Chapter 288 - 278: Taking Care of the Murderer

If he was the killer, he definitely couldn’t stay in Sector B.

While the principle of "hiding in plain sight" existed, the risk would be far too great.

And since his targets had always been players, Sector D was unlikely. It was almost exclusively inhabited by ordinary people who could only perform manual labor each day to barely scrape by.

Sector C had players, but not in high proportions. The residents were either large families with a lot of manpower or a single player supporting a large household.

They had to live in Sector C to keep their expenses down.

As for Sector B, its residents were either single individuals or families with two or more players.

As for Sector A, money alone wasn’t enough to get you in.

Moira Lynch and her group had only been able to move in after offering so many items in trade and then continuously exchanging supplies from the game with the base.

As for the other residents of Sector A?

See this base? It was built with their contributions. The wealthy provided funds, the able-bodied provided labor, and those with resources provided supplies.

’If he’s the killer and can’t stay in Sector B anymore, he’ll definitely come to Sector A.’

’Even though Sector A is heavily guarded, everyone’s attention is focused on Sector B right now.’

’That actually leaves an opening to be exploited in Sector A.’

With this in mind, Moira Lynch began to carefully scan Sector A with her spiritual power.

Having done this many times before, Moira Lynch was intimately familiar with every nook and cranny of Sector A. She could usually spot anything out of the ordinary at a glance.

So, after one sweep of Sector A, she quickly found something amiss. In the villa next to hers lived a family of seven: both sets of grandparents, a mother and father, and a twelve-year-old girl.

There were two players in the family—the young husband and wife.

They had moved in before Moira Lynch’s group, and aside from some minor friction, their lives were usually very peaceful.

But today, Moira Lynch sensed something was different about the family.

The four elderly parents, who normally kept to their own rooms, were uncharacteristically gathered in a single room today. They seemed to have suffered some kind of shock.

The couple could move about freely, but they seemed to be tiptoeing, acting with extreme caution.

’Most importantly, where is their child?’

Their child, the twelve-year-old girl, was gone. In her place was an adult man.

’Excellent. Looks like I’ve found the killer.’

Watching this man order the family around like he owned the place, Moira Lynch’s fists clenched.

Moira wanted to eliminate this menace right away, but first, she had to find the missing girl.

This wasn’t a difficult task for Moira Lynch.

’Coming from Sector B to Sector A, he couldn’t have had much time to hide the girl. She’s probably still somewhere in Sector A.’

Sure enough, in a hidden corner of Sector A, Moira Lynch discovered signs of recent digging.

Probing deeper, she found a hidden cellar.

After clearing away the covering, she saw the little girl lying inside. Her eyes were shut tight and her breathing was faint, but thankfully, she was still alive.

’Any longer and the girl would have been dead.’

Now that the girl was found, it was time to deal with the culprit.

Originally, Moira had planned to hand the man over to the base. They might have been able to interrogate him and get some useful information.

But after a moment of deliberation, she changed her mind.

For one, the base was extremely busy and probably didn’t have time to deal with her. For another, this man didn’t seem to be a spy.

It seemed he was after her.

"I went through so many people, and not a single one was SoySauceDrunkard."

At that moment, the man inside the villa was seething with impotent rage.

He had scoured nearly all of Sector B over the past few days and killed so many people, yet not one of them had been SoySauceDrunkard.

The man now had to admit he had likely been looking in the wrong place from the very beginning. SoySauceDrunkard wasn’t in Sector B, but Sector A.

Hearing the man’s muttering, Moira Lynch was now certain he was after her.

’Hah. The last person who was this keen on dying has been pushing up daisies for quite some time now.’

It was worth mentioning that after the ruckus Moira Lynch had caused previously, the people of The Crimson Dominion were now too terrified to live on that island.

Other nations coveted such a large island, but the current special circumstances, combined with their fear of SoySauceDrunkard, forced them to abandon any claim to the massive territory.

Thus, the territory was naturally taken over by Cathaya.

After several hundred years, The Crimson Dominion had finally returned to the motherland’s embrace.

A truly joyous and celebrated occasion.

Moira Lynch first remotely moved the unconscious girl into her dimensional space for safekeeping.

Then, without the slightest mercy, she remotely crushed the man’s heart.

Compared to the people he had tormented before they died, letting this man die so easily made Moira Lynch feel she was being far too benevolent.

Meanwhile, the faces of the couple next door were etched with exhaustion and terror.

The wife’s face was still streaked with fresh tears, but neither of them dared show the slightest hint of discontent, as their child had been abducted and her whereabouts were still unknown.

"Don’t worry," the husband comforted her. "That man promised he wouldn’t hurt Summer as long as we do what he says."

However, the more he tried to reassure her, the harder she cried.

Seeing this, the husband sighed helplessly. Even he didn’t believe his own words.

He’d said them not just to comfort his wife, but to comfort himself as well.

Just then, a pained groan suddenly came from the other room.

Hearing the sound, the couple rushed in to see what was happening.

The man who had been sitting imperiously in his chair, barking orders at them, was now clutching his heart. His face had turned a deep purple, contorted in agony.

Seeing them enter, he opened his mouth to cry for help but couldn’t make a sound.

The wife rushed forward, crying frantically, "You can’t die! You can’t die! You haven’t told me where my daughter is! Give me back my daughter! My Summer!"

But the wife’s cries couldn’t save his life.

After the man died, his body suddenly vanished.

Just as the couple stood there in utter shock, their daughter suddenly appeared.

The wife couldn’t believe her eyes.

Gazing at the daughter she thought she had lost, now safe in her arms, she began to weep with joy.

Several vials of Medicine appeared along with their daughter.

The husband recognized the Medicine at a glance. Currently, it was only sold in SoySauceDrunkard’s shop. ’Could it be...’

A theory began to form in his mind.