Chapter 16: The Detective and the Doctor

[Tip: You have entered the instance "Maple Night (Difficult)". In this instance, you will roleplay as a private detective invited to investigate a case according to the spatial plot, and together with your companion, you will search for the missing Walter White.]

[Instance Details: Omitted]

[Resurrection Mechanism: None.]

[Remaining Attempts Today: 2/3.]

[Opening: You and your companion are traveling around the world, exploring famous historic sites. Hearing that Maple Island boasts a blood-red ancient castle, you came here with great anticipation, rented a car for a round-island tour, and happened to run into your college classmate here. She is deeply troubled by a matter and hopes to get your help...]

...

When his vision restored, Yujin found himself sitting inside a sedan car, with Qiu Yinong sitting in the passenger seat beside him. Both of their appearances had undergone certain changes.

Yujin wore a round hat and a well-tailored suit, holding a wooden walking cane transformed from the Eight Spider Spears. Lacking only a pipe, he cut the figure of a standard and typical detective. Qiu Yinong's attire was somewhat similar to a plague doctor from the era of the Black Death; the glaring crimson cloak was replaced by a pitch-black one, and the part covering her face turned into an ink-colored mask, while the rest remained largely unchanged. A flick of the cloak revealed form-fitting leather armor embroidered with special patterns, which protected vital organs while preserving a sense of streamlined beauty—precisely her new gear obtained from a combat instance.

"It's getting late. Can you still hold on?"

After coming online today, the two of them had immediately entered a combat instance, spending painstaking effort and intense concentration to successfully secure a Perfect rating. Afterward, they continued to farm quite a few bugs, unknowingly spending three hours. Real time was now approaching midnight. Yujin's physical strength and stamina were still sufficient for normal performance, but Qiu Yinong was slightly worse off.

"No problem, I won't hold you back. During monster grinding, I basically just use mechanical shooting; it's just a matter of moving my fingers, so my physical condition is still pretty good. Besides, the combat segments in this instance might not be that numerous. If things really get too frequent, I'll have to rely on you." Qiu Yinong blinked at Yujin, then followed his line of sight, turning her head back to see a haggard-looking young woman walking out of a doorway and hurrying toward the car.

According to the game prompt, the two instantly recognized her identity—she was none other than their college classmate, "Maple Scenery". Her plea for help stemmed from the bizarre occurrences on Maple Island recently, as the police force in Maple Town had been almost completely reassigned, leaving them with no time to spare for something as "ordinary" as a missing person case.

Yujin and Qiu Yinong got out of the car together to meet with Maple Scenery. Seeing her two college classmates arrive as promised, Maple Scenery's eyes instantly grew half-moist with tears, and she hastily invited the two indoors to talk.

"I don't know what words of gratitude to use for you taking time out of your busy schedules! Yujin, Cuijiu Jiannong, I am truly desperate right now. My husband disappeared two days ago. If you can help me find him, I would not hesitate even if it meant losing everything I own." Maple Scenery's depressed mood improved slightly with their arrival, yet as she pleaded, her hands tightly clutched the hem of her clothes, still looking deeply uneasy. She was terrified that even if her husband could be found, it would only be as a corpse.

"Don't panic yet. Can you tell us about your husband's situation?" While asking, Yujin observed his surroundings. The in-game time had reached dusk, so the light inside the room was rather dim, but this posed no problem at all for Yujin. A sweep of his gaze landed on a couple's portrait resting on the cabinet. Maple Scenery wore a bright smile, tightly embracing an ordinary-looking middle-aged man, and the remaining solo photos featured only these two faces.

Huh?

Yujin raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself: "Could this middle-aged man be the missing Walter White? But Maple Scenery is in the prime of her youth; why would she marry someone so much older than her? This house is quite luxurious though—could she be after his wealth? That shouldn't be right. The name Maple Scenery screams connection to the Maple Blood family no matter how you look at it, and she might even be a core member. Chasing wealth is basically impossible, so there must be an untold story between the two of them."

Could this story be related to the current case?

With lingering doubts, Yujin listened to Maple Scenery's account: "My husband went missing the day before yesterday. He went to work at the company as usual in the morning, but didn't come back at noon. Both his personal phone and office phone were unreachable. I thought he had suddenly gone to a neighboring town to haul cargo, so I didn't pay much attention to it. But when I went out in the afternoon, I saw this note pasted on the door."

With that, Maple Scenery handed the crumpled note to Yujin and Qiu Yinong. It bore the message: "Something urgent came up, away for a week, do not worry."

"My husband and I had an agreement that if we ever encountered danger, we would purposely use 'do not worry'. It is impossible for him to have forgotten this." Worry flashed across Maple Scenery's eyes. "I sought help from the police at the time, but Maple Island hasn't been peaceful lately. The police force in Maple Town has been pulled away, leaving only a few officers to maintain daily order. They simply had no time to handle my husband's case. Thank heavens I met you both in my time of greatest need!"

"To be honest, the agreement between you and your husband sounds a bit strange. Ordinary people wouldn't think of doing that." Yujin stared into Maple Scenery's eyes, constantly monitoring her emotional fluctuations. Sure enough, she harbored some unspeakable secret, but after a period of struggle, she decided to spill the truth.

"My union with my husband was rather accidental. My family disapproved of our marriage. Seeing that I insisted on it anyway, they cut ties with me. I was worried they might make a move behind the scenes, so I made this agreement with my husband. If you hadn't shown up in time, I would have had no choice but to turn to my family for help, but if I did that..." Maple Scenery didn't continue. Obviously, turning to her family would undoubtedly exact a price she could hardly bear.

Yujin and Qiu Yinong exchanged glances, basically able to guess certain melodramatic plots. For instance: you want to save someone? Fine, first sever your marriage ties and promise never to cross paths again. Walter White, once rescued, would stop at nothing to reclaim his wife, embarking on the arduous path of rebelling against the Maple Blood family. If the two had a child, even better—it would provide enough material to write a moving epic of two generations' struggle.

Recalling his wandering thoughts, Qiu Yinong raised her own doubt: "Was this note always like this?"

"Yes!" Maple Scenery answered truthfully. "When I saw it, it was already this crumpled."

Yujin also felt something was amiss. Logically speaking, if kidnappers had forced Walter White to write the note to dispel Maple Scenery's suspicions, they should never have left such an obvious flaw. A thought stirred in his mind, and he immediately cast his newly acquired Dark Veil Eye onto the note. Seven points of perception instantly detected something imperceptible to the naked eye.

[Tip: You see the note is stained with unidentified mucus.]

"Mucus, wrinkles... Strange!"

Yujin kept this detail in mind and then asked Maple Scenery, "You mentioned that Maple Island hasn't been peaceful lately. What happened?"

"I don't know the specifics either. I only know that murders have been happening all over Maple Island, especially near the ancient castle. Over here in Maple Town, there was only a related report yesterday, but it's not as severe as in other places, which is why most of the police officers were reassigned, leaving only the bare minimum to maintain order."

"I see."

Yujin was lost in thought, and finally asked about Walter White's main profession. He was a pharmaceutical distributor, and medical facilities in Maple Town and several nearby towns were his partners. Thus, Yujin basically ruled out the possibility of the Maple Blood family committing the crime. Because if the Maple Blood family were truly determined to tear apart this star-crossed couple, they would undoubtedly focus on destroying Walter White's business, plunging him into heavy debt and forcing Maple Scenery back into the family's embrace, rather than letting the two live in such a luxurious house.

Considering the frequent murders happening recently on Maple Island, Yujin was more inclined to believe that Walter White had been dragged into them, and he believed the man's location shouldn't be far from Maple Town. The reason was actually quite simple: if the masterminds behind the kidnapping and the murders were the same group, once they learned that Maple Town's police force was extremely understaffed, they would likely sneak in secretly. Whether executing their unknown plan or plotting to sabotage Maple Town, there was much they could accomplish.

"We understand the general situation. Although it's getting late, time is pressing. I've decided to go straight to your husband's company for an on-site investigation. Maple Scenery, can you act as our tour guide?"

Hearing this, however, Maple Scenery wore a troubled expression: "I'm sorry, my health has been a bit off lately..."

"It's fine. Staying home is actually not a bad choice!" Yujin said understandingly. His previous invitation was merely a probe; the car had an onboard navigation map, so they wouldn't get lost no matter where they went. "After all, Maple Island is a bit chaotic right now. Just rest easy and wait for our good news. Also, could you help us find the newspapers from the past few days?"

"Okay!"

Yujin accepted Walter White's company keys and a few newspapers from Maple Scenery, walked out of the door with Qiu Yinong, and got back into the car. The onboard map then displayed a drivable location to explore: Walter White's pharmaceutical transport company, which was a twenty-minute drive away.

"No useful clues found. Looks like we'll have to make a trip to Walter White's company after all," Qiu Yinong said to Yujin.

"No rush."

Yujin shook out the Maple Island newspaper and began searching for the local news he cared about. He remembered Maple Scenery mentioning that Maple Town also had reports of a murder, and he himself suspected that Walter White's disappearance was related to it, so he wanted to first see how the local authorities reported it.

"Found it... Early this morning, a murder case was discovered at No. 42 Maple South Road. Jesse Pinkman, the Chief of the Maple Police Department, has led officers to cordon off the scene and launch an investigation. Citizens are requested not to panic and to pay attention to safety when traveling. Chief Jesse stated that he will bring the murderer to justice as soon as possible!"

As Yujin finished reading the brief report of just a few lines, Qiu Yinong was surprised to find that a second investigatable location had appeared on the onboard map—precisely the crime scene mentioned in the report.

"So the question is, where should we go first?"

"We have the keys, so we can go to Walter White's company anytime, but the crime scene might not be available later."

"Hmm, I'll listen to you."

Qiu Yinong felt this made sense and pressed the button on the onboard map representing the crime scene. Then, with a shift of the scene, she and Yujin—along with the car—teleported near the intersection of the destination. Meanwhile, the instance time advanced by thirty minutes. The sun slanted westward, and the sky grew increasingly dim. Lights flickered on in the shops nearby, illuminating three figures walking slowly toward them.

Qiu Yinong immediately looked at Yujin, using her eyes to ask what they should do. The latter signaled her to remain calm, as all three figures were dressed as police officers. Judging by their exhausted expressions, they must have just finished their investigation work and were about to leave the crime scene.

"I'm about to starve to death! I feel like I could eat an entire cow if you put it in front of me!"

"Hush! Stop talking nonsense, finish eating quickly and get back. The chief has been keeping his eyes on this case! If he finds out the three of us skipped out, we definitely won't hear the end of it."

The police officers, focused on their dinner, brushed past the car and walked out of the intersection, paying no attention to Yujin and Qiu Yinong, who were pretending to act casual inside. Once the three officers had walked far enough away, the two immediately got out of the car and sneaked inside. As for the "Do Not Enter" warning sign, it completely failed to serve its purpose of barring entry.

"As expected, nobody's here. We came just in time!" Qiu Yinong's eyes were filled with delight. Thanks to Yujin's quick wit, they had triggered the second investigation location directly through the newspaper and happened to cross paths with the police officers, buying themselves an exceptionally free window for searching.

"I guess Maple Town really doesn't have many police officers left. Didn't you see the dark circles under those three officers' eyes?"

"Then why can't they take turns in shifts?" Qiu Yinong asked, puzzled.

"It's not that they can't, it's that they don't dare." Yujin pointed to the pools of dark red blood covering the floor. "Three people together can watch each other's backs; if someone ends up alone, they probably won't survive. Alright, let's look for clues as quickly as possible. If we drag this out too long, we might not bump into cops, but we'll definitely run into other uninvited guests."

"Alright, then let's split it fifty-fifty. I'll go check the back, and you stay here to investigate. Remember to keep watch for me!" Qiu Yinong's perception level was slightly lower than Yujin's, so she handed the glorious yet arduous task of keeping watch over to Yujin, trotting off into the back room.

Yujin thought to himself that Qiu Yinong had been getting lazier and lazier these past few days, finding every possible way to cut corners, and was well on her way to treating him like a tool. He shook his head, pulled his thoughts back, and began to survey No. 42 Maple South Road—the crime scene, which was a moderately sized car wash.

The murder had been discovered yesterday, and although the report didn't mention how many victims there were, the volume of blood on the ground was truly staggering, suggesting quite a few casualties. Because there was too much blood to observe comfortably, Yujin simply kept casting his Dark Veil Eye to search for any traces, and naturally locked his gaze onto a certain car parked inside the car wash.

The car's doors were wide open—whether they had been left that way originally or opened by the police was unclear. Yujin cautiously sat inside the vehicle and suddenly narrowed his eyes, because right above the rearview mirror, he spotted a photo of Maple Scenery! This necessarily meant that this sedan belonged to Walter White!

"If my guess is correct, Walter White must have disappeared right here. Then we can almost certainly conclude that the perpetrators of the kidnapping and the murder are the same group."

Yujin nodded, and then a new question popped into his mind as he abruptly realized the bizarre nature of this case.

Walter White's sedan was parked at the crime scene, which meant the police would inevitably launch an investigation based on this clue. Finding out the owner's identity and family situation would be a piece of cake! So why did Maple Scenery know nothing about this? Did Maple Scenery lie to them, or did the police intentionally conceal the real situation from her?

With lingering doubts, Yujin began a meticulous inspection of the car. While his searching ability wasn't particularly high, the Dark Veil Eye at seven points of perception was enough to turn his eyes into high-magnification magnifying glasses. After a thorough search, he actually managed to find a hidden compartment underneath the fuel tank!

However, just as he opened the hidden compartment, footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the car wash...