The Answer...? / Restart

The answer was exactly as expected.

No... Lin already knew Kevin would say that.

Then why did he ask that question?

"Heh..." A cold, mocking laugh rang out from behind him.

He turned around.

This time, however, there was no one there.

Chapter 132 The Answer...?

The cold night air filled my lungs.

However, for Lin, it was just an ordinary state, where he couldn't even feel the temperature or confirm his breathing.

He was simulating Erwin's state before his death.

Lin believes there are three entry points for solving the case: time, clues, and state of mind.

The time of Vill-V's death has been confirmed to be around 4 p. m., which is shortly after Prometheus received his orders from her and left.

Irwin died at 5 a. m.

These two time points are far apart, and it's impossible to imagine any connection between them, which is consistent with the killer's modus operandi—unpredictable.

With no clues to follow, Lin struggled to piece together the scattered, unconnected clues to find evidence that could identify the murderer.

So, in the end, only the state remains.

Lin took off his helmet and arrived on the deck at five in the morning. He walked to the location of Erwin's body, but after thinking it over, he did not stop. Instead, he continued to walk forward for about five steps.

The bloodstains indicate that this was where Erwin was attacked. He did not die immediately after suffering a fatal wound, but stumbled and chased after the assailant for a few steps before collapsing.

Erwin was standing right here... what was he doing?

Based on the previous line of reasoning, the only reason Erwin would be standing here at this time of day is to watch the sunrise, but is that really just a whim of his?

In unsolved cases, "accidents," "spur-of-the-moment decisions," and "acting on impulse" are the most difficult aspects to investigate.

Therefore, even without any clues, Lin could only make a simulation based on the premise that Erwin "had his own purpose" at the time.

Lin stood a little distance from the entrance, closer to the coastline, gazing at the horizon, waiting for the first light of dawn and the sun to slowly rise.

No. Wa

These two words flashed through Lin's mind.

He tried taking two steps forward, then retreated to his original position. His gaze swept over the distance he had just moved and the spot where Erwin's body lay.

The position is incorrect.

If the goal is to watch the sunrise, then the current location is clearly not the best, as it is too far from a place where you can have a panoramic view of the sea.

Is someone waiting for someone in this place that's neither too far nor too near?

Yes, this is a perfect spot. It offers a view of most of the sea, yet isn't too far from the entrance. While waiting, you can relax and enjoy the view, and when someone arrives, you can quickly turn around and greet them.

If he was waiting for someone, it means that one of the people who met Erwin at the ball was lying.

Could it be Pardofelis?

As the only one among them to go missing, it's inevitable that suspicion will be directed at her.

Even with a suspect identified, one more thing is missing.

Motivation.

As mentioned earlier, the most difficult aspect of unsolved cases lies in those "accidents" that cannot be explained by logic. In human terms, it might be better described as a "sudden onset of a serious illness."

To put it simply, in a dating sim, the female protagonist develops a mental illness and goes on a rampage just as she's about to enter the romance route. This kind of absurd thing is impossible to predict and doesn't make sense logically.

Could it be that Pardofelis is suffering from some kind of mental illness?

Lin thought of the clues left behind by Vill-V.

Consciousness pollution...

September 18th, 5:53 PM, outside Qianqi's room.

Lin had investigated everything he could think of, but he was still completely baffled and made no progress.

Who are the people Erwin is waiting for? Where did Pardofelis go? What is the meaning of the message left by Vill-V?

Kevin has practically turned the headquarters upside down these past few days, but he still hasn't found Pardofelis, nor has he been able to restore the surveillance equipment. Even though Kevin is usually as calm as an ice cube, he's starting to lose his composure and is extremely anxious.

Lin could only come back to find Qianqi one more time.

There's no reason, but if I had to say, it's that Qianqi perfectly fits the criteria for "consciousness pollution."

On September 12, the day after the ball ended, she underwent a sudden change, her mental state deteriorated rapidly, and after being interrogated, her distrust of the Moth and those around her reached its peak.

This was just an irresponsible guess, but it was the last clue he could think of.

"Knock knock".

Lin knocked on Qianqi's door and stood quietly in front of it. Prometheus was not with him today. In fact, since investigating Vill-V's body, Prometheus had not come to see Lin again, but instead assisted Kevin in the investigation.

Perhaps because he lost some of his senses, the remaining ones became exceptionally sensitive. Even with the extremely soundproof barrier made of special material, the Fire-Chasing Moth was still able to hear some sounds from inside the room.

He got up, stumbled forward, and came to the door, and then...

Lin suddenly thought of something.

If Qianqi is the one whose consciousness has been corrupted, then what signal is he sending to her by appearing here now?

The next instant, the door was pushed open from the inside.

Lin's consciousness dissipated rapidly.

"..."

Lin opened his eyes and saw the panel inside his helmet, where he could hear his own heavy but steady breathing.

He... is unconscious?

Lin struggled to sit up and looked at the upper left corner of his panel, where the time showed that it was 6:25 PM. The time jump in between was obviously the time after he lost consciousness.

The memory was interrupted after Qianqi's side was pushed away.

This unusual coma has a very reasonable explanation.

He checked his body and found nothing wrong, not even an injury, which meant that Qianqi hadn't done anything to him after knocking him unconscious.

He looked up warily, observing his surroundings. This was inside Qianqi's room, the door was tightly closed, and Qianqi was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't find her anywhere in the room.

At this moment, a strong sense of unease overwhelmed Lin.

Here it comes again, that indescribable, almost nauseating sensation conveyed by some kind of "intuition."

However, this time, Lin knew where it came from.

He got up and pushed open the door.

Walk.

Turn a corner.

Walk.

Arrived at the Research and Development Department.

Push open the door.

Blood without color.

Corpse.

Corpse.

Corpse.

The technique was quite skillful; the wounds, delivered with a single, fatal blow, appeared on every corpse he saw.

Lin numbly stepped over Hua and Ying's wide-eyed corpses and arrived at Mei's office door.

The blood seeping out from the crack in the door seemed to be telling a story.

Push the door open.

Kevin's blank face appeared before me, but it had lost all life, lying not far away like a cold puppet.

Mei, head bowed, her body almost severed in two, leaned against the wall, silent.

The man stood in hell, with a long knife at his feet.

If Lin's guess is correct, then it should be a weapon that Vill-V is developing.

What exactly is going on...?

This question remained in his mind.

Soon, Qianqi turned her head, a warm smile on her face.

The next second, she crouched down and picked up the knife.

Lin, reflexively, drew his gun and fired.

At 6:30 PM on September 18th, Lin was confirmed dead.

Chapter 133 Restart

I wonder if any of you have heard of the "Millennium Bug Incident".

The Millennium Bug Incident, also known as the Millennium Problem, the Millennium Crisis, or the Computer's Two Thousand Year Difficulty, refers to the computer system that used two decimal digits to represent the year when the Gregorian calendar crossed into the new millennium in 1999. This caused the system to malfunction and crash due to errors in the date calculations.

The series of problems caused by the Y2K bug can be set aside for now. In fact, the Y2K bug was not a virus, but a bug in time calculation. More complexly, it was a system failure caused by the limited computing power at the time.

The Y2K problem is to be expected in mechanical instruments, but have you ever considered that the root cause of such malfunctions is actually the effect of "limitations of cognition" and "disorder of reality"? If we treat humans as high-precision computers, and consider the leap from 1999 to 2000 as a problem beyond human cognition, then... could humans also experience Millennium Bug Incident?

Well, to put it bluntly, when a human encounters something that is enough to break them down, they will experience problems with their consciousness and mind, just like a system malfunctioning.

Oh, by the way, I'm not a narrator, and what I'm saying isn't for you to hear, so don't get the wrong idea~

"Smack—"

The greasy plate shattered on the floor covered with high heels and leather shoes.

"Excuse me."

"Fine..."

The gleaming shards of glass reflected countless eerie figures in the blindingly bright light.

"What's wrong, Lin?" Elysia's unusually direct concern made the stunned Lin tremble. He slowly turned his head and saw Elysia's deep gaze.

Come to think of it, I haven't seen her...

The scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood flashed through his mind, and the stench of blood overcame his long-dead sense of smell and appeared in his brain.

"...fine."

Only after Lin's consciousness completely returned to his body did he suppress the strange state of separation between consciousness and body.

What were those images and memories...?

"I'd like to introduce two..."

"I need to leave for a bit."

Before Elysia could finish speaking, Lin yanked through the crowd and rushed out of the venue as if he needed to urinate urgently.

"Hey, Lin..."

Qianqi, who was squatting outside the door chewing gum and blowing bubbles, was about to raise her hand to greet someone when a tall figure suddenly approached. Before she could react, everything in front of her spun around and she felt dizzy. Then, a large hand blocked the air in her trachea. In the instant of oxygen deprivation, her face turned red and her veins bulged.

"Waaah—waaah—"

She reached out and pounded on the arm that was gripping her, but just as the owner of the arm was like an unbreakable statue, this arm was like a cast iron rod, pressing her against the wall without moving an inch.

The ballroom doors were closed, shutting out all the noise. This meant that the scene of Lin choking her and her faint screams went unnoticed by those inside.