"It might be a matter of life and death for me?" Zhang Yiming's expression shifted almost imperceptibly, but he quickly masked it with a smile. "Officer Chen, you must be joking. My company is just a small business, always operating within the law. Offending anyone? That's impossible."
Chen Mo smiled too, his gaze suddenly sharp and piercingly cold. "Mr. Zhang, you know exactly what I'm referring to."
At this, the smile on Zhang Yiming's face faltered. "Officer Chen, what do you mean by that?"
"Mr. Zhang should be aware that back then, the Rinz company developed a 'cursed game,' which led to the consecutive deaths of over a dozen programmers on the development team. You, by chance, left the company just before the curse erupted and managed to escape unscathed. Was all of that merely a coincidence?"
"We have no way of knowing what really happened back then, nor do we have evidence to force you to reveal the truth. To be honest, the reason we've approached you this time is actually for another, more urgent matter."
"Stop beating around the bush. What is it?"
Chen Mo noticed that Zhang Yiming's face had unconsciously tensed up, so he dropped his smile and spoke in a grave tone.
"Recently, three bizarre student deaths we've been investigating have been confirmed to be linked to some mysterious 'game.' Though we don't know the exact cause, it's highly likely that the 'cursed game' from years ago has resurfaced and started a new cycle of death. Right now, this 'cursed game' has already affected a fourth person. Mr. Zhang, do you still think this has nothing to do with you? And do you truly believe you can escape the spread of this curse again?"
"This..."
"Of course, your life is your own. We're just doing our duty to uncover the truth. If you refuse to cooperate with our investigation, we have no authority to force you or protect you. In that case, we'll take our leave."
With that, Chen Mo stood up without hesitation and made a move toward the door. Dai Minghan also rose, but cast a meaningful glance at Chen Mo as he did.
Sure enough, just as they both stood, Zhang Yiming's expression shifted repeatedly until he finally blurted out, "Wait!"
This time, his voice carried a tremor. "Officer Chen, are you serious? That game... has it really appeared again?"
"Do you need us to show you evidence?" Chen Mo countered.
"No... that's not what I meant..." Zhang Yiming shook his head. At Chen Mo's final remark, his calm and composure shattered like a broken mask, revealing deep fear and despair.
"But it's impossible! Back then, Rinz company... didn't they disband the development team and shut down the company? How could that game reappear? How?!"
"Yet it has appeared, and it's already killed four people in succession. Without a doubt, these four aren't the end of this incident. If you knowingly withhold the truth, Mr. Zhang, I can assure you more deaths will follow. And frankly, given your close ties to this cursed game, your own life is under threat!"
"This... this..."
Cold sweat dripped down Zhang Yiming's face. It was clear he was in a state of intense agitation, wrestling with a fierce internal conflict.
At that moment, on Dai Minghan's signal, Li Kai and the others pushed open the door from the hallway and entered the room. One of them pulled out a phone from their pocket and, as the screen lit up, a familiar yet eerie melody filled the space.
The moment the electronic music sounded, Zhang Yiming's body jolted violently, and then he collapsed onto the sofa.
"Impossible... impossible..."
"How could it appear again?"
Though he kept repeating "impossible," the evidence was right before his eyes!
After a struggle, Zhang Yiming's expression suddenly grew calm.
"If I tell you what I know, can you really protect me from that curse?"
To be honest, Chen Mo wasn't sure about that. They themselves were just ordinary people threatened by the curse. If they couldn't uncover the truth and eliminate the source of the curse, they too would be killed one by one by this game's curse within a month.
Still, he took a deep breath and answered.
"To be honest... we can't give you a hundred percent guarantee of safety."
"But we promise to do everything in our power to uncover the truth and resolve this incident. And you must understand that only by calming the anger or resentment behind this power at its source can we end this cycle of the curse."
"Yes... you're right." Hearing Chen Mo's response, Zhang Yiming nodded, a mix of hesitation and hope flickering across his face.
He could tell that Chen Mo wasn't just feeding him empty promises.
If the other party had made grandiose claims of guaranteeing his safety just to get information, Zhang Yiming wouldn't have trusted them so easily.
Because he had personally lived through the death cycle seven years ago and knew just how terrifying the curse within this game was!
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, his mouth twitching a few times, Zhang Yiming finally sat back down and began to speak slowly.
"Alright, I'll tell you everything I know."
"Do you believe in the existence of ghost programs in this world?"
"Ghost programs?" This time, it was Chen Mo and Dai Minghan's turn to exchange bewildered glances. "What's that?"
"In a game under development, plots and characters that weren't in the script mysteriously appeared. No one claimed to have designed them. So where did those programs come from?"
Though he was recounting events from seven years ago, the term "ghost programs" sent a chill down the listeners' spines.
"As the head of the development team, I initially dismissed it as a prank by one of the programmers and planned to catch the culprit red-handed. But as the investigation deepened, a terrifying truth gradually surfaced."
"After that, I checked the work logs of every team member, but I couldn't find a single trace of those programs in anyone's records. Not a shred of evidence!"
"In other words, those unscripted plots and characters weren't created by our developers. So where did they come from? Could ghost programs really exist in this world?"