April 17th, 2018, 14:00 p.m., "Answers" bar.

After eating three bowls of crab roe noodles like pig spirit, Li Xiao fell asleep on the sofa in the bar unsatisfied.

White Candle Aoi was curiously studying the notebook without a word under the unfocused gaze of the wind waiting to be buried, and the scene was harmonious.

"Ding..."

This time it was the mobile phone that rang Feng Beifu, and Feng Beifu, who was recalled by the prompt tone, looked at the phone on the table, and the sender was Qin.

"Sorry for the late reply, as Guy and I have been in some trouble lately. The travel records of the Conservatory of Music that you asked us to help you investigate did not meet your requirements, and except for a male conductor named Qiu Heng, there was no record of any female traveling to Dia City. Of course, it is not excluded that there may be omissions, because it has been eight years since the date you requested. ”

"Is that really the case?" muttered to himself as he edited a text message in reply, promising to take White Candle Aoi to Poland City after the tryouts and treat him to dinner.

After the text message was successfully sent, Feng Beifu's eyes drifted on the notebook in Bai Zhukui's hand, and he fell into thinking in a daze: "Is the way to break the game still rely on that mysterious gamble..."

“...”

20:00 p.m. sharp, "Answer" bar.

With the roar of a wild boar, Li Xiaonan struggled to wake up from the sofa in the bar like a corpse, causing the surrounding guests to roll their eyes.

Realizing his gaffe, he folded his hands and smiled a circle, then sat back in his seat with his eyes open, looking for the figure of the wind to be buried and the white candle sunflower in confusion.

At night, the bar is filled with groups of people shaking their glasses and chatting in whispers.

"Are they gone?" Li Xiaonan looked around and didn't find the figure of the two of them, and he thought suspiciously.

Originally, he had planned to wake up and listen to the clues that had been investigated over there.

"Maybe there is some clue again..."Li Xiao took out his mobile phone with a hard time, and there were more than a dozen missed calls from Salted Fish on it.

After wiping his face haphazardly, and realizing that there were indeed some important clues, Li Xiao hurriedly called back the phone and hurried towards the door of the bar.

His gaze inadvertently swept over the seat where the brother had been buried before, and left the notebook handed to him by the previous police officer on the table.

“...”

"You're finally awake."

Li Xiaonan was sitting in a taxi, and the voice of salted fish came from the phone.

"I'm sorry... I slept too hard..."Li Xiao explained apologetically, "So is there a result of the victim's DNA comparison?" ”

After a few seconds of silence, Salty Fish replied, "We conducted a second search and investigation during the day today, covering the entire city of Dia. ”

After a pause, Salty Fish continued: "The victim's human tissue has been found entirely, and in addition... In the eastern suburbs, a second complete human skeleton was also found. ”

"The second deceased found was a male, between 180 and 185 cm tall, with the same fatal injuries as in the previous eight serial cases, and the same missing three phalanges of his left hand..."

"You're on your way to the police station, right?"

Li Xiaonan nodded subconsciously: "That's right, in the taxi." ”

"Let's meet for the rest, the case has escalated from complicated to bizarre." On the other end of the phone, the voice of Salted Fish pressing the lighter came: "And there are some details about the identity of the female victim that you need to cooperate with to verify... Anyway, I'm waiting for you at the police station. ”

April 17, 2018, 20:50 p.m., Dia City Police Station.

Li Xiaonan's embarrassed figure was once again recorded by the real-time surveillance at the entrance of the police station, and he was waiting for the salted fish to appear in the corridor outside the office area.

A few minutes later, Salty Fish pushed the door out of the interrogation room next door, handed him a "freshly baked" confession under Li Xiao's expectant gaze, and then hurriedly entered the office area.

Li Xiaonan stared at the confession in his hand, and some chaotic minds were instantly sobered up as if they had been splashed with a basin of biting ice water.

"Name."

"Lin Guangfei."

"This is the third inquiry, about the last time, you identified through the blurred video of the cheap express hotel, and the suspect in Li Xiaonan's room was a girl named Wen Tingting, right."

"That's right. Although the footage is blurry, I only met her a few days ago, and the style of clothes and hairstyle she wore in the surveillance was the same as the day we met. ”

"Have you ever seen this man?" Next to this sentence is a picture of a girl who looks to be in her early twenties, with long pale yellow hair that sets off her fair face.

"Nope."

End of inquiry.

Faintly, Li Xiaonan once again felt the sense of déjà vu that they were trapped in a deep encirclement, they were like white pieces that had strayed into the chessboard, and they were rushing towards Black's bottom line with no relentless desire to complete the "ascending change".

But helplessly, the black queen stopped in front of them, and if they took a wrong step, they would be defeated and out.

With the sound of footsteps, Salted Fish came to Li Xiaonan with a stack of sorted files, secretly dragged him to the corner of the corridor, and then took out two cigarettes from his pocket.

"Let's see." Salted fish held a cigarette in his mouth and pressed the lighter: "The day the female victim's bones were found... Are you sure you saw Wen Tingting in the police academy? ”

Li Xiao was stunned for a moment, recalling the confession he had just read, as if the current problem appeared in the girl named Wen Tingting.

"Yes. However, the fact that 'she is Wen Tingting' is supported by Xiaofei's words. Li Xiaonan replied very rigorously. He understands that the slightest omission can lead his side in the wrong direction in this intricate chess game.

Salted fish dusted off his cigarette ashes, took out a DNA comparison result from the file, and handed it to Li Xiaonan: "Take a look." ”

"After DNA comparison extracted from the female bones, it was finally determined that the female victim was a junior student at the Diya Dance Academy - Wen Tingting."

At the end of the report, Wen Tingting's personal information and a one-inch photo of her face were attached, which was the one attached to the confession.

"So we're being lied to again?" Li Xiaonan frowned and muttered, "'She' blatantly appeared in front of us. ”

"That's how it looks at the moment." Xianyu replied: "If all the previous reasoning is correct, then as long as the painter sketches the appearance of 'fake Wen Tingting' from Lin Guangfei's narrative, 'she' will have nothing to hide." ”

As he spoke, a police officer hurriedly passed by the two of them with a drawingpad-like object.

"But 'she' didn't hesitate to expose her purpose." Li Xiaonan asked again: "It can't really be because it's 'funny', like the joke who does whatever he wants in Gotham City."

。 ”

"Judging from the results we have learned so far, the case of the female victim ultimately leads to only one result..."The cigarette was held in the mouth of the salted fish, and the flame on the cigarette butt flickered: "It is to lead you into the game." ”

"Me?" Li Xiaonan stretched out his finger and pointed at himself, a little surprised: "Do I have anything worth missing by 'her'." ”

As he spoke, his gaze turned to his outstretched right index finger: "Is that my finger?" ”

Xianyu shook his head, and didn't answer Li Xiaonan's muttering again, but changed the topic and asked, "Didn't the two brothers come with you, I thought he wouldn't miss this kind of scene." ”

"Didn't he come?" Li Xiaonan asked rhetorically: "When I woke up from the bar, he and White Candle Aoi were gone, and I thought they came first." ”

"Have you ever tried talking on the phone?" Salted fish said casually.

Li Xiaonan took out his mobile phone, pondered for a few seconds, and then put it back: "Maybe he has other clues over there, since he doesn't say goodbye, there must be something urgent happening, you shouldn't have to worry." He said he wouldn't lose. ”

"But he seems to have left this for me, this blank notebook." Li Xiaonan remembered the notebook in his arms: "Your detective told me that it was found in a hotel room, but my book has been taken back to school by me, has the fingerprint on it been detected." ”

Salty Fish raised his eyebrows, and was about to deny it, but his eyes were attracted by a page in the spread notebook: "Before this, this notebook was completely blank?" ”

Li Xiaonan also noticed the blacked-out page, and he remembered the pencil that rolled down on the bar floor: "That's right... So this could be painted by the two of them? ”

As he spoke, Li Xiaonan spread out his notebook on the narrow window edge of the corridor, and from the page blacked out by the pencil, he could clearly see what someone had written on the previous page.

Because of the force of the pen, the handwriting was printed on this page.

At this point, after the page is blacked out with a pencil, the handwriting appears in its entirety in a blank color on the blackened paper.

“Game。” Li Xiaonan said softly.

Countless intricate and disordered English letters outlined the shape of "Game" on the paper, which was full of provocation, and at the same time, Li Xiaonan actually felt a little invited.

"This is..."Salted Fish muttered, "Is it some kind of puzzle to use these letters on paper to form the shape of a game..."

Li Xiaonan did not answer, but subconsciously took out his pocket, and after remembering that he did not bring a cigarette, he silently stretched out his hand to the salted fish on the side.

Salted fish pursed his lips and put a cigarette into Li Xiaonan's palm, and at the same time took out a light himself, he took a cigarette in his mouth, and said vaguely: "Do these letters have any meaning, except for the graphics that make up the 'Game' style." ”

Li Xiaonan nodded: "I think there should be, although these letters are disordered, there are many repetitions, and they are basically G, A, M and E..."

With a flash of inspiration in his mind, Li Xiaonan sped up his speech: "If you remove these four letters from it, only the others will remain..."

"We're going to get... C、R、O、S、S、A、N、D、E、A、R、S、O、F、W、H、E、A、T...”

“C

oss a

d ea

S of Wheat – The Cross and the Ears of Wheat..."