There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

The following morning.

Just as Xu Shuo awoke, he keenly sensed someone beside him and abruptly sat up!

How could he have allowed someone to get so close without noticing?!

But soon, Xu Shuo realized that this was no ordinary person.

The early summer sunshine was glorious, streaming into the room through the half-closed curtains, making the other person's gorgeous, resplendent golden hair all the more brilliant.

However, unlike their radiant hair, the person in question looked quite dejected.

"Themis? What are you doing here? You...no, wait, what happened with the Abyss?"

Xu Shuo was halfway through asking instinctively when he suddenly remembered that his memory was still stuck at the event of clearing the Abyss Rift, and that after he had used the Alpha Character Card to help stabilize the space...

Everything that happened after was very vague!

What happened to him?!

Hearing the voice, Shi, who had been in low spirits, turned to glance at him.

Then, dutifully explained, "The Abyss Rift has been resolved, but the space collapsed. Rest assured, I used the Illusory Realm to replace the damaged space in time, so no accidents occurred.

"Perhaps influenced by the Abyss, your spiritual power lost control, so I used my own power to destroy that area of space.

"Your fainting was due to the overexertion of spiritual power; I brought you back here."

Shi explained the process in a low, rambling voice. Sitting by the window, backlit by the sunlight, his mood still seemed not very uplifted.

Xu Shuo silently digested the information and quickly realized something else, "Wait, this is my place? Then, Xi..."

"Oh, when I brought you back, I put that girl to sleep first. She should still be sleeping now," Shi continued to explain.

But as he spoke sluggishly towards the end, Xu Shuo had already leaped out of bed, rushed out of the room, and swiftly pushed open the door of the opposite room.

He saw Xu Xi lying on her side in bed, her face calm and her breathing steady, seemingly in a deep sleep.

Xu Shuo watched for a while, his mind slowly easing.

He walked back to his room and, looking at Shi who seemed to have been sitting there all night, asked curiously, "Then what's wrong with you?"

Shi: "..."

Shi lifted his head to look at him, then lowered it before lifting it again, his repeated actions profoundly illustrating the phrase 'on the verge of speaking but hesitating, hesitating and yet wanting to speak.'

"What else happened?" Xu Shuo asked again.

"Um..." Shi looked somewhat disheartened, his head drooping. Then, with a flip of his hand, he pulled out a headband.

It was the "Blessing of the Elves" item.

But unlike when it first appeared the previous night, the crown was no longer lush with vitality; it had yellowed, wilted, and the leaves were drooping, almost rotting.

In short, the item was now useless.

Shi said with a hint of grievance, "After your spiritual power went berserk, to provide you with life energy, it did all it could. It was given to me by someone else."

Xu Shuo: "..."

In fact, if it weren't for this item, Xu Shuo's spiritual power at that time wouldn't have been enough to obliterate the entire Abyss Rift.

It was purely the "Blessing of the Elves" amplifying the effect.

Upon sensing that he was exhausting his spiritual power, the item was automatically triggered, continually replenishing his depleted spiritual power until there was not a trace left.

And this all happened in an instant.

If Shi had anticipated this, he would have hastily stopped it, but he was still one step slower than the surge of spiritual power.

And one step slower than the item that provided him with aid.

Xu Shuo tugged at the corner of his mouth, hesitantly saying, "Then...how much do you want, I'll pay you back?"

You look so upset, even the sun is brighter than you.

However, Shi just shook his head and sighed, "No need, after all, it wasn't intentional on your part, and if I hadn't used this on you, you probably wouldn't have lost control of your spiritual power anyway."

Not asking for compensation, Xu Shuo of course didn't insist.

He walked over to the window, drew back the curtain, and glanced in the direction of the average-priced shopping center.

Blue sky, white clouds, bright sunshine.

Not a single anomaly.

"By the way, if you still can't fully control your spiritual power, you should use that Character Card sparingly because a spiritual power rampage is actually quite dangerous," Shi suddenly said.

"I know, thank you," Xu Shuo smiled.

He was well aware of how terrifying a spiritual power rampage could be; after all, Aurora had once lost control because of the Paradise Bird incident, and as a result, she ended up living in an incubation tank thereafter.

Xu Shuo was unscathed this time, mainly thanks to that item's blessing.

Well, grateful for Themis's contribution.

At this point, Shi continued, "If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now. Also, in the coming period, I might need to ask you to keep an eye on the Abyss movements in this world for me."

Xu Shuo's gaze shifted slightly, "Are you planning to leave this world now?"

"Not exactly, just leaving temporarily to take care of some things. It's mainly because I feel this world is quite tricky to handle," Shi said, puzzled. "I only set up the defensive line yesterday afternoon, but by evening the Abyss Rift had appeared. It's rather worrying, so I'd like you to pay extra attention."

Upon hearing this, Xu Shuo nodded, "I see, I'll keep a close watch, go ahead."

After finishing what he had to say, Shi didn't delay further; he got up from beside the window, stepped behind the curtain, and in an instant turned into a flash of golden light and vanished.

The room fell silent. Xu Shuo glanced outside at the sun and then picked up the cellphone on the bedside table.

He lit up the screen, the time read: 10:25 AM.

Unread message count in the single digits, missed calls in the double digits.

Xu Shuo: "..."

"Bang bang bang!"

As Xu Shuo was left speechless, the sound of someone forcefully knocking on the door outside the living room became more urgent.

He rubbed his temples and got up to open the door.

...

...

Script Space.

In the gap between reality and illusion, within the space beyond the torrential flow of time and space.

A Holy and dazzling Tall Tower stood on top of the clouds, the dense golden light so rich that it even obscured the stairs, causing the clouds themselves to take on a resplendent hue.

The immeasurable grandeur of the Tall Tower was surrounded by twelve huge steles, occasionally flickering with strings of luminescent script, countless streams of golden light shuttling between the Tower and the steles.

Shi began to climb the stairs, stepping up towards the top.

This was his second visit to the Tower of Judgment.

The first time he had ascended to level six, he was bestowed with the power of "Order" by the Tower of Judgment and had come here once.

Climbing the staircase didn't take long; the top of the Tower of Judgment seemed unattainable, but in reality, there were exactly one hundred stairs.

Shi entered the tower and in the great hall, he saw a huge Light Gate standing in the center.

The Light Gate was less than ten centimeters thick from front to back, but countless streams of golden light flew out from inside, and yet more light streamed in from outside, disappearing into the Light Gate.

Shi had been inside there as well.

Actually, there was nothing inside, just a void, but that was the birthplace of the "Judgements."

Judgements who had completed their missions would ultimately return there to wait for their next dispatch.

As Shi looked around, he saw another stream of light come in from outside, so he hurried to the Light Gate before the other could enter, quickly blocking their way!

"Wait a moment! Excuse me... senior?"

The stream of light that he stopped paused, then materialized into a humanoid form.

The Judgement's appearance was nebulous within the dim light and not clear, but the falling golden hair was extremely brilliant, along with those pupil-less silvery vacant eyes, nothing but a piercing silver to the core.

The Judgement seemed to be scanning him like it was processing some data, then spoke up, "Do you have a question, player 'Themis'?"

"Uh..."

As Shi looked at them, information about this Judgement automatically came to mind.

He hesitated before speaking, "Are you senior... Judgement code 12331?"

The Judgement tilted its head at him, "Yes, that's me. What is your question?"

"Well, I do have quite a few questions," Shi said, somewhat embarrassed as he scratched his head.

He hadn't been with the Tower of Judgment for a particularly long or short time, but there had never been anyone here to explain relevant information to him; it was all learned through Shi's own exploration or by reviewing materials within the Tower of Judgment.

But exploration on one's own was bound to miss a lot of information.

However, Shi's desire for knowledge had not been particularly strong to begin with.

If it hadn't been for his recent confusion, he would not have thought to directly intercept a Judgement for answers.

He hadn't interacted with any other Judgements yet.

And now, this Judgement with code number 12331 looked at him calmly and asked again, "What is your question?"

Shi hurriedly asked, "I want to know, is it possible for there to exist 'nonexistent props' in Script Space?"

As soon as the words fell, the scene was silent for two seconds.

The Judgement cocked its head, "Do you mean props that are not recorded within Script Space, suddenly obtained by players, but should not exist in the first place?"

"Yes, yes!" Shi nodded quickly.

"Such a possibility does not exist."

After understanding, the Judgement replied immediately, "If it can be obtained, then it certainly exists. The Fourth and Fifth Palaces are responsible for dealing with props. Either they made it secretly, or a main god created it stealthily. In any case, if it appears, it must exist."

Shi was stunned, "... what are these?"

Seeing his reaction, the Judgement extended its hand and drew out a two-meter-wide list that fell from the void, piling up rapidly until it was dozens of meters high in just a moment.

"The information on props is in here," said the Judgement.

"..." Shi.

Shi, now once again possessed by the urge to critique, held back his comments and proceeded to ask another question, "Then, are you aware of any level six player who has the intense ability to affect emotions?"

The Judgement's silvery eyes flickered, then confidently shook its head, "No."

Shi was taken aback, quickly bringing up player information, "But I encountered this player in the world of EA1029392178, and his abilities are even similar to the contamination of the Abyss, capable of affecting the emotions of beings with low spiritual power invisibly."

"Emotional contamination?"

The Judgement paused, then said, "Then that should be related to the Sixth Palace, where the Twelve Pillars of Emotion are stationed. See if you've encountered one of them."

As it spoke, the Judgement drew out another long list with a sweep of its hand, and another pile rapidly accumulated.

Judgement: "The relevant information is here."

Shi: "..."

How much information had he missed out on in here?!

...