Author: ThisIsBanana

Hearing that, Fan Dayong got stunned for a moment. Then, immediately realizing what Chen Man just said, he grabbed Chen Man’s arm and asked, “What happened? Didn’t you follow them properly? You didn’t grab onto team leader’s clothes?”

Chen Man looked annoyed at himself and explained as he scratched at his hair, “I was trying to wipe the water off my face, and my hand unconsciously…”

Fan Dayong gasped violently and clenched his teeth tightly. He turned his head to look around but it is pitch black everywhere and he couldn’t see anything.

“What should we do now?” Fan Dayong whispered, “The man in black robe warned us not to lose the sound of bell.”

…

The moment the pulling force behind him suddenly disappeared, Gao Yi’s heart tightened. He turned his head to see and… there isn’t anyone behind him. Chen Man and Fan Dayong could not be seen at all. The sound of the bell in front of him continued, and he couldn’t bear to think more about it, so he could only turn his head and continue to walk forward.

Having 2 teammates suddenly disappeared, Gao Yi couldn’t describe how he felt. Originally, his team and Tong Fei’s team formed a 6-member senior team, but now some went missing while some got lost. He is the only one left following the intermediate team. No matter what, it makes him feel a little uncomfortable in his heart. Though he felt heavy in his heart, Gao Yi didn’t say anything to the person in front of him.

…

Chen Man and Fan Dayong stood there for a while, discussing what to do next.

“Chen Man, what should we do now?”

Fan Dayong came from the countryside and is not very cultured. To be able to get to this point, it’s all thanks to Gao Yi who carry him along. If asking for manpower, Fan Dayong can contribute. But if asking for brain power, he can only rest at the side.

Chen Man’s mind is a mess at the moment, but he is trying his best to sort out his thoughts. If he couldn’t find a way to calm himself down, the two of them would just wait here and die. After thinking for a while, Chen Man took out the light from his backpack and turned it on. He adjusted it to the lowest brightness and shone it around, but he could see nothing but the stone walls.

“We can’t just stand here, the bell won’t come back to us. We have to find a way out.” Chen Man said calmly, “Let’s walk around first and be careful.”

Fan Dayong has no comments and immediately nodded in agreement, “Okay, I’ll take the lead.”

Chen Man stopped Fan Dayong and said, “Wait, I’ll take the lead first. Your gun is a long-range weapon and can’t react quickly in case of danger. If we can go back to the village, we’ll join up with Wen Lang and Jiang Dong.”

Fan Dayong’s spirit weapon is a gun, and the bullets inside are steel balls, which can be regarded as long-range attack weapons. On the other hand, Chen Man’s spirit weapon is a big axe. But still, Fan Dayong is moved by his initiative to go ahead. The two relied on the weak light source to grope forward, not daring to go too fast. There is a lot of water vapor wafting from the stone wall. They seeped out from the stone wall and dripped, forming a small pool of water on the ground.

“It’s clammy and cold here. Why does it feel like we are underground?” Fan Dayong pressed his hand against the stone wall and whispered to Chen Man in front of him.

Chen Man reminded, “Be careful. You better hold onto me instead. Don’t touch anything that shouldn’t be touched.”

Fan Dayong immediately retracted his hand and rubbed at his clothes, as if he really touched something terrible. Listening to Chen Man’s words, he felt that his hand didn’t touch a stone wall seeping with water, but a cold python instead.

After walking carefully for a while, forks began to appear in the path, and the dark holes looked particularly terrifying. Chen Man’s face is sullen, and he could only choose a path randomly by fate. At this moment, he only hoped that he could have the same good luck as Lou Fan. Turning around a stone wall, Chen Man immediately stopped. Fan Dayong, who is walking behind, almost collided with him, but fortunately stopped in time. Chen Man immediately grabbed Fan Dayong and ducked to the back.

“There are people in the cave and someone lying on the ground. Let’s take a look first.” Chen Man said to Fan Dayong in a low breath.

Fan Dayong wanted to look inside, but Chen Man pulled him back and mouthed the word ‘Be careful’. Fan Dayong stretched out half of his body and saw that the figure is very dark, kind of like the ghostly being they saw taking off human skin on the shore before. There is a figure on the ground, it’s human indeed as their skin is pale white. That ghostly being is squatting in front of the human, doing something to his limbs.

Fan Dayong had a thought in his heart and couldn’t help feeling agitated all over his body. He turned around and asked Chen Man, “That thing is… skinning people?”

Chen Man’s face is solemn and he nodded with difficulty.

Fan Dayong is an honest man, so hearing that cause a surge of anger to rise from his heart at this moment. He raised the gun in his hand and aimed at the ghost. Suddenly a hand stretched out from the side and stopped him. Then with a clever twist of a hand, the gun is moved to point down instead. Chen Man reacted immediately and raised his axe to slash at the newcomer. A green vine instantly wrapped around his wrist and axe, making him unable to move for a while.

“You two want to die?” Feng Zhi’s cold voice sounded.

Chen Man and Fan Dayong saw that it is Tong Fei’s team of 3.

Tong Fei whispered, “If you want to die, don’t get us involved. There is only 1 ghost here but there are more than a dozen ghosts in the cave next door. According to preliminary estimates, there are nearly 100 ghosts here.”

100 ghosts? If surrounded, even if 1 takes a bite at a time, they can be devoured without leaving a single bit.

Jiang Rou took back her vines, and Fan Dayong took back his gun. Tong Fei made a gesture and took the lead to walk to a nearby cave hole. Feng Zhi and Jiang Rou followed without a word, and Chen Man and Fan Dayong immediately followed.

Seeing Tong Fei’s team here, Chen Man and Fan Dayong immediately settled down in their hearts. They stopped panicking and looked relaxed.

The 5 people walked to a recessed stone wall. The position of this concave wall is very good. They can see the surrounding situation very well and it is not very conspicuous from a distance, so it is not easy to be found at first glance.

Tong Fei looked at Chen Man and asked, “Why are you two here?”

Chen Man paused for a while, then told what happened after they followed Gao Yi into the woods. Then, he talked about what happened after Lou Fan and the others went in to find them, and what happened after they met the black-robed man. Finally, when he reached the part where he lost Gao Yi, his face showed a little uncomfortable expression.

This is indeed his problem.

Tong Fei let out a soft En.

Chen Man asked the girls again how they got here, “Everyone looked around the village and didn’t see you. We only saw your bags in the house and thought you girls went missing. Wen Lang and Jiang Dong are waiting in the village for you.”

Hearing that the 2 members are waiting for them in the village, Jiang Rou smiled and said happily, “Brother Lou and his team are so loyal. Wen Lang actually stayed and waited for us.”

Tong Fei laughed, “These people are too unrestrained. If we’re not in the village, wouldn’t they have waited there in vain and can’t get on the train when the mission ends?”

Although Tong Fei is complaining about the intermediate team, her eyes are full of gentle smiles.

Seeing that the girls are perfectly fine, Chen Man asked strangely, “How did you 3 get here? Because we followed the sound of the ‘village chief’ bell.”

There is a sound in the distance, and the five of them became vigilant. Tong Fei quickly said, “Don’t make a sound for now, we’ll talk about it later.”

The five people stuck close to the wall. After a while, a group of figures walked through the cave not far away. They are all dark figures, and they are the ghostly things in the village.

Chen Man suddenly felt that he seemed to know how Tong Fei’s team got here. When the ghosts disappeared, Chen Man asked in a low voice, “Did you girls follow those things into the water, from the lake to this place?”

Tong Fei raised her eyebrows to look at Chen Man and praised, “I didn’t expect you to be smart this time.”

Hearing that, Fan Dayong’s eyes widened, “You 3 are too daring. To follow those ghosts to the lake…”

Although in Lazuli, risks have always coexisted with benefits, this risk is also a little too great.

“How can we find their lair if we don’t come down?” Feng Zhi asked coldly, “Also, the ‘village chief’ has to pass through here, it means that this place is very important to them. Finding this place is one of the clues. It’s just that right now, should we kill these ghosts or wait first? That’s the question.”

Tong Fei recalled what Chen Man said and thought for a moment. Then she said, “I think it’s better to wait until Lou Fan and the others get the clues and come back. Let’s go back to the village to meet with Wen Lang and Jiang Dong.”

After Tong Fei’s team first entered the cave, they deliberately left a mark along the way so it is easy to find the way back. Besides, this place is crawling with those ghostly things so they have to go ashore first before the ghosts go back. In case the situation happens where the way back disappears after the sun rises, it will be bad for them.

…

At Lou Fan’s side, they followed the ‘village chief’ through twists and turns for a long time and finally came out of the cave. As soon as they went out, a person is standing on each side of the entrance of the cave, with a long weapon, fiercely guarding the entrance. At a glance, they looked like the ancient door gods. The ‘village chief’ stood in front and keep ringing the bell in his hand. After shaking it several times, the 2 ‘door gods’ put down their weapons and gave way.

Lou Fan was a little nervous, but Qin Tan in front is very calm and followed with a steady pace. Lou Fan breathed a sigh of relief after he passed in front of the two guards smoothly. The next moment, he wondered what would happen if one approaches without the bell of the ‘village chief’.

Just as Lou Fan is thinking about it, a loud shout suddenly sounded from behind. The group turned their heads and looked over, only to see a ghost coming out about 10 meters behind them. But the ghost got stopped by 2 guards. When that loud shout sounded, the guards stabbed their weapons straight into the ghost’s body. The next moment, the ghost disappeared. As if nothing happened, the 2 guards returned to their original positions mechanically, still glaring at each other.

The guards didn’t say any warning and simply stab down, it kind of hurts to look at. After returning to their senses, the group of people did not know if they had passed the customs, but they still followed closely forward.

The road is sandwiched between 2 mountains. A gentle slope goes up, and when the group reaches the top, they knew that they have arrived on the side of the holy lake.

The clear and icy blue lake water appeared in front of them. The top of the gentle slope turned out to be a lake. The fishes in the water are swimming happily, and a gust of breeze blew. It only made people feel like the clear lake water is blowing on their faces with the wind, and it is refreshing. Looking further forward, a city stands by the lake with one side adjacent to the lake, and a tall city wall surrounds a prosperous town. In the dark, bright lights are shining from the city, as bright as day.

This is very different from the situation on the other side of Ghost Lake.

The ‘village chief’ walked to the city gate with the group of people following behind him. The city gate is wide open, and the bustling scene of people coming and going inside could be seen from the outside. Everyone in the group looked at each other and saw the surprise in each other’s eyes.

Lou Fan thought to himself, wondering where to find the key clue.

Raw word count: 3053

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Banana: To those who are still reading this, thank you. I’m still alive lol, was too busy with my recent move. I underestimated it, thinking that everything will be done after I moved out from the old place but I forgot about the unpacking at the new place.

For a week, I only clear the space from the door to my bedroom. I felt too tired from coming home after work so I don’t want to do anything else _(;3/ I’ll try to be a bit more consistent next month yo.

Wen Lang and Chen Shuyang are waiting for the man in black robe to come out with some mysterious solution to let the mist disperse (so that they could go back to the village), but the man in black robe just took them to walk for about half an hour. Next, they actually arrived at the edge of the woods.

The man in black robe stopped walking and said to them, “I will send you guys until here. Be careful. If you really are able to connect the two lakes, we will be grateful to you.”

Qin Tan waved his hand and said, “We are not doing it just for you, this is what we’re going to do. We’ll meet again if there is a chance.”

The man in black robe nodded, “Goodbye.”

Lou Fan thought to himself, maybe they will be back in 2 days but now the goodbyes sounded like they will never see him again. He always has a feeling that to complete this task, the man in black must return to his own position. The man might even need their help for this.

The moment they took a step out of the woods, the group returned to the edge of the village, and the village could be seen from a distance. What is even more bizarre is that they came out during the day. When they turned around and took a step back, they didn’t see anything unusual and did not return to the woods either.

“It’s amazing. It looks like we can only go in the woods at night.”

Lou Fan shifted his backpack and walked towards the village, “Come on, let’s meet up with Sister Tong Fei and the girls. Then we need to discuss a plan.”

The group of people walked into the village. It’s still the same as when they first arrived, the village is quiet, a dead silence. Inside a house that has its door open, a figure can be seen standing in the shadows. Walking back to the house where they stayed before, Wen Lang rushed in first, “Sister Tong Fei… eh, why is there no one?”

“No one?” Lou Fan followed, and sure enough, there is no one inside. But their big backpacks are still inside the house, but the smaller bags are missing. Lou Fan frowned and looked around, “Their backpacks are still there, it means that they are still in the village and did not go to the holy lake.”

Qin Tan: “Go out and look around first, maybe they’re outside looking for clues.”

Lou Fan nodded, and the group immediately dispersed in the village and began to look for the girls.

Gao Yi followed and said to his team members, “Let’s look for them too. We’ll go to a look at the lake.”

Everyone split up in different directions. Lou Fan swiftly moved and looked around. His furrowed brows became deeper and deeper, and the bad feeling in his heart gradually rose.

Qin Tan followed behind Lou Fan and comforted him, “Tong Fei and the other 2 girls have good skills, they must be fine. Also, their spirit weapons are intermediate level, so ordinary ghosts are not their opponents.”

Lou Fan’s pace gradually slowed down and he sighed, “That’s right, maybe they found something and didn’t have time to leave a mark. Let’s look around again. If there’s still nothing, we’ll go back and make plans for the next step.” Although Tong Fei is important, he still has many companions around him to take care of. Moreover, there is still task to be done, so he can only try his best to find them. If nothing comes out, they can only wait.

“Brother Lou, have you found them yet?” Wen Lang asked eagerly, “Jiang Dong and I looked around, but we didn’t see a single person.”

As Wen Lang is talking, Chen Shuyang and Nie Feng also came back, shaking their heads at them, “No one here, and no clues are found.”

Gao Yi and the others also came back. They looked around the lake, but they didn’t see anyone.

Lou Fan cheered himself up and put down his backpack. He loosened his shoulders and said, “Okay, maybe they found some clues, but it’s too rushed to leave a mark. Let’s make a plan for the next step.”

Gao Yi didn’t say anything so Qin Tan moved in. He took the initiative to take over the planning and spread out a piece of white paper. Next, he took out a marker and started writing.

1. The man in black robe said that tomorrow night will be a full moon night, and we need to follow the bell of the ‘village chief’ to the holy lake.
2. Upon arriving at the holy lake, we need to find out about the passage and how to connect it to the ghost lake.
3. Find out the whereabouts of Tong Fei and the girls.

Qin Tan listed 3 points and Chen Man immediately said, “Wait, Tong Fei and the girls are missing, why do you still need to leave someone to look for them?”

Hearing that, Lou Fan looked at Chen Man with sharp eyes and asked with a harsh tone, “Then, why did we come to save you?”

It is probably the first time that Lou Fan showed this expression so Chen Man got stunned for a moment, unable to speak. Gao Yi pulled at Chen Man and immediately came out to calm the situation.

“It’s right to look for Tong Fei and the others. Maybe they’ve found clues already. Besides, they’re friends, so we should.”

Qin Tan gave Chen Man a cold look and continued, “Then, we should at least divide into 3 groups. One group will stay here while the rest goes to the holy lake. At the holy lake, we must be divided into groups.”

Qin Tan thought for a while, then added, “But the problem is, for anyone who chose to stay here, you may not be able to come over after the full moon. Then, you won’t know where you can get on the train when the task is completed.”

This is a rather troublesome problem.

“If the ghost lake becomes a holy lake, the two sides can be considered to be connected, so we should be able to communicate with each other.” Lou Fan thought for a while and said, “It stands to reason that we should get on the train over here.”

Chen Shuyang chipped in, “That is to say, if we can’t complete the task, it doesn’t matter which side we are.”

Lou Fan nodded, “For anyone who is staying here, go and look for Tong Fei and the girls, Also, I think there should be other paths going to the same place.” Lou Fan has the fish scale suit in his backpack. Maybe there is a channel at the bottom of the lake, he had already planned to go down.

“Who wants to stay here?” Qin Tan asked, looking around.

Lou Fan pursed his lips, he wanted to stay here to find Tong Fei, but…

“I’ll stay here and look for Sister Tong Fei.” Wen Lang said aloud, “I will be here waiting for you guys to come back to me. Don’t worry, I’ll be able to find the three of them for sure.”

Jiang Dong chuckled and immediately said, “I’m with him.”

Lou Fan laughed, “You two are conjoined twins huh.”

Wen Lang clicked his tongue, “Brother Lou, can you stop being so scary? The remark makes me think of ghost stories.”

Lou Fan stopped laughing and asked seriously, “You two really decided to stay here? In case…”

Wen Lang casually said, “Brother Lou, I believe you, don’t you know that yet? Even if we can’t find any useful clues, I believe you can connect the two lakes.”

“So confident in me?” Lou Fan chuckled.

Chen Shuyang nodded, “Yes, we have confidence in you!”

Wen Lang patted Chen Shuyang’s head gently, “I haven’t spoken yet, what are you talking about on my behalf? Go and follow Nie Feng well, and help Brother Lou and Brother Qin to come up with ideas. We will meet in a short time.”

Chen Shuyang nodded with reluctance on his face.

Qin Tan made the decision, “Then, Wen Lang and Jiang Dong will stay here. You two must be careful, Even if you can’t find any clues, it doesn’t matter, safety comes first.”

Jiang Dong agreed, “Yes, you guys need to be careful too.”

With Jiang Dong around, Lou Fan is more at ease. Wen Lang is more impulsive, while Jiang Dong is calm and reliable, so the two match up very well.

That’s the decision for now, so everyone is just waiting for the bell to ring on the full moon night tomorrow.

…

That night, when the twilight is dark, Wen Lang, who was guarding outside, jumped off the stool and rolled to the ground. Then, he cried out, “Brother Qin! Brother Lou! Come out and see!”

Wen Lang’s cry woke everyone up, and they all rushed outside to ask him what happened. Wen Lang pointed to the sky. At this moment, a round and large moon appeared in the sky covered with dark clouds, shining brightly in the sky.

Almost immediately, Qin Tan reacted and said, “Go get your bag first.” As soon as he finished speaking, he rushed into the room and grabbed his and Lou Fan’s bags. Nie Feng then grabbed his and Chen Shuyang’s. Following that, a crisp sound of a bell tinkling appeared.

“Go quickly.” Wen Lang pushed them forward and kept instructing, “Follow the bell and don’t get lost.”

A group of people ran forward following the sound of the bell, and Wen Lang and Jiang Dong followed anxiously, looking for the sound of the bell. After walking around a few houses, he immediately saw the ‘village chief’ shaking a bell as he walked, with 2 people following behind him. They immediately joined in and formed a line.

Lou Fan and the others waved at Wen Lang and Jiang Dong, and whispered, “Go back quickly, those things will come out later to go into the water, so be careful.”

Wen Lang and Jiang Dong kept nodding their heads, indicating that they understood.

Seeing that the group of people followed the bell gradually walking away, Wen Lang and Jiang Dong started to walk back to the house slowly. Wen Lang couldn’t stop looking back, and Jiang Dong pulled him.

“Alright, now. Don’t worry about them, it’s not easy for us here as well.” Jiang Dong said after soothing Wen Lang, “Let’s go to the lake to have a look first, be careful.”

…

Lou Fan pulled at Qin Tan in front of him and whispered, “Didn’t the man say the full moon is at tomorrow’s night, how did it become today?”

Qin Tan shook his head and said he didn’t know. Raising his hand to look at his watch, the time shown is 16 days and a few hours left. The time is right, which means the judgment of the man in black robe is wrong. Or maybe the timing when they were in the woods is wrong. But these are not important now, the important thing is to go to the holy lake to see the situation first.

The group kept quiet, for fear that something unexpected might happen. The fog is rising all around, and slowly they can’t tell the direction. They can only concentrate on following the person in front of them, not daring to get distracted.

Not sure how long they walked, the group finally stopped at a mountain wall. The ‘village chief’ pressed around on the mountain wall, and then quickly rang the bell. Next, a stone door suddenly opened, revealing a stone cave. When the last person, Fan Dayong, stepped into the stone gate, the stone gate closed with a ‘BANG’, and the force is so great that specks of dirt fell down on the mountain wall.

The cave is winding, but the ‘village chief’ does not need light at all, so he simply walks in the dark. For fear of being discovered, the group did not dare to take out their torchlight, so they could only pull the hem of the clothes of the person in front and walk forward.

Not sure where the water droplets came from, it fell on them drop by drop. Chen Man loosened his left hand from the hem of Gao Yi’s clothes in front of him and wiped a handful of water droplets on his face. A tinkling bell sounded behind the ear, which is not the same as the bell in front. He listened with his ears tilted sideways. Then he turned his head and is about to ask Fan Dayong about the bell, his right hand slipped and lost grip on Gao Yi’s clothes. He panicked in his heart, and immediately grabbed forward, trying to grab the hem of the clothes again, but this time he came back empty.

“Team leader?” Chen Man called out in a trembling voice.

Fan Dayong behind Chen Man asked in confusion, “Hey, Chen Man, what’s wrong with you?”

“Dayong.” Chen Man stopped and couldn’t take a step anymore. He doesn’t dare to take a step forward. His voice is trembling as he said, “We got separated from the team leader and the others.”

Raw word count: 3011

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The person in black robe who was leading the group made a stop gesture to them so they stopped walking.

As Jiang Dong leaned over with a serious expression, he saw Lou Fan’s expression and asked, “You found out too?”

Wen Lang and Chen Shuyang heard that but they looked confused, even Nie Feng turned to look at them. Lou Fan nodded.

“What’s the matter? Don’t talk in riddles.”

Jiang Dong’s voice sounded dry as he whispered, “I think they are the villagers, but they were skinned…” He couldn’t help shaking when he spoke the last few words.

“What?!”

A few of them exclaimed in a low voice, and immediately covered their mouths. Then they turned to see the people who exposed their hands while working.

The people wore black robes, and most of them also wore a pair of black gloves. Only the two of them did not wear them. The exposed hands are light red as if the flesh and blood had been exposed to the air for a long time. It felt like it has been air-dried and there are very obvious texture lines. It really looked like the kind of model that hospitals use to show the skeleton of the human body. There is no skin, only flesh, and blood.

This truth is a bit cruel. Lou Fan’s team only thought the villagers are forced to leave the village and enter the forest because the ghosts in the lake came ashore. But it would be absolutely tragic if they got driven into the forest after being skinned by the ghosts.

“This also explains why they wear black robes and gloves all the time. Black robes block direct sunlight, while gloves reduce the friction between flesh and objects. Human skin is inherently delicate, let alone flesh and blood. Even wearing black robes, I think the friction of the fabric on them will make them feel very uncomfortable.”

Just thinking about that feeling makes the team feel sore in their teeth.

When the black-robed man came back, everyone returned to their normal expressions without showing any extra emotions. The man in black robe took them to a hole in a wall next to them, and there are the same 5 people who were leading them earlier.

“Have you seen those things in the village?” One of the men in black robes asked.

The man’s voice came from under the black robe, with an indistinguishable mechanical sound and the ‘bzzt’ sound of electric current. It should be some kind of voice changer, and maybe it has been too long so it sounded a little damp.

Qin Tan walked forward and answered, “Yes, we have seen them. At night, they will enter the ghost lake and comes back at dawn. They will resume wearing the human skin and living in the village, but they don’t walk around the village during the day.”

Hearing that, the black-robed man is silent.

Lou Fan asked, “Those things invaded the village and drove you away?”

The black-robed man shook his head without explaining.

Lou Fan thought about it and said, “Actually, we still have something to ask, but before that, we can give you a helping hand. What do you need us to help with?”

At the side, Chen Man looked anxious. He tried to open his mouth to speak several times but managed to suppress it. After Lou Fan finished speaking, he couldn’t help but cut into the conversation, “2 of our companions are still with you, what did you do to them? Hurry up and hand them over.”

Lou Fan’s eyes bulged, he almost felt like knocking Chen Man’s head out. Wen Lang swiftly pulled the man back roughly and he staggered.

“What are you doing?!” Chen Man roared lowly in dissatisfaction.

Wen Lang: “You asked what am I doing? Aren’t we asking for clues here? Are you stupid?”

Chen Man gritted his teeth, “But you can’t ignore about team leader!”

“Who says we are going to ignore him? But is saving Gao Yi out the most important thing here? Do we not need clues? Are we not leaving this world anymore?”

Wen Lang continued mocking Chen Man, “Plus, Brother Lou said we will save him, so we will definitely save him. If you don’t believe us, then how about you come here by yourself? But can you even reach this place? I don’t know how many times you will fall into a trap already.”

Those words made Chen Man angry but he didn’t dare to speak. Everything Wen Lang said is correct so he couldn’t say anything to refute it. Without this team, he wouldn’t be able to protect himself, let alone save his team leader. After being criticized by Wen Lang, Chen Man closed his mouth and shrank to the back of the group.

The man in black robe heard the argument and asked, “Are those two your companions?” After he finished speaking, he went out and came back shortly after. Then he said to Qin Tan and the others, “We don’t need your help with anything. When your companions come out, you should leave.”

Qin Tan stopped the man and asked, “You should be the village chief, right? We want to know if there is a passage between the holy lake and the ghost lake, and how can we get through it?”

The black-robed men fell into silence. Though they didn’t speak, and their expressions couldn’t be seen, Qin Tan and his team members knew that the men are staring at them.

“You want to know about the passage between the holy lake and the ghost lake? What is your purpose?” The hoarse old voice seemed to be squeezed out of his throat, and every word is laborious.

Qin Tan explained calmly, “Our purpose is to help you. I think that the reason why you lost your skin and couldn’t be in the sunlight is because of the ghost lake. If the ghost lake can be turned into a holy lake, it will be a good thing for you.”

“Team leader Qin!”

Gao Yi’s voice drifted over, and he entered the cave in a blink of an eye. Seeing that everyone is there, Gao Yi breathed a sigh of relief, followed by Fan Dayong. The two appear normal, uninjured, and in good spirits. Seeing Chen Man, Gao Yi walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

“I didn’t expect you to come, Team leader Qin. Thank you so much.” Gao Yi thanked, full of gratitude.

Qin Tan smiled and said, “It’s been 2 days since you went into the forest. We don’t have any clues outside. So we have to come in and see either way. It’s all a matter of convenience. Don’t be so polite.”

Wen Lang snickered behind and whispered to Chen Shuyang, “Brother Qin is also a slippery guy now.”

What Qin Tan actually meant was, ‘We have a mission to do anyway, and it is just along the way to save you. If it’s not along the way, we will not necessarily take the initiative to save you, so there is no need to thank us.’

Chen Shuyang also laughed softly.

Jiang Dong and Nie Feng’s eyes met, and there is a hint of helplessness and doting in their eyes.

Gao Yi remained smiling as if he didn’t understand the meaning of Qin Tan’s words.

The old voice sounded again, “You guys take a rest first. Let me discuss this with the villagers, and I will come to you again.”

Qin Tan made a gentlemanly gesture and said, “Please (Go ahead).”

Seeing the 5 black-robed men leave, Lou Fan said, “It seems that that old man is the village chief.”

Qin Tan nodded, “The old man should be using his own voice.”

Jiang Dong: “They haven’t spoken for too long, which has caused their vocal cords to degenerate. I think they haven’t spoken for many years.”

Lou Fan looked out and saw that there are dozens of people in the cave. Most of them are engrossed in their work and hardly communicated, so it makes sense that they don’t speak much.

Since it took some effort to find this place, everyone sat down to eat to replenish their strength. The villagers have returned the bags to Gao Yi and he sat with his 2 teammates with a serious face. On the other side, Lou Fan’s group sat together with a relaxed and happy expression.

Not making them wait too long, the man in black who had spoken to them with a voice changer came in and stood in front of Qin Tan and the others. Then, he stayed silent for a moment.

Qin Tan and the others stood up immediately. The man in black robe turned to look at Gao Yi, who is still sitting. Next, he raised his hand and pressed down on Qin Tan and the rest.

“Just sit down and listen to me.”

The man paused and sat next to them. Then he said slowly, “After we discussed it, we decided to tell you about the legend of the 2 lakes. A long time ago, it was said that the holy lake and the ghost lake were originally connected, but they were destroyed by a curse and got divided into two. The water of the holy lake is clear, refreshing, and sweet, while the water of the ghost lake is black and unconsumable. Whoever drinks the water of the ghost lake, whether humans or livestock will die.”

“Our ancestors were expelled to live in the ghost lake because of their crimes. It is difficult to survive, but not impossible to live. However, 3 generations ago, I didn’t know what happened, and evil ghosts rose from the ghost lake and went ashore at night. After that…”

The man stopped and fell into silence.

No one bothered the man, patiently and quietly waiting for him to speak again.

“In the legend, as long as the holy lake and the ghost lake are connected, the water of the holy lake flows into the ghost lake. The golden fish and blue fish will swim into the ghost lake together, and the ghost lake will become like the holy lake. The black water becomes sweet and clear holy water, and we’ll go back to where we were…”

The man turned his head and said to the group of people, “This is all the information we know, the passage is said to be at the holy lake’s side.”

Lou Fan listened quietly and thought about it. Then he asked, “Are the golden fish and blue fish also in the holy lake?”

The man in black robe said, “We have never seen these two kinds of fish.”

As if the man is accustomed to speaking again, his speaking frequency increased, and became more proficient. Although the sound quality is still unpleasant, the sentences are coherent now.

Lou Fan tapped his fingers and pondered, “Then we need to go to the Holy Lake to investigate first.

“I wonder how long it takes to get to the holy lake from here? Have you been there before?”

The man in black robe replied, “I went there once when I was a child. You need to follow the ‘village chief’ in the village. He will ring the bell as he walked. You must follow him closely and don’t get lost. After passing the checkpoint, you can move freely. However, If you want to return, be sure to follow him too. I remember on the night of the full moon every month, he will go there once.”

Qin Tan asked, “Then when will he returns?”

“He will return in 3 days.” The man in black robe calculated the time and said, “Tomorrow will be the night of the full moon.”

The time left is too tight. Lou Fan looked at Qin Tan, “We have to hurry back to the village to meet Tong Fei.”

Qin Tan nodded and asked the man in black robe, “Is there any other important information?”

The black-robed man shook his head.

Qin Tan stopped asking, and said, “Then, we will have to bother you to tell us how to get out from here.”

The woods only appeared at night and they lost their way as soon as they entered. The fact that they found the villagers’ settlement is purely by accident.

The black-robed man nodded, turned, and left. The group of people followed immediately, and Gao Yi’s team also stood up to follow.

Chen Man whispered in dissatisfaction from behind, “Team leader, in my opinion, these people from the intermediate team are ignorant. You don’t know but that time I was trying to look for you but they only knew to ask for clues right away. I don’t see them trying to save us at all.”

Gao Yi is not a fool, having been in Lazuli for so long, he is not a naive person either. When people lend a helping hand while trying to find clues, they are very kind enough. There are too many people out there who will ignore to help or throw stones at you when you are down. If you are saved but still wanted to complain about your savior, then that is you thinking too much (of yourself). After all, no one is a Holy Mother, who must selflessly dedicate themself to save all sentient beings.

Gao Yi said lightly, “They have already done a great deed, but you still want them to put our safety above the danger? Is that realistic?”

Raw word count: 3048

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The visibility of the forest is a bit low so all they can see is a human figure hanging from a branch from a distance.

“Wait, it shouldn’t be a hanged ghost*, right?” Wen Lang said, sticking out his tongue.

*people died from being hanged

Lou Fan chuckled, “Wen Lang, why are you getting less courageous, I’m going to laugh at you.”

Wen Lang stubbornly defended, “Don’t you think the long tongue from a hanged ghost is disgusting?”

“Let’s go and see.” Qin Tan observed the figure but he couldn’t tell whether it is a human or something else. He could only roughly see the shape of a person.

With ropes tied around their waists, the group of 6 people headed toward the tree together. As they walked nearer, they found that the figure’s clothing is quite familiar. When they got close, the figure turned out to be Chen Man who went into the forest with Gao Yi. He is hanging upside down at the moment and his eyes are closed; not sure whether he is still alive or dead.

Qin Tan took a few steps forward. He reached out to check for a breath, but was pulled by Lou Fan, “Be careful.”

Qin Tan made a sound of acknowledgment and stretched out his hand. Then, he sensed a weak breath from Chen Man’s nose, it seems that he is just unconscious.

“Come and help me put him down.”

Everyone helped the man down from the tree together. After that, Jiang Dong patted Chen Man’s face and called out his name for a long time but without any response. He took out a bottle and let Chen Man gulp a few mouthfuls of water. Next, Jiang Dong broke a bar of chocolate into smaller pieces and stuffed it into the man’s mouth. With this, they have given Chen Man some necessities; water and food. However, Chen Man still didn’t respond in a while so Jiang Dong took out some medicine from his bag and fed him 2 pills.

“This medicine’s effect is a bit like a Jiuxin pill.” Seeing everyone staring at him, Jiang Dong explained. (Pic link here, can’t embed for some reason)

After a while, Chen Man finally woke up. Seeing 6 heads hovering on top of his head, he screamed out in fright and startled the people instead.

Wen Lang covered his heart, “My god, what with the weird scream? It scared me to death.”

Chen Man finally came back to his senses and sat up with his hands on his back, “It’s really you guys, why did you come in?”

Jiang Dong helped the man up and handed a bottle of water over. He said, “You guys have all been in here for a day and a night, so we thought to come in to find you and see if there are any clues by the way.”

Seeing that Chen Man is soberer now, Qin Tan asked him, “What’s the matter with you guys, what happened?”

“One day and one night?” Chen Man shook his head, frowned, and said, “After we entered the forest, we got lost and couldn’t tell the direction at all, so we could only go by feeling. When it is getting dark, we somehow fell into a trap and the fall caught us dazed. Suddenly, a group of people in black robes appeared. They were all wearing black robes and big black hats, and we couldn’t see their faces at all. They took team leader and Dayong. I yelled a few words at them, and ended up getting hung up.”

The 6 people: …

It’s a real-life version of getting into trouble from a bad mouth. If they didn’t go into the forest or didn’t see him at the tree, maybe this man will starve to death here.

Qin Tan asked, “Is that trap nearby here? Are there no sharp objects in it?”

Chen Man shook his head, “I don’t know. They tied us up and walked for a while before hanging me up. The trap is very deep, and there are no sharp objects in it.”

“Do you know where Gao Yi and Fan Dayong were taken?”

Chen Man shook his head dejectedly, “I don’t know. After I got hung up, I watched them being taken away, but I really don’t know where to go. Everywhere looked almost the same in the woods.”

The woods are indeed similar at first glance, and even the trees are similar in size.

When Chen Man had rested for a while and his physical and mental strength recovered, Lou Fan chose a direction at will. Chen Man has no objection to that. After all, if they let him choose, he would only point in a direction randomly.

Not long after walking, Qin Tan stopped Lou Fan and pointed forward. Lou Fan remained at his spot, and the people behind him didn’t move either, staring at Qin Tan who is going forward. Chen Man looked forward carefully for a long time but found nothing wrong. But he thought in his heart that it should be a trap since they got into one before.

Qin Tan took a few steps forward and stopped at a place that didn’t seem to have any abnormality with the surrounding environment. There is a small stone half a meter in front of him. After looking at it carefully for a while, he poked it with his Tang sword and then moved it to the side. After the observation is almost done, he found a large rock not far away that is about a person’s arm width and lifted it. Walking to the place where he had marked, Qin Tan slammed the stone down hard. The stone fell with a thud, and a deep pit immediately appeared where it was hit. This time, there are sharp wooden thorns in the pit, which made the hair of the people stand up.

Lou Fan walked to the pit and glanced down, “Tsk tsk tsk, fortunately, our brother Qin has first-rate detection ability. If we fall, we might lose a layer of skin even if we don’t die.”

Wen Lang and Chen Shuyang immediately nodded in agreement, and Chen Man is even more glad that they didn’t fall into this kind of pit earlier. Otherwise, the spikes would poke a hole in their bodies.

Looking forward, Qin Tan’s eyes are sharp, and he said solemnly, “There are still traps ahead. You guys just follow behind me. It will take too much time to find them one by one.”

Everyone looked in the direction immediately, and although they didn’t see where the traps are, they didn’t doubt Qin Tan’s judgment at all, and they all looked serious.

“Does this mean we are close to where they live?” Lou Fan said.

Qin Tan nodded, “It’s very likely. Generally speaking, the closer one is to a residence, the more traps laid to defend against beasts and enemies.”

Chen Shuyang puzzled said, “Doesn’t that means we are getting closer to the range of human activities? Then there should be traces of life, but there are none here at all.”

Nie Feng patted Chen Shuyang’s head and said, “What do you mean by none? There are there, it’s just a bit primitive.”

Chen Shuyang looked at the place Nie Feng pointed, and saw some stones and bones around the pit. Looking closely, it looked a bit like a stone knife and a bone knife.

Chen Shuyang stared and looked at Nie Feng in disbelief, “You are not talking about those, right?”

Nie Feng: “Why not? It’s just a little primitive.”

Chen Shuyang muttered, “It’s not just a little primitive, it IS primitive.”

Lou Fan looked at the tools thoughtfully and Qin Tan called him, asking everyone else to follow him. The group walked carefully on the road, everyone followed Qin Tan and walked slowly. After a few steps, Qin Tan would stop to check and then walk again. They cautiously walked for half an hour like this.

Half an hour later, a stone mountain appeared in front of them. Though they said it’s a stone mountain, it’s not exactly a mountain. The mountain is not high, but the stone wall is black. Qin Tan stopped to observe the stone wall, and the others also looked around.

There are many traces of human life around, but as Nie Feng said, these traces of life are very primitive. There are some stone stools and knives around, and there is a piece of land that has been dug out. The primitive part is just the tool, but the cultivated crop is not the primitive style.

Qin Tan walked to the place where the stone wall looked sunken in, it looked like a cave. He knocked around and crouched down to check.

“There’s an entrance here.” Qin Tan pulled open a place that is blocked by something, so he couldn’t see it from the outside.

Lou Fan looked at the entrance and guessed, “Could this be where they live? Shall we go down and see?”

Chen Man immediately said, “Of course we have to go down. Team leader and Dayong are held below. We are going to save them.”

Wen Lang sneered, “We won’t come here if we don’t want to help you. But we have to plan first if we want to go down. Or, do you want us to just rush in like this? Can that save anyone?” He really hates this kind of person who only cares about himself. Is the whole world his mother?

Hearing that, Chen Man’s face flushed from the anger, and he could only turn to look at Qin Tan. After all, Qin Tan is the team leader here, and it is the team leader who had the final say.

Lou Fan thought for a while and said, “Don’t get anxious, we have to say hello first. I don’t think those people in black robes are malicious. If they really want to do something to you, they won’t save your life.” After he finished speaking, he asked Qin Tan to pull open the entrance, revealing a hole with dug-out mud steps below.

Lou Fan cleared his throat and shouted to the entrance of the cave, “Everyone, we are strangers passing by the village outside the ghost lake and we saw the real faces of the villagers by chance. Afterward, we strayed into the woods, and our companions met you guys. I think you have encountered difficulties, so if you don’t mind, we can help you.”

Wen Lang asked in a low voice, “Brother Lou, you are simply saying that out?”

Lou Fan asked Wen Lang, “Who do you think these black-robed people are?”

Wen Lang thought about it and shook his head.

Chen Shuyang thought for a moment and asked, “Are they real villagers outside?”

Lou Fan nodded admiringly, “Yes, I wasn’t sure at first, but along the way, at first glance, these traces of life are made by people who are familiar with labor. Then, there are those primitive tools, surrounding crops, and this hole in a cave. I believe you guys have some guesses already, and I think these people should be villagers who used to live outside the village. The village got occupied by those ghosts, and they had no choice but to go into the woods to live.”

As they are talking, there is still no movement at the entrance of the cave after waiting for a while. Lou Fan asked Wen Lang to shout again, but louder. Wen Lang shouted again according to what he just said but in reality, Lou Fan simply didn’t want to shout.

This time, it didn’t take long for a sound to come from below the entrance of the cave, and then, 5 people in black robes came out. They are completely shrouded in black robes and black hoods on their heads. Not even a trace of their bodies could be seen. The person in the lead is squat and very short, but it can be seen that he is the leader among them. Then, the people stared at them for a long time without speaking.

Lou Fan could only say, “We are really here to help you. We have friends in the village by the ghost lake, and we want to ask you how to get out.”

The man in black robe waited for Lou Fan to finish speaking, then waved at them and walked down the hole first.

Everyone looked happy with the progress and looked at each other. They followed the man in black robe and walked down the stairs. The cave is so dark that there is almost no light, but the man in black robe in front seemed to be unaffected at all and walked very steadily. Lou Fan and the others could only take out their flashlights to illuminate the road and touched their way down.

The stairs are very long, the air is dull, and there is a strong smell of mud. When they felt that it is getting hard to breathe, the group finally set foot on the flat ground.

This is a cave. The cave is lit with torches, not candles. Dozens of people in black robes gather together and they are doing their own work. When they see a few strangers coming, some stop while some are still working.

Lou Fan looked down at their hands that kept moving and suddenly stopped in his tracks. A layer of goosebumps stood up all over his body.

Raw word count: 3031

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Lou Fan opened his mouth to say something but the words rolled around in his mouth, and he swallowed them back. He originally wanted to bring Tong Fei with him, but then he remembered that everyone here is an intermediate spirit weapon holder. The 3 women don’t look weak so their decision is not unreasonable. And so, the plan for the evening is finalized. Qin Tan and his team members will go to the woods, while Tong Fei and the other 2 females will stay back to look for other clues.

The daytime in Ghost Lake Village is gloomy even if it doesn’t rain. The ‘people’ all stay in the house. Since they are ghosts, it makes sense that there is no trace of life. However, staying indoors all day is not an option, so Qin Tan arranged for everyone to go out for a walk to see if they found anything.

“Go in groups of two or three and walk around. If the villagers appear, you can try talking to them but be careful.”

Lou Fan and Qin Tan went to the lake while Tong Fei and the females went to check in the direction of the woods. Wen Lang and the rest wandered around the village.

…

The lake water is black. Lou Fan stared at the lake with heavy eyes, not knowing what is under the lake water. The water is as calm as a black mirror. Lou Fan tentatively walked forward. He crouched down and reached out to touch the water.

“This water can’t be touched casually.” A slow and weak old voice sounded behind Lou Fan.

Lou Fan got startled. His body swayed a bit as his center of gravity is unstable from the squatting, and he looked back. He didn’t hear any footsteps just now so when did the old man get behind him? Lou Fan saw Qin Tan also looking at the old man. It’s obvious that Qin Tan didn’t hear any sound either, otherwise, he would definitely alert him.

The old man had his hands behind his back, his face is expressionless, and his eyes are fixed on the two of them. Lou Fan suddenly smiled and said to the old man, “Old man, I heard that this lake is called Ghost Lake, why is that?”

Lou Fan originally discussed with Qin Tan whether to talk to the NPC again. Although they were all ghosts, since the old man gave them information, he could be considered an NPC. They haven’t gone to the old man yet and he’s already here.

“Ghost Lake is called Ghost Lake.”

Lou Fan still smiling and asked, “Then, what’s in that water?”

The old man who was staring at the water turned his head to look at Lou Fan. It makes Lou Fan wonder if the old man would break free from the human skin and chomp at him with a big mouth in the next moment.

The scene Lou Fan imagined did not appear. The old man only cracked his mouth and smiled stiffly, “The water is full of resentful ghosts. They want to be purified, but they can only linger at the bottom of the dark lake, waiting for redemption.”

Looking at the old man’s stiff smile, Lou Fan felt that his teeth are sore. He wanted to reach out and help the old man to close his mouth.

After the old man said that, he turned around and is about to leave. Lou Fan asked behind him, “Old man, do you need us to save you?”

The old man only stopped and sighed faintly. Saying nothing, he continued to walk forward.

“Hey, such an inexplicable action. What does it mean?” Lou Fan is a little confused and turned to look at Qin Tan.

Qin Tan saw Lou Fan’s curious eyes and said with a smile, “You don’t even know, how can you ask me?”

“I don’t know doesn’t mean you don’t know.”

Qin Tan: “No, if you don’t know, most likely we don’t know.”

Lou Fan is speechless, how does one continue this kind of conversation?

“Why don’t I go down and have a look?” Lou Fan suggested, “I brought both the fish scale suit and the small pearls. I’m not sure there are any clues in the water.”

Qin Tan disagreed, “Didn’t you hear the old man say that there are ghosts underwater? There’s nothing to see, and it’s too dangerous.”

“But……”

Qin Tan interrupted Lou Fan, “Alright, can go down and see, but I’ll go.”

“No, it’s too dangerous.”

When Qin Tan said this, Lou Fan hesitated for a moment. It’s so dangerous that there are all ghosts underwater, so this suggestion definitely won’t work.

Qin Tan leaned over and kissed Lou Fan, “You worry about me, but isn’t it the same for me? Silly.”

Hence, this suggestion is put on hold for the time being. Lou Fan felt that they should go to the woods to explore first. If there is no clue, it will not be too late to go into the water.

The two walked around the lake. Seeing that afternoon is coming soon, the weather became more gloomy. The wind is howling, causing heavy waves to appear on the lake. At the wooden house, everyone has already come back, and it seemed that they didn’t obtain any new information.

Tong Fei: “We went to the place where the forest appeared yesterday. There is nothing there, no trace. The forest is like an illusion.”

Wen Lang and the rest also went around for a while, but they didn’t get any results. The villagers they met didn’t answer any questions. They are no different from dead people. They didn’t pay attention to them at all.

Lou Fan sat down and took a sip of water before saying, “We met the old man by the lake and he said that the bottom of the lake is full of ghosts.”

If Tong Fei ever wondered why Qin Tan’s team could return to Lazuli smoothly every time before this, right now she finally understood something. Everyone went out to look for clues, but almost none of them found anything. The villagers didn’t even respond to them when they asked. But for Lou Fan, they only went out and returned with clues, and it was the NPC who took the initiative to say it.

This is luck. Luck is also a type of strength, and she never doubts it.

Seeing that night is about to fall, several people are getting ready to go. Lou Fan asked Tong Fei again, “Sister Tong Fei, are you guys really not going with us?”

Tong Fei glanced at Feng Zhi beside her. Pursing her lips, she shook her head and said, “No, we’ll just wait here so that there’s someone to support you when you guys come back.”

Since Tong Fei insisted, Lou Fan stopped asking and only told them to be careful, not to worry about those ghostly things, and to wait for them to come back.

“If we don’t come back in 3 days, you guys try to find a way to go to the holy lake. There must be clues there,” Qin Tan instructed.

Tong Fei nodded, “That’s what we planned. If you don’t come out, we’ll go to the holy lake and maybe find a solution. So you can rest assured to find clues and try to get Gao Yi and the others back along the way.”

Tong Fei is not a sheltered flower in a greenhouse at all. Lou Fan thinks he may be just overly worried.

Thick fog rises from the lake, and those beings ripped open their skin and sink into the lake. After the fog enveloped the village, the woods at the back appeared.

The females are very curious about the forest so they followed over to take a look and touched the tree trunk with their hands. After realizing that the sensation is real and not a hallucination, they tutted a few times. The wood is real, but it only appears when the fog comes out, which is really strange.

Standing in front of the woods, Lou Fan is just a step from entering it. He thought about something and then took out a few amulets from his carry bag. He handed them to Tong Fei. “Sister Tong Fei, take it. You all be careful.”

Tong Fei smiled and didn’t take it, “Okay now, I’m not a child. I’ve never noticed that you are such a long-winded person. Didn’t you already give me a few amulets? That’s enough.”

Lou Fan didn’t allow Tong Fei to reject it and forced them to her, “The three of you don’t have enough spells at hand. Take these for backups, we still have more. In case we don’t get back in time, you have to continue to do the task.”

Tong Fei couldn’t refuse and accept it. Then, she started herding them, “Go now, else the fog will disperse soon.”

Wen Lang cheekily wailed, “Sister Tong Fei, are you despising us and trying to drive us away?”

Tong Fei said without guilt, “Hurry up and go, what are you being so slow?”

Lou Fan acknowledged with a smile, and the 6 people walked into the foggy woods. Tong Fei watched from behind with a worried look in her eyes and muttered, “I don’t know if they can find the clues smoothly.”

Hearing that, Feng Zhi’s cold eyes had a hint of a smile, “Your friends are very good. Since you are worried about them, tell them.”

Tong Fei shook her head, “I’m just saying it, there isn’t any problem with their strength.”

Feng Zhi snorted and laughed, “Tsk, ‘a dead duck’s beak is sure tough’ (stubborn).”

The remark caused Tong Fei to be furious and she glared at Feng Zhi. At the side, Jiang Rou covered her mouth and laughed, her shoulders shaking. Tong Fei ignored them and divided the amulets she got among them 3. Feng Zhi took it and looked at her with a surprised look. Looking at her expression, Tong Fei finally found some comfort and explained, “It’s that amulet you thought. It came from their hands, and it is said that it works well.”

Feng Zhi raised her eyebrows. These amulets are not only said to ‘work well’ in Lazuli, it has been blown out of proportion. The amulets are very popular, and as soon as it is listed, it is sold out. Big organizations have long been watching, so ordinary people can’t get it at all.

Tong Fei carried her sword and glanced at the deserted forest. Then she turned around and walked to the shore, “Let’s go, go to the lake to stand guard.”

…

The group of 6 people stepped into the woods. After walking a few steps and then looking back, they cannot see the females outside anymore. There is fog all around, mixed with tree shadows, they can’t tell the right direction at all.

Qin Tan took out the compass exchanged in Lazuli and found that the pointer on it kept spinning. “The magnetic field is disordered, and the compass is useless.”

Wen Lang is not in a hurry at all. He rubbed his hands together, a little excited, “Brother Lou, it’s time for you to show off your style again.”

Lou Fan looked at Wen Lang with a smile and crossed his hands. He said, “Oh, you are treating me as a lucky item, don’t you?”

Wen Lang hehe-ed twice, “Ain’t it because Brother Lou, you are so lucky? Your light shines in all directions, and you are the hope of our entire team.”

“Okay, stop flattering.” Lou Fan interrupted Wen Lang, “Let’s go now and pay heed to the time. Hold each other firmly, don’t get lost.”

They only gotten slightly further in, and Lou Fan can’t judge their position at all. If he really randomly points the direction, he might direct them to a cliff/ditch. Then he won’t have time to regret it.

Jiang Dong pulled a bundle of rope from his bag and handed it out, “Tie the rope around yourself. The fog is too thick here, and it’s easy to get lost. In case some supernatural beings appeared, you won’t even know you are holding the wrong person.”

Wen Lang try to imagine that in his mind and his body shook. Instantly, he tied the rope around his waist without saying a word. After that, he leaned over and whispered to Jiang Dong, “Hey, take good care of me. If I disappear, you are so dead.”

Jiang Dong chuckled, “Isn’t it better if I’m gone? Then you can go to find a better one. You don’t like me anyway.”

Just listen to that aggrieved tone, Wen Lang immediately retorted righteously, “Nonsense, who doesn’t like you? If I don’t like you, I won’t let you do… that thing?” His cheeks became hot after he said that.

Jiang Dong leaned over and said, “Hehe, for your sincere confession to me, I will hold you firmly.”

Wen Lang glared at Jiang Dong angrily. This man’s face is getting thicker and thicker. He doesn’t have the temperament of an ‘angel in a white coat’ at all (doctors and nurses).

When the rope is fastened, a group of 6 people looks like grasshoppers tied on a rope. Fortunately, the rope is long enough to move freely. Otherwise, they might stumble against each other.

“Is there someone lying down in front?” Nie Feng held Chen Shuyang beside him and pointed the other hand to a tree not far away.

Raw word count: 3011

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The village is not big, so Qin Tan and Lou Fan walked around it quickly. The rain had stopped, but the sky is still gray. Water droplets dripped from the eaves and quickly disappeared into the soil. By the time they circled around the village once, the water marks on the ground are almost dry.

“Not a single person around? It’s so strange here.” Suddenly, Lou Fan stopped and looked at the houses nearby. He pulled Qin Tan and said, “Qin Tan, there are people in the houses.”

Qin Tan looked over and probably heard their voices. There are people standing inside, behind the door of the house and every door had someone there. Those people hid in the house and looked out at them. Qin Tan and Lou Fan can only faintly glimpse at them from the little light around. Some of the people are frowning while some are grinning. But no matter how they looked, Qin Tan and Lou Fan only felt that their expressions are strange.

It’s stiff and weird. Lou Fan looked around and had this strange thought in his heart.

“May I ask who is in charge here?” Qin Tan asked. “We just passed by here, but someone in the team is sick so we need to stay here for a few days.”

After Qin Tan finished speaking, it took a long time before someone seemed to understand what he is talking about and pointed a finger in one direction. After thanking the people, Qin Tan and Lou Fan walked over in the direction.

Lou Fan asked suspiciously, “Are all the villagers unable to speak? They are not saying a thing.”

“Not exactly.” Qin Tan said, “The old man we saw earlier, didn’t he speak to us?”

That’s right. Lou Fan followed, but pursed his lips and looked around. Those villagers just now looked very thin. It is no exaggeration to describe them as a bag of bones. Their face is stiff but it’s not completely lifeless.

The two walked along the way and saw the old man that they had spoken to earlier squatting by the door and looking up at the sky. There is nothing in the sky, only thick dark clouds.

“Old man, are you the head of the village?” Lou Fan took a few steps forward and stopped 2 meters away. Then he explained himself like an obedient child, “It’s like this. We passed by here earlier and someone in the team unfortunately fell sick. It is inconvenient to travel, so we want to stay here for a few days.”

Seeing the old man look up at him, Lou Fan immediately added, “Don’t worry, as long as the person recovered, we will leave and we will not disturb you.”

The old man stared at Qin Tan and Lou Fan silently. His eyes are looking straight but there are no emotions in them, like a glass bead.

“Okay.” The old man nodded slowly and said slowly, “The village is remote, so don’t go out at night.”

The two nodded and said okay before leaving under the old man’s heavy gaze.

…

“Brother Lou, you are back?” Wen Lang is standing guard outside the door, waiting for the two to come back. When he saw them returning, he happily asked, “How is it, is there any information?”

Qin Tan nodded and said, “Let’s go in and talk.”

They left the door open so that they could observe the situation outside. Lou Fan and Qin Tan spoke in a low voice inside the house, and the two repeated the old man’s words to the rest of the group.

“Don’t go out at night.” Gao Yi touched his chin and said meaningfully, “Is this a clue for us?”

Apparently, everyone thought so. With this information in hand, everyone discussed to check out what is going on in this village at night.

“Brother Lou, what’s wrong with you?” Seeing Lou Fan in a daze, Chen Shuyang reached out and shook it in front of him.

Lou Fan came to his senses and explained, “I was trying to pinpoint the weird point of those villagers.” His index finger tapped on the table as he said it. Suddenly, his brows furrowed and he said, “Contradiction.”

“Contradiction?” Chen Shuyang is confused, “What is contradicting?”

Lou Fan said solemnly, “It’s the villagers here who give me a contradictory feeling, something is very inconsistent.”

After hearing Lou Fan’s words, everyone immediately recalled what they saw earlier. It indeed really felt out of place. But now the villagers are hiding in their houses so there is no information to obtain. They can only wait to see what’s wrong with the village after dark.

The night wind is cool, and under the dark clouds, there is not a trace of moonlight shining through. The village is dead silent. Wen Lang’s feet are numb from squatting, and none of the villagers appeared. He whispered begrudgingly, “What’s wrong with them? These people didn’t come out during the day, and they don’t come out at night as well?”

There’s a tap on his head and Wen Lang heard Qin Tan whisper, “Shut up.”

At this moment, shadows appeared and people can be seen walking out of their house but everyone looked a little stiff. They walked in the direction of the ghost lake like something is attracting them.

Seeing that no more villagers coming out of the houses, a door gently opened. A group of 12 people walked out lightly, following the villagers from a distance.

The village is not far from the lake, less than 10 meters away. The group saw the villagers standing facing the black lake. They are lined in a row before kneeling down in front of the lake, their movement is uniform. A faint mist rose from the lake, and the mist became thicker and thicker, spreading around.

The group of 12 people stared at the villagers closely, not even daring to blink, for fear of missing something important in the blink of an eye.

Surrounded by fog, the dark clouds above their heads dissipated, revealing a black moon. The villagers stood up and raised their arms as if cheering. Immediately afterwards, a horrifying scene happened that made the group of 12 people hold their breaths and dare not blink.

The villagers tore at themselves and quickly shed the human skin on their bodies as if they are simply undressing. There are no blood splatters like one would imagine. What comes out of the skin is something like a skeleton shrouded in black mist, it should be a supernatural being. The black skeleton, who had taken off its human skin, slowly walked towards the ghost lake. They stepped into the water step by step and sank to the surface of the lake.

In just a few minutes, there are only human skins left on the shore of the lake. The black skeletons disappeared into the water, and the entire village became a dead village.

In the thin mist, 12 people watched with bated breath. Finally, they released the breath they were holding and keep cursing in their hearts ‘Fck!’.

“It turned out to be a ghost in a human skin.” Gao Yi’s expression is bitter, “This mission doesn’t look easy.”

“Let’s go and have a look,” Tong Fei said.

Gao Yi is about to agree when Chen Man by his side tugged at his sleeve, “Brother Gao, look there.”

Everyone looked in that direction and saw that the place was still barren during the day, but now a forest appeared in the fog. Other than that, there is a faint shadow of a mountain behind.

“If I remember correctly, there should be no mountains there.” Tong Fei said with a frown.

There is indeed no mountain during the day, which means this is obviously a problem.

Gao Yi hesitated for a moment and said, “Let’s do it this way. I’ll take Chen Man and Dayong to have a look. You guys will stay here first to find out if there are any other abnormalities in those villagers. As you do that, remember to investigate the surrounding as well.”

Qin Tan: “Captain Gao, do you need me to follow along with you?”

Gao Yi waved his hand, “No need, the three of us will come back after we have a look inside. You guys be careful not to be discovered.”

Tong Fei paused and said, “Then you guys try to return early. This fog seems to only appear at night.”

Gao Yi nodded. After checking his small bag, he walked towards the forest with Chen Man and Fan Dayong. The three stepped forward into the woods, but after a few steps, the people behind them could no longer see their figures.

Seeing the men disappear into the woods, everyone turned their heads to look at Qin Tan.

Qin Tan pondered for a while and said, “Let’s go and check out those human skins first.”

The human skins left on the shore gave them a very uncomfortable feeling. Lou Fan touched the goosebumps on his arm. Most of the human skin looked like they are cut open from the middle, and the facial features of the skin cannot be seen properly. Even Qin Tan felt a little disgusted. After a glance, he stopped looking at it.

Tong Fei and Feng Zhi are very daring. They used their spirit weapon to pick up the human skin and looked at it, then put it down.

“Looking at these, it seems that those things from the lake are pretending to be the villagers,” said Tong Fei. “But what do they want to do? Where did they get the human skins?”

No one could answer these questions at the moment. But one thing is certain, which is these villagers are definitely weird.

Qin Tan pondered for a while, then discussed with Tong Fei and the others, “Let’s go back first. We’ll arrange the vigil and duties for the lookout, and the rest will rest first. We will talk about it when Gao Yi and the others come back.”

Tong Fei nodded in agreement.

…

Nie Feng stared at the lake, his usual lazy eyes that were drooping in the past are now as sharp as an eagle. The fog around is getting thin, and when he looked back, the place where the forest had appeared before is flickering. The fog on the lake surface gradually dissipated, and when the fog became so thin that it is about to fade away completely, the forest disappeared.

Circles of ripples began to appear on the surface of the lake water, and a group of black shadows emerged from the lake. They walked to the shore and began to put human skins on themselves. Wrapped in human skin, they stretched out their hands and feet, as if trying on clothes to see if they fit. Their heads made a creaking sound, and they even knead their facial features and ears, as if there are folds to straighten out.

The sky began to turn bright. Glancing at the time on the watch, Nie Feng took a few steps back and walked quickly towards the house.

In the house, Qin Tan is already awake. Nie Feng greeted Qin Tan and said, “The fog disappeared and those things came back. The time is 5:55. Also, the woods disappeared when the fog cleared.”

Hearing that, Qin Tan’s hand that is covering Lou Fan with clothing paused. He said, “Okay, I understand.”

Nie Feng nodded and walked to Chen Shuyang who is still sleeping by the wall. He straightened Chen Shuyang’s slightly tilted head and sat down next to him. Letting Chen Shuyang lean against him, Nie Feng closed his eyes and rested.

After an hour, everyone woke up. Qin Tan told them about Nie Feng’s discovery and Tong Fei frowned.

“Gao Yi and the others should be trapped.”

Lou Fan: “There may be clues in there.”

Qin Tan turned his head and saw the eagerness in Lou Fan’s eyes. He chuckled lightly, “Let’s go to the woods at night.”

Lou Fan nodded sharply.

There are footsteps outside the house, and everyone immediately moved to the door to see the villagers walking toward their own house. Before this, Lou Fan felt that their movements and expressions are very inconsistent. After knowing that they were just supernatural beings in human skins, the inconsistency immediately made sense.

After Tong Fei and Feng Zhi discussed something, they opened the question to the rest of the group. “Are we going into the woods together at night, or someone will be staying back to stand guard?”

Qin Tan looked at Tong Fei and asked, “What are your plans?”

Tong Fei pursed her lips. To be honest, she wanted to be with Lou Fan and the others. Feng Zhi debated that if everyone went in together, on the off chance that none of them came out, then the mission would not be completed. It is better to divide into 2 teams and Qin Tan’s team to go in and search for clues while looking for Gao Yi. On the other hand, 3 of them (the girls) will stay back in the village, maybe other clues are appearing later on.

There’s nothing wrong with this suggestion, it’s just that Tong Fei subconsciously wants to follow Lou Fan’s team. After all, their team has always survived and returned in a complete group, but what Feng Zhi said is not unreasonable.

Raw word count: 3035

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As soon as Gao Yi saw Qin Tan’s team, he showed a helpless smile, “I didn’t expect to see all of us grouped together. There are a total of 12 intermediate spirit weapon holders. Just thinking about it makes me feel unbelievable.”

Lou Fan has calmed down his feeling. What’s coming will come, they can’t stop it. So he smiled and said, “Brother Gao, this time it’s up to you to bring us together.”

Qin Tan also said, “That’s right. You are more experienced, I hope we can cooperate happily.”

“I will do my best.” That’s what he said, but Gao Yi is full of helplessness inside. With such a combination, he couldn’t even think of what kind of mission world it would be waiting for them. Although he knew the general information about the world, who knows what the situation actually looked like? Even so, he couldn’t show his weak side. It is a matter of morale for the group, so he couldn’t kill hope first.

When everyone arrived, Tong Fei greeted everyone to sit down and introduced the woman beside her, “This is my friend, Feng Zhi. She doesn’t like to talk, so please don’t mind that.” Then, she introduced Lou Fan’s team to everyone again. As for the 2 men on Gao Yi’s side, the strong-looking one is called Fan Dayong, while the other is an ordinary man in his thirties called Chen Man.

Lou Fan saw that Fan Dayong is holding a gun in his hand, Chen Man is holding an axe, and the woman named Feng Zhi had an oil-paper umbrella beside her. Tong Fei’s spirit weapon is a big sword, but Lou Fan has never seen Jiang Rou’s weapon. Same for Gao Yi’s weapon.

“Since everyone has the same mission and the same goal this time, I hope that we will give everyone complete cooperation this time.” Gao Yi took the lead, “I don’t know much of the situation at the moment. After we arrived, let’s check the situation first. To connect the two lakes, it must not be easy. First of all, we can rule out the possibility of using manpower to forcefully connect them…”

Gao Yi is worthy of being one of the managers of the intermediate weapon club. He has rich experience, clear thinking, and a well-organized speech, which undoubtedly gave everyone a lot of confidence and he faintly exuded the aura of the leader of the team.

After the discussion, Lou Fan’s team went to the registration office and listed 10 sets of spells to be sold. The price is very high, but they got sold out not long after they were released. When Lou Fan saw the huge amount of points he received, he clicked his tongue twice, “These people… they won’t be thinking about some strange ideas, right? They are fighting so fiercely over the amulets.”

Immediately, Lou Fan gave half of the points to Jiang Dong, “Jiang Dong, prepare more medicines. If you don’t have enough points, ask me again for it. I’ll prepare the food. It seems that points spend on upgrading the weapons are wasted this time.”

Before this, Lou Fan had upgraded the weapons of every team member to the next level, but now it seems that it is useless in a supernatural world.

“It’s not necessarily a waste. Close-combat weapons will always have a chance to be used, so you just don’t need to bring large weapons.” Qin Tan specially reminded Chen Shuyang that he didn’t need to bring his spear because it is really useless to carry those things around.

“Shuyang, did you feel any discomfort after drawing the amulets?” Lou Fan leaned over and asked.

Chen Shuyang thought for a while, “No, I feel good.”

Lou Fan nodded, “Okay, then draw as many as you can before our departure. We have to prepare some on hand for emergencies.”

After the assignation of duties, Jiang Dong and Wen Lang went to prepare medicines. Chen Shuyang focused on drawing more amulets with Nie Feng monitoring him, while Lou Fan and Qin Tan prepared food, water, and gadgets that might be used.

At 7.00 am on the 3rd day after the task announcement, Qin Tan’s team members gathered together in the living room, each carrying a large backpack. Lou Fan had Furball perching on his shoulders. He turned his head and looked around the living room to confirm that he didn’t miss out on anything. After that, they closed the door and walked towards the station.

Everyone agreed to meet up at 8.00 am, but when they arrived, the rest of the people had already arrived. Everyone is very proactive. The time is approaching 9.00 am, and no other team can be seen. Everyone knew that this time, the selected people should be just the two of their teams.

“Get ready, the train will be here soon.” Gao Yi stood up and threw his backpack on his back.

Everyone put on their backpacks and waited for the train’s whistle. At this moment, some people appeared out of nowhere. Some of them are familiar, but most of them had never been seen before.

“Good luck! You must come back.”

“Brother Lou, all the best.” Lin Man Man forced a smile. Her eyes are a little red, and she said to Tong Fei, “Sister Fei and Sister Rou, you too, take care of yourself.”

“All the best to you guys!”

“Good luck!”

Everyone did not expect that so many people would appear to support them, so they could only nod their heads and accept their blessings.

Boarding the train, the train drove away when the time is up. Those who came to see the teams off watched as the train disappears out of sight. There are sounds of constant discussions.

“Do you think they can come back safely?”

“Of course, they have 12 intermediate spirit weapons!”

“They are very powerful!”

“Yes, that’s right. They are high-leveled passengers.”

But saying this sounds like they are cheering each other up, filling each other with hope, as if as long as the teams can come back safely, there is still hope for everything. However, some people sighed about the difficulty of the task that can be done by 12 intermediate spirit weapon holders.

…

The weather is so gloomy that it seemed like it is going to rain at any time. After everyone got out of the train, they saw the lifeless environment around them and immediately decided to go to a place with no dark clouds. Next to them is a lake, the water is so dark and gloomy that it is impossible to see what was in it.

“This should be the ghost lake, it’s gloomy and dreary.” Gao Yi said. Then he told everyone to take their spirit weapons out and be vigilant.

There are many skeletons by the lake, all of which appear to be animals. They are piled up by the lake in large and small, and some of them are weathered out of shape. Strong winds blew from all directions, bringing up an unpleasant stench. Then, the rainstorm poured down, and everyone took out the prepared raincoats and put them on. Fortunately, the quality of Lazuli’s things is good. The rain has a burning sensation when it hits their body, and the surrounding bones make a small sizzling sound. But after putting on the raincoat, they don’t feel anything from the rain at all.

In the rainstorm, Fan Dayong, who is walking in the front, pointed to the front and shouted, “Look, there seems to be someone living there.”

Lou Fan had already vaguely seen a village ahead. It is sparsely populated so he can’t see how many families there are.

Gao Yi: “Let’s go over first. Everyone, pretends to be outsiders, talk less and observe more.”

Hearing that, Lou Fan is a little confused. Shouldn’t they ask more instead? But he didn’t say anything, just wanted to see the situation first.

The teams quickly ran into the village, only to find that the village is deadly silent. There is no sound, not even a guard dog like in an ordinary village. What’s even more strange is that this village doesn’t even seem to be alive, and there is no trace of life.

“Anyone there?” Gao Yi shouted loudly, “Anyone? We just passed by here and wanted to get a shelter from the rain.” He shouted twice in a row, and finally, an old and weak voice answered, “Who are you?”

Everyone looked over and saw an old man appearing by the door of a house. He is so skinny that he could only be described as a bag of bones. His eyes are empty, without a trace of expression, and his entire face is even more expressionless.

Gao Yi said loudly, “Old man, we are just passing by here. Unexpectedly, it started raining suddenly so we want to find a place to take shelter from the rain.”

The old man responded slowly, raised his finger, and pointed to a house next to him, “Go to that house, and leave when the rain stops.” After saying this, he turned around and walked into the house. The house is so dark inside that it is impossible to see the interior from the outside. They can only see the figure of the old man disappearing into the house.

Gao Yi glanced around and whispered to everyone to go over and take shelter from the rain.

The house beside the old man’s house is also very dark. As soon as they walked in, they couldn’t see anything at all, so someone immediately took out a flashlight to illuminate the room. The house is very simple, with only a table, a bed, and a stool, and there is an unpleasant smell inside.

Taking off his raincoat, Wen Lang muttered, “This village is even weirder than the small fishing village we’ve been to. At the very least, there are people there.”

Jiang Rou folded her raincoat and put it away. Then she took out a towel and wiped the ashes on the table, and said, “What’s so strange? There are so many weird places in the mission world, this is already considered normal.”

It’s not surprising anymore when one has experienced more.

Gao Yi stuck his head out of the house and looked around again. Then he returned and said, “It looks like it will rain for a while, so let’s think of a reason to stay.”

“Just use the usual reason – traveling.” Chen Man said.

Gao Yi nodded, “We’ll use this first. If it doesn’t work, we’ll say that someone in the team is sick and needs to stay for a few days.”

On the other side, Lou Fan’s raincoat is picked up by Qin Tan to tidy up. Lou Fan leaned over and asked Qin Tan, “Qin Tan, did the Lake Rakshastal you went to look like that?”

Qin Tan’s hands kept moving, he shook his head and said, “It’s different. Although it’s still called the ghost lake, it’s just called that in private. There are no ghosts in the lake and it’s not black. It’s just not drinkable.”

Lou Fan uttered an ‘en’ and propped his chin up in thought.

The task period is 21 days, and the time is not short. It can be said that there is plenty of time for missions that require them to just fight monsters. But if it is a supernatural task with a plot, it is actually not easy to do. This quest is similar to the Lao Ye Temple quest in the small fishing village, but that one can be cleared by killing the monsters, and violence can solve everything. The difference with this supernatural world is that they don’t know where the key point of the task is. His fingers tapped lightly on the table. If he has to make meaning out of it, the easiest thing to think about is that there are ghosts causing trouble where the 2 lakes are connected.

“The rain has stopped.”

Lou Fan was thinking about it when suddenly Fan Dayong shouted. He stretched out his head and looked outside for a long time, then retracted to look at everyone, “No one came out.”

When it rains, it’s normal that no one is outside. Now that the rain has stopped, it’s fine if some people wanted to continue to rest, but 12 outsiders just arrived, and there is not one person coming forward to ask them about their purpose. This plot is not right.

Tong Fei is carrying a large sword. Her spirit weapon is too conspicuous, and she couldn’t hide it. So she said, “Someone, go and ask the villagers. Find an excuse to talk, we can’t just sit and wait.”

Everyone agreed. Gao Yi is about to pick a name when Lou Fan said, “Let me go out to ask.”

Lou Fan’s appearance is clean and good-looking, and he makes people feel good about him at first glance. No one will be hostile to him. He is indeed a good candidate.

Gao Yi: “Okay, then you go, be careful.”

Qin Tan: “I’ll go with you.”

Qin Tan said to Lou Fan, Lou Fan nodded, and the two went out together. The torchlight in the house is replaced by solar lamps, and the two left. For a while, no one in the house spoke and stayed silent.

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On the afternoon of the 4th day they returned to Lazuli, Lou Fan went to Tong Fei’s house, wanting to ask her what her mission is this time. Tong Fei’s next mission should be a Level 12 mission. Thinking of Chen Shuyang’s inference, Lou Fan is still a little worried, and he also planned to ask Tong Fei if she found out about the organization that ‘pitted’ them.

“What? Your next mission isn’t released yet?” Lou Fan frowned.

On the contrary, although Tong Fei looked helpless, she is not anxious, “Recently, the schedule of Lazuli’s task release is a bit messy. Many people’s task release time is wrong so it is nothing unusual.”

Lou Fan thinks it makes sense. It’s not a good thing for things to get messy, but it’s out of their control.

“Have you found out who ‘pitted’ your team?”

Tong Fei snorted. With hatred in her eyes, she said, “I spent a lot of points to check and found out something. Have a guess?”

“Me?” Lou Fan felt a little inexplicable by Tong Fei. His team had very little dealings with the organizations in Lazuli. They only encountered 1 organization since they came to Lazuli, and the other party was completely annihilated in the mission world. He tentatively asked, “Could it be the Black Scorpion?” After thinking about it, Lou Fan felt that he only know 1 organization.

Tong Fei nodded, “Now, try guessing who planned it.”

Almost without thinking, Lou Fan blurted out, “Qi Haichao?”

Tong Fei clenched her fist and slammed the sofa hard, “I’m really blind. I’m the one who led the wolf into the house, otherwise, Xiao Yun would be able to…”

Lou Fan sighed and comforted Tong Fei, “That can’t blame you, Sister Tong Fei. They came prepared with a deliberate plan. If the perpetrator is not Qi Haichao, there would be He Haichao or Zhang Haichao (it could be anyone), you didn’t know it in advance. How to prevent it?”

Although the comfort is futile, Lou Fan can only try to ease her pain like this. Otherwise, she will put the responsibility on herself, and she will be even sadder.

Tong Fei gritted her teeth, “I can’t do anything to them now, but don’t blame me if they bump into me during the mission.”

Unexpectedly, Qi Haichao is actually a member of the Black Scorpion. He sure hides himself deeply. Lou Fan simply thought that he was trying to get some benefits from Tong Fei. Lou Fan changed the subject and told her about Chen Shuyang’s analysis.

Tong Fei frowned tightly and asked, “That is to say, the level is not important and the important thing is the upgrade of the spirit weapon?” She stayed silent for a moment, and then said, “Does that mean that if one doesn’t upgrade the spirit weapon to advanced level before the Level 15 mission, the person won’t be able to go out from Lazuli, and it will end at Level 15?”

Hearing that, Lou Fan is stunned. As if the information suddenly clicked, he finally understood. He stood up abruptly, with an imperceptible trembling in his voice, “Yes, it must be the case. If the spirit weapon cannot be upgraded to the highest level before the Level 15 mission, the person will be obliterated by Lazuli.”

All the information seemed to be connected now. Lou Fan grabbed his hair and almost wanted to shout, “Does that mean that no matter how high one’s level, as long as their spirit weapon is upgraded to advanced level, it is possible for them to get out of Lazuli? It must be like this, it must be!”

Lou Fan turned around twice anxiously. After excusing himself from Tong Fei, he immediately ran back. He is going to tell his team about the news. It is too important, the truth must be so.

Lou Fan has just entered the house, and Chen Shuyang saw him at a glance. He rushed over to grab Lou Fan, and said excitedly: “Brother Lou, I know! I know what is it! The crucial point is the level of our spirit weapon, while our own level is a limitation. If we can’t upgrade our spirit weapon to advanced level before the Level 15 mission, I think we won’t survive that world. Simply put, there will only be death for us.”

Lou Fan got stunned for a moment, then laughed. He patted Chen Shuyang on the shoulder for a long time and said, “You really are our team’s little genius. I was discussing it with Sister Tong Fei just now and came to this conclusion. Then I thought to come back and tell you guys… I didn’t expect you to come to this conclusion as well.”

Chen Shuyang touched his head and looked at Nie Feng. He said, “I didn’t come up with it myself. It’s only when Nie Feng reminded me that I thought of it.”

“Come over for a meeting.” Qin Tan came out of the kitchen with a plate of fruits and called everyone immediately.

The meeting concludes that each team member should strive to find an opportunity to advance to the advanced level as soon as possible while making themselves proficient in using their intermediate spirit weapon. Everyone smiled bitterly. They have just upgraded their weapon to the intermediate level, and haven’t had the time to use it yet. But now, they have to find out how to upgrade it as soon as possible, what a headache.

Before they can stop the headache about the matter, Lou Fan asked, “Do you know who ‘pitted’ on Sister Tong Fei and the others? It’s Qi Haichao and he is from the Black Scorpion organization. At first, I thought it has nothing to do with us. But now, could it be that the Black Scorpion organization knew about our relationship with Tong Fei and did it on purpose?”

“But it wasn’t our fault that the Black Scorpion team got annihilated at the time. Besides, they didn’t know that we got into the same mission world with their team,” Wen Lang said immediately.

Qin Tan shook his head, “You forgot that there is another person besides Lin Man Man that returned to Lazuli with us (Gong Yi).”

Wen Lang immediately reacted, “Oh yeah, I forgot there was another person. Black Scorpion must have known about us from him.”

Qin Tan snorted, “Anyway, let’s be careful. Jiang Dong and Nie Feng have to be careful too.”

…

Training is the same as always, but when Qin Tan’s team sold the amulets, they deliberately stated that they are not selling to the Black Scorpion organization.

3 days later, as the team is training as usual, 6 beeps suddenly sounded at the same time, and everyone looked at their watch.

Wen Lang exclaimed, “Fck, why suddenly a mission is announced?!”

Holding the bow in his hand, Lou Fan shot out the arrow he has been pulling. It hits the bullseye steadily. “Tsk, the mission finally came, huh?”

Mission content: The ghost lake changes to a holy lake. Please get on the train on time at 9:00 am on March 10.

Mission time limit: 21 days.

Team information: Lou Fan Level 6, Chen Shuyang Level 6, Jiang Dong Level 6, Qin Tan Level 7, Wen Lang Level 7, Nie Feng Level 7.

“Ghost lake?” Chen Shuyang murmured, “There are too many ghost lakes in the homeland and abroad. What’s going on?”

Qin Tan thought about it twice, touched his chin with his fingers, and said, “If I guess correctly, it should be Lake Rakshastal (La’angcuo), which is called the Ghost Lake, and the other side of it is called the Holy Lake.”

Seeing Qin Tan seemed to be familiar with the place, Lou Fan asked strangely, “How do you know so clearly when even Shuyang doesn’t know?”

Qin Tan raised his eyebrows, “I know more than that, I’ll tell you later. Also, I know about this place because I did a mission nearby there a long time ago.”

Lou Fan said in realization, “Oh yes, you were in the army before.”

Knowing the exact location of the mission, Chen Shuyang started the top student mode and gave general knowledge about the legend of the ghost lake. The name was given due to its property as ‘poisonous black lake’ as the water of the lake is not drinkable. Plus, if looked down from the sky, the surface of the lake is like flayed human skin, which is even more terrifying, hence the name. Next to the ghost lake is a holy lake separated by a hill. The lake is clear and has a sweet taste, forming a strong contrast with the ghost lake.

While Chen Shuyang is talking, he jotted down important information as well. Suddenly, he stopped writing, looked up, and said seriously, “There is another problem, we need to pay attention to the difference between the mission world and the real world. Although the general myth may be similar, the key point may be the difference in the mission world.”

While the team is discussing, someone knocked on the door. Wen Lang went to open the door and is surprised when he saw the visitor, “Sister Tong Fei?”

Tong Fei smiled and saw that everyone is looking at her. She asked jokingly, “Why do you guys look at me like this, am I not welcome?”

Lou Fan stood up immediately, “No, it’s just that we have just received our next task and are discussing it.”

“You received your mission?” Tong Fei asked in surprise, “I’m here for this too. What is your mission?”

Wen Lang grinned and interjected, “What a coincidence, wouldn’t we be on the same mission?”

As soon as Wen Lang finished speaking, he found that Tong Fei and Lou Fan are looking at him, making him feel a little guilty for some reason. “It won’t be so coincidental…”

Tong Fei: “Ghost Lake…”

Wen Lang: The Hell, it’s really the same mission!

Lou Fan instantly became happy, “Sister Tong Fei, what a coincidence.”

Tong Fei: …

Qin Tan: “Are all your team members familiar people, or are they randomly assigned?”

“It’s all familiar people.”

Qin Tan nodded, “Then you can discuss the task with us first.”

Tong Fei thought for a while and said, “Okay, I originally wanted to come over and ask if you know about Ghost Lake, but now it seems that you have reached a conclusion.”

Chen Shuyang repeated the points he mentioned just now with great enthusiasm and raised key issues.

“Sister Tong Fei, what is your mission?” Lou Fan asked.

They are an intermediate team, while Tong Fei’s team is a senior team. They didn’t expect to bump into each other, which means that their mission world is definitely not simple. Tong Fei stretched out her wrist, and Lou Fan took a look at her watch. It turned out to be the same task content. He frowned, feeling ups and downs in his heart and an indescribable heaviness.

As if Qin Tan knew what Lou Fan is thinking, he patted Lou Fan on the shoulder, “Don’t think too much.”

Lou Fan rubbed his face. He didn’t know what is going on recently. Probably because he is surrounded by all kinds of nervous emotions, which made him who was usually free and easy feeling a little intimidated. Qin Tan already comforted him last night but when he saw that Tong Fei had the same task as them, he became anxious again.

Tong Fei didn’t stay long and said she is going to go back to discuss with her team members first. Both teams would discuss what to bring together tomorrow. At present, they only know of their two teams, but it is already enough because this time there will definitely be no newcomer team. As for whether there are other teams, they can only find out on the train platform at that time.

In the evening, Qin Tan made a hot pot meal. The air is full of fresh and spicy aromas, which stimulated people’s appetites.

“Come!” Qin Tan raised his glass. “Since the mission task came out, everyone knows what they have to do. I only have one request. All members must come back alive. We are passengers with intermediate spirit weapons so you all have to do well.”

Fortunately, this mission can basically be determined to be a supernatural mission. Chen Shuyang has an intermediate-level spiritual book in his hand so his heart felt assured. He immediately echoed, “Brother Qin, don’t worry, it is a must (to come back alive).”

Lou Fan also smiled, raised his glass, and said, “Everyone, take good care of ‘your partner’ and be mentally prepared. Even if there is only one breath left, you will return to the train.”

Those who understood what Lou Fan meant looked at each other, and then lowered their heads to look at their ‘partner’. Lou Fan smiled, but these words undoubtedly made everyone vigilant and thought deeply about the situation.

The next day, Qin Tan’s team went to Tong Fei’s place, as if they had already regarded it as a base. One of the reasons is there are too many people watching in front of their door, and it is not conducive for everyone to get together to discuss their tasks.

As soon as they entered the door, they saw an acquaintance. There’s Tong Fei and Jiang Rou with another unfamiliar woman, as well as Gao Yi and 2 other men who they don’t know, but they have all seen these faces in the intermediate level club.

Raw word count: 3036

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Not expecting such a question, Gao Yi is stunned for a moment. Then he said, “There are 2 that are recently drawn while the others are from the past. As for the specific time…” As he said that, he tapped his head and hurriedly walked to the studio.

There is a date written on the back of each painting. Except for recent ones which were drawn half a month ago, the rest are actually dated 3 years ago.

Lou Fan took out a piece of paper and wrote down the content and the date.

“Come here and see, I found something.” Chen Shuyang’s voice came from the bookshelf, and the team immediately surrounded him.

It is a diary in a notebook. The owner of the notebook has beautiful handwriting, but the content looked rushed and anxious.

[May 24th – On the 7th day after returning from the previous mission, we received the notification of the next mission. The mission interval has changed, and the next mission’s title ‘Deserted World’ does not sound like a pleasant mission. I’ve been feeling very flustered lately as if something big is about to happen. It’s about us and Lazuli.

We’re at Level 13 now and have intermediate spirit weapons. I don’t know when we’ll be able to go out from Lazuli. Team leader said that he felt that his spirit weapon is about to be upgraded to an advanced level, and we were looking forward to it.

Hope we can come back safely.]

The diary entry stopped at this point, and there are no further records after that. No one knows whether they managed to get out from Lazuli or died in the mission world. But the entry mentioned the advanced spirit weapon and the team leader felt it, which means that before one’s advanced spirit weapon is upgraded, they will have a feeling.

Lou Fan and Qin Tan looked at each other.

“Everyone, look around for more diary entries, see if there are other records.” Qin Tan said to everyone, “Try to find the information that is useful for us.”

Lou Fan turned to Gao Yi and asked, “Brother Gao, have you sorted out any information about advanced spirit weapons? Or, has anyone felt ‘the feeling’, can you share it with us?”

Gao Yi shook his head regretfully, “So far, I haven’t heard any intermediate-level spirit weapon passengers talking about it. As for the information on advanced spirit weapons, we don’t have any more information about it, except for the occasional mention in the diary you saw.”

It’s like a knowledge gap that leaves people nowhere to look.

Lou Fan scratched his hair irritably, but Qin Tan grabbed his hand, “Don’t worry, we’ll find it slowly.” Qin Tan looked at him firmly and tenderly, soothing all his anxiety.

That’s right, with Qin Tan by his side, what is he anxious about? The desire to return to Earth is not very strong, But his heart stubbornly focused on the matter, like a donkey blindly moving forward, chasing the carrot dangling in front of it. It seems that he is used to constantly thinking about how to get out of Lazuli. Looking around his teammates, Lou Fan can see that they are seriously checking the data and notes. They didn’t look anxious and irritable, it was just him. Lou Fan rubbed his face with his hands. He was impatient, probably because of the influence of the figure enveloped in white light. It is making him eager to understand what is happening, and the restlessness in his heart overwhelmed all reason.

“En, I’m too impatient.” Lou Fan smiled embarrassedly and squeezed Qin Tan’s little finger. Taking Qin Tan to a place where no one is around, he whispered, “As long as you are beside me, I think it’s not bad to stay in Lazuli.”

Qin Tan glanced at Lou Fan and said, “You are very skilled at ‘hitting snake up the stick’. You might want to stay but not me. Every time I get anxious and scared in the mission world, it makes me feel insecure.”

Idiom: 打蛇随棍上 – It’s talking about people who can see opportunities and follow the trend, fighting for the greater good or benefit for themselves.

So, this is what Qin Tan actually thought? Lou Fan’s eyes widened, obviously not expecting him to think like this. But there is no doubt that no matter how bad things are on Earth, living in a peaceful and stable world is far better than here in Lazuli.

“We will definitely go out.” Lou Fan said, “I will find you when the time comes.”

Although the entire 2nd floor is full of bookshelves, there are not many materials and notes that are useful. In the middle of the afternoon, the team read all the diary entries. At this moment, there are not many people in the house except them, and Chen Shuyang is lying on the table writing rapidly. When his hand is sore from copying the information, he raised his head and asked, “Brother Gao, can I borrow some of the notes to study?”

Gao Yi: “No, you can read it here, but you can’t take it away. There are too few materials and notes, which is very important for other intermediate-level spirit weapon passengers.”

Chen Shuyang nodded in understanding.

Nie Feng stretched lazily and said slowly, “Read slowly, I’ll accompany you.”

In fact, there are only a few important notes, and Chen Shuyang simply copied them all down. Everyone stayed back to accompany him, and when they left, it is already past 7.00 pm.

Tong Fei invited the team to dinner but Lou Fan and the others decided to go back first to sort out the information they got today. The amount of information they obtained today is a bit large so Tong Fei didn’t insist. Lou Fan told her that once they found out anything new, they would tell her as soon as possible.

Chen Shuyang is frowning and deep in thoughts along the way. When he is about to hit a wall, it was Nie Feng who pulled him away. It wasn’t until he sat down on the chair that he came back to his senses and found that he didn’t know when he had come back.

“When did we come back?” Chen Shuyang raised his head blankly and then said, “By the way, I want to say that for our situation right now, we should focus on advanced spirit weapons. As for the paintings, I will study them later.”

Chen Shuyang spread out his notebook where he copied several diary entries on it, all of which mentioned advanced spirit weapons. He pointed at the entries and said, “Look, these diaries all mention advanced spirit weapons, but I realized something. They have yet to upgrade to an advanced spirit weapon yet, although the mission level is high-level ones. Also, there is no record after the 12th or 13th level. According to my analysis, there is a high probability that those teams did not survive.”

Chen Shuyang licked his lips and Nie Feng handed him a glass of water. After gulping the whole glass, he continued, “If I’m right, completing a high-level mission doesn’t mean you can go out of Lazuli. The key point should be on the level of the spirit weapon.”

Everyone stared at Chen Shuyang, and Lou Fan said thoughtfully, “That means one may not be able to go out of Lazuli after passing Level 15 mission world. They must have an advanced spirit weapon instead?”

Chen Shuyang nodded, “Yes, that’s what I guessed. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. Why did Lazuli make us do the tasks? Its purpose must not be to send us to our death. From the moment we arrived in Lazuli, the importance of our spirit weapon is self-evident. Every seemingly useless spirit weapon can actually be the best weapon, but how many can upgrade their spirit weapon? I think Lazuli must have a deeper meaning in its doing.”

Chen Shuyang’s analysis and ideas coincided with what Lou Fan thought, but it is more careful and comprehensive.

Qin Tan saw that everyone is a little sleepy and interrupted them, “Go to rest first. We will continue the discussion tomorrow, we still have time.”

Chen Shuyang still felt unfinished with his inferences and wanted to say more. But he scratched his head and felt that he is still a little unclear at some points so he stopped talking and turned to head upstairs while thinking.

Nie Feng grabbed Shuyang’s collar and said, “Wait with me. We’ll go up together and you can tell me what you think. I’ll listen to your thoughts first to see if there is anything wrong with the direction.”

Chen Shuyang’s eyes lit up and nodded like a little puppy, “Okay, okay, I’ll tell you first. You can help me to see if there is any problem.”

Jiang Dong followed Wen Lang upstairs like a loyal follower. Then, Nie Feng went upstairs as well with the little nerd. Lou Fan laughed inexplicably at the scene and got up to wash to prepare to sleep.

The lights in the bedroom went out all of a sudden. Before Lou Fan could react, he got pulled into Qin Tan’s arms and got nibbled on.

“Mhmm…” Lou Fan protested, “I haven’t showered yet.”

Qin Tan: “Wash later.”

Lips and tongues intertwined. Qin Tan’s movements are ruthless and impatient as he has gone without kisses and hugs for more than 10 days. Throwing Lou Fan on the bed, he eagerly pounced on him next. 2 heated bodies pressed tightly together as they entangled and tumbled on the bed. A suppressed growl sounded, accompanied by a gush of hot liquid, sending the connected couple into the most dizzying climax.

Lou Fan is spread out on the bed. Having too many things in his mind today made him very tired. And so, after a lot of ‘exercise’, he doesn’t want to move anymore. Just as he is about to ask the person on top of him to go down, he felt something hard moving inside him. Lou Fan glared at the perpetrator, “You are a beast!”

The person shamelessly bit Lou Fan’s earlobe and licked it gently. His voice is low and full of desire, “That’s right, last time you said I was a dog.”

Lou Fan gritted his teeth, “You!” Before he could say the words, Qin Tan gave him a hard thrust and his reason got shattered into pieces, and he couldn’t get angry anymore.

The advantage of being tossed around in the bed is that he slept very sweetly that night. Lou Fan didn’t even have a dream and slept until noon. Rubbing his hair as he came out of the bedroom, he smelled the fragrance of breakfast and instantly felt happy.

Hearing the sound of movement, Qin Tan stuck his head out from the kitchen and asked, “You are awake? Did you sleep well?”

Lou Fan smiled helplessly, “Thanks to you, I slept well.”

“Thank you for the compliment, I didn’t waste my hard work ‘plowing’.”

That caused Lou Fan to spray mouthwash on the mirror and his hand holding the toothbrush trembling (in anger).

Nie Feng and Chen Shuyang came downstairs after noon, and both of them looked drowsy. Lou Fan asked Chen Shuyang if he had any new thoughts. Chen Shuyang shook his head and said it is the same direction, but a little smoother.

At present, they are only guessing about prophecy paintings and advanced spirit weapons. But they can’t stop practicing so they resume training after research. Lou Fan asked Chen Shuyang to draw a lot of spells every day. Although they have not tested the effect of Chen Shuyang’s upgraded spirit book, the amulets drawn will definitely not be worse than when it was not upgraded yet. So the price of the spells has also increased, and they are listed to be sold on the electronic screen publicly this time.

Because of the high price, the high-level officials of the registration office couldn’t privately buy it all and had to give up. Hence, every day in the North Square, people can be seen waiting under the electronic screen for the amulets to be listed, and they will be sold out almost instantly each time.

Right now, their team holds a lot of points in hand, and Lou Fan’s unspeakable sense of urgency makes him replace the team’s equipment with the best he can afford.

“It’s really fortunate that Shuyang is on our team. If we don’t have Shuyang as our money-growing tree, I don’t know how long it will take for everyone to upgrade our equipment. Everyone should thank Shuyang well.”

Chen Shuyang immediately waved his hands vigorously, “No no no, Brother Lou, don’t say that. Without you guys to protect me, I would have died many times in the mission world, let alone upgrading my spirit weapon. So, you must not say that.”

Wen Lang hooked an arm around Chen Shuyang’s neck and said with a smile, “I’m the most useless anyway. I won’t say anything more than this. Thank you, Shuyang.”

At a moment like this, it is the best time to consolidate the unity of the team. Qin Tan said, “We are a team, and we can go further by encouraging and helping each other. I have nothing special to say. In short, for everyone to get together as a team, we are a family. I treat you all as my little brothers.”

Lou Fan smiled and leaned over, “What about me? Am I also your little brother?”

Qin Tan’s eyes flashed and he said, “En, you are my dearest ‘little brother’.”

Lou Fan’s face darkened when he saw where Qin Tan is looking. *spit Damn pervert!

---

The author has something to say:
Brother Qin is still a beast today.

Raw word count: 3114

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“You saw it too?” Lou Fan said, “What did you see?”

Although Qin Tan didn’t know why Lou Fan reacted so much, he still shared what he saw. It was the mural he saw on the domed roof at the last level. The portrait of the angel turned into a picture of a river of blood, and there is also a bundle of light in the high place.

Rivers of blood. Lou Fan pursed his lips and his expression turned ugly. From the sound of that, it didn’t sound like a good omen.

“Then, have you seen it?” Lou Fan asked the other 4 members, and they shook their heads and said no.

Tong Fei watched Lou Fan’s expression change several times and asked, “Lou Fan, you saw that too?”

Lou Fan nodded and told them the painting he saw, but he didn’t say what he saw in his dream. His expression is a little terrible, and he frowned as he said, “I have a bad feeling that these paintings should be very important to us. It would be nice if we could get more information like this.”

Hearing that, Tong Fei stood up and straightened her clothes. Then she said, “Let’s go then.”

“En?” Lou Fan hasn’t come to his senses, “Where are you going?”

Tong Fei answered as she walked, “Going to a nice place, where there should be the information we need.”

Everyone in Qin Tan’s team looked at each other. They immediately got up and followed Tong Fei. Following behind Tong Fei, they went to the North Square and went all the way to the 1st ring of the north-side residence. At the circle of residences closest to North Square, they stopped in front of a house. The railings in the garden were removed, and 2 people are guarding the door. After Tong Fei took out her spirit weapon and showed the guards, she asked everyone in Qin Tan’s team to take out their spirit weapon. After the guards had seen it, they let them in.

The arrangement of the house is all the same in Lazuli. Once inside, they can see that it is quite empty. There are only a few sitting cushions on the ground. Also, there are many whiteboards hung on the surrounding walls. Several people are talking together in front of the whiteboards.

Seeing the group of people coming in, several people turned to look at them. One of the tall men came over to say hello to Tong Fei, “You’re here, who are these? I don’t think I’ve seen them before.”

Tong Fei looked indifferent, but what she said is like dropping a bomb,”These are the 2 friends I told you about before, Qin Tan and Lou Fan. The other 4 people got upgraded in their latest mission, and they are all in the same team.”

“4 people upgrading together?” The tall man is very surprised. “How difficult is the task? All 6 of you actually have intermediate spirit weapons.”

When other people in the room heard the man’s exclamation, they immediately gathered around, wanting to see what kind of monstrous this team is.

“Team leader Qin, right? My name is Gao Yi. Can you tell what level of your team members and what mission you were doing?” Gao Yi’s eyes swept around among them, and his attitude became warm.

Qin Tan shook hands with Gao Yi and answered indifferently, “We have 3 Level 6 members and 3 Level 5 members in our team. The latest mission was a transitional mission.”

“Transitional mission!”

“It got to be a lie, right? 4 people upgrading their spirit weapon in a transitional mission world? You thought we had never done the task before?”

“It’s impossible.”

Immediately, there are sounds of discussions in the crowd, all of them disbelieving. Gao Yi calmed the crowd and said with a frown, “It’s not like you haven’t heard of the recent increase of difficulties in the mission world. It is normal for the difficulty of transitional tasks to increase as well.”

When Gao Yi said this, everyone felt that it is reasonable. But it is one thing to know it’s reasonable, and another thing to believe it. There are many doubts in their eyes as they looked at the 6 people.

Tong Fei said to Gao Yi, “I brought them here so I’ll leave it to you to explain the rest. I’ll go shopping first and come back later.”

Lou Fan and the rest are at a loss, but they knew that Tong Fei wouldn’t do anything unreliable, so they let Gao Yi lead them to the sitting cushions on the side.

The crowd scattered to do their thing. Gao Yi didn’t hesitate, and went straight to the topic, “Don’t be nervous. This place is called ‘Intermediate club’, which means literally, only those with intermediate spirit weapons can enter. We welcome passengers with intermediate spirit weapons from any organization. Also, there are many materials to share here, and seniors’ notes to borrow.”

Qin Tan asked, “Are you the organizer?”

Gao Yi smiled and shook his head, “We don’t have an organizer here. These materials are also left by the previous seniors, and this place is managed by intermediate passengers in turn.”

“In here, there is information about going out from Lazuli?” Qin Tan asked again.

This question is a real question that everyone is concerned about so everyone immediately stared at Gao Yi.

Of course, Gao Yi understands their feelings very well, but he can only shake his head with a wry smile, “Unfortunately, there is no exact information about leaving Lazuli, only some notes left by seniors. There may be clues somewhere, but I haven’t come to a conclusion yet. After all, the only person who is said to manage to leave is no longer in Lazuli.”

That name listed on the electronic screen in the South Plaza. No one knows how long it has been up there, and no one knows the person at all.

Wen Lang asked persistently, “But with so many high-level passengers in Lazuli, it’s impossible that none of them manage to leave, right? Everyone gets a mission every half a month, plus the time needed to do the mission… It’s like once a month, 12 times a year, 24 times for 2 years. Is there really no one managed to leave?”

Wen Lang felt choked, he could hardly say the last sentence. He didn’t know what answer he wanted to hear.

Gao Yi said with a bitter face, “I believe you all know Lazuli’s most basic rules for grading. As far as I know, at their Level 15 mission, those who entered the quest have never appeared again. We don’t know whether they went back to the real world or disappeared.”

Lou Fan felt that something is wrong, “Wait, at Level 15, only a team enters the mission world? If not, there will be people who will survive in the other team that goes with them.”

“No.” Gao Yi shook his head, “Actually after Level 10, the mortality rate is very high, and there are very few people who can reach Level 15. Moreover, many advanced team missions will involve 2 senior teams entering together. Such difficulty is very high.”

Two senior teams doing missions together?!

“How many passengers have reached Level 15 so far?” Qin Tan asked again.

Gao Yi stretched out 3 fingers.

Lou Fan thinks it’s unbelievable. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it means Lazuli didn’t plan to let the passengers live? Then, what is the purpose of them coming to this strange world? Just to die?

This was originally a heavy topic, and Gao Yi felt that he has finished his explanation so he let them move freely.

“Just take a look around. There are also some materials upstairs, as well as the notes of the seniors.”

“Excuse me.” Lou Fan stopped Gao Yi, “Is there any record of passengers seeing pictures in the mission world? There is also a bundle of white light at the corner.” Lou Fan looked at Gao Yi nervously, not missing the surprised expression on his face.

Gao Yi: “Did you see it too?”

Lou Fan nodded, “Sister Tong Fei also saw it. We want to collect some information about this, it gave me a feeling that it’s important.”

Of course it’s important! Gao Yi looked at the group thoughtfully. He pondered for a while before leading them up to the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor is full of bookshelves, with some folders and notebooks on them. But Gao Yi’s destination is not this. He walked to the door and pressed the fingerprint lock. Next, the door opened with a click. This is a room that is like a studio. There are several easels in it. When they saw the pictures on the easels, their eyes widened. Lou Fan ran to a picture and looked carefully.

There are 7 paintings in the room. 3 of them are very blurry, and the other 4 paintings are actually very similar in content. Beneath a white light, a group of people is kneeling. They bowed their heads as if the light is God, the ruler. Only one of the paintings is slightly different. It is still showing the same white light, but there is only a vague figure of a person below, and there is a door opposite the person. But the man is drenched blood red, which made it uncomfortable to look at. In the lower right corner of the painting, there is a flowy signature, which Lou Fan couldn’t recognize after trying to read the name for a long time.

“This painting is…” Lou Fan asked, pointing to the signature.

Gao Yi glanced at it, “It is said that it was drawn by the only person who left Lazuli, that name on the electronic screen.”

Lou Fan looked at the painting again, wishing to engrave it in his heart. But the signature is fundamentally different name from the one listed on the electronic screen.

Chen Shuyang turned around and said to Lou Fan, “Brother Lou, let’s go and look at other materials.”

Wen Lang echoed, “Yes, maybe there will be other clues.”

Nie Feng remained silent. Jiang Dong stood at the side and said nothing, just waiting for their decision.

“You guys go first.” Lou Fan turned to ask Gao Yi, “Can I look at these paintings for a while?”

Gao Yi nodded, “Of course, the information here is shared among the members. You can take your time and I’ll take the rest to find more information.”

After a long time, when Lou Fan turned his head, he saw Qin Tan standing behind him. Tong Fei is also there but he didn’t hear any movement earlier.

“Sister Tong Fei, why didn’t you call me when you came?”

Tong Fei said casually, “Seeing as you are focused, I’m not going to disturb you. How is it? Did you see anything?”

Lou Fan rubbed his eyebrows and shook his head, “Nothing special, but these paintings should be very important. The most important thing should be this light, what do you think it is?” He had an answer in his heart, but he didn’t know what it meant.

“Lazuli.” Qin Tan and Tong Fei said in unison.

Lazuli, to them, is the Lord, a god-like being.

Lou Fan nodded in agreement and stretched out his fingers, “So, down here should be ‘us’, the people in Lazuli. Look at this painting, the man is covered in blood with a door in front of him. Does it indicate that he really left Lazuli?”

Tong Fei shook her head, “If the person can predict that he will be able to go out before the next mission, it is unlikely.”

Qin Tan: “It’s possible that one of them went out.”

Lou Fan nodded, “Yes, this signature is not the same name that is listed on the electronic screen. It may have been left by someone else. The only clear thing is that this painting should be drawn a long time ago.”

Qin Tan stayed silent for a moment, then said, “Let’s go and ask Gao Yi again.”

Lou Fan nodded and said yes. The 3 of them left the studio together and found Gao Yi at a bookshelf. Jiang Dong is talking to him, and Chen Shuyang is looking at the information at the side.

“Gao Yi, I want to know, how old are those paintings in the studio?” Qin Tan asked.

Raw word count: 3007

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