Right!
Shen Ye swept his gaze over the ground.
-The human officer Roman had left him an Individual Combat Pack, and he had yet to look inside.
He opened the brown cowhide Individual Combat Pack.
Inside were a brand-new suit of Undead Soldier armor, a Nightmare Crystal, a flask of clean water, and a little dry food.
He crushed the Nightmare Crystal, and a soft whisper immediately filled the room:
"The Brotherhood has set up an intelligence relay point where the army is encamped. If you see a tent with three daggers standing upright, you can come there to turn in your mission."
"-The Shadow Hand awaits your news."
Shen Ye felt a wave of disappointment.
The crystal contained only a few sentences, nothing useful.
Had that officer named Roman taken him for a member of the Shadow Hand?
Now he remembered.
Roman had only left the Individual Combat Pack after seeing the faceplate in his hand.
Realizing this, Shen Ye immediately asked:
"Hey, Big Skeleton, where exactly did this Centurion's Faceplate you gave me come from?"
"I picked it up on the battlefield. How would I know?" Big Skeleton said.
"Where did you pick it up? Could you find the spot again?" Shen Ye asked.
"Near the Secret Passage. I don't remember exactly-but are you really planning to appear on the battlefield disguised as a Scout or a Human Race Assassin?" Big Skeleton asked.
"I don't want to draw attention again. How about this-do you have any human equipment? This time, we won't pose as Undead. We'll pose as Human Soldiers," Shen Ye said.
"Wait a moment. I think I have some things that could help," Big Skeleton said.
A few breaths passed.
The Ring stirred, and a pile of things immediately fell to the ground.
A battered, crudely made leather vest, a soldier's helmet stained red with blood, a broken spear, a shattered tower shield, and a Nightmare Crystal.
"See the fierce hound crest on the tower shield? That's the crest of the Rhine Territory on the Human Race Border. Our race slaughtered everyone in the territory."
Big Skeleton said.
Shen Ye tugged at the tower shield, but it did not budge.
He added four Attribute Points to strength and pulled hard, finally lifting the tower shield.
"So I can pose as someone from that territory?" Shen Ye asked.
"A few soldiers followed their lord's orders and left the territory to seek help elsewhere. They were intercepted and killed too."
"You can pose as one of them."
"-Everyone in the Rhine Territory was killed by the Undead. No one can question your identity."
Shen Ye looked at the Nightmare Crystal.
"Is this a distress crystal?"
"Yes. It contains a plea for help from the Lord of Rhine, and it also serves as a token of identification. It'll come in handy when you go out later," Big Skeleton said.
"Huh? Why are you suddenly so invested in my affairs?" Shen Ye asked curiously.
"Because you saved me last night," Big Skeleton said.
"Tell the truth," Shen Ye said.
"We have a Contract for fair exchange. I must repay your kindness," Big Skeleton said.
"If you still won't tell the truth, I'll cut off your Calcium Supplement Liquid," Shen Ye said.
"I have to help you gain a certain standing in the Nightmare World so you can buy some high-grade materials to heal my injuries," Big Skeleton said.
"That's more like it," Shen Ye said.
He walked to the wall and pressed his hand against it.
A Gate quietly appeared.
Looking through the glass window in the Gate, he saw that the Secret Passage had fallen silent again.
There was no one there.
Here's my chance!
"Are you sure you picked up the faceplate nearby?" he asked again.
"I guarantee it was nearby-it's just that the battlefield was too chaotic at the time, and I can't remember the exact location," Big Skeleton said.
Fully equipped, Shen Ye pushed through the Gate and followed the Secret Passage all the way to its end.
Outside the Secret Passage.
Corpses littered the battlefield.
A handful of human soldiers moved slowly through the position.
Whenever they saw an Undead who could still move, they went over and finished them off.
When they spotted Human Race soldiers still alive, they blew the whistles hanging around their necks, calling for medical teams to carry the wounded away on stretchers.
"Anyone still alive?"
"-Any survivors?"
The soldiers shouted from time to time, gradually spreading out.
The sky over the Nightmare World was gradually darkening too.
Under cover of darkness, Shen Ye rolled straight out, only to hit a corpse and come to a sudden stop.
It was an Undead Giant roughly three meters tall.
Half its body had been cleaved off, exposing its gruesome chest, but its hand still gripped a heavy stone hammer.
Shen Ye coughed softly and lowered his voice. "Do you know where this faceplate came from?"
Dark Whisper activated!
The Undead Giant's soul returned to its corpse. It opened its eyes, glanced at the mask, and said in a low voice:
"I dunno."
Shen Ye shuddered.
-That way of speaking... could it have transmigrated from Blue Star too?
"The heavenly king covers the earth tiger?" Shen Ye ventured.
"?" The Undead Giant.
"Odd changes, even stays?" Shen Ye.
"??" The Undead Giant.
Shen Ye took another close look and saw that a gash had been cut across the Undead Giant's mouth.
-This made air leak out when it spoke, which was why he had misheard.
"All right, you can go back."
Shen Ye breathed a sigh of relief.
The Undead Giant's head lolled to one side, and it stopped moving.
Shen Ye rolled through several more full turns, then lay down in front of a Human Race Knight's corpse and whispered:
"Buddy, have you seen this faceplate?"
The corpse came alive, took a look, and said, "No."
"Off you go."
The soul immediately departed, and the corpse fell still again.
Shen Ye continued rolling forward, stopping before the corpse of a Wolf Demon. He took a few breaths and held up the faceplate.
"No job is too hard, only brave pups."
The Wolf Demon's soul immediately returned to its corpse, and it howled softly:
"I've seen that faceplate. It belonged to a centurion, twenty meters to your left-the corpse with only one arm left."
-Damn, the pup really came through!
"Thanks."
Shen Ye rolled twenty meters to the left, then stopped moving.
"What? Haven't we found him?" Big Skeleton could not help asking.
"All that rolling made me dizzy," Shen Ye said, clutching his head.
A long while passed.
Only after recovering did he look toward the corpse.
Calling it a corpse was a stretch. All that remained was an arm.
Where was the rest of the corpse?
Shen Ye looked around.
All the corpses in this area were torn to pieces.
"A large-scale Spellcraft bombardment caused this," Big Skeleton explained.
"With only an arm left, will my Dark Whisper still work?" Shen Ye asked.
"I don't know."
"Even you don't know?"
Big Skeleton spoke in an inscrutable tone:
"I have a fairly deep understanding of Sacred Bone Body, and I know Undead Resurrection inside out, but this is the first time I've seen anyone use Dark Whisper like this."
"Forget it. I won't ask you. I'll just try it," Shen Ye said.
He crawled over, stopped in front of the arm, and whispered:
"Buddy, are you there?"
The arm suddenly twitched a few times, then slowly rose, folding in its middle and ring fingers while extending its thumb, index finger, and little finger.
Shen Ye understood at once.
-The Human Race officer Roman knew this gesture too.
This was probably the signature gesture of that organization, the Shadow Hand.
I found the right one!
This man owned the mask!
"Buddy, is there anything you can tell me?"
Shen Ye asked.
The hand immediately changed position and pointed in a direction.
Following its finger, he could see a tattered leather boot lying quietly in the grass.
Could there be some secret hidden in that boot?
Shen Ye crawled over to the boot, then suddenly covered his nose.
-This boot stinks!
There was nothing for it. With the clue right before him, he had to cover his nose with one hand while grabbing the leather boot with the other and tipping it hard downward.
A cloth pouch tumbled onto the grass.
There really is something!
Shen Ye threw the boot away, picked up the cloth pouch, and opened it.
Inside lay a round badge and a crumpled letter.
Before Shen Ye could examine them further, a line of faint light suddenly appeared beside the round badge.
-After awakening his Gate ability, Shen Ye had naturally developed an auxiliary ability to identify items. It was this ability that allowed him to identify the various things Big Skeleton gave him.
Now, that ability activated again:
"Dark Night Shadow Badge." "Blue quality (excellent)." "The badge is etched with a profound Spellcraft rune array that communes with the netherworld and can activate a specific weapon." "-Without the matching weapon, it is a piece of junk."
A weapon?
The badge suddenly began to move.
It seemed to produce some kind of force, constantly pushing toward Shen Ye's body.
Could it be...
Shen Ye hurriedly drew the Nightfall Dagger.
Like a magnet, the badge struck the dagger's hilt with a ding. After shifting around for a moment, it sank into a recess in the hilt.
-So it was this dagger!
When he had awakened his Gate ability, a voice from the Nightmare World had immediately found him.
That voice had explained the evil ghost's curse.
Later-
That same voice had given him this Nightfall Dagger too!
He had always thought this dagger was meant to prove his identity. He had never expected it to hold a secret like this!
Once the badge was fitted into place, the dagger trembled slightly, as though something inside it had been activated.
Shen Ye raised the dagger.
Lines of small, glowing text immediately appeared beside it:
"Nightfall." "Dagger exclusive to human Assassins." "Blue Level (excellent)." "Trait: sharpness (advanced)." "Trait: penetration (advanced)." "Trait: Bloodletting (advanced)." "This is an Assassination Dagger, and the Brotherhood of the Shadow Hand has also placed a Shadow Blessing upon it. Only high-ranking Assassins can equip it." "Shadow Blessing: This dagger emits unique fluctuations of power that signify your identity, allowing you to complete various missions for the Brotherhood of the Shadow Hand and receive the rewards you are due." "-Shadow's Protection shelters all who uphold justice."
(Thanks to Alliance Leader Hu Hezhi Kong for the tip, and thanks to everyone for keeping up with the story. A new book needs numbers, so please help by reading each update and voting. Nurture this book so it can keep growing. Love you all, mwah~)