This bold idea had just emerged when it was immediately interrupted by a commotion nearby—
"Hey! Who’s there! I see you! Come out quickly!"
A man’s loud shout came from about ten meters away.
Judging by the voice, it should be a security guard or police officer from the school.
Such a reprimand was quite intimidating. If it were an ordinary student, they would probably be frightened, hastily pulling up their pants and sneaking out.
Back when I was in school, during night patrols, this method often scared out students who were hiding for clandestine rendezvous, like fish popping out of a pond. It could draw half a hillside’s worth of people at once.
However, someone as seasoned as Wen Nan would not be fooled. He knew well that at times , mental resilience was key, to hide to the end.
So, upon hearing the shout from across, Wen Nan remained motionless.
On the other side came a rustling sound.
Soon, a boy in a white T-shirt slowly emerged from the bushes nearby, looking quite fearful of the patrol officer. He even raised his hands above his head the entire time, finally stopping in front of the officer, timidly saying, "Officer, I’m a student from T University, please don’t catch me."
The patrol officer seemed to think the boy posed no threat and softened his tone, asking, "What are you doing here? Don’t you know something happened at school? Do you realize how dangerous it is to come to this place now?"
The boy quickly nodded in acknowledgment, "I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I pre-arranged to meet my girlfriend, so I came here to wait for her..."
At first glance, their conversation seemed fine, but hiding in the dark, Wen Nan knew the boy was far more complicated than he appeared.
This boy in the white T-shirt was one of the three suspicious targets Wen Nan had identified among the crowd at the police desk earlier.
Earlier, he was observing the site outside the police office, and now he’s pretending to be innocent, claiming he knows nothing about the murder case.
This person is quite something.
Of course, the patrol officer opposite him seemed like just an ordinary NPC. Hearing the boy’s words, he didn’t think much and pointed with his multifunctional flashlight to the path on the side, stepping aside to let him pass, "Get going quickly, don’t come near here again. It’s not safe..."
Before he finished saying the word "safe," his gaze went past the boy in the white T-shirt and spotted a dark figure darting by.
The patrol officer immediately shouted at the dark figure.
But the figure showed no intention of halting, quickly disappearing out of sight—
It seemed the officer’s act of "casting a net to catch rabbits" had startled this other person lurking in the dark. Though he hid deeper than the boy in the white T-shirt, his mindset wasn’t as steady as Wen Nan’s.
After some hesitation, he finally decided to escape the scene while the patrol officer was talking to the boy in the white T-shirt.
The patrol officer immediately chased after the dark figure at full speed.
The officer’s colleague also arrived then, instructing the boy in the white T-shirt to leave quickly while requesting backup via radio, "Employee number 0379, mid-slope of Lover’s Hill, suspected target spotted, requesting support, apply to lock down the entire hill."
After receiving confirmation from the other side, the patrol officer quickly followed his colleague in pursuit.
Soon, only Wen Nan, hiding in the dark, was left in the vicinity.
This hill would soon be sealed off, and if he wanted to make this "small hole" his exclusive refresh point, he needed to consider time and quickly activate the faction card in the hole.
Wen Nan glanced at the hole. The entrance emitted a faint golden glow, as if urging him to take action promptly.
Wen Nan finally just used some rocks to cover the hole halfway and then turned away.
The glimmering little hole was initially quite tempting, but Wen Nan decided not to enter it.
It wasn’t that he feared the officers’ lockdown—
Their exclusive refresh point was meant to protect the content of the faction card from being discovered by other players and Strategy Characters of the evil faction, not against NPCs.
If a bunch of NPCs without information helped to surround the refresh point through lockdown, for players, this was not a burden but rather added to their safety.
Yet, Wen Nan decided to give up this nearly perfect spot.
First, because the spot was likely exposed already, with the compliant boy in the white T-shirt and the fleeting dark figure hiding in the dark, they could have already discovered this place, so Wen Nan couldn’t risk using it as his refresh point again.
However, there’s another more important reason—
A refresh point location, considered perfect but possibly exposed to some players, when left vacant, would serve as a perfect trap for Wen Nan.
Leaving now and returning once the main quest started, he might find an unsuspecting "little squirrel" trying to nest there.
In that case, he could easily obtain another player’s faction card.
Thinking this way, Wen Nan left the slope.
The countdown timer from the system flashing in his mind made his previously pleasant mood turn less lighthearted.
The appearance of the patrol officer and those two players had unknowingly cost Wen Nan several dozen minutes.