Deceitful Game

Chapter 65 "Dog Brother" Aiden

Ai Shiping's room had somehow returned to its original state.

It's no longer the audio-visual room it used to be; it's been restored to how it was when Ai Shiping rented it.

A huge ultrawide monitor, expensive speakers, microphones with cantilever brackets, and RGB light strips covering the entire room—even the computer chair is RGB.

In the dark blue room with the curtains drawn, a glow of red, yellow, green, blue, and purple light was shining through.

This is the e-sports room that Mingpo calls "nightclub style"!

It was just like it was before the last game started.

Everything has changed back!

Mingpo's hands were trembling slightly.

He walked to the familiar Coca-Cola mini-fridge and opened it.

It was filled to the brim with canned cola.

Mingpo fished out a can and casually pulled the tab. Standing in front of the refrigerator, he chugdled half a can in one go before finally recovering.

The overly cold cola made him shiver. It felt like he'd just bitten into half an ice cream, and his mind suddenly became clear and transparent.

"----I see."

Mingpo murmured softly, "So that's how it works."

He remembered that during his qualifying rounds, Mo had said something like, "I'm betting your very existence! If you die here, no one will remember you."

At the time, Mingpo thought that if he lost here, he would be wiped out and no record would be left.

However, when he saw Shi Yao's phone chat history at his doorstep, it mentioned "the lawyer Chen who was shot" and "Jasmine who challenged the luck of the world".

Attorney Chen is undoubtedly Chen Bingwen, and Jasmine Sauce should be "Raccoon".

However, "Raccoon" probably failed the beginner's trial.

At that time, Mingpo didn't quite understand the mechanism of the Deception Game, and even wondered if Mo was just bluffing.

But now—

Mingpo has finally begun to vaguely understand the mechanism by which the game of deception filters out newcomers!

Those mortals whose history has been altered and who have been lost to the past may all become "those who died unjustly".

Because their cause and effect have been disturbed, they are now independent of the entire timeline.

Even the "raccoon," who was a deceiver in the previous playthrough, has her death fixed in the present. But the "dog" and the "fish" simply disappear.

Those who do not become deceivers, if they die in the qualifiers—they are gone from the world forever.

Because they are already dead in the past!

That means "nobody remembers them"!

Judging from what Wuming said, there seems to be another aspect of "whether there is a causal relationship"—it may depend on whether this person can affect oneself. If the person was killed in the past but has no impact on the present, then it can be considered a wrongful death.

In other words, all those who died unjustly were killed by strangers!

If they can become deceivers, then the stolen time will return.

Their time of death will return to "now"!

"Assuming this hypothesis is correct—"

Mingbo murmured softly as she took out a piece of Time Red Copper.

Verifying this important mechanism would take him an hour!

"It will be visible for one hour."

Mingpo spoke in a low voice, then reached out and crushed the chips.

As crimson flames leaked from between his fingers, an invisible ripple spread rapidly outwards.

The world around us was still colorful.

After all, he was already at his own anchor point.

But if nothing unexpected happens—

Mingpo turned on his phone again and found that it had reconnected to the internet.

"Fish" is an important symbol.

Mingpo knew his real name was "Mo Qian," and Chen Bingwen also told him some secrets about fish.

And the fish just happened to never be a deceiver in any timeline "—cannot be found".

Sure enough, Mingpo couldn't find this person's existence at all.

There is no Mo Qian, nor is there Qiancheng Technology. And the most popular input method of this era has become a new input method called "Sogou Input Method".

It was as if Mo Qian himself had been completely erased.

But Mingpo has some little-known channels.

He thought for a moment, opened WeChat, and found a friend based on his memory.

Mingbo breathed a sigh of relief: "Thank goodness, you're still here—"

Mingpo saved the other person's contact as "Dog Bro".

His real name is actually "Aiden," and he shares the same surname as Ai Shiping. He is a Malaysian Chinese.

Moreover, he was the channel through which Mingpo joined the Faceless God Studio back then.

When Mingpo wanted to find someone to investigate something, she finally found this person after a lot of trouble.

Later, it was Aiden who introduced Mingper to the Faceless God Studio.

Later—Mumper played Watch Dogs and discovered that the main character was named "Aidan Pierce," and immediately burst out laughing.

Because Aiden Pierce's nickname is "Dog," and he's also a hacker—Mingper gave Aiden the nickname "Dog." Aiden quite liked the nickname, even changing his profile picture to a yellow, annoying dog and his nickname to "doge."

—Although the Faceless God Studio is no longer in this timeline, thankfully this person is still here.

"Help me find someone, Lao Hei. His name is Mo Qian. He studied abroad, majoring in finance. He might have owned a company called Qiancheng Technology or something similar. His family is somewhat wealthy, and he likes to use Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A website). He might already be dead. Urgent."

Mingpo sent a message and then transferred 50,000 yuan to him.

Less than half a minute later, the other party replied.

Dog Bro: 1

There were no pleasantries or small talk; he simply replied with a number to indicate that he had received it.

While waiting, Mingpo searched for other people.

Chen Bingwen was shot and killed in France, but the person who shot him has not been found.

"Jasmine Sauce" is suspected of rear-ending Dayun, but the vehicle involved in the accident has not been found.

Mingpo also found out about Lin Ya's death.

However, the news reports about her stated it very clearly as suicide, and even included a suicide note.

He also looked up Gao Fan—and then realized that the kid was actually quite capable.

You'd never guess he's also the vice chairman of Gaotian Construction Group, a well-known figure.

This is actually a Fortune 500 company!

The chairman's surname is also Gao, and judging from his age, he should be a relative like his eldest or second eldest uncle.

Is it a family business? I've never heard of it before.

The international infrastructure group mainly builds highways in Southeast Asia and Central Asia—and also has domestic bids worth tens of billions.

That's pretty impressive.

Mingpo initially thought Gao Fan's villa was a bit too extravagant—but now she realizes that it's actually quite understated!

Mingpo also found out about Gao Fan's car accident:

He went missing while traveling in Liangshan with his secretary and girlfriend, on their way back. Seven days later, it was discovered that their car had plunged off a cliff, and it was preliminarily determined that the accident was caused by Gao Fan driving under the influence of alcohol.

But it's clear that Gao Fan doesn't drink. And even if he did, he should be able to have his secretary drive him.

Something just doesn't look right.

Just like all those other con artists—the perpetrators could not be found.

It's as if the people who killed them are all from the past.

At that moment, Mingpo's phone vibrated.

He has already found the person he was looking for.

A PDF file was sent over, and Mingpo opened it.

It contains very detailed personal information about Mo Qian.

From his ID card, education, records—even his cremation certificate, we have it all.

He never returned to China; he was shot and killed while studying abroad, and his body was brought back and cremated in China.

That was twenty years ago.

While Mingpo was browsing through the messages, Dog Brother was still sending him messages:

Dog Bro: We don't have much money, it's just a small company with less than two hundred people. Dog Bro: But the information you provided was a bit too disruptive—you might have been able to investigate faster if you hadn't provided false information. Dog Bro: Even expedited processing wouldn't cost that much, I'll refund you half. As he spoke, he transferred another 25,000 to Mingpo.

Mingpo did not accept it, but simply replied: You can keep it.

Money in the mortal world no longer means much to him; maintaining relationships is more important than saving money.

"—So, those who failed to become deceivers simply died quietly in the past."

Mingpo frowned slightly: "But, in their memories, it seems they all died not long ago—or is it that even their memories are distorted?"

At this moment, when Dog Brother saw that Mingpo wouldn't accept a refund, he suddenly became very enthusiastic.

Dog Bro: The boss is a good guy, the boss is generous, the boss is awesome! The boss had triplets in one pregnancy!

Dog Bro: By the way, boss—someone's been checking your information these past few days. I haven't taken any money from you yet, saying you're on a protection list. Did you offend someone?