If they had to call him in, it certainly wasn’t a typical murder case.
Unsure of what the matter was, Mu You received an address from Zhang Yang on his phone and went out to the roof.
As there were few people about in the early morning, he activated the Flying Broom!
The incident occurred in the suburbs, but with the speed of his broomstick, it only took a couple of minutes.
Mu You hurried to the scene to find the so-called address in an old, four-story residential building, already cordoned off by the police.
After disembarking and presenting his credentials to the officers, Mu You was granted access to the premises.
He made his way into the building and finally found Zhang Yang in a room on the second floor.
Several colleagues from the special investigative unit were already present. After exchanging brief greetings, Mu You’s gaze turned to a computer desk by the window.
Marks on the desk and chair seemed to indicate fixed positions, while the real victim was lying motionless and soundless in the middle of the room with eyes rolled back and white foam around his mouth. A group of forensic pathologists were examining him.
From the marks on the desk and chair and the mobile phone on the desk, it was not hard to deduce that this man had been sitting at the desk playing with his phone when he suddenly suffered some unknown harm, collapsing onto the table and never waking up.
"You’re here." Zhang Yang approached him when he saw Mu You enter the room.
"You’re here... what happened?" asked Mu You, getting straight to the point.
"We received a report about one hour ago from the public. According to the forensic pathologist’s initial judgment, the man died between one and a half to two and a half days ago," explained Zhang Yang.
"What about his identity?" asked Mu You again.
This was the crux of the matter. The fact that they had specifically called him in suggested that the man’s identity was significant.
"Zhang Mingxu, 30 years old, a resident of K City. Game ID, Blade Hero..."
Mu You quickly scanned his memory but found no information related to this ID.
"The key is not this man’s identity, but rather the organization to which he belonged..."
Zhang Yang leaned in closer, speaking softly, "He was a member of the Chi Xia Guild..."
Surprise flashed in Mu You’s eyes. The Chi Xia Guild? Wasn’t it the one that posted about besieging World Walker...
"It seems you’ve also seen that post. Then you should understand what this man’s death represents..." Zhang Yang seemed relieved.
The death of a Chi Xia Guild member coincided with the timeframe of that post. This suggested that it may be true!
The members of the Chi Xia Guild did in fact surround World Walker, but there was no news after that post, and no one from the Chi Xia Guild came forward. Now, a deceased member of the Chi Xia Guild had been found...
All of this was beginning to suggest that the Chi Xia Guild members were annihilated by World Walker on that day! Even worse, the player was able to kill the gamer, even though he was remotely controlling a game avatar from Earth...
"Actually, this isn’t the first discovered player from the Chi Xia Guild. Early yesterday morning, a deceased member of the Chi Xia Guild was discovered in the neighbouring J City, with circumstances almost identical to this..."
"In addition, numerous missing person cases have been reported over the past couple days, many of which share the background of the Chi Xia Guild..."
Zhang Yang stated solemnly, "Upon discussions, the experts of the Dragon group pretty much concluded that World Walker is a highly dangerous individual with some kind of instantaneous, untraceable killing ability. No matter who it is, if they encounter him in the game, they should avoid him at all costs and flee immediately!"
Mu You wasn’t surprised by this conclusion. A player could act recklessly in a game because they knew their real body wouldn’t be harmed. According to the game rules, even if their game character dies, they lose only one year of their lifespan, and they have an invincible ability to go offline. So, they could afford to take risks.
But now, a person had emerged who could kill through the screen — who wouldn’t be afraid?
"Take a good look at the way this person died. You should recognise it..." commented Zhang Yang.
Mu You glanced at the victim on the floor, eyes rolled back, his face in a pained expression.
Indeed, he had seen this image before.
When he had poisoned the Werewolf in the game, his real-life counterpart had this exact appearance.
According to Lu Yao at the time, a person who had exhausted their life in the game would retain a month’s worth of life in reality, but would lose all their memories, becoming a vegetable until they died a month later.
The individual before him had clearly had all his life taken away in the game. However, unlike the Werewolf, who had lived for a month in jail after the game character died, this man seemed to have dropped dead on the spot.
"What was the cause of death?" asked Mu You.
"That’s the most important question." Zhang Yang sighed, "According to the preliminary determination by the forensic pathologist, the man probably died from sudden cardiac arrest, but we still need to conduct a more detailed autopsy... Anyway, if we can figure out the cause of this man’s death, we might be able to deduce World Walker’s ability..."
In the middle of their discussion, Mu You suddenly noticed something and interrupted.
"What’s wrong?" Zhang Yang asked in surprise.
Without answering, Mu You walked over to the corpse, squatted down, and seemed to want to examine it.
Noticing his intentions, the surrounding forensic pathologists instinctively looked to Zhang Yang for confirmation. After Zhang Yang nodded, they handed a new pair of rubber gloves to Mu You.