Chapter 1 The Door

Bang!

The door of the interrogation room was thrown open, and a group of people filed in, instantly crowding the originally spacious room.

Among them were Wang Congshan's parents, her cousin Wei Linglan, and several individuals in black suits, clearly high-ranking Special Affairs Bureau (TSB) operatives.

Wang Congshan's parents anxiously tried to step forward, but were stopped by TSB operatives.

Wei Linglan glanced at Wang Congshan, pursed her lips, and shook her head.

"I told you, we shouldn't have let her come. It was too impulsive."

A TSB operative with an afro sighed, his expression gloomy. "Our smart AI can perfectly simulate the voices of ordinary people..."

"There's no use saying that now."

Another thin man, who appeared to be a department leader, pursed his lips and said calmly, "This was the plan from the start.

The smart AI can perfectly simulate ordinary people's voices, but it might not be able to fool players whose stats are higher than normal and who possess all kinds of skills and equipment.

Besides, they're together day and night, and have known each other for too long."

As TSB operatives, both men wore name tags identifying them as members of the intelligence department.

The afro-haired intelligence officer asked, "What do we do now?"

"The capture plan failed. The assault team has already moved in. Take Comrade Wang back first."

The intelligence department's thin man glanced at Wang Congshan, without any hint of blame.

Wang Congshan's face was pale, her arms trembled slightly from tension, but she kept her face tight, stood firm, and mustered her courage to ask, "Li Ang, he...

What will happen to him?"

The thin man, who was picking up his phone to contact other colleagues, looked up and said calmly, "Capture, interrogation, eliminate suspicion or convict.

Everything will be done according to procedure. There will be no leniency or misjudgment. Rest assured on that point."

"..."

Wang Congshan's hand trembled again.

Wei Linglan coughed lightly and stepped forward, wanting to take Wang Congshan's arm and drag her out of the interrogation room, but the latter gently shook her off.

"He's not wrong!"

Wang Congshan's amplified voice echoed in the interrogation room.

The dozen or so TSB operatives in front had already shifted their attention away from her and were communicating with colleagues from the front lines using communication devices.

A dozen pairs of eyes turned back to her. Wang Congshan took a deep breath, her voice low and unlike her own. "He's not wrong."

"Sigh,"

The intelligence department's thin man sighed. "Whether he's wrong or not is not up to us or you to decide.

And do you know what kind of person he is?

Do you know his past?

Do you know how many things he's hidden from you?"

Wang Congshan's face became even paler, but she still stood there, pursing her lips and saying nothing.

"You'll be a member of the TSB soon. You should understand some things,"

The thin man said calmly, "Before becoming a player, he was already a serial murder criminal...cough, or rather, a suspect in a serial murder case.

The earliest case can even be traced back to before he met you.

He designed and personally carried out dozens, or even hundreds, of extremely heinous crimes, and disguised most of them as accidents,

fooling the relevant departments.

The methods used were simply chilling—

Accidents aren't easy to stage. He needed to observe the victim's habits for a long time, study their social relationships in real life, scout the crime scene, and learn a lot of criminal investigation knowledge.

Using timing accurate to the second to plan his crimes.

This requires a high degree of concentration, extremely tenacious spirit, or a strong, hate-driven motive,

And, most importantly, a disregard for human life,

and a self-centered selfishness."

The thin man paused, and said slowly, "Here, selfishness isn't just narrowly defined as only thinking about oneself,

but a broader lack of empathy.

And on this basis, extending to high aggression, a lack of remorse and shame, coldness, dishonesty, overestimation of oneself, a lack of awareness of one's personality defects, and high egoism.

These are all related to his poor upbringing as a child.

Like watering the soil, corresponding fruits will grow.

To minimize suspicion and avoid being caught, he would design the scene based on each victim's social and physical condition.

He would skillfully design to kill the victim first, then arrange the relevant elements, and erase the traces.

Many times he had to personally handle and destroy the body to make the scene look natural.

In some cases, the extent of the damage to the body caused even the investigators to feel intense physical discomfort,

Especially when they thought about how such a tragic body was arranged bit by bit by a person, it was even more chilling."

Seeming to notice Wang Congshan's stubborn expression, the intelligence department's thin man sighed and took out a stack of photos from thin air.

Seeing the stack of photos, Wei Linglan's heart skipped a beat. Ignoring the difference in status, she said sternly, "Section Chief Xu! She's just a child!"

"This is what she needs to see."

The thin man, called Section Chief Xu, lowered his hands, holding the stack of photos, and said calmly, "Besides, a seventeen-year-old player can't be called a child no matter what.

Even for her own sake, she needs to grow up."

Wang Congshan clenched her fists, her nails digging deeply into the flesh of her palms.

She slowly released her palms, her voice calm, not sounding like it was coming from her own throat. "I want to see."

"Here."

The thin man handed over the stack of photos.

Wang Congshan took it, and her eyes trembled violently as soon as she saw the first one.

Wang Fengnian, Officer Wang, who had been standing silently beside her, slowly released his wife's sweaty hand and stepped forward to stand beside his daughter. He also saw the photos, and the muscles in the corner of his eyes twitched slightly.

"This is the twenty-third case he committed,"

The thin man said faintly, "At that time, he had already accumulated considerable experience in this area, cold, cruel, professional.

The two victims, a man and a woman, were marginal members of a previous human trafficking chain, hidden very well, and escaped capture that year.

Afterwards, they each married and had their own families and jobs in the same city.

After recognizing each other on the street one day, they rekindled their old affair and began having long-term affairs in hotels.

Your friend, realizing this, had already been lurking in the hotel room in advance.

He took advantage of the two victims' habits of drug addiction, severely tortured and ravaged their bodies,

disguising the scene as the two victims overdosing on drugs, harming each other, and ultimately leading to death.

The entire torture process lasted for two hours,

During which, both victims were alive and conscious."

"Ugh—"

Wang Congshan turned pale and put down the photos, covering her mouth to prevent herself from dry heaving.

Wang Fengnian patted his daughter's shoulder with a heavy expression and took the stack of photos from Wang Congshan's trembling hands.

"Do you understand now? Your friend isn't what you imagined him to be."

The thin man looked away and calmly raised the constantly vibrating communication device. "Hello? Is he under control? Good."