—You don’t want anything to happen to your close friend, do you?—

When Albert walked into the police station with Ranen, he inevitably drew everyone’s attention.

A middle-aged police officer with a ruddy nose spoke casually, “Hey, Aiken, who’s this handsome young man? I didn’t know you had a taste for this kind of flavor.”

“Shut up, Old Mike,” Aiken replied curtly with a laugh, “Watch your language. This is my junior, and I brought him here to help. Isn’t he speaking yet?”

Old Mike shrugged. “As usual, those damn scoundrels don’t regard us officers at all. They’re demanding a lawyer before they’ll say anything.”

“I understand. I’ll go check the situation.”

Without waiting for any other reactions, Albert hurriedly led Ranen inside.

His decision proved correct, as shortly after he left, some of the younger officers reacted. One female officer exclaimed, “Oh my god, did you see the person following Aiken? At first, I thought he was a celebrity.”

“Yeah, he’s incredibly good-looking,” another female officer agreed, “After seeing him, those stars on TV seem just average.”

Old Mike curled his lip. “Seriously? Although that guy is handsome and quite charming, he’s not exactly TV material.”

He had just finished speaking when he received pitying looks from the two women.

“What’s with you?”

“Honestly, I feel sorry for your sense of aesthetics.”

—-

Meanwhile, Ranen followed Albert through the police station, with passing officers gazing at his face in awe.

Ranen, used to the attention from his time at the hospital, was no longer surprised. Curiously, he asked, “Was that person you mentioned earlier the reason you brought me here?”

“Yes, he’s quite a troublesome issue,” Albert said. “Do you know about the Black Poker?”

“…Not really,” Ranen replied.

“Alright, I forgot you had an accident earlier. The Black Poker are a gang in our city, you know, the kind you’d expect,” Albert offered Ranen an excuse. “Their mark is different poker tattoos on their bodies. The higher their rank, the higher the value of the poker cards tattooed on them. So, it’s best to avoid anyone with poker tattoos if you see them on the street.”

Ranen nodded and silently took note of this information.

Soon, under Albert’s guidance, Ranen arrived at an interrogation room. As they entered, the other police officers in the room turned to look at them.

The interrogation room was similar to what Ranen had seen in films from his previous life. A large single-pane glass separated the two rooms, allowing a clear view of the suspect’s movements. One police officer was responsible for questioning the suspect, while the others stayed in the observation room, watching the interrogation through the glass.

In the room, besides the police officers, there was also a young man in a white lab coat. With black hair and black eyes, he looked about 28 years old. His face was stern, with prominent cheekbones giving him a somewhat harsh and cold appearance. He wore silver-rimmed glasses and, while observing the suspect’s facial expressions, made notes in his notebook. He glanced over at them when he heard the noise at the door.

His gaze met Ranen’s as he entered with Albert, and both of them visibly froze.

The former’s eyes revealed a hint of astonishment, while Ranen’s face was filled with clear surprise.

It seemed that he recognized this person.

Noticing that their eye contact lingered for a bit too long, Albert cleared his throat, stepping between the black-haired youth and Ranen, and introduced, “This is Ranen, a friend of mine. This is Archie Hayes, our department’s criminal psychology consultant.”

Archie Hayes.

Ranen’s eyes widened slightly. It is indeed the same name.

He had a vivid impression of both the name and the face.

Because the person in question was a well-known important NPC in the later stages of the game.

Question: In this world where investigative gameplay is the selling point, what kind of NPC is the most important? A career mentor? A faction leader?

No! It’s a psychologist who can restore sanity and help players recover from madness!

Once a player’s character card falls into permanent madness, it becomes unusable, so veteran players highly value their powerful old cards.

In the old tabletop RPGs, investigators would usually receive rewards to restore their sanity after completing an instance. However, in this game, it was taken to a more realistic level—only a visit to a psychologist, preferably a highly skilled one, could help players recover from temporary madness.

As a result, Archie became highly sought after. Many players wanted to build a good relationship with him to receive treatment as soon as possible. Coupled with his arrogant and sharp-tongued personality, handsome appearance, and mysterious past, these three factors combined to make players’ favor towards him rise rapidly.

Of course, this NPC wasn’t always so popular. In fact, due to his sharp tongue and difficult demeanor, he was once consistently voted the ‘Most Hated NPC’ on player forums.

By the way, at that time, Archie was also a frequent guest in the fan-made dark fall and mob instances.

Until a plotline involving Archie’s past was revealed.

[How could I possibly forget him]

[In my heart, that burning city has never left!]

This was a special instance related to Archie’s past, unlocked by players who focused on increasing their favorability with him and had gained a certain level of trust from the NPC.

The most surprising aspect for players was that Archie’s exclusive instance was linked to the game’s storyline about the destruction of Arkham in the past, but it unfolded from Archie’s perspective. Although the outcome remained an unchangeable failure, experiencing the game’s most famous instance from a different viewpoint and uncovering numerous side quests and characters satisfied many players.

Some players shared details about the instance, which sparked widespread attention and discussion. Soon, detail-oriented players, known for their Sherlock Holmes-like investigative skills, gathered information from various clues and identified the “him” mentioned by Archie as the person in a photo frame on Archie’s office desk.

The photo had always been placed at the bottom of the frame.

It was as if the people in the office were unwilling to directly confront the person in the photo.

If one were to sneak into the office while Archie was absent and lift the frame, they would find a photo of two people together. Based on the information Archie had revealed, it was inferred that the person in the photo was Archie’s lifelong friend, who had died in Arkham for unknown reasons.

After that, Archie seemed to have been investigating his friend’s death, refusing to believe that he was really gone.

To players, this was clearly a sign that Archie could not move past the shadow of his friend’s death.

Such poignant storylines were classic examples of the genre in tabletop RPGs.

With the release of this exclusive imstance, the forums were quickly flooded with fan creations. As various works accumulated, Archie’s popularity soared. Coupled with his unique abilities, he swiftly transformed from the most unpopular NPC into everyone’s beloved character.

Even though Ranen hadn’t paid much attention to the fan creation scene in his past life, he knew how high Archie’s popularity had soared, along with several out-of-context memes.

For example, “Archie, you don’t want anything to happen to your close friend, do you?”

Ugh! Not that kind of meme!

Ranen shook his head, trying to rid himself of the inappropriate thoughts… Wait a minute, if he thought about it, Archie’s dear friend’s profession seemed to be a police officer.

Ranen suddenly turned to Albert, unable to resist scrutinizing him closely. Albert noticed Ranen’s gaze and, though somewhat puzzled, tried to offer a bright, sunny smile.

…Could it really be you? The white moonlight in the fanfiction’s redemption story!

Even though Ranen hadn’t seen that photo, he had heard of tags like “little sun” and “blonde hot man.” He couldn’t help but glance at Albert’s shoulders, waist, and hips.

…Yep, definitely hot.

At this point, Archie had recovered from his initial astonishment. He glanced at Albert with a peculiar expression, turned his head back, and said coldly, “Still the same. I’d advise you to give up soon; this guy is an old hand. Trying to extract information from him through simple questioning is unrealistic.”

He then couldn’t help but curl his lips into a smirk. “Of course, if you agree to let me use some special methods, there might still be hope.”

“Cough, that’s not an option. Recently, human rights organizations have been very strict. Even using intimidating language could land us in court next week,” Albert said, his expression filled with frustration.

“Well, in that case, I’m out of ideas. Don’t waste time on this. Just give up.”

“But I’m very concerned about the recent activities of the Black Poker…” Albert cleared his throat. “So I’ve found another psychologist to assist you…”

The black-haired youth’s expression immediately turned cold, and a trace of a sneer appeared on his lips. “Did I hear you wrong, Albert? You’re bringing in someone to replace me?”

“No, I never meant that,” Albert quickly shook his hands. “It’s just that the recent movements of the Black Poker are too strange. There must be some changes we don’t know about. If we can’t find out what’s happening, we’ll be left in a passive position later on.”

Archie ignored him and turned to Ranen. “How many years have you been in this profession?”

Ranen was momentarily stunned, not expecting Archie to address him. After hesitating for a moment, he replied, “I just started in this field, less than a year.”

Considering his previous experience, he had been in the profession for around five or six years, but the original person had just graduated from school, so saying it was less than a year was flattering.

Archie noticed this discrepancy, looked at Ranen’s youthful face, and immediately understood. He sneered and turned away. “Charlie, show them out.”

The police officer beside them glanced awkwardly at Albert and the others.

Ranen wasn’t angry, as he wasn’t a specialist in criminal psychology. This was Dr. Archie’s domain, and it was natural for it to be handled by a professional. Moreover, the original person was just a recent graduate with no experience, so it was unrealistic to expect much trust.

However, Albert seemed to misunderstand Ranen’s silence. Turning to reassure him, he said, “Don’t worry, Ranen. Regardless of the outcome, you’ll be paid for today.”

Archie replied, “I don’t recall the police department being a charity organization.”

“Archie, come with me. I need to speak with you,” Albert said, stepping forward to put a hand on Archie’s shoulder and leading him towards the door, ignoring Archie’s cold demeanor.

—-

As soon as they exited the interrogation room, Archie immediately shrugged off Albert’s hand from his shoulder, taking a step back and irritably adjusting his lab coat. “Don’t touch me. Has your brain been coated with pig fat? You actually brought an outsider into the interrogation room.”

“He’s not entirely an outsider,” Albert tried to explain.

“Indeed, a naive newbie fresh out of the ivory tower, thinking they can handle this field just by learning a bit from textbooks. He’s not even an outsider,” Archie sneered, leaning against the wall and glaring at Albert. “And you? You can’t possibly be ignorant enough to believe he can make any difference. Even selling his face would be more reliable than showing up in a psychological treatment room. Don’t tell me you did this stupid thing because you have a crush on him.”

At these words, Albert was silent for a long time. Archie frowned and squinted at him. “Don’t tell me you really…”

“I actually came to ask for your help,” Albert changed the subject.

“What? If you’re talking about giving him a chance or something…” Archie fixed him with a threatening stare.

“It’s not that,” Albert shook his head, hesitated for a moment, and said, “Actually, I brought him here today because I want you to assess Ranen’s psychological condition.”

“What do you mean?”

Albert hesitated for a moment before saying, “Actually, I think Ranen has become a bit strange since his injury healed.”

Archie frowned. “Do you have any specific examples?”

“For instance, he hasn’t recovered his previous memories,” Albert said, supporting his chin with his thumb. “And… his behavior patterns are a bit different from before…”

After hesitating for a few seconds, he shook his head. “Maybe I’m overthinking it, but I’m concerned that the fire might have left psychological trauma. I tried to hint at having him see a psychiatrist while he was in the hospital, but he was very resistant. Ranen also has a degree in psychology, so if he’s on guard, forcing psychological treatment wouldn’t be effective.”

“So you brought him here for that reason?” Archie raised an eyebrow, grudgingly accepting the explanation. “But I refuse.”

“Why?”

“First, my field of study is criminal psychology, not psychological disorders. Second,” Archie looked at him, “even if he does have psychological issues, what does it have to do with you? I don’t remember you being such a goody-goody.”

Albert opened his mouth, but under Archie’s gaze, a flush gradually spread to his ears, and his eyes subconsciously darted away.

“…Hey, you’re not actually…”

“Please, Archie,” Albert said, “you’re the only expert in psychology I know. Only you can help me.”

Archie was silent for a moment, then looked away. “I’ll conduct a psychological assessment, but I can’t guarantee the results.”

Albert sighed with relief. “That’s enough.”