The Mysterious Nian

"Hey, Xi Ba, you're awake?"

In Good Night's room, he was squatting on a chair, eating instant noodles and sipping Iced Americano Coffee.

On another chair in the room, Li Hua sat with his legs crossed, flipping through documents.

Lin Yu was somewhat surprised to see Good Night dressed so neatly.

"Captain, didn't you sleep all night?"

Good Night put down the seafood noodle roll in her hand. "There's no need for that."

Li Hua raised his eyes and said, "He's Korea, he doesn't need to sleep... Are you all rested and ready to start the investigation?"

Lin Yu nodded slightly. "Yes, we're preparing to question them. If it's convenient for you two, please come along..."

"After all, just me and Sherlock might not be enough."

Good Night wholeheartedly agreed, "You're right, these Xi Ba are all opportunists."

"Don't worry, Li Hua and I will back you up. We can play the bad cop if necessary!"

Li Hua turned off the tablet in his hand. "I'm not very good at putting pressure on people, but I'll try my best."

"You're too kind," Lin Yu said, then hesitated just enough, "But there's something a little strange..."

Good Night Lin Yu's hesitant expression, Xi Ba, just say it!"

"I had a very strange dream last night," Lin Yu said as if he had made up his mind. "In the dream, a guy who called himself an 'advisor' and claimed to be an accomplice in the murder of Carrot wanted to play cards with me. If I lost a round, I could ask him a question."

"I played a few rounds with him, and he told me that the missing Item and the murderer who killed the Carrot were not the same person. The person who stole the Item intended to use it in a certain Instance world."

Lin Yu spoke cautiously, his tone sounding somewhat unsure.

"I always felt that this wasn't just a dream caused by excessive stress... it felt too real."

Before Good Night could react, Li Hua's expression Cataclysm drastically.

"Methods of Entering Dream or Dream Weaving... Nightmare Spell from the Secret Realm."

"Anyone who can pull you into Entering Dream right under our noses is definitely a troublesome character."

Li Hua spoke coldly, and Good Night also realized what was happening.

"Xi Ba, was this done with [Summoned Creature] or [scrolls]? If it's the former, we're in big trouble!"

The two "Order" experts reacted more intensely than Lin Yu had imagined.

To Lin Yu's surprise...

Not only these two, but Fu Luo also reacted.

"Hey bro, didn't you just say that guy called himself an 'advisor'?"

Seeing Fu Luo's somewhat surprised and uncertain expression, Lin Yu was also taken aback.

"You don't know him, do you?"

Fu Luo shook his head. "I wouldn't say we know each other, but in the 'Player Mutual Aid Society,' there are small circles and communities formed by people of the same 'Profession,' right..."

Good Night and Li Hua nodded, seemingly aware of the situation.

Only Lin Yu was somewhat bewildered—he had absolutely no idea this thing existed.

However, Lin Yu knew it was reasonable that he hadn't encountered this before; he hadn't been in the Game long enough.

In addition, since it was his "Unique Profession," he genuinely had no intention of getting involved in this field from the beginning.

Information among Player still relies too much on word of mouth—something like this, Fu Luo wouldn't have known at all if he hadn't told him.

But it was precisely because Fu Luo told him that he found out later.

"If I could get into different 'Profession' circles, it would probably be a great help to my acting."

Lin Yu remained silent, listening to Fu Luo continue.

"When I was talking to 'Detective' from other places, I heard about a guy... This guy, although he was a 'Detective,' actually did 'counter -Detective's work."

"He specializes in planning 'crimes' against other Player for Player who have been removed from the roster. If you want to kill a Player or steal an Item... he's the one to go to."

"And that guy called himself an 'advisor'—when I was helping our local 'Order' solve several cases in Yu Province, he seemed to be involved, but because of the lack of identification, I couldn't be completely sure which ones he was responsible for."

"Our Captain Shan, said that we can't rule out the possibility that those guys fabricated the fact that they received guidance from an 'advisor' in order to lessen their own responsibility."

"But this character was definitely not made up out of thin air, because there are many traces of his actual activities... It's just that the other party is very clever, so he hides it very well."

"Moreover, according to my investigation, his strength should be quite high," said the person listed as "Tier 3," who remained anonymous.

Good Night and Li Hua listened to Fu Luo's speech and fell into thought.

"Xi Ba, I think I've heard of someone like that before..."

Lin Yu then looked directly at Fu Luo: "You should have some guesses about his true identity, but you haven't told us because you lack evidence or absolute certainty."

Fu Luo exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, you figured that out?"

"You truly are my good brother, May, you know me so well."

Lin Yu shook his head. "Just an intuition."

It wasn't intuition, because he could tell that Fu Luo was being far too specific in describing the other person's characteristics—it sounded like he was describing the features of a specific person rather than a range of traits.

Therefore, even though Fu Luo rationally felt that he hadn't figured out the other person's identity, subconsciously he already had a candidate in mind.

"Who do you think that guy is? Tell me."

Li Hua nodded in agreement. "Since that guy has gone into hiding, it's even quite possible he wasn't removed from the forum."

Fu Luo thought for a moment and then said, "The other party's forum ID and social ID should both be "twenty", the word 'twenty' in twenty... As far as I know, he should really have some kind of 'dream' method."

"Twenty?"

Upon hearing the other party's code name, Lin Yu frowned slightly.

I think I've seen a few posts mentioning this ID before, and if I remember correctly, they were mostly positive.

The gist of it is that this guy can often lead all the Player to a perfect clear in puzzle-solving Instance without any casualties.

"Xi Ba, this is a very serious accusation," Good Night said with a serious expression. "That guy has good relationships with high-ranking officials in many local organizations, mid-to-high-ranking officials in large organizations including our 'Order,' and even Administrator in several cities."

Are you sure, Sherlock?

Fu Luo shook his head. "I didn't say I wasn't sure, but... all the directions my investigation is taking ultimately point to him."

Li Hua raised his hand to interrupt the discussion, "Let's put his matter aside for now. Anyway, this guy claims he was just an 'accomplice,' and if he wasn't lying in the dream, he even objectively helped us."

"It's more important to first find out who the murderer is and give the 'Player Mutual Aid Society' an explanation."