While the players were still struggling with the fish on the table, Qi Si hurried back upstairs and headed straight for the backpacker's room.
The room near the stairs was fairly tidy. The only suspicious thing was the wooden window, which stood wide open.
After its owner had vanished without a sound, the hiking backpack had been left quietly on the bedside table, its zipper still tightly closed.
It seemed Lu Li's speech had done its job. The players had put their shiny veneer of morality back on, maintaining their dignity as human beings under the watchful eye of the young professor. No looting corpses or rifling through bags for them.
Qi Si stepped forward and unzipped the backpack.
It was filled with books of all sizes and thicknesses.
He pulled one out and looked at the cover: Ten Thousand Cold Jokes.
Well, this guy must have had a great sense of humor when he was alive.
Qi Si pulled out another book. The cover showed two men who looked unmistakably like cross-talk performers, and the title read Peerless Duo.
He searched the backpack inside and out. There was nothing but books and cigarettes.
Qi Si felt like he'd been made the butt of a joke. He even began to wonder if someone had come here earlier and taken all the valuable things.
Footsteps sounded from the stairs. He quickly put the backpack back the way he'd found it, stepped aside, and pretended to study the traces.
Two seconds later, Angela, her green hair flying, came charging into the room.
The girl visibly froze when she saw someone had arrived before her.
Qi Si gave her a mild smile at just the right moment. "I just got here too. I wanted to see if I could find any clues. A