Night's Nomenclature
Chapter 268: Truth and Falsehood

“Unable to determine the level,” Lu Ya replied.

“How is it impossible to determine?” Li Si asked in the group chat, puzzled. “Such a high-intensity battle would surely reveal their strength, such as speed, strength, and if they are an Awakened One, their abilities would also be shown.”

In everyone's opinion, the Xingshu Road incident had caused such a commotion, with so many casualties, that it should have been extremely fierce.

Lu Ya disdainfully replied, “He used a sniper rifle, single-handedly crushing dozens of people, forcing everyone to hide behind utility poles. How am I supposed to judge his strength? All I can determine is that he was positioned on the rooftop of the Kailai Grand Hotel, approximately more than 900 meters from the target. With an anti-materiel sniper rifle at this distance, even a B-Class, if they don’t dodge in time, would still die.”

“Wait, you mean he was alone?” Li Si was stunned. “The photo Rebel King sent, was it really one person who did all this? One person killed so many?”

“Yes,” Lu Ya responded.

Li Si was shocked. “So no one got close to him?”

“There was,” Lu Ya replied. “I saw someone sneaking towards the Kailai Grand Hotel, but there was no further news.”

“In other words, everyone who saw him is dead,” Li Si concluded.

Lu Ya knew that Qing Chen had encountered enemies on the rooftop, but the problem was, he couldn't see clearly.

At that time, he had just run to the rooftop and was about to raise his binoculars when he was targeted by that terrifying sniper. If he hadn't reacted quickly, he might have died there too.

Every time Lu Ya thought about this, he felt a little irritated…

At that moment, Lu Ya even thought the other party was an A-Class expert, otherwise, why would they be so sensitive to his gaze?

That kind of perception is only possessed by A-Class experts.

But later, he reconsidered; the sniper being A-Class was unlikely. After all, if they were truly A-Class, they wouldn't need such long-range sniper tactics.

However, the information revealed by Lu Ya was crucial: a sniper who could accurately hit a target at more than 900 meters was capable of killing a B-Class expert.

Any organization possessing such a sniper would have a place in the Time Traveler circle.

Because it was a one-shot kill capability.

The problem is, Rebel King asked, “Are there any friends in the group who have served in the military? I want to know how long it takes to train such a sniper in the army?”

“Three years.”

In the group, an ID who rarely spoke, “Quiet Mountain,” said, “At least three years to have this battlefield suppression capability. There are indeed such people in the Time Traveler circle. I remember, they should be in Nine Provinces.”

For a moment, many people began to speculate. Quiet Mountain should have been a former soldier, and such people are now mostly concentrated in Kunlun and Nine Provinces.

It was not uncommon for people from Kunlun and Nine Provinces to be in the group.

Rebel King asked, “Since snipers are so difficult to cultivate, you should also know that it has only been two months since they crossed over. Even if they started training from day one, it’s certainly impossible. This greatly narrows down the range of the sniper’s identity.”

In the domestic environment, ordinary people don’t have the opportunity to be snipers. So this sniper is most likely a military figure, relatively older.

Here, everyone missed a piece of information, namely Qing Chen's learning ability, and the mysterious world of ‘Conquer with Virtue.’

Therefore, everyone's speculation began to deviate.

Students like Qing Chen were prioritized for exclusion.

Li Si became interested. “Could it be that Kunlun and Nine Provinces are at war? Otherwise, why would they use a sniper!”

Quiet Mountain replied again, “No.”

The group fell silent.

At this time, someone sent another photo.

Yue'er: “I also found a photo posted by a netizen. Luckily, I took a screenshot quickly; it’s been deleted now.”

The so-called deletion means it cannot be verified, and it is unknown who took the photo.

In the photo, Chen Siheng, who was under Qing Chen's control at the time, was attacked. Vaguely, everyone could see two blurry figures, one in front of and one behind, standing on the rooftop. The person behind the sniper raised their arm, as if holding a gun.

The photo was blurry, but one thing could be roughly seen: the sniper was being controlled.

“The sniper is dead? That’s too hasty. Didn’t he have any protection? He was approached so easily,” Li Si wondered.

Then, something unexpected happened. Huan Yu actively spoke in the group: “He’s not dead.”

After saying these three words, the Huan Yu ID fell silent again.

Everyone suddenly realized that one of the parties involved in the battle tonight was likely Huan Yu!

And most likely the losing party!

The next moment, Zhang San, who hadn’t spoken for a long time, asked, “Actually, you all took the photos yourselves, pretending they were screenshots from netizens, but you were all at the scene. Tell us what happened afterward.”

Yue'er: “I really found this online. As for Rebel King’s, I don’t know.”

Rebel King was annoyed. “You’re just clearing yourself, what’s the point? Can’t we have a loving atmosphere in the group? Aren’t we discussing serious business? Huan Yu is known to be a Demon Stamp holder. He suddenly came out to say the sniper is not dead, obviously knowing the inside story. So whoever has been confronting this holder recently is most likely the protagonist of tonight.”

“Glacial Eyes, Little Duck, Liu Dezhu,” Li Si summarized. “These three seem to have clashed with Huan Yu.”

Lu Ya coldly sent a message: “Without sufficient evidence, speculation is meaningless. Anyway, let me remind everyone, with such a sniper in the shadows, don’t be too arrogant, or you won’t know how you died. Those who were at the scene tonight should know that this sniper is very bloodthirsty.”

In the small room on Xingshu Road, Qing Chen sat on the sofa and said to Nangeng Chen, “Go ask He Xiaoxiao who was passing information to him yesterday.”

Nangeng Chen recalled that He Xiaoxiao had issued a warning last night, but the information was incorrect. An event that was supposed to happen tomorrow had already happened today.

Therefore, either He Xiaoxiao was cooperating with Huan Yu to spread false information, or someone deliberately gave He Xiaoxiao false information.

Little Duck asked in the group, “Group leader, you warned yesterday that a violent incident would occur in Luo City tomorrow. I want to know who gave you the information. This kind of intelligence deliberately misleading others should be exposed to prevent others from falling for it again.”

The group was silent for a moment, then He Xiaoxiao said, “Zhang San.”

Zhang San did not refute.

For a moment, everyone in the group felt that the group chat was too weird. Behind those strange IDs, there were many unknown secrets.

Qing Chen said to Nangeng Chen, “This Zhang San is likely Huan Yu’s person. There are a total of more than 20 people in this group, divided into several organizations and factions.”

…

…

At the scene of the incident, Lu Yuan stood on the rooftop and turned off his phone, no longer looking at the messages in the group.

He asked Little Eagle beside him, “Have you all been caught?”

“Yes, all the survivors tonight have been apprehended,” Little Eagle said. “I think they’re terrified. When we went to arrest them, they were hiding behind utility poles, afraid that there would be another sniper.”

This kind of oppressive feeling is only something a sniper can give.

Lu Yuan asked again, “Have you measured the straight-line distance? How far is the rooftop from his target?”

“The straight-line distance is 1040 meters,” Little Eagle muttered. “Team Leader Lu, this is no ordinary sniper. Look at his shooting range; they were all one-shot kills. And at this extreme distance of 1040 meters, he even precisely shot through Nangeng Chen’s legs and broke the leg of the criminal. It’s terrifying.”

Lu Yuan knew what Little Eagle meant.

A sniper's accuracy is considered standard at 800 meters. This is the level of most snipers. There are indeed not many snipers who can hit a target at more than 1000 meters.

Moreover, when shooting moving targets, the effective shooting accuracy is reduced to 600 meters and 400 meters.

Now, the sniper who appeared tonight had a 100% hit rate within 1000 meters. This effortless ability was enough to be called a sharpshooter.

Lu Yuan scratched his head. “Damn it, where did such a powerful sniper come from? Is this Liu Dezhu’s boss? And after this sniper was found on the rooftop, he actually killed two more people—one was shot dead, and the other had their neck slit. Logically, their deaths should be the same. Why slit the neck when there was a gun?”

“The bodies have been moved, so the causal relationship cannot be determined,” Little Eagle said. “The sniper probably deliberately destroyed the scene before leaving, not wanting us to know the truth.”

The one shot dead was Chen Siheng, who was controlled by Marionette.

The one who had their neck slit from behind was Zhou Yong, who came here to find the sniper.

Qing Chen didn't want people to see that Chen Siheng was controlled, so he messed up the scene before leaving.

Lu Yuan thought for a moment and said, “Let’s go, let’s check the other scenes downstairs.”

With that, he turned and walked toward the stairs behind him, following Qing Chen’s previous footprints.

On the fourth floor, Lu Yuan picked up a shell on the ground. “A total of four shells. Judging from the position of these shells, the sniper fired here, hitting the killer downstairs… It sounds so bizarre. There’s half a floor in between, how did he hit it?”

Lu Yuan went downstairs. He suddenly saw a dent on the iron door. “Is this a gunshot mark? Damn…”

“What’s wrong, Team Leader Lu?” Little Eagle didn’t understand why Lu Yuan reacted so strongly.

But Lu Yuan looked at the iron door, then at the killer’s death location, and finally at the location where the shells were scattered. “The sniper fired four shots on the previous floor, and then used the ricocheted bullets to hit the killer?! Little Eagle, take the door apart and take it back for testing. I want to know if the dent on this door was made by a bullet!”

“Team Leader Lu, what you’re saying is a bit too mysterious,” Little Eagle was surprised. “Is there really something like gun fighting in this world? We all play with guns. Don’t scare me.”

Lu Yuan glanced at him. “Then have you ever heard of time travel, Time Traveler, Awakened One, Gene Soldiers, Cultivators?”

“It seems so,” Little Eagle sighed.

“By the way,” Lu Yuan remembered something. “When you returned this time, you mentioned to the boss that Qing Chen’s gun skills in the Inner World are very good, and his learning ability is also very strong. Is that true?”

“Of course it’s true. It is said that every shot hits the bullseye. You can identify the type of firearm just by listening to the gunshot!” Little Eagle said.

Lu Yuan pondered. “Then do you think he might have mastered this kind of gun fighting technique?”

“That’s possible, but Team Leader Lu, he doesn’t know how to use a sniper rifle,” Little Eagle said. “Lao Jiu told us that Qing Chen hasn’t even had time to go to the shooting range. Even if his learning ability is strong, he can’t be so good without even touching a sniper rifle, right?”

Lu Yuan thought for a moment and said, “That’s right, but we’ve overlooked one point; the sniper may not have come alone. You said that Nangeng Chen was kidnapped tonight, and then the sniper appeared. Nangeng Chen and Qing Chen usually go home from school together. Why did Nangeng Chen go home alone today?”

Lu Yuan continued to analyze, “So, Qing Chen might have been ambushing here with the sniper. You know, the significance of a sniper having an observer is to prevent being attacked from close range. Qing Chen might have been such an ‘observer,’ and the sniper is their boss. Someone in the group posted a photo of the sniper being controlled earlier, the gun was pointed at the back of his head, but Huan Yu said the sniper was not dead… In that situation, someone must have saved the sniper nearby.”

This is the most plausible guess.

Lu Yuan didn’t quite believe that Qing Chen, who had never touched a sniper rifle, could achieve tonight’s suppression effect.

The two finally arrived downstairs, where Qing Chen shot and killed the C-Class.

Outside the emergency exit, under the tree where the C-Class expert had hidden, there were eight bullet holes.

“Strange, a battle clearly took place here, why can’t we find the body?” Lu Yuan wondered.

What he found strange was that the deceased C-Class had been sacrificed by Qing Chen adventurously, because the boy wanted to know if sacrificing high-level Metahumans’ bodies would speed up the branching speed of Marionette.