[Vote] The Fraunhofer Deception - Detective Game (3-week edition)

💡 Attention - A Reminder of Extended Event Duration💡

Due to the upcoming public holiday, the duration of this detective game will be extended to 3 weeks. With a story that is more complicated this time.

The new submission deadline is February 27, 2026.

To make up for the extended duration, rewards will be boosted accordingly!

The top three participants who provide the correct answers along with a high-quality reasoning process will receive rewards of 3000, 2000, and 1000 points respectively based on their order of submission.

Participants vote with the correct answer will receive 3x vote points, and those who submit answers with a thoughtful deduction process will earn 2-3x bonus points as well according to the quality of answer.

The extension only applies to this single event, and after this we'll back to our normal weekly routine :>

🎇Thank you for your understanding and support! Happy Chinese New Year, and may the spirit of steed always be with you! 🐎

👇Without further ado, let's then dive into the game. Shall we 👇

☀ Not all "Truths" are visible, and when it does, it could be a fabrication 🌙

📕Story Background

The "Iron Gate" impound lot is a fortress of solitude located deep in the San Francisco fog belt. To cut through the dense marine layer, the facility is illuminated exclusively by vintage, industrial Low-Pressure Sodium (LPS) lamps. These ancient, humming bulbs bathe the entire ten-acre yard in a singular, intense frequency of orange-yellow light (589.3 nm).

The effect is disorienting: the light is so pure that it acts as a monochromatic filter, stripping the world of color. Under the sodium glare, the vibrant graffiti on the trains turns into dull gray smears, and the blue ocean nearby looks like black ink.

At 3:00 AM, the alarm shattered the silence. A confiscated prototype sports car, the "Viper," was stolen from the central bay. The thief managed to hotwire the vehicle, drive it to the North Fence, and flee on foot before security could intercept.

You arrive on the scene to interview the five personnel present. The air is thick with yellow fog, making everyone look like sepia-toned ghosts.

A) Mara (The Dispatcher) Mara is in the glass-walled control tower, staring out into the opaque haze. "I wish I could help, Detective," she sighs. "But look out the window. The sodium lights are great for the cameras, but for the human eye? The fog scatters that yellow light into a solid wall. I was glued to the thermal radar screen. I saw a heat signature move from the center to the north wall, but I couldn't identify the person. By the time I radioed Finch, the signal was gone."

B) Kael (The Mechanic) You find Kael in the open-air garage, wiping grease off his hands. He looks frustrated. "I was under the lift working on the patrol jeep," he explains. "I didn't see the theft, but I heard it. Honestly, I'm lucky I didn't electrocute myself. I hate working the night shift here. You try rewiring a dashboard when you can't tell the green ground wire from the red live wire. Under these stupid yellow lights, every wire just looks like a different shade of black. I had to use a multimeter just to figure out which cable was which. I checked the clock when I heard the squeal—it was 3:02 AM exactly."

C) Finch (The Night Watchman) Finch is pacing near the North Fence, adrenaline still high. "I was doing my rounds by the South Gate when I heard the engine rev," he says, pointing toward the tire tracks. "I sprinted toward the center lane and saw the guy jump out of the car just as it hit the dirt berm. He scrambled up the fence before I could draw my taser. I couldn't see his face—he had a mask on—but I can tell you he was wearing a bright red hoodie. It really stood out; a flash of crimson against all those yellow shipping containers. He went over the wall and vanished."

D) Silas (The Fence Repairman) Silas is kneeling by a section of chain-link fence on the West perimeter, holding a pair of pliers. "I've been here since midnight fixing a breach," he grumbles. "It’s slow work. I dropped a box of copper washers in the dirt about twenty minutes ago and spent ten minutes crawling around trying to find them. You’d think shiny copper would sparkle, but out here, the metal just looks dull gray like the gravel. I didn't see anyone run past me, but I had my head down most of the time."

E) Jax (The Truck Driver) Jax is sitting on the step of his cab, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "I was parked in the layover bay," he yawns. "I was dead asleep until the siren went off. It scared the life out of me. I looked out the windshield, but it was just a soup of yellow fog. I didn't see a car or a person. I just locked my doors and waited for the all-clear."

Detectives, the environment of the Iron Gate imposes strict physical laws on everyone inside it. Review the testimonies again.

Who was lying about what they saw?

(This story is absolutely fictional. Any inconsistencies with common sense work for the plot)

🔍Known Clues

1. Extract only the valuable words.
2. Some physical and scientific knowledge is required to analyze the testimonies and significant clues.
3. You may find this volume of game ultra hard, well it's 3-week edition and triple rewards so... Best of luck detectives!

🕵️‍Questions and Discussions for YOU

1. WHO was lying about what they saw? HOW do you know it, explain the logic.
2. What are the typical climate characteristics or common weather conditions in the area where you live? For instance, some places have a fog belt where there is constant fog, while in some other areas, there is continuous rainfall and snowfall throughout the year. Please share your living experience. (Open-ended)

🎉Participation Rewards

The FIRST user to successfully deduce the identity of the "culprit" and their motive in the comment, will receive a reward of 2,000 GT points! Other participants will earn 200-500 GT points based on the completeness of their submissions. 💰 (Except for extended special edition)

📅Submission Deadline

February 27, 2026

Reminder: This is the submission deadline if you want to claim the reward with your vote, but after this date the vote will still remain open for a period of time, so please feel free to participate at any time if you want to test your skills, detectives!

----- Previous answer (The Last Transmission) -------

Correct Answer: Sector East

Deduction:

The Compass: The pilot's "spinning needle" is the smoking gun. Only Sector East contains magnetic iron ore, which disrupts the Earth's magnetic field and renders a compass useless.

The Wind: The "roaring above, still below" effect describes a temperature inversion or geographic shield. In a low-lying swamp, dense fog keeps the surface air stagnant even while storm winds howl over the surrounding ridges.

The Visibility: The "wall of white gray mist" is a direct match for the foggy marshland described in Sector East, whereas the peaks (North) would have blowing snow and the woods (South) would have trees blocking the view.

The Temperature: While "freezing" sounds like a mountain, a damp, foggy swamp at night in a storm creates hypothermic conditions just as deadly as high-altitude snow.

Link to the post: https://forum.gtarcade.com/topic/253219

We will be rewarding 200 GT points to all players who voted correctly, and additional points to some outstanding responses.

Congratulations and enjoy your juicy GT points reward!!!