At most, he would protect Tang Jianghe to some extent, but if sacrificing Tang Jianghe meant saving Tang Wanrong, Xuan Liu would throw the old man to the wolves without a second thought.
After quickly abducting Zhuang Feiyin, Zuo Lin'an immediately took her far away.
“Damn it!”
Having finally realized what was happening, Zhuang Feiyin cursed fiercely and prepared to resist. However, right at that moment, Zuo Lin'an tightened his grip on her throat and slammed her hard against a tree.
Zuo Lin'an had held back some of his strength for this blow; otherwise, he might have slammed her to death on the spot.
Zhuang Feiyin's head collided with the tree trunk, leaving her consciousness in complete chaos and unable to stay awake. Zuo Lin'an watched her collapse to the ground, entirely defenseless, but he did not execute his rule immediately.
There was still about a minute left before the hour, so it was not yet time to make his move.
Still... Zhuang Feiyin truly lived up to her powerful family heritage. Although she was a Second-Rate martial artist like Zhuang He of the Poison Dragon Hand, her constitution was clearly much stronger.
Had it been Zhuang He, it probably would have taken him over ten minutes to recover from that blow, but Zhuang Feiyin managed to push herself up into a sitting position after only a single minute.
Although she still had no power to resist, she could at least move.
1:00 AM.
Zuo Lin'an took out his pre-prepared boning knife and swept his gaze over Zhuang Feiyin as she struggled to her feet, focusing especially on the scabbard on her back.
Logically speaking, there was a high probability that an object like a scabbard wouldn't be allowed inside, yet she had brought it with her. This meant the item was highly likely a specter item.
Zuo Lin'an watched Zhuang Feiyin, who had not yet fully regained her senses and was moving solely on bodily instinct. He slowly approached and brought the knife down.
During the execution process, he remained extremely cautious, terrified that she might suddenly pull out a specter item from thin air.
After all, once players found a specter item, they could store it inside their bodies in a phantom state and retrieve it whenever they needed.
And the most dangerous thing was the scabbard on her back.
Sure enough, the moment he brought the knife down, the scabbard suddenly vanished. When it reappeared, it had shrunk and was fitted tightly over his boning knife.
Zuo Lin'an stared in brief shock at the sight.
What kind of specter item was this?
Zuo Lin'an tried to continue executing the rule, but the boning knife, now sheathed, could no longer inflict any harm on the player.
However, this boning knife was not a real knife; it was condensed from his own specter energy. Thus, he only needed to dispel the knife and condense a new one.
But when Zuo Lin'an tried it, he found it was completely impossible.
It seemed the scabbard's special effect was to seal a specter's weapon. While there was bound to be a time limit, there was less than half a minute left before 1:01 AM.
He had no time to waste.
Since his weapon was sealed, he would do it with his bare hands!
He tossed the boning knife aside.
Zuo Lin'an extended his hand. His seemingly smooth nails looked entirely harmless, but when they touched Zhuang Feiyin's skin, a light swipe easily sliced her open.
Although executing the rule barehanded was indeed time-consuming and would get blood everywhere, making it an incredibly gory affair, Zuo Lin'an did not want to waste an execution opportunity.
In the end, amid Zhuang Feiyin's blood-curdling screams, it took him nearly six to seven minutes to complete the execution.
He had not used his specter aura to block her screams just now, so the other players on the mountaintop should have heard them.
Zuo Lin'an made a grasping motion, and the boning knife reappeared in his hand.
By now, the scabbard had vanished.
He calculated the time; the scabbard's weapon-sealing duration was roughly five minutes.
Then again, the special effect of this specter item was honestly not that great...
But then Zuo Lin'an realized his line of thinking was flawed.
If Zhuang Feiyin were facing a normal dungeon boss that needed to use weapons to hunt players, rather than a Human-Specter Symbiont, wouldn't this indeed buy her quite a bit of time?
Zuo Lin'an glanced at the messy corpse on the ground and paid no more attention to Zhuang Feiyin. She was already dead anyway.
Concealing his figure once more, he hid on another mountain, watching the players from the shadows.
By now, he had already decided on his next target.
Li Tie.
Meanwhile, sitting near the bonfire, Tang Wanrong's face was grim, her expression tinged with nervousness.
The distant screams of Zhuang Feiyin had made her feel exceptionally uncomfortable, leaving her feeling nauseous and sick to her stomach, though she couldn't actually throw up.
Tang Jianghe noticed her off expression.
“What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
Tang Wanrong took a deep breath and slowly shook her head. “Don't worry, Father, I'm fine. Besides, as long as we can leave the dungeon alive, all injuries and discomforts will disappear.”
Tang Jianghe naturally knew this, as he was a veteran player himself, but he would not allow any mishaps to befall Tang Wanrong, not even the slightest error.
Xuan Liu looked at Li Tie. “Come here.”
Li Tie immediately stood up, walked over to Xuan Liu, and dropped to one knee.
“My lord.”
“What is your talent?”
Li Tie paused for a moment before speaking. “It is the common talent, Teleportation. I can teleport up to ten zhang. Once used, I must wait one and a half shichen before I can use it again.”
Xuan Liu asked, “Can you carry anyone with you?”
Li Tie replied, “I tried it before, but it doesn't work. I can only teleport myself.”
“Do you have any specter items?”
Li Tie shook his head. “I have only participated in two One-Star dungeons before this. This is my third, and I have not obtained any specter items.”
After questioning him, Xuan Liu quickly lost interest.
“Step back.”
“Yes.”
Li Tie stood up and walked some distance away.
Xuan Liu then called Zeng Qiuning over.
“Lord Zeng, may I ask what your talent is? Do you have any specter items?”
Zeng Qiuning took a deep breath.
“I dare not accept the title of 'lord.' This lower official only has a common talent called 【Perception】. I can actively perceive the location of a specter three times a day. The closer it is, the more accurate it is.”
“As for specter items... I only have one consumable specter item. It is a handful of incense ashes. If thrown at a specter, they will be unable to attack players for half-shichen.”
Xuan Liu nodded. “Very useful. Stay by my side.”
Zeng Qiuning was overjoyed and hurriedly nodded.
“Yes! Thank you, my lord!”
Xuan Liu's gaze did not linger on Tang Wanrong. Leaving aside the fact that she was his charge, even if she weren't, she was just a pure newbie who possessed the common talent 【Rapid Speed】.
It was utterly useless.
As for her specter item, it was just the 【Withered Leaf】 he had given her earlier.
It could only be used for self-preservation.
Therefore, the only one whose details remained unclear was Tang Jianghe.
“Master Tang, please tell me in detail so that I may make proper arrangements.”
Tang Jianghe hesitated slightly, but upon meeting his daughter's gaze, he spoke up anyway.
He explained his talent, 【Speak into Reality】, in great detail.
Xuan Liu was deeply shocked. “Speak into Reality?!”
Tang Jianghe explained, “Because the sleep duration is six shichen, which is half a day...
“...there must be a limit to what I can say to trigger the talent. If the required sleep duration exceeds six shichen, it cannot be realized. Therefore, I can only say things like the specter will not attack me this time, or that it will specifically attack someone else.”
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