Under the enhanced five senses of the 【Armchair Detective】, Gao Yi had actually heard footsteps long ago.
However, due to his incomplete adaptation to this new ability and his complete lack of expectation for visitors, it wasn't until the knock on the door truly sounded that Gao Yi realized the visitor was looking for him.
Instantly, the previous relaxation vanished, and Gao Yi abruptly stood up.
He listened carefully to every movement outside the door, while simultaneously lightening his footsteps, slowly walking towards the kitchen, and taking a cleaver into his hand.
Who could it be?
Should I pretend not to be home?
No, if they are here to cause trouble, pretending not to be home won't solve the problem.
Now that I think about it calmly, the scene of me fighting that man in black on the subway should have been photographed and recorded by many people.
Those people are very likely to upload footage containing my face to various social media and short video platforms.
In extreme cases, the scene where Gao Yi held the ticket and then suddenly disappeared might have been seen by someone.
Given this premise, it's possible that the people at the door are looking for various “players.”
Official relevant departments? Other “player” groups from the private sector? Or did that man in the black hoodie come back with someone?
In any case, it's hard to imagine the other party having good intentions.
The knocking sounded again, this time more intensely.
What to do? I experimented with the active ability of 【Armchair Detective】 earlier, and now I can't use it at all.
As for weapons, there's still half a bottle of 【Super Anti-Wolf Spray】 left, and then there's this knife in my hand.
But just as Gao Yi was thinking, the person outside the door suddenly began to mutter softly:
“Damn, this kid wasn’t really beaten to death by those scammers, was he…?”
Accompanying this was the sound of a phone password being entered.
At this point, Gao Yi finally breathed a sigh of relief, putting the cleaver back in its place while responding aloud:
“Hey, I’m here, coming right away.”
Then, he smiled, rubbed his neck, put away the notebook from his desk, and self-mockingly whispered:
“Is it the influence of these new abilities? I’m a bit too paranoid…”
He opened the door and looked out.
Standing in the hallway was a handsome man in his thirties, currently holding a plastic bag from the convenience store downstairs, hands on his hips.
He was wearing a tight, dark down jacket, with a rather thick red scarf wrapped around his neck, covering his entire chin.
Looking further down, his cargo pants were also cinched at the ankles, and his black boots were clearly fully lined with fleece.
He was the type who, despite it being December, would still make people feel, “Isn’t this person dressed too warmly?”
This man, named Pan Tian, was the editor-in-chief of the magazine where Gao Yi was currently employed.
Although he wasn't the true owner of the newspaper, it was he who had given Gao Yi this job.
Pan Tian walked into the house, unceremoniously changed into slippers, and casually hung his scarf on a nearby coat rack, as if he had returned to his own home:
“Why aren’t you answering, kid? I thought you were really dead. You didn’t pick up my calls earlier either…”
Because I was inexplicably pulled into a bizarre game, cleared a script full of monsters, and have now become a superpower user… Gao Yi naturally couldn't answer like that.
So he had to change the subject and lead the other party to check the recording he had obtained earlier.
“Damn, you’re single again, and your home is still this clean. Don’t you know how to enjoy your personal life, kid…?”
Pan Tian followed him into the room, his complaints not stopping for a moment.
Gao Yi could only ignore his chatter, open his computer, and drag the recording file from his cloud drive to the desktop.
Then, based on his memory, he extracted the key content and played it one by one.
While Pan Tian was listening intently and starting to record on his phone, Gao Yi also glanced at the time.
【0:07 AM】
Undoubtedly, it was already the next day.
Gao Yi excused himself to go to the bathroom and began checking today’s tag missions.
【Tag Missions: ① Investigate a secret organization and write a report; ② Perform a good deed benefiting over a thousand people】
“No clues at all…”
Sighing softly, Gao Yi pressed the flush button, as if flushing away his grievances.
Needless to say, these two missions corresponded to the 【Investigator】 and 【Enthusiastic Citizen】 tags, respectively.
It was just that perhaps due to the increase in tag level, the mission difficulty had also taken a small leap.
As Gao Yi himself said—he had no clue how to complete them.
However, on second thought, if he published the news and exposed that scam group, to some extent, it should also count as a good deed, right?
But these missions are refreshed daily, and the “Nan Gui” magazine where Gao Yi currently works publishes semi-monthly.
Aside from the main publication, there were only official accounts on public social media platforms and a forum website with pitiful daily activity.
It would take time to organize material, write drafts, proofread, review, and finally publish.
It didn’t look like something that could be completed today.
Rubbing his still-damp hair, Gao Yi sighed again and walked towards the bedroom.
Pan Tian was still sitting at the desk, listening to the recording with a frown.
Since the recording was unedited, most of the time it consisted of invalid content and background noise.
Pan Tian pressed the fast-forward button with one hand and recorded on his phone with the other.
Seeing Gao Yi return, he put down his headphones for a moment, tapped the desk, and said while thinking:
“The content is decent, even including direct admissions from a few people that their products are fake, but…”
“But?” Seeing the other party hesitate, Gao Yi raised an eyebrow.
“But it’s not strong enough. There are only words from these small fry and middle management. They could easily claim the recording is fabricated.”
Pan Tian spread his hands, sounding a bit helpless.
“We don’t need complete evidence, do we? Everyone knows those things they sell are fake. As long as we stir up public opinion…”
Gao Yi subconsciously retorted, about to launch into an impassioned speech.
“Stop, stop, stop!” Seeing Gao Yi about to begin a lengthy discourse again, Editor Pan quickly interrupted:
“Although our magazine is not a major newspaper, we still need to be mindful of our influence. What if they sue us for insufficient evidence?”
Seeing the serious expression on the other party’s face in the chair, Gao Yi couldn't help but sigh.
He naturally understood this principle, but when he thought of that scam company called “Jinhuang Security” openly peddling “super energy tea” and “self-defense underwear,” and targeting the elderly, swindling large amounts of their pensions, lifelong savings, and even homes, it was certainly false to say that Gao Yi didn’t hope to quickly take them down.
“Alright, I understand this principle. I’ll find another opportunity to collect more evidence of their crimes—the kind with legal validity.”
Gao Yi waved his hand, indicating his understanding.
However, what he was thinking in his mind was that he was already halfway into the “supernatural” realm now, so would he still be afraid of a small scam company?
Seeing Gao Yi’s reaction, Pan Tian nodded with some surprise, muttering, “When did you become so obedient, kid?”
In the past, Gao Yi would definitely have made a fuss for a while.
He’s matured, Pan Tian explained to himself.
Then, he changed the subject:
“You should also be careful. Nankang City isn’t peaceful lately. You saw that crazy robber tonight, right? He looked like a special forces soldier…”
“What crazy person?”
Pan Tian paused for two seconds, confirmed that Gao Yi wasn't joking with him, and then said with some surprise:
“What were you doing tonight? Didn’t you look at your phone at all?”
I was filming a horror movie in a supermarket enveloped in white fog… Gao Yi naturally couldn't answer that way either, so he just gave a couple of perfunctory replies.
“Damn it, as a reporter, you need to maintain your news sense…”
Pan Tian muttered, unlocked his phone, scrolled twice, and pulled up a short video, playing it on the desktop.
The footage was shot from a car, and the blogger seemed to originally be filming a short video for his family.
But only a few seconds after it started, a loud bang suddenly came from off-screen.
Amidst screams, the blogger flipped the camera to focus on a small bank on the street.
There, he just managed to capture a man dressed entirely in black, wearing a Santa Claus mask, running out of a cloud of black smoke.
It was worth noting that he had a travel bag slung over each shoulder and was spilling money as he ran.
Just like that, he quickly fled on foot, dropping a large pile of banknotes as he ran.
Even more surprising were his agile steps and running speed.
Even when obstructed by various obstacles and having to occasionally jump over car roofs, his running speed still approached that of a national-level sprinter—this was clearly not something an ordinary person could do.
At the end of the video, the man scaled the wall of a low-rise building in a few steps, jumped onto the rooftop via several balconies and window ledges, and disappeared.
Taking a deep breath, Gao Yi sat on the edge of the bed.
As a new “player” who had joined tonight, he naturally knew what kind of existence the man in this video was.
Clearly, “players” were not all law-abiding good citizens.
At least, not after gaining abilities.
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