absurd deduction game.

After saying these words, Fernal did not linger any longer.

She pulled her dark red velvet cloak tighter around herself, her bare feet treading across the blood-stained carpet. Her figure vanished down the corridor like ink blending into the shadows, as silently as she had appeared.

A man quickly emerged from around the corner; it was the family doctor. He seemed to have been on standby until Fernail left, at which point he hurried over carrying a dark brown leather medical case.

This was the first time Yu Xing had observed the doctor so closely.

The man was around fifty years old, with his hair neatly combed and wearing a well-fitting black three-piece suit. He had a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, making him look much more presentable than most esoteric Buddhist servants. He also fit the image of a professional serving a wealthy family. However, his appearance and demeanor were quite ordinary, and his aura was perhaps not as strong as Masa's. It was impossible to tell what his status was in the esoteric Buddhist community.

However, being able to perform Anthony's "surgery" means he probably knows more than Yu Xing imagined, and his status is definitely not low.

"Mr. Yu Xing, your wife instructed me to treat your wounds." The doctor stopped in front of Yu Xing, his voice calm and even. He didn't even seem to notice the mess in the corridor and the strong smell of blood, clearly used to such scenes.

Yu Xing glanced at him, said nothing, and simply nodded slightly.

The doctor gestured for Yu Xing to sit down on a chair in the medical room, and then opened the medical kit.

The instruments and bottles inside were quite strange. In addition to the usual disinfectant alcohol, gauze, and suture needles and thread, there were many glass bottles containing dark-colored, viscous liquids. The bottles had no labels, only some distorted and disturbing simple symbols.

The doctor first roughly wiped the bloody wound on Yu Xing's shoulder with a cotton ball soaked in a lot of disinfectant alcohol. The alcohol irritated the wound and caused severe pain, but Yu Xing just pursed her lips and didn't even disrupt her breathing rhythm.

After cleaning away the blood and debris, revealing the blasted, charred flesh and faint bone fragments underneath, the doctor examined it carefully and whispered, "The residual force of the bullet is very strong, and conventional methods cannot eliminate it. To ensure that your combat effectiveness is not affected tomorrow, I need to use some special drugs. Do not struggle."

Yu Xing didn't even try to struggle.

Seeing that he was very cooperative, the doctor nodded in satisfaction, took out a palm-sized black ceramic jar from the back of the medical kit, opened the lid, and found half a jar of dark green, viscous paste that looked like melted asphalt.

An indescribable odor immediately filled the air—like rotting plants mixed with some overly sweet spice, with a faint hint of rust and the stench of live entrails. Just smelling it made one's temples throb and a subtle sense of nausea rise in one's mind.

This ointment exudes a foul odor clearly belonging to a tantric ritual, which is undoubtedly a form of pollution and erosion on the spirit of normal people.

The doctor used a small silver spatula to scoop up a clump of ointment and evenly applied it to the wound on Yu Xing's shoulder. The ointment made a slight "sizzling" sound the moment it touched the broken skin, like cold water dripping into hot oil.

A strange, piercing pain, mixed with a burning sensation, suddenly surged up, more than ten times stronger than the stimulation of alcohol, and also contained a dizzying contamination.

Yu Xing's body stiffened almost imperceptibly for a moment. He closed his eyes, concentrated, and controlled his body's reactions with even greater precision.

The ointment was indeed very effective.

Amidst that unsettling sizzling sound and eerie pain, the charred and necrotic tissue at the edge of the wound began to soften and fall off. Fresh granulation tissue grew from the bottom of the wound at a visible speed, slowly but firmly filling the defect. The fine cracks on the surface of the bone also seemed to be forcibly healed by some force.

About half an hour later, when the doctor wiped away the excess blood and ointment residue on the surface with a damp gauze, the originally gruesome wound had shrunk by more than half. Although the skin and flesh were still rolled up, revealing the pink new tissue and faint bone underneath, it was no longer bleeding and was no longer in danger of infection and ulceration.

The doctor seemed quite satisfied. He skillfully covered the wound with sterile gauze, then carefully wrapped and secured it with a bandage from Yu Xing's chest diagonally to her back, finally tying a tight but not too tight knot on her shoulder.

"Alright." The doctor packed up his instruments, his tone still calm. "The wound has healed most of the way. The medicine that Madam made is very effective. If you rest for another night, you'll be fully recovered by tomorrow."

Yu Xing moved her right shoulder and thanked the doctor.

“This is my duty.” The doctor closed his medical kit and stood up. “So, Mr. Yu Xing, are you going back to the firm or…”

"I should go back now." Yu Xing also stood up and turned to look for the shirt she had just taken off.

He came under the guise of handling Mrs. Furnell's affair, and once the matter was "resolved," he naturally had to leave.

“Madam has given instructions.” The doctor adjusted his glasses. “If you don’t mind, you can rest in a guest room in the manor for the night. It’s late now, and you’ve just gone through all that, so going out might not be convenient. You’re here as a detective assisting Madam with household affairs, so staying overnight is perfectly reasonable and won’t attract unnecessary attention.”

"—Especially if you are found injured by the church guards when you return, that would be a different story."

Yu Xing paused, looked up at the doctor, whose face was expressionless, simply stating the facts.

Outside the window, the torrential rain had subsided and turned into a light drizzle, but the night remained as dark as ink.

It's really late.

After a moment's thought, Yu Xing nodded: "That's fine too."

The doctor left on his own after finishing his work, without offering any comment on Anthony's murder behind the curtain.

Soon after, the maid Martha arranged a guest room for Yu Xing on the second floor, which was simply furnished but fully equipped.

The room was small, with a separate bathroom. The window faced the garden at the back of the manor, but it was currently covered by heavy curtains.

The bed was covered with clean, white linen sheets.

"Please get some rest. You can call the servants anytime if you need anything." Martha placed a small kerosene lamp on the bedside table, lit it, and the dim light dispelled some of the darkness. "Someone will bring you breakfast and clean clothes tomorrow morning."

After Yu Xing nodded, Martha smiled at him and gently closed the door behind her as she left.

He stood in the center of the room and listened for a while.

The corridor outside the door was silent, and the faint footsteps in the distance had long since disappeared. After a period of chaos and turmoil, the manor seemed to have finally fallen into a deep sleep.

Yu Xing took off the trench coat that was covered in dust, bloodstains and tears, and casually draped it over the back of the chair, revealing her bandaged right shoulder and her bare upper body.

He had taken off his shirt during treatment and didn't wear it again because he found it troublesome. There was still some slight pain and numbness in the bandage on his shoulder, but it no longer affected his mobility.

Only after confirming that no one was watching him anymore did he reach into the inside pocket of his trench coat and pull out a small paper figure.

A few minutes ago, the paper figure had been quietly thrashing about in his pocket, punching and kicking, trying to get his attention.

When the little paper figure was taken out, its paper body was already quite wrinkled.

It struggled to pry at Yu Xing's fingers with its hand and foot drawn in simple strokes. After finally managing to stand up, it raised its "face," which had only two black dots representing eyes and a curve representing mouth, and looked at Yu Xing—especially at the part of his hand—again and again.

Then, the paper-like mouth curved upwards in an exaggerated arc. A deliberately lowered voice, tinged with obvious amusement, rang directly in Yu Xing's mind—Carlos's usual, slightly irritating tone:

"I can smell blood, Captain. You're so dedicated!" the little paper doll exclaimed. "It's just a pretty, ordinary bullet, and you managed to injure yourself like this. To be honest, I was stunned when I saw it explode."

Yu Xing ignored his teasing, pinched the small paper figure between two fingers, walked to the bedside and sat down, rubbing her temples with her other hand, her tone genuinely weary: "Stop talking nonsense, where are you now? Are you safe?"

“It’s perfectly safe~” Carlos’s voice came through the little paper figure, still light and cheerful. “I’m already in the slums. Since I’ve already broken ties with the Cult, wouldn’t it be a waste not to take advantage of this last night to clean up the Cult members I found out about before?”

"If Fennell wants to kill me, it's not unreasonable for me to kill Defit too, is it?"

He paused, then added, "I won't be going to the church; Yiqing is there."

Yu Xing recalled what Funel had said and reminded her, "Funel said she put something in your tea. Did you feel it at the time?"

“I felt it.” Carlos’s voice was not tense. “The tea tasted wrong as soon as I tasted it, but it was quite weak, mixed with the tea aroma. I tried it with the paper doll, but it didn’t trigger any damage or control effects. I’m afraid that thing will only activate under certain conditions or at certain times. I have to wait for it to trigger on its own before I can deal with it.”

"Be careful," Yu Xing said. "Why don't we go find Zeng Lai first? He has a lot of healing offerings. Paper dolls can't be detected, but offerings might be."

"Okay, let's go after dawn. Zeng Lai has had a tough time too, let him get some sleep first," Carlos replied. "Alright, Captain, we need to disconnect now. I'll take this paper doll."

The little paper figure twisted on Yu Xing's fingertip, pointing towards the tightly closed door.

Yu Xing raised an eyebrow, silently asking him what he wanted to do.

“I have already escaped on the surface, and you have just proven your loyalty. This is the time when the High Priest is most likely to lower her guard and check on her ritual preparations or materials,” Carlos explained. “Didn’t I say there’s a room in the manor where she creates monsters? Now is the perfect opportunity to investigate.”

"...Really curly." We agreed there was nothing to do tonight, but the High Priest came knocking, resulting in both Carlos and him working overtime.

Now, Carlos not only works overtime, but sometimes even all night.

Young people have so much energy! Unlike him, he's only been out of cognitive distortion for a few days, his mind is still unstable, and he needs baby-like sleep.

Yu Xing muttered a couple of things to himself, then waved his hand, indicating that the little paper figure should do as it pleased.

The little paper figure jumped off his lap, and as soon as it landed, it perked up and started to crawl under the door with its two little paper legs. Then, as if it remembered something, it turned around and said, "Oh, right."

It magically produced a piece of paper bigger than itself and handed it over: "This is the quest prompt triggered by the paper doll that I left with Fennell before it died. Take a look."

Yu Xing took it, her eyes flickering slightly.

[Side quest triggered: You have encountered the Chaos Ritual - Lady Butterfly!]

This is a system notification that appeared on Carlos's end!
Regarding "Madame Butterfly," the system provides a certain monster description. According to the system's judgment, "Madame Butterfly" is a hybrid of human and monster, like a demon, possessing the ability to completely disguise herself as a human.

But Lady Butterfly is not a monster race, but rather a monster name exclusive to the high priestess of the esoteric religion, Fennell. She transformed her body into a nest through repeated rituals and corruption, not only coexisting with the indescribable "butterfly"-like beings, but also possessing the concept of chaos, and can control the shadows to a certain extent.

The latter is very similar to Zhao Yijiu.

However, Lady Butterfly, also known as Fennell, is not strong in direct combat. Her occult and forbidden knowledge is what needs the most attention. As the "mother" in the nest, she can spread pollution on a large scale and parasitize others with her larvae. The ancient gods took a liking to her chaotic will, which is why they temporarily formed a "cooperative" relationship with the secret cult she led.

Of course, if the divine kingdom were to descend, she would no longer be able to maintain this cooperation, and she and the cultists would become servants of the ancient gods—this is not something the system says, but a judgment that any person with a brain could make.

After reading the note, Yu Xing looked up and saw that Carlos's paper figure had long since disappeared to who-knows-where.

He clicked his tongue twice, destroyed the note, and then leaned against the headboard to open the contribution ranking list.

Only fifteen people are still alive.

The one ranked last is a fallen line that is somewhat famous among the deducers. Yu Xing has never dealt with this person, but he has heard Zhao Mou mention him.

This person's contribution value was only slightly less than that of the second-to-last person, Cang Nong. There's still some time before midnight; it's uncertain who will be eliminated in the end.

At the top of the list, his name, Carlos's name, and Qu Xianqing's name were firmly placed in the top positions. Zeng Lai was in the middle, and the name of the actor was also in the top ten, making them impossible to ignore.

After a quick glance, Yu Xing closed the panel.

He had little interest in delving into the life or death of people he didn't know well, nor did he intend to add to his workload.

Weariness slowly crept in like a tide.

Yu Xing yawned, lay down in a relatively comfortable position, pulled the thin blanket up to her waist, and then closed her eyes, as darkness completely enveloped her.

The young man, who was over two hundred years old, fell asleep as soon as he lay down.

But this sleep turned out to be unexpectedly restless.

In a hazy state, countless fragmented, chaotic, and bizarre dreams surged towards him, and he saw many strange fragmented images flash through his mind.

Dark green butterflies fluttered wildly in the darkness, their scales shimmering with an eerie light; the sharp, mournful cries of infants echoed from near and far; the distorted screams and wails of many people filled the air; golden ears of wheat withered before my eyes…

The scene floated and sank in the black waves, mostly chaotic and disordered, except for one scene that was unusually clear—he saw a monster whose face was completely covered by rough wooden planks, standing quietly in a thick fog, waving at him like a good brother, as if chatting with him.

In her dream, Yu Xing inexplicably felt that she had talked with it for a long time, but she couldn't remember a single word of what they talked about.

That's strange, really strange.

With a muddled mind and resentment from not having slept well, Yu Xing suddenly opened her eyes.

The rain outside the window had stopped sometime earlier.

A dim, pale light seeped in through the gaps at the edge of the heavy curtains; it was already morning.

As the ninth day of the dungeon arrived, Yu Xing stretched in the enemy leader's guest room, about to get a free set of clothes and breakfast from the enemy leader. (End of Chapter)