When the players plummeted from the fourth floor toward the first through the floor Li Feiwen had torn apart, Tan Ying and Chi Yan, who had barely been keeping the Strange Creatures under control, were distracted as well. In that instant, all the Ghost Creatures on the fourth floor broke free of their control.
That was when Ai Qing's "brother" touched her face.
"Aaaah-!!"
With Tan Ying's help, none of those who landed in the Lobby suffered much injury. At most, the final drop felt like falling off a chair. But Ai Qing lay on the floor, clutching her face tightly, crying out and wailing without pause.
The other players fell silent at the sight. By now, they could all guess what had happened to Ai Qing and what the Strange Creature had taken from her as its "treasure."
"Calm down!" Liang Yuyan was the first to lose patience with the screaming. "The game isn't over yet, so shut your mouth! Stop and feel it properly. You aren't actually in any pain, are you? You still have to keep playing and take back what was stolen, don't you?"
Ai Qing's cries stopped abruptly, but she remained curled up there, motionless, as though losing her face had drained every trace of life from her.
"Let her have a moment to herself." Despite her outlandish appearance and clothes, Tan Ying was no villain. In fact, she was kinder than many of the people Su Bai had met. "Ai Qing has already finished this morning's game. Those Ghost Creatures are treasure hunters, not attackers. They won't bother her again, so let her recover on her own."
Imagining what it would be like to have their own faces stolen, none of them could bring themselves to say anything too cruel at that moment, even