Going back would let them search for the murderer.
Staying would let them avoid another accident tonight.
In a seven-day trial, losing a teammate before even making it through the first day was undoubtedly the worst possible start.
The gravity of the situation was written across everyone's faces. Only Yun Ni gave a soft snort before turning and walking away.
She was heading toward "The Madly Growing Light of Life."
Watching Yun Ni leave so decisively, Cheng Shi was filled with emotion.
This was a 2,400-point game. Even with death right in front of them, there were still people who could face it calmly and charge straight ahead.
If this had been a 1,400-point game, their group would have fallen apart tonight.
Du Xiguang pushed up his glasses and suggested, "What if we report Wei Guan's death to the Law Enforcement Bureau?"
To be honest, it was a viable option.
Having the Law Enforcement Bureau step in would eliminate a lot of risks.
The problem was that they still couldn't determine whether this killer, who wielded a Demigod Artifact, was the players' target or their signpost.
If he was a "signpost," that would be fine. They only needed to figure out whom he planned to kill next, then find the true sacrifice.
But if he was the "target," once he fell into the hands of the Law Enforcement Bureau, killing him afterward would be like making things harder for themselves.
Besides, how were they supposed to explain Wei Guan's current state, with his "abdomen split open"?
Fang Jue pondered for a moment before shaking his head and rejecting the suggestion.
Now was not the right time to cooperate with the "officials."
Cheng Shi had expected this result. He glanced at Wei Guan, whose eyes remained wide open in death, then turned and left as well.
Yun Ni was right. They had to stay close to the murderer if they wanted to find him.
No matter what, they had to return to the inn tonight.
The trial had already changed from "dispersing the fog" to "walking on the edge of a blade."
And that was precisely what Death was waiting for.
It had never disliked having more sacrifices.
"You go ahead. I'll take care of Wei Guan's body."
Followers of Order had always been reliable. Du Xiguang did not hesitate and followed Cheng Shi.
Fang Jue stared solemnly at the corpse and let out a quiet sigh.
After he had "hidden" the body and looked up again, he found that the ascetic monk, who had silently listened nearby all night, had already disappeared.
When Cheng Shi returned to the inn, Yun Ni was buying liquor at the front desk.
He walked over, asked the server for a glass of strong liquor, and sat beside her.
Yun Ni glanced at him but, unusually, said nothing.
Cheng Shi raised the glass in his hand. "Regardless, we're teammates. If you have any ideas, you may as well discuss them with me first."
Yun Ni lifted her slightly tipsy eyelids, signaling for him to continue.
"I don't want to lose two teammates on the first day, and I don't want you to die for no apparent reason like that arrogant Folly believer."
Cheng Shi's words were blunt. He was afraid his teammates would confidently charge into action, only to end up dead on the spot.
It wasn't that he didn't trust Yun Ni's intelligence...
Forget it. He simply didn't trust her.
Besides, he could tell that Miss Assassin already had a plan. She might even act tonight.
As for whether her actions would benefit the trial, he had no way of judging without knowing what she was thinking.
Yun Ni smiled and ignored him. After downing the liquor in her glass, she left alone once more.
Cheng Shi watched her go, then turned his gaze toward the bar.
The empty glass Yun Ni had placed on the counter was still trembling. On its base, a barely visible crack slowly spread toward the three o'clock direction.
Heh. What an interesting invitation.
The inn closed at two o'clock. Clearly, she wanted to do something "that couldn't see the light" in the quiet of night.
Cheng Shi laughed helplessly, drained his own glass, and returned to his room as well.
The night was deep. No matter how many guests the inn had, most of them had chosen to rest by now, and it was no longer as lively as it had been at nightfall.
The innkeeper was clearly a capable businessman. To help the travelers sleep more soundly, he had even arranged for several servers to patrol the corridors on every floor at intervals despite the late hour.
Cheng Shi couldn't sleep at all as he lay on his bed. Listening to the footsteps coming and going in the corridor, he kept thinking about how to break the deadlock.
Just as he furrowed his brows in thought, the familiar sound of breathing came from behind the wooden wall beside his bed.
"Three o'clock already?"
He raised his hand to check the time, but the breathing next door suddenly vanished.
As if he had received a signal, Cheng Shi immediately got out of bed, opened his door, and walked out.
The moment he stepped outside, he saw Du Xiguang and Fang Jue opening their doors at the same time.
The two men's gazes passed over Cheng Shi in perfect unison and landed on Yun Ni's door.
Even more absurdly, at the end of the corridor, a burly man lying in the shadows also woke up. He silently rose to his feet.
"?"
It seemed everyone was focused on Miss Assassin's operation.
But I didn't sleep because Yun Ni invited me. What do you big men mean by eavesdropping outside her room in the middle of the night?
The opportunity would disappear in an instant, leaving Cheng Shi no time to think.
The few of them tacitly skipped the awkward greetings and followed Yun Ni's trail to the third floor.
Perhaps Wei Guan's death had served as a warning. She had not erased the traces of her movements.
Thus, four men followed behind her, erasing her traces as they went while guessing what this Assassin of Annihilation intended to do.
However, they didn't have to wonder for long. When they reached the door of the guest room in the farthest corner of the third floor, the answer revealed itself.
A trace of Annihilation's aura seeped from the room.
Yun Ni had made her move!
The group paled in shock. Dodging the servers' patrol, they quickly slipped into the room.
The instant they entered, they saw that the room had been turned upside down. The guest who should have been inside had already vanished.
Yun Ni had disappeared as well.
"Madwoman!"
Fang Jue immediately understood Yun Ni's intentions. He cursed furiously before darting out of the room.
Du Xiguang followed close behind. Clearly, he had also seen through Yun Ni's plan.
Cheng Shi stared at the empty room, his brows tightly knit.
There was no doubt about it. Yun Ni had "killed" someone.
Using the special means granted by Annihilation, the Annihilation believer had sent the traveler in the room to an "other plane."
Those planes were often lands of apocalypse on the verge of collapse.
Bringing living beings into a disintegrating space was an offering to Annihilation.
Moreover, a living body vanishing from its original location could also be considered a form of "death."
The unfortunate traveler might still be alive, but no outsider could know what suffering awaited him in a plane watched by Annihilation.
The idea was crude, but effective.
Miss Assassin's plan was simply to search the rooms one by one for evidence without alerting the other travelers.
Just like her personality—decisive and direct.
However, there was still one problem. Once she came face-to-face with the murderer, Yun Ni could very well become the next Wei Guan.
It wasn't that no one had thought of this simple and effective method. No one wanted to become the second Wei Guan.
Unexpectedly, Yun Ni didn't mind in the slightest. She had willingly become the players' spearhead.
Thinking of this, Cheng Shi couldn't help sighing.
They really are fearless because of their skill.
Why were all these high-scoring people so confident?
Could it be that they had charged their way to those scores purely through their innate talents?
He was rather contemptuous of that.
Brute force couldn't solve everything. The mind was the key that opened the crucial door.
But it had already happened, and dwelling on it was useless.
He sighed helplessly and began searching through the disordered room, hoping to find some useful information.
It went without saying that Miss Assassin wouldn't search carefully.
This dirty work still required everyone's help.
"Sigh. The people from the Grand Inquisition are on their way. Aren't they afraid that making such a mess of the inn now will trap them here?"
Before you continue