Player 0

That evening, Bai Shuang returned to her bedroom and found Zhuang Mo sitting on the edge of the bed, deep in thought.

"What's wrong, Brother Xiaohei?" Bai Shuang threw herself into his arms, looking at him with concern.

Zhuang Mo sighed. "It's been three weeks since Chang Ming died, but the police still haven't solved the case. The higher-ups are pressuring my mentor, and he asked me to investigate something—I honestly don't know how to proceed."

Bai Shuang tilted her head. "What did Officer Huang ask you to look into?"

"He asked me to secretly investigate the chain collision incident involving the Duma Society," Zhuang Mo replied. "The traffic police have already filed it, but my mentor suspects there's more to the story. I went to Duma, but my access is so limited—I couldn't find out much."

Bai Shuang was puzzled. "Why investigate that? Sure, the chain crash was serious—over twenty transport shuttles collided—but no one died. That's traffic jurisdiction, not something the Major Crimes Unit should handle."

Zhuang Mo shook his head. "I don't really get it either. Maybe it's the timing. The incident happened just one day after the old society leader died. My mentor thinks that's more than coincidence."

Bai Shuang said, "A general dies suddenly, and chaos erupts in the ranks. Isn't that normal? If things stayed calm after the Duma chief died, that would be suspicious."

"I used to think the same," Zhuang Mo said, "but my mentor has been a cop his whole life—his instincts are sharper than ours. He's never been wrong before, so I've decided to trust him this time."

Bai Shuang could somewhat understand, though she had no way to investigate Duma's internal affairs herself.

Her eyes lit up with an idea. She shouted into the air, "Player Zero!"

"At your service, my little mistress!" A red-robed beauty suddenly appeared out of thin air, her elegant gown fluttering as she descended in front of Bai Shuang and Zhuang Mo.

Zhuang Mo froze, eyes wide in shock. A red-dressed ghost appearing in the dead of night? This wasn't just horror—it was period horror!

Bai Shuang got straight to the point. "You said you've infiltrated the Duma Society. How much do you know about the chain collision incident last month?"

"A great deal!" the red-robed beauty replied. "What exactly do you two want to know?"

Bai Shuang looked at Zhuang Mo, letting him ask.

It was his first time facing a ghost in red. Sure, she was beautiful, but the way she appeared was nightmare fuel.

If he weren't holding Bai Shuang in his arms, he might've gone insane from the shock.

Fortunately, the red-clad ghost seemed polite—she even addressed him as "young master." That was the first time anyone in Whalefall City had called him that. Maybe his position as Bai Shuang's live-in husband was finally secure.

Zhuang Mo cleared his throat and stammered, "Um… the models involved in the accident are on record with traffic police, but I can't access details on what those transport ships were carrying—or the real cause of the crash."

"You're asking the right person!" The red-robed woman conjured a screen. "As the omniscient goddess of space gossip, this is child's play! Here's the cargo manifest from the day of the accident. Please have a look."

Zhuang Mo and Bai Shuang leaned in. They had to admit—she really was a space know-it-all.

The data was incredibly detailed. Not only were all the cargo items listed, but their exact warehouse check-in and check-out times were also included.

Bai Shuang pointed to the final column. "Where were these items supposed to be delivered? Why is the destination field all blank?"

The red-robed beauty shook her head. She didn't know.

Zhuang Mo pointed to another column. "These items were all stored for over twenty years. Why did Duma suddenly decide to ship out decades-old stock?"

Again, the red-robed beauty shook her head—no idea.

But Zhuang Mo was shaking his head for a different reason: he had just uncovered a major secret.

"There's definitely something shady about Duma Society!"

Space Police HQ – Major Crimes Unit

The next morning, Zhuang Mo rushed back to the station and handed all the files given to him by the hacker to Huang Peiyu.

"Master, just like you suspected—there's something wrong with the Duma Society chain collision case."

Zhuang Mo laid out his overnight analysis in one breath:

"After the accident, Duma publicly claimed they suffered heavy losses. But the crashed vehicles were all decommissioned transports, and the cargo inside was nothing but old inventory. Their official story doesn't match reality."

Huang Peiyu looked over the detailed cargo list and asked, "Where did you get this?"

Zhuang Mo scratched his head. "I had a hacker dig it up."

Huang Peiyu's eyes widened. "Hackers are our top enforcement targets! You asked someone from the underworld to help with a minor case?!"

"Please hear me out," Zhuang Mo said quickly. "The Whalefall Decision game was hacked recently—that hacker has a weird obsession with Daoist Wu. They don't seem to be working with the major families. I just… used them a little to get the cargo manifest. This hacker is seriously good!"

Huang Peiyu sighed in frustration—but couldn't stop flipping through the manifest. He finally muttered sternly, "This is the first and only time. Don't make it a habit!"

"Yes, sir!" Zhuang Mo grinned and pointed to the document again. "These transports were long retired. They had no business carrying anything. Duma pulled them out of the junkyard just to move old stock—stuff that's been collecting dust for twenty years. It's basically trash. The ships, the goods—all trash. There's no reason for twenty ships full of junk to crash into each other. It just doesn't make sense."

Huang Peiyu stared at the cargo list, murmuring, "If it wasn't trash, why would they sacrifice so much to make such a dramatic scene?"

Zhuang Mo frowned. "Wait—you suspected from the start that Duma staged this whole 'trash shipment' thing on purpose? But why? Who were they putting on this show for?"

Huang Peiyu narrowed his eyes. "The killer, of course."

"Huh?" Zhuang Mo scratched his head. "You think Duma knows who the killer is? If the murderer killed their society leader, and they know who it was, why not just report it?"

Huang Peiyu gave a thin smile. "Because the old chief is already dead. But the real power in Whalefall City is still up for grabs."

"I remember now!" Zhuang Mo exclaimed. "At the qualifiers press conference, Chang Hao accused the noble families of killing Chang Ming. That was his way of hinting that he knew the killer's identity. But he was under some kind of pressure and couldn't tell the full truth."

Huang Peiyu nodded slightly. "A serial killer only needs to murder once to become fearless. If they could kill Chang Ming, they could definitely kill his son too."