There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

But the problem was, the side mission would force them to break the rules!

The female journalist looked at the list of "don'ts" in the booklet, feeling her scalp tingle with the anticipation of hitting walls everywhere in the near future.

As expected, as soon as they stepped onto the staircase, the system issued another side mission.

[Side Mission Three: The Painting on the Wall.]

As soon as the mission was assigned, everyone following the police assistant paused in their steps, turning their heads in unison towards the wall next to the staircase.

The wall was somewhat scorched and yellowed, as if it had been baked at a very high temperature, revealing only faintly the white plaster below and the white bird-shaped pattern stained with smudges.

Strangely, even with the wall so tarnished, they could still make out that the bird was white. Read the latest on My Virtual Library Empire

"Does a pigeon look like that?"

Suddenly, the female social worker voiced her doubt.

As her words fell, the other three people abruptly turned to look at her, adopting defensive postures.

Seeing this, the female social worker startled and quickly said, "Ah, it's not that, I've just never seen a pigeon before, so I was curious that 'pigeons' looked like this."

"You've never seen a pigeon before?!" The male social worker looked at her in utter disbelief.

"There are so many animals in the world; it's impossible for a person to recognize them all," the female social worker said innocently.

"But you must have had the chance to see pictures, right?"

"That may be true, but I have indeed never seen what it looks like!"

"..."

The police assistant, having reached the middle of the stairwell and seeing them stopping to talk again, spoke up without any expression, "A pigeon looks just like any other bird, nothing remarkable."

After saying that, the police assistant didn't call them again and continued walking up on his own.

The four of them looked at each other, as they had fallen into a dilemma.

After pondering for a moment, the female journalist asked thoughtfully, "What does the pigeon you saw look like?"

"It looks like an owl, quite cute, with two little cat ears," the female social worker said nodding seriously while looking at the painting on the wall.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Suddenly, the other three fell silent.

The female journalist looked towards the social worker, "How about this time, you two stay behind?"

Upon hearing this, the male social worker frowned tightly, seemingly reluctant, but his teammate, who was assigned with him, clearly had fallen into some illusion, so their group was indeed best suited to stay behind.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Staying behind as a pair each time would be too inefficient, as your group will most likely be obstructed next time as well. Why don't we just leave her behind this time?"

Upon hearing this, the female social worker blinked, "Eh? What are you guys talking about, why should I stay behind?"

"Because pigeons are white," the female journalist said with deep meaning as she looked at her.

"But what I saw was also white."

"Pigeons look like doves."

"What's a dove?"

"... Pigeons look similar to sparrows, anyway, they don't look like owls and don't have cat ears," the female journalist retorted.

What in the world is a white owl with cat ears anyway?!

Having heard this, the female social worker finally understood and then laughed, "Alright, no problem, you three continue upwards. I'll stay here and work on this."

Once triggered, the side mission had to be done, firstly for the rich rewards and secondly to end the game.

Because if tasks kept piling up without completion, in the end, they wouldn't be able to trigger the "More than Half of Tasks Complete - Game Ends" mechanism unless the people doing the tasks died.

Moreover, if too many side missions were completed, they could directly skip the main mission and start the game-ending countdown, but failure in the main mission would be deemed a game failure.

This was the only difference between main missions and side missions.

And assuming each of the six people had their own main missions, there would be nine tasks accumulated by now.

But so far, the six of them had only completed one side mission to enter the orphanage.

[Main Mission: Collect the special report from Qiming Orphanage.]

This was the main mission for the social workers.

The female social worker looked at her teammate and waved her hand, "Go up with them. After I finish this thing, I'll catch up."

After saying this, she directly placed her hand on the painting on the wall.

The next moment, her figure vanished in front of the three people.

She left with great determination.

The female journalist glanced at the male social worker, whose expression was darkening, shrugged without saying anything, and quickly followed the police assistant, who had already reached the second-floor corridor.

The police assistant stood against the wall of the corridor, staring at the staircase leading to the third floor as if deep in thought.

This European-style Qiming Building had only one staircase, right in the center of the structure. The staircase was three meters wide, with twenty-six steps between each floor.

"What's the matter?"

The female journalist asked as she walked up from the hallway toward the police assistant standing pensively on the side of the corridor.

"Move aside." The police assistant suddenly glanced at her.

...

After her words trailed off, the female journalist's expression changed abruptly. She didn't move aside subconsciously as per his words but immediately stopped in her tracks.

After a while, as if remembering something, she sidled up against the wall on the left side of the staircase.

The photographer and the male social worker, who were equally stunned, followed suit until all three of them stood in the corridor on the second floor.

The second floor wasn't their target.

But in the middle of the entrance to the staircase leading to the third floor, on the dark blue floor, lay a two-centimeter black and white dice, silent and still.

The dice was six-sided, just like the most common types you'd find on the market.

However, upon seeing it, all three were taken aback for a moment.

The female journalist even immediately opened the "Qiming Charity Hall Visit Manual" to look at the thirteenth rule.

'13: In the corner of the staircase leading to the third floor of Qiming Building, there is a black and white dice. Do not take photos, do not touch, do not go near, do not gaze at it, and please keep a distance of three meters to avoid it.'

Wasn't the dice supposed to be in a corner of the staircase?!

Why was it right in the middle?!

In the middle, this particular dice just happened to cover all the distances of the staircase leading to the third floor, leaving no space for them to pass!

Unless they could fly directly by clinging to the ceiling.

"Was it in this position before?" the female journalist asked with a sense of resignation.

"No." The police assistant slowly shook his head.

"Then what's with this manual?"

"The rules recorded in the manual aren't wrong. I've led others here before for a visit without any problems," the police assistant scanned the remaining three and said expressionlessly, "except that you lot this time have too many tricksters."

...

It seemed they were being complained about.

The photographer looked up and down the height and width of the staircase and then asked, "Isn't there another way here?"

The police assistant shook his head: "The Qiming Building only has this staircase passageway; there are no extra small paths or side doors."

Consequently, the female journalist and the photographer unanimously turned their gaze to the male social worker next to them, signaling with their eyes.

It seemed that it had been mentioned not long ago.

Next up is you?

The male social worker remained silent: "..."

He really didn't want to waste time on these side tasks but wished to get to the archives on the third floor as soon as possible, looking for an opportunity to complete his main mission.

After all, given the content of his main mission, it was very likely that the answer lay there.

[Main Mission: Collect the special report from Qiming Orphanage.]

No matter how you looked at it, an archive room would be the place where such documents were kept.

As for the disadvantages of having side tasks pile up, they could perfectly well do the side tasks after completing the main mission, there was no need to forsake the essentials for the trivial.

But now it seemed they really couldn't avoid it.

The two beside him weren't in the same group as him to begin with, and although the photographer was quiet and reticent, from his behavior, it seemed like he always deferred to the female journalist's wishes.

He was alone now, without the advantage.

In the dimly lit building, the male social worker sighed after a long silence.

"Alright, I'll do it this time."

At the end of his words, he carefully walked toward the dice and, after getting close to three meters away, disappeared just like the female social worker before him.

The police assistant watched this scene indifferently, his expression unchanged.

The other two, seeing this, were somewhat surprised.

Because now a new problem had arisen.

The black and white dice hadn't disappeared!

The female journalist whispered to the photographer, "He seems to have walked too quickly, that thing hasn't even refreshed yet."

No new side mission! The system hadn't issued a new side task!

...