answering that question if you wish,” Xie Ganqing said.
Rolling her eyes, Kui Xin replied, “I headed southwest and read books at the Expo Bookstore. After some time, it started raining. I initially planned to wait for the rain to stop before going home, but since it kept pouring, I bought an umbrella instead.”
Kui Xin had confirmed beforehand that the surveillance cameras on the southwestern road were malfunctioning and undergoing repairs over the past few days. The Expo Bookstore was the first establishment at the western intersection, currently renovating its storefront facade; its surveillance cameras were turned off. Not only that, but several nearby stores in the vicinity also lacked installed cameras.
She had chosen this route as a shortcut while pursuing Fang Zhi, so she observed it quite thoroughly.
Even if they investigated, there would be no loopholes to find.