The Evil God’s power could be released to make a deal with the Fire Devil. This would give a tangible form to something that could normally only be seen and not touched. In this scenario, killing the Fire Devil wouldn’t directly eliminate the Evil God, but it would at least severely wound it.
“A severely wounded human with impressive innate talent—wouldn’t that tempt the Evil God?”
Bai Yu believed the Evil God was absolutely watching everything happening in Pingshan Village. This thing was quite intelligent. It would either terminate this ritual or cooperate with the Fire Devil.
Sheathing her blade, Bai Yu controlled Zhao Mingyue’s body and quickly headed toward East Village. The funeral was over, but the wedding should still be going on.
“The family banquet and the wedding… I’ll check the wedding first.”
Under the cover of night, Bai Yu weaved through the haphazardly arranged houses, following the path the wax corpses had taken until she reached the main road dividing the village.
Compared to West Village, East Village was much quieter.
In West Village, you could still speak as long as you ignored the whispering voices in your ears. But here in East Village, Bai Yu suspected she couldn’t utter a single word or syllable. Any sound made within this area would become the source of a curse.
The Evil God’s power mostly stemmed from its own Malicious Intent, and curses were a part of that intent.
Having experienced it once before, Bai Yu easily found the wedding venue in East Village by following the wax corpses.
The difference was that this wasn’t a small building, but a rather large Courtyard House, resembling the mansion of an ancient official. The wedding banquet was being held here.
Bai Yu didn’t rush down immediately. Her gaze swept the area, and she spotted at least three “old friends” perched on the outer buildings of the Wedding Courtyard, watching the events inside. Among them, she saw Shen Shuyun, sitting on the eaves and eating something.
Noticing movement behind her, Shen Shuyun looked back to see Bai Yu land lightly on the rooftop beside her.
“And you are?” Shen Shuyun stood, one hand in her pocket, gripping something.
Bai Yu tapped her mask. The upper half dissolved, revealing Zhao Mingyue’s eyes for a split second before closing again.
“Zhao… It’s you. I thought that outfit looked familiar, though missing the blade at your waist makes it look a bit strange,” Shen Shuyun actually spoke aloud, as if the curse didn’t concern her at all.
Seeing this, Bai Yu touched her own mouth.
“I know.” Shen Shuyun pulled out a Mobile Phone and typed rapidly. After a moment, she held it up, displaying a line of text: “If you control the dosage, the curse can’t kill you. On the contrary, there’s a benefit. Once you’ve accepted the curse, the wax corpses won’t actively attack you.”
Deleting that text, she typed another line: “I just learned about this recently. I have to say, this place is truly bizarre. The slightest misstep and you’ll die here without knowing how.”
You couldn’t listen to the sounds, couldn’t speak, or you’d be afflicted by a curse and never know how you died. This element alone made this mission location far surpass any Bai Yu had experienced before. The wax corpses weren’t even the key factor.
Bai Yu wasn’t surprised Shen Shuyun had figured out the secrets here. They had all come from the same place. Anyone who had survived this long—these women might be a little unhinged, but they were by no means stupid.
Extreme caution was a fundamental requirement. No one would charge in recklessly without first trying to understand the situation.
“Things are a little complicated right now. You might not believe this, but Lu Liangting was captured and is currently being forced to be the Groom in a wedding ceremony.”
“He’s somewhere in this courtyard right now, but I can’t pinpoint which room.”
“There are a few tough ones hidden among those wax corpses. I suspect this Evil God sealed several Fierce Ghosts inside these wax corpses. They’re very powerful. Some unlucky guy went in and got surrounded. Combined with the curse he’d already picked up, the poor bastard died horribly. His body was eaten, leaving behind just some useless entrails and bones.”
Her hands moved with incredible speed. Shen Shuyun typed out these words in a flurry and showed the screen to Bai Yu.
Because Bai Yu wore a mask, Shen Shuyun couldn’t see the change in her expression.
The mask remained cold, just like the aura Zhao Mingyue currently exuded, so drastically different from her usual self.
Shen Shuyun’s gaze swept over Zhao Mingyue’s outfit again, pausing briefly on her chest. She genuinely wanted to say that Bai Yu looked far better like this than before. Now, her figure was slender, well-proportioned, yet curvaceous. Especially those long, toned, straight legs… simply gorgeous.
Paired with this outfit, she could only be described as heroic and dashing. That sharp, icy temperament was the perfect match. If she weren’t wearing black leather pants but black stockings instead, it would be flawless perfection.
Who wouldn’t love an icy beauty like this?
Looking back at her old self… her body had been in a perfect golden ratio, but that overwhelming Blood Aura… no one could stand it. You could smell the blood on her from ten meters away before even getting close.
Once, she had almost blurted something out.
‘Doctor, you’ve killed a lot of people again!’
After some thought, Shen Shuyun couldn’t resist and typed another line: “How did you end up here, and why did you tell me to pass on the message?”
“The people here sought me out themselves,” Bai Yu’s slightly cold voice came from beneath the mask, not Zhao Mingyue’s voice.
She was being cautious and didn’t use Zhao Mingyue’s voice to speak.
Shen Shuyun continued typing: “Everyone’s waiting for someone else to make the first move. In this situation, we either all go in together, or we find someone strong enough to clear the path.”
Going in alone wasn’t impossible. The problem was the people waiting behind you, ready to play the mantis stalking the cicada.
Everyone present, Shen Shuyun included, was thinking the same thing.
And they also knew this was a golden opportunity.
Lu Liangting, as the Groom, was tied up at a wedding banquet full of dead guests and about to bow to a female wax corpse to complete the marriage ceremony. After the bows and wedding, he might even be turned into a wax corpse himself. In this situation, how could he not be terrified? How could he not be desperate?
If someone appeared to save him at his moment of greatest terror and despair, wouldn’t a connection naturally be formed? Wouldn’t the path ahead become easier?
The hardest part of building a relationship is the very beginning. Once you accumulate some feelings, the rest naturally becomes easier.
Perhaps, after this heroic rescue, there might even be a plot where the beauty offers herself in gratitude?
Time was slipping away second by second.
If this continued, there was only one outcome for Lu Liangting.
Once the Evil God selected him, they would all die.
Not far away, someone stood up.
“Stop playing dead, everyone. If we’re going in, we go in together. There are so many rooms, who knows which one Lu Liangting is in. It’s up to our own skill and luck. One person per room. Whoever finds him first wins.”
The speaker also wore a mask, a hood covering most of their face. Judging by their build and voice, she was around twenty-five.
This age was quite disadvantageous for an opening move. After all, Lu Liangting was only seventeen or eighteen, a young student. Being six or seven years older would drastically increase the difficulty.
Of course, it couldn’t be ruled out that Lu Liangting liked older sisters. If so, her age would be an advantage.
Based on current intel, Lu Liangting’s only known preference was for black stockings. An “older sister” attribute hadn’t been discovered yet.
Besides Shen Shuyun and Zhao Mingyue, there were three others present, their identities unknown for the moment.
“The one who just spoke is ‘Underground Boxer,’ the Arena fighter. You should know her better than I do. The short-haired one on the left is ‘Shadow.’ The one on the right, I’m not sure—either Qi Cang or Tuttle.”
Among the Game Participants, most used codenames—some self-chosen, others given by others, the latter carrying more weight. Quite a few people simply used their real names, not caring if their identities were exposed.
“Don’t be surprised. You’re different from us. We have our own circles. We play amongst ourselves, and we certainly wouldn’t include a monster like you.”
As if anticipating Bai Yu’s suspicion, Shen Shuyun offered an explanation.
Just as she said, they were in contact with each other. Not as a cooperative relationship, but as a means to exchange information and items of equivalent value when necessary, to escape the control of the upper-tier powerhouses.
Bai Yu withdrew her gaze and didn’t press further. She’d heard of these circles before but had never investigated them deliberately.
Her eyes lingered on Underground Boxer for a moment, then swept over Shadow and Tuttle.
These three would not be easy to deal with. Underground Boxer was famous in the Arena, which primarily featured duels between Game Participants. She also took assassination bounties, killing enemies or doing other dirty work for employers. She only quieted down later when there were fewer people and fewer contracts.
Anyone who did this kind of dirty work had unquestionable strength. She was ranked ninth.
As for Shadow, this person was an Assassin, and the title came from that. Anyone given a nickname by others had some real skills.
As for Tuttle, Bai Yu could only recall that this person was a Heavy Knight, specializing in defense.
“Have you seen Dragon Girl?” Bai Yu suddenly asked.
Shen Shuyun shook her head, wordlessly. She knew the relationship between Dragon Girl and Bai Yu. She wasn’t about to court death by wading into those murky waters.
“If you see her, contact me directly. You can tell her my location then.”
With that, Bai Yu jumped straight off the building.
Now that she’d revealed herself, she couldn’t just sit back and reap the spoils. If she were audacious enough to try that, she’d be surrounded and attacked, which would waste a lot of her time.
First, she’d confirm if there was a God Statue or any other Evil God relic at the wedding. If not, she’d leave immediately and attend the family banquet.
The location of the God Statue wasn’t hard to guess. If it wasn’t at the funeral or wedding, it had to be either the village Ancestral Hall or Zhao Mingyue’s Uncle’s House.
Seeing Bai Yu descend first, the others didn’t hesitate and jumped down one after another.
Shen Shuyun was the last. From a distance, she watched Bai Yu charge into the wedding banquet like a god of war and couldn’t help but lick her lips.
Bai Yu had asked her to find Dragon Girl and reveal her location once found. The implication was clear: Shen Shuyun could use this location information as a bargaining chip with Dragon Girl, a form of “payment.”
“Let’s go! Crash the bride-snatching!”
“I wonder who the lucky one will be to find Lu Liangting first. As long as it isn’t the Doctor.”
