Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Liao Zhiqiu heard Bai Fuling's excited exclamation of "a corpse!" as if he'd found something awesome.

He paused, then gripped the bars of the cage and called out from the sewer opening, "Wait!"

Bai Fuling was already rifling through the corpse; the dialog box popping up on the screen didn't faze him in the slightest.

Yeah, right! Like an NPC could stop a player from looting? No way! Don't even think about using morality to restrain a player from acquiring items. When playing a game, gear and stats are what really matter.

The text in the dialog box changed: "Wait—don't eat it yet. An unidentified corpse might carry germs; you could get sick if you touch it."

Seeing that, Bai Fuling finally stopped.

He couldn't help but snark internally.

Liao Zhiqiu, you... I already knew you had a soft spot for animals, but I didn't think you'd go so far as to, even when faced with a human corpse, have your first concern be whether the "kitten" might eat it!

Is that normal? Probably not in the real world. But in a game, NPCs revolving around the player are as natural as planets orbiting the sun.

So, Bai Fuling's mind wandered for just a second before snapping back. Looking at the corpse on the ground and recalling the NPC's warning, he replied, "I won't eat it. I'm just going to poke around a bit."

The NPC probably wouldn't tell him "if you're not going to eat it, don't poke it," right? Bai Fuling remembered that this game didn't have that many memes programmed in, so his previous attempts at casual meme references had only been met with question marks.

Sigh, such humorless NPCs.

Indeed, Liao Zhiqiu didn't say anything more. Hearing Bai Fuling's reply, he felt relieved.

You could get sick from eating a random street corpse, but simply touching it shouldn't be a big problem. As long as you wash your hands promptly and clean up, it'll be fine.

Kittens sometimes like to play with dead things. If the kitten wants to play, let him play.

Thus, Liao Zhiqiu, with his warped perception and peculiar values, and Bai Fuling, with his pure player mentality devoid of normal morals, existed together perfectly naturally with the corpse lying there.

Bai Fuling controlled his pixel character to search the unfamiliar corpse, happily finding 200 bucks, which he promptly stashed in his money pouch.

Besides that, he also found some other items.

"Library Access Card: This is a staff ID card, bearing the name [Sun Mingzhi] and ID number 676523."

"Colorful Paperclip: A colorful paperclip, pinned to a torn sleeve cuff."

"Ink-Stained Clothes: The ink seems to have a slight fluorescent effect at night?"

A library access card? In this RPG town, there's only one library—the one where Luo Qingyue works. It seems this deceased Sun Mingzhi was Luo Qingyue's colleague?

Bai Fuling looked at the displayed information, thought for a few seconds, and dragged each of these items into the clue log.

They all seemed like useless things to take—therefore, they must be clues! After all, there's no such thing as filler text in games.

Although Bai Fuling's first reaction to a corpse was to search it for loot, he could also tell from the red pixel details that this was a new victim of the Crescent Scythe Murder Case.

Bai Fuling remembered the newspaper description: the victims were all young people under thirty, their throats slit and hearts missing.

Age is harder to discern accurately in pixel art style, but the wound locations clearly matched the features described in the newspaper.

Stash the clues for now; I'll figure them out later on a quest.

Speaking of which, in a game, besides immediately looting a corpse for gear, what else are you supposed to do?

—Oh right, report it to the police to save progress and advance the plot!

Bai Fuling finally, belatedly, remembered the minor matter of reporting to the police.

He had already looted everything worthwhile from the corpse in front of him. Since he didn't need to use the corpse as a weapon to throw in combat, its last bit of use was for reporting to the cops.

Find the police, and they could also rescue Liao Zhiqiu from the iron cage, because lock-picking experts in RPGs are usually found at the police station. Bai Fuling followed this train of thought. That way, he wouldn't have to struggle to pry open the ground here and drag the iron cage along the road!

But then a problem hit him: the player didn't have a phone. And the other NPC on the scene, Liao Zhiqiu, being locked up, logically shouldn't have a phone at the moment either.

Bai Fuling stood up. He controlled his pixel character to circle the corpse twice, trying to find a call button or alarm.

But no matter how much he jumped up or crouched down, he couldn't find any button—why can't corpses automatically trigger an alarm when they fall, dammit!

Then he'd have to go to the police station in person to report it. Bai Fuling thought. However, just going there might not automatically trigger the relevant plot with the police NPCs. Logically, a key item should be needed.

The best way would be to take the corpse along, ensuring a one-click trigger.

Dragging it would definitely come with a movement speed debuff, the kind of debuff players hate most, so Bai Fuling wouldn't consider that.

Using the corpse as a back accessory was possible, but Bai Fuling didn't like that accessory style, and besides, he'd have to wash the raincoat again later. Was there a better way?

Bai Fuling stopped spinning and stared at the corpse covered in red pixel blocks on the ground. Thoughts swirled in his mind, and a flash of inspiration suddenly struck.

→ A corpse lacks vitality; rounding it off, it belongs to the category of items.

→ As everyone knows, players can pick up items from the ground and put them in their inventory.

→ Therefore, players can pick up corpses from the ground and put them in their inventory!!!!

The logic was tight, each step connecting seamlessly, perfectly reasonable! Bai Fuling was amazed by his own wisdom. He nodded confidently and decisively stepped forward to select "Pick Up."

With a sound effect, text appeared on the screen:

Obtained [Corpse × 1]

"Corpse: A bloody corpse. [Not Edible]"

Wow! It really could be stored in the inventory! Bai Fuling was inwardly delighted. Great, no need to carry it as a back accessory.

But why did it have to specifically add a "Not Edible" note? Really, what kind of person do they take the player for? Bai Fuling pouted. Does the player look like someone who puts everything they see on the roadside into their mouth?

After storing the corpse in his inventory, only a puddle of red pixels remained on the ground.

Bai Fuling controlled his character to stand up. First, he dismissed the pet, then opened the mini-map, found the marked location of the police station, and prepared to go there to get the cops.

The player's location wasn't too far from the police station; just crossing two streets would get him there.

The pixel police station was still lit up at night; it was a 24-hour operation.

Bai Fuling controlled his character to enter through the main door. The officer on duty in the lobby stood up: "Hello, how can I help you?"

Not bad, very standard NPC dialogue. Bai Fuling internally assessed. Indeed, a key item was needed to trigger special dialogue.

"I want to report a crime," Bai Fuling said. "There's a corpse."

The duty officer was taken aback, an exclamation mark appearing above his head: "What, a corpse!? When, where—"

"Right here," Bai Fuling said. "I brought it with me."

The desk officer frowned, looking at Bai Fuling, who claimed to have a body but looked completely clean. He said sternly, "Kid, don't joke about such serious matters."

Bai Fuling chose to answer with action. He piloted his character, selected "Corpse" from his backpack, and took it out. To avoid startling the NPC by pulling it out of thin air, he deliberately reached his hand under his raincoat cloak.

But the NPC in front of him still reacted violently. The moment Bai Fuling whipped out the corpse, he jumped backward two or three steps, and the exclamation mark icon above his head split into three.

"You—you—you—why do you have a body on you?! Where did you pull that corpse from?!"

Bai Fuling: "Oh, I picked it up from the roadside."

He answered honestly.

The duty officer: "You—you—you—you—!"

Bai Fuling: "Are you lagging?"

The duty officer NPC froze as if electrocuted, scrambling backward to the duty desk before finally blurting out a complete sentence: "You—you—you—you stay right there! Don't move! Drop your weapon!"

Weapon in hand? Bai Fuling only had the corpse, so he casually tossed it forward.

Then the exclamation marks above the duty officer NPC's head split again. He shouted, one hand propped on the desk, the other pressing a red alarm button.

More pixel characters poured out from the adjacent room. Seeing the corpse on the floor of the police station lobby, they all popped up with exclamation marks one after another.

Do we have to wait for each NPC to react? This animation sequence is way too long. Bai Fuling couldn't be bothered to wait. He was feeling a bit sleepy in reality and wanted to wrap up this event quickly so he could go AFK and sleep.

"The body is at—hmm, the alley next to Shop 243 on Gravel Street." Bai Fuling opened the mini-map, looking at his own marker. "There's also a cage hanging in the sewer nearby with someone inside. Go rescue them later."

"Anyway, file this report first. I'll come back another day to check." Bai Fuling planned to get through this story segment and then return later to continue. Realistic RPGs usually require reaction time for tasks.

"...Wait, you can't leave—you—"

Bai Fuling had already clicked auto-AFK, setting the AFK action to return to school and sleep. At this moment, he turned and walked away without a second thought.

The duty officer: "You can't just leave like this! You—"

He originally wanted to say "you're a prime suspect," but his attention was drawn to the black lines writhing over the angel halo above the other person's head.

Why does he have an angel halo? Are those squirming black tentacles coming out of it? The floor beneath his feet and the surrounding walls seemed to soften.

By the time he came back to his senses, the black-haired youth was already gone. The words that spilled from his open mouth were naturally the opposite of what he had intended to say: "...He can leave. He's not a suspect."

Huh? Why was I suspecting that raincoat-clad youth just now? He's the least likely suspect.

For some reason, this impression surfaced in the duty officer's mind, but he didn't find anything odd about it, as if it were an indisputable fact.

He was still shocked by the raincoat-clad youth's act of bringing a corpse, but he no longer harbored the slightest suspicion that the other was the murderer—like an idea that had been slipped into his mind.

...How did that raincoat-clad youth bring a corpse here?! Who in their right mind would drag a corpse to a police station and then throw it?! It's too weird, too terrifying! —But undoubtedly, that person is not the killer.

The other duty officers around, having regained their senses, also stopped focusing on the departing figure. Everyone paused for a moment, then sprang into action.

"Hurry! Contact the special investigation team first to handle the corpse on the floor!"

"Someone needs help in the alley next to Shop 243 on Gravel Street. Take tools and drive over there."

The jammed gears started turning again. Everything that had just happened was like ripples on water's surface—disturbing for a moment but quickly settling back into calm. Everything proceeded as usual.

Author's Note:

Bai Fuling: What's this? A corpse! Great, I'll pick it up and go report it (proudly).

Officer: Aaaaaah!

Mysterious Tentacle Monster: (quietly tweaking thoughts and consciousness a little).