A Long-Cherished Wish (13)-The Pace

Therefore, what is fatal for the diviners now is that all the powerful figures in the Fang Mansion are in the hands of the Master.

The lady cooperated with the Master willingly, the master was willing to try the heinous ritual in order to resurrect his son, and the butler had long been replaced by one of the Master's own people.

Whether it was Yu Xing, Liu Xue, or even Zhao Ruru in the side room, none of them could escape.

After gathering his information, Yu Xing began to consider whether to reunite with Zhao Yijiu. If Zhao Yijiu's current identity was still safe, would going to find Zhao Yijiu actually put Zhao Yijiu in danger?

After considering for three seconds, Yu Xing walked towards the Master's servants' quarters.

Whatever, even if Zhao Yijiu is found to be in contact with him, he believes that with Zhao Yijiu's strength, there won't be too much of a problem.

Yu Xing chuckled inwardly, "If Zhao Yijiu knew that I was dealing with the bosses all by myself without including him, he'd probably feel like he's being looked down upon."

He walked very carefully.

At present, most people in the Fang Mansion are completely unaware of what is happening in secret. There are a few more servants secretly monitoring people coming and going in the side rooms, and in the fifth courtyard, the lady and the Master's people walk back and forth.

Seemingly loosely organized, they are actually like a net, capturing everyone who might know the truth.

When he was gathering information earlier, he didn't see Luo Liang, and because he was far away, he didn't recognize Zhao Yijiu, so he had no way of knowing whether the other teams were safe.

After all, the 7/7 displayed in the system message might only show the number of people who have entered the third stage. Due to the lack of communication, no one can be sure whether this number will change if someone dies.

There was no way around it; the remaining two teams were all very strong, and they immediately sped up the pace of the game.

He just went out for a short while, and when he came back, the situation had been disrupted to this extent.

Yu Xing was quite pleased.

This shows that there are quite a few ruthless people in the Three Great Families. He also likes fast-paced deductions, but it is not easy for him to do it alone. It is only possible to control the pace by working together with many people.

This also proves one thing—at least several researchers have quietly gathered together.

Yu Xing sneaked up to the back window of the servants' quarters, listened for a while to make sure there was no sound inside, then stretched out a finger and pushed the window open a crack that was barely noticeable.

He squinted and looked inside; it was empty. He widened the gap and climbed inside.

"Sigh, it feels like I've been constantly climbing through every window since I got here..." Yu Xing muttered, "Or maybe I'm just waiting for someone else to climb through my window--"

Yu Guangzhong's eyes flashed with a cold light.

Yu Xing's words caught in her throat. She dodged to the side, and the sharp blade embedded itself in the wall without any obstruction.

A hand drew a knife, aimed it at Yu Xing's neck, and then stabbed him again with a backhand motion.

Yu Xing raised his hand and accurately grabbed the man's wrist. He felt that the force was considerable and the angle of the stab was very tricky. If the man had been even a little slower, his neck would have been pierced.

The next second, a knee struck Yu Xing in the stomach. He hissed and used the momentum to clamp down on the other man's leg, stopping him from making the next move.

"It really hurts a bit. Hey, don't get excited. Fighting is such a noisy thing, it's not good to attract other people." Yu Xing smiled, and as soon as she said that, the tension in the leg she was holding immediately eased up a lot.

He finally had a moment to look up.

The person he had subdued was an inconspicuous servant boy who looked slightly nervous. He was holding a knife in both hands, one of which was aimed at Wang Yu Xing's head, but he stopped in time.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Yu Xing thought for a moment and replied, "You'd have to ask the person who used to live in this room; they would definitely know who I am."

"..." The servant paused for a moment, then turned around and glanced back.

Behind him, in the corner of the room, sat a gloomy man. When he saw the servant looking back, he looked up and turned his head away with a hint of disdain.

"You two separate first."

Although the voice was different, Yu Xing recognized Zhao Yijiu just by listening to her tone.

He smiled, released the servant's leg, and casually brushed away the knife the servant was holding above his head, then walked towards Zhao Yijiu.

Zhao Yijiu was sitting in a very secluded corner; it would be impossible to see him from the window.

Yu Xing leaned against the wall next to Zhao Yijiu like she had no bones, and teased, "What, are you teaming up with others to give me a unique welcome ceremony?"

"It wasn't me," Zhao Yijiu said calmly.

The servant caught up in a few steps. "You two are on the same team? Oh, I didn't expect that Xiao Jin would actually be playing such an important role as a deducer—"

Yu Xing glanced at him, which was taken as an agreement. "Maybe I'm just lucky. Judging from the way you asked, it seems that the remaining three people are the ones who have joined forces. With your identities, the two of you can't push things along."

"Three people?" Zhao Yijiu looked up and repeated.

"Oh, yes, we can't count on Zhao Ruru, but she's not dead either." Yu Xing briefly mentioned the situation in the side room, "As long as the Master doesn't gather five living sacrifices to complete this stage of the task, she can leave directly. So at this stage, the most optimistic scenario is that there are still six people left."

"Oh~" The servant looked like he suddenly understood, "Then you've seen...?"

"I've never met anyone from your Xu family, only Luo Liang." Yu Xing didn't even let him finish his question, scratching her messy hair and then looking Zhao Yijiu up and down, "Your identity hasn't been exposed?"

Zhao Yijiu said, "No, the Master is looking for you and A Hu right now."

A Hu?

Yu Xing said "Oh," and then continued, "You came to me because I helped Liu Xue. The Master felt I had betrayed him, so he simply crippled my mobility and made me a living sacrifice on the blood array. As for A Hu... is he an evil spirit? Is he being suspected?"

"Why didn't you guess that A Hu was also a strategist? And why do you think that just because I'm Xu family, I can't be Luo Liang's teammate?" The servant was clearly a little wary of Yu Xing because Yu Xing was very skilled.

He had always thought that the Zhao family weren't particularly Combat Power individually and relied on their brains, but it turned out that not only was Zhao Yijiu an oddball, but even Zhao Yijiu teammates were like that.

"Just like the reason for your concerns," Yu Xing pointed to his own eyes, then compared them to his, "Only the Xu family here focuses on training in combat, while the Luo family uses talismans and the like. Moreover, the Luo family is very reasonable and values stability; they won't launch a sneak attack before even seeing who it is."

"As for A Hu... I noticed him during lunch last time. His behavior seems very much in line with the habits of an evil spirit. How should I put it? If someone were truly working alongside Mama Liang as a purchasing agent, even if they were careless, they wouldn't be to the point of being irritable and easily angered."

"I've always thought he was the second hungry ghost, but I haven't had a chance to test him yet." Yu Xing turned around, listening to the voices of people coming and going outside. "I deliberately chose a time when the Master's men were searching for someone, intending to hide here and wait for you, but I didn't expect you to find an opportunity to slack off."

"I didn't slack off," Zhao Yijiu retorted.

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. "So what are you doing?"

Zhao Yijiu: "Upright and honorable."

"Oh," Yu Xing said, "That's true, you've learned a lot of bad habits from your brother."

The servant interrupted the pointless conversation, "I'm a diamond?? Since you're here too, let's gather some information?"

Yu Xing looked at him.

Fang Pian casually stuck the two knives in his hand into the wooden table—clearly, these knives were found in the Fang Mansion, not as sacrificial offerings.

"Although there's a rule that allows us to kill each other to earn points, I believe none of us would actually do that."

His abilities are still there. Although he was being suppressed by Yu Xing's skills, he was trying to take control of the rhythm.

"In that case, there's no harm in consolidating information; it's the most likely way to get all of us to reach 60% exploration."

"Of course, we have another option. I heard from Cold Wine that time can be skipped during this phase. As long as someone completes the key plot points, we—no, you—can escape the danger of being caught at any moment."

Yu Xing applauded him. "You're right, and I suspect that the time jump will only happen once more. Didn't you notice? It's called exploring the truth, but in reality, this process has been compressed."

"In other words, content that might have originally taken two or three months has been compressed into a single day, all to save time and make the plot more concise."

Zhao Yijiu nodded slightly, her indifference unchanged. Yu Xing meant and fell silent for a moment.

"I have a feeling that the next jump will be the wedding ceremony, and the end is not far away. So the most anxious ones right now are your team, who entered last. You are the ones who most urgently need to gain exploration points."

Yu Xing patted Fang Pian's shoulder, his smile very friendly, "So... right now, you'd better keep a low profile and stop thinking about things like having a voice. The most important thing is to think about how to survive, okay?"

Having his plan exposed, Fangpian sighed and gave Yu Xing a thumbs up, "Fine~ You're ruthless, you call the shots."

This person seems quite easy to talk to.

In fact, Fangpian is well-regarded among the deducers. Although his decisive style can easily hurt people, he has a really good temper. If someone tries to stop him from leading the team, he can even become a bit Zen.

He wasn't surnamed Xu; he was a member of a different family. He didn't have many traces of ghosts on him, and he wasn't as gloomy as the Xu family.

"Alright, we just need to wait. The last key plot point today should be that Liu Xue escapes but is caught by Liu Bingxian. After that, the Fang Mansion will abandon me and Liu Bingxian to control Liu Xue." Yu Xing still remembered Liu Xue's side, and the ending was already predictable.

Now that he's back, he still can't find the Master anywhere. He's probably busy watching over Liu Xue. So, only the madam and servants can search the Fang Mansion.

As for the master, he's a good-for-nothing; there's no need to pay him much attention.

Now, what he also wants to take this opportunity to find out is the identity of the third evil spirit.

The situation is gradually becoming clearer; only one evil spirit remains lurking in the shadows, which is quite annoying.

"The matter with Liu Xue will probably be settled by late at night. Let's just wait." Yu Xing sat down next to Zhao Yijiu and glanced at the sky.

The sun had already set for some time. When he returned to the Fang Mansion, the sunset was just beginning, but now it was getting darker and darker, and he could hardly see the road.

He asked, "Could you please close this window?"

Diamonds??: "..."

He closed the window without saying a word, watching the room grow darker and darker, and glanced at the two people in the corner.

The two of them were whispering to each other, probably exchanging information.

I won't take him.

Fangpian sat down on the chair, holding his forehead.

This live simulation was... quite terrifying.

At first, with his and his two teammates' skills, live-streamed simulations were nothing special.

Since the appearance of the Lingren, all plans have been disrupted. Not only was one person lost, but he and his teammate, Satoshi, were also injured.

Now they've fallen into a very passive situation. Only Zhao Ruru's team is still at full strength. Although Zhao Ruru isn't there, he can still tell that while Zhao Ruru was the most famous before, Cold Wine and Xing are more proactive in the team.

In other words, the team's decision-maker is still alive, but... their captain is dead.

He could only stick with them for now and try to figure out the plot on his own. As for exchanging information, he knew he had been too idealistic. His team arrived late and had practically no information; how could they be qualified to exchange anything with Xing?

To achieve 60% exploration progress, there's only one way now: perform well in the later stages and use key information as leverage at the final time point.

In order to survive by utilizing key information, people will no longer hesitate to share it with each other.

Fangpian held his forehead, a serious look in his eyes.

Never mind, there's a reason for it.

He believes that the Three Great Families who remain outside are all trying to investigate the reason for the Lingren's appearance and are thinking about how to minimize the damage.

If he can just hold on, he will receive compensation from the Xu family. Moreover, because of the Lingren's presence, this live broadcast will definitely attract a lot of attention that would not normally be possible.

If he survives, he'll basically be guaranteed the qualification to become a celebrity predictor.

He glanced at the two people whispering in the corner and thought to himself: I wonder if it's a coincidence, but the appearance of the Lingren has provided a perfect springboard for these two newcomers.

They will go from being unknown to being known by everyone overnight—even if others mention them, they may only have an impression and there may not be any strong feelings of admiration or disgust.

Ah, what a fortunate time!

The teacup gradually cooled, and as the night progressed, it eventually became a pot of cold tea that was no longer drinkable.

A hint of worry lingered between the lady's brows as she remained seated by the window, where she could see the study across the way with a turn of her head.

However, Young Master Fang will never be seen in the study again.

"Xiao Meng, why do I feel so disappointed?" The lady touched her teacup and chuckled softly.

Xiao Meng stood quietly behind her. If it were before, Xiao Meng would definitely have responded.

But today, she remained silent, like a docile maid who dared not discuss her master's affairs.