"Go."
Shen Ye spoke.
Big Skeleton raised its massive white bone sword without hesitation.
The man roared, "You won't beat me-"
Countless steel wires emerged from thin air and slashed toward Big Skeleton.
But they were useless.
They could not even get close to Big Skeleton before the pale flames rising ceaselessly from its body blocked them.
"Too weak."
Big Skeleton sneered.
"Then-"
"Let the undead be free. They've been bound for too long."
The massive sword shuddered.
Invisible ripples spread from its blade, instantly passing through the entire building.
-Undead Resurrection!
The corpses gradually stood up and began moving like living people.
From the top floor down to the first, every railing, even the walls and ceilings, was densely packed with corpses.
The man looked up at the corpses, his hands constantly manipulating the hidden steel wires.
But it was no use.
All the corpses had slipped out of his control.
They no longer obeyed him, and their souls had also escaped his control.
"I... clearly died."
A corpse sighed.
"You're undead now-get ready. Capture this fellow who killed you for me," Big Skeleton said.
It opened its mouth and spat out a ball of pale fire.
Skinner reacted extremely quickly. The instant the flames appeared, he darted to one side.
Without any warning-
The corpses leaped down from upstairs, one after another, all lunging in the direction he had dodged.
The man wanted to evade them, but the ball of fire suddenly released a dazzling light that shone over him.
In an instant.
The man's body froze.
Big Skeleton said leisurely, "Don't be nervous. This is just a little Soul-Quelling Art. It can cause tremors in a living creature's soul and body, so-"
"You can't move now."
A corpse suddenly grabbed the man's foot.
"Shit."
The man's expression changed, and he immediately tried to pull his foot free.
But it was too late-
Countless corpses swarmed him, pinning his limbs and head down.
Boom!
The pale fire struck him.
The man let out a shrill scream, which was quickly drowned out by the dead's howls.
"Some say killing someone puts an end to them, but let me tell you-"
"The revenge of the dead is what ends everything."
Big Skeleton spoke flatly.
The other end of the corridor was now completely engulfed by undead.
Countless undead pinned the man down, gnawing at him relentlessly, while he could not move at all.
Suddenly.
He burst into a furious roar, shouting:
"Great deity-"
Clusters of dark shadows abruptly appeared in midair.
All the corpses were swept away by those shadows.
Barely alive, the man knelt on one knee, his hands constantly shifting through spell seals.
The flesh on his body had almost all been eaten away, leaving only an indistinct mess of blood and white bones, yet he continued chanting:
"I am willing to pay that price. Please-"
Before he could finish, the shadows swirling around him forcefully broke apart his hand seal.
The spell dissipated.
All the shadows withdrew behind the man.
The man froze in place.
-That being rejected my call?
Shen Ye shouted angrily:
"Finish him while he's down!"
Big Skeleton obeyed, raising its massive white bone sword and pointing it from a distance.
Another blazing ball of pale fire burst into existence in midair, shining over the man and holding him motionless.
Shen Ye drew his pistol, aimed at the man across from him, and said:
"Any last words?"
The man was a bloody mess, and for the first time, fear flashed in his eyes.
Bang.
A gunshot rang out.
The man shuddered violently.
-Yet to his surprise, he discovered he was not dead.
"Sorry, I've never practiced shooting, so I missed."
Shen Ye spoke apologetically.
"Are you screwing with me?" the man said, his face twisted.
Shen Ye did not answer, instead drawing the short sword from his back.
The Nightfall Short Sword.
"Come on! Come settle this with me once and for all!" the man roared, while secretly hooking something out of his body with his fingers.
But Shen Ye neither approached nor used any sword technique.
He merely swung the short sword once from a distance, then put it away.
"I'm done here."
"What are you standing around for? I'm not risking myself. You go. Kill him outright."
He spoke flatly.
Big Skeleton said sourly, "I thought you wanted to take a risk and show off..."
It raised its massive white bone sword high and swung hard-
"No!"
The man cried out in despair.
Boundless pale flames flew from the massive sword, swept across the lobby, and struck the man, burning away more than half his body outright.
-He howled in agony for a while, his voice gradually weakening until it ceased entirely.
He was dead.
But Big Skeleton gripped its massive sword, abruptly plunged it into the ground, and shouted in a low voice:
"Embrace of White Bones!"
Four White Bone Great Shields materialized with a crash, spinning ceaselessly around it and Shen Ye.
"What's wrong?" Shen Ye asked.
"At that instant just now-you could very well have been killed in a surprise attack. He's connected to some powerful being," Big Skeleton said warily.
"Look!" Xiao Mengyu shouted.
Several dark shadows emerged from the ground, instantly wrapped around the man's remains, and flew off into the distant sky.
Xiao Mengyu darted after them like a bolt of lightning.
Only Shen Ye remained in the ruins.
He grew even more vigilant, putting his back against the door and shifting into a defensive stance.
"They're already gone," Big Skeleton said.
"Why aren't you chasing them?" Shen Ye asked.
"I can't take you with me when I run at full speed. If I left you here and that thing circled back to kill you, I wouldn't be able to save you in time."
As though afraid he might misunderstand, Big Skeleton explained patiently:
"In a situation like this, I have to keep you alive first."
Shen Ye fell silent.
What exactly had that shadow been?
"Let's go over this-when I first reached the hotel's upper floor, Xiao Mengyu was at a disadvantage. The hotel building was blasted open, and she fell out. Were you the one who blasted the building open?" Shen Ye suddenly asked.
"It wasn't me," Big Skeleton immediately denied.
"Was it Xiao Mengyu?" Shen Ye asked.
"It didn't seem to be her either. After all, she was knocked out of the building, and that attack clearly came from outside-wait, I get it!"
The man and skeleton said in unison, "There's someone else here!"
A deep chill crept up his back.
Shen Ye did his best to remain calm and thought rapidly.
-Skinner initially thought I was the one who blasted the building open, which was why he didn't chase her down.
But I knew I wasn't the one who did it.
Was it that shadow just now?
If it was the shadow, why would it blast the building open to give Xiao Mengyu room to dodge?
If the shadow was on Xiao Mengyu's side, why had it just rescued Skinner?
That was clearly contradictory.
It didn't make logical sense!
Could it be...
Someone else?
Shen Ye cleared his throat and picked up the Microphone:
"Whoever helped us earlier, please show yourself!"
His voice echoed far into the night sky, but there was no response.
He waited several breaths.
A familiar roar sounded.
The Ghostfire Motorcycle sped into the lobby like an afterimage and stopped before Shen Ye.
Instead of the person hiding in the shadows, his motorcycle had arrived.
"Did you get that little girl safely to the Human World Martial Arts Tower?"
Shen Ye asked.
"The mission is incomplete. The mission target has been lost," the motorcycle said.
"What? Was she in a traffic accident?" Shen Ye paled in shock.
"The target left me midway and landed safely on the street. I don't know where she went," the motorcycle said.
Shen Ye froze.
The Ghostfire Motorcycle was extremely fast. Even he would have to be careful jumping off halfway.
And that little girl had even been wearing a seat belt.
Yet she had landed safely?
Shen Ye felt as though layers of thick fog enveloped him, while the truth lay hidden deep within the endless mist.
Calm down.
Stay calm.
Start thinking now. What exactly was wrong?
Shen Ye suddenly recalled a detail.
He rushed back to Room 707, running all the way, approached the nurse's corpse, crouched down, and said softly:
"Before the fighting broke out, we'd just started talking about your daughter."
"Yes," the corpse replied.
"I said I would pay for your daughter's schooling and living expenses, but you seemed hesitant. I was about to ask more, but I didn't get the chance-what were you going to say?" Shen Ye asked.
"I wanted to tell you that I don't have a daughter," the corpse said.
Shen Ye froze.
Big Skeleton crouched outside the doorway, watching their surroundings, and could not help saying mockingly:
"I told you that rashly helping a complete stranger would cause problems. Now look at this-you don't even know who she is."
As though he had heard nothing, Shen Ye continued asking, "What did Xiao Mengyu say to that assassin? Were you there at the time?"
The corpse said woodenly, "I was there."
"What did they say?" Shen Ye asked again.
"They agreed that as long as the assassin revealed the real culprit behind it all, the girl wouldn't use her family's power against the assassin."
"If the assassin defeated her, the assassin could have her corpse."
"And then? Did the assassin reveal who had hired them?" Shen Ye asked nervously.
"Not directly-the assassin took out a phone and sent some things to the girl," the corpse said.
"What did the girl say?" Shen Ye asked.
"The girl said, 'I understand. Our agreement takes effect now,'" the corpse said.
Shen Ye suddenly realized something.
He fished his phone out of his pocket-
Before entering the Hotel, he had put his phone on silent, so he hadn't checked it since.
Now he turned the sound back on and checked it. Sure enough, there was a message.
It was from Xiao Mengyu.