Chapter 145: Deduction

For Liu Yin, Han Cheng, and everyone else in the lobby of the Jinda Grand Hotel, knowing that Zhou Ling was the Death Killer no longer mattered. Because Lü Yang was the only person in this hotel who could take the news of her identity back to the real world.

Still, Zhou Ling didn’t care. The police in the real world had no chance of catching her. A high-level Mystic Scholar like her was only truly vulnerable when trapped inside a Mysterious Domain, unarmed.

What puzzled Zhou Ling was how she had been suddenly dragged into this current Mysterious Domain. Her opponent was merely a Junior Paranormal Master, who had only possessed a Mysterious Tool for a week. It was impossible for him to create a Mysterious Domain and pull her into it.

“It seems my earlier judgment was correct. It really was you who kidnapped Yi Ya,” Lü Yang said coldly, his eyes locked on Zhou Ling. He was slowly piecing together the puzzle of this Jinda Grand Hotel Mysterious Domain.

The Mysterious Domain they’d confronted on Donkey Head Mountain, where they hunted the Dark Predator, had undoubtedly been created by Death Assassin Zhou Ling.

Strangely, Zhou Ling hadn’t constructed the entire Donkey Head Mountain domain based on Lü Yang’s memories. Instead, she’d used Liu Hui’s memories as the foundation. Lü Yang reasoned that this was because his status as a Mystic Scholar prevented her from invading his mind. She’d had to settle for a different idea: invading Liu Hui’s memories. She’d chosen those, specifically a segment that both Lü Yang and Liu Hui shared, to confuse Lü Yang.

Before the Donkey Head Mountain event, Zhou Ling had meticulously questioned Liu Hui about her kidnapping experience. This was crucial for her to successfully invade Liu Hui’s memories and build the Mysterious Domain on them. Zhou Ling likely had more reasons for focusing on Liu Hui’s experience. First, as mentioned, it allowed her to trick Lü Yang. Second, since her younger sister, Zhou Jing, had also been kidnapped three years ago, Zhou Ling would have a particular interest in unresolved kidnapping cases.

Whether appearing as a Survivor or an Observer during Lü Yang’s first Mysterious Domain, Zhou Ling would have tracked every detail of Liu Hui’s kidnapping. She likely hoped it might provide clues to help solve her sister Zhou Jing’s unsolved case.

Now, this current Mysterious Domain within the Jinda Grand Hotel didn’t seem naturally occurring, nor was it triggered by an Eerie Computer. So only two likely possibilities remained.

One was that it was created by Death Assassin Zhou Ling. Yet, that seemed increasingly impossible. She’d created the first domain to flaunt her superiority over Lü Yang, watching him fight for his life in her god-like “Observer” mode. So why would she throw herself into this new domain? Why resurrect her dead sister to dredge up painful memories? That didn’t make sense.

Therefore, what was going on? Clearly, there was only one other possible origin.

Lü Yang had created it. Using that Creation Card he possessed, spending his own accumulated amount of Eerie Points and Eerie Stones to bring it into existence. Lü Yang’s purpose was obviously to rescue Yi Ya. Fighting the Death Killer in the real world was incredibly difficult. Inside a Mysterious Domain, however, things might be different.

Because Lü Yang had also thrown himself into this domain as a Survivor, he couldn’t remember how he set it up. He knew nothing about its type, the Main Quest, the Path of Survival, or if it had hidden traps. He could only rely on his own self-knowledge to deduce how his own crafted domain might finally end.

Based on his reasoning, after successfully surviving the Death Killer’s plot on Donkey Head Mountain, and after he started suspecting that Zhou Ling was the Death Killer, he immediately used the Creation Card. He transformed the entire hotel into this new Mysterious Domain. That explained why, after waking groggily from the previous domain’s end, he hadn’t been lying in bed, but seated at the edge, still clothed.

Lü Yang must have gotten up previously, perhaps even left the room, hence sitting dressed. Using the Creation Card had simply erased parts of his recent memory.

Lü Yang’s goal for this domain was starkly simple: trap the Death Killer while they were still inside the hotel. Lock the killer inside his domain. Identify them. Then, force them to reveal Yi Ya’s whereabouts.

Since the previous Mysterious Domain was created by the Death Killer, and they had never directly appeared within it, they must have remained an Observer the whole time, watching Lü Yang’s every move.

When a Creation Card is activated to forge a domain, time is suspended for the creator. In that frozen state, like everyone around them, the creator is powerless to act. Yet, within the frozen time, they build the entire domain. So no matter how large or complex the constructed world, its manifestation seems instantaneous to everyone else.

When that domain ended, the Death Killer, also a Mystic Scholar, would awaken simultaneously with Lü Yang. However, the killer couldn’t possibly know that Lü Yang, as a mere Junior Paranormal Master, possessed something as rare as a Creation Card. Therefore, the moment the previous domain finished, before the Death Killer could retreat beyond Lü Yang’s effective range in the real world, they were forcibly dragged into this new Jinda Hotel domain created by Lü Yang.

That was Lü Yang’s sole chance to capture the Death Killer. Force them to reveal Yi Ya’s location. Lü Yang knew his power level was far beneath the Death Killer’s in the real world – direct combat was suicidal. But within the Mysterious Domain? Even the most powerful Mystic Scholar couldn’t use Eerie Cards. The battle would come down to intellect. Lü Yang felt his mind was sharp.

Perhaps, when creating this domain, Lü Yang hadn’t been fully certain Zhou Ling was the Death Killer. That might explain why he dragged Liu Yin and Han Cheng, also staying at the Jinda Hotel, into it as well.

Even knowing now this domain was his own creation, Lü Yang didn’t know what type of domain he’d built, nor what the Main Quest entailed, the Path of Survival, or the locations of any potential traps. Based on his knowledge of his own thought patterns, he reasoned that if he’d set a Main Quest, its primary objectives would undoubtedly be tied to killing the Death Killer and rescuing Yi Ya.

While the likelihood this domain was Lü Yang’s own creation seemed very strong, he quickly spotted several potentially fatal flaws in this deduction…

If Zhou Ling, a Senior Mystic Scholar, couldn’t invade his memories as a Junior, how exactly had he, Lü Yang, managed to invade her memories? And how likely was it that he’d built this entire domain using her memories as its blueprint?

If Lü Yang was the creator, why drag so many innocent hotel guests into this nightmare? Lü Yang had personally witnessed the horrifying dangers of Mysterious Domains multiple times. He believed his fundamentally decent nature wouldn’t allow him to expose so many people to such risk without an overwhelmingly urgent reason.

Yet, numerous guests had already suffered gruesome deaths or injuries, and Lü Yang realized these casualties served no discernible purpose. This made it seem unlikely they were forcibly swept into the domain entirely by his own actions.

Most tellingly, Liu Hui was also present within the domain. Lü Yang felt absolutely certain he would never take such a risk with her, unless… he actually suspected her of being the Death Killer? But that idea felt completely absurd.

Other inconsistencies lingered. How, if Lü Yang built this domain, did supernatural entities like his version of Zhou Jing come about? And that figure named Xiao Zhao capable of bursting into flames – what explained her?

Could he really have created something this strange, this complex, this baffling… even to himself? The thought was almost bitterly funny.

Clues swirled in Lü Yang’s mind. He thought constantly, his ideas debated, his theories discarded. Quickly, beyond the initial possibilities, another scenario occurred to him…

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. This domain wasn’t Zhou Ling’s doing, nor Lü Yang’s. Was the Jinda Hotel harbouring a third, mysterious high-level Mystic Scholar? Someone observing the conflict between Death Assassin Zhou Ling and Lü Yang from an even higher, more detached perspective?

Perhaps this unknown Master, finding the conflict insufficiently “entertaining,” had decided to intervene. Had they created this terrifying domain to toss everyone involved inside, forcing an unavoidable confrontation?

If that was the case, the entire situation plunged deeper into absurdity! Yet, this new deduction neatly plugged the fatal gaps left by Lü Yang’s earlier “self-created domain” theory.

Lü Yang instinctually looked around the vast hotel lobby. Hidden cameras… surely, they must be everywhere.

A thought struck him, though: if a third Mystic Scholar existed, and particularly if it was a powerful Master creating this domain, why employ clumsy human-world technology like cameras? They could simply adopt the Observer perspective inherent in God Mode.

Ultimately, none of this speculation mattered right now. Endlessly chasing deductions solved nothing. It risked paralyzing him before he ever reached Yi Ya. The critical fact remained: Zhou Ling was the Death Killer. Simplify the next steps. Force the information about Yi Ya out of her. Then… kill her!

Lü Yang had never felt such a sharp, intense urge to kill a person before; definitely not a woman. Yet, when the moment came to strike, he knew he wouldn’t hesitate. There would be no mercy. No shred of doubt.

Her sister died in a kidnapping? That didn’t justify Zhou Ling brutally murdering several innocent young women. It exposed deep flaws in her character. Her Mystic Scholar abilities were leagues above Lü Yang’s. A powerful, mentally disturbed entity like her was a terrifying threat, both to the world itself and to Lü Yang personally.