The Ticket

Absurd Deduction Game Chapter Sixty-Seven: Admission Ticket

Three hours ago.

A thick, ancient, mysterious black book floated beside the young man, its yellowed pages rustling as it turned, the sound barely audible in the winding alleyway.

Yan Ming pushed up his glasses, his gaze sweeping rapidly across the pages of the book. The strange, incomprehensible characters and symbols seemed to come from another time and space, their light reflecting off the flickering golden gleam in his eyes.

Both the unknown and the omniscient guided him.

"Moving..." he murmured, looking towards the next fork in the road.

In his perception, the presence of "that item" had never been so strong as it was today.

It seems so close yet so far.

The dirty ground was covered with dust and pebbles, a sight accumulated since the apocalypse due to neglect. He was barefoot, and his exposed insteps were marked with ancient symbols.

A faint golden light swirled around the symbol, creating a distance between his feet and the ground; simply put, Yan Ming was floating as he moved forward.

He had suppressed his power in the past, and only a select few at the top of the entire deducer system knew just how strong he was in calculations.

During this year, driven by the Absurdity System, Yan Ming became even more outrageous.

In other people's eyes, he went from a seemingly gentle and even joking persona with everyone in the live stream to an increasingly unfathomable abyss.

He was getting closer and closer to "god," and both his use of power and his outward appearance began to be sanctified. His unique divinity made him... unapproachable.

[To be honest, I've been using Wildfruit Reading to read and follow my favorite books lately. It has easy source switching, a variety of reading voice options, and works on both Android and Apple devices.]

Few wanted to provoke him. Leaving aside the fact that his Widow Investigation Team included figures like the cold-faced Yama Yan Li and the madman Qiu Ziyan —top-tier combatants—even if his direct Combat Power was a weakness, he himself was still formidable.

Few enemies could stand alive in front of him. Before they could reveal their hostility, Yan Ming would sense it and eliminate the potential threat in advance.

Therefore, Lu Xiaorong was able to let him act alone with such confidence, Yan Ming also trusted his own abilities. He felt that there was no one in this Yugi who could pose too much danger to him, including the story boss.

This is not arrogance or overconfidence, but a conclusion he drew based on facts, and his conclusions have always been equivalent to the truth.

However, truth is meant to be shattered.

At the next fork in the road, Yan Ming encountered a young man with bright green eyes and a somewhat mixed-race appearance.

His floating figure suddenly stopped.

Yan Ming certainly recognized this person. The ancient book floating beside him turned its pages naturally, stopping at a page with the title "Magician".

No one's information can escape Yan Ming's eyes, unless the opponent's strength is greater than his combined strength and that of this ancient sacrificial book, which is as overpowered as Qu Xuanqing's [Wicked Grace].

When the green-eyed youth brazenly blocked his way, clearly coming for him,

A smile appeared on Yan Ming's face as he quickly flipped through the contents of the ancient book.

"The Magician, who calls himself Carlos, whose real name is Bai Luoyang, belongs to the Broken Mirror Squad. The captain is Xing, and the vice-captain Tian Ji. His common ability is..." He calmly read out what was written on the paper while observing Carlos's expression.

The Magician who blocked his way didn't seem surprised or embarrassed. He simply tilted his head, scratched his dyed blue hair, and smiled like an old friend, "Oh, what's wrong? I haven't used the name Bai Luoyang in ages, I'm a little embarrassed."

Yan Ming then smiled and bowed to Carlos in a gesture of respect that seemed to have come from some unknown time and space, "I'm just confirming the enemy's identity. We've encountered each other in the previous three Yugi, but we've never been on opposing sides. I need to confirm your identity before I can consider what I've done to offend you, that you would suddenly block my path."

The art of language.

Under Zhao Mou's leadership, Po Jing had a good relationship with the Widow Investigation Team. When they cooperated before, Yan Ming had noticed Carlos personally. Although he was very unconventional and had his own ideas, he was very obedient to the vice-captain's orders.

It's like having a brain but being too lazy to use it, so they'd rather be a henchman.

Zhao Mou is not here this time...

The Magician then tore away a layer of disguise.

"As far as I know," Yan Ming, narrowing his eyes as he watched Carlos approach, pondering a counterattack plan, "Zhao Mou didn't give you and Cold Wine any orders to fight for that item. Is this... your personal idea?"

They'll suddenly appear at this moment; there's no doubt they're there to steal the prize.

The item was right there, and Carlos must have known about it, which is why he deliberately stopped him.

But why? He hadn't foreseen Broken Mirror's covetousness of that item at all. In countless calculations, Broken Mirror wasn't on the chessboard—Broken Mirror's chessboard was in the base, in the plot.

The Magician is the same; according to the calculations, he should be preparing to meet up with his teammates in the base and getting the survivors in the city ready with logistical support.

Instead of crossing half the city, they arrived silently before him without arousing his sense of danger.

This feeling of losing control was not only terrible but also novel, making Yan Ming both wary and intensely curious.

"That's right, it's a personal thought." Carlos readily admitted, and he finally walked to within half a meter of Yan Ming.

Yan Ming's feet barely touched the ground, making him appear slightly taller than Carlos. Carlos raised his head slightly and extended his hand. "Actually, it wasn't me who wanted that ticket—oh, now you know from me that the item is a ticket. Oh dear, how could I have told you such important information? I'm so sorry."

Despite saying he was at a loss, Carlos still had a grin on his face. His hand pierced through space, and as Yan Ming dodged, he accurately pressed down on Yan Ming's shoulder with a strange sequence of judgments.

The divine omniscient being was pressed into the dust, his knees hitting the ground, drawing blood from the scraped skin.

The devastating "curse" that Yan Ming was about to utter caught in his throat.

He didn't care that his legs were dirty, nor did he consider kneeling before Carlos a humiliation; his way of thinking had long been somewhat different from that of humans.

He just seemed to be thinking about it, "Tickets."

These two words are not a lie.

The moment Yan Ming heard the word, he "knew" more. The desolate scene of Mohu flashed through his mind, conjuring up an ancient city where no life could be seen.

Tickets.

So it turns out... what everyone was fighting over was the ticket to the city in their minds.

"How did you know?" This time, Yan Ming was genuinely puzzled.

Even he hadn't figured it out, yet the Magician already knew it.

There's only one possibility: the Magician is inherently connected to this thing, or... only those at the True Level can gain the upper hand in terms of information.

"You are—" Yan Ming was about to speak when Carlos covered his mouth, leaned closer, and whispered, "Actually, my goal isn't the ticket."

The Magician's nimble fingers moved to Yan Ming's side and deftly removed his glasses. "It's you."

"But don't get me wrong, I'm not a pervert, I mean... I need you to stay away from that ticket now."

"Then, let's talk."