Part 11
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In the livestream chat, the netizens: "......"
"I give up."
"Men fall silent, women shed tears, netizens silently cry. Crushed"
"Can you not slap faces so quickly next time? It's kind of embarrassing. Give us some dignity, boss. I’m outta here"
"Sorry to Bother So the same test paper, the same question stem, can really produce two completely different answers. Damn."
"Although my reasoning is a world apart from the 92-point boss, we came to the same conclusion! Rounding up, I'm a boss too. Awesome"
"I told you, an NPC with such a detailed model can't just be a background character."
"I suspect she got the script in advance, and I have evidence."
Chapter 7: Poverty
Author's note:
Entering the game will block related memories. This is a dungeon the heroine chose herself. It was written in Chapter One, but here's a reminder of the setting.
Quinn Sinclair.
The Vault carefully savored this name, and a strange emotion rose in her chest.
The odd feeling wasn't because of this fake name, but because of the real person behind the character.
The plot of this murder case analysis dungeon is adapted from a real case that happened many years ago. All the characters use pseudonyms, their appearances have been greatly altered, and some backgrounds have been blurred, but it's still easy to deduce the specific era and location. After all, every year and every region has different college entrance exam sites and current events.
This should be a virtual world from more than thirty years ago.
With Quinn Sinclair's age and circumstances, even though Trident blocked The Vault's related memories for the sake of game fairness, she could still easily deduce the prototype of Quinn Sinclair.
Subconsciously, The Vault didn't want this beautiful woman to be found with any disgraceful past, but at the same time, she felt this thought was too naive and would affect her thinking, making it hard to stay clear-headed. After all, she didn't really know this woman, or rather, she was a stranger, and shouldn't make too many assumptions.
It was rare for The Vault to have such contradictory and useless thoughts, especially since the other person only appeared briefly, yet left such a deep and lasting impact on her long life, even taking root as a fixed mindset she had no intention of changing.
No matter how smart she was, she still had the inherent flaws of humanity.
So, even though The Vault had an instinct at first sight that Quinn Sinclair would be a key NPC, she still subconsciously avoided her.
And so, when The Vault happened to run into this woman—who kept flashing through her mind—at the dormitory door, she still felt a bit uneasy.
Quinn Sinclair also saw her, quickly walked over, and asked, "Winter Gray, are you okay?"
It was the first time The Vault heard her voice in the game. Clear and gentle, it matched her appearance perfectly. There was urgency in her tone, making her concern obvious.
She seemed like a gentle person.
The Vault was stunned for a moment, then shook her head.
Quinn Sinclair stared at her for a while, then asked, "Why didn't you go to class today?"
The Vault said, "I didn't feel like it."
Quinn Sinclair: "Did something happen last night? I heard a lot of noise next door."
The Vault: "It's nothing."
Quinn Sinclair hesitated, then said, "Are your roommates okay? Since you didn't go up today, I went to ask them, but their reactions were really strange."
The Vault still shook her head.
Quinn Sinclair's brows furrowed slightly, her face full of worry: "Are you really alright?"
The Vault's gaze passed over her shoulder, glancing at the security door behind her covered in cute posters, and asked, "Is anyone in your dorm today?"
Quinn Sinclair: "Nope."
The Vault: "Then can I sleep in your dorm for a while?"
"I mean, that's fine..." Quinn Sinclair asked softly, "You're not going to class at noon either?"
The Vault said, "I'm tired."
Quinn Sinclair's worried expression didn't seem fake. Her lips parted as if to say something, but she hesitated. Finally, as if remembering something, she rummaged in her pocket and pulled out a small handful of orange-flavored hard candy.
She grabbed The Vault's hand and stuffed the candy into it.
Quinn Sinclair was completely different from the person in The Vault's memory. She didn't know if Trident had changed the character's setting too much, or if her mother had really been like this back then.
Yet even so, it was hard not to connect the two. The other person always liked to comfort and reward others in this way, which once made her feel it was perfunctory and childish.
The Vault looked down at the orange-yellow candy in her palm and asked, "Do you really like this kind of candy?"
"Yeah." Quinn Sinclair smiled, "Don't you think this flavor is delicious? It makes you feel better, and it's not expensive at school."
The Vault clenched her hand and put it back in her pocket, saying, "Thank you."
Quinn Sinclair said, "I have to go to class now. You get some rest. If you don't want to go back, you can stay tonight too."
She left the key for The Vault, waved, and said, "I'm off, Birdie is still waiting for me outside."
Quinn Sinclair jogged away, while the livestream chat was now filled with pink bubbles because of her appearance, different from usual.
"What kind of little angel is this? She doesn't look like a bad person."
"As long as I always go against the netizens' guesses, I'm definitely right. The culprit is her!"
"This character model is so biased. Are the others not worthy? Even Trident's staff can only get the look of a middle-aged creepy uncle. The art team has no heart."
"She's definitely a key character, which means she probably knows something. Whether she's the culprit or a good person is still uncertain."
·
The Vault held the key and entered Quinn Sinclair's dorm.
She pulled out a chair, sat at the desk, and roughly looked through the items on it.
She had come to look for clues, but to her surprise, Quinn Sinclair's dorm was extremely "clean," with almost no information related to the plot.
There were very few assignments and workbooks left in the dorm, the handwriting was clear and the grades stable. Items were neatly arranged, all daily necessities. The clothes in the wardrobe were all common styles, with a faint scent of soap. The drawer contained only the most ordinary hair ties, no expensive accessories.
All the details matched her persona as a poor student, leaving no sense of incongruity.
The Vault picked up her own bag and sat at the desk, eating snacks seriously.
Even she couldn't help but suspect that Quinn Sinclair was just a simple NPC.
The Vault took out her phone to check the time. She searched quickly, but it was already 3 p.m. in game time.
The next clue in the dorm building might not appear until evening. The Vault was hesitating whether to wander around the classroom when suddenly there was a twisting sound from the lock on the door. Then a girl walked in.
The other girl saw her in the room, looked a bit surprised, but quickly hid it.
A line of small text floated beside her.
"Melanie Spencer, Class 2 student, former classmate before class division, poor student."
The Vault licked the cookie crumbs from her lips and nodded in greeting.
Melanie Spencer asked, "Winter Gray? Why are you here? I heard from Brookie that you skipped class this morning?"
The Vault replied slowly, "Didn't feel like going."
"Is it because of Hugo Spencer?" Melanie Spencer rolled her eyes and sneered, "If he acts up again, I'll get someone to teach him a lesson for you! Enough is enough!"
The Vault said, "No need. I just didn't want to go to class. What about you? Isn't class still on?"
Melanie Spencer: "It's PE, so it's free time."
She took out a bag and put it on Quinn Sinclair's desk. The Vault looked and asked, "What's this?"
"This month's poverty subsidy. I picked it up for her on the way." Melanie Spencer looked at her suspiciously and asked, "Are you really okay?"
The Vault: "I'm fine."
Melanie Spencer muttered under her breath, then stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder, comforting her: "Don't overthink it, it's not your fault, don't mind what they say."
The Vault looked up at her and said, "What they said is kind of true, isn't it?"
"True, my ass! I mean, you guys—" This seemed to hit a nerve for Melanie Spencer, and her expression instantly became agitated, but she forced herself to calm down halfway through.
She pressed her lips together, adjusted her mood, and just said, "I'm leaving, the teacher will call roll soon."
The Vault: "Okay."
Melanie Spencer walked to the door, looked back at her, then closed the door and left.
The Vault opened the bag and checked the contents.
A red envelope.
The Vault opened it and counted: there was 1,000 yuan in cash inside.
A shopping mall gift card. Judging by the value on the card, it was 500 yuan.
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