Top game producer

After giving directions to the blonde guy, the security guard asked with a puzzled look, "Hey, what are you doing in the storage room? Aren't you going to the opening ceremony?"

"Thanks, buddy!"

Li Jun was a bit puzzled, "Someone's going to the storage room, and you, a security guard, aren't raising any alarms?"

He thought, maybe the storage room wasn't where the art museum kept the paintings, but more like a utility room, so the security guard wasn't so concerned?

That was the only way to explain it.

But someone coming to the art museum not to see the exhibition, but heading straight for the storage room, still seemed very suspicious!

It could only be attributed to the limitations of the game itself.

Although the "Sound Detective" form of solving cases was novel, trying to fit all the content of a case into the same time and the same map inevitably led to some small loopholes.

Like Li Zhongwen calling his subordinate in the police station, thinking about it, it was absurd: even if you're in a hurry to silence someone, you're only in a hurry for two minutes, do you have to expose your conspiracy in the police station?

Also, does a police station only have 2 police officers, and an art museum only have 3 staff members?

If you were pursuing realism and rationality, for example, stretching a case to 30 minutes, with only a small amount of dialogue containing useful information, and adding more irrelevant people—but doing so would undoubtedly greatly reduce the gameplay.

After arriving at the storage room, the blonde guy wandered around like a headless fly for a couple of laps, complaining, "This damn storage room is so messy, where am I supposed to find the safe?"

After wandering around for a long time, he finally found the safe where Old Xu kept the painting, entered the password, and took the painting.

He left the storage room with the painting and headed towards the room above the storage room.

This room seemed to be a restroom, with a toilet, sink, and urinal.

The blonde guy went into the restroom and, amidst the sound of rushing water, called Old Xu, "Old man, I got the goods!"

Huh?

Li Jun noticed that the blonde guy was making the call next to the urinal outside, while in the toilet stall inside, there was a white circle without a name marked on it!

Of the 7 names, only Mike hadn't been marked yet, so Li Jun marked the white circle as Mike.

This Mike was undoubtedly the thief hired by Director Liu.

"Then where's the balance? Hello?"

As soon as the blonde guy told Old Xu that he had the goods, Old Xu hung up, leaving only a series of "beep, beep, beep" busy signals, causing the blonde guy to curse "damn" in confusion!

Li Jun was speechless, "So the blonde guy stole the painting, but was overheard by Mike hiding inside? His vigilance is too poor... how dare he brag about himself?"

Mike slowly came out of the restroom, moved next to the blonde guy, and struck up a conversation, "Hey buddy, got a light? Can I bum a light?"

He seemed to suddenly notice the painting the blonde guy was holding and asked suspiciously, "Hey? What's that you've got there?"

The blonde guy had just hummed comfortably, seemingly relieving himself, but didn't expect to be asked this question, and became nervous, "Uh? This?…"

Mike pretended to be ignorant, "Is that a replica of Master Xu's painting? I just bought one, what about you?"

Li Jun understood, "Mike has a painting on him now, claiming he just bought it, but it should be stolen.

At this point, Director Liu learned that the real painting was with Secretary Ma, called Mike, told him that the one he stole was fake, and told him to run away quickly.

Mike thought he had stolen a fake painting and was about to slip away, when he happened to overhear the blonde guy's phone call, and definitely thought that his was the real deal.

His current plan is probably to try to get close to the blonde guy and see if he can get his hands on the blonde guy's painting.

So he knows the blonde guy is also stealing, but he's deliberately not exposing him."

The blonde guy realized that Mike didn't suspect him of stealing the painting, and his tense spirit immediately relaxed. Following this explanation, he laughed unnaturally and exaggeratedly, "Oh~ haha, right, right, right! Whew~"

Taking advantage of relieving himself, he whistled to cover up his fright.

Mike continued to get close to the blonde guy, very amiably saying, "Hey, buddy, want one? Can't smoke in the art museum, it's killing me!"

A quick way to build rapport is to find a topic to complain about. For example, when slackers interact, as long as they say the exam was too difficult, they did terribly, and got scolded by their parents when they got home, they will immediately feel a sense of mutual sympathy.

The blonde guy's mentality was similar at this time. As someone without artistic talent, seeing Mike complain about the rules of the art museum, he instantly found him much more pleasing to the eye, "Have one, have one!"

"Okay!"

Mike took a deep breath and exhaled a long breath, spewing out fragrant words, "Whew~~~ Oh man, this breath finally feels good! It's so hard when the nicotine cravings hit! So many rules for seeing a painting, I've been holding it in for half an hour! What about you?"

The blonde guy knew he was stealing the painting, and perhaps wanted to slip away at this moment, but he didn't want to appear too eager and arouse suspicion, and couldn't save face, so he said awkwardly, "Oh~ me too, me too!"

Just then.

"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"

A piercing alarm sounded.

Li Jun was stunned, "Oh, this should be a smoke alarm, not an alarm for a stolen exhibit, because there's been no abnormality in the exhibition hall."

"Oh shoot!" Mike shouted something, but his voice was drowned out by the alarm, and at the same time, his white circle and the blonde guy's overlapped.

The blonde guy raised his voice and complained, "Hey, watch where you're going! Pay attention!"

Mike hurriedly apologized, "Oh, sorry, sorry! Hey, hey, here's your painting."

"Damn," the blonde guy cursed and walked away.

Li Jun analyzed, "Mike probably already knew that the art museum had smoke detectors. He took advantage of the chaos caused by the smoke detector to bump into the blonde guy, and then took the opportunity to swap his painting."

This is also one of the common methods of thieves. Some organized thieves have one person bump into someone to attract attention, and another person takes the opportunity to steal.

Now what needs to be confirmed is, first, whether Mike actually swapped the paintings, and second, whether this painting is actually real.

When Mike finally met with Director Liu, he definitely reported the information, but at that time the exhibition had already started, the sound was noisy, and he didn't listen too carefully.

Li Jun followed Mike this time and listened again.

After seeing Director Liu, Mike whispered, "Hey, Director Liu, I finally found it!"

Director Liu had already called and notified Mike to run away, so he was extremely surprised to see Mike at this time, and also very angry, "Mike? Why haven't you left yet?!"

"Hey, look at this painting, this time it should be real, right? Hey? You have one too?"

Li Jun solved a problem, "Since Mike asked 'this time it should be real, right', he definitely swapped the painting he stole with the one the blonde guy stole."

Which of the three paintings, Director Liu's, Mike's, or the one the security guard recovered, is the real one?

Li Jun decided to go back to the beginning of the audio and see how Mike stole it.