I Must Die

Upside down?

Upside down???

For the first time, Zhao Mou suspected that there was something wrong with his ears, or that his hearing and legs were both disabled.

To be honest, he really wanted to show a shocked and suspicious expression like an ordinary person, but remaining calm had become his way of doing things. Even though he was in great turmoil inside, he still didn't show any extra expression and looked just as calm as ever.

Only his dilated pupils could reveal some of his true emotions.

Zhao Mou pushed up his glasses, quickly adjusted his thinking, and began to ponder.

How do you turn this upside down? First of all, Qu Xuanqing has been active in the deduction for several years, Yu Xing has only been here for a few months.

Secondly, no matter how you look at it, even though Yu Xing is mysterious, in terms of strength, Qu Xuanqing undoubtedly completely surpasses Yu Xing. As for the one-ninth of the Lingren in the Death Parallel Line who did not bring sacrifices, if Yu Xing encountered a dangerous situation, but it was Qu Xuanqing... he would probably have directly counterattacked and killed her.

Because the abilities of Lingren are mysterious, the impression given is that their enemies die inexplicably in front of them, and very few people have actually witnessed the skills of Lingren.

Yu Xing is indeed making progress, but he hasn't yet reached Qu Xuanqing's level of ability.

In conclusion, what could Yu Xing possibly teach Qu Xuanqing?

Zhao Mou gained another layer of understanding of the illusion of this world. Sure enough, even if you collect most of the clues, you still can't piece together the truth, because the truth doesn't make any sense at all.

"Could I know how this happened... how..." Unable to resist his curiosity, he hesitated for a moment, "How did it come about?"

"That's a long story. I can tell you about it when we get back to reality." Yu Xing squatted down in front of Zhao Mou, looking him in the eye. At this moment, his image in Zhao Mou's eyes undoubtedly gained another layer of mystery. "Now, we just need to wait for someone to discover who Han Yan killed and sound the alarm in the lobby."

"You're not going to kill?" Qu Xuanqing turned to look at him. Her wounds had healed, but the poison Shafuri had given her was still subtly taking effect. She supported herself on the bed with her arms behind her back, maintaining a relaxed posture with her body slightly leaning back. Her eyes were slightly bluish. "You must be another perpetrator in this round, right? Aren't you going to continue the mission?"

"Hmm, where did I give myself away?" Yu Xing looked up in confusion. "How did you know that?"

Zhao Mou let out a helpless sigh.

It's so strange, Yu Xing is sometimes incredibly smart and other times so adorably silly.

"We already knew from the last identification," Qu Xuanqing, seemingly speechless. "After hearing about the location and appearance of the Pearl Seller's death, wasn't it only you who could have killed her? A sneak attack, followed by having the Rubik's Cube testify for you, wouldn't be difficult?"

The Rubik's Cube believed Yu Xing simply because it didn't think Yu Xing had the ability to silently and instantly kill someone, let alone be so bold.

Qu Xuanqing is different; she understands Yu Xing all too well.

Zhao Mou was the same. Although he didn't know Yu Xing, he was still very confident in Yu Xing's abilities. This actor was the best at deceiving people. Rubik's Cube looked like an academic who was obsessed with theoretical research and had never experienced the harsh realities of society. The Research Institute must have protected him well. He could analyze whether a person was acting based on data, but he couldn't tell when he was facing a person directly.

The former relies on brainpower, while the latter also requires keen eyesight.

"Okay, that was hasty." Yu Xing stood up and clapped her hands indifferently. "Let's not kill them. Actually, I've always suspected something: Han Yan must have some idea that could allow him to reverse this passive situation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have let us all survive in the first round. We can outmaneuver him, but wouldn't he outmaneuver us? In the morning mode, he had many opportunities to subtly lure the attackers to kill any of us, but he didn't."

Why? It's only because he feels it's pointless to do it.

Qu Xuanqing asked, "Since the Despair Level can already communicate with the system, will he request a change in the rules?"

"No, Han Yan can't do it. Let alone someone like him who hasn't been at the Despair level for very long, even someone like Lingren, who has one foot in the Real level, can't change the fundamental rules of a deduction." Zhao Mou refuted Qu Xuanqing's guess. "His authority is already quite good enough to use on changing our symptoms."

"The system emphasizes fairness. I don't know if you've noticed, but the system's self-awareness seems to be getting stronger over the past two years." He mentioned a new concept, "Although I don't know why the system has changed like this, whether it's related to another experience system that's been getting increasingly prominent lately, at least the core principle of 'fairness' won't deviate. Many times, even when the system's self-awareness wants to influence something, it's still bound by those fair rules."

"Therefore, even if Han Yan had a way to break the rule that one must fail in all three matches to die, he couldn't use his special privileges; he could only use something that conformed to the rules of this simulation."

Yu Xing leaned against the dirty wall and nodded slightly.

That's right. He still remembered that at that time, the system didn't want him to take the Forbidden Chair that fell out of Han Xinyi's mask fragments, so it could only offer a high price within the rules' allowed range, trying to make him back down. It couldn't set a higher price that he definitely couldn't afford, nor could it use other methods to directly exclude the rule sacrifice from the range that he could possess.

This is where "fairness" comes into play.

"But what does this have to do with you, the perpetrator, not killing anyone?" Qu Xuanqing wasn't swayed.

"Oh, it's nothing. The only thing that can break the existing rules in this simulation is the secret in the dean's office. Who knows, when the truth comes to light, the rules of the entire small world will be disrupted. Han Yan must know something, so he won't cause trouble for Ren Yi. He might even help him and accelerate the investigation of the truth. Once the rules are broken, he can kill us, making our deaths shocking and unexpected. Wouldn't that be better?" Yu Xing really understood the thoughts and preferences of perverts.

"At that time, I wonder if those who didn't complete the mission or didn't do well will be at a disadvantage. Brother Jiu failed the last mission because of the vengeful ghost. If there are any different punitive plots afterward because of this, I'll fail once too, so at least I can be with him."

Of course, there is no evidence for this idea. It's just that throughout all these episodes Fear Hospital has been emphasizing that we should listen to the hospital director, fulfill our duties, that Doctor should treat patients well, that patients should cherish their health and cooperate with treatment, and that nurses should do their supporting work.

Yu Xing felt that this might be a hint; when the truth was revealed, those who disobeyed the dean and disappointed him would likely be punished.

If Yi Qing can't stay with Zhao Yijiu then, Zhao Yijiu will be alone with people from different factions, who might be enemies, and will also have to deal with vengeful ghosts. It would probably be very difficult. He might as well make himself the kind of person who deserves to be punished, so that he can ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Zhao Mou understood immediately and glanced at Yu Xing with a complicated expression.

"You're really good to your friends. But you've sacrificed too much for A Jiu. How will he ever repay you?" The older brother, who always took good care of his younger brother, gave a wry smile. "You don't really want to tie him to your team for life, do you? Otherwise, if this continues, he'll never be able to repay what he owes you."

"What's wrong with having someone in my team, aside from the occasional degenerate lunatic showing up?" Yu Xing teased. "It was your idea to let Brother Jiu join my team, and now you're worried about it. You're such a conflicted person."

On one hand, she hopes her younger brother can make true friends and have someone to protect him; on the other hand, she worries that other people's good intentions are too great and put too much pressure on her brother.

"Hmph..." Qu Xuanqing gave a cold snort with an ambiguous meaning, "The perpetrator doesn't fail if they don't kill anyone in a certain round, so you're even going to abandon your Doctor's mission, are you?"

"Yes," Yu Xing admitted quickly.

"It's not just a task. If Ren Yi fails to uncover the truth in this round, you will also expose your own weakness and be voted out, resulting in a 'death' to ensure you don't listen to the dean," Qu Xuanqing added.

"Yes, you're right, but we need to deal with Han Yan this round first." Yu Xing smiled. "Besides, there are no ifs. Ren Yi definitely won't find out the truth this round. The hospital director is still relatively clear-headed this round. Only at dusk will the hospital reveal its true colors, and only then will the truth have a chance to emerge."

Therefore, he is doomed to die in this round.

Qu Xuanqing seemed a little unhappy, but didn't say anything, showing absolute respect.

"Yu Xing, thank you." Zhao Mou said sincerely.

Even if Yu Xing approached him and his brother for the sake of the intelligence network, and incidentally to recruit future teammates, he accepted it.

Even if someone is a cunning and manipulative person, as long as they are a teammate and continue to maintain their facade, everything will be fine.

"Then Zhao Mou and I will go out first. Even if you're not doing the mission anymore, we still need to deal with this corpse first." Qu Xuanqing pointed to the female corpse that she had thrown in the corner for a while. The female corpse's clothes had been changed into hospital clothes, and there was another ligature mark around her neck.

"Okay," Yu Xing replied, having already seen the female corpse's fingers twitch several times.

Qu Xuanqing stood up, walked behind Zhao Mou, and gently placed her hand on the armrest behind the chair, which was meant for others to push.

Zhao Mou suddenly felt a chill rise from his back, and a shiver ran through his body from his skin all the way down to his spine.

"..." What's wrong? Are you unhappy because of Yu Xing's choice?

But... don't take it out on me.

Zhao Mou sat obediently without saying a word, and was pushed out the door by Qu Xuanqing without any resistance.

"Peng."

The door closed quietly, and as soon as the unrelated personnel left, the female corpse seemed to undergo some kind of chemical reaction, instantly sitting up straight from its stiff state. Her head, as if rusted, turned towards Yu Xing in fits and starts, and her eyes had already opened without her noticing.

Those eyes, filled with resentment and possessiveness, stared at Yu Xing as if they wanted to devour him whole.

However, it did not pounce on Yu Xing immediately, but instead observed, checking whether the large blue ghost was there.

"Oh, so you know how to spot people." Yu Xing saw through its intention and clicked her tongue. "He's not here."

Even though Yu Xing was very honest, the female corpse didn't believe him and continued to observe him secretly.

Yu Xing wasn't going to let it get too easy. Since the female corpse wasn't attacking him, he would attack her instead.

Yu Xing moved, the female corpse rolled on the ground with unusual agility, her limbs braced on the ground and her leg joints reversed, making her whole corpse look like a gecko.

Its head was almost bent, with its head and shoulders at a ninety-degree angle, looking up at Yu Xing. Blood tears streamed from its eyes, and it made a series of bubbly sounds, like those often made by ghosts in Japanese horror movies. Its long hair fell in front of its face, making it look terrifying.

"What are you doing, imitating Sadako? Trying to become an imported ghost?" Yu Xing retorted sharply, already taking out the Sheqing Dreamscape. The cold blade still retained Yi Qing's aura, and the azure mist expanded slightly. The female corpse retreated a little in confusion.

It had always assumed that the terrifying black and blue mist in the office were emitted by that giant ghost, because Yu Xing seemed to be a human and shouldn't possess the power of a ghost.

The female corpse couldn't understand.

Now, it sensed the presence of the great demon, but the demon was nowhere to be found. Moreover, the mist was bluish-green, unlike the previous dark bluish-green.

It didn't know what to do, and in the end, it could only follow its heart and kill the man in front of it!

This man strangled her to death, and still wouldn't listen, tearing up the love letters she gave him. What's the point of him living?

Go to hell!

The female corpse let out a howl and crawled away like a gecko, reaching the ceiling in the blink of an eye. Her head was turned 180 degrees, still facing Yu Xing directly, and her mouth was open, revealing sharp teeth and a long tongue.

Yu Xing watched coldly, and the instant the female corpse's long tongue coiled towards him, he swung his dagger and slashed. Almost at the moment of contact, a piece of red flesh was severed, and the inertia sent it flying far away. The female corpse paused for a moment, then let out a shrill scream.

History often repeats itself.

It was the same familiar dagger, the same familiar screams.

Yu Xing received a notification about the Sheqing Dreamscape.

[Attack using Sheqing Dreamscape, Ability ① is randomly generated, with the effect "Nightmare".]

In fact, the effect is triggered every time he uses the Sheqing Dreamscape, so he rarely pays attention to this kind of prompt anymore.

The effect of Nightmare is to amplify the effects of curses or other attacks that the target suffers for a period of time afterward.

The local ghosts in the Fear Hospital were only good for restraint and weren't very strong. Encountering someone like Yu Xing was truly their bad luck.

Yu Xing was too lazy to waste any more time with it. The black mist enveloped the Female Ghost under his control. The Female Ghost kept trying to escape, but was quickly entangled by the black mist. The black mist was like hands reaching out from hell, with amazing restraining force, and easily pulled the Female Ghost down from the ceiling.

The Female Ghost was shrouded in mist, writhing in agony on the ground, her screams piercing the ears.

Gradually, its struggles weakened, and the corpse lay on the ground. After seeing the Ghost Tree, Yu Xing's body seemed to have gained some spiritual abilities and began to sense it. In his eyes, it seemed as if a soul was tearing at his body. That soul was ferocious and tried to return to the body again and again, but its connection to the body had been severed by the black mist.

Suddenly, footsteps sounded from outside, heading straight for Yu Xing's room.

Yu Xing's mind stirred. He withdrew the black mist and approached the struggling female corpse with his dagger.