Bad Luck Exploded

Although the cat was tiny, its eyes were lively. It seemed a little arrogant, though, and wasn't even very close to its owner.

Yu Xing narrowed his eyes. There was something unsettling about the black cat's presence. It seemed to stir something within him, making him reluctant to go near it.

He had no idea what this Witch was all about. She had appeared in what was clearly a standalone fragmentary world of the deduction game, and she'd even used a word like "part-time."

Weird as hell.

"How do we play?" Wang Jue asked.

"Very simple." The Witch's stunning face remained expressionless as she slowly recited the rules. "Each of you will go into the room inside and answer three questions. If you lie or can't remember the answers, you'll be plagued by bad luck during this game. The more questions you get wrong, the worse the bad luck will be."

At that, Yu Xing felt a twinge of unease.

His... memory might not be very good. There were a lot of things he couldn't remember.

This game was targeting him! It had to be jealousy. It definitely was!

"What happens if I can't remember any of the three questions?"

Yu Xing slipped his hands into his pockets. He wasn't very confident inside, but on the surface he still looked as unreadable as ever.

"Nothing much. You'll simply be shrouded in bad luck." The Witch turned to face him and slowly curled her cherry-red lips. "Once you leave, you might get crushed to death by a falling Alice's Park sign. Or a gear might fall from the dome and hit you on the head."

Yu Xing smiled. "Sounds great."

"Flattery will get you nowhere." The Witch nodded elegantly, accepting the compliment without a hint of embarrassment. Then she continued, addressing the three of them. "After you've answered the questions, I'll tell you the clues, whatever the outcome. If I like your answers, I'll give you a little present."

She pointed her slender finger at Wang Jue. "You go first. The other two can wait in the hall."

Wang Jue nervously followed the woman into the inner room. Her every movement seemed so unlike that of an ordinary person with feelings.

The inner room was pitch-black, so dark he couldn't see his own hand in front of him. The only thing he could see was the faint glow coming from the Witch, so Wang Jue followed close behind her, afraid something might leap out of the darkness and attack him.

After walking a few steps, the Witch stopped. By the faint glow she gave off, Wang Jue could just make out the outline of an object.

"Now, you'll answer the questions. You'll be responsible for your answers." The Witch didn't give Wang Jue a chance to inspect the object. She looked straight into his eyes, her voice growing more ethereal.

Wang Jue was dazed for a moment. Looking at the woman in the black robe, who nonetheless seemed to glow, he briefly thought he was seeing a deity he'd imagined as a child.

Of course, he didn't believe in gods anymore. But he still feared the Witch's otherworldly air, so free of any trace of the mundane.

His throat bobbed nervously as he swallowed.

"First question." The Witch paid no attention to his state of mind. "Do you remember the sensation on your neck when you were fourteen, as your mother, maliciously cursed and out of her mind, nearly strangled you to death?"

"...I remember." The corner of Wang Jue's eye twitched, and his deep-set, mixed-race face contorted.

As soon as he answered, the pressure around his neck increased, as if a pair of hands were really clamping down on him. An image seemed to appear before his eyes: his mother's usually gentle gaze had turned hysterical, and the vicious look she'd never shown him before stabbed at his heart like a blade.

"Second question. Do you remember how you felt when you were fifteen, after using a scheme to provoke the person who'd cursed your mother, killing him, then using your age and a lie to escape punishment?"

"..." A sinister look appeared in Wang Jue's eyes.

The hall.

Yu Xing was lounging comfortably on the sofa, playing with the silver cross he'd taken from the display stand.

His gaze was slightly unfocused. He was clearly lost in thought, and it took him a while to realize that the silver cross he'd been handling was an inverted one, a symbol of the devil.

"Devil..." Yu Xing murmured, then went back to daydreaming.

Zhao Yijiu wandered around the room, his gaze occasionally passing over the photos clipped to a white cord.

He blinked, then turned to look at Yu Xing, who had grown unusually quiet. Seeing that Yu Xing wasn't acting like himself, he hesitated, then hesitated some more, tried to put his thoughts in order, and forgot what he'd been about to say.

Strange.

Why was Yu Xing reacting so strongly to this place?

It seemed fine to him.

Suppressing his doubts, Zhao Yijiu surveyed the room with an impassive expression and realized there really weren't any signs pointing the way.

He hadn't seen any amusement park signs outside, so he'd assumed there might be some inside.

But...

This place really didn't fit in with Alice's Park, whether in atmosphere or in the way it felt. It was like a wolf among a pack of huskies.

While the huskies tore the house apart, the wolf watched aloofly, yawned, and bared its sharp fangs.

He had Zhao Mou to thank for that comparison... When they were kids, Zhao Mou really had been his only source of joy.

Just then, Wang Jue came out and opened the door.

His expression was no different from when he'd gone in. He smiled at Zhao Yijiu and said, "The Witch says you're next. Go on in."

Zhao Yijiu nodded politely. He glanced at Yu Xing, who had started examining the patterns on the cross out of boredom, then looked away and headed into the inner room.

The inner room was a sea of white.

The Witch stood in the center in her black robe, with a ball of black mist floating before her.

The sudden brightness made Zhao Yijiu uncomfortable, and he raised a hand to shield his eyes.

"..." What he didn't see was that the Witch had also taken a brief look around the inner room before coming to a stop.

"Come over here," the Witch said.

Zhao Yijiu approached with a tense expression, looking at her as if she were a boss he was about to fight. "Can we start?"

Seeing that he didn't want to chat, the Witch, who hadn't planned on chatting anyway, gave a slight nod and got straight to the point. "First question."

"Do you remember how you felt when you were eight, after your older brother took you to your uncle's house, where your uncle was studying medicine, to experience dissecting a corpse?"

"I remember." Zhao Yijiu nodded calmly.

"Second question. Have you ever killed anyone?"

Zhao Yijiu answered without a flicker of emotion. "No."

"Third question. Have you ever thought that one day you might fail to resist the urge to kill? What would you become then?"

Zhao Yijiu glanced at the Witch. "I have."

The Witch's lips curled. "That was a very decisive answer. I can sense that you're exercising an extreme degree of restraint."

"How do you know so much?" This time, Zhao Yijiu didn't leave right away. He stared at the Witch's face, his whole body radiating a chilly air. He was like a shadow lurking around a corner in a damp alley, ready to drag anyone who passed by into a nightmare they'd never wake from.

The gloom in his eyes was impossible to dispel.

Whether he was surprised, angry, happy, confused, or feeling something else entirely, his gaze was always like that.

"This is the Time Cabin. I can see fragments of your past." The Witch answered Zhao Yijiu's question, while also ignoring the quality he kept hidden inside himself. "There's one person who hasn't come in yet. Go call him for me."

Yu Xing swung the cross back and forth. The ruby at its center was clear and bright, like a drop of blood.

Suddenly, a tall figure came up to him, blocking half the light.

Yu Xing looked up. Zhao Yijiu was brief and to the point. "Go in."

"Oh." Yu Xing set down the inverted cross without a trace of reluctance, patted the wrinkles from his clothes, and passed by Zhao Yijiu.

Zhao Yijiu's gaze lingered on the inverted cross. After a while, he reached out and picked it up.

Did this thing have some special meaning? The devil?

Why was Yu Xing interested in it?

He looked back. Yu Xing had already opened the inner-room door, which usually shut itself firmly, and gone inside.

The inner room.

After the third visitor entered, the scenery changed once more. It was no longer entirely black or white, but had become a space decorated in a distinctly classical style.

A brown wooden partition carved with cloud patterns divided the small room with elegant precision. Ink-wash landscapes, painted by some unknown artist, hung on the spotless white walls.

Carved screens, teacups, and incense burners.

The opposite wall was crowded with framed oil paintings. Their frames looked expensive, but the paintings weren't hung anywhere. They were simply stacked in a pleasing, orderly arrangement.

Beside the paintings stood stone sculptures in various sizes. Their faces were lifelike, and it was clear their sculptor was highly skilled.

Seen this way, the room wasn't merely steeped in classical charm; it blended Eastern and Western styles.

Two chairs appeared in the middle of the room. The Witch's expression shifted slightly as she lifted the hem of her robe and sat in one. The black cat on her shoulder meowed, leaped down, and darted onto the other chair.

This was the scene Yu Xing saw.

In a tastefully decorated room that seemed somewhat familiar, the Witch sat upright, with a half-transparent object floating in front of her.

His eyesight was good. He could immediately see a swirling mass of black-and-white mist at the object's center, surrounded by several star orbits. Round beads—some clear and bright, some dim and heavy, others dazzling—revolved along their respective paths.

He sauntered over and found the little black cat sitting in what had been his seat.

"This cat sure makes itself at home." Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. Gently, he lifted the cat in both hands, as if carrying it. The cat didn't seem bothered; it simply stared at him with golden eyes.

The man and cat stared at each other for a long while. The Witch didn't stop them. On the contrary, she watched with interest.

"Meow!" After a while, Yu Xing's expression hadn't changed in the slightest. The little black cat, probably bored, pawed at the air a couple of times and twitched its ears.

"Her name is Bad Luck," the Witch said, unusually volunteering the information. "She likes you."

Bad Luck meowed and pawed at the air again, but still couldn't break free of Yu Xing's hands.

"Oh?" His magnetic voice drew the word out, ending in a questioning tone whose meaning was hard to make out.

The next moment, the gentle expression on Yu Xing's face slowly changed. An ominous air spread from him, and his gaze toward Bad Luck grew increasingly playful. Bad Luck's fur stood on end in an instant.

"Meow—" As Bad Luck cried out, Yu Xing let go. Bad Luck leaped onto the Witch's lap and curled into a tiny ball.

Yu Xing's expression returned to normal. Pleased with both his acting and the effect it had produced, he said cheerfully, "Now she doesn't like me anymore, right? Little cat, remember not to sit in my seat next time."

Bad Luck was furious.