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Chapter 107




Edited by: kapekopicoffee
The character background card appeared in mid-air for a few seconds, then slowly dissipated.
Then, the formerly white-coloured name on the character’s head turned red. An ordinary NPC turned into a red name monster, the kind that had the boss template.
Li Shuoxing slowly withdrew his hand.
He looked extremely complicated, and didn’t know whether to thank the system or beat it up…
In the past, he’d always thought Su Mingqian was in his current situation because of an accident or illness, and also felt that Ask and Su Mingqian’s two colleagues were inexplicably avoiding the truth.
But now, the spoiler had given him a whole new ending.
His cub became like this because he was deliberately hurt!
Impulses instantly poured into his mind. The system’s foul operation had induced Li Shuoxing’s foul thoughts.
Since the killer has already been revealed, then if I rush into the kitchen now and get a weapon to end this guy, won’t it be all over?
Li Shuoxing was thinking very seriously, but before he could take action, they had finished greeting each other in the corridor. Tom left, and Su Mingqian and Li Shuoxing moved on. As they went forward, Su Mingqian whispered to Li Shuoxing, “What’s the matter with you? You looked so strange just now. And that Tom, why’d the colour of his name suddenly turn red?”
Li Shuoxing said cautiously, “Cub, as soon as I saw him, I felt that he wasn’t a good person, so I marked him with a red name to remind you to stay away from him at all times.”
Su Mingqian: “…”
He looked even more suspicious.
Li Shuoxing held Su Mingqian’s hand a little forcefully. “Cub, you must believe me. This is my intuition as an author. An author’s intuition is very honourable and dignified. It can never be wrong!”
Su Mingqian couldn’t help smiling. “Okay, I understand. I’ll stay away from people with red names.”
Li Shuoxing let out a long exhale.
In his transaction with the system, he agreed not to reveal information to Su Mingqian in advance during the process of their participation. It was also so that Su Mingqian could wake up smoothly in the end.
Li Shuoxing always kept this in mind and strictly abided by it.
He slowly calmed down.
He could feasibly bring knives from the kitchen, but it was meaningless.
What he saw now was the reality of the past.
Those terrible things had already happened and ended long ago. Even if he cut that person a thousand times or ten thousand times in the virtual world, it wouldn’t help the reality.
So what can I do?
Li Shuoxing began to think about the meaning of accompanying Su Mingqian in.
His eyes once again fell on the note on the magnifying glass.
“Collect clues and record them to get truth points. Using the probe requires the consumption of truth points.”
The ending of the story was just its ending. The story had its beginning and development.
Like in detective novels, the reader didn’t only want to know the killer’s identity, but also their motive and modus operandi.
Maybe…
I should do this.
Get to the bottom of this matter once and for all.
Li Shuoxing took one last look back before leaving the hotel.
The long corridor was empty, like a cold snake coiled around. The hotel room doors on both sides, like boxes holding secrets, were silent and closed tightly.
What exactly is hidden inside?
***
After they left the hotel, the outside world officially appeared in their eyes.
Tall palm trees had been planted on both sides of the street to decorate the yellow sand in the distance; brownish-red houses with white walls were staggered high and low under the turquoise sky; the road in front of the hotel was blocked with a line of vehicles one after another, stretching up until the end of the road.
This scene surprised Li Shuoxing a little.
He said, “There seems to be quite a lot of people living here. There’s even a traffic jam…”
Su Mingqian looked back. “The traffic jam is a bit long. It might take a while to be cleared. Let’s stroll around first.”
They went forward together. Before they walked two steps, the road that was blocked to death and didn’t show a single gap in the traffic suddenly moved, like a dam opening a floodgate. Within a few minutes, the originally congested road was able to run smoothly.
Su Mingqian was a bit surprised. “I thought it’d be blocked for ten minutes to half an hour. I didn’t expect it to clear so quickly.”
These words made Li Shuoxing’s heart stir.
That’s right.
According to common sense, roads that are blocked to death won’t be cleared all of a sudden.
Did the traffic police come to direct the traffic?
The intersection where the vehicles converged was up ahead. Li Shuoxing could clearly see that there was no traffic police.
The traffic police obviously aren’t the ones that suddenly cleared the road.
It is…
His eyes wandered around the intersection for a moment, falling first on the flashing traffic light, and then on the intersection’s camera.
He hesitated between the two, then used his second probe on the traffic light.
[Name]: Traffic Light
[Note]: It is flashing irregularly.
This note was very meaningful.
Traffic lights obviously flash regularly. The lengths of the red light, yellow light, and green light are set in advance. There are only two possibilities for its irregular flashing.
<ol>It is broken.</ol> <ol>It is operated by people.</ol>
Combined with the scene analysis, the answer was obvious.
Li Shuoxing muttered, “Someone’s operating the traffic light to clear the traffic jam…”
A pleasant prompt tone sounded.
A line of text appeared in front of Li Shuoxing.
[Clue deduction correct. Truth points +10]
Good, we’ve hit the first key point.
Li Shuoxing noted it down. He and Su Mingqian were standing in front of the sidewalk waiting for the red light to turn green.
But, as they were waiting, a pregnant woman not far from them suddenly rushed onto the road at the red light. She was knocked to the ground by a moving vehicle and a large pool of blood instantly appeared on the road.
The accident happened so fast that Li Shuoxing and Su Mingqian, who were standing by the road, were stunned.
Before they could reflect on it and go over, two family members, who looked like the pregnant woman’s family, rushed up to her.
They guarded the pregnant woman’s side and urgently took out a cell phone to make a call, supposedly calling the emergency number.
Also, at the same time, the sound of an ambulance siren came from the corner. An ambulance had turned up at the corner of the road.
The ambulance had just driven to this section, and was immediately stopped by the pregnant woman’s family.
The paramedics in the ambulance got out after a while, but didn’t immediately go forward. They seemed to be having some argument.
Li Shuoxing and Su Mingqian approached at this time. They heard:
“Ambulance, come here quickly! My wife was hit by a car. Hurry up and give her first aid and get her to the hospital!”
“Please wait. We are going to pick up an elderly man who had a heart attack.”
“My wife is lying on the road in front of us, and she’s pregnant!”
“Hey, how do you not understand? Your pregnant woman is waiting for help, and the elderly man is also waiting for help. Both sides need help, but the elderly man called the ambulance first. We have to abide by the rules and system—”
The argument was at this stage when the paramedic’s phone suddenly rang.
The call was picked up, and the paramedic called out shortly after, “A closer ambulance has been arranged to go there? We can directly pick up the wounded in the vicinity? No problem, let’s go now.”
Things were resolved perfectly.
As soon as the phone was hung up, the paramedics urgently rescued the pregnant woman, and then drove her and her family to the hospital.
There was no more bustle by now. The onlookers gradually dispersed and vehicles were passing through again. Only a pool of blood was left on the ground, proving what had just happened.
Su Mingqian pondered, “I think it’s a bit strange. Isn’t this reaction speed too fast?”
Li Shuoxing also wondered, “It’s as fast as the traffic jam clearing just earlier.”
It didn’t make sense.
Since it didn’t make sense, there must be something worth investigating.
Li Shuoxing threw another identification towards the bloodstain on the ground, using up the last of his three free use opportunities.
Immediately, the results came out:
[Name]: Bloodstain
[Note]: The blood is fake.
Li Shuoxing: “???”
He almost choked.
The blood is fake? I can’t believe reality is fake!
Wait, if the blood is fake, doesn’t that mean…
Li Shuoxing whispered, “The pregnant woman just now wasn’t injured at all?”
[Clue deduction successful. Truth points +10]
A correct thread emerged from the dense fog.
The pregnant woman was pretending to be injured.
Why would the pregnant woman pretend to be injured?
As professional paramedics, how could they not have noticed this when they were carrying and examining the pregnant woman?
Li Shuoxing whispered again, “The paramedics noticed the pregnant woman’s disguise.”
[Clue deduction successful. Truth points +10]
The correct thread became two, and naturally led to a third.
Li Shuoxing: “The pregnant woman and the paramedics acted out a play together.”
[Clue deduction successful. Truth points +10]
Obviously, the second key point also came out.
Li Shuoxing couldn’t help thinking more.
If the pregnant woman and the paramedics were acting together, did the pregnant woman’s family know about it? Did the driver who hit the pregnant woman know about it? If they didn’t, the play would obviously be filled with too many uncontrollable factors.
So the answer is…
Li Shuoxing: “Everyone knows it’s a play. It’s a big stage.”
[Clue deduction successful. Truth points +50]
But stages always need to have an audience.
If everyone’s an actor, where is the audience coming from?
“Ximu.” Su Mingqian’s voice rang out. He said, “The police are here. They arrived so fast. The public network here is well laid out, and very responsive on all fronts.”
A flash of inspiration leapt through Li Shuoxing’s mind.
Li Shuoxing suddenly raised his head and threw a probe skill at the electronic eye in the sky.
[Use probe. Truth points -10]
[Name]: Electronic Eye
[Note]: A dense town, not a corner to be spared.
He remembered how Su Mingqian described this town on the travel log: “The test has begun. I believe that Ask can handle everything.”
“Shua—”
Li Shuoxing’s scalp exploded.
The speculation in his mind had been confirmed. He began to understand:
The town is a Truman world <sup>1</sup> The Truman Show is a film in which an insurance salesman is oblivious to the fact that his entire life is a TV show and everyone around him is a mere actor. The Chinese title is 楚门的世界 which literally translates to Truman’s World. .
Everyone here is an actor.
Truman, on the other hand, is Ask.
In order to test Ask in all aspects, humans have created an isolated desert town for it.
The author has something to say:
The final decryption begins~
The key point:
The town is a test base for Ask, testing its ability and security in all aspects with various unexpected situations.
But dangerous elements are still dangerous elements √
1
The Truman Show is a film in which an insurance salesman is oblivious to the fact that his entire life is a TV show and everyone around him is a mere actor. The Chinese title is 楚门的世界 which literally translates to Truman’s World.