This Taoist priest is so unprofessional!

Time passed by, second by second.

The clock on the wall has already passed midnight.

The air was filled with the mixed smells of instant noodles and electronic components.

Wang Xiaoer had already fallen asleep in his chair.

Zhang Chen sat cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed, as if he were meditating.

Only the fat man, with bloodshot eyes, was still struggling with a pile of outdated data.

His fingers were a little stiff, but they still moved precisely across the keyboard.

Sudden.

"Snapped!"

The fat man slammed his hand on the keyboard, jumping up from his chair.

The commotion woke up Wang Xiaoer and Zhang Chen.

"Found it!"

The fat man pointed excitedly at the screen, like Columbus discovering a new continent.

"I fucking found it!"

Wang Xiaoer and Zhang Chen immediately surrounded them.

On the screen is a screenshot of an extremely old forum page.

In the very center of the screenshot is a fancy match schedule created using graphic design software.

The fat man's mouse pointer was hovering over the two names facing off in the finals.

The one on the left, they knew him very well.

【The Mysterious King】.

That's Song Wen's game ID.

On the right, the one who faced off against him was also the ultimate beneficiary.

【Hao Ge V5】

The moment this ID appeared, the air in the entire store seemed to invigorate.

Without a doubt, the owner of this ID was the prime suspect back then!

"That's him!"

The fat man slammed his hand on the table, his face bloodshot but unable to conceal his excitement.

"Song Wen is the [Mysterious King], and his opponent in the finals is [Hao Ge V5]! He stole Song Wen's account, deleted his equipment, made him lose the match, and then killed him to cover it up! The logic chain is perfectly closed!"

"But is it really necessary to kill someone?" Wang Xiaoer couldn't understand. "It's just a game competition, and the prizes are virtual game equipment."

"Sometimes murders are triggered by trivial matters; people act impulsively in the heat of the moment, without considering anything else."

The fat man chimed in, speaking as if he were an experienced person.

"Furthermore, if it was just manslaughter, why did they put that nail on the keyboard?"

"Forget it, why bother arguing with you about this? You're still too young. You'll learn more if you spend more time online."

He wanted to say something more, but Zhang Chen's words pulled everyone back to the cold reality.

How can a game ID from over a decade ago correspond to a real-life person?

The fat man's smile froze on his face.

Yes.

The problem has come full circle.

In those days, game registration didn't require real-name authentication; you could just fill in any random email address to apply for a bunch of accounts.

Now that times have changed, trying to find a specific coordinate among billions of people using a virtual code name is no less difficult than finding a needle in a haystack.

"Damn it, I don't believe in this nonsense!"

The fat man was determined not to let the newly ignited flame of hope be extinguished.

He sat down again, took a deep breath, and placed his hands on the keyboard once more.

This time, his goal was no longer to find match records, but to conduct a thorough reverse tracking of the ID "HaoGeV5".

"Reverse lookup of registered email address using ID!"

Command input.

The data stream scrolled rapidly across the screen.

A moment later, a cold red message appeared: [The target email server ceased service in 2002, and the data has been destroyed].

"Hold!"

The fat man cursed under his breath, still unwilling to give up.

"Check the last IP address record for this ID!"

His fingers flew across the keyboard as he accessed another long-forgotten database interface.

The server emitted a strained buzzing sound.

The result was still disheartening: [Data records are incomplete; the earliest traceable IP address is the public IP address of the local internet cafe, with no terminal records].

The trail went cold once again.

The fat man tried every technical means he could think of, but all his efforts were in vain.

It's from a very long time ago.

While the memory of the internet is eternal, the servers that hold that memory will age, the data will be lost, and the traces will be mercilessly erased by time.

"Smack."

The fat man slammed his forehead heavily onto the keyboard, making a sharp sound.

He was completely out of options.

The initial excitement that had just been ignited in the shop had completely dissipated.

Instead, there was an even heavier sense of oppression and frustration than before.

It's like someone who has been thirsty in the desert for three days finally spotting an oasis, running there with all their might, only to find it's just a mirage.

"How about... we take a break first?"

Wang Xiaoer looked at the almost withdrawn fat man and the solemn-faced Zhang Chen, wanting to break the suffocating silence.

No one responded.

Wang Xiaoer sighed, poured himself a glass of water, and sat back down.

The computer screen lit up again when he touched it, still showing the local news page he had been browsing.

Wang Xiaoer didn't pay attention and casually picked up the mouse and swiped it a few times.

His gaze slid over Zhou Zhenghao's standard successful man's smiling face and landed at the bottom of the news page, inconspicuously located comments section.

The comments section was filled with praise such as "President Zhou is magnanimous," "He is contributing to his hometown," and "He is a pillar of society."

But among these monotonous comments, a strange comment, like a grain of sand, got mixed in.

The comment read:

"I never imagined Mr. Zhou would be so successful now. I still remember back in school, he led us in playing 'Legend of the Underworld.' His 'Brother Hao V5' was the number one warrior in our server!"

Wang Xiaoer's fingers froze instantly.

It was as if he had been frozen in place; his action of preparing to drink water was also frozen in mid-air.

Time seemed to slow down infinitely at this moment.

All sounds around us disappeared.

In his world, only that short line of text on the screen remained.

Then, he slowly raised his head, his gaze moving upwards inch by inch, finally settling on Zhou Zhenghao's oily, smug face in the news photo.

Two seemingly parallel lines that would never intersect were perfectly brought together at this moment by a comment that had been ignored by countless people.

"Clatter".

The water glass slipped from his fingers, fell to the ground, and shattered into pieces.

The crisp sound finally broke the deathly silence in the shop.

The fat man and Zhang Chen were both startled and turned to look at him.

"What are you doing, you little rascal? You scared me!"

The fat man complained irritably.

Wang Xiaoer ignored him.

He didn't even glance down at the mess on the ground.

He slowly raised his hand, one finger trembling, pointing to the bright screen.

"you……"

"Come and take a look at this..."

The fat man and Zhang Chen exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes.

Puzzled, they stood up, walked behind Wang Xiaoer, and looked in the direction he was pointing.

When their attention was focused on that comment.

When the name "Zhou Zhenghao" and the ID "Hao Ge V5" came into their view at the same time.

The entire shop instantly fell into absolute silence.

The net of Heaven is vast, and divine will has its way!

In a desperate situation where all professional skills and esoteric Taoist methods had failed, no one could have imagined that the final answer would be presented to them in such an almost absurd way.