“Clean it up.”
Faced with the indifferent attitude, Su Er tactfully and earnestly began to clean. At the same time, he started thinking about what the previous host had said before leaving — “the most suitable one.” In retrospect, the Divine Seer was indeed a skilled hand at handling bugs.
He kept the corner of his eye on that side. Just like the last time they met — not only was the outfit the same, the person’s fondness for carrying around a small folding stool hadn't changed either.
Once he confirmed the last petal was swept into the dustpan, Su Er sprinkled some water to settle the dust.
Even Ji Heng had to admire that level of adaptability.
After the deep cleaning was done, Su Er probed, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll head off now.”
The Divine Seer remained motionless, sitting on the little stool. He casually tossed several fragments of tortoise shell from his sleeve onto the floor and began playing with combinations and permutations.
Su Er quietly exited. Before leaving completely, he glanced back — not sure if it was just coincidence, but the Divine Seer was sitting exactly in the spot that Mister East Wind used to favor, where there was both shade and breeze.
Once, that man too had enjoyed his tranquil days in just such a way.
Ji Heng said, “I suppose it's the silver lining.”
Su Er thought for a moment, then nodded. “Zhu Yun once said that women are good at lying to deceive people, but men are good at telling the truth to deceive people.”
Those like Mister Rose, who never lied, were the scariest of all.
Of course, the most satisfying part was that the Divine Seer’s presence in the copies was always elusive. In the previous instances, they had barely even met face-to-face.
The two found an empty classroom and sat down. Su Er no longer concerned himself with the host. “Chen Ziwen made a harsh threat — he’s coming tonight to kill.”
His knuckles tapped lightly on the table in a steady rhythm. “The twins have deep rifts. We need to pick a side.”
They had enmity with both brothers, so they had to find a way to reconcile with one of them.
Ji Heng glanced at him. “Who do you want to choose?”
Su Er didn’t hesitate. “The Ghost King.”
Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t beat the Ghost King, and Chen Ziwen had also died by the Ghost King's scheme.
Ghosts had no concept of good or evil — given that, they should pick the strongest one.
When Ji Heng said nothing, that meant he agreed.
Once they were on the same page, Su Er looked at the half-thick Book of Answers, then bowed his head in thought before shifting the topic. “All this time, you’ve always used a hands-off approach with me.”
“Ahem…”
Ji Heng had just opened the unfinished bottle of water from the morning. When he heard the word “hands-off,” his expression turned a little strange.
Su Er calmly said, “Lack of analysis is sometimes worse than lack of training.”
Right now, he felt like he had a lot of scattered clues, but lacked the key to string them all together. That feeling definitely meant he had missed something important.
Ji Heng re-capped the bottle. “You really want to hear it?”
Su Er nodded seriously.
“Time,” Ji Heng turned his face to the window. “What month is it now?”
Just looking at the trees and flowers, they were flourishing. The weather was just muggy.
“Late June or early July?” Su Er wasn’t too sure.
A few seconds after he answered, his face shifted from astonishment to realization. “That’s around the time elementary school graduation happens.”
Ji Heng said, “The Headless Ghost mentioned we would relive everything from back then — but you only thought about how one of the players was imitating Zhang Xiaohua by selling birth dates.”
Su Er was silent. After a while, his throat felt dry. “I really overlooked that.”
“That’s just the first point,” Ji Heng gave a half-smile and asked if he wanted to hear more.
Su Er hesitated, then nodded.
“There were a lot of drawers full of unsorted things. How many desks were like that?”
Su Er recalled, “Around a dozen.”
Ji Heng: “And there are just about a dozen players.”
Su Er understood instantly. “So the graduation certificates we’re looking for actually belong to the children who died?”
“Correct.”
Su Er thought aloud: “If the player selling birth dates represents Zhang Xiaohua, then who represents the twin brothers… No, wait…”
He immediately rejected that idea. If there were twins among the players, that would’ve been obvious — and the plot would be too easy to figure out.
Ji Heng led him to the office and pointed at the report books they had flipped through that night. “Human thinking has a filtering bias.”
Like an obedient elementary schooler, Su Er stood to the side with his hands behind his back, listening to the lecture.
Ji Heng said, “Back then, your instinct was to check grades. That wasn’t wrong — but you missed something.”
Su Er frowned and casually picked up a book to flip through it again. His finger stopped almost immediately.
The first page had only two lines — for the student to fill in their name and birthday. Just as he was about to flip through more books, Ji Heng handed over the class roster. Each row was clearly detailed.
Su Er scanned the birth dates and found a student named Cai Hu, who happened to have the same birth date as him.
He looked up instinctively.
Ji Heng said, “August 1st.”
Su Er continued reading and soon found another student also born on August 1st.
Following this logic, each player corresponded exactly to one victim.
“So that’s it…” he murmured, frowning. “When flipping through the Book of Answers, I can’t be thinking ‘Where is my graduation certificate?’”
Ji Heng nodded. “You represent Cai Hu. The correct question should be: ‘Where is Cai Hu’s graduation certificate?’”
“If I could find out which students the other players represent…” He trailed off, then dismissed the thought.
There’s only one page with the correct answer.
Ji Heng reminded, “You already know what to ask. But that alone isn’t enough to clear the level.”
Su Er looked a little crestfallen, like a tourist just passing through, realizing they’d taken in all the sights for nothing.
“So next, are you going to say you already know who the poisoner is?”
Ji Heng: “I have a suspect, but no proof.”
“......”a
Su Er looked utterly dejected, a bit like a rooster who’d lost a fight — unusually expressive.
Ji Heng’s lips curled slightly before quickly suppressing the smile. He consoled, “Going straight for the Book of Answers and brute-forcing your way through isn’t wrong either.”
Not about to give up over a little setback, Su Er pulled himself together and followed his train of thought: “The current time is approaching the poisoning case. We need to be especially wary of the breakfast provided by the Ghost King.”
On the anniversary of someone’s death, not poisoning the food would be more surprising.
Ji Heng: “To be precise, it’s the day after tomorrow.”
“......”a
“Zhang Xiaohua demands the murderer be identified before sunrise that day. That proves it’s a special date.”
Just as he’d begun to regain some energy, it deflated again.
Ji Heng: “Take it one step at a time. No need to rush. Rigid thinking isn’t good either.”
Su Er muttered thoughtfully, “I get it.”
Just as he hadn’t noticed certain details, the other side wouldn’t think of destroying the Book of Answers to break the game either.
If both sides used the same method, it might actually hinder progress.
Ji Heng: “Let’s talk to the Ghost King and negotiate cooperation — survive the night first.”
Su Er wholeheartedly agreed.
For someone like him, who relied on logic to deal with ghosts, running into a brute-force, blade-wielding monster was definitely a disadvantage.
Short Building.
The Ghost King was inside the mirror recovering, eyes cold as he watched the two approach.
Su Er’s hand stayed on the stun gun, ready for attack at any moment, but the Ghost King was unexpectedly quiet.
After being attacked earlier by both the players and Zhang Xiaohua, he was clearly more cautious.
Su Er called out, “Chen Ziwen,” then asked, “Are you the Fox Spirit’s devotee?”
A hint of fanaticism flickered in the boy’s eyes. “Of course.”
Su Er stared at him for a few seconds, then clapped. “Great acting.” His smile faded. “You’re not Chen Ziwen. And you don’t revere the Fox Spirit.”
The boy stepped out of the mirror, murderous intent rising.
Su Er said calmly, “If you kill us, it’ll come at a cost. Injured on top of injured — aren’t you afraid the real Chen Ziwen will take the opportunity to break through?”
Just a few steps away, the boy paused, expression scornful. “If it weren’t for the Fox Spirit protecting him, I’d have killed him long ago.”
That foolish little brother who only knew how to study and act clever — useless in life, still useless in death.
Su Er got straight to the point: “How about we cooperate?”
The boy, naturally vicious and cunning, was amazed by the man’s thick skin. Just that morning, Su Er had helped Zhang Xiaohua attack him — and now he was trying to team up with the victim?
Su Er smiled amiably. “Let’s start over. I’m Su Er.”
Suppressing his surging urge to kill, the boy said coldly, “Chen Ziwu.”
That was as good as agreeing to cooperate.
For the rest of the time, Su Er and Ji Heng stayed there. During the period, Liu Wen arrived with a player named Li Zizai. As soon as they came upstairs, they saw the Ghost King standing dead center in the mirror, with Ji Heng and Su Er sitting on either side outside the mirror — like two stone guardians.
The visual impact was intense. Liu Wen couldn’t help but stare at their name badges for a long time, trying to figure out if they were human or ghost.
If they were human, how could they get along with a ghost?
Su Er: “Just a transaction. Want in?”
If it weren’t for Li Zizai insisting on checking out the short building, Liu Wen wouldn’t have set foot here — after all, he’d also helped attack the Ghost King earlier that morning.
After the invitation, he shook his head firmly.
But Li Zizai asked, “What kind of transaction?”
Assuming the breakfast poisoner was someone who didn’t eat the meal, it had to be either Li Zizai or Gao Rui — and Li Zizai was more likely.
Now that Liu Wen was hanging around with Li Zizai, Su Er smiled meaningfully. Sure enough, in the instances, there were no permanent enemies.
“A deal to kill ghosts.” He said it clearly, then closed his eyes to rest.
Li Zizai, crafty as always, didn’t leave. He folded his arms and waited nearby. Liu Wen wavered but eventually stayed too, intending to see how things played out.
As time passed, Su Er opened his eyes and looked downstairs. “He’s not coming?”
Since they were in the short building, it was easy to guess they’d teamed up with the Ghost King. Chen Ziwen might back off.
“He’ll come,” Chen Ziwu said with certainty. “It’s not like you’re the only one who can find backup.”
Before they could fully digest that statement, a strong wind suddenly kicked up outside. Even inside the building, they could hear the howling.
Chhhchhh—
Strange fox cries replaced the sound of the wind, echoing through the corridor.
Su Er had just stood up when dozens of eyes locked onto him. He instinctively stepped back a little, finally realizing what kind of “backup” the other side meant.
Chen Ziwen had come. And not alone — he brought a whole pack of foxes.
“These are Wish Foxes,” Chen Ziwu said with some unease. “They boost luck.”
One Wish Fox was no big deal — but a pack of them made for perfect support.
Liu Wen regretted not leaving earlier. It was one thing to fight ghosts, but these ghosts even came with a luck buff! He glanced at Li Zizai beside him. But Li Zizai’s attention was fixed on Ji Heng, suspecting there might be bonus rewards for helping the Ghost King.
Suddenly, Su Er pulled Ji Heng aside and whispered, “Is there a way to send me out… to get clay figurines?”
“…The clay figurine isn’t a match for the Wish Foxes.”
Su Er shook his head, voice barely above a whisper, “I want to make a book.”
Ji Heng gave him a long, deep look.
Su Er said shyly, “Ideally, we beat the Wish Foxes half to death, then I’ll use clay figurine to craft book pages, infuse them with yin energy, and force or lure the Wish Foxes to inhabit them.”
That way, whenever he had a stroke of bad luck, all he’d need to do was flip open the book — and he’d instantly become the luckiest kid in the entire dungeon!
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