Plot Kill

"And I also saw a name that shouldn't have appeared in the case files. I never expected... sigh..." Brother Lei frowned and let out a sigh, as if he had recalled something.

The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.

Seeing this, Liu Xing hurriedly gave Tina a meaningful look. Tina immediately understood and said with a cheerful smile, "Brother Lei, it's not nice to keep us in suspense like this. Could you continue and tell us what exactly happened?"

As soon as Tina finished speaking, the sound of dice hitting the ground rang out.

Tina, Quick Conversation, 39/70, success.

Tina, Persuasion, 23/55, success.

Liu Xing looked at Tina in surprise. He had not expected her to have put so many points into Quick Conversation while also investing in the Persuade Skill. Was this some new strategy?

However, due to the double success of Quick Conversation and Persuasion, Brother Lei nodded and said, "If you want to know about this, you have to promise not to tell anyone else. This is an internal secret, after all. It could have a bad impact if word got out."

Liu Xing and the other two immediately nodded. They all knew that what Brother Lei was about to tell them would definitely be important information.

"It happened like this. Back when I had just started working, I was assigned to handle security for the Harvest Festival. There weren't any other major events in this little county, so every year, the Harvest Festival was as lively as New Year's. The crowds were always huge."

"I was on patrol at the time when I found a little boy who had gotten separated from his family, so I brought him here. The Lost Children Center for the Harvest Festival had always been set up here, so whenever parents realized their child was missing, they would come here to look."

"I asked the little boy his name, and he said it was Ji Lei. Just as I was about to ask about his parents, he suddenly pointed behind me, toward those Peach Trees, and said his father was over there." As Brother Lei spoke, he pointed toward the Peach Trees behind the temple.

Liu Xing looked at the Peach Trees but found nothing unusual about them. They were merely much thicker and sturdier than ordinary Peach Trees.

"Then Ji Lei ran toward those Peach Trees. I turned around and saw a man smiling and waving at him. Ji Lei happily threw himself into the man's arms, and they looked very close. So I assumed Ji Lei had found his father and that my job was done. I left to continue maintaining order at the Harvest Festival."

"After that Harvest Festival ended, I was sent to Chengdu for the Criminal Police Advanced Class. I stayed in Chengdu for several more years before returning to this county. By then, I had transferred into the criminal police, so I was no longer responsible for security at the Harvest Festival."

"Then, last year, there was a child disappearance during the Harvest Festival. The prime suspect was the child's father. The parents had already divorced, and custody had been awarded to the mother. The child had been attending the Harvest Festival with his mother when she suddenly realized that her son was gone. While looking for him, she saw the child's father pulling the child up the stairs leading to Immortal Crane Temple. She immediately chased after them, but when she reached Immortal Crane Temple, there was nothing there. Both the child and his father had vanished."

"So the child's mother reported it to us, and I was put in charge of the case. I came here to see whether there were any clues, and that was when I encountered the old man who told me the secret. At his reminder, I checked the case files on missing children from recent years. I discovered that in every cycle—once every twelve years—there would definitely be a strange child disappearance case. Whenever a child vanished, one of the child's relatives would vanish at the same time, and the final place they were seen was always Immortal Crane Temple. That included the Ji Lei I just told you about, as well as his father." By the end, Brother Lei's mood had sunk again.

"Brother Lei, this wasn't your fault..." Ming Shi Xiang wanted to comfort him, but for the moment, she did not know what to say.

At that moment, Liu Xing suddenly thought of a term—serving as an accomplice.

There was an ancient legend that people eaten by tigers would become chang ghosts, whose sole purpose was to lure more people to the tiger.

Clearly, the adults in these child disappearance cases were chang ghosts, just like Ji Lei's father, who had lured Ji Lei away!

As for the "tiger," Liu Xing was certain it was a Mythical Creature, and that it lived in Immortal Crane Temple!

What puzzled Liu Xing, however, was why this "tiger" had made things so complicated. As a Mythical Creature, capturing a child should have been effortless. Why did it need to create chang ghosts first?

In Liu Xing's view, creating chang ghosts would certainly take more time and effort. So why would the "tiger" do such a thankless task?

Still confused, Liu Xing looked at the Peach Trees again. They still seemed completely ordinary, but he had a premonition that something was definitely wrong with them.

However, Liu Xing could now be certain of one thing: Minami Kotori's mother had most likely already become a chang ghost.

At that moment, Li Ming and Tian Dao finally climbed up to Immortal Crane Temple and arrived at the Children's Lost and Found Center, where they met up with Liu Xing and the others.

"Uh, why are you all sitting here? Where's Kotori? Did she find her mother?" Tian Dao asked in surprise.

Tian Dao's words suddenly jolted Liu Xing and the others awake. They had been so absorbed in Brother Lei's story that they had forgotten to keep an eye on Minami Kotori!

Plot Kill!

That was Liu Xing's first thought. At first, while listening to Brother Lei's account of the secret, he had occasionally glanced over at Minami Kotori to keep track of her. But as Brother Lei continued, he gradually forgot she was even there. Liu Xing was sure this was a Plot Kill—kpcao had forcibly made Minami Kotori leave their group's control in order to advance the plot.

Liu Xing had seen something like this before when he watched Wu Lei's tabletop session. Wu Lei, as a Player, had stubbornly refused to explore the cellar that would trigger the plot, forcing KP to use a Plot Kill: an earthquake shattered the floor and sent Wu Lei falling straight down...

But this was not the time to think about that. Liu Xing and the other two instantly stood up and began searching for Minami Kotori. Seeing this, Tian Dao and Li Ming realized that Liu Xing and the others might have lost her.

"Over there!" Liu Xing was the first to spot Minami Kotori.

PS: I thought the family matters would keep me busy all day, but they went unexpectedly smoothly, so there will still be two updates today. And of course, there will be two tomorrow as well.