Salvaging the Mess

Since he had caused this himself, he had to keep control of the situation. He absolutely couldn't let it turn into a mess.

Lin Qiye issued an order.

"Gather all information on the final two participants."

[Task confirmed. Understood as highest priority. Pausing all Computing Power operations. Estimated time required: one hour.]

And just like that, the Internet Cafe side froze again. Wild Painting, who was communicating with Tian Nina, went offline too, and even the laptop began to lag.

"What's wrong with your computer?" Tian Nina asked.

"It's a little hot. Maybe it crashed. I'll try restarting it later," Lin Qiye suggested. "How about we go swimming?"

"I'm in!"

"Both hands in!"

Jiang Dabao and Li Nanguang agreed without hesitation.

Their intentions were obvious to everyone.

The three girls hesitated, yet they were also drawn to the beautiful lake water.

Jiang Wanxin replied, "Can we? Will anyone stop us?"

Wang Meijia's face was very red. "I can't swim. I can only stay in the shallow area."

Tian Nina glanced at Lin Qiye. "I bought swimsuits. Even yours."

Really? When Tian Nina tossed the swim trunks over, Lin Qiye was a little stunned.

No wonder she was called Dani. Beneath that gentle, beautiful exterior was an easygoing, carefree heart.

Only someone with that kind of big heart could live happily under the pressure of having a father who was a murder suspect.

Soon after, the three couples each went into the river hand in hand.

Pair by pair, they split off and played around in the warm sunlight and cool water.

When feelings ran high, it became hard to help themselves.

Forget the promise to Tian's father. Lin Qiye moved closer to Tian Nina, closer and closer.

The good times didn't last long before an angry shout came from not far away. "Li Nanguang, you pervert!"

"How am I a pervert? You're my girlfriend. If we're together, can't we do that?"

Lin Qiye and Tian Nina separated and looked over.

Jiang Dabao and Jiang Wanxin also swam over.

The two girls went to comfort Wang Meijia, while Jiang Dabao asked, "What do you mean by 'that'? Be clear. I don't get it."

Li Nanguang was a little embarrassed. "Just... kissing, okay?"

"What's the big deal? Look at me, and Big Lin and her. Isn't that normal?" Jiang Dabao replied carelessly, then got punched by his girlfriend.

But that also eased the atmosphere.

Li Nanguang nodded. "That's what I thought too. Our relationship's already this good. It's time to take the next step."

Across from him, Wang Meijia shouted, "Kissing is kissing. That was disgusting!"

So that was it. Lin Qiye and Jiang Dabao held back their laughter and couldn't really say anything else.

This was clearly caused by unclear communication regarding technique.

Clearly, "mama's girl" Wang Meijia didn't have a comprehensive understanding of such things. From a technical rating standpoint, she only knew the bare basics.

After the two girls explained to her in low voices, the blushing Wang Meijia walked over and tugged Li Nanguang's hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't know, okay?"

With that one tug, how could Li Nanguang still be angry? The two of them immediately made up.

But after that commotion, there was no real point in staying in the lake, so the six of them went ashore one after another.

Once they reached the shore, Lin Qiye changed into clean clothes and put on his Bluetooth earphones.

Then he heard Intelligent AI's reply.

[For now, I am unable to determine the whereabouts of the two individuals.]

[However, after cracking the forum database, I discovered some details.]

[The forum database contains a backdoor program that intercepts and backs up users' access data. It should have been left behind by the forum's creator.]

[Based on that data, I discovered that most of Arctic Ice's login data came from the Mediterranean region. Some of the data also leaked the MAC address of the computer he used. Through that clue, I have found the real location of that device.]

During this period, Lin Qiye had also been studying internet knowledge.

He knew that a MAC address was the unique identifier of a computer's hardware device. When going online, programs assigned a network IP based on the computer device's MAC address.

As long as the MAC address was obtained, what came next was far too simple for Intelligent AI.

The reply continued.

[Based on big data analysis of the files in that computer device, the following results have been obtained.]

[Arctic Ice belongs to a multinational security company, primarily responsible for taking on various employment, protection, and rescue missions. He himself has accepted no fewer than fifteen missions, all of which were completed.]

[Judging from the behavioral preferences summarized through big data, he had a strong interest in deduction, which was also why he joined the Theory Forum.]

[In addition, at seven o'clock this morning, there was a flight from the Mediterranean region. Arctic Ice was very likely to have arrived on that plane. If he needs to be arrested, the police can be notified to investigate the boarding information for that flight.]

[Based on the current situation, Arctic Ice should be on vacation, and the nature of his work is restricted. He is not highly dangerous.]

Lin Qiye let out a breath of relief. Mercenaries were much better than killers. At the very least, they followed rules.

But he still could not help feeling excited.

This was something he would never have come into contact with in his previous life.

With his rebirth, life had become more and more exciting—college romance, making money through stocks, helping catch fraudsters, and now coming into contact with the Dark Web, even crossing paths with mercenaries.

The more one knew, the greater the responsibility and risk.

It definitely would not do to rashly offend a mercenary. After all, the other party had not committed a crime; on the contrary, he was helping search for a criminal.

Then he would leave it for now. The moment he discovered any misconduct, he would immediately notify the police to arrest him.

After making this decision, he issued an order.

"Continue monitoring. Report immediately if you find anything abnormal."

Then he asked, "Right, what about Peter Pan? Why isn't there any investigation report?"

[Peter Pan's situation is relatively complicated. He has login data from countries all over the world, and he never uses the same device twice. After investigating, I discovered that all the internet devices he used came from public equipment.]

[Clearly, he has a very strong sense of anti-tracking awareness, and he is extremely professional.]

Good grief, this guy couldn't be 007, could he? Or some globally wanted supercriminal?

Lin Qiye felt thirsty, so he went into the RV and poured himself a glass of water to calm his nerves.

The bounty incident had suddenly become far too exciting—so exciting that he could hardly take it.

At the moment, the most important thing was to find the real culprit as soon as possible. Only then could he send those walking disasters away.

A whole day passed. Lin Qiye, who had taken part in the monitoring the entire time, combined with the participants' reports, had also learned the progress of the entire case investigation.

The League formed by Dust and Taisui Mountain studied the autopsy report.

There was one suspicious point. Although the corpse had been determined to be a drowning victim, the specific time of death needed to be revised. The main reason was that the livor mortis marks on her body were too faint. She might have died three days ago, but she might also have died two days ago.

This conclusion came from an authoritative forensic expert, so it should not be wrong.

On the other side, the League formed by Sherlock Holmes and No Hair also made a similar judgment.

They believed that...

Since the police had investigated every way they could and still found nothing, and since at around seven in the evening, countless cars and pedestrians crossing the bridge had not seen anyone committing murder on the bridge...

Could something have been mistaken?

They boldly overturned the previous conclusion, believing that the girl might not have died on the day she disappeared.

Or perhaps that day, the girl had gone to a friend's house to hang out, even stayed overnight, and then at daybreak, or in the silent, deserted dead of night, she walked alone onto the bridge for some reason and encountered danger.