CH 83

Translated by: Crooked

Edited by: Dust Bunny 

“The butcher knew..?” Fang Zhi was surprised.

Gu Xizhou: “He definitely knew. When we went on the first day, there was a woman buying meat from him. Do you remember?”

“I remember.” Fang Zhi nodded.

“The meat he was cutting at that time was exactly the same,” said Gu Xizhou in a low voice. 

Fang Zhi lamented for a while.

“Oh, that’s right.” Gu Xizhou suddenly raised his eyebrows, taking out those blank white missing person notices. “These things are props, but that old man gave one sheet to everyone. I don’t think they’re very reliable. What are these things used for?”

“That old man said the missing person notices are used to look for people, but it doesn’t seem like you have to look for people inside the mission worlds, right?”

Hearing Gu Xizhou, Si Yu and Fang Zhi simultaneously took out their missing person notices. There was a blank space where you were obviously meant to fill in the missing person’s information. There weren’t any special marks on it, and it was indistinguishable from ordinary paper.

“It depends on who the target is,” Si Yu said quietly.

At the same time, Gu Xizhou grabbed a few of the missing person notices, and the two people moved identically. They turned over the notices to the back. There was nothing on the back of the first missing person notice, and the second sheet was the same. Gu Xizhou was disappointed. Suddenly, he noticed that the final missing person notice was different from the first two. This sheet unexpectedly had a row of tiny letters——

Missing Person Notice: Fill in the information to find the related person. The more detailed, the greater the probability of success. Completely filling in the information grants a one hundred percent chance of finding the target. (Note: single use item. It can only be used once per person per world.)

“Look at this,” said Gu Xizhou, putting the missing person notice with writing on the table. 

Si Yu looked at it and raised his eyebrows. He silently looked at Gu Xizhou for a moment, then he said, “You stole something good.”

This time, it was Gu Xizhou who was astonished. “En? What do you mean?”

“Using this item, we can look for monsters or people, and it can help us eliminate interference items. Originally, one person got one sheet, but you went and robbed two sheets from its hands. The other people only have one, but you have three. Wouldn’t you say you stole something good?

After saying that, Si Yu called a first-rate restaurant to have seafood delivered. “Yes, no pork, or beef. Seafood is okay. Why? Recently, I don’t feel like eating meat.” 

Gu Xizhou: “I want to eat.”

Si Yu: “……”

Gu Xizhou: “I can’t?”

Si Yu: “You can’t.” 

“Okay, ba.” Gu Xizhou sat on the sofa with a face that said ‘I can’t say no to you’. “You’re paying, so you have the final say.”

After mooching a meal from Si Yu, Gu Xizhou rubbed his stomach contentedly. He pocketed the three missing person notices and picked up his phone, looking at the time. He told Si Yu, “We’ll leave, then. See you in a few days.”

Fang Zhi quickly fell in step with him, and the two descended from the second floor of the villa in single-file.

After Gu Xizhou started the car, he looked up at Si Yu, standing on the terrace garden on the second floor. Sitting in the car, he waved. “Xiao Si, bye-bye.” 

“Okay.” Si Yu had just finished this one word when he saw Gu Xizhou drive off. He kneaded his eyebrows.

This person… calling President Si when there’s something and Xiao Si when there’s nothing. This behavior is really honest.

Coafg gfaegclcu tbwf, Xe Wlhtbe vlvc’a rjs wemt. Cr rbbc jr tf fcafgfv atf tberf, tf ijs vbkc bc atf rboj jcv mibrfv tlr fsfr, ecwbnlcu jr tf abiv Xe Al Al jybea atlr wlrrlbc kbgiv.

Vevvfcis, tf ofia rbwfbcf abemtlcu tlr atlut. Xe Wlhtbe rijqqfv atf fwqas jlg. Lf aegcfv bnfg jcv rja eq bc atf rboj, teuulcu tlr mtfra jr tf sfiifv, “Qtja jgf  sbe vblcu? Glgas utbra, jt! C vlgas utbra abemtfv ws atlut!” 

Gu Ji Ji: ……

Gu Xizhou looked just like a sixteen year old girl who’d been molested by a pervert, but with his height, it was really underwhelming. So long as the pervert still had a brain, he wouldn’t dare to grope the 1.8 meter man in front of him.

“Gu Ji Ji, I didn’t expect you to be this kind of ghost!”

Gu Ji Ji: You, what are you foolishly thinking about? 

“You groped my thigh!” Gu Xizhou randomly pointed at the air.

In the room, Gu Ji Ji looked like he’d lost the will to live. He was angered to death by this bastard in front of him: I just wanted to look at the items you were talking about… Those missing person posters.

“Okay, I’ll stop teasing you.” Gu Xizhou leaned against the sofa and pulled out the three missing person posters, putting them on the table. He pointed at them and said, “Take a look, ba. Anyway, Si Yu deduced that these can be used for eliminating interference items.”

Gu Xizhou watched the missing person posters suddenly float into the air. He knew it was Gu Ji Ji lifting them up. He leaned against the sofa and asked, “What do you see after looking for so long?” 

Gu Xizhou watched a pen on the table begin to move, writing a row of tiny letters in a notebook. The person holding the pen also drew a circle around the words. Gu Ji Ji crudely shoved the notebook into Gu Xizhou’s hands. The meaning of this was clearly: Look for yourself.

“Isn’t it just a few missing person posters? They’re still single-use. I think they’re useless. I might as well chea-” Gu Xizhou choked back the rest of the word.

Gu Ji Ji wrote on the convenient note next to him: Chea what?

“Nothing.” As Gu Xizhou spoke, he looked a little embarrassed. He spread out the notebook Gu Ji Ji handed to him just now—— 

Missing Person Notice: Fill in the information to find the related person. The more detailed, the greater the probability of success. Completely filling in the information grants a one hundred percent chance of finding the target. (Note: single use item. It can only be used once per person per world.)

Gu Ji Ji transcribed the note written on the back of the missing person poster. Gu Xizhou was a little confused. Then, he saw Gu Ji Ji circle the word ‘world’ and draw a question mark next to it.

“World? It didn’t write ‘mission’ before it.” Gu Xizhou was silent for a moment, his brain moving very quickly to keep up with Gu Ji Ji’s line of thinking. “Do you think these missing person posters can also be used in reality?”

Gu Ji Ji wrote: Yes, that’s right. 

“It might not work like that, right? Does this have that sort of function?” Gu Xizhou’s expression was very wonderful. He’d easily stolen two more broken papers. If they could be used effectively, weren’t they comparable to a GPS locator?

Gu Ji Ji wrote: I’m just guessing. Anyway, it can’t be used now. We’ll know when we have a chance to try it in the future.

Gu Xizhou nodded, once again looking at the missing person posters with a somewhat astonished look. A thought flashed through his mind——if these missing person papers can truly be used in the real world, then the rumor that the mission world could make people immortal was probably true!

Eternal life: an incredibly attractive concept. 

Gu Xizhou slept on the sofa for a while. He vaguely heard the sound of his cellphone. Rubbing against the sofa, he sat up. Obviously, he wasn’t surprised by this call. He answered the phone. “Hello, what’s going on? En… I’ve got it. Alright. I’ll come over right away. En, en. It’s okay, it’s not far. It’s very close to my house.”

Gu Xizhou got up from the sofa, clenched his teeth, and washed his face with cold water. His drowsiness was gone in an instant. He didn’t notice at all how neat and agile his actions were. Without the slightest bit of sloppiness, he directly left home to go to the crime scene.

Gu Ji Ji was very gratified.

There was a police car parked on the side of the street by a park with its lights flashing. 

“Come on, give way, give way. Don’t block our work!”

“Don’t take pictures! Respect the dead, okay? Don’t you have any morals? You can still send things like this out on your Moments? Will you respect the dead woman?”

Gu Xizhou hurried to the scene. As soon as he left his car, he heard someone quarreling outside.

“Aiya, the police officer is cussing me out, swearing! Look, this is the quality of the police!” A young man with the hairstyle of a typical scumbag pointed and shouted at the police officers in front of him. “I’ve photographed them all! Humph! Look, this is the quality of the police! A bunch of punks in police costumes.” 

“Wh-what are you saying? Say that again!” The old policeman who was pointed at was so angry his cheeks bulged as he questioned the young man.

The young man gritted his teeth and raised an eyebrow. He said, “What? In any case, I’ve filmed it and saw it all! Believe it or not, I’ll post it on microblogs and platforms to let the whole nation’s people take a look at your face!

Because of the young man’s provocation, Gu Xizhou’s coworker threw off his hat and rushed over to beat him up. At this time, several other police officers who’d been talking him down quickly grabbed their coworker.

“See? The police wanted to beat someone!” said the young man. 

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow and glanced at that overbearing young man. That colleague who the man angered was no good, arguing noisily that if he wasn’t a police officer, he’d beat him up. Gu Xizhou walked over and yelled, “Lao Guo, calm down. You guys take Lao Guo over there. I’ll talk to him.”

The young man disdainfully raised his eyebrow. He was clearly confident he had backing, and he was still cool-headed as he said, “Who are you, ah? I thought that old bastard really had the guts to beat people. He’s no coward.

“The captain of the criminal police.”

The young man smiled. “What, you want to apologize to me? I’m telling you, it’s useless. I’ll definitely post this online! You people wait to get a scolding, ba! Humph!” 

Gu Xizhou glanced at him. “Apologize? You can go home and cuddle your pillow. You can have anything inside your dreams.”

The young man: “……”

The young man saw Gu Xizhou refuse to acknowledge him and shouted. At this point, there were more and more onlookers who only heard his groundless slander. “Everyone, look, ah! The police are cursing and threatening me! You all saw, ah! You have to help me testify!”

Afterwards, the crowd hurriedly asked what was going on, but the bystanders who’d been there from beginning to end had discerning eyes. 

Among them was a girl who said, “Heavens, ah. How could there be this kind of person, ah? Someone’s daughter is dead, her whole body **, and he still shot a video to post on his Moments. Don’t you understand respect for people? I hope you die naked, too, and someone shoots a video for their Moments.”

“What quality? Does he even know how to write the word respect?”

“Truly deplorable. Still harassing the police officers? Why don’t you go look in a mirror already.”

Hearing the words of the bystanders and how someone had mercilessly exposed him, the young man was so angry that he clenched his teeth. He couldn’t think of anything he could do except leave first. 

Finally, the young man left with his tail between his legs. Gu Xizhou nodded faintly toward the crowd to express his thanks, then he pulled up the police tape and entered the park like a wisp of smoke. He paced and recalled the contents of the phone call he’d just received: A naked female corpse was found in a street park with her chest cruelly cut off.

Gu Xizhou walked over and crouched beside the body, silently looking at Xiang Yuan. He lifted the cloth covering the body.

“En…”

The strong stench of blood assailed his nose. Gu Xizhou was already accustomed to it. He gave the corpse a cursory look. 

The incision on the chest was careful and neat. There were no other external wounds on the body like bruises or marks. He didn’t look over the rest carefully. Instead, he winked at Xiang Yuan. “Tell me about the situation, ba.”

Xiang Yuan complied. “The deceased’s clothing was found in the trash can by the curb. She had an ID card in her bag, and her identity has already been verified.”

“Female, 22 years old, Tang Xiao. Her time of death is estimated to be around midnight last night. The cause of death was shock caused by blood loss. The deceased was rendered unconscious by drugs, and then her chest was cut off. The cause of death was shock caused by excessive blood loss.”

Facing the corpse under the white cloth, Gu Xizhou was silent for a moment before speaking. “She died naked. Was there… any evidence of rape?” 

“I can’t be certain. Judging from the current situation… I don’t think so.” Xiang Yuan shook his head and said, “We can’t know for sure until after the examination.”

Gu Xizhou nodded silently. At this time, one of the police officers on the side came over: “Leader Gu, the deceased’s cell phone, wallet, and clothes were found in the trash can.”

“Let’s bring it back and give it to forensics,” said Gu Xizhou, taking the cell phone in the evidence bag. He subconsciously slid his fingers over the phone screen and discovered that the woman’s cell phone actually wasn’t password protected. After it opened, Gu Xizhou looked at the phone records of the deceased, but they were blank. There were also no text messages.

The perpetrator deleted them? 

Gu Xizhou thought deeply, then he opened the deceased’s WeChat. The WeChat records were also cleared one by one. Gu Xizhou found an address in a takeout app——Unit 18, Floor 8, No. 8, Golden Home.

Gu Xizhou looked up at the community on the left side of the street park. Just now, he’d come over from that direction, and he vaguely remembered that the name on the door was Golden Home. He called over the others and looked down at the order records on the phone. “You take these things over to forensics to work overtime on the evaluation. The remaining people will go with me to this address. This should be the home of the deceased.”

“I’ll go with you, ba.”

A deep voice came from behind him. Gu Xizhou turned to look at the owner of the voice and was stunned for a moment. 

“Deputy Ma, why have you come?”

Ma Qi pointed at the neighborhood and said, “I live inside. When I saw the news sent out in the group, I went downstairs and came over for a look.”

“Oh.” Gu Xizhou nodded. “Okay, neither of us are wearing our uniform, so asking questions will also be convenient.”

Gu Xizhou finished speaking as Ma Qi accompanied him inside Golden Home. The name of the neighborhood was very austere, but at that time it was actually a 100% top grade neighborhood. 

“The buildings here should be very expensive, right?” Gu Xizhou asked Ma Qi, looking around curiously.

Ma Qi confirmed it, sighing, “En, I sold my previous house to buy it. Otherwise, I really couldn’t afford it. Ningqing’s housing prices are rising too quickly.”

Gu “Has a House” “Has a Car” Xizhou: Looking at Chief Ma balances my mood.

The two people chatted casually until Gu Xizhou received a sudden phone call. Gu Xizhou looked at the person calling——Wang Ao. 

“What happened to Lao Guo? Why was he cursing someone? Call him over to the phone for me!”

In response, Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow and said, “That man just now really went to register a complaint?”

When Wang Ao heard these words, his heart felt unwell. Apparently, the online video was genuine. What’s going on, ah? Why’d he swear at someone, ah? He didn’t register a complaint, but he posted that video on TikTok or something, and Kuaishou and so on. Anyway, I don’t know much about you young people’s things. Just now, my son showed me. It’s being forwarded everywhere!”

“Chief Wang, send the video to my WeChat. I’ll take a look.” 

“Okay, ba.”

Gu Xizhou stopped to look at the link in his WeChat.

“Hey, I said don’t film! Delete it!”

“Did you finally hear me speak? Don’t you understand how to behave?” 

“I’ll say it again. Delete it!”

The scene in the video was Lao Guo’s action of grabbing the cell phone. Then, after Lao Guo was pushed by a man, Lao Guo angrily rebuked him.

“This video removed the head and the tail and left Officer Lao Guo’s cursing. No head, no tail.” After he finished watching the video, Gu Xizhou explained the situation to Wang Ao in detail. Finally, he added, “This guy is looking for trouble!”

Wang Ao scratched his head, feeling like it might just explode. “Okay, okay. Let me think about what to do.” 

Gu Xizhou asked, “That… Should I still call Lao Guo over to take the phone?”

Wang Ao: Call, what call? He wasn’t in the wrong! This guy should be scolded! What an act, ah! He doesn’t even understand the concept of respecting the dead. He’s fed his life to the pigs.