When Xia Che found Hui Jin, the girl was standing at the entrance of the contestant lounge.
“Hui Jin, what happened? What’s going on?”
He had just run over, slightly out of breath.
The gray-haired girl was silent for two seconds, then made way for him:
“See for yourself.”
Xia Che walked to the doorway in confusion, then froze:
The contestant lounge was not large.
There were lockers on both sides, and tables and chairs for the contestants to rest in the middle.
Now the tables had been pushed together, and a man stood on top of them, back straight, arms held out horizontally like a human-shaped cross;
His head lolled limply against his shoulder, his face horribly contorted, his eyeballs bulging outward as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
“This…”
Xia Che was a rational person, but seeing such a bizarre sight still sent a chill through his heart.
He turned his head with difficulty to look at Hui Jin.
The girl’s expression was as usual, and her deep crimson eyes were like a calm pool of water:
“Do you remember that news report?”
Seeing that Hui Jin had no reaction, Xia Che felt a little more at ease.
He thought back, then nodded in sudden realization:
“Ah… that murder case. So this is the sixth one?”
“And in an amusement park, a crowded place full of eyes… This killer either has absolute confidence that he will never be discovered, or he is a madman, or both.”
Hui Jin walked into the room.
Xia Che was about to follow, but the girl raised a hand to stop him:
“Stay outside. Come in after I’ve ruled out any safety hazards.”
Xia Che nodded.
At a time like this, following Hui Jin’s arrangements was the best choice.
He stood outside the door, his gaze sweeping the corridor.
The contestant lounge was completely enclosed.
To leave, one absolutely had to pass through this corridor.
There were many staff members here and outside, but when he asked, no one had seen any suspicious person, and even the surveillance cameras had caught nothing.
How strange.
If it were an ordinary suspect, could they really cover their tracks so perfectly?
As he was thinking, Xia Che suddenly noticed a thin, small figure walking past at the end of the corridor.
For some reason, that back figure looked familiar to him.
But that sense of familiarity was pushed down by suspicion.
Everyone here should have been evacuated already, so why would anyone still appear here?
Could it be the suspect!
At that thought, the young man took off running after them.
The person ahead heard the sound and started running too.
“Stop!”
Xia Che shouted and sprinted with all his strength.
Soon, by the light of the corridor, he made out the outline of the fleeing person.
A girl?
The girl did not run for long before slowing down, and Xia Che easily caught up with her.
He grabbed her shoulder and forced her to turn around, but the next second, he froze:
“Xia Qing?!”
The caught girl had been holding her head and trembling.
When she heard the familiar voice, she slowly raised her head, and an expression of surprise appeared on her cute face:
“B-Bro? Why are you here?”
“So it really is you…”
Xia Che had not expected to run into his younger cousin at a murder scene.
He looked her up and down and asked:
“I should be the one asking you that, shouldn’t I?”
“Everyone here was supposed to be evacuated already, so why are you here? No, the real question is, why are you in the backstage of the SHS offline game festival?”
“Hiss…”
Xia Qing sucked in a breath.
“Bro, you’re not suspecting me of being the killer, are you?”
“A little, but I don’t think it’s possible. You’re not that smart.”
Xia Che shook his head.
The black-haired girl glared at him:
“Watch it, or I’ll hit you! I’m a magical girl now!”
“Don’t change the subject.”
Xia Che stared at her.
Xia Qing’s eyes wandered, and she fiddled with her fingers, stammering:
“Th-that… I wanted to watch the SHS matches? Since I couldn’t buy a ticket… I slipped in through the backstage…”
“You’re a magical girl, yet you went to all that trouble to sneak into the backstage?”
Xia Che raised an eyebrow.
Xia Qing was sweating buckets.
“Oh, this… oh, how should I put it…”
Xia Che said word by word:
“The way I see it, you didn’t come to watch the match. You came to compete. Am I right, Miss Genius Player X?”
“How did you know… mm!”
The girl blurted it out, then hurriedly covered her mouth, eyes wide.
“Because it’s too obvious…”
Xia Che said helplessly.
The rumors about the super pretty girl, the coincidental location, and the whereabouts that could never be captured.
“The time when Genius Player X started entering offline competitions is about the same as when you became a magical girl. I guess the reason people can’t recognize you is the magical girls’ cognition-distorting magic, right?”
“…B-Basically all correct.”
The girl clutched the hem of her skirt and lowered her head like a child who had done something wrong.
“All right, I wasn’t planning to blame you. I’ll help you hide your identity.”
Xia Che patted the girl’s head and said warmly.
“Really? Thank you so much, Bro!”
Xia Qing almost hugged him, but Xia Che pressed her back with his hand.
“…I don’t even know what terrible things would happen if my family found out I came to compete in a game tournament.”
Looking at the muttering girl, Xia Che said with a smile:
“All right, hurry back. This is a crime scene, it’s very dangerous.”
“It’s fine. I’m a magical girl, and I’m at least C-rank, so I should be able to help.”
Xia Qing looked eager to try.
“Is that okay? A lot of people from the Task Force Bureau should be coming soon. Are you fine with that?”
Xia Che knew that his younger cousin was lively and cheerful in front of him, but once she met strangers, she turned into the ultimate socially anxious person.
Sure enough, the girl shuddered, hunched her shoulders, and said in a trembling voice:
“Waaah… then forget it. I-I’m leaving.”
“Yeah, go back.”
After Xia Che said that, he thought Xia Qing would turn and leave, but the girl had only taken two steps before she came back, fidgeting, looking as if she wanted to say something but could not.
“Say it.”
Xia Che spat out a single word.
There it was, <the little sister who has a favor to ask of you but is too embarrassed to speak>.
Xia Qing hesitated for a moment, then said quietly:
“Um… Bro, can I stay at your place tonight?”
“…”
Xia Che was silent for a moment, then said calmly:
“What bad thing did you do this time, Miss Genius Player X…”
“Waaah! Don’t call me that name!”
The girl lunged at him, trying to cover his mouth, but Xia Che tilted his head and dodged.
Xia Qing’s face turned red.
She unconsciously picked at her nails and confessed:
“It’s like this… I had a fight with my family, and today… I ran away from home.”
“…Did you two plan this together?”
Xia Che sighed lightly and said slowly.
“Huh? Plan what?”
Xia Qing blinked her dark eyes, her gaze very clear.
“Nothing.”
Xia Che shook his head.
“That won’t work, right? If you don’t go home tonight, your family will definitely worry…”
Before he could finish, the girl clung to his arm like a koala and said pitifully:
“Do you really have the heart to watch your dear little sister sleep on the streets, surviving only by picking through trash?”
“No, you just need to go back…”
“In the end, I won’t even be able to find trash, and I’ll have to live in the sewers and eat rats.”
Xia Qing began wiping away nonexistent tears.
“So…”
“Then it turns out the rats have plague, and I die in despair and agony…”
‘How was this getting more and more ridiculous?’
“All right, all right, I agree.”
Xia Che still let out a breath of relief.
Ever since childhood, he had never had much of a way with this cousin of his whom he only saw occasionally.
“But I’ll tell Uncle that you’re staying at my place. If he can’t find you for one day, he’ll probably call the police.”
“Yay! Bro is the best!”
The girl shook his arm and held out her hand to him:
“Give me the key.”
“Just go back yourself. Xiao Chi is at home…”
Xia Qing’s face immediately came closer, stars sparkling in her eyes:
“Huh?! What, what? Sister Xiao Chi is home? Why is she at your place? Are you living together? Are you two together? Who confessed? You or Sister Xiao Chi? It was definitely you, right?”
Xia Che held his forehead and suddenly felt that taking Xia Qing in was a mistake.
“We’re not living together, and we’re not together. Ask any more questions and you can go sleep under a bridge.”
Under the threat of homelessness, the girl finally shut up.