Under the players' "slightly rough" actions, an extremely bizarre scene unfolded at the inn that night:
Several men with awful expressions chased after a woman.
Yet the woman kept darting through the inn's corridors. Every time she passed a room, she would flash inside, then flash back out with an irritated look on her face.
The whole process did not last long, and no sounds came from the quiet rooms. But whenever someone entered afterward, they would discover that the travelers on the beds had vanished.
The belongings in the rooms had been scattered all over the floor, yet not a single item had been taken.
Such behavior did not seem motivated by money.
And so, the question arose:
So, what exactly had this female thief "stolen"?
Answer: Cheng Shi's time.
After following Yun Ni through more than a dozen rooms, Cheng Shi was thoroughly disappointed.
He had not found even a fart.
Aside from the travelers' luggage and large quantities of necessities for survival, his greatest gain had been spotting several stylish QQ panties in a woman's wardrobe...
Don't get him wrong, this woman had quite exquisite taste... Forget it, back to business.
The rooms they had searched just now were clearly occupied by ordinary travelers, not the people they were looking for.
Besides, there were far too many travelers in the inn. At this rate, even if they searched until daybreak, they would never finish going through the third floor.
Not to mention the two floors below them.
If this continued, when dawn approached, Yun Ni would have no choice but to send the travelers she had delivered to "other planes" back as well.
By then, the panic spreading through the inn might become even more severe.
More than once along the way, Cheng Shi reminded the others, "Should we keep going?"
The others' responses were quite interesting:
Fang Jue frowned, Du Xiguang smiled, and the ascetic monk said nothing.
Clearly, even the big shots wanted to gamble on their luck.
They were betting that they might stumble upon a useful clue, which could perhaps save them some time.
Since the big shots were unwilling to stop, Cheng Shi, who was merely tagging along, naturally had no say in the matter.
So they continued.
However, that was how life worked. The more anxious you became, the worse things went.
This unconventional method was ultimately difficult to sustain.
At some point before dawn, Miss Assassin's actions were discovered.
More precisely, she exposed herself.
When Yun Ni once again skillfully slipped into a room, the four men in black robes sitting neatly inside simultaneously opened their eyes and looked at her.
The moment those four pairs of bright eyes opened, the power of Order began to surge!
That viscous quality was practically as if it had descended here before!
Yun Ni's expression changed dramatically, and she turned to run.
However, the moment she entered the room, her fate had already been decided.
A grand and solemn chant rang out in succession, its sound like a great bell.
"Within this place, fleeing is forbidden!"
"Within this place, shouting is forbidden!"
"Within this place, resistance is forbidden!"
"Within this place, sophistry is forbidden!"
Terrifying holy light surged forth, instantly coating the entire room in dazzling gold.
Chain after chain formed from laws and decrees wrapped around Yun Ni's hands and feet like living creatures.
She was powerless to resist and unable to call for help. She could only watch helplessly as she was restrained, then dragged upward by the chains and suspended high in the air.
Like a victim being torn apart by five horses.
All kinds of pressure and negative effects from Order savagely ravaged her body. Only when the judge in the judicial robe on the bed opened his eyes did this horrifying "punishment" pause for an instant.
But what came next was the beginning of the nightmare.
The judge drew his own judgment scepter from Nothingness. His eyes, filled with roiling purple lightning, turned toward Yun Ni. He lightly pointed at the place where she was bound and slowly spoke:
"Do you plead guilty?"
Plead guilty?
Guilty of what?
Did sending sleeping travelers on a free trip to an unfamiliar plane count as a crime?
Wasn't this charity?
Of course, if Cheng Shi had been the one captured, he might have thought that way.
But Yun Ni felt neither joy nor sorrow.
She had realized the identities of these people. They were clearly members of the Grand Inquisition.
The Grand Inquisition had arrived long ago!
They had come to Everbloom Town without making a sound, disguised themselves as ordinary travelers, and infiltrated the inn to investigate!
Right. Even the players could pinpoint the culprit's location. How could these judges, whose sole duty was judgment, possibly lack such methods?
They had already narrowed down the general area where the suspect was hiding and might even have identified several suspects.
And she was nothing more than the "foolish roe deer" that had accidentally wandered into their trap while they waited for their prey!
What was even more frightening was that Yun Ni could sense a divine fluctuation from the scepter the judge had produced, one just like Bloom Awaits Withering!
Another Demigod Artifact!
This was the third Demigod Artifact she had encountered in a single day.
What did that mean?
It meant she might die!
Yun Ni had long considered the possibility that something might go wrong, but from beginning to end, she had been thinking about how to deal with the strange attacks brought by When Fear Arrives.
She had not expected that, in the end, she would indeed fall—but at the hands of another Demigod Artifact belonging to the Grand Inquisition.
After so much deliberation, the outcome she faced was still this absurd.
It was simply laughable.
Yun Ni seemed to have given up on defending herself, even though she believed she was innocent.
But when a judge only wanted to declare you guilty, arguing was worse than remaining silent.
At least she could preserve her final shred of dignity instead of becoming a clown.
The judge's wording clearly intended to send her to her death.
Yun Ni smiled fearlessly, then turned her head away.
However, the power of Order ultimately forced her to speak.
An invisible pressure transformed into transparent hands that gripped her throat, squeezing a response out through her windpipe.
"...Yes!"
Immediately afterward...
With a resounding boom, lightning descended!
The sinner...
Was reduced to ash!
From pleading guilty to annihilation, not even the time to blink was wasted.
Although in Everbloom Town, Bloom Awaits Withering equally protected everyone,
there were always the wills of other gods that could bring death.
Just as the judgment of Order could not be defied!
The judge finished executing the sentence, but he did not seem satisfied. He stared at the place where Yun Ni had vanished, his brows tightly furrowed.
He had indeed sensed death, but based on his understanding of Thunder Punishment, the dead sinner should have become a charred corpse, not directly collapsed and dissolved into nothingness.
This manner of death seemed more like the one he had not seen for a long time...
The judges beside him also noticed something unusual. They frowned in confusion and asked,
"My lord, what is this?"
The judge pondered for a moment, then said coldly,
"Probably a special method of annihilation originating from the underground faith. It is of no consequence. The sinner has been subdued."
When the judge said the sinner was dead, there was no possibility of the sinner surviving.
The four judges nodded simultaneously, then closed their eyes and returned to silence.
The judge put away his scepter. He did not close his eyes, but instead turned his cold gaze toward the doorway.
Outside the room, Fang Jue was covered in cold sweat, while Du Xiguang clenched his fists tightly.
The two of them had been only one step away from following Yun Ni inside. Fortunately, Yun Ni had quickly signaled a warning outward the moment she entered, making them hesitate for an instant.
That moment of doubt had saved their lives.
The two withdrew with solemn expressions, retreating all the way to the stairwell. Only when they encountered Cheng Shi and the ascetic monk in the shadows did they finally stop and wipe the cold sweat from their foreheads.
Cheng Shi had not seen what happened inside or outside the room. Seeing their grave expressions, his heart sank.
"Where's Yun Ni?"
Fang Jue's eyes darkened, and he said nothing.
Du Xiguang slowly shook his head, making the meaning clear.
"She's dead?"
Was Everbloom Town truly a town where people could live out a normal lifespan?
Cheng Shi was utterly stunned. He widened his eyes and looked toward the room, seemingly trying to remember who had been staying there.
If he remembered correctly, the room had been empty before they went out.
In other words, the people in that room had moved in during the brief period when the players had gone out to search for Wei Guan.
The two sides had happened to miss each other perfectly!
"What kind of people are inside?"
This time, Fang Jue spoke.
"Order. I sensed fluctuations of the power of Order."
The Grand Inquisition!
Without a doubt, it could only be the Grand Inquisition!
They had already arrived!
He had only casually entertained the thought just now, yet it had actually come true.
Cheng Shi felt the mockery of Destiny, and his expression became horribly ugly.
In a trial that lasted seven days, another person had been lost at dawn on the second day.
Six had become four.
At the same time, the travelers Yun Ni had sent to other planes were spat back out by the planes with a bang, landing on their beds and jolting awake. They only felt as if they had experienced a terrifying nightmare.
Yet they had no impression whatsoever of the mastermind who had created that nightmare.
Because the culprit had been subdued.
Before you continue