Chapter 43: Castle Exploration (Part 1)
Wang Ziyi and Gao Lijun walked along the narrow path, an unspoken heaviness settling in their eyes. The trend of beastmen devolving toward pure beast forms was becoming increasingly pronounced. From the moment they left Hurricane Tribe to arriving here, they hadn't encountered a single beastman.
Beasts covered the land, swarming toward where Hurricane Tribe was located.
If there truly were no more beastmen in this place, their previous plans would amount to nothing.
On the damp, muddy ground, the girl with two ponytails tied behind her head showed a coldness in her eyes for the first time. She knitted her brows, lost in thought. The two of them silently tried to find a way to complete their mission, but just as neither had any clue, a system notification chimed announcing the completion of the task.
"Is the mission complete?" Gao Lijun's brow relaxed. "It was Zhang Zhaoqi and... Qi An."
Qi An.
Gao Lijun's beautiful brow furrowed slightly. A strange feeling lingered in her heart. That young man appeared delicate on the outside, had no scheming nature, and could be easily manipulated by her. Yet whenever she encountered him, she felt a sense of crisis.
This feeling, she had only ever experienced when facing the top agents of the Fast-Pass Bureau.
Impossible.
Gao Lijun exhaled softly as she entered the teleportation tunnel. It was just a coincidence in names.
She held the highest level of authority. That young man was merely a newcomer who had barely experienced a few worlds since joining the Fast-Pass Bureau.
"Everyone, keep up! We're almost at our destination."
Surrounding them were ruins of buildings—collapsed walls and all manner of debris scattered across the ground. This forced the eight or nine people walking along this path to be especially careful, supporting each other.
The sun hung high overhead, and everyone was drenched in sweat. The cap-wearing young leader waved his hand upon spotting their destination, trying to re-energize the walking group.
"The other team has already arrived. We need to hurry too." A beeping notification sound rang out. The cap-wearing young leader wiped his sweat, and while speaking, pulled his phone from his pocket. He unlocked the screen, and after reading the text message on it, first raised his eyebrow, then chuckled as if he'd seen a joke, muttering to himself.
"Thinking some randomly compiled message could scare me?"
"What's wrong?" The bespectacled, refined-looking young man following close behind him adjusted his glasses and asked casually.
"Nothing." The cap-wearing young man smiled. "Just a prank."
"Mm." The refined young man nodded, but his gaze lingered briefly on the still-lit phone screen. Only after the phone was tucked away again did he look away.
From the rear of the group, Qi An watched this scene from a distance. He let out a soft breath and quietly continued on his way. Zhang Zhaoqi was right beside him, looking composed as ever—fair forehead smooth and unblemished, body straight as a flourishing evergreen tree, forming a sharp contrast with the people around them.
[An'an, do you feel like that bespectacled guy seems kind of familiar?]
[Did you see the pattern on his wrist?] Qi An walked forward under Zhang Zhaoqi's subtly protective watch, and a hint of异样 appeared in his voice as he spoke with the system. [Crimson Bodhi Seed—that's the Wu Yi Alliance's emblem.]
After traversing the final stretch, the magnificent villa nestled among the ruins revealed its face. Destination successfully reached. Everyone took a deep breath.
The cap-wearing young man walked to the door. His hand had just placed on it before he could apply any force.
Yet he discovered the door had opened on its own.
The door creaked open. People stepped inside. Upon seeing their leader still frozen in place, as if paralyzed, someone gently patted his shoulder.
"Why aren't you walking?"
"...Let's go."
The moment the door opened, he discovered that inside... there was no one.