Chapter 144: Each Harboring Their Own Thoughts

"What are you two doing?"

Inside the passenger carriage, Lucy looked at the couple snuggled up together on the sofa chair, her expression showing utter puzzlement.

"Enjoying the scenery, of course."

"In such a serene and beautiful environment, one naturally wants to appreciate it with the person they love."

"As for other matters, they must definitely be put aside first."

"Am I right, Wifey?" Bei Yu Qingfeng looked at Nan Yu Qingsluan with a gaze full of deep affection.

"Hubby, I won't allow you to talk to other women."

"Alright, Wifey~"

"Hubby~"

Watching the two people who directly ignored her, Lucy narrowed her eyes.

She slowly raised her arm.

"Did any of you find anything?"

Jian Qi looked at Lucy, who was standing behind the couple of players, and asked.

Hearing Jian Qi's voice, Lucy raised her hand and naturally patted her shoulder, as if brushing off some dust.

Then she turned around, put on a helpless expression, and pointed at the couple behind her: "They said they wanted to look at the scenery, so nobody has even started searching this area yet."

"You haven't started searching yet?"

Hearing this, Jian Qi raised an eyebrow.

He turned his head to look at Sturdy Brawny and Emotionless: "Then let's lend a hand and check this place too."

"No problem."

Sturdy Brawny gave an honest, simple smile. Without saying much more, he immediately went to work.

He began removing the cushions from the chairs in this carriage one by one.

Meanwhile, Emotionless started inspecting the small room in the corner of the carriage used for storing luggage.

Sturdy Brawny's movements were fast; within a short moment, he reached the spot where the young couple was sitting.

"Could you please move aside?"

Knowing that Sturdy Brawny was also a player, the two of them did not make things difficult for him.

Sturdy Brawny lifted the cushion where they had been sitting.

And began to inspect.

"Eh? There's a newspaper here."

Watching Sturdy Brawny's search, the moment he lifted the cushion, the two Beiyu players spotted a newspaper pressed beneath it.

Although the newspaper had some creases, the paper surface still looked quite new.

Jian Qi and Lucy were also drawn over by Bei Yu's voice.

By this time, the newspaper had already been taken out by Sturdy Brawny.

Then, the few of them watched as his expression turned peculiar after reading the newspaper.

"What's it about?" Jian Qi asked.

"See for yourselves."

Sturdy Brawny held the newspaper horizontally out to them.

Emblazoned across it were the words: 'Inspector Rotte Died in the Line of Duty on June 14th.'

A picture was printed on the newspaper.

Although it was in black and white, everyone could clearly see that the man lying on the bed in the photo was none other than Rotte, the person who had spoken with them earlier.

Upon seeing this news, everyone present reacted differently.

Lucy looked perplexed.

Jian Qi was deep in thought.

As for the young couple, they showed obvious excitement.

"So that's how it is. This is a thief crying 'stop, thief'."

"We almost got tricked by him."

Hearing Bei Yu's words, Jian Qi shook his head: "Something feels a bit off."

"What could be wrong? Isn't it written clearly in black and white?"

"Rotte is the ghost."

Seeing that Jian Qi disagreed with Bei Yu, Nan Yu asked back with some displeasure.

"Why is there a newspaper like this here?"

"Why didn't anyone else have one?"

"Are there any other people in this carriage?"

"Could this be something they did?"

Jian Qi fired off several questions in succession, leaving the young couple completely speechless.

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Sturdy Brawny quickly tried to smooth things over:

"I don't think we can completely rule out Rotte's suspicion either."

"While this could be a smokescreen put out by someone else, it might also be true."

"The quickest way to verify it is to just slaughter him."

Sturdy Brawny's remark instantly plunged the scene back into silence.

In the end, it was Jian Qi who broke the quiet: "Let's not talk about this matter for now."

"We'll observe for a while, and once we confirm Rotte genuinely has a problem, we'll take action."

"Until we figure things out, we shouldn't act rashly for the time being, so as to avoid drawing unnecessary trouble."

Except for Lucy, everyone else understood the meaning behind Jian Qi's words.

Acting recklessly might trigger a plot-mandated death.

After exchanging glances, Bei Yu and Nan Yu nodded in agreement: "Let's do it that way for now, then."

Having resolved the conflict, Jian Qi took the newspaper directly from Sturdy Brawny's hands.

He tucked it into his pocket.

Sturdy Brawny's expression flickered, but ultimately he said nothing.

With this matter decided, news came from Emotionless's direction.

In the luggage room, he had found two suitcases.

One large, one small.

The smaller one was clearly meant for a woman.

Everyone immediately shifted their gaze to Lucy.

"It's not mine."

Lucy directly denied it.

"Should we open them?" Emotionless asked.

"Let's wait until Rotte and the others return before discussing it," Jian Qi said. After all, these cases might belong to two of the four of them.

Opening them rashly without others' consent was ultimately not a very good idea.

Rotte and his group did not keep them waiting for long.

"What are you bringing the quilt for?"

Seeing the quilt in Rotte's hands, Bei Yu asked.

"In this weather, if the corpse isn't dealt with, it will definitely start to stink."

After offering an explanation, Rotte looked at Jian Qi and Lucy: "Did you find anything?"

While speaking, he also sized up their expressions.

Seeing that their eyes held noticeably more hostility than before, he furrowed his brows slightly.

He knew that something must have happened during this period.

And that matter was very unfavorable to him.

Hearing Rotte's question, Jian Qi acted completely normal: "Behind the toilet is a storage room containing some food, tableware, and various sundries."

"And then..."

He roughly summarized the situation further back.

After finishing, Jian Qi looked at Rotte: "Did you find anything on your side?"

Having listened to Jian Qi's description, Rotte frowned, feeling that all of it was useless information.

However, after pondering for just a few seconds, he shared what he had encountered: "The carriage ahead is a kitchen, equipped with food and a boiler."

"Further ahead is a carriage with private rooms. There was nothing unusual inside them."

"However, the painting hanging in the private room actually moved, and one of them even depicted the situation inside the toilet."

At this point, Rotte paused, waiting for the others to question him. Yet after waiting for a long time, the expected questioning didn't come; instead, they urged him onward.

"And then?"

This made him somewhat unable to comprehend their train of thought, but he continued anyway: "Past the private rooms is the engine compartment."

"However, the door is locked."

"I inspected that door and found that brute force alone is definitely not enough to open it. We can only use a key or have someone inside open the door."

"Of course, if you don't believe me, you can go and try."

As Rotte said this, his gaze shifted toward Sturdy Brawny.

Hearing this, Jian Qi shook his head: "Let's put that aside for a moment. We found two suitcases in the passenger carriage."

"Take a look and see if they belong to any of you. If not, we're going to open them directly."

As he spoke, Jian Qi stepped aside, revealing the two cases that had been blocked behind him to the four of them.