Perverted Crimes

"How's it going? Have you two figured out what this says?" In less than five minutes, Qiao James had already grown impatient.

"It's probably about a murder case," Zhang Zhiyuan mused. "A serial killer, too. Whoever put these files together didn't just collect details about the crime scenes at the time. They also added all sorts of miscellaneous information, which they must have gathered by going around and asking people."

Unfortunately, by the standards of criminal investigation, the information was too scattered and superficial to be of much analytical value.

That meant the person who compiled it wasn't a professional.

"There's a bag of photos over here, too," Zhou Zhi said from the other side.

"Oh? Let's see them." The American perked up. He hadn't taken the Translation Tofu, after all, and could only stare helplessly at the written records. Photos were different—anyone could take a stab at analyzing what they showed.

The photos were quickly handed around.

They were clearly taken with an early film camera. They weren't just black and white; the image quality was terrible, too. But the pictures were still enough to make everyone's spirits lift. They unmistakably showed crime scenes, and aside from the victims' gruesome remains, a little of the surrounding area could also be seen.

"This guy... really is a pervert." Asahara Naruko frowned.

The dead hadn't been left in the positions they'd naturally fallen in when they were killed. They'd not only been disemboweled, but deliberately arranged by the killer, their limbs and bodies twisted into bizarre poses. Doing that would have taken tremendous strength to break their bones, as well as a great deal of time to stage the scenes. It showed just how brazen the killer was. In another world, it would have been a blatant challenge to the police.

"I can tell this guy wasn't killing for money or anything else," Anthony agreed. "He was enjoying every minute of it... like a hunter who took pleasure in the chase."

"So... the goal of the game is to find him and kill him?" Jason Taylor asked, looking toward the Host. "Do we have any tracking skills? Like being able to see unique footprints or smell blood—" He suddenly froze. "Wait, where's the Host?"

The spot where the Host had been standing was empty.

"He must have gone invisible," Zhou Zhi said, much calmer. He'd played plenty of games, after all. "Didn't he say from the start that all the clues and information were written on the pages? So what we do next is probably up to us. I doubt there'll be any more hints."

"We're supposed to identify the killer based on this?" Taylor spread his hands. "I understand that the game needs to feel realistic, but honestly, even if Paradise put a photo of the killer right in front of us, we'd have a hard time finding the right person in a city this big, wouldn't we?"

His words left everyone silent for a moment.

But Zhang Zhiyuan shook his head. "Serial murders are linked because the cases must share something in common. In fact, many serial murder cases have been solved by identifying those commonalities, then setting a trap in advance to catch the killer. In other words, if the killer strikes again, we'll have a chance to catch him in the act."

"Isn't the common thread obvious?" Qiao James scoffed. "Murder, brutality, and victims arranged to look like sacrifices. This guy either has money or connections. If it's the former, we can look for reclusive rich people. If it's the latter, we can look for gang leaders or anyone with a large number of underlings. Once we've narrowed down the suspects, we can bring them in one by one for questioning and check their movements on surveillance footage. Maybe we'll find something. But which of those things can we do?"

"I didn't realize you knew so much about crime," Zhang Zhiyuan said, eyeing him coolly.

"Hey, why does it sound like there's a hidden meaning in that?" The other man looked displeased.

"Why does the killer have to be rich or have connections?" Zhou Zhi asked in confusion.

"Because one person couldn't pull this off." Zhang Zhiyuan turned away, pretending not to hear Qiao James's retort, and picked up the photos again. He was also on his guard. After entering a completely unfamiliar game world, he'd been a little unsettled and had nearly lost sight of his real purpose here. "Killing someone is easy. A knife or a gun, and it's over in an instant. But staging a crime scene like this isn't something you can do in a short time. Look at the backgrounds in these photos—"

Zhang Zhiyuan pointed behind the victims. "Not one of these places is out in the wilderness. According to the files, all six murders took place in the city, and all of them in public buildings. The point was to make sure more people would see them during the day. And the autopsy results indicate that the killer committed the crimes at the scenes. That means he had to be able to set up lookouts and security, giving himself plenty of time to work."

"So the killer had to pay people to help, or else he already had accomplices," Asahara Naruko said with a nod. "...That makes some sense."

"But that alone isn't nearly enough," the American scoffed. "We don't have the resources to screen people on a large scale."

"Maybe we can find a lead without screening anyone," Zhang Zhiyuan said gravely.

"You already have an idea?" Zhou Zhi asked eagerly. "Tell us."

"I'm not sure yet. We need to visit one of the crime scenes."

"Huh?" Zhou Zhi was taken aback. "The autopsies are already done. There's no way the crime scene has been left untouched all this time, is there? You saw the files. The crimes all happened in public areas..."

"I don't need to see the victims' bodies. I only need to see the crime scene. So we don't need to find the location of the most recent murder. Any scene close to here will do," Zhang Zhiyuan replied.

The closest crime scene was a church called Yeni.

Finding its exact location wasn't difficult. Zhang Zhiyuan asked seven or eight people on the street, and six of them pointed them in the right direction. There was no doubt the building was well known locally.

"Hey, someone's watching us," Zhou Zhi muttered.

"I noticed, too... The way we're dressed seems out of place here," Naruko agreed. They were in different bodies now, and their clothes were simple, but the weapons they'd just switched to changed everything. There were plenty of people on the street, but hardly any of them had long guns and swords plainly strapped to their backs like they did.

"If these pedestrians are all AI, I have to admit the game's pretty impressive," Taylor sighed. "What game NPC gives a damn about how players dress?"

"Should we put our weapons away, then?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"No." Zhang Zhiyuan stopped him. "If carrying weapons like this were forbidden, they would have done something already. Since people are only sneaking glances at us, our outfits haven't crossed a line. They're just unusual, at most. But if we hide our weapons in public, we might make people suspicious. So we should leave things as they are. And if possible, don't avoid meeting anyone's gaze. Act natural."

With that, he deliberately looked toward one of the people watching them. When their eyes met, the person showed a flicker of fear, then lowered his head and looked away.

Could AI really simulate such subtle expressions?

Zhang Zhiyuan's gaze passed over the man and settled on the distance. The street stretched crookedly ahead, with buildings standing irregularly along both sides. Somehow, the disorderly layout created an ineffable sense of harmony: the result of poor surveying and careless workers working together, a manifestation of a complex world.

The streets beneath their feet weren't all clean, polished stone, either. Broken bricks crushed by carriage wheels and puddles in sunken patches of road were everywhere. The constant flow of people had tracked mud and filth along with them. Zhang Zhiyuan could feel the muddy ground through the soles of his shoes, and the stench of decay was everywhere in the street.

Gradually, he stopped doubting his judgment.

This wasn't some virtual game. It was a real world.

The interface flickering before his eyes and the weapons and items that had suddenly appeared were just as unbelievable, but compared to creating a city this realistic, those things seemed much easier to achieve.

Zhang Zhiyuan was certain of one thing: investigating Paradise could no longer wait.