Transformed into a heartthrob's simp, every day is a battleground.

Chapter 275 Witchcraft

Although he had discovered the secret of the yellow roof, Yan Xun still couldn't quite figure it out.

Why would a dungeon place three perpetrators and one victim in the same instance and the same house?

And it seems that all four of them have lost the most crucial part of their memory.

The buzz cut and shirt represent the players; preventing them from peeking into that memory is to let them explore it on their own.

The bamboo pole and the muscular man seemed to have no recollection of what happened during their graduation trip.

The muscular guy only knew that they had traveled together when they graduated, and that they had temporarily lived in the villa that the crew-cut guy bought after graduation.

Bamboo Pole was still thinking about moving out after he made some money.

He probably thought the same thing when he was alive, but this wish can no longer be fulfilled.

“The five houses correspond to five different emotions.” Yan Xun held up his fingers. “The yellow roof represents the friendship between classmates, the red roof represents love, the green roof represents friendship, the white roof represents family, and the remaining black roof… Although Du Yun lives alone, Kong Ling keeps pets, and both of them have a habit of helping stray animals, so let’s just say it’s a sign of their love for pets.”

“In the midst of their friendship, the crew-cut man killed Xie Qingdu,” Yan Xun said. “In the remaining four houses… I guess something similar happened.”

"But the question is, who was killed in this house?"

Yan Xun looked at Lou Yanchuan, "You?"

"Maybe it's Grandma," Lou Yanchuan said.

Yan Xun also had this guess, after all, Lou Yanchuan's grandmother always had her back to him in his memory, and every time they mentioned going to see his grandmother, his father's tone was vague.

"But he also said that we can visit Grandma after she recovers and her condition stabilizes," Yan Xun said.

"Delaying time? A stopgap measure?" Lou Yanchuan asked.

"Given her chronic illness, her sudden death wouldn't be surprising. There's no need for the two of them to be so secretive and go to such lengths to find excuses." The "they" Yan Xun was referring to were naturally her parents in the alternate universe.

Unlike young people like Xie Qingdu, Grandma Yan Xun was bedridden for many years, so even if she suddenly passed away, it wouldn't arouse much suspicion.

There's no need for Yan Xun's parents to use this as an excuse to delay.

"The secret in this house and the place she goes after marking the date each month should be related." Yan Xun flipped through a map of the area near the tutoring location, but it was a fairly bustling commercial district, with only various shopping malls and office buildings in sight. Since it was a secret place, it certainly wouldn't have its name displayed.

He put down his phone. "Does this house have a storage room?"

"I'll go look for it."

As Yan Xun spoke, she pushed open Lou Yanchuan's bedroom door. Her father was no longer in the living room; she wondered if he had gone back to his room on the second floor.

He left the house, walked around the villa, and found a hidden entrance in the garage.

Pushing open the door, you see boxes of all sizes inside, seemingly items that haven't been unpacked yet after the move.

Yan Xun turned on the light in the storage room and carefully examined the pile of cardboard boxes.

The boxes were marked with their approximate uses in black marker, such as old school books, clothes and shoes that were not needed for the time being and whose disposal was not yet decided, and some odds and ends of old small appliances.

Some of the boxes contained Shuangshuang and Yanxun's toys from when they were children.

To distinguish the owners of the items, names were written on the boxes.

Yan Xun found his own, Shuangshuang's, and his parents' names, but he didn't see Lou Yanchuan's name.

However, the other party did not live at home before, and only temporarily stayed at his brother and sister-in-law's house after breaking his leg, so it is normal that he does not have much stuff.

The remaining cardboard boxes were unmarked. Yan Xun opened them and found that they were full of books.

One part is a collection of folk tales, and the rest is a study of witchcraft.

Yan Xun took out one of the books.

The book describes some methods for suppressing evil spirits.

One method involves separating a person's head from their torso and cutting off their limbs, in order to prevent them from rising from the dead or being attacked by evil spirits.

Furthermore, the orientation of these parts when buried is also important.

They must be placed in five different locations.

In this way, even if the evil spirit wants to take revenge, it will be unable to find its way because it has no limbs and no head, and will be trapped in these five directions forever, unable to escape.

As for whether there is a way to break this method of suppression, the book does not say.

However, there is one requirement: the people living in these five places must be careful not to be wicked or evil. Otherwise, they will be devoured by evil spirits, bringing great calamity, such as the separation of wives and children, the destruction of families, and even death.

If the inhabitants are all kind-hearted and honest, they will not only be spared from being devoured by evil spirits, but will also receive countless benefits for their merit in suppressing evil spirits.

Yan Xun looked at the book with a subtle expression.

He thought to himself, "Isn't this exactly what happens to these five players?"

He flipped through a few more pages and finally found the supplement at the end of the book—

This method is extremely vicious and contains errors; please do not attempt it.

The handwriting looked handwritten; it must have been a comment from someone who had read the book.

Yan Xun closed the book and found a lot of tools used for witchcraft and rituals at the bottom of the box... After thinking about it, the only person in the house who could be related to these things was probably his grandmother, who had never appeared before.

He took a few photos, picked up the book that recorded the secret methods, and then left the warehouse.

……

When Lou Yanchuan returned to the living room, he had already changed his clothes. Seeing Yan Xun come in with a book, he asked, "A clue?"

"almost."

Yan Xun initially wanted to open the door directly in the living room, but then worried that her father might suddenly come down, so she changed her mind and said, "Let's go to my room."

Lou Yanchuan was a little surprised. "I thought you had written some big words on the door, saying that pets and Lou Yanchuan are not allowed to enter."

Yan Xun pushed him towards the accessible elevator.

"Don't judge others by your own standards, I'm not that petty."

The elevator doors opened, and Yan Xun pushed Lou Yanchuan toward her room, handing him the book as she did so.

Lou Yanchuan took it casually and flipped through a few pages.

"You think the hidden quest is related to this?"

"The hidden mission is 'My Secret,' and the key point is who I am." Yan Xun had already arrived at his door. Lou Yanchuan turned the doorknob, and Yan Xun pushed Lou Yanchuan inside.

After entering the bedroom, he casually closed the door.

“If the system wants to add a new character to the hidden missions, it should at least give a hint in the mission name,” Yan Xun said. “Otherwise, how are we supposed to find a clue that suddenly appears and doesn’t exist?”

Lou Yanchuan understood Yan Xun's meaning: if the hidden quest needed to include a character who hadn't appeared in the regular quest clues.

That would at least give a hint in the title of the hidden mission—

The Gift of the Demon

Such hints help players understand that there is an evil spirit in this dungeon.

However, the name of the hidden quest is currently just "My Secret," and it's highly likely that the "I" in this quest refers to a character who has already appeared in the instance.

“I also found these things at the bottom of the box.” Yan Xun sent the photos to Lou Yanchuan, “Some witchcraft tools.”

"What we know so far is that the hidden mission is related to Yunshan University."

Yan Xun felt that the door to the storage room should not be able to be opened before the hidden quest was triggered.

If he had arrived at the garage earlier, even if he had seen the hidden door and wanted to open it, he would have only found that the door was locked.

Lou Yanchuan looked at the witchcraft tools.

Yan Xun's parents are ordinary office workers, and he himself is an adventurer. After thinking it over, the only NPC who can use these tools is Yan Xun's grandmother.

This is interesting, Lou Yanchuan thought.

Judging from the final evaluation in the book, Grandma clearly did not approve of this secret method.

The stories of residents in the community becoming rich after living there for a period of time coincide with the extraordinary experiences of kind-hearted people living in these places.

“But the man with the buzz cut doesn’t look like a good person at all,” Yan Xun said. “Can someone who kills his own classmate be a kind person?”

If good people live in such a place, they will be affected by evil spirits.

If we assume that the crew-cut man lived in this place from the beginning, then we can explain why he killed Xie Qingdu under the influence of evil spirits.

But that's not the case. The other party killed Xie Qingdu first, and then moved to a house in the community.

"Or is the evil spirit they're trying to suppress here Xie Qingdu?"

Yan Xun looked at Lou Yanchuan.

“That’s possible,” Lou Yanchuan nodded. “However, in this instance, the other party seems to be just an ordinary NPC.”

This is also what Yan Xun didn't understand.

They knew Xie Qingdu was dead, but in this instance, he seemed perfectly normal and unaware of his own death.

I've also forgotten everything that happened during my graduation trip.

I thought he just didn't get along with the other people in the dorm and was only thinking about saving money to move out.

What Yan Xun cared about even more was the secret in this family.

Judging from these books and items, Grandma seemed to have some knowledge of witchcraft and similar things.

Lou Yanchuan wondered if the other party's prolonged illness was related to this.

“Since the mission for side quest 2 is to discover the secrets in the homes of five residents, the hidden mission should also be related to all of us,” Yan Xun said. “The clue from Yunshan University wasn’t provided for nothing.”

"No need to mention the crew-cut guys."

"Du Yun doesn't seem to have graduated smoothly; it looks like he was dropped out midway through his studies."

"It's still unclear about Fang Shuo and Lin Wen's situation."

“I was a few years behind them, so we shouldn’t have had any interaction.”

“But since the clues are all pointing to Yunshan University, there must be something that has brought our five families together,” Yan Xun said. “The most likely connection right now is… Xie Qingdu.”

According to him, he was a "working king" who spent most of his spare time working.

"Du Yun is a game streamer. In order not to disturb his classmates, he might rent a house off campus. It's possible that Xie Qingdu is running errands for Du Yun or cleaning his house."

"Duan Songen's family fell into poverty, and he received debt collection text messages on his phone. He would definitely have to work to pay off the debts, and perhaps he had some contact with Xie Qingdu while working."

Compared to Yan Xun, who is still a junior in college, Du Yun and Xie Qingdu are in the same year, and Duan Songen should be about the same age as them, so the possibility of them bumping into each other while working off-campus is very high.

“Now there’s a problem,” Yan Xun said. “When no relevant clues are triggered, the corresponding scene won’t appear in the player’s memory.”

So even if he were to ask Du Yun or Duan Songen now whether he had any interaction with Xie Qingdu before, they wouldn't have any memory of it.

The same applies to Xie Qingdu's side.

"Unless we can find evidence of their previous contact at Du Yun's or Duan Songen's home."

As Yan Xun spoke, he suddenly had an idea.

He messaged Du Yun to ask for her ID as a game streamer.

Although Du Yun didn't understand what he was going to do, he still obediently told Yan Xun his account number.

Yan Xun then searched online for Du Yun's live streams from a few years ago.

The initial live streams were held at the school, but they quickly moved to a rented apartment off-campus.

Did they move off-campus?

"Live streaming from the dorm isn't convenient," Du Yun said in the video. "No one will bother us outside of school."

"Isn't your room a complete mess, like a dog's den?"

“I know a guy who works part-time while studying. He can help me sign in for classes and even help with cleaning,” Du Yun said casually. “He’s available whenever I call.”

The chat started clamoring, telling Du Yun to call that person over and see if he really was available at a moment's notice.

Du Yun indeed took out his phone and made a call.

The other end answered almost immediately, "Hey, Bamboo Pole, I need you to come over."

"Ok?"

"No time?"

"Didn't you say you'd be there whenever I called? What do you mean you don't have time? You'd better crawl over here if you want."

"At the sanatorium...?" Du Yun looked puzzled. "What are you doing at the sanatorium? Isn't your family all gone?"

After saying something else over there, Du Yun said, "Then I'll give you three times the money, come over here quickly."

After saying that, Du Yun hung up the phone.

The live chat was still counting down, with people saying they wanted to see when the henchman would finally arrive.

"Bamboo pole? Oh, that's that guy's nickname, he looks like a bamboo pole," he said to the viewers in the chat. "But not that fast."

“He’s in a sanatorium in the suburbs; it takes an hour to get here by taxi.”

When someone asked why Zhugan went to the sanatorium, Du Yun replied, "He works there." He scoffed, "The king of working men."

"I'll do any job if you pay me."

……

When Yan Xun asked Du Yun for his account number, Du Yun had already caught the goldfish and returned home.

He put the goldfish in the kitchen sink, took a moment to reply to Yan Xun's message, and then, as if possessed, returned to his own live-streaming room and began searching for his old live-streaming archives.

The live stream replays are all divided by year.

He had no clue where to start, so he could only start looking at them one by one at a faster pace.

But there were just too many clips from these live streams... until he found one to submit.

They say a certain game streamer has bad character and treats his part-time classmates like this.

Then Du Yun saw the sliced ​​content.

Du Yun felt a bit horrified when she heard herself in the video accurately pronounce the word "bamboo pole".

On the one hand, he was amazed at how the system could produce such realistic images.

On the other hand, he never expected that he would have any connection with bamboo poles when he was in school.

Could this be the secret of his house?

He didn't know how much Yan Xun knew... He originally wanted to keep it a secret, but then he thought that he wasn't exactly capable of completing side quest 2, so he might as well do Yan Xun a favor.

Thinking of this, Du Yun immediately sent a message to Yan Xun.

"I just thought of some clues, Brother Yan. Can I come to your house?"