Hearing Vill-V's excited voice, Fu Li shifted his gaze to the game console in her hands.
On the screen, the previously empty hallway was now occupied by a figure completely wrapped in a black robe.
Contrary to their earlier deductions, the visitor was not a stout, middle-aged man.
In the brief moment she turned sideways, they could see that beneath the robe was a hunched old woman, her face full of wrinkles, walking with a slight limp.
She stood before Charlotte's door and knocked. A moment later, the door opened.
On the screen, Charlotte seemed to be about to invite the old woman inside, but after her peripheral vision caught sight of the camera, she dismissed the idea. Instead, she deliberately spoke to the old woman in a slightly raised voice.
After a greeting, Charlotte got straight to the point.
"Hello, are you the owner of that ring?"
"Yes, my name is Soya. That ring is my daughter Sally's engagement ring. If you don't believe me, you can look at the inside of the band."
The old woman's voice was a bit hoarse. She coughed before continuing, "Her husband bought her a DR diamond ring. Each man can only order one in his entire life, representing eternal, unchanging love. I believe the serial number is 167722."
"Very well, please allow us to confirm, Miss Soya."
Charlotte maintained a proper smile on her face. She took the diamond ring from Watson and, after pretending to compare it carefully, smiled and handed it to the old woman.
"Yes, ma'am, we have confirmed it. This is indeed the ring your daughter lost."
"Heh heh, thank you, you kind young people. If it weren't for you, my daughter would surely have been blamed by her husband."
The old woman thanked Charlotte. She seemed a bit nervous as she wrapped the ring. After saying her goodbyes, she quickly walked away.
"Tsk, interesting."
Vill-V, who had watched the entire exchange on the screen, let out a soft chuckle. The moment the old woman turned around, her fingers began to move deftly.
On the screen, the robot's perspective shook slightly with her controls, followed by the faint sound of moving gears.
Then, a black dot shot rapidly across the screen, striking the old woman squarely in the back.
Feeling the impact, the old woman flinched, then quickly looked back down the hallway, but saw nothing.
Vill-V's robot, having fired its homemade tracker, had already hidden in a blind spot in the hallway, perfectly avoiding the old woman's searching gaze.
Faintly, a very quiet curse seemed to echo from the hallway.
Vill-V paid the curse no mind. She quickly clicked the mouse, and the image on the screen was replaced by what looked like a GPS navigation app.
"Hmph, hmph. Li, let's go."
Vill-V hummed smugly, grabbing her jacket from the sofa. "That person just now was definitely not the murderer. But I have a feeling that person will meet with the actual killer."
As she spoke, she mused to herself:
"And although I only got a quick look, I'm eighty percent certain that face was fake. He could be a young man, or an adult. Who knows?"
"In any case, with you here to protect me, I have nothing to fear from him."
"Heh, of course."
Fu Li patted Vill-V's little head, also grabbing his jacket and quickly putting it on.
In contrast to Vill-V's excitement, his expression was one of helpless calm, like an older brother indulging his little sister's antics.
When they ran out the door, they unsurprisingly ran right into Charlotte, who was now wearing her trench coat.
Charlotte smiled. "I knew it. That little gadget from earlier was yours. I'm rather curious, is that one of your DA's newest inventions, or is it Miss Vill-V's own creation?"
"Mhm, I believe Miss Charlotte already knows the answer to that in her heart."
Fu Li said faintly. Though his tone was calm, one could detect a hint of pride, like a parent showing off their child.
"Heh... is that so?"
Charlotte raised an eyebrow, clearly having arrived at her own conclusion.
Even though she knew, she couldn't help but raise her evaluation of Vill-V once again, feeling secretly astonished.
In terms of deductive ability, she was definitely stronger than Vill-V. But when it came to Vill-V's monstrous creativity, she truly couldn't compare.
Ordinarily, she would have certainly tried to probe further, but they were in the middle of a competition.
After sighing internally, Charlotte didn't stand on ceremony. She took the lead and rushed out the door, apparently intending to tail the suspect.
Seeing her hurry, Vill-V stared for a moment, then couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"This girl... what era does she think this is? Still playing at tailing someone on foot. Hasn't she heard of tracking devices?"
With that, she led Fu Li and began to follow behind Charlotte at a leisurely pace.
In the current situation, she appeared to be one step behind Charlotte, but in reality, she had a complete grasp of both parties' movements.
The red dot on the screen was moving very quickly, which also confirmed that this person was definitely not some old woman.
In other words, Vill-V's earlier deduction was correct.
However, about thirty minutes into their pursuit, they suddenly noticed that the red dot had stopped moving. At the same time, Charlotte also stopped and hailed a taxi.
Seeing this, before Vill-V could even speak, Fu Li also raised his hand and hailed another taxi.
"Nice work, Li," Vill-V said happily as they both slid into the cab.
Fu Li simply said to the driver, "Sir, could you please follow that car up ahead?"
"That car ahead?"
The taxi driver was clearly amused and joked, "You two little tykes, have you been watching too many movies? Playing at being in a chase scene?"
"No, sir," Vill-V said, habitually putting on her deceptive act. "Our older sister is in that car. It looks like she's going on a date, and we're curious, so we want to follow and see."
Her tone was very polite, and her good-girl act was obviously hard to refuse.
Thus, the driver puffed out his chest and said, "Alright, I get it. Leave it to me."
Just as the driver had promised, his driving skills were quite good. But as the three cars weaved through countless streets and finally stopped on the next block, something unexpected happened.
The taxi carrying Charlotte slowly came to a halt. Fu Li and Vill-V paid their fare and naturally followed behind her.
Suddenly, Charlotte stopped. Fu Li and Vill-V could faintly hear a string of vicious curses coming from the first taxi.
From the sound of it, the driver was cursing because his passenger had vanished into thin air at some point, without even leaving the fare.
However...
Vill-V raised her arm, looking at the red dot that was still positioned right where the taxi was. A strange smile appeared on her face.
Making a person disappear into thin air wasn't a difficult magic trick. But in the face of technology, such an inferior illusion was nothing more than a joke.