Ita Era

Chapter 201 Breakthrough

Ding Shi wondered why the Cloning Bureau would ask this question. There was another detail: the company the boss owned had a certain capacity to break the law, which was definitely significant.

Ding Shi didn't immediately go back to work. Instead, he went out for a walk, paying special attention to departments such as finance, business, and public relations. Then, with his experience, he discovered something suspicious.

Each employee in the business department is a deputy manager, and ten deputy managers have their own offices. These offices surround a small conference room, which is exclusively for these ten people.

The company has two vice presidents. Vice President Wang is in charge of company affairs, while the other vice president has no specific responsibilities.

However, without evidence, Ding Shi could not be certain about the company's situation, and his intuition told him that it had little to do with him.

"Hey, Red Dress."

The woman in red said, "I've looked into your mother's background; to be precise, she's your stepmother."

The woman in red said, “You are an only child. Your mother passed away from illness when you were seven years old, and Zhao Ruyan became your stepmother two years later. Your parents’ marriage was a business arrangement. Both of them were very wealthy, and your mother’s estate was notarized when she passed away.”

Ding Shi had previously received vague information that he was an only child, his father had died early, and his mother had been a widow for 15 years and raised him to adulthood.

The truth is: he is indeed an only child, his mother passed away at a young age, and Zhao Ruyan married Ding's father when he was nine years old, and it has been 15 years since then.

The woman in red said, "After your father married Zhao Ruyan, Zhao Ruyan treated you very well. She gave you whatever you wanted and let you make friends with whomever you wanted, spoiling you so much that you became lawless. As a result, you were imprisoned for half a year when you were just 18 years old, lost your chance to go to university, and made your father completely disappointed in you."

Ding Shi asked, "What was the reason for your imprisonment?"

The woman in red said, "It's said that you drugged Zhao Ruyan's milk, causing her to miscarry."

Ding Shi realized: "So this is where my feud with her started."

The woman in red said, "After you got out of prison, you lived in a rented room. A year ago, your father died without leaving you a penny, so you started suing your stepmother. Your stepmother hates you very much and would rather spend money on lawyer fees than give you any. She's determined to drag you down."

The woman in red said, "The next court hearing is tomorrow morning. You shouldn't need to attend. I won't be able to find anything more."

"Thank you, Red Dress."

The woman in red said, "You need to complete the main quest of cloning as soon as possible."

Ding Shi: "Why?"

Red-clad: "The rules challenge can only be unlocked after completing the main quest. There is no penalty for dying in the rules challenge, and the points earned can be used to purchase special items."

Ding Shi asked, "Have you finished?"

The woman in red said, "Thanks to you, I should be able to get it done this afternoon."

Ding Shi replied, "I'll do it as soon as possible."

After hanging up the phone with the woman in red, Ding Shi started working again. His supervisor's favorability rating was 35, and a lead call followed.

Answering the phone: "Hello."

Bai Yuan's voice came through: "I've taken care of your matter. All the photos and videos have been sent to your phone's email address. In the video, I even guided Lin Yuan to say a lot of bad things about your stepmother. As for whether you want to use the photos to blackmail Lin Yuan to persuade your stepmother, or if you have other uses for them, that's none of my business."

Bai Yuan: "Where are my things?"

Ding Shi said, "I'm not sure where you're looking for something yet."

Bai Yuan said, "I don't know either, so you have to go find it."

Ding Shi tentatively asked, "Isn't it wrong of you to scheme against your mother like this?"

Bai Yuan scoffed: "Scheme? She schemed against my dad first, forcing him to jump off the 80th floor. What kind of good person do you think she is? You know yourself that she has ulterior motives towards you. How can someone like that be a good person?"

Why does this sentence feel a little strange?
Ding Shi advised, "Your mother is like the palm of your hand, and your father is like the back of your hand. They love and hate each other, and I think children shouldn't get involved."

Bai Yuan: "Don't worry about it, this is my business. I've done what I promised you, now it's your business to do what you promised me."

Ding Shi said, "But you slept with Lin Yuan out of revenge. Once my stepmother sees the photos and videos, she will definitely divorce Lin Yuan, and might even break his legs."

Bai Yuan's voice turned cold as she asked, "What? You want to back out? You've met my friends in the underworld; you know what will happen."

Friends in the underworld? I used to be a boss in the underworld.

Ding Shi continued to probe: "You have to tell me what shape it is, right?" Ding Shi had already guessed what Bai Yuan wanted.

Bai Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "USB drive? It could be paper documents, an external hard drive, something stored on a computer, or something stored in a cloud drive. I don't know, I only know that she definitely kept the ledger."

After ending the call with Bai Yuan, Ding Shi wasn't in a hurry to return to his workstation. Instead, he dialed Lin Yuan's number: "Wow, bro, you not only sleep with my stepmother, but also with my girlfriend."

Lin Yuan was startled: "Don't talk nonsense."

Ding Shi said, "You know in your heart whether you're lying or not. If needed, I can send some photos to my stepmother."

Lin Yuan was silent for a moment, then asked, "What do you want?"

Ding Shi said, "If you persuade my stepmother Zhao Ruyan to settle out of court, I will take 40%."

Lin Yuan immediately denied it: "Impossible, I don't have a face that white."

Ding Shi said, "Then there's nothing to discuss."

Lin Yuan said, "Evidence for evidence."

Ding Shi asked, "What evidence do you have?"

Lin Yuan said, "Issuance of your evidence of transporting and burying the body. Hang up now, I'll send it to your phone, and you can call me back after you've read it."

Ding hung up the phone and received an email containing a set of photos and videos.

First photo: Nighttime. The camera equipment has night shooting capabilities, and both the scenery and people are very clear. Bai Yan's car, with Ding Shi alone in the driver's seat, is parked by a small river in the suburbs.

The second photo shows Ding Shi carrying a person or a corpse on his shoulder from the trunk of a car. He is holding a shovel in his right hand. Both Ding Shi's and the corpse's faces are obscured, making it impossible for Ding Shi to identify the body.

The third document is a video: Ding Shi is digging a pit, and the body is placed to the side. From the perspective of the person filming, Ding Shi is stepping over reeds to dig a pit in a patch of muddy ground near the river. The person filming is pushing aside the reeds to film. However, the video only shows Ding Shi's back.

When the fourth photo came out, Ding Shi gave up. It was a photo of himself digging a hole from the front, and he was even looking up at the photographer.

According to the person in red, the clones are still absorbing energy and cannot move normally yet, so the possibility that it was done by clones can be ruled out.

In the fifth photo, Ding Shi walks towards the camera, with a filled-in pit in the background. He's holding a shovel covered in dirt and wearing a lewd smile. Even he himself finds it perverted.

The sixth document was a video. At dusk, a masked man in black, with his back to the camera, dug a pit and lifted a corpse out. The corpse's face was covered in dirt, making it unrecognizable. Lin Yuan was clearly trying to tell Ding Shi that he had dug up a body.

If Ding Shi were a novice, he would most likely believe Lin Yuan. But the seasoned veteran Ding Shi noticed the problem from the very first photo.

In the first photo, I drove my white car to a small river in the suburbs. My next step was definitely to get out of the car. How was the photographer able to capture the exact moment I parked?
The photos clearly came from a high-end mobile phone or a professional camera. They are not screenshots from car cameras or traffic surveillance videos.

If you really want to bury a body, wouldn't you first check the surrounding area?
The answer was clear: someone had been lying in wait there, and was very well hidden; he hadn't noticed them in the car, nor after getting out. Lin Yuan called again: "How did it go?"

Ding Shi said, "I'll think about it."

Upon hearing Ding Shi's words, Lin Yuan said, "Would you like to... consider it?"

Ding Shi became suspicious. Lin Yuan's tone was strange; he seemed surprised by his answer, even stammering slightly. Wasn't it normal to answer by saying "let me think about it"?

Ding paused in silence, and Lin Yuan said, "Why fight to the death? It's good to think it over."

Ding Shi remained silent. This time, Lin Yuan's words and attitude were probing. He wanted to change the subject, but perhaps due to panic or other reasons, he brought the topic back.

This is very strange.

Ding Shi, combining this with Lin Yuan's previous phone call, discovered a detail: Lin Yuan said he had evidence of transporting and burying the body.

This is very strange. A normal person seeing this would definitely suspect that they were the murderer. But Lin Yuan didn't mention murder, but talked about transporting and burying the body, as if he knew that he didn't kill the person.

The good news is that Lin Yuan lacks confidence; unless I produce evidence against him, he won't dare to produce his own. He doesn't care if he can kill me; he's worried I'll kill him.

As for exchanging evidence, that's nonsense. Both sides have electronic photos, and even the dumbest person would keep a copy.

Ding Shi considered whether to dig up the body and dispose of it. As long as there was no body, the police couldn't convict him. Wait, Lin Yuan mailed him a finger, but he might have cut off two. Was he really that clever? Never underestimate anyone.

So many things to do, it's giving me a huge headache. Why can't I have the same fate as the woman in red? Just grab the key NPC and interrogate them.

Ding Shi said, "Wait for my news."

Lin Yuan: "Okay."

Sure enough, there was a problem. He was talking non-stop before, but suddenly he started answering passively.

Ding Shi didn't press the matter, hung up the phone, and returned to his workstation. Supervisor's favorability rating: 36.

The Clones Administration email arrived on time.

Question: Lin Yuan has evidence that you buried and transported the body. Who is the murderer? 5 points for a correct answer, 2 points deducted for a wrong answer.

Ding Shi already has 5 points. If he can get these 5 points, he can eliminate the clones. He is still unsure whether he will have to continue playing the role after eliminating the clones.

Would someone help bury a body if they committed murder?
First, there are a few details about his lover, Bai Yan, that don't make sense. First, when he contacted the private investigator, he referred to Bai Yan as a "gold digger," indicating that he didn't respect her, let alone have any romantic feelings for her. It's impossible that he would bury Bai Yan's body.

Secondly, if he and Bai Yan were truly in love, he wouldn't have used Bai Yan's car to transport the body.

Thirdly, if Bai Yan committed the murder, where was she when he buried the body?

If Bai Yan is the murderer, the truth might be that he didn't really love Bai Yan, so he borrowed her car to transport the body, and he could blame Bai Yan for any oversights.

Secondly, there's Bai Yuan. It's purely a business relationship; how could I possibly help her dispose of the body? Bai Yuan's personality dictates that she would handle the body herself.

The remaining people include the stepmother, the boss, the private investigator, Lin Yuan...

Lin Yuan took the photos.

Damn it, could it be that Lin Yuan killed someone and framed him for the crime? He used a drone to track him and even took pictures of his car.

Ding Shi suddenly remembered the private investigator. He seemed to have hired a private investigator to investigate Bai Yan, the woman who was throwing herself at him. Why was he investigating Bai Yan? Because she was throwing herself at him? But he was handsome, so wasn't it normal for her to throw herself at him?

Did he suspect Bai Yan was the murderer? He should have called the police instead of helping her dispose of the body.

No, if Bai Yan is the murderer, then hiring a detective to investigate would mean he doesn't trust her love. How could he possibly help her dispose of the body? After all, Ding Shi, who disposed of the body, had his memories.

Ding Shi dialed the private investigator's number, but the phone was switched off and went to voicemail. Ding Shi said, "Hello, this is Mr. Ding. Please call me back as soon as possible."

Time ticked by, and only three minutes remained, but the private investigator still hadn't called.

In Ding Shi's mind, he divided the characters into three categories, with himself as the protagonist.

Romance: The boss likes me, and Bai Yan likes me.

Work-related: I and Bai Yuan are business partners.

Family-related: Suing one's stepmother.

Among the known characters, Lin Yuan connects her work and family, forming a line between Bai Yuan, Lin Yuan, and her stepmother.

Bai Yuan asked him to steal the ledger to connect the boss and Bai Yan.

What if you weren't the main character in the story, and Bai Yuan and Lin Yuan were?

Bai Yuan wanted to obtain evidence of her boss's crimes, while Lin Yuan wanted to acquire Ding Shi's stepmother's property.

Is it possible that Bai Yuan and Lin Yuan are in cahoots?
Ding Shi felt like he had discovered a new continent. Theoretically, Bai Yuan wasn't in cahoots with him because Bai Yuan had given him evidence that could disrupt Lin Yuan and her stepmother's relationship. However, this evidence had a fatal flaw: Bai Yuan and Lin Yuan were originally boyfriend and girlfriend. Lin Yuan only needed to explain that the photos and videos were taken during their time together.

Recalling the video evidence of the conversation, Lin Yuan was cunning; he never mentioned Ding's stepmother Zhao Ruyan's name throughout, only referring to her as "old woman."

Why did Lin Yuan want to exchange evidence?
It is highly likely that the murderer is connected to Lin Yuan, and Lin Yuan wants him to admit to the crime.

If Bai Yuan and Lin Yuan are in cahoots, the only person connected to Lin Yuan is Bai Yuan, therefore the murderer is either Lin Yuan or Bai Yuan. The strange thing is, why would I help them dispose of the body? Logically and from my standpoint, it's impossible for me to help Bai Yuan and Lin Yuan dispose of the body.

There was no time to spare, so Ding Shi had to choose between two options and filled in Bai Yuan's name, since Bai Yuan had a butterfly knife and knew some gangsters.

Incorrect answer, 3 points.

The dog system only asks questions it doesn't know the answers to.

However, the purpose of asking this question seems to be to guide myself to understand myself. Today is only the second day, and I have almost figured out the background of the story. It's only a matter of time before I can complete the game.

Ding Shi is now preoccupied with Bai Yuan's plan to steal the boss's ledgers. If Bai Yuan and Lin Yuan are in cahoots, then they've completely fooled everyone.

Now that I have obtained most of the information, I must boldly take action to verify my speculations. The most important question is to find out whether Bai Yuan and Lin Yuan are one and the same.

Why did Bai Yuan and Lin Yuan join forces?

First, they were in love.

Secondly, they were both busy making money. Bai Yuan killed the boss, and Lin Yuan killed Ding's stepmother so they could inherit their estates.

Of course, Bai Yuan's killing of the boss isn't a true murder; it could also be bringing the boss to justice. Once she obtains the boss's criminal ledger, the boss will become Bai Yuan's ATM.

Therefore, Ding Shi needs to know one thing: under normal circumstances, how much asset Bai Yuan can get from the boss.

Ding Shi went directly to the boss.

(End of this chapter)