Alice's Hell (38)-The Fan Fell

Because this matter is a long story, Yu Xing kept it brief, omitting many unimportant details (such as the threat of hysteria), and presented the current situation to Huai and Huang Bai.

In short, Yu Xing is going down the passage to find Zeng Lai, and, if possible, destroy the roses the Great Wizard gave to Alice, even if it means confronting Alice directly.

Huai listened in silence for a while. Although he was good at using the advantages of sacrifices to advance the plot, he had never found a way to end the deduction in the first few hours. This was like taking a 120-minute exam, where you had just finished grading the papers and filled in a few multiple-choice questions when the top students had already handed in their papers.

Especially this top student said, "It's just handing in the paper a hundred minutes early, it's not a big deal, don't make a fuss."

Huang Bai listened, somewhat stunned. Finally, she fidgeted with the hem of her dress with her fingers. This girl's thought process was incredibly erratic; her first reaction wasn't shock or surprise, but rather she was still preoccupied with the initial topic. "Then telling us this will waste time looking for the gambler, won't it? What if we're too late..."

Yu Xing glanced at her. "I don't know how many people this passage can accommodate. If you can help, whether by coming down with me or by keeping Alice occupied in the castle, it would be enough to offset the time lost, so wasting this little bit of time is nothing."

Huai regained his senses and no longer dared to underestimate the young man in front of him, who was so good-looking that it made people overlook his strength. He originally thought that with Zeng Lai and himself, the two of them would be the main contributors to the deduction Yugi, but he didn't expect that it would be this self-proclaimed newcomer Xing who was rushing to the forefront of the plot.

Is this a newcomer?

Snort.

They're either a fraud or a monster.

It's not that there's a huge difference in strength between a newly Differentiation Tier Deducer and a Deducer who has been promoted for some time. In fact, there are only two external factors that cause the difference: one is the ability and quantity of the sacrifices, and the other is the physical attributes obtained through points exchange, such as stamina, strength, and the level of the five senses, which affect damage resistance, wound healing speed, escape speed, and so on.

Both do require accumulation, but the former has a certain element of luck. If you're unlucky and end up with a useless ability, you'll have to find a new sacrifice to replace it as soon as possible. The latter has an upper limit when exchanging for it, and it cannot exceed the physical capabilities that humans should have.

The biggest factor contributing to the gap? Actually, it's something rather abstract.

Memory, reasoning, calculation, imagination? Even experience, psychological resilience, and creative thinking... these intangible things are what ultimately determine how strong a person is.

Even if the offerings are effective, they cannot kill ghosts when the rules forbid it. Even with excellent physical abilities, one cannot directly confront the powerful and eerie ghosts in the simulation. For example, in the Sheqing Bar, Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu were able to kill ghosts because the simulation at that time proposed the rule that [ghosts can be killed].

If the rules of that event hadn't existed, even if Zhao Yijiu had excellent physical abilities, agile skills, and powerful [Stop Killing] attacks, she wouldn't have been able to kill a low-level discouraged Ghost. At most, she would be in a "you can't kill me? I can't kill you either" situation.

What are the main effects of these two methods? Besides fighting against others, they are self-preservation, facilitating escape, and aiding in deduction.

Is it only one person's mindset that determines whether they can become a star predictor, attracting attention or dying in obscurity? Qu Xuanqing's Combat Power is feared, but her predictive abilities are by no means weak.

After all, the core of this bizarre Absurd World is called "deduction"—reasoning and evolution—and its ultimate goal is the truth hidden beneath the evil.

This ironclad rule takes effect the moment a deducer steps into the Absurd World, and the higher the Differentiation Tier, the more pronounced the understanding of this point becomes.

"Rules" seem to be inviolable.

As a truly experienced strategist, Huai naturally wouldn't be arrogant just because he had many sacrifices. His confidence in his own strength came from his ability to explore the plot and collect clues. He believed that at his current level, few people were better than him at collecting clues.

The reason why everyone looks down on newcomers is ultimately because they believe that newcomers have less experience in deduction than veterans, their way of thinking has not yet been developed, and their sensitivity to the plot is naturally weaker than that of veterans.

In the initial simulations, those without connections endured screams and fear, exhausted just trying to find a powerful ally to survive. They had no time to train their minds or adapt to the rhythm of this Absurd World. It wasn't until they reached the Advanced Deducer stage that this problem was barely resolved; those who couldn't adapt died.

Huai had a question mark in his mind.

The problem is... is it really possible for a newcomer to possess such deductive reasoning abilities?

Even for powerful families like the Three Great Families, whose younger generation has some understanding of the existence of this Absurd World, they wouldn't do any better than Xing.

Is he pretending to be a newbie to trick his teammates?

Sensing a possibility that he might have been deceived, Huai finally managed to pull himself out of his chaotic thoughts. He looked Yu Xing up and down, his gaze sweeping over Yu Xing's hoodie, which looked as if it had been soaked in blood, then over the smiling mask hanging loosely on the side of Yu Xing's belt, and finally resting on Yu Xing's narrow eyes and the small mole below the corner of her left eye.

Hmm, I've never seen this person before, and I vaguely remember hearing their name at the Rookie Tournament a few days ago.

That's true; he met a newcomer with great potential.

Huai remembered this face.

This is a face that will one day be the center of attention, loved, admired, hated, or feared by many.

Perhaps the fewer words a person speaks and the more indifferent they appear, the more they like to think about random things. Compared to the silently contemplative Huai, Huang Bai is much more direct. The girl exclaimed in admiration, then asked a thought-provoking question, "Didn't you consider the possibility that you've told us so much, but we're not planning to help?"

Huai focused his attention; he also wanted to know the answer to this question.

Yu Xing smiled and looked at the two of them.

"But you came to me and asked me to tell you what happened. If you've wasted my time and don't even intend to make amends, aren't you just bullying a newbie like me?" He felt wronged. Huang Bai knew perfectly well that this person was faking it, and that he was faking it without any sincerity and had no intention of making anyone believe him, yet he still felt a little "guilty."

She felt a sudden surge of maternal warmth and lamented, "Ah... beauty ruins a country, beauty ruins a country!"

Huai: "..."

Huai's lips twitched down. "Then you should improve your resistance in this area, otherwise, if you encounter a good-looking ghost in the future, will you forget how to run away?"

Huang Bai: "Brother Huai is right!"

Huai's temple throbbed twice. He stopped following the off-topic topic. He believed that Xing must be confident that the two of them would choose to help, which was why he told them both.

He turned to Yu Xing and said, "We can help. After all, you were the one who discovered the passage and the clues. How about this, after you go down, I'll try to see if I can go in again. If I can, I'll follow you down."

Huang Bai raised his hand. "Me too! Me too!"

"..." Huai pressed his temples. "If only one person can go in at a time, Huang Bai and I will hold Alice back at the castle, hoping that when you and the gambler encounter Rose, Alice will arrive a little later, giving you a better chance of survival."

Yes, although Yu Xing found a shortcut and a hidden route, going deep into the Rose Tunnel was obviously more dangerous than spending two days methodically dragging out the time and completing the tasks assigned during meals.

If successful, all participants in the deduction will complete the deduction directly; if unsuccessful, only the participants below will perish.

It seems there's also a sense of selflessness involved.

Yu Xing nodded, her gaze falling on the steps on one side of the dark passage.

With a nimble flip, he grabbed the edge of the passage with one hand and held his watering can in the other. He pushed off the next few steps with his legs and entered the passage, leaving only his head sticking out.

He said, "Then I'll go now. See you later."

Having said that, he loosened his grip.

Huai and Huang Bai watched his movements, seeing Yu Xing plummet rapidly and quickly disappear into the darkness. Their expressions changed. What? He said he was going down to find the gambler, so he was going to do the exact same thing?

You could have easily climbed down the ladder, why did you jump?!

Huai coughed once. "Let me try to see if I can get down."

He tried reaching out a hand, and sure enough, he received the same notification as Yu Xing had in the main building's passageway.

The darkness here is chilling, even for those with companions. You notice that the entrance seems to be protected by a barrier, allowing only one person to enter at a time.

[There is more than one entrance to your destination; go and find another one.]

It seems that Alice is very wary; she doesn't allow anyone but herself to enter her passage.

"Can't we get in?" Huang Bai's face fell. "I can't travel with the handsome guy anymore."

Huai, unable to bear it any longer, retorted, "Am I not handsome?"

"It's alright, you're too thin." Huang Bai was very blunt.

Huai paused, then asked suspiciously, "Which one is thinner?"

Huang Bai: "His figure... wait, what did you think I meant by 'shou'?"

Huai breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a wave of confusion.

What happened? Why is he so fixated on this? Could it be... that he's developed a strange competitive drive? Indeed, while he doesn't rely on physical abilities for deduction or engage in combat, occasional training might be beneficial.

At least you won't be repeatedly mocked for being "weak and frail."

Seeing Huang Bai's enthusiastic expression, Huai sighed and wisely changed the subject, "Never mind, let's put the bed back in its place and then go see where Alice is."

Darkness swept over me, and the feeling of falling intensified.

Enveloped in pure blackness, Yu Xing could find no foothold in the air and could only let herself fall in the pitch-black environment. The wind blew from below, and her black hair slapped against her face, bringing waves of pain.

The reason I chose to fall directly down was simply for speed.

In the images he saw through his hysteria, Zeng Lai had small wounds all over his body, but none of them were fatal. Apart from the pain, they wouldn't affect his mobility much. In other words, at least falling down the tunnel wouldn't be a big deal.

For Yu Xing, a superficial injury would be healed in just a few breaths, but the tunnel was of unknown length. Rather than spending a long time carefully climbing down, it would be better to freefall.

Besides... with his current weak stamina, he probably wouldn't be able to climb for more than a few minutes before his limbs went weak, he couldn't hold onto the ladder anymore, and he would fall down.

Whether I fall sooner or later, I'll fall eventually. As long as I take the initiative, no one will notice that I'm incapable.

As he continued to fall, Yu Xing gradually felt the surrounding space expand and become increasingly quiet. Apart from the sound of his heartbeat, there were only gusts of wind passing through his eardrums.

At the same time, a hidden sense of panic spread, as if it were about to materialize, clinging to his skin from the air, attempting to penetrate his body.

A chilling aura began to surge within him, driving away all the strange and insidious external influences. Yu Xing shivered uncontrollably, sensing the difference between his internal body and the outside world, and sighed.

This is annoying. It seems there's something in the Rose Tunnel, like the black coffin in the Coffin Village shrine, that can completely unleash his curse power.

... Another unbearable scene.

Suddenly, the surrounding air froze, and Yu Xing felt a shift in time and space. The next moment, the darkness before her eyes was no longer complete, and she could finally see blurry shadows.

He glanced down and saw a large, menacing mass directly below.

"..."

It looks like a large cluster of roses?

Coming down the ladder, the rose is at a perfect angle where you can easily turn around and admire it. But if you fall down the middle, the rose becomes a "cushion"... a cushion full of sharp thorns.

Yu Xing considered it for a moment and decided she didn't want to be pricked like a hedgehog.

He adjusted his posture in mid-air to protect the watering can, barely missing the flowerbed before crashing to the ground.

One of her shoulders slammed into the ground without any cushioning. The ground was softer than the tiles, and a natural scent entered Yu Xing's nostrils.

The impact was far less than the distance of the fall; the impact on the ground only caused a slight soreness, and Yu Xing didn't even need to use her self-healing ability.

He got up and squinted as he looked around.

The dimly lit corridor stretched endlessly, the ground beneath our feet half-hardened. Countless fiery red bouquets were now hidden in the darkness, as if draped in an ambiguous cloak, transforming from intense nobility into a silent ferocity.

The power of the curse raged within her body, Yu Xing's face became even paler than usual. Then, as was her habit, she covered her mouth with her hand and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

"The entrance is different, so my landing location should be different from the gamblers'..." Yu Xing muttered to himself, casually wiping his hands on his clothes, and then pulled out a lighter from his pocket.

He had taken this from the butler when he wasn't looking.

It was so easy for him that he didn't even bother to inform the butler after getting the lighter. After all, if he had actually asked for it, the butler would probably have given it to him anyway.

"But that's not necessarily true. After all, the space has been compressed, and maybe every passage connects to this place." He lit his lighter, and with a crisp metallic sound from the delicate lighter cap, a faint flame ignited, illuminating a small area.

Yu Xing shone the firelight onto the rose bushes beside her and raised an eyebrow.

He couldn't see clearly from up above, and could only guess from the outline that it was a large clump of roses. Now that there was a light source, he could see that the clump of roses was leaning and crooked, with petals scattered all over the ground and leaves falling off, spreading on the ground along with a trace of blood.

It's obvious that this place was vandalized not long ago.

Yu Xing could already picture Zeng Lai landing directly on the thorns... Since he was holding a watering can in one hand and a flashlight in the other, he could only cover his eyes in his mind and sigh.

This can barely be considered good news.

Zeng Lai and he ended up here after falling, so he doesn't need to play in the maze anymore; he can just follow this path to catch up with them.

There's no need to worry about the direction, because this narrow tunnel is only open on one side, while the other side is firmly blocked by thorns.

Yu Xing's expression shifted. He waited another minute, but Huai and Huang Bai didn't appear. A chilling aura had already seeped into his limbs. Not wanting to waste any more time, he silently turned around and walked quickly down the passage.

Yi Qing floated out and looked around. Because he didn't want to touch the roses, he floated very high, and the whole ghost was almost flying above Yu Xing's head.

"It's even dirtier here. Watering such a large area will kill a lot of people." After a few minutes, Yi Qing finally spoke.

Yu Xing was too lazy to look up at him, using only her lighter for light, occasionally feeling a bluish shadow flickering above her head. "Yes, quite a few people must have died."

Yi Qing pondered for a moment, "Do you know where these roses came from?"

As he was speaking, the fan hanging from his waist suddenly fell off, hitting Yu Xing on the head with a dull thud before falling to the ground.

Yu Xing: "..."

Yiqing: "Oh dear, something fell to the ground. I need to get a new fan."

Yu Xing: "..."

He couldn't help but glance at Yi Qing with a strange look. He only saw Yi Qing's deep blue eyes meet his gaze briefly as she floated down to pick up the fan, before she immediately looked away.

Yu Xing looked away thoughtfully.

Is it some kind of unspoken reminder? Is it because the system limits the scope of your help, preventing you from saying it directly?

After relaying the message to Zeng Lai, Yu Xing didn't actually waste much time. After going through the whole process, if Zeng Lai had been cautious, he probably wouldn't have gone too far. As long as he was quick, he could catch up in no time.

The roses were packed tightly together, and even though Yu Xing was very careful, he still got some cuts. Although they healed quickly, the little drops of blood that seeped from the wounds were all absorbed by the roses. Thinking about the ticket checking process, Yu Xing looked around with interest, waiting for his "sin" to be activated by these roses.

The reason why an unnecessary door appeared in front of Zeng Lai in the scene he saw, and why he encountered the [Crying Man] behind the door, was probably because the blood was absorbed by the rose.

However, since these roses cannot compare to the pot that the nun carefully held, or rather, the pot that grew from the seeds originally given by the Great Wizard, while the roses growing in the soil are probably just byproducts, their effect is naturally greatly reduced.

The initial rose can generate corresponding ghosts based on each person's sins, while the derivatives can only create obstacles that are easy to see through.

But where did these derived roses come from?

If something came to him, he might be able to sense it. Unfortunately, his body was bound by the cold aura, and he was somewhat hesitant to lift his leg.

However, although Yu Xing thought so, and was somewhat looking forward to what interesting trouble these roses would bring him, the cowardly roses didn't come looking for trouble until he saw a familiar figure in the distance.

The person in the back view is Zeng Lai.

When Yu Xing saw Zeng Lai, Yi Qing turned into green smoke and shrank back into [Sheqing Dreamscape]. The next moment, Zeng Lai also seemed to sense something and turned around. Instantly, Yu Xing's hand holding the lighter froze for a moment.

He frowned almost imperceptibly, but didn't speak immediately.

"Lucky?!" Zeng Lai stood in the dark tunnel, almost blending into the roses around him.

His voice held a mixture of surprise and hesitation, creating a small echo in the space.

"It's me." Hearing Zeng Lai's voice, Yu Xing paused for two seconds, shaking his lighter to make himself more visible. "I've come to find you."

"Wow, bro, how did you get down here?" Zeng Lai stopped walking forward when he saw someone coming to find him, and instead groped his way towards the light.

With a soft rustling of footsteps, Zeng Lai knocked over several bouquets along the way before finally arriving a meter or two in front of Yu Xing.

The sunlight shone on his face, allowing Yu Xing to take in his entire appearance.

Roses, roses, and more roses.

Zeng Lai was covered in roses.

A dense network of roots emerges from the small cuts, the slender green stems becoming increasingly firm as they ascend, culminating in tiny green flower buds at the very top.

Some of the flower buds are already half-open.

Spikes sprouted from the rootstock, a wheat color even more chilling than black, the same color as Zeng Lai's skin.

But his young face was full of the same cheerful expression as before, seemingly unaware of his condition, and even happy about the arrival of his teammates.

Zeng Lai leaned closer and patted Yu Xing's shoulder, which was in line with his usual manner. "Strange, aren't you injured? Your skills are amazing?"

As he moved, the roses growing on his arm swayed back and forth.

Yu Xing felt the blood in his body slowly growing cold. His face turned grim as he stared at Zeng Lai, his fingers twitching involuntarily.

"Hey, now that you're down here, tell me what's going on up up there?" Zeng Lai said. "I bet you came down here without knowing anything, you idiot!!!"

He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly let out a scream and stared wide-eyed at his chest.

There, a rose was violently ripped out by Yu Xing, uprooted.

He saw that Yu Xing's pale fingers, which were as long as a work of art, were pierced and bleeding, while on his own body, where the root and flesh were connected, a large amount of blood was flowing out. The excruciating pain, as if his limbs had been forcibly torn off, made him lose the ability to speak. Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

After a couple of seconds, Zeng Lai finally snapped, "You... Ouch... What are you doing! That hurts!"

He shoved Yu Xing backward, but she wouldn't budge.

"Pain? You feel pain?" Yu Xing's eyes were colder than ever before. Ignoring Zeng Lai's screams, he pulled the rose out completely, and warm blood splattered all over his hand.