Chapter 45 Who Is Masking Their Scent

In the car.

Listening to Huang Wei's sharp questioning, Ren Daguo wore a look of utter bewilderment. "What players? Players of which game?"

Huang Wei's gaze was deep, a playful smile lingering at the corners of his lips. "Heh, it's nothing. We'll talk about it after we get back."

Ren Daguo looked baffled, turning his head to glance at his son. "Why are you guys here? Where are Old Xu and Li Feng?"

Ren Ye's expression upon meeting his father's eyes was equally strange. He just vaguely explained, "They're fine, being looked after by the police. Let's go to the... unit first."

"No, what on earth is going on here? I was in my room... and suddenly passed out. Who are all these people?" Ren Daguo seemed to have fully regained his wits, endlessly pressing Ren Ye for answers, while the latter only responded with vague evasions.

...

A little while later, the motorcade returned to 88 Lotus Lake Road.

Holding his wound with one hand, Huang Wei issued instructions to the core members of the Qingpu District branch: "Gu Nian is in charge of interrogating those two captured Bell Society members. I want to see their complete confessions within six hours... oh no, within three hours at most."

"No problem." Gu Nian slowly nodded.

In this kidnapping of Ren Daguo, the Bell Society had dispatched a total of seven players. Among them, Mr. He had fled with the dwarf, while the Prisoner-class player, the Plunder-class player, and the Qi Gong master were killed on the spot. Thus, only two were successfully captured in the end.

Still, having these two in hand was enough to pursue the investigation further.

With a response, Gu Nian left with the criminal players. Huang Wei stepped up the stairs and turned his head to ask Xu Peng, "How many of our people are injured?"

"Four with minor injuries, one severely injured," Xu Peng replied with a furrowed brow. "Old Yan had venomous bugs burrow into his body while capturing that dwarf... his condition doesn't look too good. When we left the scene, I already had people send him to the Huangjiang District's infirmary. There are more Light-attribute players over there."

Hearing this, Huang Wei bit his teeth involuntarily. "Track Old Yan's condition. If Huangjiang can't handle it... immediately request to send him to the Kyoto headquarters."

"I know." Xu Peng slowly nodded.

The Vigilants were undoubtedly engaged in a very dangerous profession. Member players not only had to endure the life-or-death trials of the Star Gates, but they also had to combat criminal players wielding supernatural powers in reality. The casualty rate... was even higher than that of anti-narcotics police.

Yet there was no help for it. Stability in any era was maintained because batch after batch of people made concessions and sacrifices in places unseen by others.

After briefly handling the follow-up work, Huang Wei came to the infirmary and, with Xu Peng's help, stabilized his injuries.

Wrapping his waist in gauze and swallowing a pill obtained from Xu Peng, Huang Wei waved his hand and shouted at Ren Ye, "Come here, you!"

Ren Ye stepped into the room, watching him very cautiously. "I can feel it. You're trying to scheme against my dad."

Huang Wei was stunned. "Don't you think this whole thing is fishy?"

"It certainly is fishy," Ren Ye pondered. "Therefore, I agree to let you scheme against him."

"Then let's do it." Huang Wei walked over to him, leaned close to Ren Ye's ear, and whispered, "To tell you the truth, our unit has a Spell-attribute player whose Tier 1 title is Liar... he can also perform lie detection. Just half an hour ago, he finished a Star Gate mission... you understand?"

"Go get him." Ren Ye nodded heavily.

"Oh, right." Huang Wei suddenly remembered, "An envelope was found at the scene, which Xu Peng handed to me. I took a brief glance at the contents, and it actually relates to the previous dynasty's princess's tomb in the Qingliangfu Star Gate. I'll give this to you later..."

"Alright, go get him first." Ren Ye had a deep obsession with figuring out his old man.

After exchanging a pair-of-villains-colluding look, the two of them strode out of the infirmary.

...

Ten minutes later.

Ren Ye led his old man out of another infirmary. "In a moment, someone will ask you some questions. Just answer truthfully. But remember, you absolutely cannot lie..."

"What on earth is going on?!" The old man's expression was no longer dull, but filled with anxiety and worry. "What kind of place is this? It doesn't look like a proper police unit at all! What kind of people are you mixing with? And... why would that goofy Officer Huang ask me if I'm a player? You know very well... apart from adult visual novels on Steam, I don't play other games."

Ren Ye paused, and words flew out of his mouth: "This is the Major Crimes Squad Six of the Qingpu District, directly led by the municipal bureau. Don't ask for specifics; just cooperate with recording your statement first, and the rest... I'll explain to you later."

As the two spoke, they had already arrived at the door of an ordinary interrogation room. Ren Ye pushed open the door and motioned to him, "Go on, step inside."

Looking at the iron chair inside the room and various slogans about leniency for confession, the old man clearly felt a bit intimidated. "Why does this make me feel like a criminal...!"

"Normal procedure, go ahead." Ren Ye looked at him, seemingly remembering something suddenly, and leaned close to his father's ear to instruct: "Those... debaucherous matters don't need to be mentioned... I can't afford to lose that face."

The old man was startled, then replied with righteous indignation: "Only Old Xu called those people, I didn't... I was working the whole time."

"Alright, go in!" Pushing him through, Ren Ye scurried into the monitoring room and stood beside the surveillance screens with Huang Wei.

...

Inside the interrogation room, the old man sat in the chair, looking somewhat fearfully at the young man opposite him.

The youth was around twenty years old, with delicate and pretty facial features, looking very clean. He was the Tier 1 Liar mentioned by Huang Wei, who had been summoned immediately upon exiting the Star Gate.

"Mr. Ren, please don't be nervous. I'm just here to briefly understand the situation." The youth smiled benignly at the old man, his expression radiating approachability. "Could you describe your experiences over the past few days? Starting from... when you went to that apartment. Don't leave out the details, and you can take your time."

The old man's face turned serious. After furrowing his brow and pondering for a long time, he spoke softly: "I haven't had any special experiences. Recently, I've been helping an editor rush a freelance job, which is the opening of a web novel with a traditional historical-fantasy transmigration theme... After arriving at that apartment, the two of us never went out... working and eating, both were done inside the room."

"According to the information we've gathered, you guys were originally living in Room 601. Why did you suddenly appear in Room 501?" The youth stared into the old man's eyes while attempting to radiate a special kind of perceptual ability.

The old man didn't hesitate at all. "Oh, it's like this. Old Xu had some spare cash before and always wanted to set up a writing studio, so he bought three consecutive apartments in that building. Originally, it was intended for ghostwriters, but later... the industry went downhill, so he didn't go through with it, but the apartments remained. Not only is 601 his, but 501 and 1101 are his as well. We changed rooms... because the air conditioner in 601 broke and it was very hot... so we went downstairs to 501."

"During this time, did either of you leave?"

"We didn't leave," the old man shook his head. "Meals and everything were inside the room."

"Why did you suddenly tell Li Feng to go to the apartment building?"

"I left an old draft with him, but Li Feng hadn't used it yet. I felt the content inside would help me revise this historical-fantasy draft, so I asked him to deliver it." The old man replied with an earnest expression.

The youth frowned. "Then these past few days, did you feel like any of your experiences were abnormal? You can say anything..."

"No. These past few days we really were just working, and usually we don't have any recreational activities. After discussing things, we'd just go to sleep. What could possibly be abnormal?" Looking at him, the old man suddenly asked back with great urgency: "What on earth is going on? What is my son doing with you people? Why did I pass out?!"

"Your son Ren Ye is helping us solve a case. You passed out because the criminals wanted to retaliate against Ren Ye and drugged your drinking water in advance," the youth replied, tapping his fingers on the tabletop. "However, you don't need to worry... this gang has been caught, and Ren Ye is currently in no danger."

...

Inside the monitoring room.

After listening to the old man's answers, Huang Wei and Ren Ye fell completely silent.

Based on his narrative, it did indeed explain why he and Old Xu had suddenly vanished from the apartment building.

The two of them went downstairs because the air conditioner broke. This process must have been brief and without going outside, so it was normal that the Vigilants didn't see them...

What wasn't normal, however, was that among the Vigilants were players skilled in tracking. One of them had previously sensed the scents left behind by the old man and Old Xu, yet this scent had cut off right beside the trash can in the stairwell.

Furthermore, after the old man and Old Xu went missing, the Vigilants had searched the entire building upside down, mobilizing over a dozen people to sense the presence of ordinary people, yet they still hadn't discovered the pair outside of Room 501.

This was simply too abnormal. How could Vigilants endowed with supernatural powers fail to perceive the existence of these two?!

This was precisely why Ren Ye and Huang Wei had suspected in the car that the old man was a player, leading to this questioning.

Judging from the present situation, however, the old man's explanation was that he was completely unaware of what was happening outside and had simply holed up in the room working for days.

"What do you think?" Huang Wei turned his head to look at Ren Ye.

"Wait for the Liar to return." Ren Ye sat in his chair, his gaze somewhat bewildered.

About half an hour later, the Liar stepped into the monitoring room and stated directly, "My perception tells me... not a single word of what he just said was a lie."

Hearing this, Huang Wei knitted his brows slightly. "Did we guess wrong then? Were we being overly suspicious?!"

This Liar's combat capability was ordinary, but his ability to perceive lies was freakishly strong. He could judge whether someone was lying through their emotions, subtle movements, and the aura emitted by the target's body while lying.

Moreover, having served as a Vigilant in the Qingpu District for three years, he had never made a mistake.

In other words, his judgment could not be wrong.

Then what was going on?

Huang Wei looked at Ren Ye. "He didn't lie. Why didn't our people sense him inside the building?"

"To be honest, I once suspected that my dad was a player too," Ren Ye stood up. "That night, I asked you guys to go near the apartment building precisely to verify this. But I tested it with Charm supernatural powers... neither he nor Old Xu were players."

Just at that moment, the Liar on the side suddenly chimed in, "I think your train of thought was wrong. Based on what I just learned... there were two mysterious individuals in this incident: one is a hunter from the Scam Chamber of Commerce, and the other is a soul entity whose identity cannot be determined. Both of these people have intentionally or unintentionally helped us, or rather, helped Ren Ye... So, is it possible they arrived at the apartment building in advance, erased Ren Daguo and Editor Xu's scents... and also blocked our Vigilants' perception? After all... the abilities displayed by these two people are quite strong, at least Tier 2. They should be capable of doing that."

Hearing this, Huang Wei's eyes lit up. "Then their purpose in doing this must have been..."

"If we had found Ren Daguo in advance, we definitely would have brought him back to the unit and provided him with the strictest security protection," Ren Ye quickly picked up. "But if that happened, me, my sister, and my dad would all be inside the Vigilants' unit... The people from the Bell Society wouldn't have any targets left to attack, and presumably they wouldn't have made another move."

"So, those two hiding your old man was likely to lure the Bell Society into making a move, thereby wiping them out in one fell swoop?" Huang Wei supplied the second half. "That makes sense. Case solved, case solved...!"

Ren Ye paced around the room. "Then... who on earth are those two people? Are they enemies or friends?"

"Ring-ring-ring!"

The moment his voice fell, Huang Wei's phone rang. Glancing at the number, he immediately answered, "Hello?!"

"I'm picking up President Yan at the high-speed railway station. He is extremely furious about you privately condoning Ren Ye operating solo... You need to hurry over to the Pet Amusement Park in a while." The person from the Shanghai headquarters spoke at an extremely rapid pace.

...

In Kyoto, inside an antique courtyard untraceable on any electronic map, four people were sitting around a stone table drinking tea.

"...Word has come through. Ren Ye is fine," said a beautiful woman dressed in a green luozhou skirt, raising her teacup.

"Ren Ye is fine, but Shanghai is about to have trouble," an old man opposite her said indifferently. "Yan Duoduo came into office carrying a blade in the first place. The moment he arrived there, he carried out two rounds of rigorous internal rectifications... which is enough to show his methods. This time the Bell Society wanted to make a move against Ren Ye... yet so many stray cats and dogs from Tongren Road jumped out to help... Heh, I reckon he won't let this rest."