There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

The heavy rain slapped against the car windows, and the windshield wipers pushed the curtain of rain to one side, the colors of the neon above stretched out in the night rain like the aurora.

Officer Zhang parked the car by the roadside and looked up at the height of the sixth floor.

Through the window with the tightly drawn white curtains, a black shadow flickered in and out of view. At this time, Qiuzi was dancing in the dance studio.

Even after everything that had happened, she was still so disciplined.

Officer Zhang sat in the car, quietly watching the graceful figure spinning and jumping, her gaze unconsciously a bit misty.

The black shadow cast a long phantom, flickering on and off. The girl's dance moves were not only bold and beautiful but also carried a bewitching allure that made people involuntarily indulge.

Time flowing by went unnoticed, the sound of the rain outside seemed to disappear as well, and beneath the flashing neon lights, there was only that graceful figure.

Not knowing how long she had been watching, suddenly, the spinning figure slowly stopped moving.

The previously somewhat blurry shadow on the curtain became clearer as the person seemed to approach the window, then, they started stretching their legs in front of the barre.

Officer Zhang snapped back to her senses, glanced at the rain outside, and turned to retrieve an umbrella from the car.

However, after she got out of the car and opened the umbrella, looking up again, she saw another figure reflected on the window!

Was there someone else there?

The figure stretching in front of the barre turned to look, the two people stood very close, seemingly talking, and the atmosphere seemed quite pleasant.

But the next moment, the lights in the entire dance studio suddenly dimmed!

A brightly lit window also instantly fell into pitch darkness, where nothing could be seen!

Officer Zhang stood dumbfounded for a moment on the rain-drenched street, looking up at the pitch-black window above, suddenly feeling a sense of déjà vu in this scene.

Wait a minute!

Wasn't this what the peeping Tom had described?!

Realizing this, Officer Zhang's eyes widened as she rushed towards the building across the street. After glancing at the position of the elevator, she immediately turned and ran up the side staircase.

In the eerily silent hallway, her footsteps echoed rapidly. Officer Zhang, breathing heavily, arrived at the sixth floor and quickly opened the fire door.

The corridor was dim and lightless, although the lights were on, the brightness from the ceiling lamps failed to shine down.

The security guard who should have been by the elevator was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a wooden table placed there, spreading a repressive and eerie qi throughout the sixth floor.

Officer Zhang squinted her eyes. She slowed her pace and walked slowly towards the dance studio.

The double doors of the dance studio were tightly closed, with no light seeping from the cracks. It was pitch black, and no sound was coming from inside.

If what she had seen from below for so long was not a hallucination, there should be people inside.

Moreover, she had glanced at the elevator upon running up, which was still in the same position; it was unlikely that someone left the sixth floor using the elevator in that interim, and she hadn't seen any figures in the hallway either.

Officer Zhang grasped the door handle, feeling the coldness of the aluminum alloy.

After preparing herself, she forcefully pushed open the door!

She was momentarily blinded by the sudden burst of light.

As if the darkness she had just witnessed was the illusion, the dance studio was brightly lit, incandescent lamps shone on the nearly reflective beige floor, casting shadows of two people.

"Hm?"

Xu Shuo turned her head to look at the door, a picture of innocence on her face.

She was squatting on the floor, and in front of her lay a girl with lifeless eyes, skin as pale and bloodless as herself, and even faintly gray and dull.

Officer Zhang was momentarily stunned, shifted her hand from her waist and walked in, asking, "Qiuzi, what happened?"

Xu Shuo surveyed her discreetly and then let out a troubled sigh, "I'm not clear myself. Just now when Lanruo came to talk to me, I thought she was going to apologize for what happened the day before yesterday. Instead, she suddenly tried to attack me."

Then the outcome was clear for all to see, she was lying on the ground.

Officer Zhang stepped forward and crouched down too, she looked at the girl on the ground with wide-open eyes, yet lifeless and unresponsive, her pretty face expressing slight concern.

"What exactly did you argue about the day before yesterday?" Officer Zhang casually inquired.

"It was about that dancing competition, she wanted me to drop out, but that's impossible! She was only thinking of herself and didn't care at all about what I wanted!" the girl said angrily, her cheeks puffing up with frustration.

Officer Zhang observed her expression, her fingers twitching inexplicably, the girl's naive charm was just too cute!

As the saying goes, sexiness is worthless in front of cuteness!

Fortunately, there was a pressing matter at hand to distract her attention.

Officer Zhang moved her gaze to Lanruo, who was lying on the floor, and took out a pair of white gloves from her pocket to put on before gently touching the girl's skin.

It felt icy cold, the sensation penetrating even through the gloves, and her skin had also become very stiff. Although it was pale, it lacked the delicate smoothness that Qiuzi possessed.

The girl's wrist was completely limp, and it flopped down as soon as Officer Zhang picked it up.

Next, she took out a small mirror and held it up to Lanruo's nose.

After a few moments, Officer Zhang flipped the mirror to check – no mist, no breathing, no heartbeat.

Suddenly, she looked at Qiuzi with a complicated expression, "Did you kill her?"

Xu Shuo quickly shook his head, his dark eyes welling up with misty water, looking at her pitifully, "Zhang, I didn't! When she lunged at me, she just suddenly fell down!"

In the spacious dance studio, the bright incandescent lights were casting a clear glow, the floor was clean and spotless, and everything was in plain view.

There were no other traces in the room, no signs of a struggle.

Officer Zhang didn't actually believe that Qiuzi had killed the other girl, her question was just a probe; after all, in their expectations, Lanruo was probably already dead for some time.

But a double murder was not impossible.

Xu Shuo squatted nearby, watching the female officer begin a meticulous examination of the body. The two had been very close moments ago, but as she moved, their merged shadows split apart.
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His face was calm, his eyes deep and dark without a hint of light, like a still pool of water, he stared intently at Officer Zhang's back.

Officer Zhang, who was leaning in close to Lanruo's wide-open eyes, suddenly had a weird feeling. She quickly turned around to see Qiuzi bending a crafty, eerie smile towards her.

"Zhang, have you found anything?"

"Nothing..."

Officer Zhang released Lanruo's head, glanced at those pitch-black, lifeless eyes, and then looked back at Qiuzi, saying, "But it's really strange that such a thing happened. I came tonight because I wanted to take you somewhere."

Xu Shuo tilted his head to the side, "Where?"

"The church." She gazed at Qiuzi's dark eyes.

"I've already refused," Xu Shuo said.

He had declined the invitation when the text message had come through that afternoon. Although he wasn't sure if he could actually go to that place, Xu Shuo wasn't keen on trying it out for now.

Besides, he had made plans with Xuena.

Just that Xuena hadn't arrived yet, which was odd; she shouldn't be disinterested.

Xu Shuo stood up and looked at the time on the wall, half-past eight in the evening.

It was the time when Qiuzi had been killed the night before, and tonight, whilst he hadn't waited for Xuena, he did encounter Lanruo, who wanted to make another move.