The Fifth Chapter: Keep a Low Profile and Don't Disturb Other People's Deductions

Frequent simulations and deductions can easily lead to misjudgments about time.

Yu Xing spent too much time in the snow-capped mountains during his last trip back. After entering Nanshui Town, he was constantly exposed to wind, snow, and cold, so by the time he arrived at the entrance of Ruibo University, he belatedly realized that spring had already arrived.

The students must have just returned to school recently, and after their last class, they were scattered out for a stroll.

University towns are always so vibrant and bustling. Right across from the school gate is a food street, and there's also a low-key little bar on the side of the street.

Standing at the school gate, you can see the entire scene across the street in one go.

To avoid looking too out of place, Yu Xing wore a jacket over her short-sleeved shirt, paired with simple light blue jeans and sneakers, perfectly blending into the student crowd.

Qu Xuanqing, on the other hand, seemed more mature. She wore a long, thin trench coat, her hair was tied in a high ponytail, and her hands were in her pockets. She looked like a strict older sister next to Yu Xing.

The two waited there for Zhu Yan to come out.

According to Zhu Yan, the bureau needed to see her about something, and she had to go before 5 o'clock so she could get back to the school around 6 o'clock and meet Yu Xing.

They didn't have to wait long.

I'm here!

A few steps away, a neatly dressed girl suddenly pounced on him, throwing herself into his arms as Yu Xing turned around.

Qu Xuanqing smiled faintly.

The two had previously kept their presence hidden, but Zhu Yan's arrival broke down the invisible barrier, drawing the attention of many people to them.

Yu Xing helped Zhu Yan steady herself and carefully examined her.

Long time no see, Zhu Yan is still the same.

She is developing as she grows older, following the same growth rate as humans.

As the sun set, the girl, her face beaming with joy, pressed her cheek against Yu Xing's chest, leaving only her fluffy hair visible.

Perhaps no one would guess that she is the most mysterious "Impermanence" member of the Mijin City Major Crimes Unit— Zhu Yan seems to have become an urban legend from another perspective.

"Senior Sister Zhu Yan!"

Most people know that it's inappropriate to interrupt someone's hug at this time, but some people still exclaimed in surprise.

It's clear that Zhu Yan is a popular figure at school.

Zhu Yan raised her head without hesitation and looked at the source of the voice. It was a junior student who had just entered the school this year and joined her music club.

She smiled at the junior student, then whispered to Yu Xing, "Lots of guys are after me, but I haven't said yes to any of them yet."

Qu Xuanqing raised an eyebrow. She was very protective of her own and her thoughts were straightforward. "If you meet someone you like, don't worry about your status. You're not going to eat anyone."

Yu Xing thought so too. Zhu Yan looked exactly like an ordinary person, so if she wanted to, she shouldn't be deprived of any of the experiences she deserved. "Xiao Ququ is right, it's your freedom."

"No, actually I'd like to try what it's like to be in a relationship, but..."

Zhu Yan muttered a soft "tsk": "It's all your fault."

Yu Xing: "?"

Based on his observation, Zhu Yan definitely didn't have any romantic feelings for him, so how could she blame him?

"Having met someone like you, how could I possibly be interested in an ordinary human being?" Zhu Yan frowned, looking genuinely resentful.

It's said that you shouldn't meet someone too amazing when you're young, because it can affect your whole life.

Zhu Yan was clearly influenced; when she encountered men pursuing her, she felt they were far inferior to Yu Xing, and naturally found it difficult to be moved.

Qu Xuanqing also fell silent, then revealed the same strange look in his eyes.

Yu Xing: "..."

Yu Xing smacked each of them irritably. "You're so heartless, blaming me now, but why didn't you blame me when we were kids?"

Zhu Yan then cheerfully let go of him and instead took Qu Xuanqing's arm. "Come on, let's go buy milk tea!"

The three of them lingered around the school gate for a short while before heading towards the food street across the street. Their destination was the shopping mall a few hundred meters away, but they could buy some snacks at the food street first.

A moment later, Yu Xing walked behind, holding a cup of milk tea, and could only see the two girls' intimate backs.

To be precise, Zhu Yan was more proactive, practically pressing half her body against Qu Xuanqing, while Qu Xuanqing merely responded coldly. One was passionate, the other serene, yet their interaction was strangely harmonious.

Ha, you said you were thinking of yourself, but you've already shown your true colors so quickly.

Yu Xing couldn't get a word in edgewise when it came to girls' conversations, so she could only silently complain from the sidelines.

Only when Yu Xing was approached by someone asking for her contact information would they turn around in unison, their eyes fixed intently on Yu Xing.

"Sorry," Yu Xing, refusing another offer.

He was tall and had a commanding presence when he wasn't smiling. People who were rejected didn't dare say a word and would only leave in disappointment.

The journey was smooth, and they arrived at the mall without any problems.

Yu Xing paused as she stepped into the barbecue restaurant.

Wait, why did he use the word "smoothly"?

It was as if he subconsciously felt that something unexpected would happen on this trip.

Yu Xing, was suddenly alarmed. She proactively opened the Yugi panel and called out to the system: "Are you there? Are you there?"

In the real world, the system's presence is extremely low, possibly due to connection strength issues; the signal only strengthens when the Yugi panel is opened.

The system ignored him.

Yu Xing couldn't retrieve the system either. With some hesitation, he followed the waiter's directions to his seat.

The three people were seated in a cubicle. Although the surrounding partitions were thin and only had three sides, they still gave a sense of privacy.

Zhu Yan really liked this spot. Next, she scanned the QR code to order, waited for the food to be served, and then the server started bringing in the charcoal to help grill the meat.

Yu Xing politely informed the waiter that they didn't need to come to their table, and that they would serve themselves.

The meal was very enjoyable.

Zhu Yan had a lot to say to him. She shared some cases from the past year, talking about the suspects and their strange families, then about the interesting new recruits in the police force, and how brilliantly some high-IQ suspects performed during interrogations.

Yu Xing grilled meat for the two girls, but barely ate any himself.

Qu Xuanqing's puppet body didn't need to eat, but she ate a lot while accompanying Zhu Yan.

Zhu Yan rested her chin on one hand and held chopsticks in the other, completely relaxed, eating and chatting, her eyes seemingly shining.

In the latter half, she brought up several tasks that Yu Xing had previously given her.

Those task lines were all cut off. Some had uncovered evidence of illegal and criminal activities, and there had even been deduction qualification tests based on these as models. However, Zhu Yan kept her distance and never touched them.

Others turned out to be going in the wrong direction after investigation. Yu Xing had asked her to investigate many things, some of which were clearly actionable, while others were just speculations. Once it was confirmed that there were no abnormalities, she could let go.

"I've cleaned up so many messes for you!"

Zhu Yan got angry just thinking about it, and pouted, "I was so busy during that time, but you just washed your hands of everything, you were such a jerk!"

Yu Xing stuffed a piece of grilled meat dipped in sauce into her mouth and said with a smile, "Oh dear, it's all my fault, little Zhu Yan is too amazing."

Zhu Yan snorted and took a big gulp of the milk tea next to her.

The barbecue restaurant was bustling, so bustling that it seemed as if they were just one of the masses, as if life was meant to be this way.

Yu Xing relaxed his doubts slightly. He was probably overthinking it. There was nothing that could go wrong. It was already past eight o'clock, and they would soon leave the barbecue restaurant to go shopping.

In the very next instant.

A strange feeling washed over me.

He glanced out of the booth as if sensing something was amiss. The other customers in the barbecue restaurant were noisy, some were talking and laughing, and some were chatting quietly. Nothing seemed amiss.

However, Qu Xuanqing, whose perception was weak due to his puppet body, also turned his head at the same time.

Their gazes fell on a table in the corner.

There was only one person there. Due to the angle, it could only be seen that it was a woman. She had long hair that covered her face and was wearing a black dress that made her very inconspicuous.

Her table was laden with a variety of dishes, and the aroma of freshly roasted meat filled the air, but her bowl and chopsticks were spotless; she hadn't eaten a single bite.

The waiters walking around her completely ignored her, as if they couldn't see her.

The woman seemed out of place in the barbecue restaurant, and even Yu Xing couldn't remember when she had arrived there.

Was that table there just now?

If I don't remember, then it means there's no such thing. This table and this woman both appeared out of nowhere.

That faint, strange aura was emanating from the woman.

After looking for two seconds, the woman suddenly turned her head and met Yu Xing's gaze.

An eyeball crawling with maggots fell off without warning and rolled into a plate full of roasted meat.

[A mapping-type simulation copy is being formed. This copy will continue to harm the real world after its generation and must be closed as soon as possible.]

The system suddenly came to life, issuing a reminder in Yu Xing's mind without any emotion.

[This simulation is an eight-player Yugi. The simulation does not consume real-time. Due to the urgency of the situation, the eight nearest simulation participants and those with simulation qualifications will be recruited from the vicinity of the spawn point. Refusal is not permitted.]

Yu Xing: "?"

He had been thinking that the system could also identify which predictions would continue to harm reality and patch up the real world.

He was really unlucky; he rarely got to go out for a meal, and he had to witness the formation of a simulated instance.

It feels similar to the Alice's Park experience.

The next second, he caught his breath.

What does that mean? Are you recruiting people with divination qualifications?

Doesn't that mean this simulation will become a qualification test for some people to become simulation participants? Zhu Yan... Zhu Yan!

"Hey, system, are you there?" Yu Xing called out coldly in her mind.

Qu Xuanqing, who was standing next to him, also turned cold and stern, a murderous aura flashing in his eyes.

The system that went mad was indeed different from before. In the past, when something like this happened, it would even consult the players and only invite those who volunteered to enter the Yugi.

Now, not only can we not refuse, but we also have to bring in completely clueless newcomers to fill the ranks. As everyone knows, the formal simulation, no matter its difficulty, is much harder than the qualification test. This is simply pushing people in as cannon fodder.

Fortunately, the system responded this time.

[... How come it's you?]

The woman's voice was full of emotion.

It was as if it had only passively detected the birth of a new simulation copy, and started pulling people in like a pre-programmed sequence. It only looked up when it heard the call, and then saw Yu Xing.

"Don't pull Zhu Yan." Yu Xing knew how fast the system's processing speed was; in a few seconds, it might even be reporting Yugi information. He warned succinctly.

This tone was even more dangerous than when he exposed the evil god of the system in Nanshui Town; he was genuinely angry.

Okay, I'll skip this candidate.

The system, being emotional, was easy to talk to, and the word "candidate" revealed that it had indeed pulled Zhu Yan earlier.

Yu Xing breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Zhu Yan, sitting across the table, was completely oblivious to all this, chewing on her roasted meat with her cheeks bulging.

Qu Xuanqing's voice was calm, so calm that Zhu Yan wouldn't find anything special about it. She said, "Yu Xing."

Yu Xing understood what she meant and nodded almost imperceptibly. "You want to eat this? I'll grill it for you."

Qu Xuanqing breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Yan looked up curiously. "What? Give me a bite."

[The deducers and candidates have assembled]

[Final List: Unknown, Er, Gaolou, Assassin No. 17, Little Heavenly Master, and three other candidates]

The simulation suggests a blood-red color that stimulates the retina.

[Mini-Driving Simulation: The Silent Barbecue Restaurant]

[Type: Mapping Deduction Game]

[Analysis: This type of deduction is based on real-world cases, creating an absurd space by distorting rules and order. The Yugi content has varying degrees of relevance to reality, but ultimately points to parts of the truth of reality.]

This simulation Yugi is for eight Yugi.

[This simulation Yugi does not take up real-world time.]

[Friendly reminder: This deduction is too easy for you. Please keep a low profile and do not interfere with other deducers' analysis of the truth.]

The friendly reminder was clearly a system-targeted attack on him—and it must have been sent by Qu Xuanqing as well.

With their combined abilities, they could probably brute force their way through the entire instance space within five minutes, which is something the system doesn't want to see.

Since the system abandoned Zhu Yan so decisively, Yu Xing decided to give it face. Moreover, this Yugi doesn't take up real time, so in Zhu Yan's eyes, he and Qu Xuanqing probably didn't seem to have anything unusual from beginning to end.

The next second, the surrounding environment became blurry, the noisy sounds gradually faded away, and the figures disappeared one after another.

A sense of distorted space filled the entire shop. Yu Xing felt it very clearly this time. His body entered the intersection of two spatial passages, stepping from one passage into the range of the other.

There was a moment of utter darkness in the world.

When the lights came on again, Yu Xing was no longer in her seat, but in a small changing room.

He was wearing a black and white shirt and trousers, cheap black leather shoes, and a bright red barbecue restaurant apron tied around his waist.

The five large gold characters "Xiao Zhang Barbecue Restaurant" were printed on the chest of the apron.

His hair was tied in a bun at the back of his head, with only a few wisps of hair left on his forehead.

[This simulation requires role-playing; please act in accordance with your assigned role and avoid being out of character.]

[There are two roles in this event: guest and server]

[You are a first-day employee at a barbecue restaurant. Please follow the supervisor's instructions.]

[Task 1: Leave the changing room within one minute and proceed to the lobby to greet the new guests.] (End of Chapter)