Chapter 41 - Water pool discovered, all personnel assemble!
The water tank still had water in it, but it hadn't been cleaned in who knows how long, and the water had turned black.
Qin Nuo was prepared to see a bloated corpse floating on the surface or decomposed body parts dissolved into pus.
But since he could still see the bottom of the tank and there was no stench of decay in the air, Qin Nuo could conclude.
The tank hadn't been used to dispose of a body.
So why did the clues point to the water tank?
"Any discoveries?" Black Rose came over to ask.
"Nothing at all."
Qin Nuo shook his head and jumped down from the water tank.
"How can that be? Can clues be false?" Black Rose also leaned over, but after looking for a long time, she couldn't see anything.
Qin Nuo circled the water tank and suddenly noticed numerous scratch marks under a corner of the wall.
The scratches were chaotic, with dark red scabs around them, traces of blood.
Clearly, they were made by hand, and the fingers had already rotted away.
But it seemed like it had been a long time, the marks almost weathered and blurred.
"Who would be so bored to come to the rooftop and scratch the water tank, wearing down their nails?" Although Qin Nuo said this, some horrifying thoughts emerged in his mind.
Black Rose came down as well.
Qin Nuo turned and walked towards the main door.
"Leaving already?" Black Rose asked.
"No leads, if you want to search, do it yourself."
Although he found some suspicious marks, they didn't point to any particular resident, making the clue useless to Qin Nuo.
Black Rose could only follow him downstairs.
Back on the ground floor, Qin Nuo saw the little girl from room 402 again, carrying her small backpack upstairs, her body trembling slightly, her expression full of fear.
Qin Nuo walked down and asked, "Were you followed by that bad guy again?"
The little girl was clearly terrified, cold sweat on her forehead, nodding, "This time he even tried to grab me, but luckily a resident on the third floor came out to throw out the trash, and he ran away."
"Did you see which room he ran to?" Qin Nuo asked.
It could be confirmed that even if the shadow wasn't the killer they were looking for, there was definitely something wrong with him.
"No." The little girl shook her head.
Qin Nuo stood up, pinching his chin in thought.
On the third floor, rooms 301, 302, and 306 could be ruled out.
So, the shadow must be a resident of one of the other three rooms.
Black Rose also came down, glanced at the little girl, her expression changing slightly, "What's wrong?"
Qin Nuo didn't speak, contemplating whether to knock on each door directly.
"That guy is the resident of 305."
The wife of a family of three, Xiao Yuan's mother, stood at the door, speaking to Qin Nuo.
"Auntie, how do you know?" Qin Nuo was taken aback.
"Every time I come up with my child, that guy always opens a crack in the door, staring intently at my child."
"I've seen it too, that guy almost never leaves his room, and no one has seen what he looks like."
"But he seems very interested in underage children, he can smell them as soon as they pass the third-floor corridor!"
Liu Ze also came out from room 406, providing information to Qin Nuo.
"That guy's gaze is very unsettling, I wanted to drag him out and warn him, but he keeps his door tightly shut."
Liu Ze said, "Later, we reported it to the old man, but his response was that the guy pays rent on time every month and hasn't harmed any residents, so the report was dismissed."
"And then the matter was left unresolved."
The old man's words made sense.
The residents didn't want to cause trouble, so no one brought it up again.
But Qin Nuo and the others, as players, were different.
They didn't want to let go of a suspect involved in the main storyline task.
"Alright, I understand." Qin Nuo nodded, turning to go downstairs.
The door to room 405 also opened, and the Fat Homebody Ghost came out, holding a spiked club, saying fiercely, "Good brother, I'll help you!"
"No need, I can handle it myself." Qin Nuo declined, too many people would be counterproductive.
Black Rose was stunned.
Almost the entire floor of residents had come out!
Judging by the conversation, these residents seemed to have a good relationship with Qin Nuo?
"It's only the third day, and he's already connected with all the residents on the fourth floor?" Black Rose was shocked internally.
She had worked hard for three days and only managed to get along well with the grandmother and granddaughter on the second floor.
"This guy must be a diplomatic master, so good at talking?" Black Rose thought to herself.
Declining the goodwill of the fourth-floor residents, Qin Nuo went down to the third floor.
Black Rose quickly followed, surprised but having heard the conversation clearly.
The killer was about to be exposed!
On the third floor, Qin Nuo and Black Rose suddenly froze.
Because in the third-floor corridor, besides the two of them, all the other players had gathered there.
Seeing the two of them, Black Bear held his forehead, looking utterly defeated.
"Great, two more, everyone's here!"
"What, having a party? So lively." Qin Nuo laughed.
Cobra adjusted his glasses and said, "Since everyone's here, there's no need to hide anything."
"Based on the information we've all gathered from the residents, the guy in room 305 is most likely the killer we're looking for!"
"The target of this instance's main storyline task!"
Black Rose laughed, "What a coincidence, we just got the clue from the residents on the fourth floor."
Jiang Xiaobai said, "Since everyone knows, there's nothing more to say."
"Let's go together and drag out the guy in 305, we'll all share the main task's rewards and ratings!"
The other players nodded in agreement.
Black Bear's face darkened, but he also agreed.
He thought he was the only one who knew this clue.
He was excited all night, planning to drag out the killer himself and enjoy the reward alone.
In the end, fuck, everyone knew!
"Ah! So the resident of 305 is the killer, great, let's go together!"
Princess Yao Yao, a bit slow on the uptake, finally understood the situation, happily holding her food, dancing with joy.
For the past three days, she had either been eating or sleeping, oblivious to the outside world.
The task clues hadn't progressed at all.
She just heard the commotion in the corridor and came out with her chips to join in, unexpectedly getting a share!
Everyone: "..."
Cobra coughed twice, "Let's go, don't waste time!"
"Drag out that guy, split the instance reward!"
With that, the group immediately headed towards room 305.
Cobra led the way, knocking on the door of room 305 a few times.
No response, no movement.
Knocked a few more times, still the same.
"What's the use of that, as if that guy would come out!"
Black Bear pushed Cobra aside, lifted a foot, and kicked hard at the door.
With a bang, the door was kicked open.
And when everyone looked inside the room, they were all stunned...