"In your mind?"

"To be precise, Little Brother Dao, Miss Liu, and I are each sitting on a chair inside a boundless black space, facing two oval screens that overlap by half—those must be your current field of view."

Li Ang's voice sounded calm, without a trace of anxiety or panic. Instead, it carried a hint of interest. "To be honest, is this what they call a real VR perspective? TSK, TSK, it really is quite thrilling."

"Is this really the time for wisecracks?" Wanli Fengdao's voice came through. "Old Xing, can you open the player panel and access your items and equipment?"

Xing Hechou took a deep breath. "I can't. My player panel is now gray, just like when I've entered a script mission with the Sealing power, replacing me with an ordinary person. The body I'm using now doesn't seem to be my own."

He reached out to touch his face, and the unfamiliar, rough sensation of wrinkles sent a shiver down his spine.

Li Ang asked, "Can you exit the mission?"

Xing Hechou nodded. "I should be able to; I have a feeling."

"It seems we can as well," Li Ang said. "Hmm... At the moment, it doesn't seem like we've encountered anything particularly dangerous, so there's no need to hurry away. Anyway, we first need to figure out the identity you're currently using. Come on, pee on the ground and use it to see yourself."

"Huh?"

Xing Hechou said with a wry smile, "There's no need for that; there's a reflective surface here."

At this moment, the sky was overcast, yet there was still light. He quickly walked to the edge of the courtyard, bent down, and faced the house owner's sign—black with white letters. Using the reflection on the sign, he saw his own face clearly.

It was the wrinkled face of a middle-aged to elderly man with a square face, a buzzcut, and gray hair, roughly in his fifties or sixties. In appearance, he was the head of the Fushen Family, Fushen Pingyuan.

"This person..." Xing Hechou furrowed his brow, looking at the unfamiliar face. "Am I currently inside the memories of Fushen Pingyuan, or am I actually controlling Fushen Pingyuan's body in real-time?"

"We're not sure yet," Li Ang's voice said. "It's possible that we're in his memories, or we could be in a certain period in the past. Brother Xing, when you first entered the mansion, you kicked open the front door and broke the lock, yet now the front door is intact and closed."

"Hmm?"

Xing Hechou looked back and indeed saw the front door was unharmed and shut.

Li Ang continued, "Just now, when we were going up the stairs, we didn't notice anything unusual, and in the blink of an eye, we were transported to our current location. To shift four players of level ten and above without any disturbance and replace one of them with a mortal body, I can't imagine how powerful a Spiritual Body must be to achieve this."

Liu Wu Dai said softly, "It's very likely not a Spiritual Body with an individual will. None of us is lacking in equipment specifically designed to defend against Spiritual Body-type enemies and can dispel Illusion Techniques to clear the mind."

Wanli Fengdao agreed. "That means what we're trapped in could very well be an irrational anomaly of the Japanese-style ghost story variety. And this irrational anomaly would have to be of an extremely high level of mystery."

"Now that really is... a headache." Xing Hechou rubbed his forehead.

Most players and various factions' think tanks consider irrational anomalies to be the most difficult type of "anomalies" to deal with. They aren't like tangible, physical enemies that can be physically eliminated; they're more like Natural Disasters fixed in one place, or difficult-to-predict rules.

If a mortal gets caught in one, a slight mistake could result in instant death, and sometimes, the outcome is even worse than death...

Xing Hechou sighed silently in his heart, then heard Li Ang's voice in his mind: "HEH HA, HEH HA, HEH HA."

Then came Wanli Fengdao's voice: "Hey, hey, what are you doing? Don't mess around in Old Xing's head!"

Xing Hechou was taken aback. "Huh? What's wrong?"

Wanli Fengdao said, "Xiao Li was just doing a mix of radio calisthenics, Five-Animal Frolics, aerobic exercises, Tiger-Crane boxing, and yoga... It looked like he wanted to try being a Gundam Pilot and take control of your body."

Li Ang's voice came through. "It seems to be no use. Our role may just be observers, and we can't insert ourselves into your body. Actually, that should also be a good thing. At least we can move a bit while sitting in our seats, instead of having to stay completely still to avoid interfering with you."

"...Okay then." Xing Hechou nodded and stood up.

At that moment, Fushen Pingyuan was dressed in regular work clothes with a black apron over them. Xing Hechou rummaged through the left pocket of his overalls and pulled out a keychain with eight keys of varying sizes and shapes, along with a red, circular Shrine amulet for good luck.

There were no stains of mud or blood on the bottoms of his rain boots, but they were wet, as if he had just stepped in a puddle.

Li Ang said, "There's no sign of rain in the courtyard, and the only source of water is the small, stone-built landscape pond. The water on the shoes could be from stepping into the pond, or it could be from walking out of an indoor bathroom—but we didn't find any wet footprints on the floor when we entered the mansion. By the way, Brother Xing, does the water on the rain boots have a special smell? I can't smell it from here."

"There's no special smell."

"Then it's not urine."

Li Ang paused for a moment and continued, "Among the keys you hold, the one with a blue key cover should be the one that opens the front door of the house. The one on its left corresponds to the simple lock of the small wooden gate in the residential fence. I took special note of the shape of the lock while standing in the alley earlier; the locks used by this mansion are quite rustic and old-fashioned hook-shaped latch locks, not complex. Even without a key, an ordinary person could just remove the Cat's Eye, use a narrow, curved metal tube or a metal tape measure inserted through the Cat's Eye to easily flip it open. Not even a piece of wire is needed. It offers no real theft protection; it only keeps out the honest, not the crooks. However, having a key makes things much easier, no need to look for a tape measure—judging by Fushen Pingyuan's build, he probably couldn't break down the door violently."

Damn, how do you know so much? You're not a repeat offender, are you? Xing Hechou criticized inwardly but heard Li Ang say, "I'm no repeat offender, oh no! A player with real professionalism is supposed to be proficient in all kinds of wall-climbing, house-hopping, and lock-picking skills! Even a C-class Lock Core should be easy to pick!"

Why would you use the tone of a hot-blooded shonen manga protagonist to talk about something that completely violates laws and regulations? It's not glorious at all, okay?! Xing Hechou felt a wave of annoyance but didn't show it on his face. He said, "It's good that we have keys. I'll search around the courtyard first, then inside the house. How about that?"

"Mm."

Li Ang nodded and said, "Right, don't forget to check the mailbox, under the flowerpots, the laundry sink, inside any loose bricks in the corner, the bottom of the landscape pond, and underneath the welcome mat at the door. These spots are perfect for hiding keys, suicide notes, or weapons like small knives, daggers, or hammers. After committing impulsive crimes, many murderers often try to hide their weapons in a daze, then feel it's not safe and take the weapon away, leaving bloodstains in the original spot. We haven't seen any of Fushen Pingyuan's relatives yet; we must prepare for the worst. Anything could happen."

"Okay..."

Xing Hechou nodded and circled the residence. Looking through the glass, he saw the living room light was still on, but couldn't see anyone. The shoes at the entrance remained as they were when everyone entered, unchanged.

After the observation, Xing Hechou carefully searched the ground in the courtyard. Confirming there were no valuable clues, he then took out the key and pushed the door to enter.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.