Conan Rick's Investigator

……

Qin Zhibo stared at the silent stage and felt that "The King in Yellow" was nothing special.

Compared with other mythological texts, Qin Zhibo even felt that "The King in Yellow" was too mild, like a weird palace fighting drama covered with mysticism.

It begins with the struggle for the heir to the throne and ends with the arrival of the final heir to the throne.

A calculating Adonis believed in reason and clung to the belief that Yinti should be ruled by a dynasty.

In the end, he never expected that his schemes would be in vain in front of the King in Yellow, just like an ant trying to scheme in front of humans.

Do humans care what conspiracy ants are planning?

However, the scene in the end where Adonis attacked the King in Yellow frantically reminded Qin Zhibo of Kawashima Hideo who shot at Aldebaran on Moon Shadow Island.

They are all true heroes!

Nautauba, the high priest with fanatical faith, was initially a staunch defender of the prophecy of the end times and firmly believed in the coming of Carcosa and the King in Yellow.

But when the Yellow King actually appeared before him at the end of the world, he retreated in fear and was sentenced to death.

This reminded Qin Zhibo of an idiom, Ye Gong likes dragons.

Perhaps his fate was sealed from the first scene of Act II, because the messenger of the King in Yellow did not approve of the high priest's so-called "service."

As for Queen Cassilda, she had no firm stance and was an unstable ruler.

She sometimes believed in the rule of the dynasty and sometimes believed in the prophecy of the end of the world, which indirectly led to the death of her two children.

The King in Yellow "mercifully" let her live. She refused to obey at first, but when death came, she knelt down and begged for mercy.

The eldest prince was blinded and fled the royal city with his lover, but all under heaven belongs to the king.

The second princess went mad and was shot dead by her uncle.

The third prince suffered the most. He never appeared again after the first scene of the first act, and was inexplicably ordered to be executed by his own mother.

All the royal family members of a dynasty met with a bad end. The collapse of reason, the collapse of faith, and the insignificance of human power in the face of supernatural forces are vividly displayed in this script.

But what else?

Qin Zhibo felt that although this second act was very meaningful, that was all it was.

The part that should have driven people crazy the most should have been the appearance of the King in Yellow, but when the King in Yellow appeared, Qin Zhibo did not feel any discomfort.

Even a little friendly?

The King in Yellow is ultimately a human being. She communicates with people verbally and has a superior attitude. Even when executing an executioner, she never loses her composure.

If a God who rewards and punishes clearly really exists, perhaps this is what it would be like?

Qin Zhibo imagined all kinds of scenes in his mind, and suddenly realized that the stage had ended for a long time. Why was he still sitting in the theater?

Qin Zhibo shook his body, but was still trapped by some invisible chains, as if he was forced to sit in his seat to watch the curtain call.

But there's nothing on the stage...

Just as Qin Zhibo thought so, a faint yellow halo appeared on the dark stage.

The light spread out as quickly as a carpet on a slope, and actually paved a straight "golden avenue" leading to Qin Zhibo!

This is not a flat effect on the stage, this is 3D!

On this golden road emitting a halo of light, a yellow figure slowly floated over.

She was almost identical to the King in Yellow on the stage just now, except that her arrival at this moment looked more realistic from Qin Zhibo's perspective.

She actually came out!

Qin Zhibo's fingers trembled slightly, his back was stretched straight as if fixed by some kind of shackles, and his eyes were staring straight at the King in Yellow who floated out from the stage.

The tattered clothes of the King in Yellow fluttered in the wind, and his hands hung quietly at his sides, revealing an elegance that was extraordinary.

She didn't make any unnecessary movements until she floated in front of Qin Zhibo.

Under the king's majesty, Qin Zhibo had to raise his head as high as possible to see that superior face.

At this time, the face of the King in Yellow was not the one covered with yellow silk on the stage, but another pale mask with unclear features and expressions.

She raised her finger and pointed it at Qin Zhibo's head as if she was executing someone on stage.

At this moment, a familiar sense of fear swept through Qin Zhibo's body.

Qin Zhibo suddenly felt an electric shock-like pain all over his body, causing him to scream subconsciously.

At almost the same moment, Qin Zhibo felt the restraints on his body suddenly loosened, and his back was able to dodge freely.

He quickly dodged to the side, trying to escape the finger in the air.

Then immediately afterwards, there was a loud bang.

Qin Zhibo fell to the ground...

……

Qin Zhibo widened his eyes in surprise and looked at everything around him.

The familiar desk and boss chair, and behind him is a glass window with the blinds drawn, with the words "Zhibo Detective Agency" written in large letters on the glass.

There is no doubt that this is his own detective agency.

After sitting on the ground to calm down for a while, Qin Zhibo stood up again with the help of the boss chair next to him and looked at "The King in Yellow" on the table.

Before I knew it, I had turned to the last page of "The King in Yellow".

I lowered my head and took a closer look. I saw this sentence written on the last line of the last page.

You have long suspected that Hastur corrupts the soul; and you have already been corrupted by it when you read this book.

Qin Zhibo's eyes moved slightly and he sat back in his seat.

Hastur is undoubtedly Hastur. The proper noun "Hastur" is also mentioned many times in "The King in Yellow".

But at the beginning of the script, Hastur seemed to be a place name, and Yinti was just a country in Hastur.

But when the Yellow King came, she explained to everyone that Hastur was not a place name, but her name.

The Yellow King, Hastur...

Qin Zhibo recalled his experience on Moon Shadow Island and the yellow glow coming from Aldebaran.

"The great being on Aldebaran..."

"The Yellow King... Hastur?"

Qin Zhibo muttered to himself, and suddenly, a system prompt appeared.

[Reading completed, total loss of 8 points of willpower]

[Gain 800 Mythical Knowledge Skill Proficiency]

800 points of mysterious myth knowledge skills were added to Qin Zhibo's skills, but that's not all.

[Main Quest: The Test of the "Yellow King"]

[Quest Requirements: Find the real "Pale Mask" and bring it to MI-GO]

[Quest Reward: 4000 General Skill Proficiency, 400 Mythical Knowledge Skill Proficiency]

【Task countdown in progress】

【72:00:00】

【71:59:59】

【71:59:58】

……

As the reading of "The King in Yellow" was completed, a new task came out as usual.

A careful examination of the mission reveals that there are only two key points: one is to find the "Pale Mask" and the other is to bring it to MI-GO.

In "The King in Yellow", the "Pale Mask" is an important prop, second only to the "Yellow Seal", and it appears many times.

In the play, the members of the "Brotherhood" who claimed to serve the truth always wore the "Pale Mask" until they were strangled to death by the Queen with a winch, and they never took off the mask.

In the second scene of Act I, the princes and nobles at the palace masquerade ball also wore various pale masks to attend the ball.

In addition, at the end of the show, the Yellow King himself also floated out from the stage wearing a "pale mask", just like in "The Evil Dead".

According to Qin Zhibo's recollection, these pale masks were all different.

As for the second key point of the mission, the only MI-GO that Qin Zhibo knows and can find is Mr. Clock.

Should I bring the "Pale Mask" to it?

Although the content of the mission was not stated directly, Qin Zhibo guessed that this was probably the meaning.

Like the previous mission, this mission still marked a red dot on the navigator, indicating that it was the mission location.

Judging from the position of the red dot, the marked mission location is still far away from the city.

……

The next day, after Qin Zhibo had breakfast and watched the morning news, he did not open the shop, but went to the car rental company to continue renting a car.

This time, Qin Zhibo changed the car model and rented it for a week.

In the car rental contract, Qin Zhibo specifically requested that the clause regarding the number of rental days be removed and a clause regarding the time to return the vehicle be added.

Today is Wednesday, and the car return time is next Wednesday, and I need to be notified by phone on the morning of the day the car needs to be returned.

Although the people at the car rental company didn't understand the difference between renting for seven days and renting for a week, Qin Zhibo was an old customer after all, so they agreed to modify the car rental contract for Qin Zhibo alone.

While printing the new contract, the manager of the car rental company introduced to Qin Zhibo other new Mazda models that the company had purchased.

"This is the new Mazda RX-7. It has a rotary engine and sports car styling. 265 horsepower and a streamlined body allow you to go even faster..."

Qin Zhibo took a look at this stylish Mazda sports car and shook his head, thinking it was not suitable.

Although sports cars are fast and cool, they require very high driving skills.

With my current Level 4 car driving skills, it seems that there is still some distance to go before I can control this sports car. I need to reach at least Level 5, which requires more than half of the experienced drivers.

If you rent a sports car but don't dare drive it at full throttle, isn't that the same as renting a regular car?

Moreover, this RX-7 only has two seats, which makes it seem a bit less practical.

It has poor practicality, is unusable in speed, and the rental price is almost twice as expensive. It is really unnecessary.

So, Qin Zhibo politely declined, "Next time, let's talk about it next time..."

……

After Qin Zhibo signed the new contract, he drove the fourth-generation Mazda 929 out of the car rental company and headed straight to the mission location.

In fact, the Mazda 929 was positioned as a high-end luxury car in Japan in the s, and it was not the kind that ran around the streets.

The car that is as famous as it is the Toyota Crown next door.

As for the purpose of Qin Zhibo getting a new car rental contract this time, it was because he might use the car frequently in the next few days.

Instead of returning it after a few days, it is better to rent it for a week. The middle of the week will cross the previous week, and you can also exploit the bug of the world time.

Anyway, Qin Zhibo didn't feel any guilt about cheating a car rental company that was doing well.

……

The weather conditions have been stable in recent times and it has been winter.

Qin Zhibo drove a Mazda 929, turning from the open highway into a winding mountain road.

The mission location this time was still in the suburbs near Tokyo. Qin Zhibo was driving while admiring the snow-covered scenery along the way.

But the deeper they drove into the mountains, the more Qin Zhibo felt something was wrong.

Because I can see that my location is getting closer and closer to the mission location on the navigator, it is less than two kilometers away, but there is still a wide road that can be used for traffic on the winding mountain road.

this means……

After driving the last two kilometers to the mission location, Qin Zhibo entered a straight road, and the end of the road led to a luxurious villa.

"A villa deep in the mountains..."

Qin Zhibo murmured in the car.

……