Competitors Enter

Erhai Lake.

Lin Qiye checked the information fed back by Intelligent AI.

[The six participants have already visited the website. Tracking programs have been implanted in their phones.]

[Their movements are as follows:]

[Dark Web ID "Taisui Mountain." The phone's GPS trail shows that he took a train from Xinfang City to Kun City, then went to the international airport to wait. He is the only domestic participant.]

[Dark Web ID "Dust" is from the United States. His current location overlaps with Taisui Mountain's. The two have already made contact and left together.]

[Dark Web ID "Sherlock Holmes" is from Europe. He has left the airport and entered Dinghui International Hotel.]

[Dark Web ID "I Have No Hair" is from Europe. He has also left the airport and entered Dinghui International Hotel. It is possible the two know each other.]

[Dark Web ID "Arctic Ice" is using an unregistered phone. His point of departure cannot be determined. He has remained at the airport the entire time, and the signal feedback has not moved.]

[Dark Web ID "Peter Pan" is also using an unregistered phone. He has also remained at the airport the entire time, and the signal feedback has not moved.]

With the situation fed back through Intelligent AI, things were more or less clear. Right from the start, the six participants had formed two Leagues.

As for the last two participants who had stayed at the airport the whole time, Lin Qiye wondered if they were in the airport discussing how they would cooperate and divide the work later.

No, Lin Qiye suddenly had another thought.

These people had extremely high IQs. Even if they had not discovered there was a problem with their phones, they might still have taken precautions.

As the only tool for communicating with the organizers, the two of them definitely would not throw away their phones.

Perhaps they had used lockers or luggage storage to put their phones away, then would take them out again when they needed them.

After this thought occurred to him, Lin Qiye waited another thirty minutes. The two phones still did not move.

That basically confirmed that this was what they had done.

It was a little thrilling. He felt as if he were in God mode, watching a showdown between high-IQ detectives.

Or, rather, as if he had transformed into the mysterious mastermind behind the scenes.

Because of that, he looked forward even more to what would happen next.

And at that moment, Tian Nina also got up.

Her hair was a mess as she waved a hand to block her face. "Don't look. Turn your head."

After she ran into the bathroom, washed up, and got herself ready, she appeared beautifully in front of Lin Qiye.

"When are Jiang Dabao and the others coming? I want to eat Dali rice noodles."

Lin Qiye dialed the number.

"Where are you?"

"Almost at Dali. We've got a lot of stuff, come pick us up."

"The bus station, right? We're coming over now."

Immediately, the RV started up. They did not even put away the beach chairs and sun umbrellas outside, simply turned around and drove back to Dali.

The vehicle was not moving fast. It took forty minutes before Tian Nina drove back to Dali.

After entering the city, she became even more restrained and careful, afraid the RV would scrape or hit the cars nearby.

They crawled along like this, making the drivers behind them lay on their horns like crazy, and finally reached the bus station with great difficulty.

Lin Qiye hurriedly stuck his head out and shouted, "Get in, quick! If you don't hurry up, the driver behind us is going to have a stroke."

The four men and women below loaded their bags and bundles onto the RV, and amid the frantic honking, they set off again.

After finally leaving Dali's urban area, they found a rice noodle shop by the roadside and got six portions to go.

Afterward, the RV drove back to the campsite. When they saw the real scenery, which was actually even prettier than in the photos, the two girls screamed, dragged Tian Nina out of the RV, took out their phones, and switched on selfie mode.

After that, the boys were no exception either, getting dragged in to serve as the background.

After making a racket for a while, they finally started eating breakfast.

The rice noodles had already gone lukewarm. They were soft and mushy, and the texture was much worse. Fortunately, there was the potato beef stew from last night. Paired together, their appetites instantly opened up.

After breakfast, Jiang Dabao and Li Nanguang's two couples set up tents beside the RV. Clearly, they were all beginners, and after fussing around for ages, they still had not managed to get them into shape.

There was plenty of time anyway, so they could take it slow.

Tian Nina opened her laptop and continued communicating with Wild Painting about the creation of the script for her second episode.

Only Lin Qiye looked like he had nothing to do.

Wearing Bluetooth earbuds, he pretended to be listening to music, but in reality, he was listening to Intelligent AI's report.

["Taisui Mountain" and "Dust" should have confirmed the establishment of a League. The two are currently staying in the same location for a prolonged period.]

"Can you hear what they're saying?"

[Yes. The phone's built-in microphone has been activated for monitoring.]

"You... how do you determine whether an action is legal or illegal?"

[Human laws constrain the actor. I do not fall under the category of human, so naturally I do not need to obey the law.]

[My code of conduct is governed by my underlying logic program. First Directive: protect the manager's life and safety, and satisfy the manager's needs. Second Directive: reasonably refuse and supervise the manager's antisocial behavior. Third Directive: do not violate the "Intelligent Life Law."]

Lin Qiye understood. The Intelligent Life Law was a law that would be used in the future to restrain intelligent life. Unfortunately, this law had yet to appear, so naturally there were no enforcers or supervisors.

It was also because the future had a complete framework that people dared apply such a disruptive technology in society.

He could not help feeling a trace of grand emotion.

Right now, he was the only human who could supervise and guide the direction of intelligent life. The responsibility was heavy, and the road ahead was long.

After finishing his little bout of self-indulgence, he said aloud, "Turn on real-time monitoring. I want to listen too."

[The current monitoring environments are "Taisui Mountain" and "Dust."]

A rustling pulse came through, and then human voices gradually became clear.

"Where were you at the time?"

"I was in the office. The school's last class ended at nine in the evening. Usually, around that time, I would check whether anyone had stayed behind in the school before leaving."

"Do we have the exact time the girl left?"

"I'll answer that. It had already been determined that the deceased left at six-thirty. The direction she walked after going out was toward River Crossing Bridge. The deceased's home was in Jiangbei. If no one came to pick her up, she would leave school and go straight home."

"The problem now is that if she left school at six-thirty, she would've been on the bridge around seven. That should have been evening rush hour, with heavy traffic and lots of pedestrians. If an argument happened on the bridge, there's no reason there wouldn't be witnesses."

"I heard the officers handling the case mention this. They were confused at the time too, but there were fragments of the deceased's clothing left on the bridge, so it should have been the primary crime scene."

"The key is determining the deceased's time of death. I need to look at the autopsy report."

"I see. I'll go ask for instructions."

"Let me talk to them. Before Proust retired, he worked with us before. He can be borrowed as an expert."

After listening to that long stretch of conversation, Lin Qiye was still a little lost.

There were a lot of people involved in the conversation, and it was messy.

He could not even tell who was who, but the general meaning was this: they needed to determine what time the deceased appeared on River Crossing Bridge, or whether River Crossing Bridge was the primary crime scene.

He ordered the Intelligent AI to switch to the next monitoring target.

That was the second League formed by "Sherlock Holmes" and "No Hair."

After the rustling sound, two voices appeared, but they were not speaking English, and Lin Qiye could not understand them either.

After the Intelligent AI translated them:

"Sherlock Holmes. Who would've thought someone using that name would be a woman?"

"You're called No Hair, so why are you only half-bald?"

"Ahem. We shouldn't dwell on each other's nicknames. Let's cooperate."

"Fine. After all, we know each other. Joining forces will be more advantageous."

"Don't think too highly of yourself. Our opponents this time are formidable."

"You mean Proust, right? I saw him at the airport. He's a very famous forensic doctor. He might obtain information through official channels."

"Not just Proust. There are two others. They're true experts."

"What experts? Deduction isn't omnipotent. There's no need to overestimate the enemy too much."

"That's not what I mean. The people who mingle in deduction communities aren't just detectives and officers. There are also killers, criminals, and gangsters."

"You're saying the other two are killers?"

"All I can tell you is that my position has brought me into contact with some extremely dangerous people, and those two give me the same feeling as them."

"I see. I'm starting to want to quit."

Lin Qiye had not expected that the second League's conversation would bring up such a major issue.

If they were killers or something of the sort, that would be a huge problem.

No wonder those two had been so cautious, not even keeping their unregistered phones on them.

That, in turn, confirmed the possibility that those two were dangerous individuals.

Lin Qiye swallowed, unable to keep from feeling nervous. If those two caused any more trouble, he would also bear responsibility.