Henry returned with Zhihao to the old library where they were welcomed with a shocking scene of the old lady screaming her lungs out and pointing at the window with shaky fingers and a petrified expression. Her whole face was red, her breathing unevenly heavy and her eyes bulging out in pure fear.
"Granny! Are you okay?" It was Henry who moved forward first to check up on her, whereas Zhihao maintained his distance and looked out the window where the woman was pointing at.
"T-There! It was right there! I s-saw it with my own damn eyes!" The lady stuttered as she exclaimed with a terror-stricken expression as if she had seen a ghost.
"..." Zhihao didn't say anything and just stared at the window which was now open. "Do you mean the thief?"
"Y-yes!"
"Did you see his face?" This was the most important question, but Zhihao didn't need an answer for it, after all, just from looking at the old lady's face, he could clearly say that she did indeed see something.
"No! It was no man! It was... It was not human!" She exclaimed with not a hint of deception in her words, Staring straight into Zhihao's eyes.
Things just became a lot more interesting.
"Is this the part where you tell me it was that fictional painter from the story who stole the book?"
"No! It was the moon goddess."
Zhihao shut up as he looked at the old lady who had certainly gone senile, but then again this wasn't the real world so she could very well be telling the truth.
"Was the moon goddess a ghost? Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?"
"S-She... wasn't a..." The woman didn't speak any further, her eyes rolled back and she fainted on the spot.
"W-What do we do detective?" Henry looked up at Zhihao expectantly.
"Lock her up."
"Eh..?"
Zhihao wasn't joking when he said that; he took out his handcuffs and moved forward towards the two but instead of only handcuffing the old lady, He handcuffed Henry together with her.
"Detective? What is the meaning of this?!" Henry asked angrily.
"Just security measures. No need to worry about it." Although Zhihao had said that, his actions were speaking otherwise.
Zhihao analyzed the window panel closer and this time, he found something.
[New clue collected: Fingerprints]
Zhihao thought about it; There were no signs of breaking in or any signs of escaping, The only sign of theft was the missing book. But now that the book was already stolen, The thief returned and scared the life out of the old librarian but for what reason?
Suddenly he had a deeper understanding of the situation, "That's genius! Old hag, you can stop your acting now."
"What are you talking about?" Henry asked in confusion as glanced between the unconscious old librarian and the young detective, Zhihao.
"I've solved the case; She is the thief." Zhihao responded proudly, "There were no signs of breaking in because nobody broke in, they came through the door like every other person and the reason the thief wasn't caught was because the book never left the library. It was just hidden away and now somebody opened the window from inside to forge a crime scene. It all adds up."
"Are you saying...?"
"Young man, what are you talking about? Are you trying to accuse this weak old lady?" The unconscious suddenly gained consciousness to defend herself.
"I'm not accusing anybody. Only stating facts." Zhihao wanted to argue with the old lady about her miraculous recovery but in the end, he decided not to fight a game character that doesn't even have a brain of its own.
"How dare you?!"
"Am I wrong?" Zhihao snapped, "You would have the perfect alibi, wouldn't you; The trustable librarian who had worked here her entire life. Nobody would suspect that." Zhihao was enthusiastic about accusing her as he had always wanted to do this, Arrest an old suspicious librarian, and become an impressive detective. However, this was not so impressive when considered the fact that it was an E- ranked level.
"W-Why... Why would I?!"
"How am I supposed to know that?"
"Detective, I think there has been a mistake-" Henry started defending her
"You too. You're her accomplice." Zhihao cut him off mid-sentence. "Should I recite the whole story for you or would you like to confess it yourself?"
"Sir, As I've told you, we have done nothing wrong."
"I guess you'd like to hear it from me then." Zhihao spoke, "You probably incited her to steal it. You'd come here to read that book every day but reading wasn't all you did, was it? You interacted with the staff here and became friendly with them so that if one day you were to steal the book, they will never suspect you but while you were getting to know them; you met this old lady who hated people coming into the library so you had a better idea. You'd come here every day and subtly encourage her to steal the book without her realizing that you were the one who put the idea in her head. In the end, when I came to interrogate you, you told me about her obsession knowing that she's the thief and hoping that I'll catch her."
Henry lowered his head and chuckled, "You are indeed smart."
[Congratulations to Mastermo on successfully clearing E-ranked level 83: Help catch the thief]
"You're right, I would have never come to this place if it weren't for that book! I came here every day, got friendly with the staff, and learned the entire infrastructure inside-out but... This woman never trusted me so I knew I'd fail because of her. I changed my plan; decided to give her the idea. She was supposed to steal a random book and the government would shut the library down and once it has been shut down, I'll sneak in and steal the book. That was the plan! but... This old hag! She actually dared to steal my book." Henry in a state of anger knocked her out with a clean blow to the head which shocked Zhihao.
"Your book?" Zhihao questioned, reminding himself that this was all just a game, and nothing that happened here mattered in the real world.
Henry smiled as he stared at Zhihao, "My goddess, she looks just as beautiful as ever."
Zhihao realized that the man wasn't staring at him but at the moon behind him and this startled him. He understood that the story wasn't as simple as it seemed but he had already caught the thief so he had no need of staying here any further. He'd rather not hear the whole story and go back as soon as possible, after all, Li Ling was still waiting for him.
[T-points gained: +100]
[Player health status refilled]
[Skills gained: +Amazing private detective]
[Rewards gained: +Moon goddess spell book]
[Surprise Gift: +200 T-points]
[Logging out of E-ranked level 83: Help catch the thief]
[Preparing for transmigration in..]
[3]
[2]
[1]
Zhihao was delightfully shocked to see that his T-points had increased more than what he had expected because of the added surprise gift of 200 T-points. His total T-points were no longer a pitiful three-digit number of 143. His new total was a whopping 443 T-points. It was enough to transmigrate in the team level when Stage 1 opened later in the day.
Zhihao decided to take a small nap to rejuvenate his energy which was much needed if he wanted to play the team level tonight but unfortunately he was never able to play it with Li Ling.
To enter the Stage 1 team levels, all the team members needed to be present and Li Ling was absent. Zhihao tried to text him and call him for 2 hours continuous till the point he felt so helpless that a few big round drops of tears squeezed out of his eyes but the man never responded back to him. Zhihao was distressed and so were his fans. It was as if, Li Ling had disappeared into thin air. He really wanted to curse the man, yell at him, and hit him for being so irresponsible. He was reminded of the reason why he hated making teams in the first place.
Reminded of the time when he as a newbie trusted a few other players he met online; considered them friends and helped them in any way possible. Even as a newbie, Zhihao was never considered weak. He along with his teammates raided an entire guild hall and he was the one who defeated the high-ranked demon all on his own. Till that point, he was very enthusiastic about gaming and making new friends but when the time came to split the shares of the loot, not only was Zhihao given nothing but he was killed and his own inventory was emptied out and stolen by his teammates. If that experience alone wasn't enough, after three months, he once again joined another team, this time it was a pair so he thought he'll be alright, nobody could gang up on him but he was proved wrong once again. His partner at the time was a conniving young brat who was taking advantage of him as a player, Zhihao would always do the hard work and beat the monsters while his partner would take away all the credits. He hated that player to his core, not only did the player take away his credits and loots, The player also stole his opportunity to enter the pro-gamers list at the time but that's a story for another time.
Right now, Zhihao was just really frustrated.
Damn it all!
That night, Mastermo like always, turned on his live stream but nothing happened. The fans were confused to see the idle computer screen where Mastermo hadn't started playing yet, After all, this was the man who would set an alarm 30 minutes before every game to warm up his fingers.
After 10 minutes, the screen lit up with a warning: [To access the team mission board, All the team members must be present]
And this notification was followed by the sound of sniffling...
The comment section tensed up:
[Is he..... crying?]
[OMG!! Who hurt my baby??]
[What the hell is happening]
[Why is he crying?]
[Where is devilmagiclover?]
[NO. NO NO.]
[Please don't cry. Big sister is here for you!]
[MASTERMO??]
[Speak to us please]
[Zhihao... Are you alright??]
But no matter how many people messaged or joined in on supporting him, the tears never stopped storming out of Zhihao's eyes. He didn't want to cry. Damn, this was really embarrassing. For a grown man like him to cry over such a small thing, for a game like this? He felt really pathetic and childish.
As time went by, the tears multiplied. A minute turned into ten then An hour then two hours and then that turned into a couple more hours. It was midnight already.
The comments never did stop pouring in nor did any of the fans dare leave the live stream.
Another notification popped up: [Entry to stage 1 would be closed in the next 10 minutes...]
Zhihao hoped for Li Ling to show up last minute but he never did.
[9 minutes left]
He prayed
[8 minutes left]
He cried
[7 minutes left]
He prayed some more.
[6 minutes left]
and then he cried some more.
[5 minutes left]
He called him on his smartphone for the 235th time
[4 minutes left]
Nobody picked up.
[3 minutes left]
He stopped praying.
[2 minutes left]
He gave up hope.
[1 minute left]
The comment section went crazy.
[10]
[9]
[8]
[The gamemaster wants to invite you to form a temporary team: ACCEPT or DECLINE?]
Zhihao was startled and couldn't believe his eyes. His fingers froze up just like the raging comment section that went still in an instant.
[7]
[6]
[5]
[4]
Before he could waste another second, he hastily pressed on the accept button and the countdown stopped as his screen changed.
[Congratulations on forming a temporary team! At the moment, this feature is only available for the game master]
[WELCOME GAMEMASTER! We have long awaited your return!]