Newbie Scenario · Class Reunion (7)

"What was on the TV, anyway?" Basketball Qiao was still fixated on that detail. Although he had also been in the living room at the time, he had been busy arranging things with his back to the television.

Lawyer Jin had finally reached the end of his patience. His desire to shut Basketball Qiao up was plain for all to see. Yet he never stepped forward himself. Instead, he gave Second-generation Zhao a look. Little Zhao, who habitually cast himself as a lackey, immediately took the initiative to smooth things over.

"We all have a side quest. Whether someone is the murderer or a good person, this clue is only worth one point. I suggest we keep things harmonious. As long as these side quests don't affect the main storyline, there's no need to dig into them. What do you think?" Second-generation Zhao offered an exchange: no one would pry into the hidden details of anyone else's side quest, and everyone would give up one point. That way, they would all remain on the same starting line.

Something that should have required only mutual understanding had been forced out into the open.

Logically, this kind of tacit cheating should have been intolerable to the livestream audience. Yet everyone accepted it well, because this was a game about exposing human nature, and negotiations between players were also a form of game theory.

Who knew whether they would actually keep their word later?

After thinking it over, Zhen Liu nodded in agreement. It was not because he truly felt that one point was worth playing it safe for, but because he felt it was still too early to make enemies.

Only after Zhen Liu agreed did Professor Lu casually nod along.

That left only Basketball Qiao, who had no idea what had happened. Second-generation Zhao could only pull him aside for a brief private discussion. When they returned from their brainstorming session, Basketball Qiao looked enlightened, his eyes shining with excitement. "Right, right! This is a game about finding the murderer, after all. We good guys need to stick together."

Basketball Qiao never mentioned the television again.

Once the introductions were over, they entered the fourth stage, the real highlight of the game—the first round of on-site evidence gathering.

The entire villa, inside and out, upstairs and downstairs, every room was open for everyone to enter freely. However, there was a time limit: six hours. After lunch, they would no longer be allowed to enter other people's rooms without reason.

Once the search began, everyone had their own preferred first location. For example, Zhen Liu considered examining the crime scene and the body the top priority, so he planned to go to the victim's room first. Lawyer Jin, however, stayed in the living room. He apparently cared deeply about the secret Basketball Qiao had accidentally exposed. Although the players had reached a preliminary gentlemen's agreement, he still could not rest easy. No one knew what he intended to do by staying in the living room.

Zhen Liu ignored him and headed straight for the victim's room. Professor Lu silently followed.

To avoid suspicion, Second-generation Zhao took Basketball Qiao to the attic farthest from the living room. Yes, above the third floor of the villa was a small attic. With the floor plan of the entire villa in hand, Second-generation Zhao knew it better than anyone.

The five of them temporarily split into three teams and went their separate ways.

Once only Zhen Liu and Professor Lu remained, Professor Lu took the initiative to speak. "Is there nothing you want to ask me?" His implication was obvious. There had been too many people earlier, and there were many things he had not wanted to say. But now, he could tell Zhen Liu everything he knew.

Zhen Liu, however, was completely focused on examining the body's fatal wound. He had to admit, this holographic game was far too realistic. Zhen Liu had never seen visuals that made him worry so much about whether a game could pass censorship.

Professor Lu: "..."

He had no choice but to say again that he could provide more clues.

This time, Zhen Liu finally heard him. However, his hands did not stop moving as he casually asked, "Do you want to form a temporary alliance with me?"

Professor Lu fell completely silent. Only after a while did he speak again with difficulty. "Why would you think that?"

Zhen Liu was extremely surprised. "What else could it be?"

"Maybe I'm doing this because you're special."

Although things were progressing a little quickly, the Cupids in the comments were all hopeless romantics. They had already begun screaming about how sweet this was. Some even asked why Zhen Liu had not agreed to date Professor Lu yet.

Zhen Liu finally stopped what he was doing, but not to respond to Professor Lu. He merely recorded a new deduction on the light screen—Professor Lu was secretly in love with Doctor Zhen. This might be the secret Professor Lu was being threatened over. As an educator, homosexuality was still a fairly sensitive subject in this

era

setting, which was why he had seemed so troubled lately.

This could also serve as Professor Lu's motive for murder.

Seeing Professor Lu's subtle expression and his hesitation to speak, Zhen Liu took the initiative to say, "Don't worry. I want fair competition. As long as you don't betray me, I won't reveal your secret either."

One point each. How fair. I may want to make money, but I have principles and limits too. Zhen Liu thought he was amazing.

Professor Lu: "..." What kind of Little Pillow were you? You were nothing but a heartless pineapple head!

Newbie Scenario · Class Reunion (7)

The heartless pineapple-headed Zhen Liu ignored Professor Lu and crouched down to focus on examining the body. He turned it over and checked it thoroughly, taking plenty of photos and videos along the way.

In the game, every player had a recorder that could photograph or record anything they found suspicious, so they could present it during the later group discussion for everyone else to examine.

This recorder had only been given to each player that morning, after Ying De's death had been confirmed.

When 333 handed Zhen Liu the recorder, it also provided a beginner's guide for the evidence-gathering phase.

For example, from the start of the evidence-gathering stage, players' fingerprints would no longer be entered into the database, nor would they pick up traces such as blood from the crime scene.

For another example, the DM would provide a simple autopsy report at an appropriate time. Each player could also hand certain items to their personal AI for fingerprint comparison.