“On the surface, these cases do seem to have no connection, but there is one very special point,”

Wang Fengnian said in a deep voice, “All the victims were once criminals.”

Wei Linglan was stunned upon hearing this and lowered her head, scanning the files.

“Fang committed multiple home robberies and murders with a gang many years ago. After fleeing, he changed his name and used another person's identity. Due to long-term poverty and the official census, he feared his crimes would be exposed, and he would be arrested and imprisoned, so he committed suicide by hanging himself.”

Wang Fengnian swiped his finger across the documents and slowly said, “Rong committed multiple crimes when he was young, killing several young girls with extremely brutal methods. Due to the times, he was not sentenced to death at the time but was imprisoned for forty years before being released.

He died of excessive drinking within six months of his release.”

“Zhang was a suspect in several murder cases. After being refused credit at a small store, he held a grudge and sneaked into the store owner's house at night, brutally killing a family of five, including the store owner's eleven-year-old daughter.

He then fled for a long time, living in poverty. After seeing police officers frequently appearing in the village, he suspected his crimes were exposed and committed suicide out of fear of punishment.”

“Tong was the owner of a small supermarket. More than ten years ago, he saw a high school girl about to take the college entrance exam walking home from school, and on a whim, he stunned and murdered the victim, hiding the body in an abandoned pigsty.”

“Zhao and Mu, who died in a rented house during an affair, were once members of a human trafficking gang.

Ren, who died when his car crashed into a tree and a branch pierced his chest, was once a member of the ‘Beggar Clan’—they specialized in recruiting people and using bricks and wooden sticks to cripple children and adults, then putting them on wooden carts to beg for money.”

Wang Fengnian said in a deep voice, “All the dead in this file were once criminals,

either fugitives,

or released after serving their sentences,

or lightly sentenced for various reasons, or even not sentenced at all, remaining at large.”

“…”

Wei Linglan frowned slightly, “However, these cases are separated by several years and thousands of miles,

and the dead all died by suicide or accident,

with no connection to each other.”

“If you want to talk about connections, there are some.”

Wang Fengnian said in a deep voice, “Fang and Rong are from the same hometown. Zhang once rented a room in Tong's rental house while on the run.

Ren of the ‘Beggar Clan’ had repeatedly ‘purchased’ people from the human trafficking gang that Zhao and Mu belonged to.

The deeper you investigate, the more you find that

the deceased in all the cases are more or less related—of course, this relationship is not close. Sometimes there is only one meeting between the two deceased.”

“A one-time encounter…”

Wei Linglan blurted out, “Could it be a meme?”

As soon as she said it, she realized the problem, “No,

although this situation of people dying in a series of accidents following weak connections, comparable to the movie *Final Destination*, is very similar to meme contamination,

the earliest deaths can be traced back to three or four years ago,

and this Killing Game hadn't even started then…”

Wei Linglan's mind raced, and she frowned and said, “Uncle, is someone systematically murdering them?”

“That's possible.”

Wang Fengnian nodded, “When we received the report, we initially dismissed this theory and didn't take it seriously.

It wasn't until another death occurred recently that we took it seriously and thought it might be a serial murder.

However, people from the Special Affairs Bureau came to assist in the investigation for a while,

and even had players use divination methods, but they still couldn't find the ‘possible’ murderer.

So, the person who reported the case became a bit mentally disturbed and behaved erratically.”

“…”

Wei Linglan tapped the file back and forth with her finger and looked up, “Uncle, do you have the information on the person who reported the case?”

————

“I have to say, the *Yin City Grand Stage* show is really worth watching over and over again.”

Li Ang closed the television with a lost look and murmured, “The contestants' earthy performances, seemingly crazy like lunatics,

are actually using artistic exaggeration to express the squeeze of modern life on people themselves.

The judges are sitting on pins and needles, wishing they hadn't taken this show, but unable to freely swear due to the pressure of the camera, they can only express their inner distress with words that don't contain profanity, which can be called a compendium of sarcastic remarks in modern life.

And the audience sitting in front of the television, self-righteously thinking they are viewers above the level of the show's format, do not know that they are also a part of this magical realist stage play…”

Chai Da Xiaojie, holding a Nintendo Switch game console, floated out of the bedroom, staring at the screen and rubbing the handle.

Hearing Li Ang's murmur,

she couldn't help but complain, “Why do you enter a sage-like state after watching this earthy show?”

“You don't understand.”

Li Ang shook his head, “As the saying goes, seeing a Buddha is seeing a Buddha, seeing a flower is seeing a flower, seeing shit is seeing shit.

Only by abandoning prejudice, enduring the empathetic awkwardness brought about by identifying with the show's contestants, and even enjoying the scalp-tingling awkwardness, can you experience that soul-trembling feeling that emanates from within.

Just like my favorite Mr. Osamu Dazai said in *No Longer Human*,

‘Put on your socks before your shoes, be a grandson before being a grandpa.’”

???

Chai Da Xiaojie looked confused, “Although I haven't read *No Longer Human*, that sentence shouldn't be said by Dazai Osamu…”

“Isn't it?”

Li Ang frowned and thought, “Then it should be said by Mr. Dazai Osamu's younger brother, Xiao Bi Zai Zhi.”

“That person doesn't exist…”

Li Ang slapped his palm and said firmly, “Then it was said by Dale Carnegie in *How to Win Friends and Influence People*,

or by Keigo Higashino in *Journey Under the Midnight Sun*.”

“Are you going to list all three of the 'three best-selling books that most people haven't finished reading but must take out in their朋友圈 (pengyouquan, Chinese social media similar to facebook) to pretend to be cool'?”

“Who said that, I've finished reading all three of these.”

Li Ang said solemnly, “If there were no Killing Game, maybe I would have become a scientist to benefit mankind, or I would have written books to leave behind admonitions.

Just like Mr. Lu Xun, who wrote that passage in *Wild Grass*, ‘Blow, blow, my pride is wanton, blow, blow, can't blow away my pure garden.’”

Chai Da Xiaojie opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn't say anything and continued to play the game console, “...Whatever makes you happy.”

Watching Chai Chai immerse herself in the game world, Li Ang glanced at the clock boredly, stood up, stretched, took the loose coat from the chair, and walked towards the door.

Chai Da Xiaojie subconsciously asked, “Where are you going?”

“Going out for a walk, and by the way, catching up with an old friend.”

Li Ang put on his coat with a normal expression, ignoring Chai Da Xiaojie, who was stunned in place, pondering the meaning of old friend.

He went straight out the door, rode his bike into the night towards the cemetery,

and alone, came to a tombstone engraved with the name “Fei Weiqiang.”