Chen Shi used lightning-fast speed to solve the case, but it took three days to clear the entire case.

Three days later, a full report was handed over to Lin Qiupu. He looked at the report and reviewed the notes. The case occurred on the evening of December 10th. If the dispute between the two players in the game were counted, that date advanced to the 8th.

On December 8th, the suspect Deng Zhongming and the victim Lu Jianye had some disputes in the online game “Dominating the Jianghu”. Lu caused Deng to lose nearly 30,000 worth of equipment when Lu purposely challenged him. Then, Lu gloated and proclaimed that Deng was trash in the public channel.

The furious Deng immediately harbored killing intentions. He found out the address of Lu through his contacts in the game. It was coincidence that Lu was also a person from Long'An City. On the evening of December the 10th, he drove his car to find Lu.

On the same day, Lu and his son had a dispute. The son blamed his father for playing the game every day and ignoring the family. He forcibly took Lu’s computer and threw it in the neighborhood river. Lu jumped in to salvage it in the presence of many witnesses, but he failed in retrieving it.

The son became upset because of this and raced around in his car with his friends that night and died in a car accident after getting drunk. The autopsy report had confirmed that this was a pure accident.

Because Lu couldn't play the game, he ran to the nearby Internet cafe and played for two hours. When he came back, it was 7:00 in the evening. It was already dark and he happened to meet Deng. The enemies of the game met in reality. As they were both middle-aged men who would have a wife and children, their attitudes towards each other were relatively reserved. Lu expressed apologies towards Deng and was ready to invite him to dinner. However, Deng suggested that they take a walk together.

The two arrived at the nearby park. Deng saw no one was around and pushed Lu into the lake. Lu struggled to swim but Deng hit him with the cane and yelled, "You enjoyed guarding my corpse, huh? Why don’t you get a taste of your own medicine?”

Deng said that he had only wanted to teach Lu a lesson. Unexpectedly, Lu suddenly sank down. He was afraid to call for help. After half an hour, Lu floated up and Deng, who was afraid in the situation, picked up his body and took it to a secluded place to abandon with his car that was parked outside the park.

After the autopsy, it was discovered that Lu suffered from arthritis because his body was wet before. As a result, he wasn’t able to use his limbs in the water. This was an indirect cause of death. If Deng had not pushed him into the water, he might have had a fever anyway, but he wouldn’t have died.

Deng abandoned the corpse underneath a nightclub. The nightclub owners were afraid that it would affect their business, so they transferred the body to the waste water bucket of a nearby restaurant. The corpse was left there until a person picked up the bucket.

This was the whole process of the case. The words printed on the report were very clear. Even upon the review, Lin Qiupu could not help but admire Chen Shi’s keen judgment and insight.

Footsteps approached and Chen Shi pushed the door open. "Is the case closed?"

"Is the meaning of drunkenness not in wine?"[1] Lin Qiupu took out an envelope from the drawer. He felt very pained from losing so much money. “I am willing to accept defeat.”

Chen Shi took it with a smile. "Thank you, although as a person you are..."

"Hey, don’t taunt me after getting your prize! Hurry up and go, I have lots to do."

"Although as a person you are... But you’re very trustworthy. I like you."

"Oh please..." Lin Qiupu threw the consultant's certificate that Chen Shi didn’t accept last time on the table. "Take this. You are carrying a false certificate while investigating. Don’t you know that’s fraud?"

"What do you mean a false certificate? It was just the cover.”

"Just keep it. We’ve worked together so many times. I don’t understand why you won’t just accept it.”

Chen Shi picked up the consultant card. He didn't know why he refused last time. Maybe he didn't want to be bound by this identity again. Maybe he didn't want to take on those responsibilities again. Those responsibilities had brought him so much pain in the past.

Seeing Chen Shi holding the consultant certificate in a daze, Lin Qiupu urged, "Hold onto it! You are only a non-professional consultant. I’m not in charge of you. You get freedom to choose whether you want to cooperate with us or not.”

Chen Shi smiled and patted the document on the palm of his hand. "Then, I’ll accept it first."

Lin Qiupu breathed a sigh of relief and held his hands against the chair. He said, "The New Year is coming, so the team will be pretty busy. Don’t drive your taxi too much. Come and help me out."

"You just said that you are not in charge of me, but you’re already like this. I don’t want the card if it’s like this.”

"No! It was just a suggestion."

"Well, I have been pretty free recently. If there is a murder case, call me."

After Chen Shi left, Lin Qiupu spoke to the photo he had on the table, "Senpai, is the emergence of this driver the help you sent me?”

Today, Tao Yueyue was sent to school. Chen Shi could finally relax for the day. Raising a child really was a chore. He took the money he earned from the bet, went to the jewellery store and picked out necklace that looked good.

At noon, he called Lin Dongxue and told her that he would treat her to some food. Lin Dongxue agreed.

Chen Shi went to the restaurant and wondered how to give this necklace to Lin Dongxue. He didn't expect Lin Dongxue and Xu Xiaodong to come together. He asked, "What are you doing here?"

Lin Dongxue explained, "He wanted to follow me."

"Brother Chen is too God-like this time. By only taking seven hours to solve the case, you’ve become a legend at the bureau!" Xu Xiaodong said eagerly, "Oh, let’s not talk. I have to treat you to dinner."

"Do I need you to treat me?" Chen Shi smiled.

When Lin Dongxue went to the bathroom, Xu Xiaodong asked, "Hey, Brother Chen, why do you have a friend on my account? I saw that they were ranked fourth in the server, and it was a beautiful woman at that. She said that she would marry me and now I’m in such a daze. What's the situation with that?"

Chen Shi smiled. "You’re just here for this matter?"

"Not entirely!" Xu Xiaodong smiled embarrassedly.

"I learned about the situation from her that day. When she heard that I was a policeman, she planned to marry me."

"Oh, so it turned out to be because of that."

"But you shouldn’t play that game too much. With your salary, you won’t be able to buy the proper equipment. That game is a pit. It cheats its players out of money and forces the top rankers to spend money to fight for the top. It really opened my eyes to games that really have no conscience or shame. XXX[2] is just too considerate compared to them.”

"I cleared a map with my wife last night. It was quite interesting... But rest assured that I will not fall into the pit and become addicted. I will abandon the pit after playing for a few days."

"I hope you can do as you say."

"But, I have to say that the game is really easy and interesting to play.”

"Do you know why it is interesting?"

"Let me hear Brother Chen’s opinion."

"It's tailored for those who don't like reality. It’s easy to get started in the game. It only takes three minutes and you will fall in love with the game just like them. A sense of accomplishment, honor, friendship, love, pride, and everything that is not easy to get in reality, the game is ready for you to get a hold of. I know that the most annoying thing for people who love to play games is “it’s just a game”, but I still want to say that investing a lot of money into it is really stupid. No matter how good the game is, you can only eat a full meal in reality. Besides, to spend so much money on a bunch of online games that don’t belong to you, why not play games that have a conscience and aren’t out to cheat you out of all your money.”

"That makes sense!" Xu Xiaodong nodded in agreement.

"Which sentence made the most sense?"

"I think the last sentence is the most reasonable. When I get my bonus on New Year's Day, I will buy a game console."

"You are really a child who never grows up." Chen Shi smiled.

1. An expression that means that surely Chen Shi didn’t just come for the case. The story was derived from a person who was drunk from seeing beautiful scenery rather than wine.

2. The author put XXX. I assume it’s a game name substitute.