Chapter 4: Skill Update

The mobile phone, which had been soaked to the point of being inoperable, unexpectedly connected the call. Mo Qi, who intended to feign an excuse for absence, furrowed his brows, patiently listening to the steady “beep” sound, waiting to see if someone would answer on the other end.

After three rings, he received the automated message, “The number you are calling is currently busy. Please try again later,” indicating that someone had hung up.

This confirmed Mo Qi’s suspicion!

At the same time as Ke Xiaoxi’s death, the first heart-shaped origami appeared in the crystal box. There must be a connection between the two events. However, a few posts in Ke Xiaoxi’s social circle inexplicably disappeared afterward, and no new origami appeared in the crystal box, which made Mo Qi quite concerned.

Under normal circumstances, it would generally be assumed that a “mysterious death” and the “mysterious disappearance of social media posts” are one and the same event. However, there is a time discrepancy between these two occurrences, which even provided Mo Qi with the opportunity to take screenshots.

After reviewing the social media screenshots, Mo Qi couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t a case of “mysterious disappearance of posts” but rather “deletion of posts by someone.”

The difference between the two is significant. One suggests an unknown force, while the other implies human intervention.

Mo Qi leans more towards the latter, because if it were an unknown force, the social media posts should have vanished at the exact moment of Ke Xiaoxi’s death. There would be no traces left behind, and there would be no reason for this time gap to occur.

He assumed that several posts in Ke Xiaoxi’s social circle were deleted by someone using Ke Xiaoxi’s phone, which implied that the phone Ke Xiaoxi had on her wasn’t hers, or she had two phones.

Therefore, he borrowed a phone to call Ke Xiaoxi, to confirm the hypothesis that “the real phone is in someone else’s hands.” Fortunately, for some reason, the person did not turn off the phone or remove the SIM card, allowing him to get through.

Mo Qi first ended the call and then dialed again. This time, he indeed heard the message, “The number you are calling is currently turned off,” indicating that someone had finally decided to turn off the phone after the incoming call.

Mo Qi, without any change in expression, said, “Hello, Lao Yang? It’s me, Mo Qi. I knew you wouldn’t answer an unknown number the first time. I have something to do this afternoon and won’t be attending class. Remember to help me submit a leave request.”

After babbling into the phone that no one answered, Mo Qi quickly deleted the call record before returning the phone to Liao Ruxue, who had been watching him closely.

Liao Ruxue glanced at the phone and smiled with an inscrutable expression. “Why did you delete the call record? Afraid I’ll find out your friend’s number?”

“It’s not that I’m afraid, but he’s quite particular about his privacy,” Mo Qi responded calmly.

“What are you busy with this afternoon that you’re skipping class?” Liao Ruxue asked casually. “Are you free the day after tomorrow? The exhibition needs people to maintain order. After the display, the works need to be returned without being soiled or damaged.”

Mention of the exhibit made Mo Qi instinctively glance at that painting. The man in the painting had already turned halfway, and a mist was rising by the lake, obscuring the man’s face. Yet, the feeling of being watched remained unchanged.

It was as if the person in the painting was looking at him through the mist.

Mo Qi forced himself to look away. This painting was too strange, as if the person in it could step out at any moment.

“I’ve got some things going on lately. If I’m free the day after tomorrow, I’ll come by,” Mo Qi replied. He didn’t want to get too close to that painting, but he left some room for himself to maneuver.

“What are you busy with? Do you need any help?” Liao Ruxue asked.

This was exactly what Mo Qi wanted. He needed to investigate Ke Xiaoxi’s relationships, and there might be other hidden players in the game. These players could be his competitors and might pose a threat to him. The best approach was to find someone to help with the investigation, allowing him to stay in the background, making it easier to observe those involved in the matter.

But is Liao Ruxue a player?

In Mo Qi’s understanding, ordinary people should be like NPCs (non-player characters) in a game, while players are those controlling characters to complete game tasks. Typically, NPCs in a game are not real people and operate according to predefined programming, making it easy to distinguish them from players.

However, this game blurs the line between reality and illusion. This means that the Liao Ruxue standing in front of him could be a real person or a fictional character. The actions of a real person are unpredictable, making it impossible to discern whether he is a player or just an ordinary entity.

Mo Qi currently had no other way to determine if Liao Ruxue was a player. Since there was no app on her phone, he had to assume, for now, that Liao Ruxue was not a player.

Staring directly at Liao Ruxue, Mo Qi pulled her into a corner to avoid the other student council members and spoke in a low voice, “It’s like this, I have a friend who has taken a liking to a student in the Literature Department and wants me to find out more about them.”

“You’re skipping class for this? Don’t you care about your scholarship?” Liao Ruxue, who knew Mo Qi fairly well, questioned skeptically.

“He needs the information urgently and said he wants to know everything about that student within an hour,” Mo Qi added, “He’s paying for it.”

Liao Ruxue, understanding that Mo Qi was always hustling for tuition and living expenses, smiled and said, “You don’t need to skip class to find out about things in the Literature Department. Their publicity director is a big talker. There’s no one and nothing she doesn’t know about. I’ll just give her a call, and you’ll get the information you need. You should go back to class.”

As he spoke, he affectionately patted Mo Qi on the shoulder, his gaze full of concern.

Mo Qi’s facial muscles involuntarily twitched at the pat. He noticed that Liao Ruxue’s eyes had become even more affectionate than before.

Mo Qi’s gaze drifted, avoiding direct eye contact with Liao Ruxue. His eyes glanced at the conspicuous painting again and found that the figure in the painting had turned its face away, returning to its original position with its back to the viewer, and the white fog had disappeared.

Looking at the other members of the student council, Mo Qi noticed that when he first entered the exhibition hall, some people had glanced at him discreetly, but now they were all busy with their own tasks, no longer paying attention to him.

Only Liao Ruxue’s gaze deepened even further, and he kindly adjusted Mo Qi’s collar. “You still have time. Just give me the name or a photo and then hurry to class.”

“I don’t know the person’s name or have a photo. That’s why I need to go to the Literature Department,” Mo Qi said calmly. “All I know is that this person had some conflict with Ke Xiaoxi, a sophomore in the Chinese Language Department.”

“I’ll ask the publicity director of the Literature Department about this,” Liao Ruxue said.

“Thank you, President,” Mo Qi stepped back half a pace.

Liao Ruxue didn’t mind his aloofness. “No need to be so polite. Just treat me to a meal afterward.”

At the mention of treating him to a meal, Mo Qi’s heart skipped a beat.

Liao Ruxue noticed his discomfort and chuckled, “We can just go to the cafeteria.”

Mo Qi’s expression didn’t improve.

Liao Ruxue sighed helplessly. “How about helping me organize and input data into the archives tonight?”

Mo Qi breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s no problem.”

Liao Ruxue chuckled wryly. “I’m worried that your work in the student council will affect your final grades. You’re really chasing after money. Hurry up and go.”

Mo Qi hurriedly dashed out. The atmosphere had been a bit too ambiguous just now, and he was feeling a bit suffocated.

Since someone was helping with the investigation, Mo Qi decided to go straight to class. First, he needed to blend in as an ordinary person and behave like a normal student. Second, there might be clues in the classroom. He was currently clueless, so the best approach was to explore every corner of the campus, attend classes, and observe if any of his usual classmates had changed in any way.

Mo Qi didn’t have time to return to his dormitory to fetch his books. He sneaked into the classroom through the back door just as class was starting, taking a seat in the corner at the back row by the window.

This was their major class, attended by only several dozen students from his cohort, along with two senior students retaking the course. Mo Qi quickly counted the attendees and noted that three people were absent: one retaker and two of his classmates.

He quietly made a mental note of the names of these three absentees. Seeing that his classmates around him seemed normal, he lowered his head and opened his phone.

He noticed an update notification for the Mysterious Domain app, which he promptly checked. Surprisingly, it was an update to his personal attribute card information.

There were no changes in level or other details, but there were additional texts under the exclusive skill section.

[Exclusive Skill: Gaze, others to be explored.]

[Gaze: When you gaze upon the world, the world gazes back at you. This skill can concentrate an indiscriminate charm effect onto a single entity. When a player’s gaze and focus are entirely directed at a specific entity, the player’s charm effect will completely concentrate on that entity, while others will no longer be affected. The emotional response of the “gazed” entity towards the player can escalate unexpectedly from ordinary goodwill to unforeseen transformations, allowing for manipulation, control over the entity, or other unexpected effects.]

[Duration: Effective throughout the duration of the gaze, gradually dissipating after the gaze ends. Duration  for this level*10 minutes.]

Mo Qi: “…”

No wonder Liao Ruxue was almost excessively attentive and responsive to him just now, while everyone else around seemed unaffected by the charm effect. Even the figure in the painting no longer designed to look at him.

He read through the skill description several times, pondering why the term “entity” was chosen—why not use “person” or “player,” or even “ordinary person”? The word “entity” seemed particularly profound.

To test this, Mo Qi glanced out of the window where several sparrows perched on a tree. He focused on one of them, telling himself how beautiful, unique, and cute it looked, and how much he wanted to touch its feathers.

Mo Qi stared for a moment, and the chosen sparrow ceased its search for bugs, tilting its head to peer at Mo Qi through the window.

Mo Qi casually opened the window and smiled at the sparrow.

The sparrow flapped its wings and flew into the classroom. Mo Qi held out his hand, and the sparrow gently landed in his palm.

“No way… it really is ‘entity’,” Mo Qi’s facial muscles twitched a few times.

He extended a gentle finger and softly stroked the sparrow’s head. The sparrow closed its eyes and obediently allowed him to touch it.

Suddenly, the sparrow opened its eyes and stared at Mo Qi for a moment, then flew away abruptly.

Confused by its behavior, Mo Qi watched as the sparrow returned with a bug in its beak, dropping it into Mo Qi’s palm. It chirped loudly, urging him to eat the bug.

Mo Qi hurriedly pinched the sparrow’s beak with two fingers. “Shh! Keep quiet, or you’ll attract attention from classmates and teachers.”

He had no interest in the bug either; it felt gross sitting in his hand. Mo Qi casually flicked the bug away.

The sparrow, seeing Mo Qi throw away the bug, suddenly began to struggle. Mo Qi was caught off guard as it broke free and pecked fiercely at his palm. Angry, the sparrow flew out of the window, only to dive back towards Mo Qi for a second attack.

Mo Qi hurriedly closed the window. Outside, the sparrow perched, staring at him through the glass.

Mo Qi opened his palm, which was now bleeding from the sparrow’s pecks, feeling a bit painful.

A slight sense of unease crept into his mind. This skill seemed to have some issues.