Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1209: Chapter 50: Death Net

Inside the meeting room, Chen Mingming was recalling the contents he had seen on the goatskin while comparing the case analysis, validating both sides—but he discovered that the contents on the goatskin matched exactly with what the police had.

Not just the information, even the identity was already prepared.

It seems that regarding this examination, the boss didn’t intentionally make it difficult… In fact, they provided complete convenience—relatively, the time to solve the case is now within five days.

“… Currently, we have tracked down another two women related to Wang Liang.” The person in charge of organizing the intelligence was updating the new data to everyone at this moment, “But according to the forensic doctor who finally released the time of death, we found that these two women both have alibis, basically ruling them out as suspects.”

Another female officer spoke up at this moment: “Officer Ma, Officer Zhou, I have compared similar cases over the past three years, and some files of wanted fugitives, and found no common ground…”

“Could it be the first, second time committing a crime?” Officer Ma rubbed his brow, “To commit such a meticulous crime for the first time, is this culprit a devil?”

They didn’t even know whether the culprit was male or female, roughly the age, height, weight, etc.—only that the culprit was a person with a cleanliness obsession.

Zhou Yusheng was knocking on the table one after another and fell into deep thought at this moment.

This was Chen Mingming’s first time being so close to those handling a case… In such an environment, Chen Mingming couldn’t help but feel somewhat dazed.

At this moment, Zhou Yusheng remained silent, his brows deeply furrowed… It was a side of Zhou Yusheng that Chen Mingming had never seen before.

In his memory, his father was a person who often got drunk and was irritable.

Having not seen his father so composed for who knows how many years, Chen Mingming lost focus… Could it be that one day he could really work a case with his father?

He gradually found it hard to distinguish between real and fake.

It felt like at this very moment, he was the real… everything before yesterday was just a figment of his dream.

“Is there something on my face?” Feeling Chen Mingming’s gaze, Zhou Yusheng was slightly stunned.

Team Leader Zhou had a loud voice, and his voice quickly attracted everyone’s attention, looking over… Chen Mingming was not accustomed to having so many eyes directed at him simultaneously.

They were different from school students, their gazes were also unlike those of school students… Subconsciously, Chen Mingming felt a trace of panic.

He took a breath, having thought of a response in his mind, but when the words reached his mouth, Chen Mingming found himself unable to speak… Words that were almost about to be spilled out ultimately became just: “It’s nothing.”

“Alright.” Zhou Yusheng nodded and then fell back into deep thought.

Chen Mingming paused, subconsciously stood up, and said softly: “I’m going to the restroom.”

Saying that, Chen Mingming quickly left, soon disappearing from everyone’s view.

But he did not actually go to the restroom; he went to a small empty balcony on the floor… Subconsciously, he loosened the button on his collar, finally feeling a sense of easier breath.

“I actually would…” Chen Mingming looked at the street outside.

The endless flow of vehicles, mixed with faint human voices, Chen Mingming soon calmed down—he quickly realized his problem.

Among those gazes different from students, in environments different from classrooms, he subconsciously chose to hide himself… He instinctively felt constrained, even having some difficulty breathing.

He even felt… nervous.

Chen Mingming suddenly felt bewildered… Just this single collective meeting here made Chen Mingming realize a problem: He might not be as excellent as he imagined himself to be.

“What are you thinking about?”

…

Suddenly, Chen Mingming felt someone patting him on the shoulder from behind… It was his father Zhou Yusheng’s voice.

Chen Mingming tried his best not to panic… He shook his head and did not speak.

Zhou Yusheng smiled at this moment: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, you’ve only been a cop for a short time and encountered such a major case, it’s inevitable to be a bit nervous.”

Could he tell? Chen Mingming was startled inside… He wondered if he had exposed any flaws somewhere.

“Do I… do I look very nervous?” Chen Mingming frowned and asked.

Zhou Yusheng pointed to his own eyes and said: “You don’t look nervous, but you’re still too green! What is your old man doing? I’ve seen at least 800 if not a thousand criminals, and eyes cannot hide anything.”

“I…” Chen Mingming fell silent for a moment, then slowly said: “Maybe so.”

Suddenly, Zhou Yusheng grabbed Chen Mingming’s shoulders with both hands, “Relax, you’re the first to graduate from training at the academy, you’re much better than your old man. I just have a bit more experience than you. But you’ll have those things as well, so you’ll definitely be better than me in the future.”

In impression… He never said this to me before.

Chen Mingming nodded, suddenly said: “I want to go to the crime scene once more.”

“Crime scene?” Zhou Yusheng was slightly stunned, then nodded in agreement: “Good, maybe something was missed… Wait a moment, I’ll get the car, I’ll go with you.”

The investigation at the scene is naturally not limited to the time of finding the body—the fact is, more investigations have been conducted since then, but for those hoping to solve the case, as long as the case is not solved, the scene still holds value for investigation.

Watching the back of Zhou Yusheng leaving, Chen Mingming smiled bitterly.

Working a case with his father… It was something he had never thought of.

This different feeling made it hard for Chen Mingming to maintain his usual composure from the start.

He suddenly thought of the most appropriate adjective to describe his state at the moment: high expectations but low ability.

…

…

“… Alright, you guys continue to shadow Zhao Le, immediately notify when you spot the target.”

At the office of the Management Bureau in this city, Liu Minghao received Bu Bugao’s report call and then began eating his breakfast today while checking the news on the Management Bureau’s intranet.

“Brother Hao, I have finished chatting with Director Liu, and he will arrange the following matters.” Wei Zidao returned from outside at this moment, “What are you looking at?”

Liu Minghao said casually, “Look at the news about the ‘Death Network’ case.”

“Is there any new information?” Wei Zidao asked curiously when he heard, “This case is so mysterious, it’s been almost six months, right?”

“Yes.” Liu Minghao nodded.

The initial discovery of the ‘Death Network’ case was roughly six months ago—during this time, dead individuals have appeared one after another across the country.

Incidents such as these happen occasionally—cases of young people addicted to the internet suddenly dying from heart failure.

Generally speaking, such cases are due to individuals neglecting their health because of their addiction to the virtual world, sometimes battling in the virtual world for days and nights on end, eventually dying suddenly. Such cases are not uncommon. When similar situations are discovered, they are typically classified as natural deaths locally.

However, as such examples began to increase, they gradually caught the attention of the Management Bureau—they have dedicated departments that are constantly monitoring all kinds of ordinary cases, as many extraordinary crimes are hidden within these seemingly ordinary cases.

Finally, when someone found out that during this period, more than 70% of those who died suddenly due to the virtual world were playing the same ‘game’, it… finally caught the Management Bureau’s attention.

The Management Bureau began to intervene behind this mysterious case and quickly discovered something unbelievable—the accounts of those who died because of this game were still active in the game after they were found dead.

Yes, active, able to move, chat, and participate in dungeons, not just existing as game data accounts—more astonishingly, these accounts belonging to the deceased could not be traced to their IP addresses.

It’s as if they appeared out of thin air.

As the investigation deepened, the Management Bureau even discovered many people in a state of ‘coma’, all falling in front of their computers, which all displayed that game.

Currently, there are quite a few similar comatose patients nationwide, although they are scattered across the country, in some places, there might be only an inconspicuous case, but nationwide, the number becomes very considerable.

The accounts of those comatose individuals remain active, but suddenly one day, these accounts will suddenly disappear—at the same time, those in a coma will also directly die.

Finally, the Management Bureau named this case “Death Network,” categorizing it as an extraordinary incident and came to a shocking conclusion!

That is, the soul and spirit of these comatose individuals might have already been absorbed into this strange game!

During this period, the Management Bureau has invested significant manpower and resources to pursue this case, yet the major case at Mount Tai last month temporarily halted this case, and now that the Mount Tai case has subsided, the ‘Death Network’ investigation has naturally resumed.

Liu Minghao and Wei Zidao are not the ones investigating this complex case, but they do keep an eye on it—after all, the victims of the ‘Death Network’ have no fixed regional pattern, they might encounter them while handling other cases.

“Recently, in the past half month, the number of similar comatose individuals has suddenly increased.” Liu Minghao frowned, “It’s increasing at several times the previous speed, and it’s no longer limited to ‘Emerald Fantasy’ alone.”

“It’s getting worse?” Wei Zidao also frowned.

According to what he knows, the initial victims were all due to playing the same game, so the company that produced the game was thoroughly investigated from top to bottom.

Initially, the Management Bureau considered shutting down the game company’s servers directly, but they were concerned that it might affect those trapped souls in the game, possibly even directly causing the comatose individuals to die, thus the game had to continue operating—In fact, the game company has now changed hands, currently under the strict control of the Management Bureau.

“Yes, the higher-ups are having a headache over it.”

Liu Minghao said seriously, “And there’s another thing, which is the initial game suddenly had an update last week—not developed by the game company, nor through the game servers, yet completed an automatic version update. Our people couldn’t trace the data source of the update! Since this update, the number of comatose individuals began to increase, and it’s no longer restricted to playing this game, and many irregular accounts have inexplicably appeared in this game… It seems that even abroad, such situations have begun to appear.”

“Even abroad…” Wei Zidao instinctively gasped, “Could it be that the virtual game has become a spirit?”

“Unknown.” Liu Minghao shook his head, “But now the bureau plans to send people to play this game, hoping to find a way for souls to enter the game… That’s all for now, there’s nothing more.”

“How many victims are there?” Wei Zidao instinctively asked.

“According to incomplete statistics, there are about 80,000.” Liu Minghao said, “Most are already dead, currently about sixteen or seventeen thousand comatose.”

Wei Zidao smiled bitterly, “If this number continues to grow, I’m afraid the bureau won’t be able to cover it up…”

Although 80,000 seems like a lot, if dispersed across the country, even worldwide, it seems insignificant—yet no matter how small, when this number continues to grow, it will inevitably attract public attention, by then, it won’t be something that can be simply explained away.

“Yes…” Liu Minghao smiled bitterly, “It’s really a troublesome time… By the way, the equipment I applied for should arrive this afternoon, then we’ll see if we can locate 24’s position, you go prepare.”

“Got it!”

…

In the distant capital, at the headquarters of the Management Bureau.

In a room with dozens of high-end computers, rows of men and women were fiercely fighting… against monsters in the game.

“Damn it! Is the first floor of Demon King’s Castle a hell difficulty?”

“Heal me, heal me!!!!”

The enthusiastic shouting echoed through the place, it was clearly the most common place in the city… an internet cafe.

“Attention all personnel, I have a request!”

Suddenly, a young man in front of one computer pressed the bell beside his desk—instantly attracting everyone’s attention, even one of the case’s responsible persons.

“YES/NO?”

“Finally, after playing for so long… the secret behind the game has appeared.”

“Agree or disagree? Team Leader?”

“Agree! Otherwise all efforts will be in vain…”

The young man in front of the computer nodded, then took a deep breath—because this special interface appeared for the first time and even had a countdown circle, clearly, it wouldn’t stay forever, and who knows when it will appear again.

Finally, at the team leader’s instruction, the young man directly clicked the agree button—he was naturally very nervous, but besides him, there were dozens of agents and support staff, this was claimed to be a Management Bureau headquarters that could withstand a nuclear bomb… even if the computer exploded, it wouldn’t hurt anyone.

But at the moment the young man clicked agree, he fell silently onto the desk…

And the account belonging to this young man started moving automatically and in the chat channel, a line of text appeared.

——I… I really came in! Inside the game!

This strange scene suddenly sent chills down everyone’s spines in the room…