Fourth: Did He Have to Go?

Who else could it be? Of course, it's your dear younger brother.

But who would have thought? He looks like a refined scoundrel, but is he really a refined scoundrel in private? It's rare to see someone so consistent inside and out...

After muttering a few words to himself, Yu Xing chuckled to himself.

Zhao Yijiu stood by the door, and seeing that Yu Xing was about to get up and open the door, she simply reached out and turned the doorknob.

Yu Xing looked towards the door and saw Zhao Mou raise his hand, seemingly about to knock, but the door opened so quickly that he paused for a moment.

When Yu Xing eyes met, the seemingly refined man adjusted his glasses, gave a polite smile, and knocked twice as usual. "May I come in?"

Looking at this fox in innocent disguise, Yu Xing jokingly said, "What if I said no?"

Surprisingly, Zhao Mou cooperated, saying, "If you can't, I'll sue you for kidnapping my brother."

Zhao Yijiu, who was caught in the crossfire for no reason, gave his older brother a sinister look and received a meaningful smile in return. After becoming a predictor, the two met more often, and the tacit understanding between the brothers they had rekindled allowed him to instantly read the meaning Zhao Mou was trying to convey from that smile.

I haven't even settled the score with you for betraying me behind my back. Next time we go to a nightclub, I'll drag you along and show you what it's like!

"..." Zhao Yijiu refrained from hitting anyone, but simply moved to the side, distancing herself from Zhao Mou.

Zhao Mou closed the door, unsurprised by his brother's reaction.

"Going to a nightclub to relax is a perfectly normal thing, Yu Xing. If you're interested, we can go together next time." He first smiled and continued the conversation, then casually pointed to the rather large meeting area in the room. "Shall we sit there and talk about serious matters?"

Yu Xing stood up. "Okay."

I don't know if his use of "good" includes the first half of the sentence.

Before long, the three of them were seated in the meeting area near the balcony.

The meeting area features two small round tables resembling stone, each paired with four stylish rattan chairs. As winter has arrived, the rattan chairs are covered with fluffy cushions, and expensive velvet blankets adorn the backs. Feng Gulan Ting has always excelled in its attention to detail.

"Three things," Zhao Mou said directly as soon as he sat down.

He deliberately postponed many miscellaneous matters and came to see Yu Xing at this time mainly to talk to Yu Xing about the arrangements for the evening banquet, to mention some precautions, and then to discuss the price of the Meng Po's Soup and the "Death Parallel Line" that would begin the day after tomorrow morning.

Zhao Yijiu didn't know why he had stayed to listen in, until he heard the words "Death Parallel Line," at which point he felt at ease sitting down and quietly becoming the background figure of his cold demeanor.

"The banquet tonight will be held at the Dragon Leap Pavilion. There are a total of 81 people attending this gathering, including members from other families, with 27 slots for each family." Zhao Mou crossed his hands and rested them loosely on his abdomen, sitting upright and proper, showing no trace of the Ge You-style slouch he had at Zhao Yijiu.

"So many divination experts from the Three Great Families?"

Yu Xing somewhat surprised by this. The strategists he mentioned here excluded the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, and directly referred to the Differentiation Tier. You must know that those who came to the gathering were only the younger generation under the age of thirty... If you count back two generations, then both their strength and number would be terrifying.

In his memory, even if the Three Great Families were very powerful, they weren't this ridiculously powerful.

"... You're right, so at least two-fifths of these eighty-one people are from other families." Zhao Mou couldn't help but laugh when he said this.

Such a grand gathering of the Three Great Families was attended by people whose surnames were not Zhao, Luo, or Xu, and who were not even ordinary people.

In fact, the so-called "affiliated members" are those recruited by the Three Great Families after they see great potential or have already demonstrated strong strength in the simulations, in order to bolster their own power. This is similar to guilds. However, what makes it more comfortable for the recruits is that after joining the Three Great Families, they can still choose to join a guild in the simulations.

It can be said that the Three Great Families are behemoths that no one in the real world dares to confront head-on, while the guilds represent the distribution of power in the Absurd World. Many years ago, the Three Great Families had an agreement that they must abide by: they could not establish guilds based on families in the Absurd World, thus giving other forces room to grow.

Leave a way out for others, so you can meet again in the future.

The behemoth's voluntary "retreat" gave other forces ample room to survive and face, demonstrating remarkable emotional intelligence. It was precisely because of this that these three families were able to remain prosperous for so many years without being destroyed by extremely jealous individuals.

Upon hearing that there were so many members from other families, Yu Xing thought for a moment and understood. He then refrained from offering any further opinions and let Zhao Mou finish explaining his instructions for the evening's banquet.

To summarize, among these eighty-one people, there are those on the Righteous Path, those on the Fallen Path of Mutation Path, and those on the path of depravity. The main source of the Fallen Path is the Xu family. This family also has many branches. Some branches advocate using underworld abilities to do things in the mortal world and restrain themselves, while others gradually become psychologically twisted in their interactions with ghosts.

Both of these are acknowledged by the family, which means that the Xu family as a whole does not care much about the psychological problems of its members. Even if you are on the Fallen Path, as long as you do not do anything to embarrass the family, it is okay to do some underhanded tricks.

During tonight's banquet, the Zhao family will present information on some of the "hot topics" and "hot figures" that have garnered attention over the past year, free of charge; the Luo family will gift the other two families some self-made talismans and other trinkets that can be recognized by the system as props, and will also take the opportunity to analyze the changes in the feng shui of the real world over the past year; the Xu family will update information on ghosts, providing a basic understanding of the various ghosts that the participants may encounter later.

If other factions involved in the deduction were to find out about these things, it could easily stir up a frenzy. In fact, after each November's Death Parallel Line livestream ended, members of the Three Great Families would always receive invitations from familiar guilds to subtly inquire about the content of the gatherings.

There are no strict rules against the Three Great Families revealing this information, which probably reflects their trust in the intelligence of their younger members. They know what to say and what not to say, and how much to say to save face without losing their own advantage. They've managed to avoid any major mishaps over the years.

"Even though you have Qu Xuanqing behind you, or someone else..." Zhao Mou's lips curled slightly upward, a smile that was both composed and non-threatening, "There must be things you don't know about at this kind of gathering."

Compared to Zhao Mou, Yu Xing's posture was much more casual. He sat back, his spine pressed against the back of the rattan chair, seemingly boneless and unwilling to exert any strength. "Are you reminding me that this spot is hard to come by, to show how good you are to me?"

"Yes," Zhao Mou shamelessly admitted.

Yu Xing: "Including deliberately forgetting the invitation?"

Zhao Mou glanced at him, then adjusted the center of his glasses. "Yes."

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

"Although I can't win your gratitude, and it's unlikely to make you feel valued or belong, it's not a wasted effort." Seeing Yu Xing's lack of emotional fluctuation, Zhao Mou's smile became more genuine. "The fact that you don't resent my actions after seeing through me gives me a more detailed understanding of your attitude, and I can better gauge what to do next."

"Oh~ it seems my attitude has made you veer towards recklessness." Yu Xing knew exactly what Zhao Mou was planning; he truly didn't care, even though Zhao Mou reminded him every day.

The Zhao family is good, but Zhao Mou is even better. When external troubles arise, he helps the Zhao family fight against other families; when internal troubles arise, he helps Zhao Mou fight against the Zhao family...

That's okay.

Yu Xing is a person without principles. He is willing to help whoever he likes. Zhao Yijiu now belongs to the Zhao family, so he will naturally give the Zhao family any good things he has. If Zhao Mou's branch leaves the Zhao family one day, he will have no connection with the Zhao family at all.

Despite Zhao Mou's apparent constant attempts to maximize his own interests, making it seem like he's always scheming against Yu Xing, Yu Xing actually quite enjoys this way of interacting. When communicating with Zhao Mou, Yu Xing feels comfortable not having to worry about the other person's intelligence level, which is something to be happy about.

"Not exactly reckless, but they certainly have more room to maneuver." Zhao Mou sighed inwardly more than once, thinking that Yu Xing was probably the pinnacle of his stoic younger brother's interpersonal skills.

Yu Xing picked up the snacks she had prepared herself from the stone table, opened a bag, and started eating. "Oh, is that so? It's okay, you can be as unrestrained as you want, I'm tough."

Zhao Mou: "...?"

Zhao Yijiu's forehead twitched, and she couldn't help but look at him.

Yu Xing chewed on a gummy candy, looking completely innocent. "I meant the 'operation' in 'operation space'."

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

He really wanted to hit someone.

"Okay, I got it." Zhao Mou quickly adapted to Yu Xing way of speaking and brought up a long-forgotten matter, "By the way, that bowl of Meng Po's Soup..."

He glanced around the room and heard that Yu Xing had come empty-handed today, without even carrying a bag, just wearing a down jacket.

The props can't be put into the Persona Mask and must be carried with you at all times. Although he doesn't know what form the [Meng Po's Soup) ] is in now, it's most likely that Yu Xing didn't bring it with him.

That's true, there are too many people and too much attention here.

"I brought it." Yu Xing seemed to have seen through Zhao Mou's thoughts.

"Oh?" Zhao Mou was somewhat surprised. "So, you agree to this deal?"

After learning about the effects of Meng Po's Soup from Zhao Yijiu, he kept contacting Yu Xing, hoping to get his hands on this incredible item. But it was just a hope, since almost no one would sell such an item.

[Meng Po's Soup): Item. Drinking it can purify 10-30 points of Personality Assimilation Degree (regardless of the actual Personality Assimilation Degree). It is extremely valuable.]

Among the items in the shop, there is no permanent item that can reverse the progress after the mutation level reaches 30%. Before 30%, you can slowly reduce the mutation level using various items, but once it exceeds 30%, it's too late.

With the Meng Po's Soup, at least one person with a 40% mutation rate can be saved. Just reduce the mutation rate back to 30%. Not to mention, the limit of the Meng Po's Soup is 30%. If you're lucky, you can even bring back a person with a 60% mutation rate.

This kind of thing drives people crazy. Who wouldn't want to be able to save their most important person if they went insane?

Zhao Mou originally thought that Yu Xing would hand this over to Qu Xuanqing after obtaining it. Even someone as strong as Qu Xuanqing couldn't resist the temptation. Given her ruthless nature, she was probably already on the verge of becoming corrupted.

Unexpectedly, when he first contacted Yu Xing, he could tell from Yu Xing's tone that "it's available for sale, as long as you offer a price that satisfies me."

However, they kept dragging their feet and didn't express any stance.

"I can agree, but my request is to barter." Yu Xing raised his eyes and smiled. "The sacrificial offering's ability changes with the fusion of the Persona Mask, so forget about that. I want the items. As long as I'm interested in the items you offer, we can trade."

This request was within Zhao Mou's expectations. He looked at Yu Xing and asked cautiously, "Can you make that decision?"

Qu Xuanqing wouldn't give him this much freedom while grooming him, would she? That's too much pampering; is she really not grooming him to be a partner?

Even if he were incredibly intelligent and worldly-wise, he couldn't possibly guess the true nature of Yu Xing and Qu Xuanqing's relationship.:(/

"Of course." Yu Xing raised an eyebrow, thought for a moment, and added, "This is what Brother Jiu and I derived from the deduction. No one else will interfere with my decision, so you can rest assured. Well, this applies to everything from now on. I hope that saying this will ease your concerns."

Zhao Mou could easily tell that the Yu Xing was referring to were none other than the formidable Boss Qu. He was curious about the connection between the two, which allowed them to maintain such an equal relationship at all times.

"To be frank, I don't think the power of the Meng Po's Soup is important to me, and I don't need it." Yu Xing's current Personality Assimilation Degree is stuck at 52%, and he knows in his heart that even if it increases by 10% or 20%, he will not lose his ability to think or his rationality.

As for Qu Xuanqing, he asked her and found that Qu Xuanqing's degree of alienation was stuck at 25%, which was exactly the critical point of the normal Mutation Path.

It's worth mentioning that the Mutation Path and the Righteous Path are not fixed after they are confirmed. If something happens along the way that causes a significant change in one's mindset, the path will change after the next promotion.

Most of them went from the Righteous Path to the Mutation Path or the Fallen Path, or from the Mutation Path to the Fallen Path. There were also a very small number who were pulled back from the Fallen Path to the former two paths.

Those who can turn back from their depravity are truly admirable warriors.

In short, Qu Xuanqing claims that she doesn't need the Meng Po's Soup; she can control her mutation level using items from the in-game store. For her, the possibility of suddenly increasing her mutation level by 6% is practically nonexistent.

Neither Yu Xing nor Qu Xuanqing needed it, and he figured keeping it would be pointless. He might as well do Zhao Mou a favor and get some useful things in return.

"I'll go back and see if there are any props you might be interested in." Zhao Mou was in a very good mood.

"Well, I have one more request," Yu Xing said lazily.

"You say."

Yu Xing glanced discreetly at Zhao Yijiu, who seemed a little distracted, and asked, "How many people participate in the Death Parallel Line? Is it mandatory for him to go?"