The gears of fate would turn at last

Gao Ming slowly relaxed his fingers and put the black-and-white photograph of the One-Horned Game First Team into his bag. He looked much the same as before, but something unusual lay hidden deep in his eyes.

"Once the disaster truly breaks out, things a hundred times crueler than this could happen." Xuan Wen watched the shadows recede. "I thought you worked at Maximum-Security Prison. You should be used to this by now."

"Let's go back to Nightlight Studio," Gao Ming interrupted her. "The escape game only covered four floors, and there were no living people on the lower three. The killer must have been hiding on the thirteenth floor. They might even be one of Nightlight's employees."

"Everyone makes their own choices. If you leave them alone, Ghosts will kill people too, and their numbers will keep growing. Maybe everyone will die in the end." Xuan Wen spread her hands. "That person made his choice, and he just happened to have the power to carry it out."

"The Ghosts hadn't done anything, but that guy killed seven people."

"But he also saved the others."

The lights in the stairwell flickered a few times. Once the shadows had completely receded, the building's lighting returned to normal, indicating that the game was finally over.

This was the third game Gao Ming had experienced, and the one that had affected him the most.

When he returned to the entrance of the Nightlight Games office, Gao Ming looked inside. Everyone was already hard at work.

"Catch." Zhang Wang tossed Gao Ming an energy drink. "I'm getting old. A few years ago, pulling an all-nighter would've been no problem!"

None of them had taken that text message seriously. They had no idea they had just brushed shoulders with the Reaper. Or rather, they still didn't know that the Reaper was sitting right among them.

Gao Ming scanned everyone in the office. They all behaved just as they usually did. He couldn't spot anything unusual.

"Mr. Xia, did you go downstairs earlier?"

"I heard someone downstairs calling for help, so I went to take a look. The emergency stairwell was pitch-black. I couldn't see a thing, so I came back." Xia Yang was drawing the latest murder scene on his computer. His art style was difficult for ordinary people to comprehend, possessing a kind of frenzied, chaotic beauty. "You know how easily I scare."

"What about the delivery guy? Didn't I ask you to watch him?" Gao Ming hadn't seen the delivery man at the entrance.

"As soon as the lights came on, he called the police and ran off. I suspect this was all some prank of his." Xia Yang leaned back in his chair. "We only make Horror Games. We couldn't actually tie him up over a text message, could we?"

A cat meowed, and the office door was pushed open again. Wei Dayou entered the studio, swearing under his breath. "The building manager is a disgrace. They don't even have an electrician on duty."

"Dayou, did you just go to the electrical room?"

"I nearly kicked the door down! If I'd had my phone with me, I would've filed a complaint right then." Wei Dayou returned to his desk and started working too.

Gao Ming chatted with every employee in Nightlight Studio. Not a single one seemed to have a "problem."

Later, the police arrived and ordered everyone to stay inside the studio. Only then did they realize that something seemed to have happened in the building, though none of them knew exactly what.

Around one in the morning, Manager Gou was called to the studio before he had even put on his wig. He was shut in a small room to speak with the police.

Manager Gou was baffled by their questions. His astonished voice could be heard through the door. "I really don't understand what you're talking about! Let me say this again: we just make games! The most aggressive thing any of my staff has ever done is pick up a keyboard and insult someone online."

"This is our designer, Wei Dayou. He looks strong, but he's actually scared of tiny bugs. He's a little girl at heart! And our lead artist, Xia—what criminal would be as weak as him? One of those aunties who dances in the square could knock him out with a single punch."

"Her name is Xuan Wen. She's a young woman we just hired, gentle and sweet. She even gets shy talking to strangers. If she could make seven people disappear, I'd eat this table right here in front of you!"

"It's not that I'm getting worked up. You're just being ridiculous!"

The North City District police questioned them one by one. Around three in the morning, Gao Ming was called alone to a room on the tenth floor.

After switching off all the surveillance cameras and recording devices, the police turned and walked out, leaving Gao Ming alone.

A full half hour passed before the door opened again. The people who entered weren't police officers, but three people in black uniforms, each wearing a black, ring-shaped device on their wrist.

"The Investigation Bureau?"

"Don't be nervous." The man in front was less than 1.6 meters tall, yet his presence was imposing. "I'm Cen Guan, deputy Office Director of the Investigation Office in the Future Tech Innovation Park Division of the Hanhai North City Investigation Branch."

"What do you want with me?"

"You should recognize this man." A tall, thin man following Cen Guan walked up to Gao Ming. The Black Ring on his wrist projected a video onto the tabletop—a disfigured Investigator earnestly recommending Gao Ming to the Investigation Bureau.

"He went through a Level Three Anomaly Event with me, and he told me a few things about the Investigation Bureau." Gao Ming propped his chin on his hands. "Are you here to arrest me?"

The tall, thin man shook his head. After switching off his Black Ring, he said flatly, "He died two hours ago."

"He died?" Gao Ming didn't even know the disfigured investigator's name yet.

"He was reassigned to a mission in Hanhai's East District. He died in a Level Three Anomaly Event." The tall, thin man sat down and gestured for the other two bureau members to do the same. "We're here because we hope you'll join the Investigation Bureau."

The investigator who had entered last placed the black case he was carrying on the table. He entered the code and opened the lid. Inside lay a bloodstained Black Ring.

"Qin Tian and I both came from Xinhu. He was my most trusted subordinate, and he told me everything about how you performed during the Anomaly Event. Calm, decisive, brave, with exceptional mental resilience and an extraordinary mind. It's as though you exist to resolve Anomaly Events." The tall, thin man's voice was steady and firm. He had long since grown accustomed to life and death. "Qin Tian was excited and happy when he told me all this. It was the first time he'd smiled since his wife and child died in an Anomaly Event. He said he saw hope in you."

"That investigator's name was Qin Tian..." Anomaly events were games, but they had long since gone beyond the bounds of a game. The seven employees of One-Horned Studio, and the investigator who had escaped the game with him yesterday, had all been buried in another world.

"The Hanhai General Investigation Bureau oversees nineteen branches, one for each of Hanhai's nineteen districts. Our Old City Investigation Branch is further divided by territory and population into five investigation offices: Lishan, Jinwan, Fuding, Pukou, and Dazhai." The tall, thin man looked at Gao Ming. "Hanhai has twice Xinhu's population. Since anomaly events began appearing, we've been severely understaffed. New investigators who have never experienced an anomaly event have an extremely high mortality rate, and there are too few veteran investigators to guide them. That's why we need to recruit ordinary people like you who have survived anomaly events."

"Joining the Investigation Bureau is indeed very dangerous. But if we don't confront this proactively, even more terrifying things will happen once certain things spiral out of control," Cen Guan said. "No one can escape it. Learning about the disaster sooner might be the better choice for you."

"I'll think about it." Relying on his own abilities, Gao Ming would have a hard time finding the Strange Tales growing throughout the city. Joining the Investigation Bureau was certainly a good option.

The disaster had originated with him. If he climbed the ranks step by step and became Bureau Chief of the Hanhai General Investigation Bureau, that would probably count as getting to the bottom of it.

"Almost no ordinary person can resolve a Level Three Anomaly Event on their own. You meet our highest recruitment standards." The tall, thin man tried to sound as sincere as possible. "We won't assign you mandatory missions or interfere excessively in your life. You'll have full autonomy."

"What if I want to leave Hanhai and go to another city?" Gao Ming wanted to go to Xinhu, but the heavy rain had blocked the roads, leaving him no opportunity for now.

"Travel restrictions may be imposed in the future. Only Investigation Bureau personnel will be able to go wherever they want." The tall, thin man made him a promise. "If you're willing to join the Investigation Bureau, we'll give you high-level clearance so you can travel freely."

"Travel restrictions?"

A fierce internal struggle raged in Gao Ming's mind as he stared at the Black Ring inside the black case.

Mottled with blood, the bloodstained Black Ring looked like a gear in the machinery of fate.

(End of chapter)