Chapter 1064: Prison Storm (102)
Chapter 1064: Prison Storm (102)
The wastebasket flickered slightly, transforming into a constantly shifting and dirty mosaic. After two seconds, the mosaic moved aside a couple of steps, reverting to a disgruntled Descartes Spirit.
"The wastebasket is just a wastebasket, messy and disorganized. How can you tell it's been tampered with?"
"You just don't understand this," Bohemia replied, smugly pulling open a few drawers and educating the Descartes Spirit while checking them, "I've been both the prey and the hunter. In the process of chasing down those who want to kill me, the outcome is often determined by subtle details..."
"Onion Strip—" Suddenly, the voice of the Pocket Dimension host interrupted.
"Just a moment!" Bohemia couldn't tolerate being interrupted at this moment, so she firmly squeezed the onion on top of her head. "Wait until I finish speaking before you strip! Have some manners!"
The Pocket Dimension host was left momentarily speechless and obediently remained silent.
"Do you remember that I ate a bag of potato chips earlier?" she continued after releasing the onion, keeping the drawers open and holding a crumpled plastic bag from the wastebasket.
Sandy Winters, the warden, probably never snacked in the office before. The wastebasket was mostly filled with scraps of paper, paper balls, and envelopes until Bohemia arrived.
"Yeah, so what?"
"That person was very cautious. After going through everything, he even placed the potato chip bag back on the top layer of the trash can, in the same order I put it in. Hmph, he was too cautious, and that actually gave him away. Who am I, after all?" Bohemia's eyes sparkled, and she looked triumphant. "I'm always clumsy when I snack; there are usually a lot of crumbs left in the bag. I just dump them all inside without caring. But you see, the floor is perfectly clean now."
When the Descartes Spirit approached to take a look, the floor turned into a mosaic as well.
"When that person sneaked in quietly, they must have been nervous because they didn't know when I'd return. Plus, there were many places to search, so they probably didn't have time to pay attention to the floor," Bohemia said as she checked the files in the drawers one by one. "I guess that when they returned everything to its original position, they saw potato chip crumbs on the floor and likely thought they had spilled them while rummaging through the wastebasket. So, they picked up the crumbs and put them back in."
The Descartes Spirit immediately slumped and lay on the floor.
"I thought you had some detective talent," it seemed quite disappointed, "So, it's because people don't know that you make a mess every time you eat? How do you know it wasn't the janitor?"
Bohemia became annoyed, "Enough with the nonsense! Why wouldn't the janitor empty the entire wastebasket?"
"Okay, shall we?" The Pocket Dimension host was getting a bit impatient. "It's time to start the Onion Strip, in order, starting with player Bohemia!"
Bohemia's heart skipped a beat, and she withdrew her gaze from the drawer. Both she and Descartes fell silent. As the onion made a chirp sound, she knew that another fact about herself had been revealed.
"Player Bohemia, while eating a chocolate molten lava cake in Exodus, dripped a large piece of chocolate onto Lin Sanjiu's sofa. She flipped the cushion over and put it back."
What nonsense! They're not mentioning the five stages of life?
As the wall flickered, Lin Sanjiu's exam room scene appeared again, and Bohemia's face turned red. She never liked admitting defeat and was about to speak, but the Pocket Dimension host promptly interrupted her.
"Player Lin Sanjiu,"
Lin Sanjiu, who was pretending to look at the exam paper with her head down, involuntarily tensed up at the words. "One of her friends is getting closer to her."
Lin Sanjiu suddenly raised her head, momentarily forgetting she was still in the exam room. "Who is it? Is it in this world too?"
"I will only reveal one fact related to you at a time, and I won't answer your questions."
"Number 39!" The exam proctor, as if keeping a close eye on her, immediately spoke, "Speaking without permission, you are given a disciplinary warning!"
Although Lin Sanjiu didn't know what the disciplinary warning entailed, she looked down at her exam paper, and her expression instantly turned unpleasant. She probably wouldn't get away with just a slap on the wrist.
Bohemia had 'Trading Rights,' and if she extended her neck to take a look, she could see Lin Sanjiu's test paper content. However, she hesitated for a moment but didn't request to see her test paper.
"After all that time, did you only get one question wrong?" she pondered and asked. "Yes, just one blink."
Lin Sanjiu's dark eyelashes blinked rapidly, as if they could stir up a gust of wind.
"What's that?" Bohemia was a little puzzled. "So, you only got one question wrong, is this your first Onion Strip? Yes, just one blink."
Lin Sanjiu slowly blinked her eyes.
Bohemia was puzzled for a few seconds but suddenly realized, "You mean you've been at it for all this time, and you've only answered one question, and it was wrong?"
Lin Sanjiu reluctantly blinked her eyes slowly.
"In that case, I won't rush," Bohemia said with a smile, appearing to have stifled a lot of laughter. "I'm making excellent progress here! You can take your time making mistakes. I'll finish dealing with my situation, and then I'll come back to challenge you!"
Without waiting for the other party to finish blinking, she waved her hand towards the air, signaling the Pocket Dimension host to cut off the video feed.
Back in her chair, Bohemia propped her feet on the table, stared at the partially open drawer, and pondered for a moment. The Descartes Spirit seemed quite interested in her brain activity and floated over, saying, "Do you know? When humans think, they appear much tastier than usual... Uh, I used the term 'tasty' because it's easier for you to understand my meaning. Actually, you're not particularly tasty..."
Bohemia's Higher Consciousness was far more agile than Lin Sanjiu's—she effortlessly stretched and twisted Descartes into a pretzel, then hummed, "Any more nonsense to add? If not, join me in figuring out who entered my office."
"Who cares about that? After all, it's not your game objective," the Descartes Spirit relaxed his body and added a snarky comment.
Oh, right, there were objectives too.
She mentally calculated her progress for the second phase; she had nearly completed it. She had found the vulnerability of Dr. Ming, prompting her to leave the stage. She had also discovered that Sandwich Secretary was in league with her. Inspector Gell had died and was taken away, so she only needed to be a bit more cautious with Old Shoes.
"What is the objective for the third phase?" Bohemia raised her voice and asked the office wall.
The Pocket Dimension host responded with a thoughtful "Mmm," and said, "The time to announce the third phase objective hasn't arrived yet. We have an NPC coming in, please get ready."
Who was coming to bother her now?
Bohemia sighed. As the door opened, the Sandwich Secretary entered with a somewhat fatigued expression.
"Miss Winters," it had been an entire afternoon, and his strength seemed to have depleted, "You should go to the prison. After this afternoon's riot, many prisoners appear to be a bit irritable. You've always been the best at calming them down. Honestly, the prison guards have called me several times to ask if you're coming."
She still had that skill?
Well, the protagonist should always have some special talents, right?
However, Bohemia didn't rush to get up. She spun around in her chair for a moment. When she faced Sandwich Secretary once again, she reached out and rested her hand on the table, leaning forward to ask, "Did you intentionally lock Old Shoes in the meeting room before?"
The Sandwich Secretary smiled bitterly and nodded. "Although Gell had a convulsion due to the medication, and I pretended to have someone send him away, I was worried he might go to the medical department if he got impatient waiting for you. So, I decided to lock the door to prevent any trouble."
"I can't remember; remind me, what kind of door lock was it? Did you lock it from the outside with a key? Did he not hear you locking the door?"
"In fact, when he entered the room and sat down, the key was already inserted into the lock outside," Sandwich Secretary smiled, "When I closed the door, I turned the key towards the locking side. But you know if you turn the key to lock it while the door is still open, the lock cylinder will pop out and block the door, so it won't close. So, I turned the key just a bit, letting a small part of the lock cylinder stick out, enough to slip into the door frame. Then, at the moment when the door was fully closed, I could lock it completely. And the sound of the door closing perfectly masked the sound of the lock cylinder popping out. He heard me close the door but had no idea I had locked it."
"Quite a clever plan!" the Descartes Spirit praised, "Fortunately, he's your ally; otherwise, your career—"
Why is he always thinking about that?
Bohemia thought to herself and continued, "But there's one more thing; I'm worried that Old Shoes might investigate it. You said you had someone take Inspector Gell to the medical department, but in reality, there wasn't anyone there. What if he becomes suspicious when he finds out..."
Sandwich Secretary waved his hand dismissively, "Miss Winters, how could you forget that I came up with this plan with your inspiration? You see, it's only during the time between Inspector Gell's seizure and his appearance outside the prison that there's no one accompanying him. This period with no one is easily explained since there was a riot, and everyone was a bit on edge, causing misunderstandings. What's important is that Inspector Gell needs someone to accompany him on his way from the prison to the medical department. So, when I left, I told Wenda to wait on the path leading to the medical department. Then, after Inspector Gell completed his mission, he would pretend to have an ongoing seizure and fall in front of him... This way, there'd be less suspicion. Besides, Wenda isn't an experienced detective from the Bureau; he wouldn't notice anything wrong with the fake seizure."
If she remembered correctly, Wenda was the man in work clothes. Bohemia was already stunned, unable to imagine how Sandwich Secretary had quietly arranged so many things in such a short time.
"Miss Winters," Sandwich Secretary suddenly looked a bit embarrassed, "Are you teasing me again? After all, these little tricks were taught to me by you."
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