Having explored three pyramids in a row, they hadn't found any treasure, though they had recorded a great deal of information about the ruins.
Zhang Ye guessed that the real treasure was likely buried inside those larger pyramids.
“Brother Ye, should we split up to explore?” Lina asked.
Samanra also nodded and said, “There are no signs of magical beast activity inside these pyramids, and those magic circles are only general functional ones rather than trap magic circles. Besides, after being washed away by the river of time, many of the magic circles have already been weakened to their absolute limit. There shouldn't be any danger.”
“Splitting up to explore will be more efficient.”
Zhang Ye fell silent for a moment before nodding. “Alright, but we must have at least two people per group.”
“Also, we shouldn't be too far apart from each other, so we can look out for one another.”
Everyone knew that Zhang Ye was trying to maximize their safety as much as possible; this was his way of protecting them.
Feeling a warmth in their hearts, everyone nodded and began to form groups.
Zhang Ye was in a group by himself, as his strength was unquestionably the greatest among everyone present.
Lina and Nan were in one group, while Samanra and Renomon were in another.
“Brother Ye, are you really okay on your own?” Lina said, looking at Zhang Ye.
Well, rather than worrying about Zhang Ye, Lina's main motive in asking this was actually that she wanted to be grouped with him.
Zhang Ye shook his head. “It's fine. It's more convenient for me to be alone.”
Grouping them like this was also out of his own considerations.
Next, Zhang Ye planned to make his move on Gajeel in the ruins, so it was naturally best if there was no one around him.
Seeing Zhang Ye's insistence, Lina nodded with some disappointment, and the group parted ways.
Before they left, Zhang Ye urged everyone not to explore those large pyramids on their own—especially the largest one—until they had reunited with a mentor.
Everyone agreed one after another.
Watching everyone walk away, Zhang Ye headed in another direction, a fierce light flashing in his eyes!
He had previously ordered his little ones to follow Gajeel, and now he could locate him by sensing their positions!
And now Gajeel's position hadn't changed; he was currently inside a small pyramid ruin a few li away. It was quite far from everyone else, and the pyramids seemed to isolate sensory perception, which meant he wouldn't be detected by the other Saint-tier mentor either!
It was the perfect time to strike!
Zhang Ye rushed toward Gajeel without stopping.
Soon, he arrived at that pyramid. At this moment, Zhang Ye noticed several of his little ones crawling toward him from inside the pyramid.
This made Zhang Ye feel that something was a bit off.
Did the little ones follow Gajeel into the pyramid too?
Could they have been discovered by Gajeel?
That shouldn't be the case; otherwise, they wouldn't have survived.
Without overthinking it, Zhang Ye immediately squatted down, preparing to welcome his little ones.
But in the next second, his pupils dilated.
He smelled blood!
A very strong smell of blood was coming from his little ones!
It was as if they had just taken a bath in a pool of blood.
“Chirp chirp!” The little ones arrived in front of Zhang Ye and immediately tried to throw themselves into his embrace to act cute, but they were hastily stopped by him.
The little ones paced around in place, feeling a bit wronged and thinking that Zhang Ye didn't like them anymore. Zhang Ye quickly comforted them to calm them down.
“Little ones, the smell of blood on you... what's going on?” Zhang Ye asked in confusion, his eyes shifting toward the entrance of the pyramid ruin.
A smell of blood was also wafting out from inside.
“Chirp chirp~” Hearing this, one of the little ones opened its mouthparts and spat out a bloody, mangled object, pushing it toward Zhang Ye as if presenting a treasure.
Zhang Ye looked at it and instantly felt a chill run through his entire body.
It was... a space ring.
A space ring still stained with flesh and blood. The soul-binding on the space ring had already dissipated, meaning it was now ownerless.
And this ring... Zhang Ye remembered it being worn on Gajeel's right index finger!
This was Gajeel's?!
Then this blood...
Zhang Ye suddenly thought of a possibility and hurriedly rushed into the ruins, with his little ones quickly following suit.
Upon entering the ruins, Zhang Ye saw a statue once again.
He wasn't surprised, as every pyramid had a similar statue, and the original subject of those statues was the exact same person.
However, Zhang Ye's attention was not on the statue. His gaze fell upon a bloody, mangled skeleton in front of it.
It was a fresh human skeleton, with uneaten flesh and blood still clinging to it. Blood pooled all over the floor, looking incredibly stark against the green stone tiles.
The skeleton's school uniform was still there, virtually intact, but it was completely soaked in blood.
It was as if... the skeleton had been gnawed on by something starting from the head, hands, feet, and abdomen, until he was eaten alive!
Zhang Ye recognized it—it was Gajeel's school uniform.
There was also an All Souls badge on the uniform, symbolizing the Rainbow Class.
Staring at this scene, Zhang Ye was too shocked to speak. His gaze drifted to the few little ones behind him, who were enveloped in a heavy scent of blood.
They were tilting their heads and looking at Zhang Ye with their large, crimson eyes, looking utterly adorable.
But Zhang Ye was absolutely certain that they had eaten Gajeel alive!
Indeed, they were Demon Realm creatures after all. They might be the weakest, but they were also among the most brutal of monsters!
For them, eating humans was only natural.
What shocked Zhang Ye wasn't this, but rather his inability to understand why the powerful Gajeel had been eaten clean by a few Dark Demon Bugs that had barely reached Tier Three.
Furthermore, judging by the state of the scene, Gajeel hadn't put up any resistance.
There were no signs of a struggle, nor any residual mana fluctuations in the air. It was as if Gajeel had just stood there, willingly allowing the little ones to eat him.
This was impossible. It made no sense!
Zhang Ye couldn't wrap his head around it.
An inexplicable, eerie feeling welled up in his heart.
This eeriness had been present ever since they entered these ruins, starting from when they saw those familiar statues that inspired a sense of security.
This made Zhang Ye feel somewhat uneasy about the unknown—these ruins were too bizarre. Who knew if the others would end up like Gajeel?
The answer was naturally no, because the ones who ate Gajeel were his little ones, and there were no other magical beasts here. Even if everyone was frozen in place by some mysterious force, dazed and unresponsive, they shouldn't be attacked by external forces in the short term.
But Zhang Ye didn't dare to gamble. He had to gather everyone immediately!
Gajeel was already dead; what Zhang Ye needed to do now was to ensure everyone's safety!
Looking at Gajeel's skeleton, Zhang Ye frowned.
It was disgusting, but he was already able to tolerate it now. He just still couldn't figure out why Gajeel had died in such a manner.
“Little ones, tell me what happened.” Zhang Ye turned his head to look at the few little ones.
Hearing his voice, the little ones began to chirp and squeak back and forth.
Since their intelligence wasn't very high, their language was extremely simple—just a few words, which were very easy to understand.
Zhang Ye could understand them.
And the more he listened, the stronger the eerie feeling in his heart became.
“You're saying... I was the one who told you to eat him?” Zhang Ye's eyes widened, his face filled with utter disbelief.
The little ones nodded. One of them couldn't hold back anymore and tentatively crawled over to Zhang Ye, rubbing its head against his shoe before tilting its head up to look at him.
Seeing this, Zhang Ye exhaled deeply, letting the shock fade from his face.
He hadn't given any orders for them to eat Gajeel at all. Just what... forget it, there was no point in thinking about it now since he couldn't figure it out anyway.
He used a cleansing spell to wash the bloodstains off the little ones, then nodded at them.
The little ones immediately jumped with joy, crawling straight up his trouser legs onto his shoulders. One of them even spread its wings and dove directly into Zhang Ye's arms, and the group began to act cute.
To them, being able to act cute with Zhang Ye was the absolute happiest thing in the world.
Zhang Ye smiled. After letting them act cute for a while, he recalled them into his contract space and walked out of the pyramid, taking a deep breath.
The fresh air mixed with the faint scent of blood made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
He had indeed wanted to kill Gajeel, but upon seeing Gajeel's gruesome corpse, Zhang Ye found that he wasn't as happy as he had imagined.
It wasn't out of pity for Gajeel, but rather the eerie feeling hidden behind his death that made him feel uneasy and out of control.
He was contemplating whether to call everyone back.
However, at that exact moment, Zhang Ye's body suddenly stiffened as he looked in a certain direction.
Shana and Katelansi had left on their own; how could Zhang Ye possibly not care at all?
Thus, he had also ordered a few little ones to follow them in secret. If they encountered danger, the little ones would immediately send feedback to Zhang Ye through the contract.
And now, the feedback had arrived!
Danger!!!
...
...
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