Scapegoat Gu

Thinking about this made Sang Yu admire the youth leading the way even more.

Seeming to notice Sang Yu's strange gaze, Bo Shuo, walking at the very front, turned his head to look back at her, asking in confusion, "What is it?"

"N—nothing much." Sang Yu swallowed back the words of worship in her mouth, when out of the corner of her eye she suddenly caught sight of two sneaky figures not far away. "No, wait, they want to explore the Village Chief's house too!"

The Village Chief's house was located right in the center of the village, with several plots of open land fenced off nearby for raising poultry, and haystacks placed upon them that provided good cover for concealing one's figure.

And right beside the haystack not far from them, two people were hiding; even from a distance, the faint corners of their clothes could be seen.

The appearance of other people at this time was not friendly to them at all.

The Faction War had already begun, and the relationship between the examinees of both sides was already as incompatible as fire and water, each wishing they could stab the other to death.

Meeting now, they would probably start a fight.

Sang Yu carefully identified the faces of the two men, then lowered her voice to a bare whisper, "I have an impression of them. That flat-topped man is named Bai Ziheng, a C-rank player whose skills are related to defense. Like me, he's a God's Chosen candidate, so we need to be extra cautious. The slightly thinner one is called Xiao Qi, a D-rank player."

God's Chosen candidate?

Suddenly hearing an unfamiliar term, Bo Shuo poked 007. "What is God's Chosen?"

007 explained, "You also know this is a world where Deities exist. Since Deities exist, there are God's Chosen. Every examinee who is one step away from B-rank can take the God's Chosen Trial, passing the assessment to become a God's Chosen candidate."

"As long as one can become God's Chosen, they can obtain the grace bestowed by the Excellency they pledge allegiance to, and their strength will receive a very large boost."

"So, even at the same grade, the gap in strength between God's Chosen and non-God's Chosen is extremely large."

Bo Shuo felt somewhat tempted listening to this. "Then can I go and become God's Chosen?"

This was all benefits, hey.

007 cruelly shattered his fantasy, tugged on his ear, and said crossly, "In your dreams. The two of us are currently at odds with the Deities; let alone becoming God's Chosen, once you show your face you can just wait to be hacked to death."

Bo Shuo: "..."

Regretfully dismissing this idea, Bo Shuo thought of a new matter and asked Sang Yu, "Aside from Bai Ziheng being a God's Chosen candidate, are there any other God's Chosen in this exam?... Like Xi Guici?"

Bo Shuo swallowed back the rest of his words, waiting in quiet moments until he heard Sang Yu's reply.

"Aside from Bai Ziheng and me, two C-rank players belonging to the God's Chosen candidates, the rest in this exam should just be ordinary examinees. As for Xi Guici..." She seemed to hesitate for a moment, also thinking of this person.

Yet in the end she merely shook her head. "I'd never seen this person before; let alone his identity and background, I didn't even know of his existence. It's as if he popped out of a rock creaking, but I have a premonition that his strength is far above mine."

This was also one of the reasons why Sang Yu had always harbored hostility toward Xi Guici—a dangerous figure of uncertain allegiance who kept following them made it hard not to generate hostility.

What was more...

Sang Yu recalled the deep malice the man had unreservedly displayed toward her, and her spine felt somewhat cold.

There was some distance between them and the two men ahead, and coupled with their very soft discussion, the sound of the surrounding villagers patrolling completely covered their movements.

Naturally, Bai Ziheng and the other did not notice two little tails trailing behind them.

Seeing a loophole appear in the patrols ahead, Bai Ziheng cracked his wrists, did a simple warmup, and quickly led Xiao Qi darting into the courtyard.

The houses in the village all had wooden doors, which were easy to break. They picked the old-fashioned door lock with a wire, entered, and left the door half-shut behind them.

Bo Shuo and Sang Yu exchanged glances, and seeing the two walk inside, they followed behind as well. They didn't even need to judge directions; as long as they traced the route the pair had walked, they could enter the Village Chief's house unimpeded.

The Village Chief's house was very big, at least much larger than the other crude thatched huts—a small two-story western-style building.

The floor was paved with wooden boards, perhaps because they had been used for too long, leaving some hollows underneath where stepping down without controlling one's force produced a creak.

To avoid drawing the attention of the two men ahead, the pair could be considered almost exceedingly cautious.

Of course, on the surface only Sang Yu was careful; no matter how deliberate Bo Shuo was, from other angles he still appeared composed.

The First Floor had no special clues, holding only a few ordinary pieces of furniture common to rural peasant homes.

Yet Bo Shuo quickly noticed something amiss. A fishy-sweet scent seemed to be drifting in the air; it was very heavy and also very familiar.

Thinking of something, Bo Shuo pulled the Red String issued at the very beginning out of his pocket.

He held it to the tip of his nose and sniffed.

Sure enough, these two scents were identical, except that perhaps due to the passage of time, the scent on the Red String had grown somewhat faint, yet it was still heady enough to make one dizzy.

Following this scent, Bo Shuo arrived at a corner. This was a sundries pile that seemed as if it hadn't been cleaned in a long time, piled high with a thick layer of dust.

007 hopped over to the spot with the least dust and beckoned to Bo Shuo, "Host, look here."

That was a wooden board, dusty and no different from the ground.