The Magician's Deception

In the empty conference room, two people, each with their own thoughts, silently faced off.

The Lingren's tone, as if regretting not killing the child, made a vein throb on Carlos's forehead. He gripped the mop handle tighter, still forcing a smile, "Ha, anyway, the little guy's gone, he's no longer your problem. So tell me, what do you want from a poor cleaning worker like me?"

"Hmm." The Lingren uttered a confused syllable, "I thought you were looking for me because you needed something. Weren't you the one trying to get my attention?"

Those little paper figures, each trying to dodge but failing, are like cat toys used to Stealing Bell.

"Don't you understand?" Carlos said shamelessly. "I have no connection with you at all, why would I try to get your attention? The surveillance cameras are all recording it. I worked diligently today and didn't go anywhere else."

The Lingren chuckled lightly, "Your paper doll doesn't seem to think that way."

"What paper doll? What are you talking about?" Carlos took two steps to the side, positioning himself directly in the center of the surveillance camera's view. "I really don't understand. Maybe you've got the wrong person."

The Lingren's eyes flickered, showing no anger. Instead, he stepped forward, scrutinizing Carlos's tense body, and then sighed, "Still as adept at disguising details as ever. Unfortunately, I stood outside the door for quite a while and was certain you were in a good mood. You slipped up."

Carlos's brow twitched slightly.

However, his eyebrows were hidden beneath his blue hair, making this subtle expression difficult to notice.

The Lingren bent down and picked up the bucket.

"Let me finish your work for you, and then... come have dinner with me?"

His tone was one of negotiation, but his smile was one of certainty.

He glanced sideways, meeting Carlos's gaze. "Is there anything you want to know about me? I'll give you the chance to observe me in person, saving you the trouble of using the paper doll as a medium. I'm sure you'll be able to observe me in much greater detail."

"Wow." Carlos blinked, looking a little surprised. "I didn't expect the Lingren to be so generous. In all the rumors, you're portrayed as someone who's particularly Impermanence and cruel. I thought you'd beat me up first..."

"The Magician..." the Lingren murmured. "Whether the Lingren can beat up the Magician depends on the Magician's mood, don't you think?"

Carlos shrugged, ignoring the remark, and continued mopping the floor.

The Lingren really did help him with some of the work.

After a while, the meeting room was completely cleaned up.

Carlos leaned the cleaning tools against the wall, exhaled, and suddenly asked, "Where was the flaw you mentioned earlier?"

"Hmm..." The Lingren rubbed his temples, seemingly somewhat helpless. "You already knew, didn't you? Why are you still asking me? Is this what they call... going all the way with the performance?"

"Ah, if Magician's trick is exposed, he will still ask the audience where the flaw is, just in case they were bluffing him." Carlos's words suddenly seemed to take on a deeper meaning, but it was clear that he didn't intend to continue testing the Lingren, because the flaw the Lingren pointed out was indeed fatal.

As the manipulator of the paper figures, his vision is shared with the paper figures.

When his paper figure was peeking at the Lingren writing patrol reports from afar in front of the base gate, it naturally knew that it had been discovered by the Lingren.

In this situation, even if he were far away in the conference room, he should have felt apprehensive, not act as if nothing had happened and happily humming a song because of the beautiful scenery.

Either he was certain the Lingren wouldn't come looking for him because of this, or he simply didn't care about the Lingren at all, but his fearful behavior became completely contradictory after the Lingren knocked and came in.

Ten minutes later, the two adversaries sat facing each other in an empty seat in the cafeteria.

The cafeteria is now full of empty seats, and the food bins are filled with only a few pitiful scraps.

The Lingren sat upright, a habit he had always maintained, displaying elegance and composure.

He reached up and removed the breathing filter from his face, revealing a pointed chin and thin lips that perfectly complemented his eyebrows and eyes.

In contrast, Carlos's posture was much more relaxed, practically lacking any manners. He placed one hand on the table and the other on his chin, scrutinizing the Lingren's overly beautiful face up close.

The Lingren smiled, his eyes crinkling like a thawing spring, his voice soft and melodious. "So, what exactly does the Magician want from luring me here? It's not just to observe my appearance, is it?"

"It wasn't me who deliberately attracted attention... never mind, I was." Carlos, certain that he and the Lingren were sitting in a blind spot of the cafeteria's surveillance cameras, casually pulled a paper figure from his pocket, fiddled with it, and admitted that he had deliberately made mistakes to be discovered by the Lingren several times. "You haven't caused any trouble, which has made me very uneasy. You know, when facing a snake, it's better to lure it out than to wait for it to suddenly appear and bite you after hiding for who knows how long."

"I see. You want to know what I'm preparing." The Lingren smiled, and without making any move, the paper figure in Carlos's hand was in the Lingren's hand. The Lingren tenderly stroked the paper figure's neck with his fingers, and suddenly with a forceful movement, tore the paper figure in two.

Carlos gasped, his face draining of color for a moment. It seemed that this paper figure had established a life connection with him.

"Did you vent your anger?" Carlos asked.

"A slight hum" escaped his lips. A playful glint flashed in the Lingren's eyes. "If you're willing to let me destroy all your paper figures... I wouldn't even mind forming a temporary alliance with you in this simulation."

"Hiss, that's ruthless. You're practically trying to kill me." Carlos raised an eyebrow, and this time, as he tilted his head, his expression became much more obvious.

Easy.

When facing the Lingren, he shed all unnecessary pretense and remained relaxed and cheerful, even though he had just suffered a minor injury from the paper figures.

He said, "Why don't we be frank? You're not causing trouble for me, nor are you causing trouble for Zhao Yijiu. What are your plans?"

"In your eyes, I seem to be just a troublemaker." The Lingren shook his head and chuckled. "If you insist on asking so bluntly... Magician, you're an old friend of mine, and I've always... cherished friendship."

Carlos, of all people, decided to make things difficult at this moment. "Strictly speaking, this is our first meeting. By the way, what you mean by 'cherish'... is that how you feel about Yu Xing?"

The Lingren paused mid-sentence.

Two seconds later, he chuckled and actually laughed, "What are you thinking, Magician? How could A Xing be like you? To me, he's the most special and important person."

"If A Xing were here, I would definitely look for her." The Lingren's expression turned troubled, but combined with his deliberately exaggerated tone, it sounded quite eerie and morbid, "Whether I capture and cripple Zhao Yijiu or brainwash her, I must give A Xing a gift. After all, if I don't make my presence felt, A Xing won't even glance at me."

"Zhao Yijiu is really unlucky," Carlos commented, his expression tinged with unease.

"Who knows? Zhao Yijiu is a very interesting kid. I originally wanted him to join Single Prism, but then I thought, it's better to let him stay with A Xing. The better their relationship is..." The Lingren's voice was drawn out, and the genuine emotion in his smile was chilling, "The more I hurt Zhao Yijiu, the deeper the memory will be for A Xing."

At this point, the Lingren changed his tone. "In short, you've all misunderstood me. I'm just an innocent and simple actor. I really didn't intend to do anything to you in this prediction. Anyway, A Xing isn't breaking through the barrier recently, so what difference would it make if I did anything to Zhao Yijiu?"

Carlos roughly understood the Lingren's idea and asked with great interest, "And what about me? You can choose how to treat me. I'm like a piece of fat meat delivered to your doorstep. Aren't you going to cripple me as a gift for the broken mirror?"

"But crippling you would require some effort, and I'm not in the mood for that lately." The Lingren's light-colored eyes stared straight at him, seemingly quite troubled. "Magician are among the most difficult to deal with... I wasn't sure exactly when you 'came back,' and I even watched the live stream of the Rookie of the Year competition you participated in with A Xing."

"After reading this, I believe you were indeed a newcomer to the deduction field when you met A Xing."

"But which calculation actually started to differ?"

The Lingren lowered her eyes, a slight smile playing on her lips, her voice as soft as a whisper, "I spent some time on this, and finally, I found a backup of a record called 'Tomb Palace' in the records of the abnormal system."

Carlos clapped softly. "As expected of Lingren, so accurate. You wouldn't already know what happened to me in that divination, would you?"

"Unfortunately, I already guessed it." The Lingren looked at him as if he were a very interesting toy, with even a hint of admiration in his eyes. "The timeline that was deduced was extremely chaotic, and you, following that disrupted timeline, were brought back to the past from the future..."

"To confirm this, I made a special trip to the future. In the final moments before the Tomb Palace simulation ended, you, the Magician from many years in the future, killed your past self from the normal timeline of the Tomb Palace and then replaced your past self, arriving in the present."

As the Lingren spoke, a hint of regret suddenly crept in. "When A Xing invited you to join Broken Mirror, you had already replaced your original self and started running a massive deception, fooling your teammates and your enemies as well."

"Why can't I do that too? I want to join the Broken Mirror and deceive A Xing again as an ally..."

"Stop, stop." Carlos gestured to stop him. "I don't have any bad intentions. Even if time were to flow normally, I would still have joined the Broken Mirror Squad, gradually growing within it and becoming the Magician I am today. You're making me sound like some kind of traitor."

The Magician was clearly troubled. "Well, I've already come from the future, but I still really want to be with my friends... That old monster Yiqing already found me, thankfully he didn't tell anyone, otherwise how would I explain it to my teammates?"

"Not to mention, can I sit at the same table with an enemy who has broken through the Mirror Realm and speak calmly? Yu Xing would kill me if he knew!"

"He can't kill you right now," the Lingren reminded him with a laugh.

"He can beat me to death, I'll even hurt myself to the point of near death. He's definitely capable of killing me, otherwise how am I supposed to survive in Broken Mirror!" Carlos covered his face in despair. "Then no one will believe I don't have bad intentions, and Zhao Mou will kill me too..."

The Lingren quietly watched a guy who clearly had the ability to crush all the people he was talking about, yet was still worried about their attitudes, and smiled knowingly.

Indeed, feelings are the biggest hindrance.

"Ah, you say I'm your old friend, but is that from the perspective of the future Lingren? Because we're among the few true-level ones?" Carlos, having finished his worries, let go of his hand. "Including the time you threw me into the Ghost King's stomach, and the time I killed all your puppets?"

These are all things that actually happened in the future.

Ultimately, no matter what the Lingren said about their relationship, they were absolute enemies.

The timeline has changed, and the future will change as well. The reason they are so peaceful now is simply because there is no conflict of interest for the time being, and conflict would not be beneficial to this apocalyptic scenario.

Lingren can smile at anyone to get what they want, and can also turn the other cheek and have someone's head chopped off in an instant.

Carlos is the same; he gets good at feigning things the more he does them.

"Oh right, I haven't complained to Zhao Yijiu about life at the base today." Carlos remembered this and took out another small paper doll.

He kept hinting to Zhao Yijiu that the Lingren was more interested in Zhao Yijiu, actually to cover up the fact that the Lingren might know his true strength and therefore wouldn't make a move against him.

The Lingren considered him to be of equal standing, and Yi Qing found him particularly interesting... Carlos needed to find a reason for himself.

He quickly used a paper doll to connect with Zhao Yijiu in front of the Lingren.

Since the Lingren has already stated that he has no intention of taking action based on this deduction, there is no need to waste time on meaningless defenses; we can save those for next time.

"... What is it?" Zhao Yijiu remained indifferent on the other end of the paper figure.

Carlos's tone suddenly changed; the ease he had shown while speaking to the Lingren vanished in an instant, replaced by complaints and grumbling. "Zhao Yijiu! A Jiu... I just ate, I'm exhausted today. Choosing a base means taking turns doing work. I'd rather stay in the city like you."

Lingren observes the theatrical performance of a real-life Magician.

"Besides that," Zhao Yijiu asked succinctly, "What did the Lingren do?"

Carlos chuckled. "No, he went to patrol the base today and still ruined one of my paper dolls. He probably won't stand me anymore anytime soon."

The Lingren smiled.

However...

From the other end of the paper figure, an impossible voice suddenly appeared.

The sound came through faintly, probably because it was quite far away.

"Brother Jiu, is that a call from Carlos?"

"He's afraid of being targeted by the Lingren? It's alright, just tell him the Lingren won't do anything to him."

"Why? Ha..."

"Because I'm not on the list of strategists, why would he bother you? Wouldn't he just be asking for trouble?"

Carlos and the Lingren's expressions both changed.

That voice... there's no mistake, it's Yu Xing!

Yu Xing is back? And she even entered this deduction? And she rescued Zhao Yijiu?

Carlos severed the connection in an instant. Almost simultaneously, a strange aura clung to the paper figure. If he hadn't severed the connection in time, the curse would have traveled along the paper figure to Zhao Yijiu in the blink of an eye!

Carlos turned to look at the Lingren who had cast the curse.

The Lingren's smile was a little strange. He spoke softly, tilting his head like a puppet. "You know, peace is null and void."

Carlos: "How about giving me a chance to escape?"

Although he was at that legendary level, after arriving in this timeline, he actively sought out the Absurdity System to suppress his abilities in order to disguise himself, and at this stage he is not as strong Lingren.

The words had barely left his mouth when the Lingren's curse struck, shredding Carlos into countless pieces!

However, what fell was not minced meat, but scraps of paper.

A small paper figure was destroyed in mid-air.

The Magician made a person appear out of thin air and then disappeared without a trace.