Yes, I Killed Them

Huang Zhaoyan's shout made everyone's gaze towards Fu Qian change.

"Didn't you say you didn't find anything? You didn't slack off and just run over here, did you?"

"I did slack off and come over directly. There are people for that kind of useless work."

Facing the questioning gazes of many, Fu Qian remained composed, without any psychological burden.

Seeing Huang Zhaoyan run over under everyone's expectant gaze.

"Where is it?"

Li Weixuan still had the demeanor of a great general, with only a slight hint of excitement in his tone.

"Over there, it'll take about fifteen minutes."

Huang Zhaoyan pointed back.

"I found a corpse."

"A corpse?"

Including Li Weixuan, everyone's eyes dimmed again, their morale dropping by another 99%.

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

"It's a very strange corpse, I think you should go take a look."

He didn't report me after all, and he didn't even look at my face the whole time.

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

"Then let's go take a look."

Li Weixuan took a deep breath and urged the group sitting down to get up.

Finding something is better than nothing, at least we can still look for clues.

When the group arrived, they stared at the killer's corpse for a long time.

The reason was simple: it was too strange.

The killer's corpse was even more contorted than before, with both arms almost detached, connected only by the last strands of flesh and sinew.

"Blech!"

Fu Qian heard someone gagging again.

"It is indeed strange. It shouldn't have been dead for long, but the corpse's condition is very unnatural. Is it related to the special environment in here?"

Li Weixuan frowned, also unable to understand the scene before him.

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

"On your way here, didn't you find this corpse?"

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

"Of course I did."

He nodded, and the group was surprised.

"Then why didn't you mention it?"

"What's there to mention?"

Fu Qian looked surprised, as if they were making a fuss over nothing.

"I was the one who killed him."

Indeed, no matter how you look at it, it's just a strange corpse, not a way out—Wait, what did you say!

Everyone was startled and looked at Fu Qian in disbelief.

"You said... you killed him?"

Even Li Weixuan let out an "Ah," his composure breaking.

"Yeah, when I went out to scout earlier, I was attacked by this guy, so I killed him in passing."

Fu Qian said it as if he were casually throwing away trash on his way to buy soy sauce.

"To be clear, he attacked me first. I was acting entirely in self-defense."

"Do you know who he was?"

"No."

Fu Qian shook his head, noticing Huang Zhaoyan's relieved expression.

"He just followed me for a while and then suddenly jumped out, saying he wanted to kill me and told me to run quickly."

"He told you he wanted to kill you and told you to run quickly?"

"Yeah! He even reminded me to release the Arrow Bell and find reinforcements."

Li Weixuan's eyes sharpened.

To kill someone, and yet to inform the target to seek rescue.

His previous actions could be explained to some extent, but this was completely unreasonable.

Li Weixuan subconsciously glanced behind him, realizing the problem was not that simple.

He wasn't a martial arts fanatic oblivious to worldly affairs; he immediately had many thoughts.

The assassin's true target was someone else. Capturing Fu Qian was merely a diversion.

Someone dared to do this during his expedition? Did they think he was too easy to deal with!

He had to get to the bottom of this after they left, otherwise, what would become of the Academy's prestige?

"Examine his belongings."

Li Weixuan gave the order, then looked deeply at Fu Qian.

"Don't worry, I'll give you an explanation once we're out."

This student might have many secrets, but no one would tell such a ridiculous lie and take the blame upon themselves.

"It's fine, this guy is all talk,"

Fu Qian said with a casual air.

"If that's the case, his time of death is very recent."

Li Weixuan's attention returned to the corpse.

"Then it's quite strange that he ended up like this."

"It is indeed strange. I already have a guess about this, and student Ji Liushuang and I have coincidentally discussed some ideas."

Fu Qian spoke with a tone suggesting prior understanding with Ji Liushuang.

He didn't want everything to come from him; that would be too suspicious.

Having already discussed it with Ji Liushuang, having this favored disciple of the Academy vouch for him was perfect.

Ji Liushuang was frowning in thought. When Fu Qian mentioned her name, a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes.

"Liu Shuang, do you have any thoughts on this?"

Fu Qian's words surprised Li Weixuan somewhat.

"I do have a guess. It feels like it's related to this place."

Although she found it a bit strange that Fu Qian was pushing her forward, Ji Liushuang nodded and stated her deduction.

"Think about it carefully. Since we entered here, we've seen almost no living creatures. The only corpse was that of the assassin who followed us. For a place you can enter but not leave, isn't that a bit bizarre?"

"And since we entered, we've encountered two types of monsters: one with black hair, and another with arms forming a palm. Both are related to humans."

"So, I wonder if there's a possibility that all creatures who intruded here, under the influence of some special power within the ruins, had their corpses gathered together in a special way after death, forming those things?"

This...

Ji Liushuang's words clearly stirred a strong reaction, and considerable unrest arose from the crowd.

"If that's the case, is this place alive or something?"

"Will we be digested in this strange way after we die?"

"Not only can we not leave, but we'll also turn into those palm monsters?"

"That's too disgusting!"

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

Frowning, if this were true, this place was truly sinister.

"I think it's a good thing."

A good thing?

This time, everyone was shocked. Even Ji Liushuang looked at Fu Qian in horror.

How could this be a good thing? To satisfy your morbid curiosity?

Fu Qian pointed at the corpse on the ground.

"Have you ever thought about what it means that so much is missing from his body?"

What did it mean?

Besides being bizarre and bloody, what else could it mean?

"So far, we've seen hair and arms, but no blood..."

Fu Qian counted on his fingers.

"This indicates..."

He pointed towards the depths of the ruins.

"Inside the ruins, there's a special destination for these things."

"No matter what form it takes, it might be fraught with danger, but it's better than having no escape here."

"So I think we should go inside and take a look."