Chapter 1

This volume is based on the film "Dial M for Murder" directed by Hitchcock, and the short story "Second-Rate Detective and Cat" written by Three Days Two Dreams (that's me).

If there are any similarities... well, I don't think you'd notice them even if I didn't say anything.

...

"Hehehe... Welcome to, Thriller Paradise..."

This was originally a familiar opening line for players, but at this moment, Feng Bujue felt a strong sense of unease upon hearing it.

Because the speaker's voice, tone, and trademark "hehehe" cackle all declared that the script before him was a devilish trap...

[Loading complete. You are currently in single-player survival mode (Nightmare).]

[This mode provides a script introduction and has a chance to generate side hidden quests and special worldviews.]

[Script completion reward: Double the base experience bonus upon settlement.]

[The script introduction will now play; the game will begin immediately after.]

The opening CG began immediately. First, Jue Ge saw blue skies and white clouds, and then he saw a cruise ship.

[You are an eccentric master detective.]

"Whoa, those words sound kind of familiar." Having already faintly sensed the abnormality, Jue Ge instantly recalled similar lines from his memory attic, "Is the next line going to be 'on an October's...'?"

[On an October afternoon, you decide to go out for a long trip.]

As it turned out, the narration spoke the second sentence before he could finish his inner retort.

"They really didn't even change the words..." Feng Bujue immediately continued, "But looking at the CG, the third sentence should be different, right..."

He guessed correctly. After all, this was at sea, so the next development couldn't possibly be a plot where "the detective's cheap rental car breaks down in the wilderness."

[You arrive in a seaside town, wandering aimlessly.]

[That night, in a bar in town, you strike up a conversation with a gentleman who loves to smoke a pipe, and you quickly become friends.]

[People who take things as they come are usually lucky. The gentleman happens to be a captain, and his ship, the "Bulldog," is docked in the harbor and will set sail early tomorrow morning.]

[The captain invites you aboard and promises to take you to his destination free of charge—an island not far from the coast of Wales.]

[The captain will also arrange for your room and board during the trip, although the conditions are only slightly better than the sailors', you'll at least have a private room.]

[In the end, at your insistence, the captain still symbolically charges you some fees and happily drinks a toast with you.]

[The next day, your island journey begins.]

The narration ended there, and the CG screen instantly switched to a scene of a pier.

The next second, Feng Bujue gained the ability to move.

He looked around and found himself in an open space not far from the pier. Behind him was the "Bulldog" cruise ship, and in front of him was a large billboard with a very exaggerated slogan: "Welcome to Kcochctih Island." Below the large letters, there was a line of smaller text: "Home to the best tuna in Western Europe."

After confirming his location, he began to look for clues about the "time."

Judging from the island's buildings, public facilities, and the clothing and electronic devices carried by passersby, the era of this script was clearly in the twenty-first century, but it was difficult to determine the specific era. After all, this was an "island town," and the overall standard of living could easily be ten or eight years behind that of a first-tier metropolis.

[Important reminder: You cannot use any items brought in from outside the script; the inventory is locked; the skill bar is locked; before leaving the script, your clothing will be temporarily changed to the style of the plot characters, and your physical fitness will also be adjusted to the level of real life.]

Just as Jue Ge was conducting a preliminary observation of the environment, another familiar prompt rang in his ears.

Almost at the same time as the system voice sounded, Feng Bujue looked down again, and his clothes had already changed into a very ordinary casual outfit, the kind he could wear in the real world without feeling out of place.

He immediately felt his pockets and found a cell phone, a charger compatible with the phone, a wallet, and a passport.

Jue Ge first picked up the phone and found that it was a smartphone that was relatively popular in the 2010s. Although he didn't know the password, he successfully unlocked the screen with his fingerprint.

After about a minute or so, he confirmed that there was only one useful piece of information on the phone, namely that the owner's username was "fengbujue." In other respects, the phone was basically in its factory settings.

Next, Jue Ge looked through the wallet, which contained several U.S. dollar and British pound bills of various denominations. If calculated according to the exchange rate in the 2010s, the total value was approximately equal to 2,000 RMB. In addition to cash, the wallet contained two credit cards. There were no other miscellaneous cards at all.

As for the passport... the system had blurred it. The text on it appeared to Feng Bujue as if it had been censored and was indistinguishable, even when using data vision. Therefore, he knew nothing about the nationality, age, or passport validity of the character he was playing.

Overall, he had very few possessions, and they didn't add up to much intelligence value.

Of course, Jue Ge didn't mind this, because at this time... he already basically knew the nature of this script.

"If nothing else goes wrong... the main quest of this script should be..." Just as Feng Bujue was muttering to himself.

The system voice suddenly sounded, as if to pick up on his words: [Main quest triggered]

Hearing this, Jue Ge opened the game menu and looked at the quest bar.

[Complete this script in thirty-three chapters.] This line, as well as a sub-quest below it—[Check into the Alfred Hotel]—appeared in Jue Ge's line of sight.

"Sigh..." After reading the two lines, Feng Bujue sighed and then looked up at the sky and said, "What's coming... will eventually come..."

...

A skilled murderer, an impenetrable locked room, an elusive motive.

A bizarre case that would normally take dozens of chapters to resolve, but becomes very simple due to the appearance of a man and a cat.

In front of the "Second-Rate Detective and Cat," such a case can be concluded in about ten chapters...

The pressure of life, the depletion of manuscripts.

The turning point of life, the distortion of inspiration.

In this crucial period before the grand finale of the book...

The desperate writer finally reawakens that legendary detective sealed in the darkness...

The man who must stretch the story to thirty-three chapters has returned!

The constantly emerging, bizarre reasoning, the ever-increasing number of suspects, the master detective who constantly disrupts the investigation—will he be able to bring the true culprit to justice?

This... is the legend of "Thirty-Three Chapter Detective vs. Second-Rate Detective and Cat!"