There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

"If you're looking for an easy script, I could recommend sentimentality or game-related ones for you,"

Hong Rao said helplessly, "But these kinds of scripts are usually just for entertainment or thrown at newcomers who perform poorly to gain experience and don't offer much in terms of rewards."

Xu Shuo nodded, "That's alright."

He wasn't planning to farm for rewards anyway.

When it comes to rewards, ten first-level scripts can't compare to the rewards from a single second-level one.

The last script "Green-Faced Fangs" would have given him next to nothing in performance points at the end unless Xu Shuo had activated a Character Card.

Even that Character Card was of no use.

[Acting Village Chief Character Card: When you transform into the village chief, you will have absolute credibility among the people, and your words will be particularly persuasive.]

Is that all? Does he even need to transform?

He doesn't need to transform at all!

A chef from an easy script is more useful than this card—the chef can poison food with a hundred percent chance, although he wasn't sure if the poison was lethal as he never had the chance to experiment.

Thinking this, Xu Shuo suddenly glanced at the teacup in Hong Rao's hands.

"What?!" Hong Rao glared at him, sensing something.

"Nothing," Xu Shuo said, "Thanks for everything during this period."

Even though she had her own agendas, she had been very helpful and always ready to provide answers to any questions.

Hong Rao's lips curled up in satisfaction, "As we have a teacher-student relationship officially, I will fulfill my duties, and besides, I'm more eager than you to see you survive in this world."

Xu Shuo was noncommittal and changed the subject to more pressing matters, "Also, could you arrange a specific script for me tomorrow?"

"Oh? Do you have a script in mind?"

"Crimson Dusk. See if it's a first-level script."

Hong Rao accessed the teacher-student interface and used the script recommendation section for a keyword search. Quickly, a script cover with a blood-red sunset appeared.

It was indeed a first-level script and a newly generated one at that, with not many participants so far.

After reading the plot summary, Hong Rao found that the script didn't seem all that special—just a stale and common story of love triangles leading to murder.

Remembering that the young man had asked her about the "Director" some time ago, Hong Rao had her suspicions.

But she didn't say much, moving the script to the student's list, then smiled and said, "Done. You can enter the script anytime."

Xu Shuo nodded and then hesitated, "The current rest period is seventy-two hours, does that mean I have to wait three days before I can enter?"

If that were the case, he might not be able to keep up with the schedule.

"Not really,"

Hong Rao smiled wryly, "That so-called rest period is more like an ultimate notice to force you into scripts, in actuality only newcomers are required to rest for twenty-four hours, as their mental state after entering a script for the first time is terribly poor. If they don't rest, they could suffer brain death."

Xu Shuo thought about his own state after entering a script for the first time and indeed, it wasn't very good; he had slept until noon the next day.

It definitely wasn't because he stayed up all night!

Having confirmed that his schedule for the next day would not be delayed, Xu Shuo was about to say something else when his stomach suddenly rumbled.

Hong Rao: "...?"

Xu Shuo: "..."

There was a brief silence, and Xu Shuo rose to his feet expressionless, "Alright, I'm going out to eat."

Hong Rao said slowly, "Well actually, you can eat here too. The mall has everything, and those foods can be converted into energy that the body can absorb—how about I treat you?"

"No need."

Xu Shuo's words were concise and to the point, and after he finished speaking, he disappeared from the space with clean finality.

Facing a space that was blank and spotlessly clean, Hong Rao let out a sigh of regret.

...

...

The room was pitch-dark, with only sparse lights from outside the window filtering in.

Xu Shuo opened his eyes, fumbled for the switch by his bed to turn on the light, then got up, stretched lazily, and headed to the kitchen.

In fact, he had quite a lot of questions. Script Space was like a huge fog lingering in his mind.

Before, he was too lazy to clear it away, but after learning about the existence of the Abyss, he suddenly became interested because creatures from it appeared in his world too.

There was also the matter regarding the "Director," the invitation hanging in the Player's Handbook that he had not clicked "accept" on yet.

Leave it be for now.

After all, players could only change their job class after reaching level four.

But he was clearly only level one, yet the Script Space had suddenly sent this bizarre job change invitation; it seemed even stranger than those weird Abyss Creatures.

Was it because he botched so many scripts that they decided to grab him to work for them?

But why does he always encounter bugs...

Xu Shuo put the noodles into the water, then stared at the gradually boiling water, lost in thought, until a series of violent knocks woke him up.

The knocking wasn't just knocking; the person was pounding at the door.

Before his neighbors could explode in anger, Xu Shuo quickly went to open both doors, and Pei Sheng, who was banging on them, was caught off guard by the outward-opening security door and hit his nose.

Xu Shuo was slightly surprised, "Why did you come?"

Pei Sheng, rubbing his nose in pain, retorted angrily, "I got stood up by you at the studio for half a day, called you over ten times and you didn't answer, are you dead?!"

"Who goes back to work right after a business trip," Xu Shuo clicked his tongue, turned around, and went back to the kitchen, adding, "I set my phone to silent, I was asleep just now and didn't notice."

After boarding the high-speed train that afternoon, he put his phone on silent mode.

After ending the Ghost Train incident, he had been too busy entering this round of the Scripted Murder Game, so he had no plans to go to the studio and forgot to turn his phone volume back on.

After finishing the script, he listened to Hong Rao explain the Abyss Creatures for half a day. If it hadn't been for his stomach protesting, he might still be in the Script Space.

Pei Sheng followed him in and glanced at the pot, "You're making noodles, huh? Do some for me too, I haven't had dinner yet."

While speaking, he also turned on the lights in the living room, and the utterly dark little house finally became bright.

Xu Shuo added another handful of noodles to the pot. Once the noodles softened, he lifted them out to rinse with cold water, then tossed them with a simple cold dressing on the side and mixed in some Lao Gan Ma chili sauce before it was ready to eat.

"Big brother, do you have to be this shabby?" Pei Sheng stared in disbelief.

"Take it or leave it," Xu Shuo took his own bowl away.

He sat in the living room, turned on the TV, and coincidentally, a cooking show was being broadcast; the two of them dined with the food on screen.

Pei Sheng watched the culinary images on TV but pathetically swallowed the Lao Gan Ma cold noodles, then said, "By the way, do you remember that incident at Normal University Affiliated High School a few days ago?"

Xu Shuo thought for a moment, "The one about too much pressure?"

"Right!"

Then, with only the two of them in the room, Pei Sheng lowered his voice and said sneakily, "I heard the police have figured out the result but haven't announced it yet. The culprit is denying it to the death. They even tried to slash their wrists at home yesterday in a suicide attempt!"

Xu Shuo replied nonchalantly, "That exciting, huh."

He had originally asked Hong Rao for the script just to see what had happened and if it had made a big impact.

But since the police decided not to publicize it at this critical time, there probably wouldn't be any implications.