Chapter 97: Hidden Motives

At nine o’clock, Lin Dongxue called and said, “I found out that Lu Jianye’s account is in Zone 24 and his username is Dugu Yijian. He’s ranked second in the zone. The last login was 25 hours ago. The game’s advanced equipment lock feature means no gear was transferred. Also, his account’s in-game currency and items haven’t been touched.”

“Thanks. Where are you now?”

“At the station, working on your case. I haven’t left yet.”

“Get off work and come play the game. Let’s meet in Zone 24. Create an account, and you might need to spend some money. I’ll reimburse you.”

“Uh? Playing a game? I’m not into that… How about I ask Xu Xiaodong to go instead? He’s a gaming expert.”

“Sure!”

Chen Shi left his computer and bought a pack of Yuxi cigarettes at the bar. He wandered around the internet café, offering cigarettes and asking, “Hey bro, nice gear. Which zone are you in?”

Unfortunately, there were few players of this game, and he couldn’t find anyone from Zone 24. However, one guy said, “My gear is trash! Yesterday, I saw a guy here who was the top player in the server, with god-tier gear. Absolutely amazing!”

“Was he bald and a bit overweight?”

“You know him?”

“We’ve had drinks together.”

“His account is incredible. He must’ve spent millions. If I had an account like that, I’d be laughing in my sleep… Though, he was soaking wet when he arrived. I asked if he was worried about catching a cold, and he just laughed and said it was fine.”

The guy had a lot of snacks and drinks on his desk. He took a sip from a huge cola, rubbed his red eyes, and typed away on the keyboard, “Doing the Heavenly Demon Forbidden Ground raid, take me along.”

Once in the team, someone said, “He only recharged a million, don’t team with him.”

Then a “You’ve been kicked from the team” prompt appeared on the screen. The guy angrily slammed his mouse, cursing, “Looking down on me? Damn it! I’ll recharge right now!”

“It’s just a game, why get so worked up? How many nights have you been here?”

“A game? Do you know how much money and effort I’ve put into this? Let me tell you, the game’s gear updates very quickly. If you don’t keep up, you’ll fall behind in gear levels. For example, the top player’s mount gems and runes have higher stats than all my gear combined. They can kill me in one hit. I have to avoid those god-tier players… It’s tough being in the middle ranks. I’m barely in the top 100 in the server, so I have to join random teams and spend time grinding for gear… If only I had more money.”

“You spent a million already?”

“A million? That’s nothing in this game… Oh, someone’s PKing.”

He controlled his character to join the commotion. In the game, defeated characters had a chance to drop gear, so many players flocked to high-level players hoping to pick up loot.

Chen Shi noticed a warrior being repeatedly killed and revived, only to be killed again. The guy laughed, “What an idiot, getting camped!”

“What’s corpse camping?”

“You don’t know? When you die and log back in, you only have a tenth of your max HP, so you get killed in one hit. That’s corpse camping… Look, they’re still camping. That guy stopped logging in and is cursing them while lying on the ground.”

“Corpse camping?” Chen Shi had an idea. He thanked the guy and left.

Back at his seat, Tao Yueyue was playing a matching game on his computer. She moved aside when Chen Shi returned.

His QQ was open, and Xu Xiaodong had sent a message, “Chen, I’m in the newbie village. Where are you?” He included a screenshot of his level 20 character, ready to move to the main city.

“Give me your account,” Chen Shi said.

“What? I just recharged a lot of money. I’ve never spent this much on a game.”

“How much?”

“A hundred!”

“Alright, give me your account. I need it for the investigation.”

“Fine, I’ll create a new account. Let’s team up later.”

“No need, I’ll give you my account.”

They exchanged accounts, and Chen Shi logged into the game. Tao Yueyue exclaimed, “Wow, that looks impressive.”

“A character coated in real money always looks flashy.”

Chen Shi left the newbie village and was immediately one-shot by another player at the village entrance. He lay on the ground cursing, while the other player taunted, “Come at me if you dare!”

Chen Shi felt an urge to recharge but restrained himself. After the player left, he quickly got up and ran to the main city.

The bustling main city felt like a world where everything had a price. Gear, experience, status, and even marriages could be bought.

He began to understand the mindset of these gamers. This world was great because everything was attainable, albeit expensive.

On another level, spending millions to become elite and admired by many was appealing. In reality, millions might only buy a house and make you a regular person.

This cheap sense of achievement, camaraderie among teammates, the arrogance of killing anyone you dislike, and the fierce desire to retaliate after being one-shot were what this poorly-rendered game sold. The designers understood players’ psychology perfectly.

Chen Shi checked the leaderboard and saw that the deceased player was indeed ranked second. He added the top twenty players to his friends list and asked each one, “Do you know Lu Jianye?”

The first and third ranked players ignored him. The fourth said, “Yeah, he’s Dugu Yijian.”

“How do you know him?”

“Who doesn’t? He and the third-ranked player, Kuanghailong’ao, trash talk each other on the server horn every day. Everyone knows them. Lu Jianye even sold his car and house to play this game.”

“What’s Kuanghailong’ao’s real name?”

“Deng Zhongming.”

“Do they know each other in real life?”

“Why are you asking? Are you a cop?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie?”

“There’s a guild war today, and Dugu Yijian didn’t log in. Kuanghailong’ao is now the guild leader. Did something happen to him? Hey, if you’re a cop, can you help me? My gear got stolen recently. Help me recover it, and I’ll give you some info.”

“Your gear was stolen? Why didn’t you contact customer service?” Chen Shi cursed, and “customer service” was censored. This game had so many censored words it was hard to have a conversation.

“Customer service ignored me. Unless I have a police investigation notice, they won’t care. If you’re really a cop, show me an investigation notice.”

“Give me your personal details.”

“You’re not a scammer, are you?”

“Believe it or not.”

The player added Chen Shi on QQ. In the game, his avatar was a beautiful woman, but his real profile showed a scruffy man with a low-grade signature. He sent his details and an emoji, “Officer, please help.”

Xu Xiaodong messaged Chen Shi in the game, ready to team up. When Chen Shi didn’t respond, he messaged him on QQ. Chen Shi sent him a screenshot of the chat and said, “Stop talking. Go get an investigation notice and help this guy recover his gear.”

“Isn’t this abuse of power?”

“Just do it. I need to make friends.”