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The fat man was called Pao Hui. Until today, he had been an ordinary shut-in from another time and space, obsessed with online detective novels. The moment he opened his eyes this morning and realized he had transmigrated into a book, he could not wait to replace the original owner.

Osmond was a detective novel. Its male lead, Zhen Liu, had an innate sensitivity to lies. Perhaps the author had given him a cheat—he could always tell whether someone was telling the truth. Zhen Liu had accidentally entered a god's game, believing he was playing a fully immersive murder mystery game. In reality, under the watchful eyes of countless deities, he was solving one unsolved case after another from different worlds and rising to the pinnacle of life.

When Pao Hui transmigrated, Osmond was still being serialized. Although he had not seen the ending, he believed he was already familiar with every rule of the game. He knew the truth and twists behind every case Zhen Liu had taken part in. He could even recite how Zhen Liu had won the favor of so many gods.

He should have been the protagonist with cheats in this world. He would do better than Zhen Liu!

Today, Zhen Liu would take part in the first murder mystery game of his life. It would be his debut.

One step ahead of Zhen Liu, Pao Hui arrived at Twilight Mystery Club, No. L049. Filled with ambition, he felt this was the very moment that would change his fate.

Unfortunately, the owner of Twilight Mystery Club—Xiao Qian's uncle—refused Pao Hui's sudden request to join the game.

Boss Qian always remembered that he was now in the service industry and had to "eat vegetarian." Patiently, he explained in Taobao-speak, "Dear customer, today's session is already full. If you'd like to play, I can arrange something for you tomorrow, or recommend some other equally excellent beginner scenarios. Our shop can help match you with other players, though we cannot guarantee success, so you may need to wait for a while. During that time, you can use the game pods in our shop for free."

"No, I just want to play this one." Pao Hui had no idea who the man before him was. After all, he had read a novel and had never seen images from the real world. He merely treated the receptionist as some random NPC and began making unreasonable demands.

Boss Qian had no intention of indulging him either. "Then I'm very sorry, but there's nothing I can do for you."

Using the most customer-service-like tone possible, he directly sent the man away.

That was why Pao Hui could only sit in his car now, impatiently waiting for Zhen Liu to arrive. No amount of cold air conditioning could extinguish the fury boiling in his stomach.

At 15:55, just as the book had described, Zhen Liu arrived at Twilight Mystery Club right on time.

The aloof youth was like a block of ice, cutting through the oppressive summer heat as he emerged diagonally from the alley across the street, like a work of art stepping out into reality.

He braked, got out, and lowered his head to lock the car.

Pao Hui took a deep breath, suppressing the resentment and rage in his heart. Trying his best to appear enthusiastic, he stepped forward and pretended to be familiar with him. "Vice President, I didn't expect to see you here. Have you finished your exams?"

Zhen Liu straightened up. He first checked the payment notification on his app and confirmed that he had locked the car within the free period. Only then did he slowly raise his head and look at the fat man, whom he had never seen before. "You are?"

"I'm a freshman from the same department as you, class of '21. We met during freshman orientation when school started, though you probably don't remember me. But that's fine. That's normal. We finished our exams this morning, and with nothing to do, we decided to come out and play a murder mystery game this afternoon. But this place said it was full. Sigh, I'm debating whether to go back to school, but I really don't want to give up."

Even an idiot could see Pao Hui was hesitating deliberately, because he had never intended to give Zhen Liu a chance to refuse helping him.

But Zhen Liu's only response was, "Oh."

After saying that, Zhen Liu did not intend to pay him any more attention. He headed toward the nearly deserted storefront. His strides were not large, and his pace could only be called unhurried, yet in what seemed like an instant, he had passed Pao Hui, who was still foolishly hoping Zhen Liu would show concern for him, and was about to pull open the door.

"Vice President!" Pao Hui panicked.

With one hand on the door handle, Zhen Liu turned sideways and looked back. "Is there anything else?"

"You're here to play a murder mystery game too? Want to join me? I'm so bored by myself." In that split second, Pao Hui had established a new goal. Since he could not replace Zhen Liu in the first case, then he would join him. After all, during the first case, the most important high-ranking gods would not appear.

The livestream

was filled with low-ranking divine attendants. This really was just a beginner scenario, Zhen Liu's first immature step onto the stage of the universe.

"Sorry, but our group is full too." Zhen Liu remained as cold and unfeeling as ever.

Pao Hui: "..." He had thought that when Zhen Liu saw a forgotten junior from the same school, he would feel at least a little guilty and offer him some care. At least, normal people would not refuse so bluntly, would they? Why was Zhen Liu so practiced at turning people down?!

"Come on, Vice President, make an exception. It's just one more person—we can change from a five-player scenario to a six-player one. There are lots of fun beginner scenarios for six players too. Meeting here is fate, isn't it? Please, Vice President, I really want to play." Pao Hui continued pestering him shamelessly.

"You're lying." Zhen Liu had already run out of patience. He was about to be late, and what he hated most was being late. Zhen Liu spoke more quickly, and his words became even less merciful. "I never told you what scenario I was going to play."

In his panic, Pao Hui had blurted out information he should not have known. Once exposed, he completely lost his composure. Still, he could only scramble to salvage the situation. "I—I did know what scenario you were going to play, Vice President. I accidentally heard it from Senior Qian, but... I only lied because I wanted to play with you. I meant no harm. It's just a game, isn't it? I went to all that trouble to deceive you—what could I possibly gain from it?"

Exactly. What could he gain? That was also the part Zhen Liu found hardest to make sense of. But...

"You did not lie only about that. You lied from beginning to end. I remember everyone I have ever met. You are neither a student at our school nor someone who has ever crossed paths with me. Lying is useless against me."

He had known from the very beginning.