"No."
Mu You glanced at the photo and shook his head blankly again.
His tone and expression seemed very natural, showing no signs of abnormality.
But in reality, his heart almost skipped a beat the moment he saw the photo.
Because, the silhouette in the photo was him, the watchman, from last night after his transformation!
The photo seemed to be a captured image from a surveillance camera, taken at the moment when he was merely entering the park last night from a distance.
Mu You initially thought he was fairly hidden last night, but he still got caught on camera. It seemed that he didn't understand the layout of the surroundings cameras well enough...
Fortunately, the spiritual power he enhanced yesterday helped him steady his heartbeat and breathing, preventing any slip-ups.
The policeman seemed to be just casually asking, so after Mu You shook his head, he did not inquire any further.
"Try not to go out at night recently, there may be criminals lurking around your area."
After leaving this caution, the policeman turned and left.
"Take care, Officer."
After shutting the door, Mu You didn't go back to his room but instead, immediately stuck his ear to the wall behind the door to eavesdrop.
The enhanced hearing allowed him to clearly hear sounds from the street outside the door.
A female officer approached the square-faced policeman and reported to him, "Captain Zhang, the medical examiner has confirmed that it was indeed a wolf bite on the dog... but there's something strange."
"What is it?"
"According to the pathologist, the dog appears to have had its neck manually twisted first, then its guts ripped open by a wolf!"
"So are you saying, just like the previous two murder cases, this is another 'wolf unleashed' case?"
"Yes, based on the current clues, it's highly likely that they were committed by the same offender... but why would the murderer specifically kill a dog?"
"And the surveillance?"
"All the nearby surveillance was interfered with and captured nothing..."
...
The sounds of the two voices outside the door gradually faded, leaving behind some uninformative conversations.
"So, the werewolf has committed other crimes before?" Mu You was somewhat surprised.
These two policemen clearly weren't aware of the existence of the werewolf, so they could only deduce the case as someone 'unleashing a wolf to commit a crime'.
To his surprise, it seemed that the werewolf had done something similar before, and it was even a murder case!
Mu You quickly opened his phone and searched for the cases that recently occurred nearby.
They indeed had!
Three months ago, two consecutive murders occurred in a nearby neighborhood. The victims were two unrelated young people living alone. Since the murder methods were similar, the police highly suspected it was the same person responsible, and in the end, it was determined to be a serial murder case...
"Could those two young people who died also have been players?"
After reading the case report released by the police, Mu You had a rough idea.
This werewolf had clearly been a 'player' for some time.
And these two young men were likely new players who had just registered for the game three months ago. Since they had infringed the werewolf's interests in the game, they were hunted down by the werewolf's player. Eventually, the werewolf discovered their real-life identities and they were brutally murdered in their homes...
"So what about today?"
Mu You remembered the dead dog from today.
This werewolf ran out in the middle of the night to kill a dog, leaving the dog's body in such a conspicuous public place for what... Could it be just to show his might to him?
The more Mu You thought about it, the more likely it seemed.
There's not enough room for two tigers on one mountain, let alone the fact that werewolves and villagers are two different factions in the game.
The werewolf survives by hunting villagers in the game, and other players joining the village would inevitably make hunting tougher for the werewolf, even running the risk of killing the werewolf. It would make sense that the werewolf would not allow other players nearby.
"It seems that I have become the werewolf's third target..." Mu You frowned.
The only good news is that for now, the werewolf does not know his identity and location.
But this is only temporary. As a player, unless you completely avoid the game, more or less there will be some differences compared to ordinary people.
Of course, the same goes for the werewolf. Given the werewolf's high-profile actions, it's impossible for him not to have left behind any clues.
If Mu You can find the werewolf's true identity in reality, even if he couldn't beat the werewolf head on, he could stage a surprise attack, or worst comes to worst, he could use the police force to arrest the werewolf.
But if he is found by the werewolf first...that's it, the fate of the two players three months ago would be his.
Anyway, it now depends on who finds who first.
Whoever can confirm the other's identity first will have the upper hand!
With this in mind, Mu You suddenly felt a strong sense of urgency.
"I can't afford to be idle in the game either, I need to level up quickly!"
Leveling up in the game can get a large number of attribute points. The werewolf is already at level seven, and the attributes gained from leveling up alone are already several times more than his.
So he must level up quickly, at least not falling too far behind in attributes before the next encounter with the werewolf.
"Boss!"
A familiar voice came, and Mu You turned his head to see Little Ya walking into the pet shop with a cup of milk tea.
"Boss, did something happen in the neighborhood? I saw a lot of police officers outside!" Little Ya's rented house is in the neighborhood next door, just a ten-minute walk from the pet shop.
"Nothing... Oh, by the way, try not to go out at night recently. There might be criminals lurking around here." Mu You relayed the police officer's words to her.
"Oh..." Little Ya nodded blankly.
"Also, I have some things to take care of today and might not have time to help out. Please manage the shop." Mu You added.
"Oh, okay..."
Little Ya looked at Mu You's serious face, feeling that something was on his mind, but didn't ask anything else and nodded in agreement.
On the other hand, Mu You went straight back to the second floor and locked himself in his room.
He took out his phone to boot up "Fool".
Once in the game, first things first, he used up the remaining action points from yesterday.
Mu You controlled his character and walked in front of the Ironforge at the southern edge of the village.
[You have arrived at Ironforge. Smoke is billowing from the chimney of the blacksmith's shop, and the ding-ding-dang-dang sounds of crafting can be heard.]
[It seems that the dwarf blacksmith has started his work for the day. Do you want to go in now?]
Two options: Yes, No.
Mu You selected 'Yes'.
[You entered Ironforge, the Dwarf Blacksmith welcomed you warmly and asked about your forging needs.]
[You showed 'Mithril' to the Dwarf Blacksmith.]
["A piece of Mithril." The Dwarf Blacksmith looked at you in surprise, seemingly unexpecting you to procure such a high-grade material: "Mithril makes for an excellent material for magic forging, suitable for crafting a large number of equipment. You can choose to make armor to protect your frail body with it, or craft a weapon with it. How can an adventurer be without a weapon? Or do you want to craft some accessory with special functions?"]
Three options [Craft Armor], [Craft Weapon], [Craft Accessory].
No need to dwell on this option. Mu You urgently needed to go fight monsters to gain experience points and level up. What he needed the most definitely was a weapon, preferably a ranged weapon, such as a bow and arrow, musket, handheld crossbow etc.
Long-range attacks could reduce the risk of injury and make full use of the 'Aim true and hit true' spell effect.
Mu You clicked 'Craft Weapon'.
...