I Raise My Wife in a Supernatural Story (Infinite) - Chapter 61

On the third day since Qi Yan and the others entered the Developer script, Zhao Ruibin, the developer of the Grassland Garden Resort, met a tragic death inside a yurt in the grassland pastoral area. His death was exceptionally gruesome and terrifying. He had been severed at the waist by a giant blade. Yin Xin believed the cause of death was a combination of hemorrhagic shock and traumatic shock based on the scene. Blood had completely stained the sheets and bedding, soaked into the carpet under the bed, and even splattered onto the walls.

Qi Yan knew nothing about blood spatter analysis, but when she painted traditional Chinese paintings, ink often dropped or splattered. Consequently, she had some understanding of the trajectory and behavior of liquid marks. She tilted her head, looking at the red bloodstains on the wall, and carefully considered how they might have been left.

Yin Xin was much more professional. Seeing Qi Yan lost in thought, she explained directly, “These should be the marks left by the weapon swinging out after the murderer cut the victim in half. It would look like this.”

Yin Xin mimicked a sword-gripping posture in the air, simulating the killer using a heavy sword to sever the victim during the crime. As she raised the phantom sword, she said, “At this moment, the blood clinging to the blade would splatter onto the wall beside the bed, leaving marks like these. Then, the killer gave the sword a flick, like this.”

Yin Xin’s right hand made a downward swinging motion in the air, and then she pointed at the splatters on the carpet. “That left these bloodstains. Finally, the killer placed the sword back into the hands of that suit of armor. The undried blood on the blade would have dripped onto the floor bit by bit.”

Hearing such a detailed bloodstain analysis, Qi Yan said with surprise, “This killer must be incredibly strong! They probably are not short, either!”

Beside her, Tang Shanshan froze and asked, “How do you know?”

Qi Yan pointed to the heavy sword in the hands of the black iron armor. “That sword looks extremely heavy, just like the Black Iron Heavy Sword used by Yang Guo in The Return of the Condor Heroes. It would probably be a struggle for people like us just to lift it. Someone who can use it to kill and swing it around must be very powerful and likely quite tall.”

Her analysis was spot on. The admiration in Yin Xin’s eyes grew stronger. It would be a waste not to recruit this kind of talent into the team. Yin Xin decided that after leaving the script, she would definitely try to persuade Qi Yan again. With such keen observation and analytical skills, she could at least be a consultant sketch artist.

Jiang Miao rubbed her chin and said, “A man is the most suspicious, right? With that much strength, an ordinary woman would probably,” she paused, then shook her head, overturning her own thought. “No, this is the script world. We are not even sure if the killer is human or a ghost. If it is a ghost, then the analysis of strength and height is basically useless.”

Qi Yan fell into silence. Indeed, her analysis was too grounded in reality. The introduction had never specified whether the NPCs in this script were humans or ghosts. When encountering a murder case, especially when the script atmosphere was deliberately guided toward realism, it led players into a trap where they began to deduce the killer using real-world criminal logic.

For two consecutive days since entering this script, life had felt no different from the modern world. This was an inconspicuous trap designed to lower the players’ guard and lead them into a misconception, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and the script.

“Heh, quite cunning,” Bai Qing, hidden in Qi Yan’s ring, remarked.

Yin Xin said, “Although we have to consider the existence of ghosts in the script, the general direction of reasoning and analysis will not change much. In my experience, we should first handle the murder investigation according to real-world logic, but with the added possibility that the killer is a supernatural entity.”

In this script, the killer could be human or a ghost. Considering all aspects was certainly not easy. Qi Yan walked around the room, her gaze falling on the sofa on the other side. “The assistant was sleeping there? Did he really not wake up all night? Did he only discover Zhao Ruibin was dead when he got up in the morning?”

Yin Xin nodded. “Correct. Because he was in the same room as the victim last night and was the first to find the body, in the real world, he would be a major suspect. The police questioned him thoroughly, and he insisted that he slept too soundly and did not wake up at all. He claimed he did not know such a terrifying thing happened during the night and neither saw nor heard anything.”

Qi Yan mused, “That is quite suspicious. They were in the same room all night, and the distance was not that far. No matter how big a yurt is, it cannot be that large. The victim’s death was so gruesome; the killer must have made a lot of noise cutting him at the waist. Yet the person sleeping in the same room did not notice a thing. That is hard to believe.”

“Yes, so currently, the police are treating him as the prime suspect,” Yin Xin analyzed. “But that is mostly because there are no other suspects. The assistant had the best opportunity, but many within the police force actually believe he is not the killer. Sometimes, the more obvious a person’s suspicion is, the more you have to doubt it.”

Qi Yan agreed. “If I were the assistant, I would never kill him here, on this day, using this method! Is that not just asking for people to suspect me? I am his assistant; I travel everywhere with him and am the person closest to him in the company. Could I not strike when serving tea, pouring water, or massaging his shoulders? Why choose such a place? And on a night when it was just me and him in the room? Only a fool would do that.”

The other three laughed and agreed with her analysis.

Jiang Miao smiled. “True. I certainly would not do it. There are too many ways to choose and exploit to kill a boss who is so close to you. There is no need to make yourself look so suspicious.”

Tang Shanshan said, “Then we have to think, what could make this assistant sleep through the entire night? Was he drugged with sleeping pills? Otherwise, he would have woken up from such a loud noise!”

“The police have already taken the assistant’s blood for testing. Hopefully, there will be results,” Yin Xin said, spreading her hands. “However, I do not have much hope. If a ghost did it, they might use some kind of hypnosis spell to make the assistant sleep all night, requiring no drugs at all.”

There was nothing left to see at the crime scene. As the four of them stepped out, Qi Yan paused at the door, her eyes falling on the lock. “Sister Xin, this door,” she began.

Yin Xin knew what she wanted to ask and explained, “There are no signs of forced entry.”

Qi Yan took a deep breath. If this were the real world, it would be a locked-room murder, and the most likely suspect would be the assistant living in the same room. But in this world, solving the locked-room mystery felt meaningless. If it were a ghost, the ability to pass through walls would be effortless; there would be no need to solve the lock at all.

As Qi Yan was fretting, a wisp of white smoke suddenly darted out from the ring and wound around the door lock. She panicked for a moment, fearing the smoke would be noticed by outsiders.

Bai Qing comforted her, “Do not worry, I have hidden the mist; others cannot see it.”

Qi Yan felt relieved. “Did you find something?”

The white smoke quickly retracted into the ring. Bai Qing hummed in affirmation. “There is a very heavy ghostly aura on this lock.”

“What?” Qi Yan froze, immediately thinking of Qiu Ran and Yan Yan from the last script. The ghostly aura on those two little ghosts was as black as oil.

“This ghost’s power exceeds that of Qiu Ran. The ghostly aura can be invisible and untraceable. If I had not used my spiritual power to investigate, I would not have found it.”

Qi Yan gasped, shocked by Bai Qing’s conclusion. “Then is this ghost not extremely difficult to deal with? Even stronger than Qiu Ran!”

“Fortunately, my spiritual power is steadily recovering. I might be able to fight it.” Bai Qing did not make a definitive promise, but Qi Yan’s panicked heart settled because of those words. Since Bai Qing said she could fight, then she could. Qi Yan felt she should trust her; it was the absolute trust that should exist between them.

Qi Yan leaned toward her three teammates and whispered Bai Qing’s discovery. The expressions of the other three turned solemn. Jiang Miao said, “As expected, it is a ghost. But if this ghost is so strong, its appearance might be indistinguishable from a normal person. It will not be easy for us to find them.”

Qi Yan was also at a loss. She had only entered two scripts before. The NPCs in The Last Mountain Sacrifice, from Sister Hong to the shuttle driver at the village entrance, all looked eerie and abnormal, letting one know at a glance they were not normal people. The Carnival was even more direct; those three little ghosts and the guide NPC all openly showed they were ghosts, lacking any human resemblance.

But this time was different. This script was too much like the real world. Everyone looked like a living, ordinary person. Qi Yan had not seen anyone who looked like a ghost yet. This was difficult. The ghost seemed very strong. How could they find them? And how could they deal with them?

“Let us not think about it too much for now. The first phase of the task is complete, and the introduction has issued a new mission,” Jiang Miao reminded them. “The players must find the motive for the murder.”

“Motive?”

Qi Yan thought of the murder mystery games she had played in the real world. Players needed to talk to each other and look for clues to discover everyone’s motive, further finding evidence that pointed to the killer. This script was indeed very much like a murder mystery game, and their next task was to talk to others to understand the relationship between everyone and the developer, and if there were any grievances.

Qi Yan paused. She glanced at her three teammates. “So, do you also have grievances with this Zhao Ruibin?”

At that moment, Jiang Miao and Yin Xin looked at her simultaneously, their eyes seemingly saying, “Do you not?”

Qi Yan was stunned. She was in a state of confusion. What was going on? Even her teammates were keeping things from her?

“Wait, what is happening? Do you have things you have not said?” She looked at Tang Shanshan. “Shanshan, surely you are not keeping secrets from me?”

Tang Shanshan immediately shook her head and waved her hands. “Sister Qi, rest assured, I am innocent! I only followed my teacher to participate in this project.”

Qi Yan breathed a sigh of relief. At least one teammate was as pure as she was. Jiang Miao and Yin Xin exchanged a look, then looked at the two younger sisters in the team. Jiang Miao asked, “Neither of your characters has a grudge against him?”

Qi Yan and Tang Shanshan shook their heads simultaneously. “Truly, no.”

Jiang Miao was silent for a moment, then finally smiled. “I am sorry, Qi Yan. One of our tasks is that we cannot proactively speak about our grievances with Zhao Ruibin to anyone, at least not at this stage.”

Yin Xin added, “Yes. Whether they will be unlocked as the plot progresses is unknown.”

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