So You've Turned My Paper Doll Against Me, Huh?

The noise from the base was so loud that even people in the city could feel the tremors, like a sudden earthquake.

As night was about to fall, Lu Xiaorong, holding his binoculars, turned his gaze to the distant mountains and forests from the first tremor. He then witnessed, dumbfounded, the entire complex of buildings turning to dust.

"My goodness!" He squinted and stared for a long time. "Who is it, playing such a big game! This must be the power of the base's postmodern firearms!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, how many indigenous people must have died? Could they be from the Fallen Path...?"

But nobody paid him any attention.

Since he was the only one left on the entire floor, Zeng Lai Zeng Lai become so bored in the building that he left to find something to do.

Lu Xiaorong muttered to himself for a long time, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, a hint of longing in his eyes.

He really wants to go out and cause trouble!

But this time, his objective in the Yugi was clear: Yan Ming that he defend the base. It had taken a lot of effort to capture this building, and they couldn't let others or passing vengeful spirits or viruses take advantage of the situation.

He felt like a lonely old man at that moment.

The personal terminal on his wrist vibrated slightly. Lu Xiaorong glanced at it casually; it was a system notification that he had completed the Main Quest.

[Please choose to leave the Yugi immediately or leave in three days. Note: There are explorable items in the current scene that are not yet bound.]

Generally speaking, the system will teleport them out the moment the Main Quest is completed without giving any warning.

This time, however, it seemed to have gotten the deducer addicted to making choices, and even added a hint.

Without a second thought, Lu Xiaorong chose the latter. If it were someone who knew nothing about it, they might have thought it was better to avoid trouble and simply left. But these people had come specifically for "that thing," and this was the moment they had been waiting for.

"It seems the system also wants us to get this thing." He pondered the system's meaning.

Since the system lost the bet and then silently restarted, its logic and way of thinking have become increasingly human-like. The researchers at the Research Institute collected and analyzed various data and concluded that the Absurdity System had "turned evil."

The system is no longer as cold as it used to be, but the problems it has created are more numerous than ever before.

Moreover, the Absurdity System hasn't touted itself as "fair" for a long time.

This change might not be noticeable to lower-level deducers, but for top-tier figures like Lu Xiaorong, it could be a bad omen. Just as the deducers collectively "betrayed" the Absurdity System, leading to the Experience System's victory, the Absurdity System seems to be retaliating against them.

"Sigh... we brought this on ourselves." Lu Xiaorong recalled that event, a slightly strange smile appearing on his chubby face. "I hope we made the right choices back then."

"But Yan Ming is gone forever, damn it! Where did that kid go?"

He searched the city with his binoculars but couldn't find Yan Ming. However, he did see Zhao Ruru and Xu Shu running around several times, from the east side of the city to the west side.

"Is the ticket's location confirmed to remain unchanged?"

The restaurant lights came on, and several figures sat together near the window.

"Mr. Magician, you've confirmed this with me three times in the last five minutes, at least that's how it seems to me." A slightly helpless voice calmly sounded.

"It's insurance, just in case. Come on, let's continue, three with two! Hehe."

Carlos was playing cards with several survivors he had brought with him.

Yan Ming had changed his posture, holding a deck of hard cards, and joined the card table as well.

The ropes binding him were untied, replaced by a pair of strangely made bracelets that looked somewhat heavy, but to the strategist, they were so light they were practically nonexistent.

However, this very thing temporarily sealed his "curse" ability, rendering his existence no longer a threat to Carlos.

He knew the purpose of the bracelet almost the instant it was put on him. It was a rule-level sacrifice that could seal the target's abilities in a certain area for six hours, but had a one-week cooldown period.

Yan Ming felt that Carlos had a lot of good stuff. This bracelet could have been a surprise trump card if used properly, but now it was being used on him so casually.

The reason was that Yan Ming felt uncomfortable from the rope, so he said it half-jokingly.

Well... I don't know whether to praise Carlos for his magnanimity or mock him for being too kind.

Yan Ming played all his cards: "Three of a Kind with Two".

He won again.

A short-haired woman scratched her head. "You're amazing! You win eight out of ten games!"

There are two more rounds where Carlos cheated.

Yan Ming smiled slightly at the short-haired woman.

... If the all-knowing can't predict Carlos's actions, can't he at least predict the outcome of a hand of cards?

Carlos seemed unconcerned about the lopsided game and was having a great time. "Shuffle, next round."

Overall, things were surprisingly harmonious at the restaurant.

Yan Ming initially didn't know why Carlos had kidnapped him but didn't do anything to him. He neither needed to use Carlos's ancient book to find certain information, nor did he need to use his personal safety to make a deal with Lu Xiaorong.

However, after thinking about it for a while, he understood.

Carlos forced him to be a "spectator," and clearly, Carlos knew what was about to happen.

Carlos was waiting, Yan Ming, also becoming curious, decided to wait with him. With Carlos's cooperation, the Magician generously allowed him to play cards together to pass the time.

As the ground trembled, the location of the "ticket" he sensed suddenly stopped moving; it was somewhere in the city, not far from the restaurant.

The real show might be about to begin.

Just then, Carlos suddenly raised an eyebrow, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a paper figure.

Then he said, "I'm not playing anymore, I have something to do."

Yan Ming immediately noticed the unusual behavior, and the light from the runes in his eyes brightened.

The remaining two card players left on their own, leaving only Carlos and Yan Ming. Carlos looked slightly puzzled and shook the little paper figure.

This was the paper figure he used to contact Zhao Yijiu. Strangely, he suddenly felt that the paper figure had lost control.

"What happened?" Yan Ming looked at the paper figure with a hint of sadness. He felt that the paper figure was shrouded in a layer of black mist, and the black mist was getting thicker and thicker.

But only he, the omniscient one, could see the mist. Carlos, as the creator of the paper figures, was even more puzzled. "Something's wrong with it. Oh no, could it be that the Lingren are finally planning to kill me?"

Black mist... I have indeed seen it on Lingren before. Yan Ming thought to himself, yet he also keenly sensed the differences between different types of mist.

The moment the thought of "the abilities originating from the same source but in different forms" crossed his mind, he saw Carlos decisively tear the paper figure into pieces.

"You dare tear it?" someone stopped him.

Yan Ming was stunned, while Carlos instantly bristled, staring in shock at the little paper doll in his hand that had grown a long beak and started talking. After a couple of seconds, he exclaimed, "Holy crap, Yu... you turned my paper doll against me!?"

The magnetic voice sounded a bit out of place coming from the scrawled paper doll, but the laughter in it made one hesitant to think too much, "Without trying to turn you against me, I can't even talk to you anymore. The Magician boss is very busy, isn't he?"

"I... I'm alright, just so-so." Carlos glanced at the card table and coughed twice guiltily.

"Oh." Yu Xing manipulated the paper figure to sit up, and the drawn face stared at him with a half-smile.

This time, he still used the method of extending the spatial rules from the paper figure in reverse. His consciousness flowed along the rules, but when he reached the end, Yu Xing paid attention and did not possess Carlos's body again. Instead, he precisely located the little paper figure.

He stretched his limbs, looked at the two people with different expressions, and smiled, "My five senses are still intact, so I saw everything, from the card table to Yan Ming, whom you've managed to seduce."

Yan Ming, who was standing nearby, came over.

He looked at the paper figure with an almost inorganic gaze, as if he were looking at a flame existing in the gap between the omniscient and the unknown.

"Yu Xing?"

In an instant, the omissions in the calculations were filled in, Yan Ming a long sigh of relief, "So that's how it is. The predetermined fate... has been changed."

"The variables I can't predict originate from you."