The Unrepentant Liar

Five minutes ago.

In the screening room, the infected people remained staring blankly at the glowing screen, each immersed in their own world.

Yi Qing yawned listlessly, lamenting that even at his age, he could still be fooled by Yu Xing's few words. This movie theater was incredibly boring; he would never come here again.

He was a ghost himself, so the vengeful spirit virus had no effect on him. He didn't even have the right to be harmed, unlike Yu Xing and Zhao Yijiu, who could at least experience the feeling of being infected.

"Sorry, sorry, I only lured you in as insurance. Real movie theaters aren't like this." Yu Xing suddenly snapped out of her reverie and comforted her with a smile.

Yi Qing wasn't surprised that Yu Xing could quickly recover from the virus's effects. She glanced at him sideways and said, "Did I just blurt out what was on my mind?"

"No, but I can tell what you're thinking just by looking at your expression." Yu Xing shrugged. "Very obvious."

"Ha, when they're useful they're just a tool, when they're not, they won't even remember to visit me for half a year." Yi Qing sighed and drifted away quietly. "I'm leaving, you guys have fun."

"Hey, let's go back to reality and I'll take you to see a real movie." Yu Xing immediately stood up from her seat, a guilty expression on her face, and used the black mist condensed from her curse power to lightly tug at Yi Qing's robe. "I promise I won't lie to you."

Yi Qing lowered her eyes to look at the hem of the robe that had been tugged, and her heart softened suddenly.

It had been a very, very long time since anyone had been able to touch him. Although the guy in front of him was incredibly annoying, he was indeed the first person in thousands of years to actually grab his clothes.

It felt like being tugged at by a child begging for candy.

However, this softness lasted only a moment. Yi Qing quickly reacted, pulling her clothes towards herself to break free from the black mist's grasp, her immunity fully restored. "You're not lying to me? Then tell me first, how much of your guilty look is fake?"

Yu Xing exclaimed "Oh dear!" and said dejectedly, "Why did you ask so many questions...?"

Yi Qing: "How many points?"

Yu Xing smiled brightly, her expression changing faster than flipping through a book. "... Well, 99%."

Yi Qing: "..." I really shouldn't have felt any pity for it; this thing has never been human.

Seeing Yi Qing's speechless look, Yu Xing innocent and irritating, but he also knew that Yi Qing was just joking and wouldn't really leave.

He suggested, "If you're really bored... you could actually arrest the culprit who brought all these infected people together and have some fun with them."

According to the background information seen in Zhao Yijiu's wristwatch, the virus does not only exist in one form, but it can also successfully transform, breaking free from geographical limitations and traveling everywhere.

But running around everywhere is secondary; there's a point that the deduction system didn't explicitly mention, yet it already happened in the movie theater.

That is, people infected with the virus will choose to die in similar ways, and the interval between infection and death is very short.

But why are these infected people allowed to sit here in the movie theater?

There are no definitive answers to questions about who was infected first, who was infected later, and how long the time interval was. However, based solely on the scents he could sense, Yu Xing was already certain that the girl eating potato chips showed the most severe signs of infection, while the man holding his phone had been infected for the shortest time.

Each infected person sitting here has a long time interval between them, which means that the earliest batch of these infected people have already exceeded the normal time to death.

If this continues, won't the cinema keep attracting new viewers and gradually fill the entire theater?

This manifestation, which is not quite like a viral agent, currently has only one possibility: that beyond these mindless viral agents, there exists a fully formed vengeful spirit with subjective consciousness.

There must be a vengeful spirit in the movie theater, gathering more and more infected people. Perhaps it's obsessed with making the movie a sell-out, or perhaps it has some other conspiracy. In any case, that vengeful spirit must be hiding somewhere, spying on them.

Yu Xing wanted to check on Zhao Yijiu's progress in fighting the infection, so she wasn't in the mood to directly capture the vengeful spirit. It was most appropriate to leave this task to the bored Yi Qing.

Of course, besides the idea of allocating resources reasonably, Yu Xing really only made this suggestion because he thought Yi Qing was too bored. If Yi Qing didn't want to go, he would go by himself later.

He didn't expend much effort fighting the world inside his mind. After lecturing the narrator, feeling bored, he quickly found several points of light in the fire, destroyed them in one fell swoop, and escaped the infection.

This is indeed because his mental strength has greatly improved after he fused with the power of the curse.

Having experienced the feeling of being infected, Yu Xing didn't forget that he had dragged Zhao Yijiu into the mess as well. So if Zhao Yijiu wasn't good at using methods to fight the virus and suffered losses in the mental world, he would have to protect her and bring Zhao Yijiu out unharmed.

Zhao Yijiu sat motionless in her seat, her brows furrowed, looking as if she had encountered some trouble or was feeling agitated.

Yu Xing guessed that Zhao Yijiu must have seen things from her childhood. He narrowed his eyes and decided to use the power of a curse, like a virus, to enter Zhao Yijiu's consciousness and help awaken Zhao Yijiu awareness without invading her privacy as much as possible.

Five minutes later.

That's how the current situation came about.

Yu Xing's worries were unnecessary. Zhao Yijiu had managed to regain her understanding on her own and was already working to eliminate the virus.

However, the "background story" was a bit Yu Xing for Yu Xing. He had just integrated a part of his consciousness into the power of the curse and probed into Zhao Yijiu's mind when he discovered something that was very suitable as a container for the power of the curse.

Upon closer inspection, the result was indeed "Yu Xing" from Zhao Yijiu's mind.

The location was Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory, where they first met.

Seeing Zhao Yijiu busily trying to catch the tiny specks of light, Yu Xing found her incredibly amusing. However, why was the focus of the scene not on Zhao Yijiu's childhood, but rather on the Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory?

Upon further reflection, Yu Xing came to a guess.

He had previously heard Zhao Mou say that when Zhao Yijiu first merged with the vengeful spirit, his emotions were extremely negative. While suppressing the vengeful spirit, he was also suppressing his own normal emotions and desires.

Therefore, Zhao Yijiu, who was emotionally detached as a child, probably didn't find those unfair things particularly memorable or worth remembering.

On the contrary, after growing up, she encountered Yu Xing, who was particularly annoying... no, particularly good at provoking emotions. In comparison, her experience within the deduction system was the most memorable for Zhao Yijiu.

This realization made Yu Xing somewhat emotional.

So, seeing Zhao Yijiu dismantling factories everywhere, Yu Xing couldn't resist teasing him again.

He really wanted to tell Zhao Yijiu that when he first saw Zhao Yijiu, he felt Zhao Yijiu very special.

He carried offerings, his face cold and gloomy, like a withdrawn young man who was indifferent to everyone, or a narrow-minded villain.

However, after a brief encounter, Yu Xing was certain that neither of these ideas was correct.

"Then tell me." Despite her initial annoyance, Zhao Yijiu's curiosity prevailed.

Having received permission, a smile flashed in Yu Xing's eyes, and he immediately perked up. While watching Zhao Yijiu use the Stop Killing technique to disinfect his inner world, he secretly used the power of his curse to draw the small specks of light that were somewhat far away closer, muttering as he did so:

"Actually, back then, I felt that you might not be good at interacting with people, that you were socially anxious, and that you must have experienced some unfair treatment that was heartbreaking and tear-jerking, which led to a distorted personality."

"But after talking to you for a few minutes, I realized that despite your twisted nature, you're still very good at protecting yourself."

"You weren't assimilated by your experiences; instead, you transformed yourself into something like a mirror, reflecting filth yet remaining perpetually clean... a socially anxious person."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yijiu sensed that something was amiss.

That familiar, cheeky tone, which quickly shifts back to a playful manner after just a few seconds of being serious, along with the ability to perfectly control the pace of the conversation...

Is this something a virus can mimic?

If a virus could truly mimic so perfectly, it wouldn't have been so easy for him to spot it before.

Before Yu Xing could finish speaking, he reached out and fanned away the dust that filled the Qingyuan Pharmaceutical Factory, and continued eloquently, "I always thought you were very interesting and fun. You were so easy to fool back then, unlike you now, you've improved so much."

He looked up and his eyes met Zhao Yijiu's unpredictable gaze.

"Oh, to correct you, although you're not as easily fooled now, you can still be fooled by me."

Yu Xing grinned. "Brother Jiu, you've been fooled again!"