The man grabbed by Zuo Lin'an was still crying out for help.
“My lord!”
He reached his hand out toward Xuan Liu in utter despair.
“My lord, save me!”
“Save me!!”
“My family has wealth, gold! We have fields and shops! I am willing to offer it all to you, my lord!!”
Zuo Lin'an actually wanted to leave quickly.
But seeing Xuan Liu staring at him, he temporarily abandoned the idea. He wanted to see if Xuan Liu would take this opportunity to use his trump card and attack him.
Of course, at this moment, he was also ready to switch to his living body state at any second to deal with whatever means Xuan Liu might employ.
But he had clearly miscalculated.
Xuan Liu might have wavered, but in the end, he did not make a move!
As expected, the trump cards in the hands of clever people were not so easily baited out.
Since that was the case... Zuo Lin'an grabbed the man, who was struggling continuously, weeping for help, and eventually even kneeling to beg for mercy from him—a specter—and vanished from the mountain peak in an instant.
By now, it was not even 3:00 AM.
Yet, only three people were left on the mountain peak.
After Zuo Lin'an left, he returned to the previous cave and knocked out the three commoners he had just captured, tossing them inside.
They were placed alongside Zeng Qiuning, whom he had captured earlier.
To be safe, he even switched to his living body state and used a knife to cut out their tongues, preventing them from screaming.
After all, in the eyes of Xuan Liu and the other two, these four people were supposed to be dead.
In such a quiet, barren mountain, any screaming could easily be heard by Xuan Liu, who was, after all, a Houtian Rank martial artist.
Zuo Lin'an pulled out his phone to check the time. There were still more than ten minutes until 3:00 AM. He now had to carefully plan his next move.
Tang Jianghe and his daughter, Tang Wanrong, were practically glued to each other, and Xuan Liu never left their side.
Therefore, whether he attacked Tang Jianghe or Tang Wanrong, the two of them would use specter items to restrict him, while Xuan Liu would simultaneously attack him.
Faced with a three-pronged pincer attack, he might end up being repelled.
Thus, Zuo Lin'an ultimately decided to directly attack Xuan Liu.
“If I attack him directly, I only have to face him alone. However, the secret of my Human-Specter Symbiont form will probably be exposed.”
After all, when facing Xuan Liu's attacks, he would definitely have to switch to his living body state, a scene that Xuan Liu was bound to witness.
Although the other party did not have the concept of a Human-Specter Symbiont.
But Xuan Liu was no fool. Seeing him transform from a specter into a living human and even gain immunity to specter items and talents targeted at specters, he would be able to guess the general gist of the Human-Specter Symbiont situation.
“Sigh... there's no helping it. If I can't hide it, I'll just have to expose it.”
Zuo Lin'an slowly stood up.
It was about time to head up the mountain, but before leaving, he returned to the cave and looked at the four people lying inside, their mouths filled with blood.
If he hadn't used his specter aura to temporarily seal their wounds, they probably would have bled even more.
He gave each of them a kick right on the knee. Only after hearing a faint cracking sound did he turn and leave, satisfied.
They couldn't be allowed to make a sound, so he cut out their tongues.
They couldn't be allowed to run around, so he broke their leg bones.
This way, even if someone woke up while he was away, they wouldn't be able to escape, or at least wouldn't get very far. It saved him the trouble of wasting time to retrieve them.
Before approaching the mountain peak, Zuo Lin'an found a tree hollow and hid his two phones inside.
He would definitely have to switch to his living body state in front of Xuan Liu later.
But in his living body state, he was absolutely no match for Xuan Liu, a Houtian Rank martial artist. If he failed to react in time, his phones might be discovered and snatched away by the opponent.
He did not have absolute confidence in retrieving his phones from Xuan Liu's hands.
Meanwhile, on the mountain peak.
Tang Jianghe was adding wood to the bonfire. The mountain was full of withered branches, making it easy to gather plenty.
However, in the very next instant, he sensed the specter aura once again.
Tang Jianghe looked up, his expression changing drastically.
“Not good! It's back! Over there!”
Zuo Lin'an was currently standing under a tree dozens of meters away. Most of his body was blocked by the trunk, with only a small portion exposed, along with his signature eyes.
Upon seeing those eyes, Tang Wanrong shivered violently and instinctively took out the 【Death Doll】 to use it, but the doll was not activated.
In other words, she still had not triggered the Death Rule.
Confirming her safety, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Xuan Liu warily stared at the specter, Zuo Lin'an, who stood motionless behind the tree in the distance, while asking, “Your Highness Consort Rong, is there a Death Lock on you?”
He had seen Tang Wanrong take out the 【Death Doll】, so she must have used it just now.
But the doll had no reaction, which meant...
“No, I do not have a lock on me.”
She stuffed the doll into Tang Jianghe's hand as she spoke. “Father, you try too!”
Tang Jianghe froze for a moment, wanting to refuse.
But seeing Tang Wanrong's unquestionable expression, he swallowed his words. At this point, he definitely had to verify if he had a Death Lock on him.
What if he was the one attracting the specter?
As it turned out, after taking the doll and using it, he discovered that he did not have a Death Lock on him either.
“Lord Xuan Liu, do you have one?”
Xuan Liu shook his head.
He was also carrying a doll. He had tried using it several times from just now until now, but the doll showed no reaction.
In other words, none of the three of them had triggered the Death Rule.
Yet, even so, the specter had still appeared, targeted them, and even planned to attack them.
“I understand now.”
Even if Xuan Liu wasn't exceptionally intelligent, he wasn't a fool either; he possessed the intelligence he should have.
“This specter doesn't need a Death Lock at all to attack players!”
“Time!”
“It is time!”
At this moment, Zuo Lin'an suddenly took a step forward. This time, he did not teleport instantly but took a small step, just like walking normally.
But even with just this single small step, the three of them felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Tang Jianghe and Xuan Liu firmly shielded Tang Wanrong in the middle.
“Lord Xuan Liu, the timing doesn't match up either. From the moment we entered the dungeon until now, there has been absolutely no pattern to when the specter strikes us.”
Xuan Liu replied, “When the specter killed people before, except for the first person who died without a sound, Zhuang Feiyin and Li Tie who followed both let out screams.”
“The first one was killed right when the dungeon opened. That situation can be considered special, so the lack of a scream makes sense.”
“But the next two who died both screamed. However, when Lord Zeng Qiuning and those three commoners were dragged away by the specter, there was no sound.”
Tang Jianghe gasped in realization.
“Lord Xuan Liu, you mean... the four of them are not dead!”
Xuan Liu nodded. “Exactly.”
“According to my deduction, they are probably being hidden somewhere by the specter. If we only count the first victim, Zhuang Feiyin, and Li Tie, the specter has only killed three people in total.”
“And the times of death for these three people happened to be exactly half a shichen apart.”
Rate on N.U.
