Chapter 48: The Surprise Attack! Duan Yu Wraps Up!

Chapter 48: Ambush! Duan Yu's Elimination!

Although, the moment he placed the call, Duan Yu had fleetingly wondered if he might be monitored by the hacker expert from the simulated killer group.

However, under such intensely critical circumstances, he had no time to worry about other risks.

He had to catch Su Chen, the spy planted by the killer group, first!

Once Su Chen fell into the net, he would inevitably implicate others.

Among them... was the hacker master Duan Yu cared about the most.

Yes, the exposure of Su Chen's identity merely shocked Duan Yu; what he truly yearned for was to meet that hacker expert.

Ideally, by his own hands!

The phone rang in his ear. Although it was only a matter of a dozen seconds, it felt as agonizingly long as several hours.

Just as Duan Yu almost thought something had happened to the expert panel, the call went through.

He let out a breath, his tension easing slightly.

"Hello, Elder Cui? It's me, Duan Yu!"

"The killer identification you asked me to perform has yielded reliable results... Please ensure no one else is around and you are listening alone."

"You must listen carefully to everything I am about to say."

"We must arrest Su Chen immediately! He's the officer working under Bai Su!"

"He is an undercover mole!"

"Hello? Hello? Are you listening..."

In his anxiety, Duan Yu rattled off a long string of words without pausing for breath.

Only after finishing everything he knew did he suddenly realize that the person on the other end had not spoken a single word the entire time.

What was going on? Could the signal be bad?

Duan Yu tentatively spoke into the phone twice:

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

However, the next second.

Never in his wildest dreams did Duan Yu expect that what echoed in his ear was not a reply, but his own voice.

It was an exact repetition of what he had just said.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

What on earth... Duan Yu abruptly raised his head, only to realize that the car he was sitting in had not moved an inch.

Clearly, he had just given the order for the driver to rush to the headquarters.

Yet, at this moment, the driver sitting in the front seat sat quietly with his back to him, as if he had heard nothing at all.

Then, the driver slowly raised the phone in his hand.

"Why aren't you driving..."

Before Duan Yu could finish his sentence, he suddenly realized that his own voice was coming from the phone in the driver's hand!

So the voice he had just heard came from right here.

In other words... the number he had just dialed had not reached Elder Cui at all.

It had been intercepted by the phone in this driver's hand!

Instinctively, an overwhelming sense of crisis washed over Duan Yu. He lunged to open the car door, but no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't budge.

Meanwhile, the driver in the front seat turned around.

Beneath the brim of his cap, that face was none other than Su Chen!

"Good evening, Officer Duan."

Su Chen said calmly.

Simultaneously, he slowly raised a stun gun from which he had just removed the battery.

Seeing the other's face, Duan Yu's pupils shrank violently.

"It's you... It's actually you..."

Before his voice faded, Su Chen mimicked the sound of pulling a trigger.

Immediately afterwards, numerous men in black from the *Manhunt* live-streaming production crew swarmed around the police car.

Su Chen unlocked the doors, and the lead man in black opened the door, looking at Duan Yu with a hint of genuine regret.

"I'm sorry, Officer Duan. According to our crew's judgment, you were just taken down by Su Chen with a stun gun."

"And because Su Chen set the stun gun's output limit above the danger threshold beforehand, your current status is: dead!"

Hearing this and casting two more glances at Su Chen in the driver's seat, Duan Yu could not help but let out a long sigh.

It wasn't out of pity for his premature elimination.

It was because his confrontation with that mysterious hacker master was still unfinished...

Facing the eliminated Duan Yu, the lead man in black remained quite polite, making a gesture of invitation.

"Officer Duan, please be so kind as to move to our production crew's backstage area."

"There might be an interview about your thoughts shortly."

Thoughts?

The live stream's bullet comments couldn't help but burst into laughter.

[Officer Duan says I have no thoughts. Is I supposed to have thoughts about being taken down by Su Chen? The production crew loves adding insult to injury!]

[How does it feel to be the very first member of the expert panel to be taken down?]

[Hahaha, Officer Duan must still be completely dazed, considering they haven't even unraveled Su Chen's maze.]

[When the *Manhunt* live stream just started, I was wondering if the killer would be taken out in a single night. Who would've thought an expert panel member would be the first to bite the dust!]

[I hope Officer Duan's mind isn't utterly blown by Su Chen's operations when he gets backstage.]

[I pity Officer Duan for a second, but I pity the expert panel even more. At least Officer Duan figured out Su Chen before 'dying'.]

[He figured it out, but not entirely.]

As for Duan Yu, upon hearing the words "production crew backstage," he suddenly lifted his head.

"Just in time. I'd love to see the true face of that killer."

As soon as these words left his mouth, the men in black were slightly stunned.

Which killer?

"Officer Duan, isn't the killer... right in front of your eyes?"

The lead man in black asked in bewilderment.

"It's not him."

Duan Yu said, pulling on his coat, stepping past Su Chen, and walking toward the exit:

"Su Chen is indeed the mole planted by the killer syndicate within the expert panel, but what I truly want to know is the identity of that hacker master."

"Yes, I need a computer. Even backstage, my game of Go with that hacker is far from over."

Listening to these words, the men in black walked alongside Duan Yu with question marks filling their heads.

???

Since when was there a criminal syndicate?

Wasn't Su Chen the only killer this whole time?

However, looking at Duan Yu's resolute back, the men in black exchanged glances and ultimately didn't have the heart to spell it out.

They were afraid of crushing his spirits.

...

After Duan Yu was led away by the men in black,

inside the police car, only Su Chen remained...

along with a life-sized realistic doll.

This had been left behind by the production crew staff to serve as Duan Yu's "corpse."

In the driver's seat,

Su Chen gazed through the car window as Duan Yu's figure gradually faded into the distance. He picked up the phone Duan Yu had dropped in the car.

Then, finding Cui Liwan's number, he dialed directly.

At the same time, Su Chen activated the new skill [Disguise] in his mind, beginning to alter his voice.

After a few attempts, he finally produced a vocal timbre in his throat that was identical to Duan Yu's.

Enhanced by the [Disguise] ability, even his pitch and intonation were flawlessly mimicked.

Soon, the ringtone of Duan Yu's phone sounded for a few seconds before the call was connected.

From the earpiece came Elder Cui Liwan's vigorous voice.

"Xiao Duan, did you get any results from the killer identification?"

"Elder Cui, we've made a huge breakthrough this time!"

Su Chen replied using Duan Yu's voice, his tone sounding slightly excited.

"I investigated it myself, and combined with the information from the killer identification, I now know where the simulated killer of the *Manhunt* live stream is hiding!"

Hearing Su Chen's response, the volume of Elder Cui's voice on the other end suddenly spiked.

Under normal circumstances, the well-informed Elder Cui wouldn't react so intensely.

It could only be said that this virtual killer had been driving them entirely nuts this time around.

"Xiao Duan, tell me! I'll dispatch people immediately!"

Elder Cui spoke urgently through the earpiece.

"Right."

Su Chen slid a hand into his pocket, pulled out the resident information he had previously recorded, and continued, matching the notes:

"The virtual killer this time is named Zhao Xiaoyue, a woman in her forties."

"She is currently living at No. 106, Heping Avenue, Nanjiang District, Jinling City..."