On Tang Jia's back was a slowly rotating vortex.
It was only the size of a palm. The instant the newcomer screamed, the cane was sucked in because it had come too close to the vortex.
Lu Mi let go at once, narrowly avoiding being dragged in with it.
"Everyone, stay back!" Zhang Xuerong shouted.
Tang Jia lay motionless on the floor. The vortex on her back spun silently, looking harmless.
The newcomer calmed down a little. "What happened to her...?"
Shi Caiwen offered a guess. "Could it be that after time started moving, she stayed here instead of running to the West Gate with her companions?"
"The instance wouldn't allow that kind of loophole, so it erased her."
But that was only a preliminary guess. No one could be certain how she had suddenly ended up like this, nor did they yet know where the people swallowed by the vortex had gone.
Just then, the West Gate, which had been quiet for so long, was finally burst open. The first person to rush out was their leader, Chen Mao.
He was filthy and disheveled, and a foul odor clung to him, as though he had crawled out of a cesspit.
Two other veteran players followed close behind, looking just as miserable. Not a single newcomer who had gone in came out.
Things did not look good.
Everyone in the hall fell silent at the sight, holding their breath.
Chen Mao's gaze swept over Tang Jia, who lay on the floor. He spat out a mouthful of sour fluid in resentment. "Looks like all of you came through safe and sound."
Under the circumstances, it was hardly appropriate to ask about Tang Jia first, so Lu Mi said, "What happened at the West Gate?"
Chen Mao did not appreciate the