Out Exploring

Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu ate their lunch in their room. The lunch was brought by a maid who was dressed in a proper black and white maid outfit, but she was not very good-looking and had no face at all.

If it weren't for the fact that Daisy's daughter was clearly stated in the business manual, he might have thought that this faceless maid was Daisy's biological daughter; at the very least, they looked exactly alike.

The maid was probably mute; she came and went quietly. After handing the wooden plate of rice to Yu Xing, she slipped on her little leather shoes and left without a sound.

Yu Xing had initially had some expectations for the food, wondering if it would contain some unusual or incomprehensible ingredients. However, upon opening the package, she was somewhat disappointed to find that it was just a rice bowl dish that she could often eat in the real world. Both the aroma and the taste were too normal, so normal that it gave her the illusion that there were still living and active people on the Dead Silent Island.

"This island is very strange. Overall, the architecture and clothing style are from centuries ago, but it also has modern facilities such as televisions, subways, and water heaters. Even the food is too friendly to us. It feels like a place where technology is chaotic and life and death are also chaotic." Yu Xing swallowed a mouthful of rice and muttered to himself.

Having finally built up her psychological defenses, Zhao Yijiu silently returned to normal, eating her meal in silence without answering Yu Xing, which is why Yu Xing was, in a sense, talking to herself.

After finishing her meal, Yu Xing put the plate and utensils aside, sat cross-legged on the bed, and said, "Zhao Yijiu, while your brother is away, tell me what you saw outside?"

Zhao Yijiu: "... You'd better not ask."

"Don't give me that crap. Just say what you can say." Yu Xing glanced at Zhao Yijiu. "When you go out, you can't possibly be in a state where I can see and understand everything the moment I hear something, right? Even if you can't say the specifics, you can at least find out what ghosts are on the island, or what the functions of the buildings and the locations of the NPCs. You can't have missed all of that, right?"

In reality, Zhao Yijiu hadn't been gone for very long. Yu Xing asked this question simply so that she could get a general idea of what was on the island beforehand.

Zhao Yijiu seemed to think for a moment, realizing that saying these things wouldn't have any negative impact. So, she stared at her plate in deep thought for a while, racking her brains to organize her thoughts before finally saying, "There are occasionally wandering ghosts on the streets, all of which are at the DE level according to the contaminated entity system. The rest are inside buildings. Each building may also have a small dungeon with unique rules. There are so many of them that even if twenty deducers explored day and night, they couldn't possibly explore them all in two months."

Yu Xing let out an "Oh~", stroking his chin as if lost in thought. When Zhao Yijiu sensed that he might be plotting something again, he spoke up, "Is that so? That's quite interesting. Are there any buildings here related to the girls working as prostitutes at night? I don't mean anything by it, I'm just curious what kind of dungeons this might create."

Despite his very euphemistic wording, both men and women could immediately tell what industry Yu Xing was referring to.

Zhao Yijiu glanced at him speechlessly.

"Oh, I forgot, in a country similar to Dead Silent Island, the people soliciting on the streets might not be young ladies." Yu Xing clearly misinterpreted Zhao Yijiu's speechless point.

"I haven't been gone long enough for me to find such a unique place. If you're interested, you can look for it on the island. Don't let me know when you find it; I don't want to go with you." Zhao Yijiu sneered, distancing herself from Yu Xing, as if she didn't want to be tainted by any of the other's frivolous traits.

Yu Xing leaned closer. "Just kidding, but starting from where we are, which direction might yield the greatest benefit?"

Zhao Yijiu: "It doesn't matter."

Extremely indifferent.

As Yu Xing had predicted. After returning, Zhao Mou simply recounted the results of all the discussions, which were just as boring as Yu Xing had expected.

When Zhao Mou returned, he brought a piece of paper with some key points of the discussion written on it, "Here's the thing, based on the team's level of understanding, everyone agreed not to disrupt the original teams, but to split into Group Three for the search, with six to seven people in each group. Hourglass and Mysterious Eye decided to search their own routes first, and since we are the third largest group out of twenty people, we will also occupy one route."

The route allocation is written on the paper.

The Breakthrough Team consists of three people, excluding Zhao Yijiu, who is unaware of her return, and Carlos, who is pretending to be outside the team. Zhao Yijiu's position is still counted. Wen Qinghuai Huang Bai strongly requested... actually, Huang Bai strongly requested to join, and Wen Qinghuai went along with it, making a total of six people.

The three from the Mysterious Eye, plus Dai Yuefu and Zeng Lai, two people with better stamina, and Wu Kaiyun and Cui Hui, two contestants who originally wanted to follow Yu Xing and the others but were forcefully replaced by the two in green and white, made up a total of seven people. They took the right-hand route after exiting the hotel through the back door.

The four people in the hourglass group, along with Xu Huan's new roommate Carlos, the freelancer Tan Lin, and Zhong Ling, made a total of seven people, walking in the middle.

"It's pretty good. We haven't infiltrated with people whose backgrounds we don't know, so we all know each other well, making it easier to command. Plus, we have informants on both the Mysterious Eye and the Hourglass," Zhao Mou said, Yu Xing interrupted him.

"Carlos runs the hourglass as an informant, the Mysterious Eye— who is our informant? Zeng Lai?"

"Based on my analysis, he's someone who would share intelligence with us," Zhao Mou said confidently. "Whether looking at the data or knowing him as I do, I believe he qualifies as an informant."

"That's true, but don't forget, even though he has a good relationship with our whole team, especially with me..." Yu Xing was very self-aware, but what she said was overly rational and somewhat ruthless, "But he didn't tell us his motive for switching rosters with Zhao Ruru at the last minute and getting himself sent to Dead Silent Island."

"If the Research Institute was curious about me and sent him to collaborate with me, or if he wanted to come along because he knew my abilities and we had a good relationship, he should have said so the moment he first saw me," Yu Xing said with a faint smile. "We've had time alone together, and even had pleasant conversations, yet he still hasn't told me why he came. This shows that the reason is more important to him than our friendship."

"So we can indeed learn about the other group from him, but we can't completely trust what we hear. What if it's true?"

The last three words were spoken softly, like a sigh, revealing a cold indifference of "heartlessness".

Zhao Mou adjusted his glasses and nodded in agreement. "I've also considered that factor. Whatever information I obtain from him later, I will carefully consider it and verify its authenticity. Please trust my professional ethics."

"Okay, if that's the case, then there's basically nothing to worry about. Did they say when they're leaving?" Yu Xing stretched.

"It's three o'clock this afternoon. Before that, they plan to look for ghost notices in the inn, since they're very helpful for gathering information on the ghosts we've encountered," Zhao Mou said. "But even so, they certainly won't behave themselves. At least half of their manpower will leave the inn first. Otherwise, if they don't hunt enough targets, they won't be able to pay back the debts they incurred today. I wonder what terrible punishment this inn will face for not paying its debts."

"Then we'll do the same," Yu Xing said. "Me, Brother Jiu, and Xiao Ququ will go out to scout ahead. You and Wen Qinghuai will stay here to look for the notebook."

Zhao Mou nodded. "Very reasonable."

Yu Xing suddenly remembered something. "Right, listen carefully to what Huang Bai says at the inn, whether she's joking or being coquettish. That girl is no simpleton, especially in this deduction; she seems... very perceptive."

Zhao Mou's eyes sharpened for a moment, then showed some interest. With his level of judgment, he could certainly tell that Huang Bai, like Carlos, was hiding a lot of things. But Yu Xing's evaluation of Huang Bai was even higher than he had imagined, which meant that he could really take this opportunity to observe that seemingly unconventional woman.

After a brief exchange, Yu Xing relayed the intelligence he had just received from Zhao Yijiu to Zhao Mou. This was all information that could be shared; he was only responsible for relaying it to his deputy captain. Whether Zhao Mou would disclose this information to Wen Qinghuai or other teams was Zhao Mou's own business, and Yu Xing trusted Zhao Mou's ability to handle matters.

Zhao Yijiu quietly remained a listener.

When do we leave?

"Now."

Qu Xuanqing and Huang Bai stayed in the Sapphire Room, which was farther away from them. Yu Xing went out and called for help. While the other teams still had a lot of things to arrange and didn't leave so decisively, Yu Xing grabbed Zhao Yijiu, who was supposed to be a missing person, and followed behind Qu Xuanqing, leaving through a small back door of a library on the first floor of the hotel.

This is the only door in the inn that leads into the city. The strategists had already asked Daisy's daughter about it when they had their meal together. It wasn't rare information, and Daisy's daughter told them without asking for any payment.

After leaving the house, they walked to the left as agreed. The unique sea breeze of the island blew in from all directions, forming tiny, compressed vortices. The streets were desolate, and even the colorful buildings that had been painstakingly constructed lost their color under the reflection of the gray clouds overhead.

Yu Xing looked at the road ahead. The nearest building was about 20 meters away. It was a small, one-story storefront with a small plaque above the door, but unfortunately, he couldn't read the characters.

This was the first place they could go, so naturally they headed towards this building.

Qu Xuanqing said, "Let's find weapons first."

The steel bars they brought to the hotel disappeared sometime during the lobby, when everyone's attention was initially focused on Daisy, and almost no one noticed. By the time they realized what had happened, the steel bars were long gone.

The good news is that there are actually quite a few things on the road that can be used as weapons, such as thin planks that have been carelessly thrown on the road for unknown reasons, bloodstained baseball bats that have been abandoned by unknown people, and even chair legs that are obviously taken off a metal chair lying on the ground. Although they may not be more powerful than their bare hands, at least they give them more chances to react due to the distance.

Without exception, these items either bore strange scratch marks or were covered in dried blood, suggesting that someone had once fought with them. The outcome wasn't hard to guess: weapons were left behind, so what could possibly have become of the person?

Yu Xing chose a baseball bat and tested its feel.

The baseball bat is made of wood, with mold growing on the handle, and looks very old, covered in a thick layer of dust.

Fortunately, they had brought the backpacks provided in the room with them when they went out, and they also took some tissues and towels and put them in the backpacks. Yu Xing was not sure if these molds would cause any abnormal infections, so before touching them, she first wiped off the surface with tissues, and then carefully wiped them with the towel.

"It feels like picking up equipment dropped by someone when they die in a video Yugi," Yu Xing muttered as he swung the baseball bat with great force.

"When it comes to hitting someone, why don't you ever look so sickly?" Zhao Yijiu glanced at him and couldn't bear to look. It wasn't that he was prejudiced against Yu Xing, but from the beginning of this deduction, Yu Xing had always seemed like a fragile glass doll, covered in bruises and unable to withstand even the slightest touch. Yet now, with a baseball bat in hand, he was like a berserker.

Yu Xing tossed the baseball bat in his palm. Although he felt the bat was a bit light overall, he was still quite satisfied, and thus in a very good mood.

"Haven't we touched striking weapons in a long time? Before, it was always daggers or longswords, which are quite different from sticks. Speaking of which, I wonder what Yiqing is doing now..."

Their offerings were scattered throughout various locations on the Dead Silent Island, and transformed from their original forms into things that could have appeared on the Dead Silent Island anyway. In other words, the Sheqing Dreamscape was also scattered somewhere.

In the setting of the Sheqing Dreamscape, Yi Qing can freely enter and exit the dagger, unless Yu Xing keeps the dagger inside her Persona Mask and doesn't take it out.

Therefore, the Sheqing Dreamscape is currently unsupervised, and Yi Qing is definitely having a wild time where they can't see him... Putting aside everything else, one of the main reasons Yi Qing followed him out was to see other worlds. Yi Qing is already familiar with the real world, but the style of Dead Silent Island, which is several centuries old, will definitely arouse Yi Qing's strong curiosity.

This can be considered a pawn that Yu Xing has laid out. As long as he can find Yi Qing on this huge island, he can instantly obtain all the information that Yi Qing has collected during this period.

Plans are in place.

Their voices were kept at a very low volume, barely reaching anyone outside the vicinity of the three people standing very close together. In just a few words, they covered the twenty meters and arrived at the door of the one-story building.

This is a simple, all-white building, except for the roof, which is painted in various colors. It lacks aesthetic appeal, and the paint job is rather haphazard. It resembles one of those cheap shops in the suburbs far from the city center. Every city has such a location.

Paying cheap rent, selling cheap goods, attracting passersby who live nearby.

On this door, a clown's head pendant hangs from a nail, swaying in the wind.