The young Daoist priest, having little experience with the world, was pure-minded. He couldn't see the underlying cause and effect, nor the stakes involved, making it very easy for him to unintentionally ruin things.
But now, with Wu Suowei holding him back, everything naturally went smoothly without a single ripple.
The atmosphere in the area gradually returned to a peaceful calm.
Ming Yi gazed deeply at Bai Ci for a moment. After confirming her aura was stable and that she showed no abnormalities, the lingering malevolence around him completely dissipated.
“It is good that you are fine.”
The figure in red then turned into an ethereal form, floating closely by Bai Ci's side, refusing to leave her even for a single step.
Bai Ci nodded gently, tacitly agreeing to his behavior, which was laced with a lingering fear of loss. She then turned to look at everyone and suggested,
“The lingering sinister and malevolent aura here is too strong. We shouldn't stay here long. Let's leave first.”
No one had any objections.
This was exactly what Wu Suowei and the others were thinking. They wanted to leave this abandoned building, where a crisis had just unfolded, and find a quiet, undisturbed place to properly analyze this series of events.
“H-help me up, I'm dizzy,” Ou Li stammered, struggling to stand up from the ground.
Once she was on her feet, her body swayed unsteadily. She looked much like a tourist who had just stepped off a drop tower, unable to adapt to the solid ground.
Glancing at the two men beside her, Mi Ke took the initiative to step forward, grabbing Ou Li's outstretched hand to support her.
The group turned and left the half-finished building, which looked even more dilapidated after being scourged by lightning. As soon as they stepped out, they saw someone waiting for them not far away.
Beneath the shade of the trees along the walkway stood Zheng Gang. He was clearly waiting for them, leaning against a tree trunk with his gaze fixed directly on the exit of the abandoned building.
“Looks like the battle was quite brutal,” Zheng Gang remarked, scanning the condition of everyone except Ou Li.
Only Bai Ci appeared completely unharmed, while the others bore various battle marks on their clothes.
“Shall we find a hidden spot to properly debrief?” Zheng Gang asked, getting straight to the point.
“After all, today's incident was far too dangerous and sudden. It caught all of us completely off guard.”
Normally, when an instance reached its second day, it was still considered a relatively safe period.
But what about their second day?
They had faced high-difficulty combat and were even on the verge of confronting the final boss.
Was the progression a bit too fast? Or had they somehow skipped stages without realizing it?
After a brief thought, Zheng Gang understood.
He could only say that the Anomalous Infection system was truly too adept at setting up the class pools. Although he couldn't blend into the combat system of this instance, his ability in gathering clues was simply too effective.
Under normal circumstances, players entering this instance would find it nearly impossible to reverse-search the Li family through a genealogy book.
This step was akin to looking up and seeing a second floor floating in the sky before the foundation had even been laid.
Judging solely by the progress of their clue gathering, the information they currently held indeed matched what one would expect in the mid-to-late stages of the instance.
Zheng Gang figured that, in the end, it was simply because he was too strong.
He smiled inwardly at his own narcissism before instantly raising his guard to the maximum.
Once they entered the mid-to-late stage of progression, they had to tread carefully at every turn.
“We indeed need to debrief,” Wu Suowei agreed, echoing Zheng Gang's suggestion.
After some consideration, the group chose a private room on the second floor of a tea house.
Once everyone was seated, no one spoke. They waited for the waiter to efficiently serve the tea and snacks included in their set menu and leave.
The waiter worked quickly, serving the items before swiftly exiting the room, thoughtfully closing the door behind him to give the guests their privacy.
Wu Daoqing then set up his mystical tricks, placing small items that would emit a warning buzz if probed by external forces.
Furthermore, Ming Yi agreed to keep watch.
With that, a secure discussion room free from eavesdropping was fully prepared.
Now, the debriefing could begin.
Everyone's eyes immediately fell upon Ou Li, who looked weak and had a visible injury on her neck.
As the catalyst of the entire ambush and the only one suspected of witnessing the enemy's entire setup, what she had seen and heard was the key to uncovering the mastermind's methods.
Ou Li was taking small sips of warm tea, soothing the discomfort in her throat caused by being hauled around by the red silk.
Noticing the gazes directed at her, Ou Li raised her hand, uncomfortably touching the distinct purplish-black strangle mark on her neck.
The moment her fingertips made contact, she seemed to feel the lingering icy stiffness, causing her to sharply draw in a breath.
Once she finished hissing in pain, her instincts as a player took over. Ou Li quickly calmed down and began recounting her experience.
“You all know what happened before. At the intersection, I saw that the Foetal Feeder hadn't dissipated as expected. Instead, its power turned into a stream of energy and drifted toward the northwest.”
“My intuition told me there had to be some major secret and clue hidden within this.”
“And since something that should have vanished didn't fully disappear, I was also worried it might mutate and cause serious consequences, so in my haste, I gave chase.”
Speaking of her impulsive decision to chase the enemy, Ou Li felt a touch of regret, but not much. She honestly described her thoughts at the time.
If the pain of death were not so realistic—without any dampening or buffering—players would easily lose their fear of dying over time.
“Let's leave out the internal monologues from the debriefing. It's a bit redundant,” Zheng Gang reminded her. Listening to useless information made him feel a bit drowsy, especially since he still had to extract useful details from that massive block of text.
“Oh, right. I'll do my best,” Ou Li replied casually, then continued in her usual expressive manner.
“Where was I? Oh, right, I chased after it.”
“Anyway, I chased it all the way here following the Foetal Feeder's energy. Then, I saw a malevolent spirit bound in chains, and it was devouring that power.”
After saying this, Ou Li paused intentionally, giving the others some time to process the information.
The Foetal Feeder that loomed over the intersection, swallowing the lives of passersby day after day, was actually nourishment carefully cultivated by the mastermind. It existed solely to feed that chained malevolent spirit hiding in the dark.
The fading of the Foetal Feeder's blood-red color was not its demise, but rather a sign that the harvest was ripe and ready to be reaped.
Thinking deeper, the fact that the mastermind had been cultivating this harvest for so many years right under the nose of the Heavenly Master Association—costing countless innocent lives—felt both deeply ironic and hair-raising.
The players merely sighed once or twice over this information, but there was a prospective newcomer of the Heavenly Master Association present.
Wu Daoqing was deeply shaken. So, the association's constant neglect was actually aiding and abetting the villain?
His first reaction was to pull out his phone to notify his master, but after retrieving it, he paused.
What could he say?
What could he even do?
Did he have any concrete evidence?
The answer was no.
All of this was based on their speculation and indirect conjectures. There was no physical proof.
Even though Ou Li could serve as an eyewitness, her testimony alone would have limited weight.
Ignoring Wu Daoqing's conflicted emotions, Ou Li felt the pause had lasted long enough and was about to speak again to continue.
In any case, Ou Li's mindset was very carefree. With other, more reliable players around, if Wu Daoqing tried to do something foolish, someone would surely stop him. It wasn't her place to worry.
She was highly self-aware, already categorizing herself under the unreliable type of player.
“At that moment, I immediately realized something was wrong. I wondered if I had triggered an elite monster or a mini-boss, so I knew I had to get the hell out of there.”
“I wanted to turn around and run right away, but it was like that malevolent spirit had eyes in the back of its head. It spotted me instantly.”
“Before I could even turn my body, I was ensnared by the chains it threw out. It was a complete bondage play.”
Wu Daoqing rarely surfed the web, often lagging behind internet trends. He didn't understand what "bondage play" meant, but merely added in a low voice to supplement Ou Li's explanation.
“Malevolent spirits—especially those with deeper resentment—possess an incredibly sharp perception of living auras, particularly the spiritual energy of living souls.”
“It's like... it's like...”
Wu Daoqing couldn't think of a suitable analogy on the spot.
“Like someone throwing a flashbang in the dead of night?” Zheng Gang supplied, looking for confirmation.
“M-more or less. I don't know what a malevolent spirit's vision is actually like, but it would definitely stand out,” Wu Daoqing nodded.
As for this way of speaking, he had already picked up a core skill of seasoned veterans: agreeing on the surface while leaving the actual truth of the matter to be verified later.
Indeed, after going through these trials, even Wu Daoqing had shown some growth.
Never mind what kind of growth it was—you couldn't deny it was growth.
“No wonder I was discovered. That's basically the same as getting a flashbang thrown right in my face,” Ou Li muttered, grumbling about her luck.
She swallowed some dry saliva and clapped her hands, gesturing for everyone to listen closely to the critical details she was about to debrief next.
“Just when I was trapped by the malevolent spirit and couldn't move, an old man walked out.”
“I'm positive that the malevolent spirit knew that old man. No, it's more than just knowing him. I felt like the spirit was raised by that old man. It has to be.”
Ou Li waved her finger as she spoke.
“Furthermore, that old man's build and facial features were almost identical to Li Yunqi, who died less than a day ago. It was like they were cast from the same mold.”
She paused, seemingly recalling the old man's face from her memory.
“They're basically the exact same person. Talk about a walking corpse. Even identical twins wouldn't look this similar.”
As soon as she said this, the expressions of everyone present turned grave.
“Old Man Yun's corpse is kept in the mortuary, right?” Wu Suowei verified.
Bai Ci turned to look at Ming Yi, checking his expression. Had his visit to his old friend yielded some answers?
Ming Yi first nodded, then shook his head.
Through a sort of telepathic intuition, Bai Ci understood Ming Yi's meaning. He had indeed obtained some clues from his old friend.
But what did it have to do with Old Man Yun?
Nothing.
Or to be precise, there was no direct connection.
While Wu Suowei was asking this, Zheng Gang had also thought of it and had already employed a much more direct method of verification.
He directly called the Zhao family to ask about the current state of Old Man Yun's corpse.
Of course, this Historian was no simpleton either. He wasn't stupid enough to immediately ask if the corpse was still there.
Instead, he beat around the bush, asking a few trivial questions first, before subtly probing to get the answer he wanted.
Hanging up the phone, Zheng Gang revealed the results of his inquiry.
“I asked. The Zhao family said they are currently preparing the funeral for Old Man Li. The coffin is right under their noses, with no sign of disappearing, and the corpse is still inside.”
“So they just happen to look exactly alike? Tsk, I don't buy it,” Ou Li shook her head.
“We'll discuss that later. Keep going,” Wu Suowei pulled the straying conversation back on track.
“Oh, right. After that, the old man showed no respect for his elders and rummaged through my bag, which is how he found my phone with real-time location sharing active.”
“Since we were sharing our locations back then, he knew exactly where you were and how long it would take you to arrive once he looked at my phone.”
Ou Li tried her best to recall the scene at the time, recounting it clearly word for word.
“Even after realizing I had backup, that scheming old man didn't even bat an eye. He pulled out an ancient-looking black porcelain bottle.”
“He uncorked it and poured out several hairy, hunched little dwarves. They looked half-human and half-monkey, and were incredibly ugly—so ugly it was almost impressive.”
Ou Li didn't know what they were, but having just fought them, how could the others not recognize what she was describing?
Those ape monsters that had surrounded them were not some sinister entities born out of thin air. They were tools summoned by this old man, who was suspected to be Li Yunqi, to harvest their lives.
“That old dog casually threw my phone to those little ape monsters. He clearly wanted to use the location sharing to lure you all into a trap and wipe everyone out in those ruins.”
“As for what happened after that, I have absolutely no idea.”
Ou Li slumped her head and shrugged helplessly.
“Once the old man finished doing that, he simply raised his hand and shot a blast of yin energy into me. My vision went black instantly, and I passed out completely, losing all consciousness.”
“By the time I woke up, Lady Ming was already holding me by the neck, flying across the city at high speeds.”
She had never experienced such a terrible mode of transport. At least one could file a complaint for flights or high-speed trains, but she definitely couldn't do that for this one.
Thinking of this, Ou Li raised her hand again to touch the strangle mark on her neck. The flesh there still throbbed with a stiff, icy pain, showing just how... thrilling it had been back then.
Being choked by a Ghost Immortal's weapon and dragged along, that breathless sensation and the near-death feeling of being hanged were things she never wanted to experience again.
“I was dazed for a long time before I realized that Lady Ming had saved me.”
“Since I had no idea where that dead old man had thrown my phone, I couldn't provide your coordinates. So, Lady Ming dragged me along as she rushed straight to the library to find someone, eventually locating Zheng Gang, who was enjoying the breeze by the window.”
“And since I had sent our location sharing link to our group chat earlier, Zheng Gang was able to use that information to locate where everyone was.”
Rate on N.U.
