Before the Storm

As soon as he opened his eyes again, Yu Xing was still sitting in the big chair in his bedroom, in a casual and lazy posture.

Deductions as an investigator don't consume real-world time. It was still a gloomy evening, and he remembered he hadn't eaten much on the second day of the game, so his stomach rumbled.

It was also dinnertime. Yu Xing rubbed his hair, stood up, stretched his back, and walked out of the bedroom towards the kitchen.

The refrigerator was well-stocked. He looked at the ingredients and decided to make sweet and sour pork ribs, Kung Pao chicken, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, mashed potatoes, and a bowl of seaweed egg drop soup... all in small portions.

Having been single for so long, his cooking skills had improved daily. Yu Xing often felt that even without his looks, he could seduce—ah, no, capture—many girls with his culinary skills.

He skillfully put on his apron, handling different ingredients with various knives while reviewing the changes on his persona mask in his mind.

Actually, his status panel hadn't changed much after Coffin Village. His deduction points had increased from 233 to 934, leaving him only 66 points short of advancing to intermediate deducer. Besides that, the name "Tears of the Underworld Candle" had been added to the persona sacrifice section.

[Persona Sacrifice: &#|^(Data Error), Tears of the Underworld Candle (Equipped 2/6)]

Before entering Coffin Village, Qu Xuanqing had told him about the rules for the abilities of sacrifices. The same sacrifice would have different forms and abilities when fused with different persona masks.

This was something he had only recently learned. Before becoming a deducer, he could only hear some vague, [absurd] information from these people. Due to the rules, deducers couldn't tell ordinary people specific details.

Right now, he also wanted to see what that candle disk had turned into.

After obtaining Tears of the Underworld Candle, it had automatically equipped itself onto Yu Xing's persona mask, adding a small black prism-shaped pattern on the left cheekbone of the mask, with a flame made only of light and shadow burning on it.

He wiped his hands on his apron and, with a thought, detached the sacrifice from the mask. His hand immediately felt heavier.

A simple, exquisite, sealed hexagonal Chinese-style handheld candlestick appeared in his hand. He pinched the hard ring at the top of the candlestick with two fingers and lifted it.

How to put it... the appearance of this candlestick had changed drastically. It was like a finely crafted revolving lantern. The six sides were carved with different intricate patterns. It was hard to tell what material it was made of; it was black, like bamboo, like wood, and even a little like iron.

It felt slightly heavy in his hand. Through the fine, hollowed-out areas between the patterns, he could see a candle inside. Perhaps due to the lighting, Yu Xing couldn't tell if it was a red candle or a white candle.

He focused his consciousness on it and easily obtained the information about this sacrifice.

[Sacrifice: Tears of the Underworld Candle]

[Form: Chinese-style Handheld Candlestick]

[This sacrifice has fused with "Persona Mask? Xing." The fusion ability is: Lighting the white candle will put the holder into a pseudo-ghost transformation state. In this state, the aura is equivalent to that of a zombie-type ghostly creature (can deceive low-intelligence ghostly creatures), the body becomes stiff and corrupted, and attack power slightly increases. No time limit, can be used at most once per deduction. ② Lighting the red candle will cause all thinking beings within the range of the light to enter a state of gradual decay and mental confusion without distinction, lasting for ten seconds. Can be used at most once per deduction. ② Abilities can be used separately.]

[Description: After fusing with the deducer Yu Xing's persona, this sacrifice's appearance transformed into an antique carved handheld candlestick. There is always a candle inside the candlestick, its color changing with the ability used. It is very powerful.]

[Note: Although its prestige has greatly increased, please do not wear white at night and carry it, otherwise people might mistake you for the most handsome grim reaper in history, and you'll be topping the trending searches the next day.]

Yu Xing: "Oh my~" I know I'm handsome, but you don't have to praise me even in the notes.

His attention focused on the abilities. The pseudo-ghost transformation and the unlimited time piqued his interest.

This meant that if he wanted to, he could use the ability as soon as he entered the game and complete the entire deduction with a corpse-like body?

That seemed quite interesting...

Moreover, Yu Xing had some other ideas.

If the white candle was lit, would his body's negative status effects still be there? After all...

A "thud" startled him from his thoughts.

He looked down. He was holding a kitchen knife in his right hand and the candlestick in his left. Without realizing it, he had chopped the kitchen knife fiercely onto the cutting board, the blade embedded deeply.

He retracted the candlestick with his consciousness and touched his nose with his empty left hand: "Sorry, cutting board. Actually, I just didn't like you and wanted to buy a new one."

Cutting board: Damn it.

"I accept your commission."

After spending two hours finishing dinner, Yu Xing took out his phone to play for a while. As soon as he exited the app, he

Southwest, the celebration...

His eyebrows shot up.

Isn't that Ruibo University?

A member of Single Prism will appear at Ruibo University tomorrow?

Thinking of this, his gaze turned cold.

All members of Single Prism are lunatics, with antisocial and anti-human personalities abounding. Almost all members are on a downward spiral, and their appearance inevitably causes death and disaster.

Zhu Yan is at Ruibo University...

It seems he has to get there early tomorrow, so as not to implicate Zhu Yan if something happens.

After all, she's just an ordinary person.

Ruibo University, campus anniversary celebration.

As an annual festival, Ruibo's campus celebration has always been quite popular.

Every year on this day, Ruibo sets up exhibition areas and mini-game zones in various corners of the campus, opening it up for visitors. They've managed to turn the celebration into a large fair.

Rumor has it that the original intention of the celebration was to promote Ruibo's campus culture. However, the school was too large, and the person in charge couldn't manage everything, so they handed over the right to organize events to various student clubs. And well, as it turns out, we can never underestimate how wild college students can get.

After a few years of events, Ruibo's campus celebration has become a minor festival for the people of Mijin City. Many people from outside the school come to join the fun on that day, leading to a packed campus.

Yu Xing generally disliked crowding into masses of people, especially in summer and winter. In summer, too many people could be suffocating, while in winter, everyone felt like they were squeezed together like spheres. The constant hassle of people trying to strike up conversations or ask for contact information was also unbearable.

He had originally planned to spend the entire time with Zhu Yan, accompanying her around and having fun, supporting her in front of her classmates, and making sure she didn't get lost. But now, it seemed he also had to investigate Single Prism's movements.

Early in the morning, after confirming the time with Zhu Yan, Yu Xing specifically tidied himself up.

He wore an oversized white T-shirt with a graphic print. Online, its full name was "Five-Sleeve Korean Style Trendy Loose Oversized T-shirt for Men," though he didn't understand the purpose of such a long string of prefixes and suffixes. The name was off-putting, but the shirt itself was fine. He casually paired it with five-point denim shorts and a thick sports bracelet. He did look quite pleasing to the eye, and his mood felt considerably younger.

Hmm... Zhu Yan had bought it for him online based on her personal taste. Yu Xing figured this outfit would align with contemporary youth fashion.

At least Zhu Yan would be happy, just like when he used to attend parent-teacher conferences for her.

Yu Xing put on his baseball cap and left the complex. He bought four steamed buns, hailed a shared bicycle by the roadside, and ambled his way towards Ruibo University.

When he reached the school gate, Zhu Yan was standing in the shade, talking with a few friends, seemingly waiting for him.

Yu Xing parked his bike and noticed that it was only nine o'clock, yet there were already many people. He ignored the various glances from those around him and walked towards Zhu Yan with light steps.

"Is he really your brother, not your boyfriend? You said your family wasn't in Mijin City~" His hearing was excellent, and he could overhear the lightly made-up girl next to Zhu Yan joking.

"Stop it," Zhu Yan said. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, and she wore a stylish off-the-shoulder T-shirt and high-waisted hot pants. The hem of her shirt was tucked into her pants, revealing her slender waist.

Her head ached at the question; it was difficult to explain. She could only let her classmates speculate: "It's fine if you show off your affection every day, but don't always assume everyone else is in a relationship."

"Tch, when do I show off my affection?" the lightly made-up girl said, linking her arm with her boyfriend's.

Zhu Yan rolled her eyes at her.

These were her friends from the music club, who had come over out of curiosity that morning about who she had invited.

I wonder why Yu Xing isn't here yet...

As she was thinking this, she guessed the answer from the sudden change in her friends' gazes.

The next moment, a plastic bag containing oily steamed buns was placed on her finger, and a familiar voice, laced with a smile, said: "Breakfast, pork filling. Eat up."