Seeing that Zuo Lin'an was frozen in place, Lin Deyou wanted to take this opportunity to escape. Unfortunately, the specter's hand still held his wrist in a death grip, and he couldn't pry it open at all.
Setting aside the fact that Zuo Lin'an was currently immobilized by a specter item, he wouldn't have let go even if he weren't.
Unless Lin Deyou was willing to chop off his own hand.
But he didn't actually have the guts to do it.
A minute slipped by. Just as Lin Deyou thought he was about to be killed, Zuo Lin'an unexpectedly let go of his hand and did nothing to him.
It wasn't that he didn't want to kill Lin Deyou, but rather... he had run out of time!
Yes, a timeout.
His Death Rule was killing on the hour.
Since it was on the hour, there was naturally a strict time limit.
For instance, the previous time was nine o'clock.
The window for "on the hour" was from 【09:00:00】 to 【09:00:59】, a total of sixty seconds.
He had to catch his target and begin the execution within these sixty seconds. Once the execution started, he could take as much time as he wanted to finish it.
But just now, though he had avoided the silver needle, he had failed to avoid the talisman.
The one-minute immobilization had directly pushed him past the time limit.
Therefore, he could no longer make a move now and had to wait another hour.
Sigh!
What a waste of time.
Furthermore, Xu Youyou had sent him another message.
Zuo Lin'an backed away while concealing his form. Once Lin Deyou could no longer see him, he walked a bit further away before pulling out his phone to reply.
【Xu Youyou: Brother An, where are you? You should be done by now, right?】
【Zuo Lin'an: A minor accident happened. I got blindsided, so I have to wait another hour.】
【Xu Youyou: (O_o)? What happened? What kind of accident?】
Zuo Lin'an briefly explained the situation to Xu Youyou.
【Xu Youyou: Holy crap, three specter items?】
【Xu Youyou: That guy is loaded! You know, the players on my end could barely scrape together a single specter item even if they pooled everything they had. They're dirt poor. It makes me feel bad to even make a move on them.】
Zuo Lin'an wanted to keep chatting with him, but the next moment, he seemed to sense something. Turning around, he saw Lin Deyou approaching from a distance.
It looked like he was tracing the direction Zuo Lin'an had taken when he left.
Did he want to communicate?
After all, Lin Deyou had seen him switch to his living body form. He must have realized that Zuo Lin'an could be reasoned with. Coming over now, was he hoping to... beg for mercy?
【Zuo Lin'an: I have something to take care of. Contact me again in an hour.】
【Xu Youyou: Alright, alright. Be careful.】
Zuo Lin'an put away his phone. Looking like a normal person, he stood behind a tree, waiting for Lin Deyou to deliver himself to his doorstep.
He didn't bother to conceal his form this time; he was intentionally letting the other man see him.
Lin Deyou was actually pushing himself with a great deal of resolve to walk in this direction.
However, when he saw the dark figure surrounded by a sinister black mist from afar, he still paused. Gritting his teeth, he mustered his courage and walked forward anyway.
Even so, he made sure to maintain a safe distance from Zuo Lin'an. If the specter suddenly attacked, this distance would buy him a split second to react.
Even if that reaction time would ultimately be useless.
“Young Master... might I ask what the situation was just now? Are you a living human or a specter?”
Zuo Lin'an said nothing, keeping his back turned to him in silence.
“I know you can understand me and that we can communicate. Please do not avoid my question.”
Zuo Lin'an raised an eyebrow before finally turning around to face him.
He remained in his specter body state. His crimson, slitted pupils shifted slightly before settling on Lin Deyou.
“You are correct.”
“I can indeed communicate. But... so what?”
“Spare you?”
“You know that is impossible.”
Lin Deyou took a few steps back instinctively. Forcing down the urge to flee, he stared in terror at the crimson, slitted pupils locked onto him.
At this moment, even though he knew the entity could communicate, he still couldn't help but feel terrified.
This was a specter!
Even if a specter could communicate, it was still a specter!
It had been nearly three years, yet he had never heard of a specter that could converse with humans normally.
Whether in dungeons or the real world, even those capable of speech only repeated fixed sentences or phrases. They were completely different from the entity before him.
Did he have the terrible luck of running into a special dungeon?
“I... I am...”
He wanted to say he was from the Lin Duke's Manor, but on second thought, what kind of deterrence would such an identity have against a dungeon specter?
None at all.
In front of this entity, he was probably no different from a common beggar on the street.
“I saw you turn into a living human just now.”
“You are actually a living human, aren't you?”
Zuo Lin'an didn't answer, simply staring at him.
Lin Deyou felt his hair stand on end under that gaze. He wanted to get away immediately, but he also knew that if he wanted to escape alive, his only hope lay in finding a way through this specter.
Although he didn't know why Zuo Lin'an hadn't killed him earlier, the specter shouldn't be able to attack him right now.
He also knew that the specter could only make a move every half-shichen.
And logically, the time for the specter to kill had already arrived earlier. But after being temporarily blocked by his talisman, the specter stopped and even let him go.
It was highly unlikely that the specter actually intended to spare him.
This meant... there were restrictions on when the specter could attack players, and his talisman from earlier was the reason the specter had temporarily stopped.
However, even if the specter had temporarily backed off, he only had half-shichen. If he couldn't find a path of survival within this time, he would merely survive for another half-shichen.
If only he still had the silver needle. Had he known, he would have used the talisman first instead of the needle.
Lin Deyou was about to speak, but Zuo Lin'an beat him to it.
“Do you still remember that Zi Yao from earlier?”
Lin Deyou froze. Was it because he had stood by and watched Zi Yao die without offering help, making him look heartless and earning the specter's displeasure?
“Well... she and I only crossed paths by chance and were just putting on an act. We can hardly be considered acquaintances.”
Zuo Lin'an nodded, not caring about his thoughts.
“Do you know what her talent was?”
Lin Deyou was taken aback and slowly shook his head.
“I only know that Zi Yao had a common talent. I don't know the specifics, but judging by what happened earlier, it seemed to prevent specters... prevent you from attacking her?”
Zuo Lin'an slowly grinned, revealing a highly malicious smile. Even his crimson eyes overflowed with ill intent.
“Did you know that her talent was called 【Concealment】?”
“Although it can only be used once a day,”
“once activated, she can reduce her presence, preventing me from directly attacking her. I would have to attack someone else first, and only after killing another person could I turn back to kill her.”
Rate on N.U.
