Huh? Isn't This A Galgame?

The sound of the system prompt quickly echoed in Wen Nan's mind—

9527: [System internal key information scanning detection program enabled for you, please wait...]

Xu Dongsheng was completely confused, letting the chairman tightly grasp his wrist, placing it in front of his eyes, entirely unaware of what was happening.

At this moment, before Wen Nan, in a place Xu Dongsheng could not see, a square window opened, scanning Xu Dongsheng's palm, from fingertips to palm, then to the wrist, like scanning a QR code.

9527: [Scan complete, detecting key information...]

9527: [Detection complete! Congratulations player! Successfully found the murder weapon for this case!]

9527: [Congratulations! Side plot completion updated to 100%!]

9527: [Congratulations player! You received the exclusive reward of the side plot 'Who killed Xueying'—100 attribute points.]

9527: [Due to the unique nature of the murder weapon in this side plot, the achievement is eligible for sharing. Would you like to share your results?]

A series of system prompts continually surfaced in Wen Nan's mind.

Xu Dongsheng watched the strange smile appear on the chairman's face and then saw his own mission countdown enter the last ten seconds, he couldn't help but blurt out: "Chairman, what exactly—"

Halfway through his question, a system prompt suddenly confirmed the sharing of results in his mind, and then, the side mission completion notification popped up.

Xu Dongsheng was completely dumbfounded, staring at his palm in disbelief, flipping it back and forth.

Did the chairman just scan his hand, and the mission was completed?

That means...

"I, I'm, I'm the murder weapon?! How, how is this possible?!" he exclaimed, eyes almost bulging out, "Did I kill Jiang Xueying?! Impossible! I don't remember anything! Was I possessed?"

Wen Nan shook his head helplessly.

In this side mission, there's a very crucial misleading piece of information—

The "Xueying" in the mission title is not the housekeeper Jiang Xueying who they saw lying on the ground.

Once that point is established, the side mission becomes very, very simple.

Ever since they stepped into the Snow Mountain Villa, Jiang Xueying had told them they could call her Xiao Xue, and the locals in the villa also referred to her as Xiao Xue.

So, why isn't the side mission called "Who killed Xiao Xue," but rather "Who killed Xueying"?

Because this Xueying is not Xiao Xue.

So, who is Xueying?

This matter needs to start from when Wen Nan first used his Mind Reading Technique in this villa—

The first time Wen Nan used the Mind Reading Technique on Chef Xiao Ji, Xiao Ji's inner voice was a soothing love song, "So You're Here Too."

At the time, Wen Nan simply thought the other party was brainwashed by this love song, hence constantly playing it on a loop in her mind, thus Wen Nan could only hear her off-key singing.

However, not long ago, Xiao Huang and Wen Nan went to the back kitchen, and inside Xiao Ji's room, they found a lighter with a music box function hidden in the sofa cushion compartment, and Wen Nan's previous speculation was overturned.

Playing from that music box was exactly "So You're Here Too," and this was the true inner voice Wen Nan heard at the time.

Why wasn't Xiao Ji brainwashed by the music box, singing the song in her mind, but Wen Nan's Mind Reading Technique heard the music box's sound?

Because what the music box played was not the original song but an off-key rap version!

Even the pitch errors and distortion points were identical; no one could constantly loop it in their mind and accurately mimic those errors.

If someone believes it's still possible to loop those distortions in their mind (since there's the existence of godsongs like "Burn My Calories"), Wen Nan has two additional pieces of evidence to further support this hypothesis—

First, there's Maid Xiao Huang's inner voice, that "huff huff" breathing sound, and "gurgle gurgle" sound, Wen Nan initially didn't understand what they were.

But upon finding Xu Dongsheng, Wen Nan confirmed—it was the purring sound of the huge fat ginger cat bigger than a wolf, lying on its back, sleeping lazily.

In other words, when Chef Xiao Ji was selected as the skill target, Wen Nan heard the sound of that Female War God music box lighter, and when Maid Xiao Huang was selected, he heard the sound of the cat, Little Y.

If this were the first time entering this game world, it might be hard to accept, but after experiencing the last instance, this situation is not difficult to understand—

This is quite similar to the soul puppets or characters controlled by soul threads in the previous instance. Xiao Ji and that music box, Xiao Huang and the ginger cat, because of some reason or a special item, were bound together, souls intertwined (or exchanged), causing Wen Nan's Mind Reading Technique to be improperly positioned.

If so, Wen Nan made a bold guess—

The housekeeper Jiang Xueying also had a similar binding, and what was her true form?

It was that broken long-neck vase.

Wen Nan rushed back to the restaurant entrance, seeing the remaining vase's base inscribed with a [Jing] character, as a pair, the base of the other broken vase likely read [Ying].

Xueying is the name of that broken long-neck vase.

Then, the title of this side mission can be translated to: 'Who broke the long-neck vase of snowy porcelain?'

The answer is obvious, it's Xu Dongsheng, with his restless little hand, pushed it down.

And scanning Xu Dongsheng's palm showed the side mission as completed, confirming Wen Nan's guess.

This also explains why, during the meal earlier, when Xu Dongsheng nearly smashed the vase on the table, Jiang Xueying suddenly turned furious, and also why Jiang Xueying repeatedly emphasized in her rules for staying not to touch snowy porcelain.

It also explains why Jiang Xueying's body showed no external injuries—her death was because her true form, the long-neck vase named "Xueying," was shattered, not due to an attack on her body.

By this point, everything was clear.

Wen Nan suddenly understood why this side mission had such a small reward.

One reason is that once the hidden meaning behind the task title is guessed, finding the weapon is incredibly easy.

Additionally, once this side mission is resolved, their first main quest also naturally concludes!