It's time to become an evil god.

The young man swallowed silently, glanced at the other person, who still had an innocent expression and shrugged.

"Tell me, what brings you here this time?"

"If I said I just happened to witness a murder and the disposal of the body, would you believe me?"

Captain Li and the officer next to him exchanged a glance, their expressions serious. He asked sternly, "You'd better tell the whole story. Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely. I advise you not to try to be clever."

Bai Ge looked at the other person helplessly and said aggrievedly, "No, I really have nothing to do with the murderer. I was just a guy who happened to be passing by a fishing bar. I heard there were mermaids in the Zhuojiang River, so I came over in the middle of the night to try my luck. I just happened to witness the suspect's clumsy and inexperienced process of disposing of the body. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I kindly wanted to teach him how to properly kill and dispose of a body. But this guy didn't appreciate my kindness and would rather swim back than get on my boat."

"Still dare to talk back, huh?"

The hot-tempered Captain Li slammed his fist on the table and suddenly raised his voice, "Come on, tell me, what kind of good person would teach someone to kill and dispose of a body?"

Bai Ge innocently defended himself, "Does someone like me count as a good person?"

"You're a good person? Then explain to me why you carry several iron forks and boning knives in your bag? You're carrying these things and then telling me you're going to fish for mermaids?"

"yes."

Bai Ge said seriously, "Isn't it normal to catch mermaids and make them into sashimi?"

"Shut up! Do you think we, the people's police, would believe your nonsense?"

Team Leader Li wanted to say something more, but his phone suddenly rang. He answered it once, then his face turned ashen. After a minute of silence, he hung up, closed his notebook, waved his hand, and said, "Release him. You can go now."

"But Captain Li..."

"The suspect next door just confessed that he has nothing to do with this guy. And the higher-ups have said that from now on, this case is no longer under our jurisdiction."

The young man beside him wanted to say something, but seeing the criminal investigation captain's gloomy face, he wisely shut his mouth.

"You can leave after you sign a confidentiality agreement."

Bai Ge rubbed his wrist, greeted the officer, and walked out of the interrogation room openly. The criminal investigation captain standing behind him suddenly called out to Bai Ge, scrutinizing him with a complex expression, hesitating to speak, "And...who exactly are you?"

"I?"

Bai Ge stopped in his tracks, without turning around, and chuckled lightly, saying, "I'm just an ordinary fisherman who frequently goes fishing."

After leaving the police station, Bai Ge took a bus back to her accommodation. The torrential rain that had been falling all night finally stopped around four or five in the morning, and the entire city was shrouded in a dark and silent fog.

This dilapidated house, inherited from his parents, became Bai Ge's only place to stay. He made himself a cup of coffee, stood on the balcony, stared expressionlessly at the silhouette in the darkness in the distance, gripped the railing tightly, and opened the system interface.

This is a game where you can't delete your account or quit, and there aren't many studios running it.

In other words, he was forced into a game where you only have one life.

Individual quests, solo dungeons, team dungeons, multiplayer dungeons.

As your level increases, the difficulty of the tasks will also increase. And depending on your position, the types of tasks will also be different, which will bring different risks and rewards.

Moreover, Bai Ge is currently in the newbie protection period, so there shouldn't be any situation where she is unable to complete the task.

Upon seeing this, he fell into deep thought, his mind rapidly processing the information he had gathered.

If the evolution game ultimately influences or even interferes with the direction of civilization's development, then from the moment the game randomly selects players, the national apparatus will likely have already begun intelligence gathering, establishing specialized agencies, and acquiring more information to take appropriate measures. Or it may have begun screening and filtering potential players.

Once a player is discovered, the outcome is either joining the official organization, or having their freedom restricted if they refuse to cooperate. An even more terrifying outcome is the elimination of all unstable factors.

The tide of time swept by silently, forcefully pushing every individual, and even the entire civilization, forward.

Complete dungeon quests to earn rewards and increase your experience points.

Could it be that the final outcome is enlightenment and godhood?

Bai Ge curled the corners of his mouth.

interesting.

…………

Several police cars set up a cordon along the riverbank, but the criminal investigation team members were all standing outside the cordon, seemingly with nothing to do.

A group of men dressed in white hazmat suits and wearing masks, with leather shoes on their feet, were taking photos and collecting information from the scene, just like criminal investigators.

The search lasted all night before the bodies floating in the river and hanging in the grass were finally pulled ashore. After sorting and screening, a total of twenty-three bodies were retrieved, as well as a monster that was half a headless, fish-like creature.

The assistant was reporting the investigation results to the section chief. "We've investigated the witnesses. One was the murderer who happened to dump the body, and the other was the unlucky guy who was fishing. We also did a background check on him. Judging from his actions over the past week, there's nothing wrong with him. Based on the situation at the scene, this incident seems to be a low-risk, strange event, not like a hunter player on a quest."

The assistant glanced at the mangled corpse and said, "After all, using torpedoes to blow up fish is too low-level. For players, monsters of this level wouldn't be so conspicuous as to be noticed by us."

"Yes."

The section chief rubbed his forehead, feeling exhausted by the endless stream of bizarre events.

One of the men approached, holding a glass test tube containing some human tissue samples. He said with a serious expression, "Section Chief, I feel there seems to be something wrong with these corpses."

"Is there a problem?"

The middle-aged man, addressed as section chief, had graying temples and a stern face. He asked, "What's the problem?"

The investigators handed him a stack of photos, pointing to details in the pictures and saying, "These floating, swollen corpses all have signs of organ removal or forced stitching. Including the corpse of that giant salamander monster with a human head."

Upon hearing this, the section chief frowned, a sense of unease creeping into his heart. "You mean..."

"I feel like these weird things are defective products discarded in some kind of unexplained experiment."

"in other words."

The investigator's tone suddenly turned serious. "These people seem like abandoned human test subjects. I believe this case needs to be investigated thoroughly."

The section chief rubbed his head and said in a low voice, "We need to increase security recently. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling that something might go wrong."

"By the way, do you have any leads on the recent spate of disappearances in the old town?"

The investigators were taken aback, then silently shook their heads. "The investigation in that area is still ongoing. It's strange; we can't find any clues about the victims. The authorities haven't received any orders from the system either."

"Forget it, the most urgent thing is to deal with the matter in Yaotai Town. At this critical juncture, we absolutely cannot afford any mistakes."

Chapter Five Folklore Research Association

Ding ding ding.

Bai Ge was woken up early in the morning by a phone notification. He rubbed his sleepy eyes, got up, glanced at the phone number, and instantly became alert, abruptly standing up from the bed.

The message in the message box was sent from a virtual number, containing only a short sentence.

[Express Delivery, New Clue]

Bai Ge's walls were covered with various paper-cut news reports about the disaster in Yaotai Town. Bai Ge's parents had mysteriously disappeared in the disaster, while the official report stated that it was a mudslide disaster with 4,861 missing persons.

Only Bai Ge knew that it was definitely not a geological disaster. In the last few dozen seconds before the disaster occurred, he was still video chatting with his parents.

Then came a dazzling light that obscured everything.

He didn't believe the official reports and began searching for the truth through various channels.

However, the area within a five-kilometer radius of Yaotai Town has been designated a military restricted zone, prohibiting anyone from approaching.

Left with no other choice, Bai Ge had to list the "broker" with whom he had established a relationship as a source of intelligence for long-term cooperation.

The broker will provide Bai Ge with information from time to time, while Bai Ge is responsible for organizing all the puzzle pieces together.

Five minutes later, the deliveryman knocked on the door. He stood in front of me holding a box and asked, "Are you Mr. Bai? There's a package for you here."

Bai Ge signed his name, took the package, and turned to go back inside.

Filled with apprehension and curiosity, he opened the package, inside which lay an old brass key and a letter.

Upon seeing the name on the letter, Bai Ge's hands trembled, and a look of shock appeared on his face.

This is clearly my father's handwriting. However, both my parents tragically perished in the tragedy in Yaotai Town, Xuzhou. Who sent this box?

The letter contained only one line: No. 45 Lin'an Street. Keep the contents safe.

He desperately wanted to question the "broker" about where he got his intelligence, but the mysterious "broker" maintained a single-line contact, only responsible for providing intelligence, making it virtually impossible to get in touch with him.

Bai Ge had a bad feeling and quickly grabbed the brass key to go out.

Bai Ge had just stepped out the door when her phone vibrated. She picked it up and saw a message from her friend Alai, asking if she was free and hoping to come over.

Anxious and worried, Bai Ge made up a reason to refuse and hailed a taxi, giving the driver the address on the envelope.

Most drivers looked hesitant and shook their heads when they heard about Lin'an Street, indicating they were unwilling to go. Finally, after Bai Ge gritted his teeth and offered an extra fifty yuan, some reluctantly agreed.

The taxi stopped in front of an old alley. This area was far from the city center, and the buildings on all sides had exposed red brick walls. Some of the cement ground had pitted gravel, and a layer of water with rotten leaves and oily film was pooled on it, making people careful when stepping on it.

The alley was deserted, as if yesterday's torrential rain had washed away all traces of human presence. Most of the doors on both sides of the alley were tightly shut, indicating that it had been abandoned for a long time.

It was already 8 p.m., and only a few streetlights were still flickering in the deep alley. Most of them were old and in disrepair, with broken lampshades that exposed the wires inside.

Even the taxi driver couldn't help but roll down his window and ask curiously, "Young man, what are you doing here? No one has lived here for a long time. Maybe a few elderly people with mobility issues still live in the alley, but the rest have all moved away."

"and……"

The driver leaned out and whispered, "I heard this place is...haunted."

"Haunted?"

"Yes, there's an urban legend around here. I heard that someone saw a woman in white in the alley, and anyone who followed her would mysteriously disappear. Young man, be careful so late."

"Master, here's a little extra tip for you, please keep it."

Upon hearing this, the driver said apologetically, "Oh, you're too kind. You're even giving me a tip."

"Actually, it's not much, only about 100 million."

"Oh, a hundred million? What? A hundred million?"

The taxi driver's heart skipped a beat, and a chilling premonition washed over him.

He quickly looked down and saw that among the wad of money he had just been given was a ghost money note from the Universal Bank of Heaven and Earth! Startled, he immediately let go, and the ghost money note wobbled and fell onto the driver's seat.

When he looked up again, the young man with a strange, half-smiling expression was waving his hand as his figure slowly disappeared into the shadows of the dark alley.

"Could it be..."

The driver's lips twitched. He recovered from the shock just now and didn't dare to think about it any further. He was so frightened that he immediately stepped on the gas pedal and sped away.

That same evening, another urban legend of a ghost riding in a car was born on the Xuzhou City online forum...

Bai Ge, flashlight in hand, found the old, dilapidated house number 45 in the dark alley. It was an old-fashioned courtyard house, with its threshold covered in yellowed, withered ivy. The yellowish-brown plaster was peeling off, and an old, shaky house number hung on the exposed red brick wall.

Folklore Research Association

Bai Ge cautiously strolled around the wall. This mansion didn't feel like a place where people lived. Behind the Folklore Research Association was a withered old locust tree, and he always felt like a pair of eyes were watching him from the shadows.