Thanks to [Yan Jin Yu Ci] for the Great God Certification and other gifts.
...
After the death of the third person, the death notices changed from one person to two, and the time intervals for their deaths were extremely close.
This meant that the eight mission executors had to split into two groups.
"So that's what the phones handed out before the mission started were for," Green said, somewhat speechless.
To make it easier to exchange information...
Detective Hei Ta thought for a moment and, considering the identities of the deceased, proposed the idea of heading alone to the location of one of the people mentioned in the death notices.
But those who had witnessed her reasoning abilities were hardly willing to agree easily.
Qi Zhimu already felt like killing someone.
In his eyes, these people were no different from useless gluttons; they couldn't help at all, yet they had the nerve to cling to them?
"Don't make a move. Brooks and Green's identities at the police station are real. Without them, it won't be easy to investigate legitimately."
Seeing Qi Zhimu's murderous intent, Detective Hei Ta timely dissuaded him.
"Hmph." Though he snorted coldly, Qi Zhimu's expression softened slightly.
Detective Hei Ta looked at everyone: "Everyone, we must separate. The mission arranged for Officers Brooks and Green to participate, likely with premeditated intent."
"If you two act together and the other group gets crowded, it will be inconvenient to investigate."
The subtext of her words was obvious.
By myself, I can rely on my professional skills as a detective to investigate clues in the shadows.
But if someone is following, there must be someone with a police identity present.
Brooks clearly understood, exchanging glances with Green as they both gritted their teeth.
"Let Green accompany Detective Hei Ta, and two others will follow. Decide by rock-paper-scissors."
Soon, the executors split into two teams, each heading toward a different target.
Only Detective Hei Ta knew that she was accompanied by a powerful magician.
...
The target Detective Hei Ta chose was an 18-year-old female college student who would die between 15:40 and 16:20 in the afternoon.
This was currently the longest death interval, lasting 40 minutes.
Qi Zhimu set off first for the target's coordinates: Wudu Art Academy, to assess the situation.
He was very efficient and soon obtained various pieces of information.
Green had the advantage of her identity and could also obtain information on the target, but she was nowhere near as fast as Qi Zhimu.
By the time she shared the information, Detective Hei Ta had already known it for half an hour.
Lilian, a student in the latest batch of dance majors at Wudu Art Academy, had a graceful figure and eyes that were extremely captivating.
The look in her eyes when she danced captured the admiration of many peers, and she was currently very popular among the freshmen at Wudu Art Academy.
Qi Zhimu hypnotized her but didn't dig up much useful information.
This person's background was clean, her behavior was irreproachable, she kept herself pure, had only ever had one boyfriend, and their relationship was stable.
Let alone killing or doing evil to incur karma, she hadn't even killed a chicken.
Looking strictly at the surface, it was impossible to find a reason for her to become a target of the Death God.
One must know that people hypnotized by Qi Zhimu cannot lie.
Detective Hei Ta had absolute faith in his ability; the possibility that the Death God was controlling Lilian's mind without Qi Zhimu noticing was extremely low.
If that were the case, why bother with a notice? It would be better to just declare the executors' mission a failure.
"Oh, one more piece of information: Lilian's death interval is during her fixed time for participating in leisure sports," Qi Zhimu interrupted Detective Hei Ta's thoughts.
Detective Hei Ta's gaze sharpened.
Leisure sports... Will the victim be killed through exercise?
Just as the probability of a person being killed by a pet cat or dog isn't zero, the same applies to college students during exercise.
Green said, "Identities have been arranged. The three of us are patrol guards responsible for student safety. Detective Hei Ta..."
Speaking to this point, she hesitated, her gaze a bit strange.
"...You are a freshman who just transferred to Wudu Art Academy in the same department as Lilian. It's been less than half a month since the start of the term, so the reason is plausible."
The other two, as well as Qi Zhimu, also had strange expressions on their faces.
The reason was simple.
Detective Hei Ta looked far too young, like a middle schooler.
Anyone's first impression of her would be that she wasn't older than 16.
However, Green and the other two quickly dismissed the oddity in their eyes; you can't judge a book by its cover, and Detective Hei Ta was exactly that kind of person.
Looking only at Detective Hei Ta's conduct and performance, who would think she was a minor?
Detective Hei Ta had no particular expression: "Officer Green's arrangements are thorough. I will do my best to find a way to change the target's fate."
The group arrived at Wudu Art Academy.
Since they had notified them in advance, the academy was prepared and immediately led Detective Hei Ta to the Dance Department.
Wudu Art Academy didn't mandate physical education classes; sports were voluntary, paid, club-based extracurricular activities.
Physical stamina is still very important for dance students, so most students in the department had exercise habits and fixed exercise times.
With an invisible scout like Qi Zhimu, Detective Hei Ta quickly locked onto Lilian.
She didn't approach her, walking through the crowd with her usual calm expression.
Quite a few people saw Detective Hei Ta and almost involuntarily dazed out.
The first thought was: what a cute girl.
The second thought was: whose little sister came in to visit her big sister?
The third thought was... She was actually wearing the Wudu Art Academy uniform, and it was clearly the smallest size, yet it was still too big!
Probably like this.
Full of a sense of incongruity...
Detective Hei Ta ignored the many gazes and unobtrusively followed Lilian to the sports plaza.
The academy was huge, the weather was great, and it was filled with the aura of youth.
If she hadn't known better, even Detective Hei Ta would find it hard to imagine that a freshman would soon face a death threat.
Lilian finished her own exercise routine, and the time reached 15:20, with 20 minutes left before the death interval passed.
During that time, Detective Hei Ta played badminton with her for a while, which counted as an initial acquaintance.
"I couldn't tell, Little Hei Ta, you can actually play badminton," Qi Zhimu said, surprised.
"...I played when I was a child," Detective Hei Ta replied casually, but her consciousness flickered for a moment.
It seemed like... she played with her family when she was a child, right?
She couldn't quite remember.
"Hei Ta, we're planning to play a Singing and Dancing Ball-passing game. Would you like to join?" Lilian waved to her.
"Of course."
The development of events was beyond Detective Hei Ta's expectations.
Glancing out of the corner of her eye at her teammates nearby who seemed to be performing patrol duties, she stood up and walked toward the crowd.
There were 25 students playing the Singing and Dancing Ball-passing game, sitting in a circle around an older female student in the middle.
The game rules weren't complicated: while the older student sang and danced, the others would continuously pass the ball.
When the singing or dancing stopped, whoever had the ball had to perform a talent—singing, dancing, telling a joke, truth or dare, and so on.
Seeing Lilian sitting on her right and catching the ball thrown by the older student, Detective Hei Ta fell into deep thought.
A game like this didn't seem dangerous at all, no matter how you looked at it.
How would the Death God make a move?
Not just her, Qi Zhimu was also completely baffled.
If they had to find the most suspicious point, it would be that the prop ball might have a problem, or else—
...One of the people was the problem?