Beginner Scenario · Class Reunion (Part One)

"I Thought I Was Just Playing a Game" by Wu Shi [Completed]

Synopsis:

Zhen Liu thought he was just lying in a gaming pod, playing a holographic murder mystery game.

But in reality... he was solving cold cases in different worlds.

Lucien was the god of lies and

fine food,

and his favorite pastime was cooking murderers' souls at crime scenes.

One day, Lucien met Zhen Liu, a human who could see through every lie at a glance.

Lucien at first: Excellent, human. You have successfully caught my attention.

Lucien later: For love, I could go without eating for the rest of my life!

Lucien even later: Why don't you love me yet? Is it because I haven't memorized the code of male virtue properly enough?

Human lie detector bottom × divine top who loved lies and fine food and was always trying to uphold male virtue

Decide for yourself whether these are dealbreakers or draws:

1. It doesn't matter whether you've played murder mystery games before, because this is a detective mystery story.

2. Happy ending, one-on-one romance,

bottom's POV.

3. Barring unforeseen circumstances, updates will be daily, around midday [11 a.m. to 2 p.m.].

4. This story was written by the author's cat! ⊙ω⊙

5. More to be added when I think of them.

Content tags:

Sweet romance

Mystery and deduction

Transmigration into a book

Strange tales and legends

Search keywords: Leads: Zhen Liu, Lucien ┃ Supporting characters: ┃ Other:

One-line summary: There is only one truth!

Theme: Humanity places tremendous hope in flowers. -"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes"

Chapter 1: Beginner Scenario · Class Reunion (Part One)

City A.

June 3.

Afternoon.

Cicadas shrilled, the air sweltered, and the blazing sun scorched the earth. The entire city of steel seemed to have been swept up and turned into an enormous steamer. Passersby trudged through it drenched in sweat, their feet rubbing against the asphalt, fried from the front and roasted from behind, yet still gritting their teeth as they rushed about to earn a living. The news was also reporting on the increasingly abnormal weather over the past year.

"...For the first time in decades, our city has entered a June with extreme heat already upon us in early summer. Experts predict that outdoor temperatures above forty degrees Celsius will persist for several more days. A reminder to everyone: in this blazing summer heat, take care to stay cool."

At the school gate, three elderly security guards with seven teeth between them sat in a row beneath the eaves, squeezed into a narrow strip of shade. They tugged their loose collars as wide as possible while vigorously waving their worn palm-leaf fans.

"This heat is downright unbearable."

"You can say that again."

"Hey, did you hear? Someone jumped off the Gemini Towers a few days ago."

That morbid story finally brought a hint of chill to the summer day. A sudden, eerie gust sprang up, carrying a young man's figure whooshing past the old fellows.

Before they could make out what it was, a bulky fat man built like a small mountain blocked their view entirely. Whether someone's appearance reflected their character was debatable, but the fat man's bossy manner made his lack of manners obvious. "Hey, old man. Got a question."

The elderly guards, whose armbands bore the embroidered word "Tigers," all frowned. They didn't want to squabble with a young man, but they weren't particularly inclined to answer him either.

The fat man remained oblivious. Still caught up in the excitement of having just transmigrated, he believed the entire world was a book, everyone else was an NPC, and he alone was the protagonist, the chosen one. He could do whatever he pleased!

Now he was making sure that the book's actual chosen one wouldn't get in his way.

"Have you seen Zhen Liu today? The student council vice president."

Had the fat man asked about an ordinary student, the elderly guards might not have known. But Zhen Liu of the student council was no ordinary student. He had excellent grades and outstanding looks, and he frequently helped out at the college office as part of his work-study job, running between departments. The old men had a very good impression of him.

"Who are you? Why are you asking about a student at our school?"

"He's a lot more polite than you."

"Hah, that was him who just went past. You missed him."

That gust of wind had indeed been Zhen Liu speeding away on a bicycle. Looking now, they could only see a white-clad figure receding into the distance on a shared bike, his waist slender and his back straight. Tall and lean, cool and clean-cut. Even in the hottest summer weather, there was rarely any sweat on him, only a faint freshness like a sea breeze.

The fat man's expression soured. Muttering jealously, "He's not even that good-looking," and cursing, "Damn it," under his breath, he lumbered toward his car, panting, intent on catching up with Zhen Liu.

Seeing him set off in pursuit, one of the elderly guards grew a little worried. "Will Zhen Liu be all right? We should tell the school."

"I'll call the college office right now."

Only the calmest of the old men kept waving his palm-leaf fan. "He won't catch him."

To save time, Zhen Liu always took shortcuts through the narrow streets and alleys of the old town, where cars couldn't get through at all. That man didn't even know where Zhen Liu was going, so how could he catch him? They could just sit back and watch him make a fool of himself.

Sure enough, the fat man was stumped at first. All he could do was pound his steering wheel in frustration.

But soon, his not-so-bright little brain remembered something. Everything happening now was precisely the opening of the book's plot; several key details matched. There was no need to trail behind Zhen Liu, running around blindly like an idiot being led by the nose. He knew Zhen Liu's destination-the L049 Branch of the Twilight Mystery Club, at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Fourth Street.

The uncle of Qian Xiaoqian, Zhen Liu's friend from school, had finally managed to become a "partner" of Twilight and opened this perfectly ordinary holographic murder mystery shop.

Since it had only just opened, business was slow, and it hadn't built up enough returning customers to make assembling groups easy. Each game required a set number of players, so Qian Xiaoqian was often dragged in to fill a spot. But that day, something had come up at the last minute and Qian Xiaoqian couldn't make it, so Zhen Liu had been asked to take the empty slot.

And Zhen Liu was the primary male lead of "Osmond."