The execution began!
Painful wails and shrill screams echoed out.
The sounds bounced repeatedly off the walls of the mine shafts, traveling far into the distance.
Several players closest to the area faintly heard the noises.
Among them were Li Zhuang and Shu Laiyun.
There was also Su Menglan, who had not left long ago.
As well as the few players who had previously scattered and fled.
Hearing the screams, they all frowned and instinctively quickened their pace, fleeing from the source of the sound.
A few minutes later, Zuo Lin'an finished the execution and slowly stood up.
The scene was incredibly gruesome, drenched in blood.
Expressionless, he watched as the boning knife in his hand dissolved into a cloud of black specter aura and vanished.
Just as he was about to leave, over where his living body was stationed.
Fang Tang reached out and patted his shoulder.
“Hey, tell your specter body not to leave so quickly.”
“What is it?”
Fang Tang spoke with a trace of helplessness.
“You're being way too wasteful. Don't just leave those scattered body parts and human skin there. Bring them forward!”
As she spoke, she pointed a hand forward.
Checking with his God's-eye view, Zuo Lin'an indeed saw a very spacious area further ahead in their mine shaft. Moreover, this chamber connected to dozens of other shafts.
Of those shafts, only two were the correct paths leading to the upper level.
Furthermore, the specter item kerosene lamp that Fang Tang had set up was right there, discarded in a corner and covered by dirty, decaying debris.
“Alright.”
Zuo Lin'an's specter body didn't leave immediately. Instead, he waved his hand.
The specter aura surrounding him grew denser, quickly gathering all the severed remains on the ground.
He casually slung the human skin over his shoulder and gathered the other remains into his arms.
Then, concealing his figure, he departed.
Before long, his specter body met up with his living body.
Just at that moment, they stepped out of the mine shaft and entered the wide chamber he had seen earlier through his God's-eye view.
Zuo Lin'an looked at Fang Tang.
“I brought the corpse. What do you plan to do with it?”
Fang Tang looked around. This space was over ten meters high and roughly the same in length and width, supported in the center by some decaying wood and rusted iron braces.
She casually pointed to a wooden beam hanging overhead.
“Hang the human skin from that, and throw the other severed limbs, bones, and organs onto the ground.”
Zuo Lin'an did as she instructed, arranging the scene.
Of course, because he had carried the corpse, his specter body was now soaked in blood, reeking of a heavy metallic scent and covered in a dark, crimson hue.
If he were to appear like this in the players' original world, he would probably be considered a full-fledged Blood-Clad.
Fang Tang casually picked a spot to sit down.
“If they want to find the exit, they have to pass through here.”
“As for the players closest to this area right now, even if they don't take any wrong turns, it'll take them at least half an hour to reach this place.”
“During this time, have your specter body go and terrorize them. Try to stall for as long as possible, kill a few more, and bring all their bodies here.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded.
“Alright, you choose the next target.”
Fang Tang thought for a moment. “Since many of the players are scattered right now, let's start with the ones who are alone. You can leave Zhao Lin's side for later.”
She could already tell that Zuo Lin'an really wanted to deal with Zhao Lin.
Zuo Lin'an replied, “Got it, I'll head out first.”
Over the next period of time, Zuo Lin'an moved back and forth through various parts of the mine shafts.
Whenever anyone drew close to the chamber where Fang Tang was waiting, he would appear to block their path.
Having already witnessed Zuo Lin'an's power and knowing he was immune to the repel effects of their talents, Zhao Lin and his group would immediately turn and flee whenever they spotted him.
The other players, naturally, reacted the same way.
If anything, their reactions were even more terror-stricken, and they ran much faster.
In any case, not a single player entertained the thought of facing Zuo Lin'an head-on.
Finally, the time quietly reached three o'clock in the morning.
Zuo Lin'an chose a player who was alone.
This person was the one who had injured Guo Xingcheng earlier. Could this be considered avenging the man in a roundabout way?
A few minutes later, he returned to his living body with the corpse.
He then arranged the corpse in the same manner as before.
Afterward, instead of leaving immediately, he looked at Fang Tang.
“I won't be able to hold them off much longer.”
Fang Tang's face remained calm, showing no surprise.
“I know.”
Earlier, to buy time, Zuo Lin'an had repeatedly blocked those players to force them to change directions.
But after doing this so many times, some of the smarter players had already begun to grow suspicious.
They would likely catch on very soon.
Moreover, Zhao Lin's group of eight had just run into Li Zhuang, Shu Laiyun, and Wu Su, the corpse-refiner who had been operating alone this entire time.
If they agreed to cooperate, they would probably reach this place in about half an hour.
Fang Tang stood up.
“Let's go. We should leave first.”
It was just a bit of a pity that there were only two corpses here.
But it didn't matter. Once they reached the upper level, there would be similar spaces, and they could set up more of them then.
Zuo Lin'an stood up and followed her, though of course, it was his living body that moved.
His specter body still had to remain behind.
After all, aside from the players who had grouped up, there were still four who were alone.
One of them was Su Menglan, who could be ignored.
That left three players—the ones who had previously followed Li Zhuang and Shu Laiyun but were forced to scatter and flee when Fang Tang appeared.
These three lacked any ability to find the exit and could only wander in circles within the labyrinthine mine shafts.
One particularly unlucky fellow was even heading back toward the area where the players had initially spawned.
Zuo Lin'an watched this, feeling somewhat speechless.
At the rate this person was walking, in just a few more minutes, he would see the two corpses that Fang Tang had hung in the deepest part of the mine shaft.
He had previously thought no player would ever lay eyes on them, but now he was being proven wrong.
Fang Tang tugged at Zuo Lin'an's sleeve.
“Have your specter body carry us over.”
Zuo Lin'an snapped out of his thoughts.
“Alright.”
His specter body then picked both of them up, quietly slipped into the correct mine shaft, and set them down only after traveling a certain distance.
This way, they wouldn't leave any footprints.
Although these players had methods like the art of Qi-gazing to track them, leaving fewer traces was always better.
Once that was done, Zuo Lin'an's specter body returned once more.
It was now 3:12 AM.
Zhao Lin looked at the three people in front of him with a smile.
Wu Su, Li Zhuang, and Shu Laiyun.
“I didn't expect to run into the three of you here. What a stroke of luck. Why don't we... work together?”
Wu Su thought about it and didn't object.
The way these people looked at him now was much clearer, completely devoid of their previous greed for his corpse-refining secret art.
They had probably spent the last three-plus hours being thoroughly put in their place by the specters.
Since that was the case, working together wasn't a bad idea.
With more people, the specters would at least think twice before showing up.
Rate on N.U.
