Funeral (7) - Three Parties

Were Zhou Xue and the others really living people who were pulled in?

Because Yu Xing's tone was so casual, Zhao Ruru didn't immediately realize whether his question was focused on "bringing in" or on "living people."

Wait, what if they weren't pulled in, and they're not alive?

When she realized the meaning behind those words, she felt a sudden pang of fear for Yu Xing, and at the same time, she felt a deep respect for Yu Xing's nonchalant attitude.

"I've explained my experience in great detail, and all the loopholes are clearly visible." Yu Xing looked at this obsessive-compulsive equilateral triangle, "First, there are two questions with the highest priority—"

"First, as a tourist, why was Zhou Xue able to bring in food, water, and medicine when all of our belongings, and even those of the first group to arrive at the coffin shop, disappeared?"

Zhao Ruru opened her mouth but didn't make a sound, because she hadn't even noticed such a big abnormality. If her elders in the family found out, they would probably laugh at her.

"Second, we've all personally experienced the Combat Power of paper figures, and almost all of those people claim to have seen them, some even having faced them head-on. Given our own experience of being entangled by paper figures and unable to escape, what do you think are the chances of ordinary passersby encountering paper figures head-on and all of them escaping?"

Zhao Yijiu listened intently, as if secretly studying Yu Xing's way of thinking, and replied, "Zero."

"Yes, absolutely zero." Zhao Ruru thought for a moment after hearing his words and said confidently, "Let alone taking a knife to cut the paper figures, the paper figures could kill them instantly at first sight."

"So?" Yu Xing sat rather slouchingly. Although they were discussing something very serious, he rested his elbows on the stone table and propped his chin on his hand, which somehow made the scene look much more relaxed.

"Hmm..." Zhao Ruru, "So you're saying Zhou Xue and those people are lying, that they are ghosts. But I don't understand, are they deceiving you, or are they saving you?"

[I'm confused, are those NPCs ghosts?]

[What you said makes sense and is well-founded. Thinking about it again, it actually seems to be true.]

[I've suspected it for a long time. Didn't you guys notice such obvious warnings about carrying water and medicine?]

[Watching live streams is all about having fun; you don't want to think too much.]

Yu Xing smiled and said, "That depends on their motives. You mentioned in your analysis before that the ghosts might have brought them in because their deaths would strengthen the power of the Ghost Alley and the ghost house. Now that the roles are reversed, we can still ask, what can the existence of us living people offer them?"

Zhao Ruru thought for a moment, but didn't expect it.

Seeing her expression shift between deep contemplation, conflicted feelings, and finally blankness, Yu Xing chuckled lightly, "Since we can't reach a conclusion with the existing information, let's put this issue aside for now and continue our analysis. We don't know the motive, but we can still speculate about their identity."

He snapped his fingers lightly, "Of those people, only Zhou Xue stepped out of the coffin shop when she pulled me in. The others huddled inside, showing no intention of leaving. They were terrified of the paper figure, afraid to go out on the street, yet they dared to curse the paper figure inside the coffin shop. What does this situation and these characteristics resemble?"

"Shopkeepers," Zhao Yijiu spoke up this time, "It just so happens that the shops are the shop owners' territory, so when they stay inside, the paper figures can't find them."

Zhao Ruru thought Zhao Yijiu's words made sense, "That's right, the paper figures only move around on the street and don't go into shops to look for people. Doesn't that mean that the paper figures and the shop owners are hostile forces? On the street, the shop owners can't beat the paper figures, but the paper figures can't enter the shop owners' territory either?"

"That's right, that's my guess too." Yu Xing picked up a twig and played with it in her hand. "At the time, I just felt that their condition was a bit off. They looked paler than normal people. In addition, the old ghost at the beginning had already told me that there were only two or three people around my age who had wandered in, which meant you guys. But among that group, including Zhou Xue, there were at least three young people."

"So I used the excuse of needing to find friends to quickly distance myself from them."

"Of course, that's both an excuse and my true thoughts."

[The hint was given at the beginning!]

[I'm a fan now, I'll definitely watch his live streams from now on]

[It's just so-so, no need to exaggerate it like that]

Zhao Ruru, "Ah, if it's the shop owner, their motive for pulling you into the shop to hide from the paper figures and emphasizing the importance of the alleyway... could it be that they hope a living person like you will go to the ghost house at the end of the alley to help them solve the big problem of Liu Bingxian and the paper figures that threaten them?"

Yu Xing nodded. "Possibly."

"I understand. The shopkeepers, the paper figures, and Liu Bingxian hostile to each other, so they are three factions. But then I still have a question," Zhao Ruru asked, "Where is Zhou Xue?"

She discovered that Yu Xing was very good at guiding others' thinking. Her train of thought was first overturned, then became clearer and clearer, and she naturally realized the part she had overlooked. "Zhou Xue is different from the others. She was the last one to 'enter Ghost Alley's before we started the deduction. According to what you said, their gratitude towards Zhou Xue at that time didn't seem fake. And most importantly, she came out of the coffin shop when she pulled you into the store."

Yes, if they're all shop owners, why should Zhou Xue be treated differently?

Yu Xing almost blurted out "You're teachable," but he swallowed it back halfway through. He didn't want to appear too arrogant and show no respect for his "senior."

He coughed twice, no longer letting Zhao Ruru ponder step by step, and directly threw out his thoughts. "In the shop owner's mind, Zhou Xue should be an outsider, just like us. So when the shop owner praised her, he was sincere."

"Her existence is the biggest problem among these three forces; to which side does she actually belong?"

"It's obvious she wasn't telling the truth to the shop owners; she lied not only to me but also to them. Therefore, she's not on the shop owners' side."

"Of the remaining two sides, the paper man and Liu Bingxian, I'm more inclined to believe she's on the paper man's side."

"Why?" Zhao Yijiu looked at him with some surprise. Of course, he didn't show any surprise on his face, but his interruption was enough for Yu Xing to sense it.

The viewers in the live chat also wanted to know.

Zhou Xue was hiding from the paper figures with the shop owner. Even if she wasn't on the shop owner's side, she should have been on Liu Bingxian's side. She also mentioned in her words that she had considered going to the end of the alley to check. Isn't this implying that she would rather stay in the haunted house than the Ghost Alley?

Before the comments section erupted into a heated debate between supporters and detractors, Yu Xing continued speaking.

"Because when I first encountered the paper figure, it looked incredibly stupid." A hint of mockery flashed in his eyes. "It was so fast, and it could conceal its footsteps and presence. Who was it trying to impress with such malice and footsteps back then?"

Zhao Ruru immediately realized what was going on. "I'm telling you this so you'll realize something's coming. Zhou Xue appears at this time, naturally leading to your interaction. If we're going to take it a step further, we could say she saved your life!"

Tsk tsk tsk, the Zhao family is very familiar with this kind of behavior.

Sometimes, in order to extract information, they would use such seemingly underhanded tactics. However, this was already the norm for the Zhao family, and no one felt guilty about it.

"Hmm~ If the paper figure and she are on the same side, then it makes perfect sense that she went out of the shop multiple times to 'investigate the alley' without being caught by the paper figure—the paper figure simply didn't need to catch her."

Yu Xing's words silenced Zhao Yijiu. The kind-hearted Brother Jiu was truly helpless; why were even ghosts so cunning?

Let's be honest, wouldn't it be better to just kill them directly?

Why does Yu Xing, whether human or ghost, always have to do these brain-damaging things, using one trick after another?

Yu Xing said, "As for her purpose in wanting to cross paths with me, it's probably related to the main plot. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I remember that in the ledger of the portrait frame shop, there was a person named Liu Xue who had bought a paper cutter on credit after Liu Bingxian ordered the first portrait frame."

[???]

[Details, these are the details!]

[Detail monster, I'm impressed]

"Liu Xue Liu Bingxian have the surname Liu, Zhou Xue Liu Xue both have 'Xue' in their names?" Zhao Ruru exclaimed in surprise. "Let me make a bold guess: could Zhou Xue be Liu Xue, and Liu Bingxian's... daughter? Wait a minute!"

She nudged Zhao Yijiu: "That 'calculator,' didn't he say he had a daughter? Holy crap, could that 'calculator' be Liu Bingxian?!"

Zhao Yijiu paused for a moment. He had initially thought it couldn't be such a coincidence, but upon closer reflection, he realized that the clues provided by the deduction couldn't be useless, and the abacus ghost was indeed the only ghost they could communicate with in the haunted house.

In this way, things may seem complicated, but in fact, there is a direction to explore, which is in line with the consistent style of deduction Yugi.

Despite all that thought in her mind, Zhao Yijiu's reply to Zhao Ruru was still just a simple "Mm."

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly. Judging from their tone, they had Liu Bingxian in this house?

Is it a ghost that can communicate, or a monstrous corpse that has lost its mind?

Zhao Ruru's guess was actually his own idea, but he hadn't figured out why Liu Xue would change her name to Zhou Xue and why the shop owners couldn't recognize her.

If Zhou Xue is indeed Liu Bingxian's daughter, what could have caused the father and daughter to become enemies?

The current task is clearly the "funeral" part in the live broadcast preview, followed by "marriage". Putting these two words together easily brings to mind a superstitious custom of feudal society.

Could it be...?

He stopped speculating at the right time. There was not enough information, and there were many possibilities. If he fixed his thinking in advance, it would not be conducive to subsequent reasoning.

Having said what he wanted to say, Yu Xing concluded, "In short, what we can analyze now are the three forces within this street and this house, and we also have some understanding of the key figures in the main storyline. I must emphasize one point: even if the forces are clear, we cannot explicitly favor one side until the whole truth is revealed."

"In this scenario of three opposing forces, rashly joining one side would be a very unwise choice." Yu Xing lost his grip, and the twig he had been playing with snapped. His hand trembled, and he said innocently, "Especially the shop owners. Among these three parties, the shop owners are as fragile as this twig; they are the easiest force to bully."

Zhao Ruru: "Luckily, this isn't my fortune-telling tool..."

If anyone else had said that the ghost forces were easy to bully, they would probably have been accused of being pretentious by the audience. However, after a while, the comments section realized that this was indeed the case. Fortunately, the handling so far has been very good, and the reasoning and analysis have even managed to find the main plot from seemingly unrelated clues.

You have to admit it.

Yu Xing rubbed her fingers to remove the dust from the twigs. "Next, it's your turn. What's the story behind this house?"

Zhao Ruru organized her thoughts. She felt that Yu Xing's descriptive method was very effective. By laying out the clues in a completely straightforward manner, she could allow the listener to discover the problem from a more comprehensive perspective.

After a long pause, she said, "I wasn't with Cold Wine. Let me start with myself. At the beginning of the deduction, I was unconscious in the woodshed of this haunted house. Before I could even get out, I heard someone crying as they approached."

"I wasn't sure if it was an NPC or if I just encountered a ghost, so I hid behind a stack of firewood. I vaguely saw a figure in white open the door and come in. He was wailing and carrying a very thin bundle of firewood. He even circled the woodshed once, which startled me. I barely managed to avoid being discovered..."

As Zhao Ruru recounted her experiences, the audience began excitedly keeping track of the progress while listening to her story.

[I didn't react at first, but now I want to kneel down and grovel before this big shot!]

[You kneel before a newcomer? Have you no backbone? You're making a fool of yourself in front of the newcomer!]

[Upstairs, this is toxic. Where does this sense of superiority come from? In this Absurd World, whoever is the most powerful is the boss, regardless of whether you're a newcomer or an old-timer.]

[Exactly, a newbie who's been promoted for only a month is already this strong. You'd still be a noob even after a year.]

[Honestly, when they were analyzing the information just now, Xingzhen really seemed like a teacher guiding students.]

[I suspect that he is a secret weapon cultivated by the Zhao family; otherwise, how could Zhao Ruru have allowed him to take the lead?]

This statement immediately drew many voices of agreement.

The Zhao family is a highly specialized intellectual family; they are generally not very skilled physically, but they are shrewd and cunning.

If he is someone the Zhao family has been nurturing with all their might, then it's not incomprehensible that a newly promoted person could adapt to the intensity of the Differentiation Tier deduction so quickly and reason with ease.

However, Zhao Mou, who had been sitting in Zhao Yijiu's live stream room and hadn't said anything even when Zou Jin was being difficult, suddenly stood up and denied these claims.

[Zhao Mou: Although Xing and I have a pretty good relationship, he's not from our family. Your wild guesses will only bother him, haha.]

He certainly wanted Yu Xing to belong to the Zhao family, or even his branch, more than anyone else here. Therefore, he had an even greater need to stand up and refute the rumors.

Not to mention that Yu Xing's true "mentor," Qu Xuanqing, is still watching here, even if Yu Xing has no backing, his own abilities are enough to make Zhao Mou take him seriously.

One thing to keep in mind when dealing with intelligent people is not to overstep boundaries.

Labeling Yu Xing as part of the Zhao family might deter many forces from trying to take her away, but it will definitely make Yu Xing uncomfortable.

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To truly maintain a good relationship and then take it a step further, you must proceed gradually.

Zhao Mou's casual denial fueled the discussion in the live chat, with some even asking if Cold Wine's exceptional skills indicated she was Zhao family, but Zhao Mou didn't respond.

[Progress update: Luo Liang's group has reunited and is currently dealing with the paper figures.]

[Jue is truly amazing. She persuaded Zhou Xue to go to the alleyway with her. The paper figures only attacked Zhou Xue, and now Zhou Xue is being chased by them and has disappeared. Jue entered the house without any pain.]

[She wasn't even approached by the photo frame shop! On the way, Zhou Xue revealed some things she had found out about Boss Liu to her.]

[What?! Is that even possible? Does this confirm Xing's theory that Zhou Xue and the paper doll were together? Because Jue had gained enough favorability points, Zhou Xue pretended to lure the paper doll away and let Jue in?]

Holy crap!

[However, this means Jue's group is missing the clue about Zhou Xue Liu Xue, which will definitely have an impact later on.]

Taking shortcuts always comes with greater risks; aren't we all used to the Mutation Path?

[The diamonds group is almost complete too, diamonds are really powerful!]

[Xu Yaoyao is the same as above. She has a significant advantage. She used the corpse offerings to shield her companions in Ghost Alley from several attacks. It's estimated that her companions will be able to enter the haunted house soon.]

What are the remaining Group Four doing? Asleep?

Those Group Four are still at the photo frame shop and haven't come out yet.

[I came from that side. I watched half of it and wanted to see how the other groups were doing, but I never went back, hahaha]

[+1, This group is fun, and their analytical speed is beyond my expectations. I'm so glad I'll encounter them in future deductions; I'll definitely need to rely on them.]