Chapter 1: no

"Song Jingguan, I couldn't hear very clearly over the phone. What is the reason for your visit to see Bai Cangshu this time..."

The counselor, surnamed Zhang, was nearing forty. Due to her nervousness and the muggy weather, the sweat on her face had washed her foundation into awkward streaks.

But she only wiped at it haphazardly for now. In her heart, she had actually long anticipated that her student would eventually face this kind of situation, but now... was it a bit too early?

She had thought that, at the very least, it would wait until after graduation.

The man addressed as Song Jingguan was about thirty or forty years old. His skin was dark, and he looked like someone who often did fieldwork, completely different from the fair-skinned, exquisitely made-up policewoman behind him.

"Teacher Zhang, please set your mind at ease. We are just here to understand some circumstances."

Counselor Teacher Zhang only smiled and did not fully relax. As she walked, she said,

"Bai Cangshu is not a bad child by nature."

"Um... although he doesn't get along very well with his classmates and has some issues with his personality, there are also quite a few terrifying rumors about him here in the university town..."

The counselor realized she was making less and less sense as she spoke and hurriedly cut herself off.

"But overall, he is still very good, hehe..."

The attractive policewoman Luoshui realized for the first time that a teacher could add so many qualifiers when speaking well of a student.

Teacher Zhang led the group to Dormitory 1314 at the end of the hallway, knocked on the door, and only opened it after receiving a response from inside, leading the two of them in.

This was a four-person dormitory, but three beds were empty. The furnishings inside were simple, but everything was placed in an orderly fashion, so clean that it was hard for Luoshui to believe this was a male dormitory.

The person in the dormitory was standing by the window and happened to turn his head upon hearing them enter.

His short black hair fluttered slightly with the wind blowing in from the window. In his clean white shirt, his face, illuminated by the sunlight from outside as if it carried its own halo, featured sword-like brows and star-like eyes, his pupils pitch black.

A graceful young gentleman, his ingenuity as if divine.

Luoshui was beautiful herself, but she had never imagined that a man would make her inexplicably think of such poetry.

This student named Bai Cangshu was indeed born with an appearance that captured one's gaze.

Song Jingguan also raised an eyebrow, but he had seen all kinds of people and soon returned to his normal expression, examining the books on the desk. It was a hardcover edition of the 【Legal Compendium: Criminal Law Chapter】.

"Student Bai Cangshu, right? I am from the Binhai City Bureau. Today, there are some questions I hope you can cooperate with us to clarify."

Bai Cangshu nodded, a gentle smile on his face that Teacher Zhang found very unaccustomed. He moved chairs from the other beds in the dormitory, letting them sit down.

"Please ask. I will tell you everything I know."

Song Jingguan reached out a hand but received no response. Turning his head back, he found his apprentice still staring at the student's face. He coughed once, and Luoshui then hurriedly took a photo out of her bag.

Song Xian handed the photo to Bai Cangshu and asked,

"You should recognize this person, right?"

In the photo was a young man with a baby face, wearing black-rimmed glasses and pursing his lips. His expression looked quite cold, which was somewhat at odds with his baby-faced appearance.

Bai Cangshu looked at the photo while nodding, saying,

"Mm, I recognize him. Chu Qi. We grew up together when we were young, and our relationship used to be okay."

Song Xian nodded. He had been watching Bai Cangshu's expression, only feeling that although the other party's features looked handsome, he felt something was missing from that smile.

"He died yesterday. Did you know?"

Teacher Zhang let out a short gasp.

Bai Cangshu sighed, shook his head, and pinched the bridge of his nose, appearing somewhat saddened as he said,

"Is that so... he died..."

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit heavy, Luoshui took the initiative to change the subject.

"Did Chu Qi contact you before this? I mean, during this recent period."

Bai Cangshu raised his head, flashed a smile at the beautiful and kind-hearted policewoman, and shook his head.

"In the third year of middle school, he transferred schools halfway through. I haven't had any news of him since then."

Luoshui nodded and noted these details down one by one. In her heart, she already felt there were no issues.

Song Xian, however, was looking around the dormitory environment. To be honest, he hadn't expected a male dormitory to be this clean and tidy. Looking at the empty beds, he asked,

"How come there are three empty beds? Such a big dorm, you live here alone?"

The thirty-something counselor, Teacher Zhang, had somewhat shifty eyes at this moment. She rubbed her hands together, thinking about how to phrase it appropriately.

Bai Cangshu, however, rubbed his head and laughed naturally,

"Hehe, they are all locals. They have money and they all have partners; it's normal that they don't want to stay in the dorm with a single dog like me."

Luoshui put away her notebook, amused by Bai Cangshu's self-deprecation, and Teacher Zhang also coughed and mumbled a few vague words.

Song Xian smiled on the surface, put on his hat, and stood up. Just as he was about to walk out of the dormitory, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him, and he turned back to say,

"Right, I haven't told you the cause of Chu Qi's death yet."

"On the busiest commercial street in Binhai City, he suddenly went on a rampage, using a sharpened, custom-made Tang sword to stab eight people to death and seriously injure two..."

"In the end, he was shot dead by the SWAT team that arrived after attempts to persuade him to surrender failed."

Bai Cangshu seemed to freeze for a moment, then rubbed his nose and said in a low voice,

"Looking at it that way, he certainly deserved to die."

Song Xian looked at Bai Cangshu, who showed no emotional fluctuation upon hearing of such a tragedy, and the strange feeling in his heart grew even stronger. He thought for a moment and suddenly asked,

"Have you heard of 【Infinite Dimension Adventure】?"

Song Xian stared into Bai Cangshu's eyes, but there were no flaws in Bai Cangshu's gaze. He only frowned and asked in confusion,

"What is that? A new game?" Song Xian watched the back of Bai Cangshu's hand out of the corner of his eye and finally felt relieved in his heart. He shook his head and laughed,

"Hehe, I heard someone say there's some game that's quite popular lately. Maybe I remembered the name wrong."

"Thank you for your trouble today, Student Bai and Teacher Zhang. If you remember anything later, you can contact me."

Having said that, Song Jingguan took out a business card and placed it on the table.

It wasn't until Song Xian went downstairs that he remembered what that strange feeling in his heart was: was that Bai Cangshu's emotions too stable? Even when facing police questioning, he had shown no nervousness or discomfort throughout.

Carrying this doubt, he questioned the female teacher beside him.

"Teacher Zhang, I see that Student Bai's Spirit and emotions are both quite stable, so why does his file have those kinds of records?"

Even for a veteran criminal investigator as experienced and knowledgeable as he was, it was hard to imagine that a student who had been involved in over 10 cases of "justifiable defense" in four years would look this refined, clean, and emotionally stable.

The female counselor surnamed Zhang thought to herself that she had felt the same way at the beginning, and after pondering for a moment, she began to explain.

"Bai Cangshu is still quite normal when he is normal."

!

Luoshui frowned and looked at Teacher Zhang with a face full of question marks.

"Then what about when he is not normal?"

Song Xian pressed further.

Teacher Zhang opened her mouth, hesitated, and ultimately, driven by the instinct to protect her student, she polished her words slightly and said:

"When he is not normal, he will look a little... crazy..."

"Crazy?!"

Luoshui was completely unable to equate this word with the clean and gentle person from just a moment ago.

"How crazy?"

Teacher Zhang's expression shifted a few times, and finally, she held out her index finger and thumb, separating them by a small distance.

"The 'a little bit' crazy kind."

At the window, Bai Cangshu saw the group talking in the small plaza in front of the dormitory; he even waved at them from afar before closing the window and returning to his seat under the bunk bed.

He took his phone out of his pocket and looked again at the string of text messages from different numbers, but it was clear that the sender was the same person.

【Cangshu, I don't know if your illness has recovered, but I have no other choice; this game is perhaps meant to be a stage for lunatics like you...】

【I have placed a hot potato that many people are fighting over in the old place that only the two of us know.】

【Cangshu, go to that world and go crazy; let those self-righteous guys feel what a true Outlier is.】

【Haha, after I die, who cares about the deluge...】

Heh, Chu Qi, with such a fun game, why are you only telling me now? Look... without me, you played yourself to death, didn't you...

The smile on Bai Cangshu's face became more and more apparent; he felt that Chu Qi was still the same as always—his Luck was not bad, but he was a bit foolish. Well, even though he was already dead.

And this thing...

Bai Cangshu rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a black card; this was the thing he had retrieved from the "old place."

One side of the card appeared completely black, but when held against the sunlight outside the window and tilted at an angle, a 【Sin】 character appeared.

The other side of the card was decorated with intricate patterns, the golden lines forming a mark resembling an Ouroboros on the black surface.

In the middle at the bottom, there were two white characters in regular script—【Infinite】.

Pfft.

While rubbing it, Bai Cangshu's finger suddenly paused, and a wound appeared for no reason; he looked at the 【Sin】 character on the back of the card, and his pupils suddenly constricted—the character had actually emerged from the card and appeared on his palm.

【Special Item bound】

【Sin Sequence activation starting...】

【Activation failed, Reincarnator ID not retrieved】

【Correcting...】

Bai Cangshu's muscles tensed instantly, but he quickly relaxed again.

He reached out to try and touch the text before him, but there was no result.

Suddenly, the white text disappeared, and scarlet bloodstains began to appear.

【Self-important, a natural Outlier, you are out of place with everything, and you have long been weary of the mundane daily routine】

【Now, the new stage has been raised】

【Do you wish to bet your life to start an Infinite Dimension Adventure?】

【yesorno】

(End of chapter)