The Role Took a Strange Turn

A day later.

It was another rainy day. A light rain had fallen for several hours that morning, pattering away until it stopped completely by evening. Yet the heavy clouds still hung over Mijin City, and there was no telling when another downpour might come.

Yu Xing gazed at the dark clouds outside the window. The low pressure made him feel uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do. It was the plum rain season, and under the influence of the quasi-stationary front in Jiangnan, the rain simply went on and on. He had no way to interfere.

"Tomorrow, I'm going to Zhu Yan's school to accompany her for the anniversary celebration. I won't have much time to play games, so I'll do a Main Quest tonight..."

Yesterday's surprise visit to Zhao Yijiu's home had accomplished what he wanted. He had talked with Zhao Mou for quite a while. Overall... he had deliberately revealed some things, making Zhao Mou think someone stood behind him. Zhao Mou no longer regarded him as a newcomer.

Yu Xing smiled. That was exactly the effect he wanted. The Zhao family had more than just Zhao Mou as a deducer. He was currently alone and unsupported, so there were some matters in which he might need to cooperate with them.

As for how he knew Zhao Yijiu's address, when he had learned it, and how he had found out about the Zhao family... that was classified information for now.

Zhu Yan had sent him a message that morning, forwarding the information she had found regarding Doctor Zheng Song.

After reading it, Yu Xing concluded that there was no Doctor Zheng Song in reality. There were quite a few people with similar appearances, but after investigating their detailed records, he found that none of them matched.

Therefore, he could basically confirm that he was quite lucky. The evaluation game took place in an Absurd World with continuity. Perhaps he could play other games in that Absurd World in the future.

As for whether Zheng Song had committed crimes while his body was occupied by the killer personality, that had nothing to do with him.

There was nothing particularly urgent to do lately, and Yu Xing felt a little bored. After getting enough rest, he decided he might as well play a deduction game.

Ah, games really were more fun!

He sat in his chair with one leg drawn up, one arm propping against his face. Without any regard for his image, he pressed one side of his cheek until it distorted. In his mind, he summoned his personality mask and glanced over the Main Quest list.

[Complete one 80% Role-Playing Deduction Game (Incomplete)]

[Complete one Investigator type deduction game (Incomplete)]

[Complete one Mapping Deduction Game (Incomplete)]

[Complete one Confrontation Deduction Game (Incomplete)]

There were four types in total, the four major categories of Absurd Deduction Games. The order did not matter.

Yu Xing considered it and found the Investigator type deduction game rather interesting, so he chose that option.

[Would you like to begin the Main Quest?]

"Yes."

[The information for this deduction game is listed below.]

Translucent red text appeared in his field of vision.

[Medium Deduction: Coffin Village]

[Type: Investigator type deduction game]

[Explanation: During the first deduction in an Investigator type deduction game, a character suited to the deducer will be generated. The character's various abilities will accumulate through each deduction game, and the character's interpersonal relationships will also continue to accumulate.]

[This deduction game is a seven-player game.]

[This deduction game does not consume real-world time.]

[You have not created a character. Character creation will now begin.]

[Please describe the general background of a modern character. The final result will be altered and supplemented based on your actual abilities.]

"Huh?"

This mechanism gave Yu Xing a familiar feeling.

Wasn't this a lot like a Cthulhu tabletop campaign?

Though he had never played one himself, he had watched tabletop campaign videos by Zhendong and Fangzhang on a certain website. Thinking they were quite interesting, he had looked into them a little. At the very least, he counted as an armchair tabletop player.

Yu Xing was full of interest. He could come up with all kinds of character settings effortlessly!

Just the identities he had used in reality could be enough material for a writer to make into a book. He had even thought of the title: Ninety-Nine Identities of a Powerful Drama Queen.

"I'm a painter."

The first step was to establish his profession.

"I was born into a wealthy family. Both my parents are alive, my older brother and younger brother get along well, and I received a good education. I'm twenty-three this year and currently make a living by painting."

The second step was his family background.

Everyone knew the importance of financial resources, so giving himself a family that would never leave him worrying about money was an extremely correct choice.

Besides, to prevent the system from making another data error regarding his age, he directly set it. Based on the birth date on his current ID card, he really was twenty-three this year—the age of a university graduate.

Up to this point, every part of Yu Xing's character setting had been perfectly normal.

However, the system apparently had no intention of letting him stay normal. A cold prompt appeared:

[Please explain the origins of your fighting skills, breadth of knowledge, firearm skills, and all other abilities.]

"..." Yu Xing raised an eyebrow.

That was rather troublesome. He knew too many things. If he explained them all, wouldn't this character turn into a boss?

Thus, the character began taking a strange turn.

"Mm... On the surface, I'm a painter, but in reality, I'm very interested in becoming a detective. So I secretly learned many skills that no one else knows about."

An all-purpose detective.

The moment he finished speaking, another system prompt appeared.

[The setting is sufficient. The deduction system will now refine and alter your description, then announce the premise setting of this deduction game.]

[You were born into a wealthy family and are an oil painter. You often sell your paintings under the name San. Your painting style is extremely distinctive and has attracted a large number of supporters. Your paintings are nearly worshipped online, and the name of the painter San is widely known.]

[In truth, however, all of this is merely your disguise. When you were young, you accidentally learned that you were not your parents' biological child and caught a glimpse of a terrifying conspiracy deeply hidden by the family. From then on, you decided to uncover the truth. Thus, you taught yourself investigation, fighting, shooting, and knowledge in many fields, gradually developing a cold personality. You did not want others to know or become wary of you, so you carried out everything in secret.]

"Oh? Interesting. It actually added so much drama to my character?" Yu Xing was surprised for a moment, then immediately understood—he was probably too unusual and happened to meet certain conditions, causing the deduction system to prepare a more targeted identity for him.

Next came the content setting for this game.

After reading it, his vision went dark, and he entered the game.

My name is Yu Xing. San is the name I use publicly.

One autumn day, I received a private message from a fan. The other party called himself "Zhou Yongsheng." He wrote in the message: "Dear Mr. San, I am a loyal fan of yours. Your paintings have resonated deeply with my soul. Some time ago, you asked everyone to recommend places that might inspire your creativity. It suddenly occurred to me that you would definitely enjoy the scenery of my hometown, so I invite you to come and have a look."

A detailed address was attached afterward. For some reason, when I saw the three words "Guan Family Village" that he had sent, I felt an urgent impulse to go there. So I agreed, packed my things soon afterward, and boarded a plane.

After getting off the plane, I traveled and transferred for an entire day before passing through a small town and entering the mountains.

That was right, Guan Family Village was in the mountains, an extremely secluded place. My body had been unusual since childhood. Though I was strong, my stamina was poor. After walking for a while, I was already panting heavily.

My curiosity about the unfamiliar scenery kept me going. Along the way, I encountered a very cute-looking girl. To my surprise, she was also heading to Guan Family Village.

I did not ask much. To be honest, I was not interested in other people's affairs at all. But since we were headed to the same destination, I traveled with her. As dusk settled, we finally crossed the mountain ridge and saw a small village surrounded by mountains.

I had been keeping in touch with Zhou Yongsheng by phone, but the signal suddenly vanished once I reached the edge of the village. With no other choice, I had to enter first and find him afterward.

At the village entrance, the girl and I could not get in smoothly. For some reason, five people who were obviously dressed like city folk were blocking the way. They were not deliberately obstructing the path, but they were in the middle of an argument and had reached a stalemate at the entrance.

The five people were divided into three groups. A curly-haired woman and her male companion wanted to enter, but two similar-looking men stopped them. Another young man with grayish-blue hair stood nearby, watching the show.

Well, this little place was more lively than expected.

"Tsk..." After the background explanation was implanted into his memories, Yu Xing opened his eyes from the darkness at this point in time. He steadied himself with the hiking staff in his hand and rubbed his temples.

From the moment he received that private message, several days' worth of memories had suddenly appeared in his head... It was not a pleasant feeling.

The memories were incomparably real, as if he had truly done all those things. Even those actions and mannerisms had followed his personality, only somewhat colder, matching his character setting.

If it had not explicitly stated that those memories were implanted false memories, even he would have needed to compare the timeline to determine whether they were real.

This... Understanding showed in Yu Xing's eyes. If this happened often enough, it would definitely affect a person's personality and psyche. After all, human thoughts originated from memories. The Personality Assimilation Degree... was probably created this way.

[The deduction has officially begun. The Main Quest will be issued after the triggering event.]

[There is a chance to obtain a sacrifice in this deduction.]

[Now, enter Guan Family Village.]

Several lines of small text appeared in the upper-right corner of his vision. He could sense that both the girl traveling beside him and the five people at the village entrance had fallen silent at the same time.

Had they received the deduction prompt too?

There were exactly seven deducers. It seemed they were all here.

"I'll say it one more time. You have no right to interfere with me. Entering Guan Family Village is my freedom, so move aside!" Two seconds later, the curly-haired woman seemed to be the first to react. She immediately continued what she had not finished saying earlier.

There was arrogance in her tone. Her face and figure were both striking. She wore a thick black-and-white jacket, stylish camouflage pants, and a pair of black athletic ankle boots.

"If you insist on putting it that way, then do whatever you want. We've already warned you." The deduction prompt said to enter the village, so the two men blocking the woman naturally stepped aside. This dispute was fake anyway, merely meant to flesh out their character settings. After speaking, they turned around and entered Guan Family Village with angry expressions that said, Do whatever the hell you want.

Yu Xing stared at their backs, his gaze lingering briefly on their bulging backpacks.

"Ah, what exactly is wrong with them..."

The girl beside him had supposedly met him in advance according to the setting, so she naturally struck up a conversation. He turned his head toward her and said coldly, "I don't know. It has nothing to do with me."

Even though she had seen him in the implanted memories, the girl was still momentarily dazed by his face, and a flash of amazement appeared in her eyes.