Chapter 106
As the two reached an agreement, an impromptu journey began.
Along the way, Bai Yi demonstrated with godlike performance #How to Become a “Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation”#.
Step one: Find a true Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation, namely the fellow written as “Su Huajia” but read as “answer sheet”.
Step two: For divination questions that the answer sheet can provide answers to, simply copy from the answer sheet and be done with it.
Step three: If the question is too difficult, beyond the current divination ability of the answer sheet, then activate the save-and-load divine skill and repeat multiple cycles. Meanwhile, remember to urge the answer sheet to continue improving his abilities.
—Just like grinding NPC side quests in a game, as long as you repeat it enough times, there would be nothing unknown and no NPC unfamiliar in this game instance.
This was also the ultimate state of “prophetic divination”.
Lastly, if the answer sheet’s ability was limited and the improvement speed was slow, unable to provide answers, and he was too lazy to keep loading saves to grind NPC side quests, then deploy the final nuclear weapon.
Namely, the highest level divination skill “Making Things Up”.
However, this “Making Things Up” style of divination was generally suitable for divining bad results, that is, misfortunes.—In case someone was really stubborn and pestering, adamantly refusing to believe in his glorious status as a Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation, insisting on exposing him as a fraud. Then he would have no choice but to unleash his ultimate move: telling them they had a deadly calamity coming, even if there wasn’t one.
After all, as a Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation, every word must come true!
At this point, having developed the #Four Steps to Becoming a Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation#, Bai Yi could once again proudly proclaim:
“—No one understands divination better than me!”
…
Time flew by quickly while grinding the instance. By the time Bai Yi had successfully summarized the #Four Steps to Becoming a Heavenly Master#, he had already successfully lit up three map locations in the instance, including Yong City.
In other words, the NPCs in these three places sincerely acknowledged him as an infallible “Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation”!
And this joyful experience of grinding the instance, like every previous instance, ultimately transformed into a long and detailed historical record, documented in the hidden game panel.
[February 3rd, morning: You leave the first lit-up map location amidst the reluctance of Yong City’s citizens, accompanied by one person and one donkey.]
…
[February 10th, morning: You and your traveling companion NPC Su Huajia spend a peaceful night in the wilderness. You seek guidance on the art of divination from NPC Su Huajia under the guise of exchanging knowledge.]
[February 10th, noon: You receive instruction in the art of divination from NPC Su Huajia, gaining initial insight into the path of divination.]
[Unfortunately, you have no foundation in divination. The brief half-day instruction is not enough for you to grasp the basics. Continuing the exchange would likely expose your shallow knowledge in divination to NPC Su Huajia.]
[…Loading save…]
[February 10th, morning: You and your traveling companion NPC Su Huajia spend a peaceful night in the wilderness. You, having loaded a save, pretend nothing happened and once again seek guidance on the art of divination from NPC Su Huajia under the guise of exchanging knowledge.]
[February 10th, noon: You receive instruction in the art of divination from NPC Su Huajia. Divination skill comprehension +1.]
[…Loading save…]
[February 10th, morning: You and your traveling companion NPC Su Huajia spend a peaceful night in the wilderness. You, having loaded a save, pretend nothing happened and yet again seek guidance on the art of divination from NPC Su Huajia under the guise of exchanging knowledge.]
[February 10th, noon: You receive instruction in the art of divination from NPC Su Huajia. Divination skill comprehension +1.]
[…Loading save…]
…
[…Loading save…]
[February 10th, morning: You and your traveling companion NPC Su Huajia spend a peaceful night in the wilderness. You, having loaded a save, pretend nothing happened and for the umpteenth time seek guidance on the art of divination from NPC Su Huajia under the guise of exchanging knowledge.]
[February 10th, noon: You receive instruction in the art of divination from NPC Su Huajia. Divination skill comprehension +1.]
–What a situation! Looking at this string of historical records, it’s like a crazy time loop on the morning of February 10th!
After this long series of loops, the historical record finally changed—
[After multiple save-and-load cycles on the morning of February 10th, you have gained a foothold in the art of divination. Although still incomparable to NPC Su Huajia, you are no longer an easily exposed outsider. Now, you can casually discuss various theories of divination, with a 1% chance of successful divination. Combined with your acting skills and persuasion ability, the probability of being exposed by NPC Su Huajia in future exchanges is practically zero.]
[February 10th, noon: After a morning of exchange, NPC Su Huajia is delighted to discover your astonishing understanding and impressive insight into divination.]
[…Whatever he mentions, you always manage to explain the key points one step ahead, perfectly aligning with his train of thought. You effortlessly point out aspects that might have taken him some time to figure out, bringing him sudden enlightenment.]
[Your explanations are neither profound nor obscure, but rather precisely at his level of understanding—neither too advanced nor too basic—as if tailored specifically to guide him, and even your approach to instruction aligns with his own style.]
[NPC Su Huajia is in awe of your talent and deeply grateful for your unreserved guidance.]
[With your help, NPC Su Huajia’s growth accelerates, his divination skill proficiency growth rate ×2.]
[You’ve acquired one NPC who counts money for you even while being deceived.]
….
[February 13th, noon, heavy rain. You and NPC Su Huajia take shelter in a cave. Having run out of dried rations and not wanting to hunt in the rain, you turn your gaze to the “reserve food”.]
[You decide to eat donkey hotpot.]
[…NPC Su Huajia dissuades you from your depraved behavior, the reserve food is temporarily saved.]
[February 14th, noon. Tired of wild game, you once again can’t resist the urge to eat donkey hotpot.]
[…Before you can act, the second map location “Yu City” appears in the instance, the reserve food escapes danger once again.]
[You enter “Yu City”.]
[By copying answers, you complete the first divination. Yu City reputation +1.]
[By copying answers, you complete the second divination. Yu City reputation +1.]
…
[By copying answers, you… you discover that this difficult question has no answer, its difficulty exceeds NPC Su Huajia’s divination ability, you have no answer to copy.]
[…Loading save…]
[Save loaded, you now fully understand the details of this divination… you successfully complete the divination. Yu City reputation +1.]
[You fully realize that NPC Su Huajia’s abilities also have limits. To avoid more situations where you can’t copy answers, you begin to urge NPC Su Huajia to practice.]
[…Under the encouragement of you, an accomplished expert, NPC Su Huajia realizes his previous laziness and dedicates 120% focus to practice.]
[NPC Su Huajia’s divination skill level +1.]
……
[You have illuminated the second map location – Yu City.]
[Your reputation in Yu City has reached the level of Respect.]
….
[You have arrived at a new map…]
….
[! At your urging, NPC Su Huaijia is secluding himself in the inn to cultivate and improve his divination skill level. As you went out alone to perform divinations, you triggered an urgent mission – someone is harassing you and questioning your divinations, even trying to have you arrested. Your reputation as the Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation is in grave danger!]
[You decide to show them the power of your words becoming reality!]
[After the prophecy of bloodshed came true, your reputation as the Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation exploded across the new map!]
…
After illuminating three map locations, Bai Yi decided not to continue further. Who knew how vast this mist-shrouded instance could be?
The time spent illuminating these three maps was enough for Bai Yi’s interest in this game instance to be completely exhausted. He believed there was nothing more appealing left for him in this instance.
So, after reviewing the historical records from the past period, Bai Yi found the “AFK” option on the panel.
As expected, the system promptly displayed a notification.
[The main traits the player has bestowed upon the game character [Qi Jiu] are: [Bewitching] [Deception] [Insight] [Disguise]]
[Based on the worldview within the Nightmare Fragment instance, the system will extrapolate the character’s future destiny.]
[Do you want to enable AFK mode?]
“Of course.”
With Bai Yi’s affirmative response, the entire world seemed to freeze for a moment. His consciousness slowly ascended, as if floating up again in a ghostly form.
The world below unfroze after a moment and began to move again.
Under the setting sun, the young Taoist nodded slightly to his companions, then led his little donkey and set off again on his journey.
Bai Yi’s consciousness slowly sank into darkness, continuously descending into the deep sea where countless star fragments floated.
As he struggled to surface, he saw that the star hanging high above the sea had grown even brighter than before.
Amidst the starlight filling the sky, he opened his eyes.
After activating AFK mode, this instance no longer required his attention. He just needed to submit the quest when the time came.
His idle mind began to contemplate what had happened before entering the instance – Yuan Yao’s phone call and Bai Xin’s belongings.
From Li Daotian’s words, Bai Yi had already realized that his mother was clearly not an ordinary mental hospital patient. However, her death had been very normal and ordinary, passing away due to organ failure.
Before her death, she hadn’t left behind anything particularly special, just a bunch of ordinary personal items like any other patient.
In comparison, this suddenly appearing fairy tale book could be considered special. Although the fairy tale book was just a birthday gift Bai Xin received as a child, and she had left the orphanage at the age of seven, a fairy tale book from before she was seven shouldn’t contain any important information.
Surely there couldn’t be any secrets hidden in it, right?
“Ah, I don’t want to think anymore…”
Bai Yi gave up on thinking and flopped onto the bed, resembling a cat loaf.
“My CPU is overloaded…”
“Meow! Meow meow!”
Suddenly, a few disgruntled meows came from outside the window.
He came to his senses and turned his head to look outside.
There, he saw a black cat had somehow jumped onto the balcony. It raised its two paws to politely tap on the glass, its round cat eyes staring at the two-legged creature on the bed, as if saying,
“Foolish two-legged creature, open the window and welcome this cat’s arrival!”
— Of course, this sentence wasn’t actually spoken by the cat. It was Bai Yi dubbing the meows in a serious voice.
“Meow meow meow?”
The cat looked at him with a head full of question marks.
“Do you want to come and lie down too? It’s very comfortable.” As if he hadn’t just narrated the cat’s thoughts, Bai Yi casually patted the bed, extending an enticing invitation to the cat.
“Meow~”
The next moment, the window glass was pushed open, and a hand picked up the black cat, placing it on the soft pillow.
That hand also took the opportunity to rub its belly.
The black cat instinctively started purring, and it could no longer resist sprawling out like a cat loaf on the pillow.
Bai Yi lazily lay down again next to the cat, and the human and cat stretched out in identical poses.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face, expressing the contentment of having a cat and no worries in the world.
From previously running away at the sight of him to now actively coming to visit, this cat had made great progress~
It must be the effect of his persistent feeding of dark cuisine to enlighten it.
Before long, understanding the benefits, it might even be willing to actively taste his dark cuisine, right?
Speaking of dark cuisine…
“Oh right, I recently had a new idea and developed a new dish with fish as the main ingredient…” Bai Yi suddenly remembered something and tilted his head to look at the black cat.
“Since you’re here, you can help taste-test the lunch later.”
“Meow!” The cat’s fur stood on end.
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