The Plan Went Off Without a Hitch

That's terrifying.

What's more terrifying than killing someone is subtly influencing their mind.

Just as many people are more afraid of unknown plots and curses than known ghosts.

Qu Xuanqing's blatant lies plunged the audience into a silent panic. Whether they liked her or hated her, a sense of shock and sorrow quietly arose within them.

Qu Xuanqing... was she controlled by that person at the Despair level after she was injured? No, judging from her actions of bringing the corpse up, it doesn't seem like it.

That means... his perception has been distorted, and he's become abnormal?

This is Qu Xuanqing! The strongest person below the Despair level, yet he's so powerless to resist when faced with despair?

Just a dozen seconds ago, when Qu Xuanqing carried the corpse into the elevator, some viewers were happy, thinking she had escaped that desperate level of pursuit, and they even raved about her being a great witch. Unexpectedly, they were proven wrong just a dozen seconds later.

Yu Xing looked at Qu Xuanqing with a somewhat serious expression.

He pulled Qu Xuanqing out of the elevator and said in a deep voice, "Come with me."

Qu Xuanqing responded nonchalantly, which suggests that she hasn't developed any personality flaws.

Yu Xing glanced at Ren Yi again and forced a smile, "I won't change my mind about what I promised you. I'll come find you after I've finished dealing with things here."

Ren Yi nodded. He hadn't expected things to unfold this way at all. Qu Xuanqing... if Qu Xuanqing could become like this, wouldn't that mean there was a guest here who was at the level of despair?

It can't be that Qu Xuanqing directed and acted it all himself, that would be meaningless. Yu Xing wanted him to do something, even if he wanted to bypass the audience, he could have hinted at it. There was no need to make it so complicated.

So, are there hidden, desperate-level deducers here?

Before coming in, Ren Yi's preparations were all focused on uncovering the truth, which is why he didn't analyze things too thoroughly for the other guests. After all, for him, others were playing Werewolf, while he was playing a single-player puzzle Yugi.

If a despair-level situation arises... then we really need to be careful. If it interferes with his actions, that would be quite annoying.

Ren Yi stepped aside so that Qu Xuanqing could drag the corpse away. The female corpse's face was distorted, seemingly on the verge of turning into a zombie, especially when she got close to Yu Xing.

He thought to himself that at least he hadn't lied about asking Qu Xuanqing for help finding the body.

Yu Xing walked beside Qu Xuanqing, slightly ahead by half a step, acting as a guide.

Even after they were out of Ren Yi's live stream camera's view, Yu Xing's expression remained unchanged until he knocked on the familiar ward door in a rhythmic pattern of two short knocks followed by three long knocks. Only after Zhao Mou opened the door and let him and Qu Xuanqing in did his expression suddenly relax.

The ward was the same ordinary ward they had found earlier, Zhao Yijiu was nowhere to be seen. He hadn't completed his first task, so he had to hurry up and finish the second one.

With Yi Qing by Zhao Yijiu's side, Zhao Mou felt relatively at ease. After all, Yi Qing's aura as a ghost was too powerful for the vengeful ghost inside Zhao Yijiu to contend with for the time being.

As long as the evil spirit doesn't cause trouble, he has great confidence in A Jiu's abilities.

Zhao Mou stayed in the room to wait for the others, ready to provide backup.

Upon opening the door, one could see Yu Xing, who had gotten up and left to carry out the plan a few minutes earlier, based on her estimation that the time was about right, along with Qu Xuanqing in blood, and the corpse she was holding that was about to turn into a zombie.

Because they were so close, the corpse was also covered in Qu Xuanqing's blood, making it even more grotesque and terrifying than the original.

"Tsk, this is quite a show of force." Seeing Qu Xuanqing's appearance, Zhao Mou was still somewhat unfamiliar with him, and the aura of a big shot was too strong, so he only dared to mutter a small sentence.

But Qu Xuanqing seemed to have heard him, glanced at him, nodded, and calmly said, "The bleeding is more than expected, mainly because none of you told me that Han Yan is already at the point of despair."

Yu Xing froze. "Despair level?"

Zhao Mou's pupils contracted. He seemed to have wanted to ask something, but after a few seconds of hesitation, he finally apologized directly. "This was my fault; I gave you incorrect information. So, you..."

"It's not going to cause any major problems, but he's much stronger than I expected, so it took a lot more effort." Qu Xuanqing glanced disdainfully at the bloodstains on the hospital bed, then condescended to sit on the edge of the bed. "Originally, there was no need to expose my Wicked Grace. In short, I completed everything assigned to me according to plan."

They never met in person. Zhao Mou always gave the intelligence to Yu Xing, Yu Xing then relayed it to Qu Xuanqing. Once Yu Xing and Zhao Mou had finalized their plan, they would tell Qu Xuanqing and Zhao Yijiu so they could prepare.

Therefore, Zhao Mou was unaware of the relationship between Qu Xuanqing and Yu Xing. Just as he was about to praise Qu Xuanqing his strong adaptability, even managing to fool someone in a state of despair, he heard Yu Xing say bluntly, "Tell me in detail what exactly you did and how Han Yan reacted."

Good grief, what's with that tone you're using?

Thinking of everything he had seen before, Zhao Mou chose to keep quiet for the moment, to remain invisible, and to observe closely.

Qu Xuanqing straightened her hospital gown, dabbed the wound from the sharp instrument that had pierced her with blood, and then reported all her motives and actions after she went down to the morgue to Yu Xing.

Although the plan was devised by Yu Xing and Zhao Mou, Qu Xuanqing had to handle the details herself in its execution. She thought for a moment and said, "My original plan was to search for the body you wanted while listening for the elevator. Once I heard someone coming down, I should prepare to pretend to be ambushed, giving the audience the impression that 'the attacker is good at disorienting the prey, so they must be very skilled in mental manipulation.' After leaving the morgue screen, I would imprison Han Yan when he was off guard, wasting his time and making his self-defense unbelievable."

"But I didn't hear the elevator. Han Yan had already come down and controlled the local ghosts of the Fear Hospital almost effortlessly. I couldn't see in the dark, so I didn't notice any danger. The first stab was quite serious." As she spoke, Qu Xuanqing the strip of cloth she was using to cover her neck. There was a large hole in her throat that had stopped bleeding. With such a large hole, her trachea must have been severed, but she could still speak freely.

Zhao Mou noticed this and quietly wrote it down.

Upon hearing this, Yu Xing sighed inwardly and reached out to touch the wound. His fingertip had barely touched Qu Xuanqing's skin when she awkwardly pulled away, saying, "There's nothing to see, it's just a wound."

"... Okay, go on." My daughter... no, my little sister's all grown up now, she knows how to be mindful of her image.

However, with those blood-stained clothes, no matter how careful one is, one's appearance is still ruined.

"I instantly realized he was at the Despair level, so I abandoned the first plan and switched to a backup plan to contain him with minimal cost. Han Yan didn't intend to hide his Despair level strength at that time either. I followed his attack and walked out of the morgue area, then revealed some abilities I had never shown before... to make Han Yan realize that I was very powerful, but that I couldn't kill him." Qu Xuanqing smiled, the light in his eyes very similar to that of Yu Xing when he was scheming.

"I have a ghost state..." She then explained the general reason and ability of the ghost state to Zhao Mou, "... Later, I surrounded him with my hair and used my sword to constantly waste his time, making him think that I was stalling for time and waiting for rescue. The hair not only restricted his movements but also effectively blocked his vision, preventing him from seeing the numbers on the elevator."

"He realized I was blocking his view, so he kept breaking through the encirclement with his gun. I stalled for another two minutes. When he realized he couldn't kill me anytime soon and that Ren Yi, whom you might bring along, could easily film him, he chose to leave first. I guess he's probably going to put on a good show and vote me out during the identification process."

"His desire to leave suits me perfectly," Qu Xuanqing said. "I saw that he didn't go up in the elevator; his body vanished in the blink of an eye. If he wasn't a sacrifice, then it must be a higher-level ability or item."

Yu Xing nodded. That made sense. The reason why Qu Xuanqing Ren Yi wondered why no one used the elevator after Qu Xianqing went down was because Han Yan didn't use the elevator at all. He had a more clever way to avoid the eyes of all the audience.

"Now that I know his strength, I can pretend too. And what he relies on most is the audience's favor; just destroy that." She hooked the end of her casually draped hair with her finger. "After being criticized for so many years, I at least know what the audience fears most."

The act of feigning being influenced is present in every plan; the only difference lies in how it's feigned.

If it were the original plan, she would have faked being seriously injured and mentally disoriented, as well as showing a slight aversion to Han Yan.

After discovering Han Yan's Despair Level identity, she decided to make her disguise even more chilling, which led to the conversation at the elevator entrance. This ensured that the audience would see this person as an enemy to the greatest extent possible, even without knowing who the Despair Level person was.

Because the intelligence of the person performing the deduction is their lifeblood, if someone can easily distort your consciousness, then can't they also easily kill you? This potential threat is very unsettling.

In this way, when Han Yan is exposed, the previous facade of Righteous Path will be minimized, because people will inevitably begin to wonder if their previous positive impression of him was also a result of distorted thinking.

As for true control... Han Yan did use it on her, but in her ghost form, she was immune to most attacks targeting the mind and body. [Wicked Grace] was practically a bug-level sacrifice; perhaps it truly was a blessing.

"When I'm in ghost form, this body can withstand any injury, as long as the ghost form isn't killed, my body is immortal." Qu Xuanqing had already told Yu Xing these things several times, but this time she specifically explained the ability clearly so that Zhao Mou could grasp the data and plan the subsequent matters more accurately. "After Han Yan leaves, I'll use the puppet strings to restore my body and then deactivate the state. Of course, this restoration comes at a price; for a period of time after deactivating the state, I cannot use the Wicked Grace until my spirit is restored by some external force."

"Yu Xing's curse power can do it... Zhao Yijiu's vengeful ghost energy can also do it." Qu Xuanqing didn't know Yi Qing yet, otherwise, she would probably add Yi Qing's name.

She spoke in great detail, causing a glint to appear in Zhao Mou's dark eyes.

So, Qu Xuanqing isn't just a representative of the lone wolf; she's actually more suited to a team. She's a super-destructive character whose energy seems to never run out in a team!

As long as she has powerful teammates with similar abilities to the ghosts, she can fight almost unscathed in her powerful ghost form, replenish her energy after the battle, and then unleash a new round of attacks.

Undoubtedly the strongest damage dealer.

Zhao Mou knew that Yu Xing would likely be promoted after this live stream ended. After the promotion, Yu Xing would form a team, and Qu Xuanqing would definitely be in it. He had also sent his own A Jiu to join, plus the famous "Sheqing Ghost." Yu Xing was also a rather versatile person. This lineup... even he wanted to join!

Moreover, Yu Xing certainly has other candidates he wants to recruit.

Having a stable team not only increases your survival rate, but also allows strong teammates to cooperate and grow rapidly, both in terms of their abilities within the simulation and their reputation outside of it.

Who wouldn't want this?

Of course, Zhao Mou quickly put away his inappropriate thoughts and nodded slightly to indicate that he knew everything.

"So, Han Yan will most likely show his face in other places with screens to ensure his credibility." Yu Xing smirked. "He probably thinks he's already anticipated everything and is preparing to deal with our onslaught during the identification phase. Qu, you know what to do then, right?"

"Hmm." Qu Xuanqing smiled as well. "Making him think I'm an idiot is one of my tasks, but during the identification process... he won't have the right to think that way anymore."

Zhao Mou finally couldn't hold back. "If I may be so bold as to ask, what exactly is your relationship?"

"You know it's presumptuous of you to ask? Aren't you afraid I'll get angry and kill you?" Qu Xuanqing turned to look at him, a half-smile on her face. "Haven't you always thought I was that kind of person? I've heard that back then, you didn't even dare to add me on WeChat."

"..." This probably refers to the first time Yu Xing visited their home. This Yu Xing, she really told Qu Xuanqing everything! How annoying!

Zhao Mou muttered to himself, then chuckled lightly, "Back then, the gap between us was too great, and I hadn't gathered any intelligence on you, so my impression of you was based on rumors. Things are different now, aren't they? Why don't you get angry and kill me?"

You've made something of yourself!

Qu Xuanqing was quite satisfied with Zhao Mou's reaction. She liked interesting people. She had spent some time with Yu Xing when she was a child, and after leaving, she found everyone else to be both stupid and boring.

But regarding his question... Qu Xuanqing looked at Yu Xing.

Yu Xing had actually noticed Zhao Mou's gaze lingering between him and Qu Xuanqing countless times, but he wanted to keep him in suspense and see how long this man planned to hold back before asking.

Now that his goal had been achieved, he was in a good mood and readily admitted, "You can think of us as siblings, or you can think of us as master and apprentice."

Qu Xuanqing echoed, "We just need to reverse what you previously thought was the master-disciple relationship."