The instant he was knocked down, Qin Ran kipped up and landed on his feet again.
He examined the back of his right hand in surprise.
The eerie smiling face had appeared there like a crimson tattoo. As he moved his five fingers, it rose and fell, making the smile even more unsettling.
"What is this thing?"
Qin Ran carefully checked his entire body. Aside from the tattoo on the back of his right hand, nothing had changed, and he felt no discomfort.
There was no pain, not even an itch.
Even the back of his right hand, where the tattoo had appeared, felt nothing.
Had the tattoo not been right before his eyes, Qin Ran might even have believed that nothing had happened.
Nor were there any notifications in the system's combat log.
But that did nothing to put Qin Ran at ease.
What he had just witnessed, along with that deep voice, suggested that this tattoo was anything but ordinary.
Only...
"Did it come specifically to find me?"
Qin Ran recalled the circumstances surrounding the paper ball's appearance.
It had been dropped by an eagle he had spotted, one with sharp talons and keen eyes.
The eagle had not only been fast, but also skilled at evasion. Even with his Peerless [Gunpowder Weapons: Light Firearms] at the time, he had been unable to get a lock on it.
Qin Ran had even marveled at it.
But that amazement had been based on the assumption that the eagle was a pet or companion raised by the Killer Players.
It was nothing like what he felt after witnessing that scene.
Because what he had seen was no longer something to marvel at. It was uncanny.
Every bit as uncanny as the smiling face itself.
It had silently appeared inside a