She had once said this to Bai Xue.
Hearing it, everyone felt a mix of emotions.
“White Knight, I have a question.”
Dancing Elephant snapped back to his senses and looked at Ye Lian.
“Go ahead.”
The latter straightened her posture and extended her hand in a gesture of invitation.
She had a rather good impression of Dancing Elephant.
“Suppose Ayu really does have that kind of power, and instantly killed [Who’s Chicken], but why would he take the corpse away?
What’s the point of doing that?”
Dancing Elephant asked.
“That’s a good question. Honestly, I don’t know either. But now is the final stage of the closed beta. We can speculate that the [corpse] is related to the final quest. Ayu is probably planning to do something with the corpse.”
Ye Lian shared her guess.
Everyone found it somewhat reasonable.
“I have another question.”
Dancing Elephant continued.
“Go ahead.”
“As everyone knows, when a player dies, they turn into a puddle of red and white goo. If Ayu took the corpse, it shouldn’t be useful, but he still took it. Does that mean that, in this city, when a player dies, they don’t turn into a puddle?”
“That’s a question I can’t answer. Before this, no players died in the city, so I have no way of knowing. But we can follow this line of thinking and make some assumptions.”
Ye Lian replied.
“I understand.”
Dancing Elephant nodded lightly.
‘Just as I thought, the White Knight doesn’t know everything. She’s just a regular closed beta player like us.’
The only difference was her terrifying strength.
Thinking this, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
If she was too ridiculously strong, they’d have to be on guard.
“Let’s find Ayu and [Who’s Chicken]’s corpse first.”
Ye Lian said.
No one objected.
From the moment she appeared, everyone unconsciously centered themselves around her.
Bai Xue didn’t feel anything was wrong.
Because her master was a natural leader.
In fact, Ye Lian hadn’t wanted to get involved in this.
But since it was tied to the final quest, she had no choice but to care.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
Walking at the front, Ye Lian looked up at the gray sky.
This time, during the search, everyone learned from experience—no one dared to act on their own.
They all stayed within Ye Lian’s line of sight.
***
Fifteen minutes passed, and this area was fully searched.
No clues were found at all.
It was as if Ayu and the corpse had vanished into thin air.
Just as everyone was preparing to expand the search area, Bai Xue suddenly pointed into the distance:
“Master, there seems to be something on top of that Watchtower.”
Dancing Elephant and the others followed her finger, and sure enough, saw something hanging from the Watchtower.
But it was too far to see clearly.
“Found it.”
Ye Lian immediately recognized what it was.
Just as Boyang was about to ask, she had already taken a step forward, rushing toward the Watchtower like the wind.
Bai Xue quickly followed.
“Let’s go too!” Dancing Elephant urged.
The group charged toward the Watchtower with urgency.
In no time at all, they arrived at the base of the tower.
“How awful…” Xingyue covered her mouth, her face pale, eyes trembling.
In her upward gaze, there was a corpse hanging.
Drip!
Its hands and throat had been cut open by something sharp, fresh blood slowly dripping from the wounds.
Judging by the speed of the blood flow, the corpse—[Who’s Chicken]—had been dead for a little while.
Ye Lian only glanced at the corpse before focusing on the ground.
Where the blood dripped, there was a strange circular Magic Circle.
Inside, numerous special characters were engraved, indecipherable to ordinary people.
Looking closely, each line was carved into the ground, and after soaking in blood, looked especially eerie.
“Master, is this some kind of evil ritual?”
Bai Xue asked softly.
Her words immediately drew everyone’s attention.
It really did look like a bloody, evil ritual!
“Most likely.” Ye Lian nodded.
After seeing Who’s Chicken’s corpse with her own eyes, she confirmed two things.
First, corpses of those who die in the city do not turn into a puddle of red and white goo like they do outside.
Second, Ayu was definitely mutated.
***
Elsewhere, at the Plaza in the city.
Michael had already woken up, and staggered toward the street.
No one tried to stop him along the way.
Now, the other players no longer saw him as a leader.
That was the price of failure.
“Damn it!” Entering a deserted alley, Michael leaned against the wall, clutching his agonizing chest, cursing.
Right now, he hated the White Knight—who had disgraced and humiliated him—with every fiber of his being.
Suddenly.
“Lost lamb, do you seek guidance?”
A strange voice echoed in the alley.