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Published at 8th of January 2024 10:59:57 AM


Chapter 353.1

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Dijia: “What are you thinking about?”

Bai Lixin: “I’m thinking about that old house in the mountains. I wonder if it’s related to my task.”

It shouldn’t be a coincidence that the first death occurred in that house.

Master Song just passed by and brought such a disaster.

What’s the relationship between that old house and the lake in the back of Qingcheng Mountain?

Is it a coincidence, or is there a deeper connection?

He thought about all these things, contemplating for a while. Suddenly, a subtle look flashed in his eyes, and he smiled.

Dijia: “Why are you smiling?”

“I’m thinking, I’m such a fool. Why am I solving this step by step? There is also a strategy in solving problems in mathematics.”

Dijia saw her lover’s smart smiling face, and the more she looked at it, the more she liked it. He coughed lightly and said dotingly, “What strategy?”

Bai Lixin: “Based on the answers, reverse-engineer the problem-solving process. I’m stupid, this task didn’t give a limited number of wrong attempts. I can just try putting in each name one by one. Trial and error, such a simple and effective method.”

Dijia was stunned for a moment.

As Bai Lixin spoke, he brought up the task bar.

[Task 1: Survive for ten days and nights (remaining time: two days and three nights).

Task 2: Find the murderer of the townspeople (50%), and kill them.]

He had completed 50%, this meant he was on the right track. Continuing this way might lead to finding the murderer, but he was too lazy to continue searching. He directly filled in “Old Madam” with his thoughts, and the progress increased by 1%.

He paused slightly, then input “Yi Niang Qian”, and it increased by 1% again.

‘What is going on? Could it be that the murderer is not an individual but a group?’

After pondering for two seconds, Bai Lixin added “County Magistrate Lin,” and the progress increased by 1%.

“Xiaodie”, it increased by 1% again.

He wrote down all the names in the Lin residence, and except for those four, none of the others had an increase.

Bai Lixin pursed his lips, looked at the results, and fell into contemplation again. Previously, the progress would increase because he was getting closer to the answer. But now he was submitting names directly, the result should have been a yes or no. But the progress bar instead rose. What was happening?

╯‵□′╯︵┻━┻

It is supposed to be yes or no. What’s going on?

“Facing a difficult problem?” While Bai Lixin was inside the system’s consciousness, in reality, he was staring blankly at the opposite side.

Seeing Bai Lixin pursing his lips, Dijia asked in concern.

Bai Lixin, who was originally lost in thought, was brought back to reality by these words. He stared at Dijia, his mind still on the mysterious situation.

Dijia asked with concern again, “What’s wrong? Did I upset you with what I did just now? Should I apologize to you? I just feel that I was ignorant before. There was such an obedient fox in front of me but I remained unmoved, that foolish monk was truly wasting resources.”

Bai Lixin’s eyes suddenly lit up.

‘Dijia.

The murderer.

Perhaps it’s not that there are many murderers, it’s just that the murderer, like Dijia, has countless clones?’

Thinking of this, Bai Lixin quickly immersed his consciousness back into the system.

He entered all the names he knew one by one. Some remained unchanged, while some increased by 1%.

Soon, the task progress stayed at 60% without moving.

After examining each of these six names in his mind, Bai Lixin made a terrifying discovery.

All these people, to some extent, had given him clues.

Bai Lixin’s gaze fell on the “Black Fox” at the top, and his beautiful eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Is the Black Fox also one of them?

So, from the beginning of entering this copy, he was being targeted?

The self-sacrificing Black Fox, the gentle and kind Old Madam, the jealous Yi Niang…

Heh, this is treating him like a monkey, playing with him.

He recalled some details of the time spent with Elder Qingcheng and suddenly realized that Elder Qingcheng might be pretending to be stupid.

The seemingly foolish and lascivious Elder Qingcheng intentionally made him avoid the old house, knowing that he would be curious and go inside.

When he was in the Qingcheng sect, he deliberately took him past the pagoda, but said that there was nothing inside. With his personality, he would definitely be curious.

Intentionally revealing weaknesses to lower his guard, guiding him step by step to discover what he wanted him to find.

Sometimes pointing to Qingcheng Sect, sometimes pointing to the old house. Sometimes showing the corpses at the bottom of the lake, sometimes showing the sachet in the corpse’s arms in the basement.

As a result, he would go around in circles until the ten days are gone. Everywhere seemed suspicious, and anyone could be the culprit, but none of it was the truth.

The real murderer was hiding in the background, laughing secretly.

This task required both parts to be completed to leave. If he was constantly misled by fabricated information, he would never find the real murderer.

What he needed to do now was to filter out all the useless information and keep only the most important clues.

Although the Black Fox left him a bead at the beginning, claiming it was a secret treasure of the Fox Clan, the bead had been useless all along.

From a normal person’s perspective, such an item must be useful. After all, he received it at the beginning, plus he obtained another bead halfway through the process.

But from start to finish, the situation of these two beads was inconsistent. It was like deliberately inserting two soybeans into a pile of rice, wanting to blend in but unable to.

If he wasn’t mistaken, these two beads were misinformation meant to confuse.

Then there was the tall pagoda in Qingcheng Temple.

He had to thank Elder Qingcheng. When he was at Qingcheng Sect, he introduced him to the names of some of Qingcheng’s cultivators who passed by.

He put those names into the answers and found that the progress bar didn’t change at all.

That tall pagoda was certainly also misinformation.

Bai Lixin silently drew an ‘X’ on the pagoda.

He always felt that all the strange things originated from the old house on the mountain.

Master Song also got entangled after the burial near the old house.

Everything pointed to one place—the old house.

Actually, when entering the old house, he had a strange question.

Since that person cherished those corpses so much, why not bury them properly? Instead, they were displayed there.

It was as if they wanted him to discover something.

The ground was covered with withered grass, but beneath the thick layer of grass, the hidden underground entrance was not tightly covered, as if deliberately allowing him to find it. Then he would see those corpses, see the sachet and see the wounds on the corpses.

Did the person behind the scenes want to lead him toward the idea that the murderer is a demon?

Besides this, he had another doubt.

How come only one memorial tablet was left in the entire house? If someone regularly took care of it, why didn’t they just collect all the grass on the ground?

The dirt on the corpses had been wiped clean. The memorial tablet didn’t fall into some obscure corner, it was lying on the ground.

If that person was attentive, how could they not notice a missing memorial tablet? If they came back to look, how could they not find it?

Logically, the memorial tablet shouldn’t have stayed there obediently for him to discover.

It was too contradictory.

But what if that house was considered a showcase for him?

In that case, everything made sense.

In order to make him discover that the previous owner’s surname was “Lin,” the memorial tablet was casually left behind.

To let him feel the eerie nature of this house, they cleared the weeds but left them scattered.

To make him discover the corpses in the basement, they opened the entrance.

It was like a self service for him.

So, of course, it becomes contradictory and bizarre.

Everything was a wrong answer meticulously crafted for him from the beginning.

From the first time he met Old Madam Lin, Yi Niang Qian intentionally mentioned giving her a sachet, drawing his attention.

Seeing a familiar sachet in the basement, he would surely think of the Lin Residence right away.

Also, the deaths of County Magistrate Lin’s wives would immediately make him think there is definitely a problem in the Lin Residence.

Then they stage a play of shifting blame, and his entire focus is on figuring out who is telling the truth between the two of them.

Unconsciously, time runs out.

What a clever trick.

From the beginning, they forcibly pulled him toward the wrong solution.

So, the old house can be omitted.

The Lin Residence can also be omitted.

Twenty people staged a magnificent play for him.

Now, after eliminating all the wrong answers, only one place remains.

The back of the mountain, near the lake.

Bai Lixin abruptly stood up from his chair.

Dijia was startled by Bai Lixin’s sudden movement. Then he heard Bai Lixin say, “What happened to that monster you captured?”

Dijia took a moment to react, “It is still in the temple.”

“Let’s go check it out.”

With that, Bai Lixin walked to the wall and then looked at him with burning eyes.

Dijia stepped forward, lightly tapped the wall, and ripples appeared on the wall.

Bai Lixin swiftly entered the temple and without wasting time, walked to the meditation room and threw the cassock that was still twisting on the lotus seat, onto the ground.

Dijia followed in, and Bai Lixin asked, “Can I undo it?”

Dijia: “Wait, let me close the door.”

He closed the door of the meditation room and set up a barrier around, “Okay, you can open it now.”

As soon as Bai Lixin opened the robes, the thing inside instantly jumped out like a locust.

Bai Lixin acted quickly, extending his hand and catching the monster with one hand.

After refining for a while, the monster’s body had shrank a lot. Even though it had shrunk, it was still pitch black and not visually pleasing.

“When we went to see Master Song that day, this thing was trying to get into Master Song’s body.”

“Do you remember when we were at the Song family and you exorcised Miss Song?”

Dijia: “I remember, what’s wrong?”

Bai Lixin told Dijia about how County Magistrate Lin and the others added to the progress, as well as the divine meat and the things in the lake.

Dijia was somewhat surprised, looking at the dark thing with gradually darkening eyes.

“So, you mean this thing could be a possessing spirit? If you don’t reject, it becomes like County Magistrate Lin, becoming a puppet for that mysterious existence, or… a split soul. If you reject it, you will become like Miss Song, turning into a monster?”

“I have this idea, but it’s not mature.” Bai Lixin stared at the disgusting thing squirming in his hand, “When the red dragon left, she mentioned that there is something terrible in the lake. I remember you mentioned that in the advanced…” In advanced copies, you encountered the God of Death and Plague.

Halfway through his words, Bai Lixin stopped and looked at Dijia.

With this glance, Dijia understood Bai Lixin’s meaning and nodded, “Yes.”

Bai Lixin: “Do you still remember what abilities the monster had? For example… duplication or something similar?”

Dijia recollected for a moment, and his gaze gradually became profound. In Bai Lixin’s cautious look, he nodded, “Yes.”

The two exchanged a glance, both simultaneously exhaling a breath.

“Someone is creating a god.” After an unknown amount of time, Dijia said in a solemn tone.

“I think I know who it is.” Bai Lixin’s eyes were equally serious, “Now the question is, what will happen when it’s created?”

Dijia: “That… god you saw, it’s not restricted by space, and is capable of tearing through space, moving from here to there.”

Bai Lixin: “The one before… is it dead?” The one from the Fairytale Copy.

Dijia instantly grasped Bai Lixin’s meaning, “No, it just ate too much.”

“But,” he paused, looking at the dark thing in Bai Lixin’s hand, “it’s still incomplete. It’s now a defective product. So, you still have a chance to kill it, as long as you do it before it becomes complete. Let’s go. We need to see what’s going on there. I want to confirm something.”

Bai Lixin shook the monster in his hand, “What should I do with this thing?”

Dijia stared at this thing for a while, and suddenly said, “You can use it as a test subject. It is the clone of the monster. If it is not afraid, the monster should not be afraid. If it is afraid, maybe it means that monster can be killed.”

Bai Lixin said “Hmm” and took out the dagger from his backpack.

He plunged the sharp dagger into the body of the dark monster, and instantly felt the monster absorbing his dagger.

Bai Lixin’s eyes flickered with a cold light. He quickly pulled out the dagger to prevent the monster from swallowing it.

Next, he took out the trident, but it still didn’t harm the monster at all.

Scythe, shield, whip – all were futile.

With each failed attempt, Bai Lixin’s face darkened. Dijia thought for a moment, “Try using the staff.”

Bai Lixin was enlightened, and immediately conjuring his fox tail.

Dijia gestured toward the bell, which reluctantly shook twice before detaching from Bai Lixin’s body and turned into a staff.

The staff fell heavily on the body of the dark monster. The monster stopped for two seconds, then it resumed its struggling, though it was a bit sluggish.

It was effective, but not entirely.

Dijia: “It absorbed the malice of the world to transform. It seems that things with positive energy have an effect on it, but not a lethal one.”

Bai Lixin stuffed the monster into the cassock, “Forget it, let’s not bother with it for now. Let’s go and see what’s happening.”

Dijia: “Okay, let’s go.”

As a diligent toolman, Dijia was already very proficient in using teleportation. When they arrived, there was no one around, only the waterfall flowing continuously.

Bai Lixin: “It’s in there. Do you notice anything?”

Dijia immediately started examining the lake. He waved the staff upwards, and the ordinary ground instantly displayed a black array.

They stood within the array, and the huge formation spread across the entire lake, extending to the waterfall without leaving any corners untouched.

“I know the purpose of the person creating the god.” Seeing this black formation, Dijia’s face showed no sign of a smile, “This is a covenant formation. After creating this thing, he intends for it to become his pet or subordinate, serving him.”

“This thing has not been raised for a day or two but for a long time. You said the strange occurrences started recently, right? It’s because this monster is about to wake up, it has already started to show signs of waking up.”

“So that’s why that person hurriedly descended the mountain and accelerated the hunting progress. He wants to awaken this thing as soon as possible.”





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