Yin Chao frowned as he made out the corpse.
It was the little girl.
So the favor the little girl wanted from Yin Chao was-to find her corpse and hide it.
The village chief kept chewing with a sickening crunch. By the moonlight, Yin Chao quietly leaned toward the hooded man's ear.
"The corpse in his hands is the one we're looking for."
He spoke in a whisper.
The hooded man nodded, then, before Yin Chao's disbelieving eyes, stood up and kicked aside the pile of firewood hiding them.
The two of them came face-to-face with the Ghoul.
Still crouching there, Yin Chao forced a smile that looked worse than crying.
The village chief clearly hadn't heard the saying about not hitting a smiling face. With rotten flesh and blood filling his mouth, he roared at them.
"Fuck! Hooded guy, why the hell are you so reckless?!"
Yin Chao cursed, accidentally shouting the nickname he'd given the hooded man in his head.
The other man froze for a moment too.
As the village chief lunged at him on all fours like a wild beast, Yin Chao hadn't even had time to stand. He cursed that damned hooded man countless more times in his head.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl in that instant. He could even make out the blackened, rotting flesh between the village chief's teeth.
And the foul stench rushing toward him.
In the very next second-
The village chief was cleaved in two.
Blood splashed all over Yin Chao's face.
He looked up to see the hooded man holding a longsword. Bathed in moonlight, the man's sharply chiseled profile seemed edged in silver.
Blood dripped steadily from the pitch-black longsword in his hand.
"Midnight. My name is..."
Before he could finish, the hooded man toppled headfirst.
Yin Chao hurriedly caught him, cradling him in his arms as he checked his breathing.
Thankfully, he was still alive.
Once he'd calmed down, Yin Chao looked at the corpse lying on the stove.
The little girl's braids hung down to the floor. The flesh on both cheeks had been gnawed away, exposing stark white bone.
Her head tilted toward Yin Chao, her eyes open beneath a white film, unable to close even in death.
He quickly pressed his palms together and apologized. "I'm really sorry. If I'd known he could kill the village chief, I definitely wouldn't have let your face get ruined."
No sooner had he finished than the little girl's corpse slowly rose at an unnatural angle.
She giggled. "Someone's coming. Hurry and hide."
Yin Chao's heart lurched.
They'd better actually be human, he cursed inwardly.
Then, huffing and puffing, he dragged the hooded man, who stood over six feet tall, back behind the firewood pile.
Before long, a man carrying an umbrella appeared in the kitchen doorway.
It was Mo Nan.
Another player who had latched onto him followed behind.
A little girl in a red padded jacket sat in the blood-soaked room, her cheeks torn open as she hummed an eerie nursery rhyme.
"The sky is blue, the earth is white, a little child cries in the night. Passersby, don't ask who, say a silent prayer or two. The sky is blue, the earth is white..."
Mo Nan was clearly stunned by the sight.
The person behind him was so frightened that he fell straight to the floor.
"Hee hee hee, come play with me." The little girl's voice was shrill, and blood began seeping from her rotting cheeks.
Mo Nan was a veteran of who knew how many instances. The moment he recovered, he shoved his companion in front of him.
A muffled tearing sound rang out.
The little girl's hands had pierced the man's belly. Mo Nan seized the chance to flee upstairs.
The man was still alive, watching helplessly as the monster before him pulled her bloody hands out of his body.
His organs fell to the floor with wet plops, still giving off wisps of steam in the cold night.
Yin Chao stepped out from behind the firewood pile and watched the man collapse to the floor, finally breathing his last.
The little girl turned her head stiffly toward him, blood still dripping from the hands hanging at her sides.
Yin Chao barely reacted. "You should tell me about Yin Rui now, right?"
The little girl tilted her head. "No. You haven't... hidden it yet."
"Then tell me, where's the safest place?"
The little girl didn't answer. She simply watched him in silence, giving him the distinct impression that she knew the answer but was testing him.
Yin Chao twisted his lips and looked down at the hooded man lying on the floor. Inspiration struck. "That locked room?"
The little girl nodded. "You're very... clever."
At some point, the blood on her hands had vanished. In its place appeared a tattered white cloth umbrella.
"This is... what Lady Yin Rui... left for you."
Yin Chao took the shabby umbrella in disbelief. "This is what Yin Rui left me?"
He opened it, and a few strands of moonlight filtered through its ragged canopy.
"Never mind using it to beat people up like Mo Nan does. This umbrella can't even keep the rain off..."
The little girl seemed unable to understand Yin Chao's despair. She explained, "The umbrella's name... is... the Myriad People Umbrella. You need a drop of blood to bind it to you."
Yin Chao nodded and looked around, but couldn't find anything sharp.
Except the sword in the hooded man's hand.
But he just used that sword to kill a ghost! Yin Chao thought with distaste.
He looked down at the little girl before him. With the brutally murdered player still lying nearby, he immediately abandoned the idea of asking her to cut his finger.
Instead, he crouched and carefully used his clothes to wipe clean a section of the blade that hadn't been stained with blood.
After thoroughly psyching himself up, he slid his finger along the edge. It took him quite a while to make a tiny cut.
Yin Chao dripped his blood onto the Myriad People Umbrella, and the ragged white cloth umbrella immediately began glowing red.
Seeing that her task was complete, the little girl became a corpse again and fell to the floor.
Yin Chao froze, instinctively reaching out to catch her. At that same moment, the white umbrella in his hand vanished.
He was a little bewildered, though he understood that he must have stored the umbrella in some sort of space for his personal items.
Just like the hooded man's sword and Mo Nan's umbrella: neither normally carried them in sight, yet they could summon them in a crisis.
But he was still a beginner and didn't know the trick to it.
When he tried summoning it again, the Myriad People Umbrella failed to appear.
Just then, the unconscious hooded man stirred.
Yin Chao picked up the little girl's corpse, ready to simply walk away.
But the hooded man woke up at that very moment.
Yin Chao had no choice but to approach him with a show of concern.
"How are you feeling? Can you still move?"
The hooded man nodded. Covering his eyes with his left hand, he propped himself up with the sword in his right and stood.
A bold suspicion suddenly occurred to Yin Chao. "You... don't faint at the sight of blood, do you?"
The hooded man's movements stalled. Then he swiftly raised the sword in his right hand and slashed at Yin Chao.
Yin Chao reacted quickly enough to dodge, only to find that every subsequent strike was still aimed to kill.
If the hooded man hadn't had his eyes shut, even ten copies of Yin Chao wouldn't have stood a chance against him.
Fear gripped Yin Chao at the thought.
He hurriedly said, "Let's talk this out! Let's talk this out! I'm just a beginner! I'm no threat to you!"
The hooded man's movements slowed a little. "You're a beginner, but you're also the Child of the Evil God."
Apparently there was no reasoning with this man. Yin Chao narrowed his eyes, inwardly cursing his own carelessness.
Was he really going to die here?
Now, more than ever, he hoped Yin Rui really was the Evil God. At least then she could help him.
The black longsword was already pressed against Yin Chao's neck.
Yet the hooded man stopped. His captain had told him never to expose his weaknesses under any circumstances, unless it was to someone he trusted.
Before you continue