Scene Start

Several used cotton swabs, a bottle of mineral water, and an unopened loaf of bread sat on the wooden table.

The young police officer sitting at the other end of the table set down his voice recorder, took out his own phone, and opened a folder. "Take a look and see if this is the person."

Chen Ge glanced at the photo. Several men were walking out of The Restaurant with their arms around each other's shoulders; the tallest one among them had a peony tattooed on the back of his hand.

"Yes, that's him!"

"Peonies bloom, wealth follows. This man is called Zhang Peng. He's a gambler who owes hundreds of thousands in usury and is suspected of burglary and robbery." The officer continued flipping through the photos. "Take a look at this one."

The subsequent photos were stills taken from a Surveillance Video. After zooming in multiple times, Chen Ge finally saw clearly that the man in the driver's seat of the van had a panicked expression, and his appearance was eighty or ninety percent similar to the Short Fat Man inside the Apartment Building.

"Looks familiar."

"Based on your description, we cross-referenced the public security database. The driver in the picture is Feng Chunlei, from another province. He was driving under the influence and fled the scene of an accident; the circumstances are extremely severe." The young officer put away his phone and organized the documents in his hands. "My statement is finished, but you cannot leave yet. People from the City Branch Bureau's criminal investigation team will be here shortly to conduct a more detailed interrogation. I hope you can cooperate with the investigation; after all, you are the only witness."

"Of course." Chen Ge sat in the chair, his mood only now beginning to settle.

When Wang Qi appeared behind him, he had felt a chill on the back of his neck and caught a faint glimpse of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl through the phone screen.

Who was that girl? A projection from the Black Phone itself? Is this some kind of large-scale holographic game? Or perhaps aliens?

She must have appeared out of thin air and happened to be reflected on the phone screen. Could the theory of parallel worlds actually be true?

Chen Ge had read reports long ago about physicists observing quantum states and discovering that every observation yielded a different result. Since all matter in the universe is composed of quanta, these scientists speculated that since each quantum has different states, the universe might not be singular, but rather composed of multiple similar universes.

Perhaps under the influence of the Black Phone, two parallel worlds overlapped for an instant. Chen Ge rubbed his temples, continuously speculating on the truth.

A few hours earlier, the West City Police Station received a report of a suspected murder at the Ping An Apartment in the West Suburb. The police acted immediately, encountering Chen Ge on the road leading to the Ping An Apartment. After basic questioning, the West City Police Station split into two groups.

One team followed Chen Ge to the wooden hut in the back mountain to pursue Wang Qi; the other entered the woods to search for the tenants of the Ping An Apartment.

Passing through the dense forest, when Chen Ge arrived at the wooden hut again, only a pool of blood remained on the ground, and Wang Qi was nowhere to be found.

Only after the West City Police officers discovered the fresh blood and found a large quantity of the victim's clothing in the wooden hut did they finally believe Chen Ge's story. They immediately requested reinforcements from the City Branch Bureau, mobilized more police force, and sealed off the mountain to search through the night.

As a key witness, Chen Ge was placed under close protection. The police originally decided to send him directly to the branch bureau, but in order to complete the task set by the Black Phone, Chen Ge told the police that more important clues were hidden in the Ping An Apartment and strongly requested to give his statement there.

That led to the scene above: under the protection of two police officers at the door, Chen Ge lay peacefully in the haunted house, waiting for the mission time to pass.

Around three in the morning, the door was pushed open. A middle-aged police officer in his forties walked in. He took off his police cap and grabbed the mineral water on the table, gulping down several mouthfuls.

"Uncle Sanbao, that water is mine." Chen Ge looked at the man who had entered and climbed off the bed.

The man's full name was Li Sanbao, the deputy director of the West City Police Station. Coincidentally, he was the one in charge of investigating the disappearance of Chen Ge's parents back then. At that time, Chen Ge was desperate and anxious, and it was thanks to this uncle running around that Chen Ge received so much help.

"You brat, is 'Sanbao' something you can call me? I've told you how many times, call me Director Li or Captain Li." Li Sanbao put down the water bottle, an unconcealable smile on his face. "Forget it, considering you performed a great service this time, I won't hold it against you."

"Did you catch him?" Chen Ge stood up at once.

"Those guys in the criminal investigation team aren't pushovers. Not only did they catch Wang Qi, but the other tenants in the apartment building were also arrested one after another. Now, only Zhang Peng remains at large."

"That's great!"

"Wang Qi's fiancée's corpse has also been found and is being processed by the coroner. If you have any questions, ask them quickly; I have other things to attend to." Captain Li had only come to give Chen Ge some peace of mind.

"Zhang Peng and Feng Chunlei are fugitives. Are the other two also criminals?" Chen Ge didn't stand on ceremony and asked the question weighing on his mind.

"The woman is Zhang Peng's wife; at most, it counts as aiding and abetting. The Landlord's situation is a bit complicated. He is just a Caregiver, but he was blinded by greed and conspired with the others to occupy the Old Man's apartment. However, he didn't abuse the Old Man—at least, we didn't see any obvious scars on the Old Man's body." Captain Li put on his police cap. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing much." Chen Ge mimicked He Shan and put on an honest, simple smile. "Risking my life to assist the police in apprehending fugitives—I heard there's a reward."

"We'll send a banner to your house once the case is closed. See you."

"What the hell, hey!"

Seeing Chen Ge deflated, the young officer nearby laughed. "Captain Li is just teasing you. If Wang Qi really is the killer from the Massacre Case five years ago, the reward you get should be over thirty thousand. It's just that the money is paid by the local finance department. Additionally, the Old Man in the apartment building once issued a bounty in his own name; anyone who provides key clues gets five thousand yuan."

"There really is a bounty?" Upon hearing there was a cash reward, the corners of Chen Ge's mouth curled up. "I was just asking. Actually, my intention for acting bravely was not for money. Contributing to the harmonious and stable development of our city is the duty of every citizen."

The young officer smiled and didn't refute him, standing guard at the door dutifully.

Later, Chen Ge was interrogated by the City Branch Bureau's criminal investigation team. After giving two sets of statements, the West City Police Station intended to send him home, but he made all sorts of excuses to complete his task, stubbornly refusing to leave the haunted house. One moment he had to go to Room 408 to retrieve his Backpack, the next he had to take the police to the third floor to see the secondary crime scene. He kept them busy until six in the morning, and only after the Black Phone prompted that the trial mission was complete did he finally get into a police car and leave.

Watching the scenery fly by on both sides, Chen Ge felt no sleepiness. He secretly took out the Black Phone and began to check the mission rewards.

Player arrived at the mission site within the specified time, successfully identified the killer, and survived until dawn. Midnight Escape trial mission complete! The new horror scene, Midnight Escape, has been unlocked. Players can freely control all mechanisms within this scene via the scene interface!

Trial mission completion rate exceeds ninety percent. Obtained hidden item for this mission: Wang Qi's Missing Person Notice.

Wang Qi's Missing Person Notice (Resentment Value: Number Eleven): I search every day for the person I killed. I have killed her over and over again, yet she always seems to be able to find me. Every time dawn breaks and I open my eyes, her things always appear on my bed. I clearly walled her into the bricks, yet it feels as if she has burrowed into my heart...