Persona Mask

The three ghostly creatures in the abandoned factory finally disappeared from the camera's lens.

Time taken: one hour and twenty minutes.

After throwing the camera away, Yu Xing let out a long sigh. "Finally, I don't have to hold this thing anymore. I really don't know how protagonists in some foreign horror games manage to run and parkour with a camera in their hands the entire time."

Zhao Yijiu, however, still held the camera in his hand. "Are you sure you don't need it anymore?"

"What else would I need it for? The ghosts are gone, so even if I don't change the battery, no one's going to come and punish me." Yu Xing clapped the dust off his hands and walked back from behind the office desk. As he looked up, he saw a pitch-black figure standing outside the door.

The figure had appeared at some unknown time, silently half-hiding behind the door, its eyes eerily peeking into the office. Anyone with weaker nerves would have been scared stiff on the spot.

"Assistant Hao, you're here."

Zhao Yijiu quickly pocketed the small knife and casually followed Yu Xing's gaze.

Hearing his identity called out, the figure outside the door moved. A flashlight beam suddenly lit up, shining from bottom to top on the person's chubby face, casting a strange shadow.

Logically speaking, ordinary "applicants," those who undergo the test unknowingly, would be in for a rollercoaster of emotions upon completing the test and encountering another ghostly creature.

However, the two people in the room were as calm as could be, silently watching Assistant Hao's performance.

"...Congratulations." After a few seconds, seeing that he wasn't achieving the desired effect, Assistant Hao chuckled dryly, moved the flashlight away, and walked out from behind the door, intending to act as if nothing had happened. "You two have passed our company's recruitment."

"Thanks, I'm so sleepy--"

"Mm."

Assistant Hao had seen many newcomers react with angry questions upon hearing this, and some with tears of joy, but he had never seen anyone like these two—they seemed to have expected it.

Look, that pale-faced young man was still yawning!

Rubbing his eyes, Assistant Hao couldn't help but feel a little confused. Then, he thought that perhaps he had been a newcomer tester for too short a time and lacked experience. Look at them, less than an hour and a half, and these two were definitely top-tier newcomers!

With this thought, a standard smile appeared on his face, and he beckoned for the two to come closer.

Zhao Yijiu casually placed the camera in a cabinet and walked closer with Yu Xing.

Assistant Hao observed their expressions. Although as a ghostly creature, his lively demeanor was quite incongruous: "Actually, your memories should have been restored by now. Think carefully, in reality, our deduction company doesn't exist."

"Mm," Zhao Yijiu replied calmly.

"Got it, please continue," Yu Xing said, not particularly bothered.

Previously, in his mind, there was indeed information about this deduction company, including taking leave online, famous streamers, regular programs, and even the company building used for the previous round of interviews, etc. It was so detailed, from its core to its social integration, that it was impossible to find any flaws.

After Assistant Hao spoke, Yu Xing recalled these details and remembered that these memories had been implanted just a few hours ago. There was no such thing as a friend recommending him for an interview three days ago.

He hadn't looked up information online or assessed company risks either.

Of course, Yu Xing already knew this. Although his memory had been inevitably distorted, he was fully aware of it, so he wasn't affected at this moment. He believed Zhao Yijiu, who could obtain a sacrificial knife in advance, was the same.

"Since our company is fake, you must be very curious about what power distorted your memories and what our purpose is." Assistant Hao didn't care about the obvious "not curious at all" expressions on their faces; this was his task, and he had to explain it clearly.

"Here, I will solemnly announce it again--"

"Welcome! You have qualified to enter the Absurd Deduction Game!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Xing felt a chill envelop him from all directions.

The cold, eerie aura drilled into his body like a persistent leech, then converged in his brain, as if trying to devour his soul—if souls truly existed.

Vaguely, Yu Xing heard voices in his mind.

It was chaotic, not just one person, but many, buzzing like a hundred monks chanting by his ears.

Gradually, the voices were joined by crying and screaming, the rumbling sound of things crashing, the sound of running, calls for help, and the roar he was most familiar with.

The content of that roar was... Yu Xing frowned and bit his tongue hard. The metallic taste of blood spread in his mouth, forcing him to interrupt the voices in his mind.

He didn't want to hear.

He didn't want to hear the rest.

The pain brought about sufficient clarity, and the voices receded like a tide. Finally, he only heard a mechanical voice:

"Evaluating deduction test results."

"Evaluation complete. Candidate Yu Xing meets the criteria and is granted qualification."

"Generating persona mask template."

It was the deduction game's system! A flicker of excitement appeared in Yu Xing's eyes. Everything he had done was for this moment.

No one knew how long he had waited for this.

But before the generation result appeared, his pupils contracted. He immediately covered his mouth with his right hand, swallowing the sudden surge of rusty taste from his throat, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his skin.

Oh dear, it's over...

Yu Xing let out an almost imperceptible breath, thinking to himself: The cold aura just now seemed to have triggered a physical discomfort. If I don't rest soon, the consequences could be unpredictable.

There were others here, and he didn't want to expose too much.

The next moment, the mechanical voice sounded again: "Persona mask template generation complete."

A semi-transparent white template suddenly appeared before his eyes, connected to his consciousness. He barely needed to look closely; the content on it was completely scanned by him.

[Persona Mask ?? (Unassigned)]

[Holder: Yu Xing]

[Basic Information: Male, Height 185cm, Weight 130g, Age *#€*#(Error)]

[Identity: Pending Activation]

[Mask Weight: Not Evaluated]

[Holder Description: Let me see... You're not right, how did you get in here?]

[Persona Sacrifice: ??? (Due to not completing the first deduction, the explanation of the original sacrifice's abilities is temporarily hidden. The abilities are unaffected, please discover them yourself.)]

[Personality Assimilation Degree: ???]

[Deduction Mall: Not Open]

[Wishlist: Empty]

[Please choose to start the persona mask evaluation game within three days. If the game is not started after 72 hours, it will be forcibly entered in the last minute. Success will activate the persona mask, failure will result in disqualification, and death is the most ideal outcome.]

This is truly... Yu Xing looked at the string of data, equivalent to a player template, and searched his mind for adjectives.

Ah, found one: "Everything about it is eerie!"

The part about the error and the holder's description were obviously suspicious!

Yu Xing could only raise an eyebrow: Good thing no one else can see this.

Besides this string of data, a lot of new information had automatically appeared in his mind.

Organizing it, he understood:

He had now been selected by a game called [Absurd Deduction] and was a prospective player.

In this real, bizarre, and absurd game, players were called deducers. They needed to find answers and truth through various game events, and strive to survive.

Deducers who survived would receive varying amounts of deduction points based on their game score. These points could be used in the mall within their persona mask to exchange for anything they desired.

Wealth, power, health, beauty, and everything else—desires born from the depths of the human heart.

The game world was attached to reality, yet independent of it. The order and science of the real world would be distorted and invalidated in this fragmented game world, forming new, chaotic rules. The deducers called the game world—[Absurdity].

Yu Xing glanced at Zhao Yijiu beside him out of the corner of his eye. Noticing that the other person seemed to still be processing the information, he steadied his slightly trembling body.

He was starting to feel cold.

His body was his curse, forcing him to compromise and weaken himself frequently. Otherwise, the more high-profile he was, the more likely he was to put himself in danger.

Damn it.

Yu Xing maintained his composure, redirecting his attention back to the information in his mind.

There were two steps to becoming a formal deducer.

He had just completed the first step, which was this simple deduction test. This was [Absurdity]'s assessment of a person's basic qualities such as intelligence, logic, reaction time, and courage. Those who weren't qualified... Zhang Shuya was an example.

In game terms, he had already received his game invitation code.

However, he still needed to perform an operation to activate the invitation code and enter the game.

This activation operation was what was written at the end under [Persona Mask]: the evaluation game.

The evaluation game was single-player.

This was good news for Yu Xing. A single-player game meant he could be a little more casual.

"Do you understand now? You still have to participate in a game within three days. If you don't..." Assistant Hao watched them with a smile, and only after both newcomers had finished understanding did he lean in sinisterly, "You'll die!"

Zhao Yijiu looked at him coldly: "If you weren't so childish, you'd still be that amiable fat man."

Assistant Hao was a guide-type character for newcomers. Although he was a ghostly creature, he wouldn't attack them. Zhao Yijiu knew this very well.

So this boring little scare was completely unnecessary. If it were Yu Xing... Yu Xing stopped pretending; he was still a little unaccustomed to it.

The amiable fat ghost immediately deflated. This newcomer wasn't fun!

He sighed: "Alright, alright, as long as you know the rules yourselves. Since you're not formal deducers, any injuries sustained during this test won't have treatment benefits."

"On a side note, there are three ways to survive this test. One, follow my initial prompt and diligently change the batteries to get through eight hours. Two, poke your own eyes out. This way, the ghost won't harm you anymore, regardless of whether the camera has power. Third, and the most difficult, is your way to clear the stage: kill the ghostly creature."

"Once you survive and become a formal deducer, your performance will be rewarded."

"I'll only say this much. You can go back now."

With that, Assistant Hao, who had arrived full of enthusiasm, left dejectedly, dissolving into a mass of indistinguishable bloody mist and disappearing into the air.