Over the past month, the three of them had taken turns tracking, cornering, and attacking the Rot-Walker. Under their relentless pursuit, it had sustained significant injuries, its movements growing increasingly sluggish and its speed slower and slower.
Originally, they thought they would be able to capture it after chasing it for just a few more days.
But now—
It was dead.
Someone else had beaten them to it.
Han Meng crouched down, pressing his rough palm against the edge of the Rot-Walker’s sliced-open abdominal cavity, his gaze falling upon the hideous incision.
The edges of the cut were jagged and uneven, clearly torn open by brute force.
He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the pale green bodily fluids and black viscous substance scattered around the corpse, his brow furrowing deeply.
“The person who beat us to it didn't just kill the Rot-Walker, they actually disemboweled it.” Han Meng's voice was low and hoarse, carrying a suppressed anger.
“How did they know there was a treasure inside this Rot-Walker’s stomach?”
Bai Shumo crouched near the head of the corpse, reaching out to lightly touch the edge of the Rot-Walker’s ruptured eye socket with his fingertips.
He then withdrew his hand and looked thoughtfully at the pale green fluid on his fingertip.
“This person not only knew there was a treasure inside the Rot-Walker, but they also knew exactly where it was hidden,” he spoke in a scholarly tone.
“Right in the center of the abdominal cavity, deep within the stomach. The incision is precise, aiming straight for the target.”
Liu Ying stood on the other side of the corpse, her arms crossed and her narrow phoenix eyes slightly squinting.
“Most people are disgusted by the corpses of Rot-Walkers and would avoid them at all costs...”
Han Meng’s brow furrowed even tighter.
“Could this person also be from Glory City?” he muttered.
“Did the faction behind them also catch wind of the news?”
Liu Ying snorted coldly. “Our Azure Blade Gang’s intelligence network in Glory City may not completely cover the sky with one hand, but it’s at least among the very best.”
“If any other faction in Glory City had obtained this intelligence, it would be impossible for us not to hear even a whisper of it.”
“Then they can't be from Glory City?” Han Meng asked in return.
Liu Ying did not answer, but her silence already made her stance clear.
Bai Shumo stood up and patted the dirt off his hands. “There’s no point in guessing now. The important thing is to get the item back...”
“However, what I didn't expect is that in this third-rate Panshi City, there actually exists an expert willing to enter the Non-Safe Zone during a Cold Wave.”
It was hard to tell whether his voice held admiration or mockery. “It seems we all underestimated this C-class city...”
At this point, Bai Shumo suddenly frowned.
He looked up, casting his gaze toward the gloomy, gray sky.
In those seemingly gentle eyes, a flash of hard-to-detect vigilance flickered.
“The Death Tide is coming.”
Han Meng and Liu Ying also looked up at the sky.
The gloomy sky showed no obvious anomalies, but their senses caught the energy fluctuations surging in the distance.
Cold, damp, and churning like a living thing, it carried an aura that triggered an instinctive disgust.
“How frustrating,” Liu Ying cursed under her breath, pulling up her collar.
The mist of the Death Tide was not fatal to Level 4 Ability Users like them.
But the active substance in the mist would continuously corrode the energy barriers on their bodies, depleting their energy reserves.
They could withstand short-term exposure, but over a long period, even if they didn't die, they would experience extreme discomfort.
Their skin would itch, their breathing would grow heavy, and their minds would become restless and irritable—as if countless invisible ants were crawling over them, burrowing into their pores, and gnawing at their nerves.
That sensation was far more unbearable than physical pain.
“Let's go,” Han Meng's voice was brief and firm. “We’ll go check out Panshi City.”
Liu Ying and Bai Shumo exchanged a look, nodding simultaneously.
The three of them turned, quickening their pace as they headed toward the outer perimeter of the Non-Safe Zone.
The mist of the Death Tide slowly rolled in from the edge of the horizon, with dim red and eerie green points of light flickering within it like the countless eyes of the Grim Reaper.
All three of them felt a bit irritable, because even if they could exit the Non-Safe Zone before the Death Tide arrived, they might not necessarily find a safe shelter in time.
The snow crunched beneath their feet. Han Meng strode ahead at the front, the hem of his hide coat flapping loudly in the wind.
The physical fitness of Level 4 Ability Users allowed them to traverse these ruins as if walking on flat ground.
Snow splattered in all directions with each step, and rubble crunched beneath their feet, their footprints behind them quickly covered by fresh snow in the cold wind.
After walking about two li, Liu Ying’s footsteps suddenly faltered.
She turned her head, her gaze falling beneath a clump of withered vines weighed down by snow to her right, her narrow phoenix eyes squinting slightly.
“There's something.”
Han Meng and Bai Shumo stopped simultaneously, looking in the direction of her gaze.
On the snow beneath the withered vines, there was a long, thin drag mark.
The drag mark extended from deep within the Non-Safe Zone, winding and twisting, leaving a deep groove in the snow as if something heavy had been dragged across it.
The drag mark was about half a meter wide, its edges smooth and even, showing no signs of struggling or resisting.
This indicated that whatever had been dragged had completely lost the ability to resist, or was perhaps already dead.
Han Meng crouched down and lightly pressed his hand against the snow at the edge of the drag mark.
The snow had already frozen hard, but the layer of snow at the bottom of the drag mark still held a trace of moisture, indicating that the mark had not been left long ago.
“It’s carrion bugs,” Han Meng said in a low, certain tone.
He followed the direction of the drag mark with his gaze.
Sure enough, on the snow ahead of them, a dozen or so similar drag marks were scattered around.
Some came from the east, some from the west, and some wound out from deeper within the Non-Safe Zone. All the drag marks ultimately pointed in the same direction.
The direction of the Panshi City Ruin Zone.
“The low-rank Rot-Walkers that the Level 4 Rot-Walker summoned along its escape route...” Han Meng's voice was low.
“It seems they are all dead.”
Liu Ying nodded, her voice cold. “Only when a large number of Rot-Walker corpses are gathered together would they attract so many carrion bugs.”
The three exchanged a look, spoke no further, and quickened their steps to follow the drag marks.
The closer they got to the Ruin Zone, the more frequent the signs of carrion bug activity became.
More and more drag marks appeared on the snow, and in some places, they could even see raised mounds of earth beneath the snow, left by the carrion bugs burrowing underground.
Han Meng’s expression grew increasingly grim, and his pace quickened.
When he stepped out of the edge of the Non-Safe Zone and onto the blackened rubble and gravel on the outskirts of the Ruin Zone, his footsteps halted.
Just about two li ahead, a massive cluster of buildings stood on the edge of the ruins.
Han Meng stared fixedly at the cluster of buildings, unbelievable shock churning in his eyes.
That wasn't just a single building—it was a whole cluster of buildings.
Rate on N.U.
