442: 8.42 First Clue

8.42 First Clue

As soon as Lu Yizhou pushed open the door, three pairs of eyes snapped to him.  1

Ailín was crouching over the table with a bunch of books in front of him. On the other side, Olivia had both hands wrapped around Ji Yan's neck, looking as though she was going to choke him to death before Lu Yizhou came in. Lu Yizhou paused in his tracks before he stepped in and closed the door behind him. The protagonists of this world were truly… savage. Was this what they called 'violent love'?

"I–Irene!"

"Miss Irene!"

Ji Yan and Olivia instantly forgot their feud and dashed toward him. "Where have you gone?!" 

"Do you know how worried we are?!"

"If you were still not back in five minutes, I was just going to look for you!"

Their voices were so loud that it sent Lu Yizhou's ears ringing. He kinda regretted it now, he should have just left this task to the three of them and snuck to the fourth floor to have some quality time with either Ella or Ellie. He let out a long suffering sigh. Sadly, there was no going back now.

They skidded to a halt in front of Lu Yizhou and finally took in his appearance. "Um… you are?"

As frank as ever, Olivia asked, "Did you just fall into a puddle of mud?"

Yes, thank you Miss Olivia for the fantastic question. Originally, Lu Yizhou did not care how messy he was all this while but… was it really so bad? He raked his fingers through his tangled hair. "There's an accident," he said vaguely. "I saw that you have obtained a clue? That's fast."

Ji Yan suddenly showed an expression that was both laughing and crying when Olivia pointed at him with an accusing face. "It's all because of this dimwit! He just tripped and took a bunch of books down with him and all of a sudden, we heard the system acknowledge the clue! He must have touched the right book but now we have to find it among eight!"

Lu Yizhou: "..." The protagonist's luck was really… Sigh, thinking about it would just make his blood pressure spike.

Ji Yan laughed dryly. "I've told you, my luck is very random! But let's see, for now we have eliminated three random books so that leaves five suspicious books!"

Olivia rolled her eyes, huffing. "That's not reassuring at all, Ji Yan." 

"Show me," Lu Yizhou told them. He walked toward the table where five books were scattered messily. The one which Ailín was grousing over was a book about Knox's family tree. Lu Yizhou's brows shot up to his hairline. "Have you found something?" He asked.

Ailín shook his head and showed a slight smile. The line of exhaustion on his face was evident and honestly, he looked more terrible than Lu Yizhou. Perhaps it was because he did not have any liquor on him this morning. "Nothing except their ancestors' names. Good to see you back. We were getting worried."

"Who's getting worried?!" Olivia screeched angrily. "I just don't want our team to be reduced into three when we are already lacking to begin with!"

The mention of team members reminded them of Diana's death and once again, a somber aura shrouded the library. Olivia clamped her mouth shut and turned away with an angry look while Ji Yan randomly grabbed a book and fixed his eyes on the random page without really reading anything. 

Lu Yizhou heaved out a sigh. Why did he get a feeling that he was surrounded by a bunch of immature children? He rapped his knuckles on the table to draw their attention. "You don't know anything about this game, how can you find the right book? Let me tell you something…" 

Lu Yizhou filled them in on the two women who were invited into the master bedroom, the spirit of Ella who was trapped on the fourth floor, and the diary about the lady in black which prompted the new scenario in the quest background. He paused when it came to Ellie. To be honest, he was a bit reluctant to share anything about her but then he realized that she was often mentioned in Ella's diary. She might also be an important ally during the final fight on the night of the full moon later. He did not say anything about their growing relationship, acting as if he was equally clueless about whom the 'Sister' Ella was referring to.

Three pairs of shocked eyes were trained on him by the time he finished. 

"What?" Lu Yizhou asked flatly.

"You…" Ji Yan swallowed. "You found out all of this on the very first night? How did you do it…?" The other two were equally curious as well.

"I have my own means," was the answer Lu Yizhou gave. 

"So that's why you look like you have seen a ghost when you saw the two women earlier." Olivia said somberly. "They're supposed to be dead, aren't they? But then, they showed up in the dining room as if nothing happened." 

Ailín chimed in, "So when you were gone earlier, did you chase after the two women?"

Lu Yizhou spared him a sideways glance and nodded. He told them about Madam's hand that was cold and hard like a corpse and also the possibility that another person was there. 

By the time he was done, Ji Yan suddenly yanked on his own hair, "My God, why the hell does everything become so complicated?! All this while, we only need to follow the system's guide, solve the side quests and earn clues for the main quest. As simple as that! But there's so much mystery here that my brain can't catch up at all! Miss Ella must have died ten years ago, right? Who killed her and who is the Sister she was talking about?!"

"Don't," Olivia replied curtly. "Your job is to be our main supply of luck. Please don't use your head at all." Ji Yan sputtered in mock outrage but Olivia ignored him and turned to Lu Yizhou, "So, there are two additional people in this house that may or may not be related to the family; the sister and the lady in black. Add the ghost mannequin, it's three. But wait… there's a possibility that the ghost mannequin can also be the lady in black." 

Lu Yizhou nodded, slightly impressed by how fast Olivia was digesting the information he threw.

"That's not certain yet." Ailín showed a thoughtful look. "Remember the song she has always sung? She sounds like a heartbroken woman. But the lady in black came here claiming that she could solve the problem in the family and then, started to give Miss Ella medicine. According to the quest scenario, Miss Ella insisted that she was a bad witch. And also, strange things started to happen in the household. What kind of strange things does it mean? It's still unclear. But one thing for certain, they do not have any similarities with each other. I doubt that the ghost mannequin and the lady in black are the same person."

Confused, Ji Yan merely looked them back and forth with blank eyes, unable to offer any insight. "Yes, yes… what Olivia and Ailín said sounded plausible."

Lu Yizhou heaved out a quiet sigh and started to reach toward the book closest to him. Well nothing would happen if they just speculated without taking any action. The point was, he already told them the basic necessity about the quest background. What they thought after that was up to them. Lu Yizhou's fingers were just grazing against the hardcover book and all of a sudden, a cold presence was looming behind him.

He tensed when a breeze of frosty air brushed against the shell of his ear, followed by an invisible hand enveloped his, gently dragging his hand onto another book further away. 

His pupils shook in surprise. Was that… Ellie? 

The invisible hand guided Lu Yizhou to a thin, old book whose pages were already yellow from the passage of time, buried under two other books that were at least five times thicker than it. Lu Yizhou's heart thumped in his chest as he held onto the book and pulled it in front of him.

The old book was more brittle than Ella's diary. The paper was already torn off in a few corners, proof that someone used to flip through this often but then left it alone to gather dust for some reason. Lu Yizhou used the hem of his sleeves to wipe the dust on the cover and his eyes widened when they landed on the barely discernible title.

[Forbidden Magic: Soul Swapping Ritual]

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