The Startling List

Finally Yu Xing put on a complete set of combat gear, plus a small pistol that he had taken from Zhao Yijiu.

These devices include a thin, metal-filter respirator that covers the lower half of the face, filtering out some viruses.

"This was invented by the mercenary company when the vengeful spirit virus first appeared," Zhao Yijiu explained. "It's certain that it does have a certain filtering effect on viral agents. Carlos said that the survivor base is still using this equipment, only with upgrades."

At this point, Yu Xing asked, "What factor? By the way, besides you and Carlos, who else on our team is in the instance?"

Zhao Yijiu: "..."

Too lazy to speak, he thought for a moment, then simply took off his wristwatch, opened the system notification box, and gestured for Yu Xing to see for herself.

These wristwatches with quantum computers were practically standard equipment for people before the apocalypse, with a penetration rate similar to that of mobile phones. Unlocking them required the user's iris scan. The system used the wristwatch with quantum computers as a medium to communicate with the deducers, which meant that all the information it sent would leave a trace.

Even if an ordinary person found the strategist's wristwatch, they wouldn't be able to crack the password on the quantum computer, so there's no need to worry about the system's existence being exposed.

But if Zhao Yijiu wanted to show it to Yu Xing, that would be the most convenient thing to do.

Yu Xing took the wristwatch, pressed a button on the computer screen, and a touchable virtual barrier appeared before her.

The dialog box displays the system's most recently issued task, which is the third phase task: kill 10 infected individuals or become infected by the virus.

He extended another finger and lightly tapped the screen, scrolling up to see Zhao Yijiu's first and second tasks, followed by the system's background introduction to this world.

"Every deducer gets one of these?" Yu Xing realized the problem almost instantly. "Why does it need to borrow a physical form? Is its control over this instance really that low?"

"Despair-level deduction, it's always been like this." Zhao Yijiu put his hands in his pockets, his words containing little boasting about his feat of advancing to the Despair level in just one year, as if he were describing a trivial matter.

"I accidentally killed an infected person before, and it seems they also had a wristwatch on their hand," Yu Xing said thoughtfully. "So this thing is widespread; the deducers are just hiding in plain sight, blending into the crowd without being noticed because of their appearance."

He muttered to himself as he tried to put Zhao Yijiu's watch on his own wrist.

If the system is attached to these items, then doing this should make the system aware of something...

Swish

A gust of wind suddenly blew by, making the leaves of the old trees outside the restaurant rustle, as if something had just passed by.

This was not an illusion. Yu Xing felt a gaze from all directions, rapidly converging on him, finally settling on the wristwatch in his hand and on him.

That feeling of being watched... high above, all-pervasive, gradually merged with the feeling deeply imprinted in his mind, the feeling left when he collided with an unseen barrier in a daze.

He guessed correctly; touching the wristwatch did indeed allow the system to see him.

As long as the system doesn't intend to break ties with him—in fact, he couldn't understand why the system would want to break ties with him—then after detecting his reappearance as a former predictor, the system wouldn't shift its attention but would instead look for an opportunity to reconnect with him.

This watch belongs to Zhao Yijiu, Yu Xing certainly cannot squeeze out the existing deducer, so he now needs to find a new watch brain, which is the first step in reconnecting.

After sensing this, Yu Xing smiled and took off his watch to avoid causing Zhao Yijiu any trouble by wearing it for too long.

What if the system suddenly makes a bug and mistakes the ownership of the quantum computer?

In any case, the system was no longer seen as omnipotent by Yu Xing; it was prone to making mistakes and causing trouble at the drop of a hat.

Waste system.

Zhao Yijiu saw that Yu Xing seemed to be doing some kind of experiment with her wristwatch, but she didn't say anything and just sat quietly to the side, waiting for Yu Xing to sort out the information.

Yi Qing didn't disturb Yu Xing, but tried to pry some interesting things out of Zhao Yijiu to fill his brain, which had been almost abandoned due to boredom.

He made a few teasing remarks, and Zhao Yijiu only gave a perfunctory reply.

Yi Qing and Zhao Yijiu had spent quite a bit of time together at Yu Xing's residence and on Dead Silent Island, so they were quite familiar with each other and there was not much restraint between them. Yi Qing didn't care about Zhao Yijiu's coldness at all and greeted Zhao Mou, Qu Xuanqing, and the others one by one.

A greeting in the literal sense.

For example, "How's your brother doing lately? Remember to advise him that while it's good to practice diligently, it's best to avoid divination for matters involving significant implications, lest it deplete his life force."

For example, "What about Miss Qu? She used to be the second strongest among you. Now that you've all improved so rapidly, she shouldn't be slacking off, right? Is she still as strong as before?"

It sounds like the Sheqing Ghost, who is old enough to be their ancestor, is indeed concerned about the people in this team.

However, Zhao Yijiu noticed one sentence.

Qu Xuanqing was once the second strongest?

Is Yu Xing the first...? Even in the past, was Yu Xing better than Qu Xuanqing Xianqing?

He didn't think it was impossible, but he vaguely felt that it was a bit hard to understand. Yu Xing's situation was too complicated. As a ghost, Yi Qing's standards for evaluating things might be different from theirs.

Never mind, it doesn't seem that important.

Zhao Yijiu listened to Yi Qing's rambling in one ear and out the other, his eyes fixed on Yu Xing, who was looking at the background of the world's story. With the detailed deduction background introduced by the system, he believed that Yu Xing would soon be able to fully understand this world.

However, a feeling of having overlooked something suddenly welled up in my heart.

Before Zhao Yijiu could delve deeper, she heard Yi Qing ask with a somewhat puzzled tone, "I just entered this city with Yu Xing and sensed a bunch of familiar presences—yours, that little Magician conman's... and that girl surnamed Zhao I've met before, but why is there another one...?"

"It feels familiar, yet different."

As Zhao Yijiu listened, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Oh no, he realized what he had overlooked!

He immediately looked up at Yu Xing, who was holding his watch, and opened his mouth. "Oh right, there's something I forgot to tell you. This time, the simulation includes..."

Lingren.

Having heard a lot about Lingren over the past year, and having already thought about Lingren on the first day of the simulation, Zhao Yijiu subconsciously felt that it was normal for Lingren to be a part of this simulation.

He even prepared himself to be seriously injured so he could talk to the Lingren.

For a moment, he forgot that, to Yu Xing, the Lingren was still the same Lingren, unchanged, and that their relationship was one of deep-seated hatred.

Unfortunately, Zhao Yijiu's reminder came too late.

Yu Xing scrolled through the system messages from bottom to top. After the background of the deduction, the list of deducers was revealed.

At this moment, Zhao Yijiu had just spoken.

Yu Xing's gaze suddenly stopped on the first name in the list, as if a force was pulling him away.

His expression even momentarily went out of control due to the shock he felt.

What's Lingren doing here!?