Nuo Mask

The Heart of Slaughter throbbed in the center of Li Yèlái's chest, like a bizarre, pulsing tumor.

Golden-red veins and meridians spread out from the Heart of Slaughter like a spiderweb, clinging to his skin.

They poured an endless stream of power into his body.

The power strengthened his physique, making his muscles sturdier and his bones tougher.

Li Yèlái felt as if he had gained boundless strength, with more energy than he could ever use!

He could vaguely sense that if he activated the Hegemon Facial Mask in this state—

He would be able to fully recreate the awe-inspiring might of the Overlord of Western Chu, whose strength could uproot mountains and overwhelm the world!

The Single-person Breaking Army Formation would be no challenge either. With his strength and reflexes enhanced, Li Yèlái was confident he could break through an enemy's weak point with a single strike.

But he also knew all too well how terrifying this power was.

A voice seemed to echo in his mind: Kill, kill, kill. It was as though he was being urged to please some entity through slaughter.

Still, that was all. He had no idea whether it would eventually affect his personality.

"Why did the Heart of Slaughter move on its own?" Li Yèlái looked at the heart throbbing in his chest, unsure whether to forcibly remove it. "Wasn't it only supposed to tempt people into wearing it? How did it jump onto me by itself?"

"Maybe it controlled the muscles in your chest to make itself jump before your body had completely died." Cheese hurried over and looked at Li Yèlái's chest. Her heart sank, but she suppressed the alarm in her eyes and tried to reassure him. "Don't panic. Psychics have some resistance to the Heart of Slaughter's influence. You'll be fine for a while."

Perhaps to keep Li Yèlái from getting too nervous, she murmured, "Well, now I've seen your chest too, so we're even."

"You should never go into business!" Li Yèlái's mouth twitched.

The two clerical staff members who had earlier been chased by the killing machine ran back over.

They were startled to see the Heart of Slaughter in Li Yèlái's chest, but they quickly composed themselves. "For psychics, the first thirty minutes are still safe. You can forcibly remove it now, but the Heart of Slaughter will be furious and drain most of your strength. Once you remove it, you'll be weak and exhausted for a long time."

"Then I'll have to keep it on for now. I've still got at least half an hour of enhanced strength. If I remove the heart now, I don't think I can resist the Dream Eater's sleep-inducing effect," Li Yèlái said.

The Dream Eater's effect was still active. If he let his guard down or lost his strength, he would probably soon be dragged into a deep sleep. In their current circumstances, that would be fatal. If another Forbidden Item like the Heart of Slaughter appeared, Cheese would have to protect Li Yèlái while fighting it.

The risk was too great.

Cheese thought for a few seconds, then gave a slight nod. "We don't have any other choice."

Li Yèlái continued, "I'm a second Awakening psychic. Does that affect how long I'm safe? Does the effect last longer for people with a higher Awakening level?"

"It has some effect, but not much," another staff member replied. "Some people who've undergone Awakening three times can last two hours. Others who've undergone it four times can't even last an hour. As far as we know, the first half hour is safe for everyone. So, to be cautious, the authorities provide handlers who've undergone Awakening three times with one free Heart of Slaughter enhancement. After that, they have to spend Merit Points to get enhanced again."

Li Yèlái nodded slightly. "Then I'm getting to enjoy the perk ahead of schedule."

The group quickly checked the scene, but sadly, the clerical staff who had fallen there had all died.

They had no time to grieve. After quickly carrying the bodies into a rest room, they immediately set off.

According to the staff members, they had encountered three handlers, but the labyrinthine layout had separated them.

For now, they planned to try to meet up with the other handlers.

At that moment, Li Yèlái found himself missing the Detective. If the Detective had been there with his Trace Tracking, they could have found their colleagues quickly.

Instead, they were wandering around aimlessly.

"At first, we were chasing and trying to subdue the out-of-control Concealment Scarf alongside three handlers. But after the Mobius Ring Diagram went out of control, we lost two of them at a corner. Later, we ran into a cavalry unit!" one of the staff members said as they hurried along.

"Cavalry?" Cheese asked in surprise. "There's a Forbidden Item like that in Black Prison?"

She exchanged a glance with Li Yèlái, remembering the containment room they had seen earlier. The staff members inside had been trampled to death by horses.

"Absolutely not! I've worked here for five years. I know the abilities of the Forbidden Items here, and that cavalry definitely isn't among them—not in the upper level, at least." The staff member spoke earnestly. "Their equipment wasn't especially good: leather armor, hunting bows, and scimitars. They looked like some kind of prairie cavalry. But they all had Psychic Barriers! Their arrows also carried a small amount of psychic power, enough to neutralize those barriers. They scattered us with a single charge. The cavalry chased after one of the handlers, while we managed to get away."

"You saw what happened after that. We ran into the Heart of Slaughter! Damn it!" The other staff member's eyes were bloodshot.

Cheese's expression grew grave. "So some Forbidden Item can summon prairie cavalry? Could this be the Zhelan King's Banner, the one whose threat level suddenly increased?"

Ordinary cavalry—even heavy cavalry—wouldn't stand a chance against psychics, Iron Guards, and firearms.

Cheese alone could make the prairie cavalry submit with a single sentence.

But these cavalrymen had Psychic Barriers and Psychic Arrows. That made them dangerous. They could withstand gunfire and charge straight into a position. Even psychics could be overwhelmed by their numbers.

And they didn't know how many there were.

"Why did the Zhelan King's Banner suddenly become so powerful?" Cheese frowned. "Wasn't it just a D-Rank Forbidden Item?"

"I don't know," the staff member said, shaking his head. "Zhelan was a tribe of the Xiongnu, a people the West once called God's Whip. Some kind of variable has now caused them to revive. I even suspect that many of the Forbidden Items going out of control have something to do with this cavalry."

Li Yèlái and Cheese frowned. If an entire psychic army also possessed Forbidden Items, the consequences were unthinkable.

Just then, the group reached the middle of a corridor. They were about to continue when they heard a creak. A few steps away, a steel gate in the wall suddenly opened.

These gates were made entirely of metal to prevent Forbidden Items from escaping. They automatically dropped into place when the alarm sounded.

With the Mobius Ring Diagram affecting the area, no one knew where the gates led. So the group hadn't wasted time trying to open them.

But now, the gate had opened by itself.

A figure appeared in the doorway. The person wore a combat uniform and should have been a female handler.

But she still made Li Yèlái and the others tense up.

Because the face she wore was unmistakably the Ghost Divination Nuo Mask!

Had the Ghost Divination Nuo Mask taken over the handler's body?

There was no time to grieve. Li Yèlái charged at her in an instant.

His long saber came down like a bolt of lightning!

Eighteen minutes had passed since he put on the Heart of Slaughter, and his body had been enhanced for eighteen minutes.

His strike was so fast and fierce! He leapt forward and brought his blade down, as if he meant to cut her in two!

The woman reacted quickly—or rather, she noticed the Heart of Slaughter's veins spreading across Li Yèlái's neck.

Frosty flashes of light filled the sword in her hand!

It swept out in a deadly arc of swordlight.

The next moment, the saber and sword collided!

The sharp clash of blades made everyone's ears ring.

The woman wearing the Nuo mask was forced back a step. Li Yèlái's physical strength had actually surpassed hers!

"Nuo Mask, you're asking for death!" Li Yèlái roared as he chased after her. He raised one hand to his face, ready to use Myriad Faces, but suddenly stopped.

The other woman shouted at the same time. "Heart of Slaughter!"

"Listen to Me—stop! We're all on the same side!" Cheese shouted at once, stopping the fight before it could begin.

Only then did the two of them notice the people behind their opponent.

Behind the female handler wearing the Nuo mask were two more handlers, five clerical staff members, and two Iron Guards!

Had the mask not possessed her after all?

But Li Yèlái, Cheese, and the others had no time to celebrate. The group rushed out through the gate and immediately began working to close it.

It was as if some kind of monster was chasing them.

Li Yèlái's heart sank. He looked down the corridor beyond the gate, toward the distant corner.

A huge tree sprang into motion, its branch-like arms scrambling quickly across the ground.

A C-Rank Forbidden Item, the Tree Spirit. Its true form was a tree that bore fruit in every season.

Its fruit could make plants grow rapidly.

It was said that the reason the giant city had enough food reserves was because of its ability.

The price was that anyone who picked its fruit had to offer up a large amount of flesh and blood as fertilizer. Otherwise, it would go out of control.

Once it went out of control... Well, it became what they were seeing now. It attacked flesh-and-blood creatures everywhere to obtain nutrients.

Since it wasn't picky about what it ate, it wasn't difficult to appease. A few scraps from the slaughterhouse were enough.

It was also easy to subdue. The thing was weak to fire.

"Tree Spirit?" Cheese froze, then called out, "Let's subdue it! There are so many of us! We can take it down in no time—"

"No, no! There's something behind it!" the woman wearing the Nuo mask shouted. "Close the gate!"

Only then did Li Yèlái notice that the Tree Spirit was fleeing in panic.

Behind it came the thunder of hooves.

One arrow after another had pierced the Tree Spirit's body.

Was that... the Zhelan Iron Cavalry?

The Zhelan Iron Cavalry was chasing the Tree Spirit?

Li Yèlái stared in shock. Just then, the metal gate slammed shut.

The woman wearing the Nuo mask pointed in a direction and said, "Keep moving! It's still not safe here!"

So the group had no choice but to follow them.

They passed another intersection and went through a gate.

Only then did they stop.

It was then that Li Yèlái learned what had happened from the others.

To find her teammates and locate the Mobius Ring Diagram, the female handler had chosen to wear the Ghost Divination Nuo Mask. Using the mask's divination ability, she had found several of her teammates and gradually gathered their strength.

But they had still run into the fleeing Tree Spirit, forcing them to escape toward the gate, where they met Li Yèlái and his group.

"That's not a bad idea," Cheese said after a moment's thought. "Just remember that once you take off the mask, you'll lose a lot of memories."

"Everything comes at a price," the female handler, codenamed Shā Lì, replied. "Subduing the Mobius Ring Diagram is the most important thing. And afterward, I'll have divination abilities. It's only a few memories. That's a good deal!"

Cheese nodded slightly, agreeing with her. If she had been in Shā Lì's place, she would have made the same choice.

Then Shā Lì looked at Li Yèlái, who was sitting nearby, and asked, "Night General, did you put on the Heart of Slaughter?"

"Yes. It jumped onto me by accident." Li Yèlái nodded. "It's been over twenty minutes now."

"Don't worry. Maybe you'll last even longer. A friend of mine lasted an hour and a half," Shā Lì reassured him.

Just then, the Nuo mask spoke in an old, raspy voice. "I advise you not to travel with him."

It was clear that the words came from the Ghost Divination Nuo Mask itself.

Not travel with Li Yèlái? Was it suggesting they abandon him?

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cheese replied with a cold laugh.

"Shut up!" Shā Lì snapped, unwilling to let the mask continue.

They couldn't abandon a teammate. They would never do such a thing.

But the mask spoke again. "You're Cheese, aren't you? His fate lines are too frightening. If you stay by his side, something terrible will happen. I hope you'll choose wisely."

"Something terrible? Like what?" Cheese sneered. "Make me take maternity leave?"

"Pfft!" Li Yèlái choked on the water a teammate had just handed him.

Shā Lì's mouth twitched. She suddenly regretted this. What if forgetting that exchange turned out to be a great loss?

The mask paused, then sneered. "Sharp-tongued and foolish! His fate lines are filled with malice. Just one of them says he's bound to encounter powerful enemies, and that alone will bring you plenty of suffering! When that curse is triggered, what do you think you'll run into? Do you think everything here is as kind as I am?"

"What do you mean, 'as kind as you are'?" Cheese suddenly caught on and turned to Li Yèlái. "If we run into danger, just use your mask and hide away to raise some Gu."

So the idea was to lure a horde of Forbidden Items into fighting each other? Do you really think I'm a monster-spawning cage? Li Yèlái grumbled to himself, but nodded.

"Enough. Continue divining the Mobius Ring Diagram's location," Shā Lì said. "Otherwise, I don't care if I lose my memories. I'll make sure you stay here forever."

But the mask only murmured, "It's too late. In five minutes, the Mobius Ring Diagram will reach the lower level. Then a Class B Forbidden Item will be thrown into the labyrinth. Instead, why don't I lead you out?"

Five minutes? Everyone's hearts sank. Shā Lì continued, "We still have to look for the Mobius Ring Diagram. Even if we run out of time, the sooner we end the labyrinth, the better."

"You're all fools, it seems," the mask sighed. "I really can't understand humans."