Chapter 41 Who Am I? (40)

Lin Xiangjun was very happy to have obtained a good item.

With a smile on her face, she took out a ballpoint pen, pulled off the cap, and handed it to Wang Min.

"Take the cap and wait for me at the Garden."

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xiangjun instructed, "If you see the other three players who entered this instance with me, do not respond if they try to talk to you. No matter what they say, just sit there and keep this cap safe."

"Okay." Wang Min solemnly took the cap and tucked it into her pocket.

Lin Xiangjun did not intend to bring Wang Min along to the Cleaner's basement this time.

Wang Min had already shown herself at 104 today; appearing again would be too deliberate and easily arouse suspicion, making it unsafe for her to show her face.

Moreover, the Invisibility Cloak was already on cooldown, so the tricks used during the day couldn't be repeated, making Wang Min's role less significant.

Furthermore, if Wang Min's body was damaged, it could only be replaced, not repaired. It wasn't yet time for her to fight to the death, so there was no need to put her at risk.

Lin Xiangjun was going to the basement of 104 alone.

Each unit had four basements, which could only be rented, not sold.

The basement was a dark and damp place, generally used as temporary housing for broke workers. In the unit building where Lin Xiangjun was, three of the four basements were marked as occupied by tenants, all of whom were broke, newly graduated college students.

Only one was different.

Lin Xiangjun recalled that information.

The person living in basement 001 was a girl named Fang Ping, who was also Sun Tao's sister, the elementary school teacher.

She was also the homeroom teacher of Lin Xiangjun's class.

In the clues provided by the instance, the six people—Lin Xiangjun, Zhuo Xing, Wang Zixuan, Aunt Wang, Sun Tao, and Qin Jianyuan—were all students in the same class.

Now, the homeroom teacher was in this residential complex, and Fang Ping's information was still visible.

What did this mean?

It meant that Fang Ping was an important character!

Lin Xiangjun rubbed her hands together. She always felt that Fang Ping was a key figure and might be able to extract more clues from her.

For example, a primary school homeroom teacher with a stable job, even if not wealthy, should have a monthly salary sufficient to rent a well-lit apartment in an old residential area; there was no reason for her to be reduced to living in a basement.

Another example: why would Qin Jianyuan be killed by the security guard after arguing with the Cleaner?

Lin Xiangjun considered her own acting skills to be mediocre; she was the type of person who wouldn't even be considered for a role in a class play.

Yet, with such clumsy acting and an old-fashioned, overused excuse from TV dramas, she had successfully lured the security guard out of the guard booth.

What did this mean? First, rule out the possibility that her acting skills had suddenly improved dramatically; second, rule out the possibility that the security guard was tired of living and wanted to die by her hand.

There could only be one reason.

This security guard really wasn't very smart.

Could a not-very-smart security guard really have such a scheme, specifically choosing to kill and dismember Qin Jianyuan after he argued with the Cleaner, using some unknown method to avoid the residential complex's surveillance, leaving no traces for the police to find, and successfully shifting all suspicion onto the Cleaner?

Lin Xiangjun didn't think so.

She was more inclined to believe that someone was framing the Cleaner behind the scenes—though, of course, the one framing him wasn't "capital."

The basements rented out by the residential complex had not been purchased by anyone; it was said that Property Management managed them and rented them out uniformly, with the proceeds used to maintain the complex's internal environment and facilities—this information came from the community notice board, the same place where Lin Xiangjun had learned about her own residence.

But was it actually used for managing the complex?

Lin Xiangjun recalled the white walls in her home covered in advertisements, the dim stairwell lights that seemed on the verge of dying, and the loose floor tiles, feeling that this question was open to debate.

Fortunately, she wasn't a real resident of the complex and had no interest in caring about where the money went.

She only thought that if the basements were rented out uniformly by Property Management, then the Property Management office should have spare keys.

The complex's Property Management office was on the first floor of Unit 8, occupying both 101 and 102. Both doors were open, revealing half-withered plants and office desks inside.

Behind the desk in 101 sat a woman in a black professional suit with dark brown hair. Her facial features were all blurry, except for her bright purplish-red lipstick, making it look like she only had a mouth when viewed from a distance.

Lin Xiangjun cautiously looked around the doorway, and after confirming that the Property Management office had no independent rules, she gently knocked on the door.

The woman raised her head from behind the computer, her purplish-red mouth spreading into a formulaic smile.

"Hello, how can I help you?"

Lin Xiangjun also smiled: "It's like this, Big Sister, I live in Unit 4 and I'd like to get the spare key for basement 001 in Unit 4."

"Little one, this spare key can only be picked up by the owner of the room; I can't just give it to you."

Perhaps because Lin Xiangjun's identity in the instance was that of a child, although the woman looked a bit impatient, her tone was relatively kind.

Lin Xiangjun had anticipated this situation, so she didn't panic.

It would be strange if the other party had readily given her the item the moment she asked.

Normal people would naturally make excuses; that was the case in real life, let alone in an instance that was meant to be life-threatening.

"It's like this, Big Sister."

Lin Xiangjun smiled shyly and took out a stack of underworld currency, counting it out one by one.

She could feel that the moment the underworld currency was taken out, the woman's eyes glued onto it, just like a leech spotting a human.

"The person living in 001 is our class's homeroom teacher, Teacher Fang. A few days ago during class, she confiscated the phone I had saved up to buy, and no matter what I say, she won't give it back to me..."

Lin Xiangjun unhurriedly counted out ten notes of underworld currency, then placed them neatly on the desk in front of the woman, and winked at her.

"I just want to get my phone back, Big Sister. Can you help me?"

The woman looked greedily at the stack of underworld currency.

One thousand! She couldn't earn that much in two months!

Now, if she just relaxed her grip a little...

One thousand in underworld currency could buy an entire human lower leg if one wasn't picky about the texture.

The Property Management in this instance was the most hidden of hidden clues; even if twenty waves of players came, not one might be able to find their way here.

The most infuriating thing was that there were no rules here at Property Management!

It was bad enough that her salary was low, but she also couldn't get extra meals by guiding players to break rules; it could be said to be the job with the least perks.

The woman snatched the underworld currency without hesitation, then opened a drawer, took out a ring of keys labeled "Four," removed the one marked "001," and placed it on the desk.

"I get off work at five this afternoon; return the key before then." The woman instructed. Fearing that Lin Xiangjun wouldn't take it to heart, she emphasized in a heavier tone, "After five, someone else will be on the night shift. She checks the keys when she starts, and if a key is missing, she'll verify it by checking the surveillance. If anything happens then, I won't be responsible."