Bai Ci read through everything word by word, feeling much more confident.
The transformation process of this heretical ritual gave her ample room and plausibility to impersonate Xu Qinghe, aligning perfectly with her plan.
Ordinarily, she could play the role of Xu Qinghe. If she encountered something she didn't know how to handle, she could simply switch back to her own persona, pretending that her original consciousness had temporarily awakened.
To protect Xu Qinghe, Madame Xu would even be forced to smooth over any discrepancies for her, ensuring she didn't grow suspicious.
The only thing she had to worry about was: what if, in the middle of her performance, Xu Qinghe actually woke up?
Based on the piecemeal descriptions of him as a true gentleman, as long as his outward reputation matched his inner character, he should be the type of person who could be reasoned with and swayed by emotion.
With this in mind, Bai Ci opened her Rain's Message panel.
She hoped that as the plot progressed, some changes would appear on it.
For instance, an awakening progress bar for Xu Qinghe or something similar.
Rain's Message NPC: Xu Qinghe (Courtesy name: Huaining)
Appearance: Standing tall like a monument of jade, elegant as an emerald pine. A peerless gentleman of unmatched splendor, unique in all the world.
Identity: Eldest son of the Xu family, young master of a scholarly household.
Relationship with Player: Husband. Due to his congenital frailty, his mother took charge and chose a wife whose Eight Characters of Birth matched his to serve as an auspicious bride.
Attributes: Physicality 10, Spirit 12, Agility 11
Special Skill: Literature Carries the Dao (The brush leaves a lingering rhythm of deep emotion; a single sheet of elegant writing moves the world)
Status: Sutured body, Curse [What is Love] active
Looking at the updated Rain's Message panel, Bai Ci was left somewhat speechless.
Everything unlocked on it was already known information; nothing new had been added.
And upon closer inspection, didn't the three attribute values under his skill levels look a bit familiar?
Were these really the attributes of the congenitally deficient and chronically ill Xu Qinghe? These were clearly her own panel values.
Just because she was sutured together with him, the system shouldn't have crudely compared their values and taken the higher ones.
According to the ritual documents Lin Wenyu had just brought, now that she was aware of Xu Qinghe's existence, her own spirit would exert a suppressive force on his, meaning there was no chance of him waking up in the short term.
Even so, Bai Ci's heart remained in her throat; she couldn't fully put her mind at ease.
No one could be certain how long this suppression would last.
Wait!
Since Xu Qinghe's attributes borrowed her own status panel, did it mean that, under these circumstances, he and she were considered a single entity?
What about [What is Love]?
Could that thing be taking effect on her as well?
Probably not. From the moment she entered the instance until now, she hadn't encountered any fatal accidents.
Looking at how clean, swift, and unavoidable the deaths of those blind date candidates in the previous instance had been, if that curse had truly fallen on her, she would have died long ago. How could she have survived until now?
Bai Ci pulled her wandering thoughts back to reality. Next, she needed to look at the information about Xu Qinghe that Lin Wenyu and the others had gathered.
Standing nearby, Lin Wenyu watched her. Seeing her finally snap out of her silence, she asked, “Bai Ci, what's wrong? Is something not right?”
Bai Ci shook her head. “It's nothing. I was just thinking about something.”
The cause and effect were a bit too complicated to explain, involving her class skills, previous instance experiences, and so on. Thus, Bai Ci only intended to address the core issue without going into full detail.
“I was wondering how to eliminate the potential threat of Xu Qinghe ahead of time.”
“He is currently sutured to me. If I try to strike first and root out this hidden danger, acting against him is equivalent to self-harm. In the end, I'll only end up hurting myself.”
“The enemy is within my own body, leaving me with no way to strike. That is the most troublesome part.”
After hearing this, Lin Wenyu nodded. She calmly fished out a pitch-black, rectangular thin slip from her coat and held it out to Bai Ci.
“The Boss also considered this problem. Before he left, he specifically gave this to me.”
“This item is called the Soul-Suppressing Talisman. It's specifically used to confine and suppress souls.”
“However, this is delicate work. You have to differentiate between your souls yourself before suppressing him.”
“If any of us used it on you, the precision wouldn't be high enough. We might accidentally suppress part of your soul as well.”
Hearing this, Bai Ci reached out and took the rectangular slip.
And then... nothing happened.
She had only wanted to test it out, not holding much hope to begin with. As expected, even though her body had been sutured to another person, it didn't stop her class passive from taking effect.
Bai Ci smiled helplessly and handed the rectangular slip back to Lin Wenyu.
“I can't use it. My class is rather special, so I can't use items given by others.”
Lin Wenyu blankly took it back. “Oh, I see...”
She said, holding up the rectangular slip and pointing it at Bai Ci. She knit her brows and walked a circle around Bai Ci before finally giving up.
“You're right, it won't work. The two souls are completely tangled together, and I can't tell them apart with the naked eye. It's better not to use it. If I accidentally suppress your soul, things will only get worse.”
“It's fine,” Bai Ci comforted Lin Wenyu instead. “He shouldn't be waking up anytime soon anyway.”
Rather than obsessing over an unresolved long-term threat, she might as well seize the rare upper hand she had right now.
As she spoke, Bai Ci began reading the rest of the information.
This was the second matter she had previously entrusted Lin Wenyu and the others to investigate.
To thoroughly investigate Xu Qinghe's past, character, habits, behavior, daily routine, preferences, and even the smallest details known to others—striving to understand this man inside and out.
Originally, she had only hoped to piece together a rough persona from various events to make it easier for her to masquerade as him and get by later on.
But after scanning through the actual contents, Bai Ci was left utterly shocked.
The capability of the Boss Lin Wenyu spoke of was far more absurdly meticulous than she had ever anticipated.
The entire document was detailed to an almost grueling degree, practically dissecting Xu Qinghe from birth to the present day—from his inner psyche to his outward behavior—completely stripping him bare.
It didn't just contain his life experiences and academic path from childhood to adulthood; it even went down to the most trivial details.
Things like his dietary preferences, minor habits when interacting with others, books he had recently read, and so on, were so detailed that it felt as if that person had personally lived through Xu Qinghe's entire life.
Most thoughtfully, at the end of the file, there was a neatly summarized short biography, along with a clear and straightforward guide on roleplaying tips and things to avoid.
This was equivalent to copying from an answer key, saving Bai Ci ninety percent of the time she would have spent guessing, testing, and summarizing.
Turning to the final page of the document, she found the tasks they hoped she would cooperate in completing.
There were two points.
First, try to test the waters and identify the protective umbrella behind the cult, figuring out the general hierarchy and strength of their faction.
Second, complicate matters to divert the cult's attention, making them lower their guard against their immediate surroundings to facilitate their own operations.
Since these two tasks were already things Bai Ci wanted to do anyway, she naturally wouldn't refuse.
Rate on N.U.
