This was the first time Zuo Lin'an had ever encountered it.
He hadn't seen any discussions about it on the forums before either.
Even when he searched for it specifically just now, he only managed to find a few scattered threads.
Zuo Lin'an tucked his phone away once more, lay flat on his back, and stared up at the ceiling.
“If that's the case...”
How many times would he have to kill Liu Da before the postponement duration of 【Delayed Injury】 was forced down to zero?
Two minutes later, Zuo Lin'an's specter body regained its freedom of movement. However, since the designated hour for the hunt had already passed, he would have to wait patiently until three in the morning if he wanted to make another move.
That is, unless he decided to use 【Time Acceleration】 right now.
“Hmm... there's no need for that yet,” Zuo Lin'an muttered to himself.
He still had plenty of time, so there was no need to rush.
Still, since he couldn't kill Liu Da for the moment, he might as well pay An Miao a visit and see if he could bait out her talent.
Checking her location, he found that she hadn't left the old residence. Much like Chang Sheng, she had found a secluded, overgrown courtyard to hide in.
At that very moment, she was huddled in a corner, shivering with fear.
As for Chang Sheng, Zuo Lin'an had lost track of him earlier—likely due to a talent or a specter item. But now that the active duration of the effect had presumably expired, he could sense the man's presence once again.
Hidden quite well. Not bad.
Temporarily abandoning his pursuit of Liu Da, who was fleeing down the mountain, Zuo Lin'an returned to the old residence and quickly made his way to An Miao's hiding spot.
As his chilling specter aura began to spread, An Miao, huddled in her corner, felt the sudden drop in temperature. Instantly, goosebumps broke out all over her body.
“Oh no!”
“It found me!”
An Miao gritted her teeth and clutched her hair.
“I knew it!”
“I'm the slowest runner, so the specter was bound to come after me!”
She realized she couldn't stay hidden here any longer.
If the specter was lurking nearby, it must have detected her!
If she got complacent and stayed put, it would likely cost her her life.
Taking a deep breath, An Miao quietly stood up and opened the back window, planning to slip out through the rear just as she had done before.
But to her absolute horror, the moment she opened the window, a dark figure was standing right outside.
In the next instant, her eyes locked directly onto a pair of crimson eyes.
“Ah!!”
An Miao shrieked, instinctively stumbling backward. But in her panic, she tripped over a piece of wood on the floor and fell flat on her backside.
Casting all caution to the wind, she conjured crackling lightning in her palm and hurled a Palm Lightning directly behind her. At the same time, she scrambled to her feet and bolted forward.
She slammed open the front door, preparing to make a run for it, only to find the specter that had just been standing outside the back window already blocking her path ahead.
An Miao froze, her eyes widening in absolute horror!
With her mind completely blank, she raised her hand and called down a bolt of heavenly thunder.
Zuo Lin'an naturally ignored the attack.
He assumed An Miao was simply using her lightning technique again, only with a bit more power this time. But a moment later, he received a dungeon notification.
【Dungeon Notification: Player An Miao has used the special talent Heavenly Thunder Talisman. Since this player cannot simultaneously kill the individual bound by the gold hairpin, the talent's special effect is nullified!】
Zuo Lin'an was blasted charred-black, smoke rising from his entire body.
However, because his specter item prevented him from being repelled, he quickly returned to normal.
Oh. So it was the 【Heavenly Thunder Talisman】.
This talent was relatively one of the more common among all special talents. Not bad.
It was just a shame its cooldown was two days.
This meant An Miao now had no means of self-defense left.
Having successfully tricked An Miao into wasting her talent, Zuo Lin'an hid his figure, retracted his aura, and concealed himself with satisfaction.
As for 【Time Acceleration】?
It still wasn't the right time to use it.
In any case, he could kill An Miao at three o'clock sharp. There was no need to waste a charge of 【Time Acceleration】.
Once An Miao was dead, he could spend the rest of his time hunting down Liu Da without any distractions.
An Miao gradually snapped back to her senses.
She hadn't really seen what happened just now. After all, the blinding flash of light from the Heavenly Thunder Talisman had briefly robbed her of her vision.
By the time her sight returned, the specter in front of her had vanished, and the bone-chilling aura was gone.
“This...”
Realizing she was safe, she let out a long sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness...”
An Miao assumed her talent had destroyed the specter.
“I'm finally safe.”
At this moment, she had no idea that the specter hadn't even been repelled.
She didn't even know that specters were immortal.
In her previous dungeon, after using her talent to repel the specter, she had cleared the dungeon and left before it could respawn.
Because of this, she believed that as long as a specter was repelled by her talent, it would not appear again for the rest of the time.
Her legs trembled so violently that she could no longer stand. Collapsing back onto the floor, she took several deep breaths to force herself to calm down.
Once she recovered, she stood up feeling completely refreshed and returned to her original guest room as if nothing had happened.
By now, she was the only one left there.
“I wonder where Chang Sheng and Liu Da are.”
She pondered for a moment, then shook her head.
“Whatever, it has nothing to do with me.”
They had run off so quickly earlier without a single thought for her. Now that the specter was gone, why should she bother looking for them?
An Miao went into the bathroom for a quick wash, then lay straight down on the bed.
Time to sleep and rest!
Meanwhile, Chang Sheng was still hiding in the secluded woodshed, never once changing his position.
The woodshed was stacked with firewood, which he used to continuously craft puppets during this time.
By now, he had more than ten puppets in his possession!
He kept a few inside the woodshed to protect him.
The rest were stationed outside, forming a tight defensive perimeter around the building.
The moment there was any movement, he would know immediately.
As for Liu Da...
Zuo Lin'an took a look through his God's-eye view and found that the man was already nearing the mountainside. During his escape earlier, Liu Da had happened to spot the steps leading down and was currently sprinting down them.
Just then, Liu Da caught sight of a pavilion halfway down the mountain.
He looked around but found nothing unusual.
Even so, he didn't stop to rest. Instead, he carefully bypassed the pavilion and continued running straight down.
Three o'clock in the morning.
Zuo Lin'an arrived at the guest room right on time.
His dark figure walked up to the door, behind which lay the only occupied room.
Before he could even touch it, the door slowly creaked open on its own.
Zuo Lin'an scanned the room, his eyes falling upon the player lying on the bed, before he slowly stepped inside.
The open door slowly shut behind him.
Before long, a series of strange shrieks and wails echoed from within.
The sounds weren't very loud.
Yet one could easily hear the boundless terror laced within them.
It couldn't be helped.
Zuo Lin'an had made it a habit to pierce his targets' throats before killing them. It was a highly effective way to reduce noise pollution.
A few minutes later, drenched in blood, he calmly walked away.
Only a bloody scene remained.
Rate on N.U.
