No More Good Leads-Wait Another Round

While they waited for Avela to retrieve the records, the old passage fell quiet again.

Silver Wolf leaned against the wall, still toying with the Ace of Spades in her hand.

The card flipped between her fingers, spade side up, then back side up, over and over again.

Yanlin White Tower stood on the other side.

Silence lingered between them for a moment.

Silver Wolf suddenly spoke. "How much do you know about the God of Radiant Law?"

Yanlin White Tower clearly had not expected her to ask that so suddenly.

He fell silent for a moment before answering, "A little more than ordinary players, but I wouldn't say I know much."

"Why?"

Yanlin White Tower leaned against the wall, his gaze falling on the streets in the distance, shrouded by night. "They blessed me."

"Then how did you get in touch with them?"

This time, Yanlin White Tower's expression grew slightly more serious. "I didn't seek them out. They appeared on their own."

Silver Wolf watched him.

Yanlin White Tower continued, "The God of Radiant Law descends once every nearly three months. The location varies, but it's usually somewhere Radiant Law's faith is more concentrated. When I met them, I happened to be on my way to rendezvous with Avela and ran into them."

"And then..." He spread his hands. "That was how we got acquainted."

Silver Wolf blinked. "What a coincidence."

Yanlin White Tower smiled. "It really was."

"And after that?"

"After that, we stayed in touch." He did not continue.

Silver Wolf lowered her gaze to the Ace of Spades in her hand.

If the God of Radiant Law had truly been missing for a month.

Then this disappearance had most likely not happened suddenly.

Just then, footsteps sounded in the distance.

Both of them looked up toward the end of the stone alley.

Avela hurried back.

She carried a thin stack of paper files in her arms, with a recording crystal in her other hand.

Her expression was even more solemn than before she had left. "I found it."

Avela placed the files on the stone table. "I pulled the past month's maintenance records for the plaza statue, patrol records, and Court personnel entry-and-exit records."

She paused. "But some parts are strange."

Yanlin White Tower immediately walked over. "How so?"

Avela opened the first file. "A month ago, Griffin Aldermon came into contact with the statue."

Silver Wolf raised her eyes. "The exact time?"

Avela's fingertip landed on the date in the record.

"Before eleven in the morning."

Yanlin White Tower frowned slightly. "Was there anyone else?"

"Yes." Avela turned to the next page. "There was one more person."

She pointed at a line in the record. "A traveler of your Goddess of Life."

Yanlin White Tower looked down. "Why isn't there a name?"

"I don't know, but the clerk left physical details." Avela set the recording crystal on the table. "It was a man wearing a mask."

Silver Wolf's gaze shifted slightly. "A mask?"

Avela shook her head. "The file didn't record the color. That's all there is."

She activated the recording crystal, and a blurry image appeared before the three of them.

The footage was old, like an afterimage left behind by some magical recording.

At the center of the plaza.

The statue of the God of Radiant Law stood quietly there.

A man walked in from the edge of the image. He did not stay long. He merely stood before the statue, stared at it for a long time, then reached out and touched it before leaving.

The recording ended there.

Yanlin White Tower stared at the blurry figure. "Can you confirm the time?"

Avela nodded.

"Around nine at night."

Silver Wolf looked at him. "Half a day later than Griffin."

"Right."

Yanlin White Tower did not answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed on the image.

"Red and white intertwined." Yanlin White Tower's expression shifted slightly.

He fell silent for two seconds. "I might know who that person is."

Silver Wolf asked directly, "Who?"

Yanlin White Tower looked at her. "The number one on the rankings."

Silver Wolf raised a brow. "You're that sure?"

"Only he has such a distinctive mask among us."

He raised a hand and swiped through the air, summoning a rankings interface.

At the very top, it read:

[Player ID: Not Displayed]

[Level: 76]

[Class: Unknown]

[Guild: None]

Silver Wolf looked at the name. "Tch. Has he always been like this?"

"People say he's been hidden from the start," Yanlin White Tower explained.

Silver Wolf glanced at him. "Why's he making himself so mysterious?"

Yanlin White Tower smiled. "He barely interacts with other players to begin with, but one thing about him is obvious."

He pointed at the image. "The mask. He always wears it on top of his head, but never on his face."

Silver Wolf raised a brow. "Showing off?"

Yanlin White Tower spread his hands. "Who knows?"

Silver Wolf looked at the blurry figure in the image. "Didn't expect there to be another expert."

Yanlin White Tower's tone was calm. "His fighting style is vicious. He isn't simply pursuing efficiency."

"Sometimes, he could clearly end a fight immediately, but he deliberately drags it out and tortures his opponents in a taunting, cruel way."

Silver Wolf blinked. "A madman?"

"But there's another strange thing about him." Yanlin White Tower raised a finger. "Mad as he is, his movements seem purposeful. He doesn't attack players without reason, and he follows mission requirements exactly."

"Someone compiled the places where he has appeared. Most of them were connected to major main-story events. And strangely enough, he deliberately destroyed certain things before."

Silver Wolf grew a little interested. "Any theories?"

Yanlin White Tower answered, "He has probably encountered a great number of main-story missions, as well as some extremely rare items. Some even think he may have completed world quests that other players have never seen."

Silver Wolf rubbed her chin. "Interesting. He's alone and ahead of all your guilds?"

"Level isn't everything." Yanlin White Tower looked at the image. "But..."

He pointed at the two records Avela had brought back. "He came into contact with it later than Griffin. If the Ace of Spades is the source of contamination, then at least for now, he didn't have time to create this contamination."

Avela nodded. "Then that makes Griffin the culprit!"

"Right." Yanlin White Tower nodded.

Silver Wolf put away the Ace of Spades. "Then we'll wait for him to come back."

She stretched. "We'll find him tomorrow."

"Alright."

"Fine. Meet here tomorrow at one in the afternoon."

In the end, Avela left, while Yanlin White Tower logged off on the spot.

Silver Wolf slowly pulled up the system interface, her gaze settling on the person ranked first. "Since this all involves you..."

"And I haven't even hidden my ID, so what are you hiding for?"

"It's about time I got a good look at your ID."

Since Phanes had long since reached an agreement with Silver Wolf, she naturally would not question Silver Wolf's curiosity about an ID.

[Player ID: Bone-Eroding Serpent]

(For suggestions on future plot directions: if you want Wolf Venerable to PK Teacher Xuzhao, leave a comment here.)

(If you want Teacher Xuzhao to secretly give Silver Wolf candy, leave a comment here.)

(Using everyone's preferences for Teacher Xuzhao as reference.)