The young man was right in front of him now. He leisurely straightened his slightly disheveled collar, his deep-purple eyes cold and sharp, a mocking smile tugging at his lips. When he lowered his eyes, they held the disdainful contempt of someone looking down from on high.
His lips moved soundlessly, letting out a few faint breaths.
Enjoy yourselves.
Bai Ziheng watched the young man turn and walk away, a powerful sense of danger spreading through him.
A change occurred behind them. The originally tall and ferocious Village Chief was now half-kneeling on the ground, howling in agony, his voice shrill.
"My Blood Altar! No!"
It tried to piece it back together with its hands. The black hair on its hands had been soaked through, and countless fine red worms crawled upward along them, horrifying and grotesque. In the end, all it could do was watch them seep through its fingers, strands of viscous fluid clinging to its hands and continuously dripping downward.
But all of this was useless.
Finally, it raised its scarlet eyes and glared viciously at Bai Ziheng and Xiao Qi.
"Drop dead!"
(Congratulations! You have successfully enraged the B-rank Ghost—'Village Chief.' Warm Reminder: The disparity in abilities is too great. Please avoid confronting it head-on whenever possible~)
"Not good! Run!"
The blood in Bai Ziheng's body seemed to flow backward. Realizing what was about to happen, he had no time to care about the sticky pus covering him and hurriedly dragged Xiao Qi toward the outside.
But in the very next second, the main gate slammed shut.
Bai Ziheng, who had braked hard, and Xiao Qi: "..."
(Item Rock-Solid as a Mountain in effect—temporarily increasing the gate's durability.)
Through the hole in the gate, Sang Yu's round, almond-shaped eyes peered in. Her face remained expressionless.
"Mr. Bo asks you to enjoy yourselves."
*
(Black Faction candidate Zhang Hu has been detected dead. Your teammate uploaded a video before his death~ Would you like to view it?)
The Proctoring System's cold notification rang out in Bo Shuo's mind, raising goosebumps all over his body.
He leaned against the tree trunk and had only just managed to catch his breath when he heard the ominous news.
(Yes or No)
After Bo Shuo selected yes, a video appeared before his eyes.
In the narrow, dimly lit Alley Entrance, Zhang Hu had been isolated and surrounded by the White Faction candidates. In the end, the footage showed him dying a miserable death.
His gaze swept over the people who had surrounded Zhang Hu, and Bo Shuo realized an even more ominous fact.
"The White Faction has already regrouped and begun hunting down our Black Faction."
For the sake of fairness, the Proctoring System would certainly ensure that the overall strength of the two factions did not differ too greatly.
The White Faction had realized this as well. They had gathered their own faction first, then hunted down isolated Black Faction candidates before the Black Faction could react.
They had begun eliminating the Black Faction's strength at its source.
Sang Yu had naturally seen the video too and immediately understood what it meant.
"More people will die next—"
The young man had not even finished speaking when the dinging notification sounds rang out one after another.
(Black Faction candidate Zhang Li has been detected dead. Black Faction candidate Sun Qiaoling has been detected dead...)
In just five minutes, the death toll had already reached six.
Only five people remained in the Black Faction, while eleven still remained in the White Faction.
(White Faction candidate Xiao Qi has been detected dead.)
Oh, there were only ten left now.
This result did not surprise Bo Shuo. He had never expected to use the Village Chief to directly kill Bai Ziheng, a B-rank Player.
After all, Bai Ziheng was a prospective God's Chosen. Naturally, he had plenty of means to save his life, so the chances of him dying at the hands of the Village Chief were not high.
However, facing the enraged Village Chief head-on should still leave him badly injured.
At the very least, it would force him to expend many of his life-saving methods.
(Exam time remaining: 36h) (Triggering node—Shaman's death.) (Node introduction: To appease their resentment, the villagers of Snow Mountain Village were forced to perform a sacrifice every year. However, something seemed to have gone wrong this year. The Shaman, who had originally presided over the ritual, had mysteriously died in her own home.) (And completing the sacrifice requires a priest to recite a prayer. So where in the Shaman's home is the prayer hidden~)
Bo Shuo stared at the tilde at the end, rendered speechless by the sheer amount he could complain about.
This practically counted as an outright hint. They simply wanted to drive all the candidates toward the Shaman's home and intensify the conflict.
What unpleasant humor.
Both factions needed the prayer. The White Faction needed it to complete the sacrifice, while the Black Faction needed to seize it and hide it, preventing the White Faction from completing the sacrifice.
There was no time to delay. Whoever found the Shaman's home first would seize the initiative.
As luck would have it, the Shaman's home was only one kilometer ahead of them. Bo Shuo had a map, so he could naturally get there before the other candidates.
The Shaman's home was a short mud-and-thatch hut.
It was located closer to the outskirts, where the villagers' patrols were slightly less intensive. They soon managed to enter.
The furnishings inside were old and worn. The moment they crossed the threshold, a sweep of the eye revealed everything within.
A simple bed, a rocking chair, a table and stool, some cooking utensils, and a countertop covered with bottles and jars.
It was almost excessively crude.
Rustling sounds came from a dark corner. Several red worms crawled through it, and the horrifying sound of them gnawing made one's scalp crawl.
Using 007's light to lead the way, Bo Shuo took two more steps forward and saw a corpse lying on the ground.
(NPC: Shaman)
Bo Shuo scanned through the information above, then carefully examined the corpse.
Before you continue