The Rules Were Completely Turned Upside Down!

Zhao Yijiu asked very seriously. Under the dim lighting, his cold and stern face always gave people the impression that "this young man is rather sinister."

His meaning was quite clear--

Tell me your plan, otherwise I'm always afraid you'll trick me and I won't be prepared.

Since you're going to rip me off anyway, it's not too late to let me prepare myself mentally before doing so.

Yu Xing also understood what he wanted to express.

Then Yu Xing felt very wronged.

To be honest, he didn't really think he had ever cheated Zhao Yijiu.

He only pretended to be a newbie to trick Zhao Yijiu into helping him when they first met, then found out his address and visited Zhao Yijiu's house in a friendly manner. After that, he probably scared Zhao Yijiu at the Alice's Hell drop tower...

No matter how you look at it, he should be kind and brave in Zhao Yijiu's eyes, so why does Zhao Yijiu always feel that he is a heartless and ungrateful person who even betrays his teammates?

He never cheated Zhao Yijiu!

Even if he asked, Zhao Yijiu wouldn't know.

First of all, all of the above "kind and brave" behaviors made Zhao Yijiu want to beat up Yu Xing.

Secondly, it's probably an intuition, and... prejudice? Just like he always felt that someone as good at lying as Yu Xing must have many girls around him.

The fact that someone can negotiate with Zhao Mou means they must be like those scheming old guys in the family, or at least like Zhao Mou. They may appear nice to someone on the surface, but behind their backs, they're probably plotting how to take advantage of them.

Zhao Mou frequented bars and constantly changed girlfriends; he was quite dissolute.

Zhao Yijiu was an anomaly in the Zhao family. He wasn't good at scheming or planning, nor was he good at intelligence gathering or espionage. His family was simply training him to be a force to be reckoned with.

Therefore... when facing Yu Xing, Zhao Yijiu always had a complex feeling, both wary and at ease, both mocking and admiring, both wanting to scold and beat him.

"There's no plan, just..." Yu Xing drawled out the last word.

Zhao Yijiu's expression shifted, and she became a little more nervous.

"Actually, I already guessed who the ferryman is, and I can go find him anytime. But I sensed something else, something's not quite right." Yu Xing straightened the hem of her vest and then the cuffs of her shirt, slowly and deliberately.

"Never mind, let's find the ferryman first. Then let's—"

Zhao Yijiu, expressionless, grabbed Yu Xing was about to leave. "Don't forget it, something's not right?"

Seeing that he was really going to dig deeper, Yu Xing touched the tip of his nose. "It's just a gut feeling, it's unreliable."

"Reliable," Zhao Yijiu replied without hesitation.

He paused for a second, realizing he might have seemed to trust Yu Xing too much, so his slightly sarcastic tone returned. "If this were a TV drama, and you were being so nagging, the audience would definitely want to punch you in the head."

Yu Xing paused for a moment, feeling that Zhao Yijiu was becoming increasingly talkative.

He shook his head, and helplessly decided to tell Zhao Yijiu his guess, "There are too many ghosts here. Let's go to the toilet."

Fortunately, things weren't too busy right now, and there was a restroom in a corner of the Wangchuan Wine Cafe. After the two went into the men's room, Yu Xing squinted and checked all the stalls to make sure no ghosts were eavesdropping before he casually put his hands in his pockets and said, "I have a feeling these ghosts aren't unaware of the situation, and besides, this deduction is logically flawed from the start, don't you think?"

Zhao Yijiu thought back for a moment, following his words.

Yu Xing knew he was thinking, so she guided his train of thought, "The foreman said all the employees had been arrested, and they had no choice but to hire us as temporary workers. But ghost customers are very hostile to living people, so we can't let them know we're alive. There are two logical flaws here."

Zhao Yijiu vaguely guessed it, but the answer seemed to be questioning the deduction system, which was undoubtedly too bold. He was afraid that he was wrong and had not aligned with Yu Xing's plan, so he asked directly, "What is it?"

"First, looking at the bar's customer traffic, this simulated world doesn't seem to be lacking in ghosts. Why doesn't the manager hire temporary ghost workers instead of taking the risk of hiring living people?"

"Secondly, since ghost guests dislike living people, why does the head waiter accept living people, since they are also ghosts?"

"I just asked the bartender about the prices of two drinks, using just one of the communication techniques mentioned earlier, and she gave me the answers. This shows that the rule of obtaining drink prices only by completing tasks isn't absolute; at least the bartender can change that rule."

"Will anyone abide by a rule that can be changed at any time?" Yu Xing said, then laughed.

His smile wasn't seen by the guests, so naturally there was no punishment, but...

"You doubt that this quest itself exists?" Zhao Yijiu felt this line of thinking was very bold; this was his third Main Quest, and no one had ever told him about it before.

The mission can also be fake.

Yu Xing glanced at him and suddenly felt that Zhao Yijiu's probing questions were a good opportunity. He agreed to help Zhao Yijiu advance to the advanced level safely, not only because of the exchange with Zhao Mou, but also because Zhao Yijiu was a decent person.

Aside from being a bit aloof, she's quite good at making friends.

Therefore, he also hoped to help Zhao Yijiu broaden her reasoning. In the future, when Zhao Yijiu is reasoning alone or with others, recalling today's doubts might help her develop the habit of changing her thinking, which would definitely benefit her in the future.

"Do you think this task even exists? In other words, have we received a system notification?" Yu Xing pointed to Zhao Yijiu's vest pocket. "The task sheet is still in your pocket, right? Think back, what is the concept of a task? We are deducers, deducing the tasks issued by the system, that's what makes it a task. Finding the evil spirit is just the bartender's side of the story."

"Also, they say the old ghost employees couldn't cry or laugh. What makes them think that? They were all ghosts, but I saw the customers laughing quite happily."

Zhao Yijiu frowned. "Thinking about it, when the ranking rules were announced, it didn't mention that we couldn't be identified as living people. So, the system really misled us?"

Yu Xing's lips curled slightly, her gaze unfocused, staring at a point in the air. "It's a misunderstanding. The system didn't mislead us; it's these ghosts who misled us."

"I have a bold guess, do you want to hear it?"

Zhao Yijiu's black bangs cast a shadow on her face. "Listen."

"I suspect there was no such thing as an employee being arrested. We're not the only ones who know anything besides the manager. Maybe one of the bar's nighttime activities is having people come in every night to work as waiters, using nonexistent rules to deceive them, while all the customers..."

They're all just participants in a cat-and-mouse game.

Zhao Yijiu's pupils contracted, and a barrier in her mind shattered.

He found out.

Everyone in the bar knows the waiters are actually human, but from the head bartender to the customers, they all use a non-existent rule to fool them.

"Who is the ferryman?" Yu Xing suddenly steered the conversation back to the question Zhao Yijiu had raised at the beginning, then answered it herself, "The ferryman is the only person with a function on the Forgetfulness River, and who is the only person with a function among the Wangchuan Wine Cafe?"

"It was the bartender herself."