Today's test was another major failure.

"thump."

The faceless doll lay on the ground, finally becoming still.

Ling Xiuqi bent down, picked up the syringe from the doll's hand, and looked troubled.

I just got scolded and now I have to send something over for inspection again...

You Yonghuai squatted down and poked her. The hard, cold touch surprised him. "She was just like a normal person a moment ago... Xuanyin, do you know your mother is like this? Xuanyin?"

After Aunt Huang's image "dissolved," Si Xuanyin stared blankly at the doll on the ground until she called out several times before she snapped out of her daze as if startled.

"I don't know. I always thought my mother had just accidentally joined an evil organization..." Si Xuanyin's pupils dilated in shock. Clearly, even she, as the daughter, didn't know about this.

"Alright, let's talk about my mom later. Right now, we need to destroy the curse node first, right?" Si Xuanyin patted her cheeks, changing the subject.

Following Si Xuanyin's instructions, You Yonghuai arrived at the former's room, his gaze falling on the magic circle drawn with blood on the bed.

Only then did he realize that he had narrowly escaped the brink of misfortune.

"Just insert the demon-dispelling nail into the center of the magic circle."

You Yonghuai forcefully stabbed the nail in his hand, and the dark red patterns lit up, making the blood-made magic circle shine.

Si Xuanyin floated beside him, her eyes closed, chanting mysterious and unique characters.

This is similar to, yet different from, what Ling Xiuqi just recited.

As each syllable fell, specks of starlight began to ripple outwards from Si Xuanyin's body. The light particles merged into the magic circle, and soon, a dark purple sphere the size of a human head emerged from the very center of the magic circle.

The Demon-Slaying Nail pierced the sphere of light, which instantly developed mottled cracks and shattered rapidly, scattering into tiny specks of light that vanished into the air in the blink of an eye.

[Trait "???" has been completed]

[Gain the trait "Accumulate Misfortune and Unleash Its Power": You can accumulate misfortune and transform it into considerable luck when needed. The more misfortune you accumulate, the stronger the effect.]

Accumulated misfortune: 100/100

Seeing that the trait was complete, You Yonghuai realized that this node had been successfully destroyed. He then looked at "Misfortune" and noticed an extra parenthesis:

【"Misfortune Strikes" (3/4)】

The disruption of the ritual was already enough to make You Yonghuai happy, not to mention that he also gained a new trait.

"Looks like the sabotage was successful?" Ling Xiuqi asked, dragging the lifeless doll. "Then can you explain what happened to your mother—was she also from the lab?"

"How is that possible? She didn't even finish junior high, how could she be doing research?" Si Xuanyin said with a look of disgust. "My mom is a cult member..."

"?"

"What about my mother?" You Yonghuai's body trembled, and he suddenly became worried about his mother.

"Your mother isn't." Si Xuanyin looked conflicted and kept sighing.

"Wait, I have a question..." Ling Xiuqi's lips twitched, as if he could see himself working overtime. "Are there two evil organizations causing trouble in Jiangcheng?"

"Probably..." Si Xuanyin glanced at the doll again, as if she were feeling sorry for her mother who had gone astray, "I always thought that the curse ritual was prepared by the group of people in the laboratory, until I saw my mother here, and then I realized that these cultists might have been involved as well."

"Damn it..." Ling Xiuqi bit his lip, looking annoyed.

He could already imagine how his business trip would be extended once the news got back.

"How much do you know about the cult your mother belongs to?"

"I don't really know much about it, except that the sect is called the Infernal School and they worship an evil god called 'Consciousness Unity'."

"Alright." Ling Xiuqi nodded, then picked up the doll and got into the car with the person and the spirit.

After being taken home in a police car, You Yonghuai looked at Si Xuanyin, who was still struggling with her thoughts, and assumed that she was still thinking about Aunt Huang: "Don't worry so much. Your mother has just been brainwashed by a cult. Once we get her out of here, she will definitely be normal again."

"I don't care about that guy who's got a screw loose! What I care about is..." Si Xuanyin stared wide-eyed at You Yonghuai, but she couldn't bring herself to say the last word, "you."

Then, she stomped her foot indignantly, looked around anxiously, and after a long while, in a fit of despair, looked at You Yonghuai and said, "Could you find a family photo of yours?"

You Yonghuai opened his phone and took a photo of himself and his mother from the album.

"Where's your dad?"

He died six months ago.

Because he didn't take care of his health when he was young and often worked three shifts to earn money, You Yonghuai's father suffered from a series of illnesses in his old age. He didn't have much time left, but he went out drinking until midnight every day...

No wonder… Si Xuanyin suddenly realized something, but she didn’t dare to ask directly: “Could I have a picture of your dad when he was young?”

"What exactly do you want?" Yu Yonghuai asked, while pulling out a low-resolution photo.

This was sent to him by his mother after the funeral, to commemorate those days.

"Father-in-law, oops, your dad looks a lot like you, doesn't he?" Si Xuanyin leaned over and asked in a guiding manner.

"What did you just call my dad?" You Yonghuai stared wide-eyed, turned his head and asked, just as he saw Si Xuanyin's fair little foot kicking towards him.

Unfortunately, the soul could not touch You Yonghuai.

"Never mind that, it was just a slip of the tongue!" Si Xuanyin kept trying to kick You Yonghuai. "I'll show you how much your dad looks like you!"

You Yonghuai raised an eyebrow, temporarily ignoring Si Xuanyin's slip of the tongue, and looked at his phone instead:

The young father in the photo album, except for having darker skin and thicker eyebrows and eyes, is almost a carbon copy of himself.

"You know what, it really does look quite similar."

"My mom used to like your dad... and she probably still does."

"?"

"You look a lot like your father, and your father is dead."

"Wait a moment..."

Si Xuanyin glanced at You Yonghuai with a complicated expression, paused slightly, but didn't stop: "I think you've probably already guessed—"

"You mean, meal replacement literature?" You Yonghuai's lips twitched. He recalled the middle-aged woman who always wore a kind smile, and quickly felt a wave of nausea. "Yue—"

"That's why I've been reluctant to tell you, but you should know who brought you into the Wujian School's sights in the first place." Si Xuanyin let out a long sigh, as if she had let go of some obsessions in her heart, and then said.

"This is just an additional reason. My mother joined the cult voluntarily and has already made many mistakes—I don't want her to go down that path, so—"

"I'm going to kill her."

Si Xuanyin's eyes revealed an unprecedented determination.