There Was Poison in the Food

Since the two timelines that had been mistakenly separated had merged again within the scope of this meal, the two took the opportunity to communicate briefly about what they had seen and heard.

When Yu Xing heard Hua Subai say that he had been followed by the ceramic head and the paper effigy, Yu Xing raised an eyebrow. He didn't expect that he would be chosen to sit at that table by the woman in red. Not only would he have to face the woman in red's attacks, but he would also have to face the stares of the waiter and the waiter serving the food.

The red-clad figure has now been dealt with, but it's clear that the ceramic head was something that originally existed within the Never Forget Dwelling, and its threat level should be greater than that of the red-clad figure transformed from the deducer. As for those paper effigies...

The existence of paper effigies is particularly strange; these things have always been active in funerals and have very obvious symbolic meaning.

Yu Xing recalled the note she found on the dining table: the waiter at Never Forget Dwelling had been beaten to death by Fang Deming. Could the paper effigy be a symbol of the waiter's death?

So what exactly is its stance? Does it hate the owner? Or does it hate all the diners?

... Or perhaps it only resents the Fang family?

What is the relationship between the paper effigy and the ceramic head? Are they one entity, or separate entities?

Tsk, why do all these things only follow Hua Subai and not him? Yu Xing felt a little itchy inside, just a bit of a pity.

If the ceramic head and the paper effigy could follow him, he might have a chance to extract additional information from them—in the name of the Fang family's youngest son.

Anger is also a way to extract information. As long as you can provoke their emotions and break their established rules, you will definitely gain something.

"A Xing, what do you think they're going to do to me?" While Yu Xing was thinking, Hua Subai seized the opportunity to feign pitifulness, while also harboring resentment over the Witch Doctor's words, "Could the deathly aura on me be coming from the Ceramic Waiter? Will he kill me?"

"You can try dying once and see what happens." Yu Xing smiled, ignoring him, and instead glanced at the dishes on the table.

After touching Kuai Zi this time, only the phantom image of Hua Subai and the food on the dining table appeared; there were no further plot hints given to him.

Moreover, these dishes were not illusions. He touched them and found that the food was real, not only looking and smelling delicious, but also warm.

Could this really be a place for the deducers on the second floor to eat, as if they were afraid the deducers would go hungry?

Yu Xing circled the table and finally found the note hidden under the large plate of sweet and sour pork ribs.

In early February, a group of out-of-town travelers died of food poisoning after dining in Never Forget Dwelling room at the Buwangju restaurant. None of them were found alive; the youngest was only five years old. Never Forget Dwelling was shut down and investigated for nearly half a month, after which the negligent chef was dismissed. Because the identities of the out-of-town travelers were unknown, the town mayor personally paid for their burial.

"... He really is dead." Yu Xing murmured.

He knew that Mingzhu's family, who were already dissatisfied with the Fang family, were the biggest obstacle to this marriage. In order to achieve their goal, the safest way for the Fang Mansion to get rid of this family was to eliminate them directly.

But Mingzhu was certainly not among those who died.

Mingzhu is now married to Fang Xiao, the eldest son of the Fang family, and everyone in town knows her.

Therefore, the reason why the family would bury someone who was a traveler from out of town with an unknown identity must be because Mingzhu was kept silent.

She didn't tell the investigators that the dead people were her family members.

Perhaps he didn't want to speak up, or more likely he was afraid to. Even the burial expenses were paid by the town mayor himself. Yu Xing couldn't help but suspect that this town mayor might have some kind of connection with the Fang family, the most famous Fang family in the area.

First, it can be confirmed that the town mayor is an important figure, because on the day of the Snow Festival, the town mayor himself will be the one presiding over the ceremony at the altar.

"Let me see." Hua Subai also came over. In the fusion of space and time, the two of them saw each other as phantoms and naturally could not touch each other, but they could still touch the things in the scene.

The first thing Boss Hua said after reading the note was, "It seems these vegetables are inedible."

Yu Xing's thought process clicked perfectly, and she said in a calm voice, "It's alright, I'm not hungry either."

He was wrong. This wasn't food for them; this meal was the very food that killed Mingzhu's family. It was definitely poisoned.

Why are you two talking about eating so calmly?

[Hey, Flower, is that fake feeling of pity for the woman in red really over? Don't you need to keep up the act?]

After reading the note, touching the old shadow this time was meaningless. Yu Xing turned around to continue searching for something to touch. His Spiritual Sense told him that there was one last item in the room, wrapped in strange energy. Once he found it, the first private room would be over.

"A Xing," Hua Subai suddenly called out to him.

The area around the dining table is very small. If he were to retreat outside, the spatial fusion would likely fail. Taking advantage of the moment before Yu Xing disappeared from his sight, he quickly said, "It's possible that only the phantom containing the note can exist within the spatial fusion. Similarly, I suspect that if any one of the three spaces obtains the note, the other two will no longer be able to find that information."

"For example, Medusa probably wouldn't know that the food on the table was poisoned."

"This information gap is the pitfall left for us during the questioning session when leaving the room."

Yu Xing stopped and tilted her head, saying, "I know. We should try not to take the note alone. After activating the phantom, we should wait in place for a while, and it would be best to share the information with people from other dimensions, right?"

"Well, I have some things to attend to here. See you in the third room then." Hua Subai nodded with a smile, and then Yu Xing.

Yu Xing paused, her brows furrowing slightly, as Hua Subai's figure vanished from her sight.

What happened over there?

Hua Subai suddenly became very anxious, even setting aside time to explore a room to deal with this matter.

Could it be a ceramic head and a paper effigy...?

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Although Hua Subai is not trustworthy, his strength is definitely not a concern. He'll wait until the third room... and if he happens to see him there, he'll ask him then.

Not long after, Yu Xing received the last message from the incense burner in the private room.

The owner of Never Forget Dwelling committed suicide in this private room not long after the eldest son of the Fang family got married, which became a local legend.

After the original owner committed suicide, Never Forget Dwelling inherited by the owner's young daughter. However, this young girl, who was originally optimistic and cheerful, changed her personality drastically after inheriting Never Forget Dwelling. She became unpredictable and even a hands-off manager, not coming to run the business for a month or two, only occasionally sending people to collect debts.

At first glance, this message didn't seem to have anything to do with Mingzhu, Yu Xing guessed that he should be able to find information about the new female boss in the room later.