Chapter 41

Huang Zhaoyan’s shout changed the way everyone looked at Fu Qian.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t find anything? You didn’t just get lazy and run over here, did you?”

“I did indeed get lazy and came straight here. That kind of futile work is best left to others.”

Facing the many questioning glances, Fu Qian was calm and composed, without the slightest sense of guilt.

They watched as Huang Zhaoyan ran over amidst everyone’s expectant gazes.

“Where is it?”

Li Weixuan still possessed the bearing of a great leader, his tone only slightly excited.

“Over there, it’ll take about fifteen minutes,”

Huang Zhaoyan turned back and pointed.

“I found a body.”

…

A body?

Including Li Weixuan, everyone’s eyes dimmed again, their morale dropping by 99.

Huang Zhaoyan hadn’t yet realized the misunderstanding his words had caused.

“A very strange body, I think you should take a look.”

Indeed, he didn’t betray himself, and he didn’t even glance at my face from beginning to end.

Fu Qian sighed inwardly, Don’t be so guilty!

“Then let’s go take a look.”

Li Weixuan took a deep breath, hurrying the group that was sitting down.

Having a discovery was always good news, at least there was a clue to follow.

When the group arrived, they were dumbstruck by the sight of the killer’s body for quite a while.

The reason was straightforward, it was just too strange.

The killer’s body was now even more twisted than before, both arms nearly detached, hanging by a mere sinew.

Ugh!

Fu Qian heard someone retching again.

“Indeed strange, it must have died not long ago, but the state of this body is very unnatural. Could it be related to the special environment here?”

Li Weixuan frowned, equally puzzled by the scene before him.

Then he suddenly thought of something and turned to Fu Qian.

“Didn’t you come across this body on your way here?”

Fu Qian glanced at Huang Zhaoyan, who unconsciously averted his gaze.

“Of course, I did.”

He nodded, and everyone was shocked.

“Why didn’t you mention it then?”

“What’s there to mention?”

Fu Qian looked surprised, as if everyone was making a fuss over nothing.

“After all, the person was killed by me.”

Indeed, no matter how you put it, it’s just a strange body, and not a way out—wait a minute, what did you just say!

Everyone was startled, looking at Fu Qian in disbelief.

“You said… you killed the person?”

This time even Li Weixuan let out an exclamation, his composure slipping.

“Yes, I was attacked by this guy while I was out scouting earlier, and I just took care of him.”

Fu Qian’s tone was casual, as if he was talking about tossing out trash on his way to buy soy sauce.

“Just to clarify, that guy made the first move. I was acting entirely in self-defense.”

“Do you know who he is?”

“No.”

Fu Qian shook his head, noticing the relieved look on Huang Zhaoyan’s face.

“He just followed me for a while then suddenly jumped out and said he wanted to kill me, even told me to run fast.”

“He told you he was going to kill you, and then told you to run fast?”

“Yes! He even reminded me to release Arrow Bell to call for reinforcements.”

…

Li Weixuan’s gaze sharpened.

To kill someone, yet to remind the target to seek help.

The actions thus far could still be explained, but this one was completely irrational.

Li Weixuan glanced subconsciously behind him, realizing the issue wasn’t that simple.

He wasn’t the type of person oblivious to the ways of the world, absorbed only in martial arts; he almost instantly made numerous associations.

The true target of this assassin was someone else; approaching Fu Qian was just a diversion tactic.

The fact that someone dared to pull such a stunt during an exploration led by him—it was as if they really thought he was too good-natured!

This matter, once it was out, had to be clarified, or where would the Academy’s authority stand?

“Check his possessions.”

Li Weixuan ordered, then looked deeply at Fu Qian.

“Don’t worry, once we’re out of here, I’ll give you an explanation.”

This student might have many secrets, but no one would tell such a pointless lie to bring trouble upon themselves.

“It’s no trouble; this guy is very wet behind the ears.”

Fu Qian’s face was one of casual indifference.

“That being said, his time of death should be quite recent.”

Li Weixuan’s attention then returned to the corpse.

“Which makes his current condition quite strange.”

“Indeed, very strange. I already have a hypothesis, which Miss Liushuang and I arrived at independently after sharing some ideas.”

Fu Qian spoke as if he had an unspoken understanding with Ji Liushuang.

He definitely did not want all the ideas to come from him; that would be too suspicious.

Having already conversed with Ji Liushuang, it seemed only appropriate for this favorite student of the Academy to come forward and confirm his words.

Ji Liushuang was deep in thought, her brows furrowed, when she suddenly looked up in surprise as Fu Qian mentioned her name.

“Liushuang, do you have any thoughts on this?”

Fu Qian’s words took Li Weixuan by surprise.

“I do have some speculation, which seems to be related to this place.”

Even though it was strange for Fu Qian to push her to the front, Ji Liushuang still nodded and shared her deduction.

“Think about it, ever since we entered here, we’ve hardly seen any living creatures, and the only corpse was that of an assassin who followed us. For a place you can enter but cannot leave, isn’t that a bit eerie?”

“Since our entry, we’ve encountered two types of monsters: one with black hair, and one made up of a conglomerate of arms, the Palm Monster, both related to the human body.

So I’m wondering if there might be a possibility that, under the influence of some special power within the ruins, the bodies of all creatures that enter here converge after death into those creatures?”

This…

Ji Liushuang’s words clearly struck a chord, creating significant unrest among the crowd.

“If that’s true, could this place actually be… alive?”

“We’ll be digested in some weird way after we die?”

“Not only can we not get out, but we’ll also turn into one of those Palm Monsters?”

“That’s just disgusting!”

…

Seeing the chaos unfold, Li Weixuan raised his hand, signaling everyone to calm down.

With furrowed brows, if this were true, this place was indeed sinister.

“I actually think this is good news.”

Good news?

The entire group was shocked, with Ji Liushuang looking at Fu Qian with a face full of horror.

How could this be good news? Was it merely to satisfy his morbid curiosity?

Fu Qian pointed at the body on the ground.

“Have you considered what it means that he’s missing so many parts?”

What could it mean?

Apart from being eerie and bloody, what else could it indicate?

“Up to now, we’ve seen hair, arms, but we haven’t seen any blood…”

Fu Qian counted on his fingers.

“This suggests…”

He pointed toward the depths of the ruins.

“Inside the ruins, there’s a special place where these things go.”

“Whether it exists in some form or not, it might be fraught with danger, but it’s still better than here where there are no clues to follow.”

“That’s why I think we should take a look inside.”