One Missing
The group had only been gone for a short while when they returned, and all the monsters had mysteriously vanished.
There were no monsters, not even any of their remains on the ground.
It's obvious that this was the work of someone behind the scenes.
With a grim face, Liu Duanyue instructed the City Guard, "Now that the monsters have disappeared, you don't need to worry about them for now. Quickly search the entire Moonless City and see how many people are injured. If you encounter any monsters still wandering in the city, capture them."
He used the word "grab," and the City Guard naturally understood that he wanted a living monster.
Because their previous careless outings had caused such great damage to the city, the City Guard felt very guilty. Now that they had received the city lord's mission, they all ran as fast as they could, afraid that someone else would take their job.
After they dispersed to do their work, Liu Duanyue took Sang Ying and the others back to the city lord's mansion, which is also his current residence.
A moment later, Liu Duanyue pointed at the jailer and said, "Come out here and tell me everything about your encounter with Fellow Daoist Sang."
Looking at the dignified city lord, the jailer dared not hide anything and revealed everything about the incident involving Sang Ying and the others, as well as everything Li Jie had told him.
After listening, Liu Duanyue frowned even more deeply. He glanced at Sang Ying and the others, understood their meaning, and then waved to the jailer, signaling him to leave.
The jailer breathed a huge sigh of relief and fled as if his life depended on it.
Once the room fell silent again, Sang Ying heard Liu Duanyue let out a long sigh.
"Fellow Daoists, tell me the truth, what is the purpose of your coming to Moonless City?" Liu Duanyue was not a fool. He knew that powerful figures like Sang Ying would not go out casually, let alone come to a place like the Hidden Nether Realm for training.
The fact that they've been drawn here suggests something important is going on. I just wonder if this important matter is related to the disaster that has befallen Moonless City today.
Jiang Zhuoxue made no attempt to hide anything from him. Having known each other for so many years, they were well aware of each other's personalities. He answered on the spot, "I need the ten Xuanjia from the Yin Mountain Sect Mystic Armor."
Liu Duanyue was taken aback, not expecting that the other party had come for this reason.
"The Mystic Armor is naturally yours. Given your kindness to the Yin Mountain Sect, you can have whatever you want. Besides, this Mystic Armor is of no use to us." Liu Duanyue agreed almost without hesitation. "I just want to know, regarding tonight's events, have you discovered anything?"
Sang Ying replied, "We do know some inside information, but I'm afraid you won't be able to accept it once you hear it."
Liu Duanyue listened to Sang Ying's sigh, his heart sank.
"Tell me," Liu Duanyue said firmly. "No matter what, I am the city lord of Moonless City, and I should live and die with this city."
Seeing this, Sang Ying stopped hiding anything from the other party and told Li Jie the whole story of how she captured Yu Heng and the other person, extracted important information from them, and how the other person escaped on their way to the Yin Mountain Sect, and then Li Jie came to capture Liu Duanyue.
Liu Duanyue's expression changed several times as she listened, and finally she clenched her fists tightly.
"So, Li Jie is from the Sun-Chasing Hall, and the disaster in Moonless City tonight could very well have been caused by the Sun-Chasing Hall?" Before Sang Ying and the others could answer, Liu Duanyue gave himself the answer, "That's it, that's it. Besides them, what other force could find so many people afflicted with Curse?"
He had long heard of the reputation of the Sun-Chasing Hall, but he never expected that they had developed such a large force right under his nose.
"But there's something I don't understand. Those monsters were created by the Sun-Chasing Hall, so why did they release them at this crucial moment? Also, I've arranged for City Guard to regularly inspect every habitable place in the city, and I'm certain there's no place in the city deliberately harboring so many monsters. Where exactly is the Sun-Chasing Hall keeping them?" Countless questions flooded Liu Duanyue's mind, and he could only turn to Sang Ying and her group for help.
But this time, it wasn't Sang Ying who answered him, but Duan Hanyi: "Lord, could you please show us a map of Moonless City?"
Liu Duanyue did not refuse; it was just a topographical map, not as important as the lives of the people in the city.
Having governed Moonless City for many years, Liu Duanyue knew the city inside and out. The topographical map he created himself resembled a miniature version of the city before everyone's eyes.
Sang Ying and the others carefully examined the topographical map several times. Originally, there were two large locations in the city, both suitable for the Sun-Chasing Hall to hide. However, one was the former territory of the Moonless Clan, which has now been transformed into residential areas. The other is now the Yin Mountain Sect.
The Yin Mountain Sect was even larger than when Sang Ying had seen it before, but it was easy to imagine that a place like the Yin Mountain Sect would not have the Sun-Chasing Hall hidden inside.
Liu Duanyue looked for a long time but still couldn't find the hiding place of the Sun-Chasing Hall, and the wrinkles between his brows grew deeper and deeper.
"What have you all noticed?" Liu Duanyue asked eagerly.
Sang Ying and Jiang Zhuoxue exchanged a glance, their eyes both understanding.
Duan Hanyi smiled and reminded Liu Duanyue, "Lord City Lord, don't judge a book by its cover. There may not be a place for the Chasing Sun-Chasing Hall to hide in Moonless City, but the area beneath Moonless City is quite spacious."
Liu Duanyue was taken aback. He grabbed the topographic map again and looked at it. When he saw that the Yin Mountain Sect's underground was extremely deep and there was a large area of hard Azure Amber Stone near the surface, his face turned completely ashen.
"So, they've been hiding right under our feet all along! No wonder they've been able to hide for so long!" Liu Duanyue slammed her hand on the table, nearly destroying the map.
At this very moment, in the underground bunker of the Yin Mountain Sect, the Hongyi Apostle counted all the monsters in the dungeon. After discovering that the numbers did not match, they all frowned.
"The number of these living corpses is wrong!" a Hongyi Apostle shouted.
The others looked up upon hearing this. "Many of these zombies are now missing limbs. How can you tell the numbers are off? Besides, there's a powerful figure in the city who killed hundreds of zombies with a single sword strike. We've been gathering them for a long time and this is all we've managed to collect. Perhaps some of the severed limbs fell into the bushes outside the city, and it's normal that we haven't found them yet."
After listening, the others also chimed in with a few words.
They had been afflicted by the Curse for a long time. Even though the leader of the gang helped alleviate their pain, after living in the bunker for so long without seeing the light of day, they had long lost the vitality of the living. Their days in the bunker were nothing more than a matter of getting by.
Besides, they were just Hongyi Apostle, the lowest-ranking group among the apostles, whose daily work consisted mostly of chores like sweeping and cleaning. They came here simply to find a place where they wouldn't be discriminated against and could live their lives in peace.
They didn't understand the importance of the living corpses to the Sun-Chasing Hall, thinking that it wouldn't matter if a few were lost and not found. What struck them as strange was the nervousness of the person who had spoken earlier.
The Hongyi Apostle who had spoken earlier was also somewhat indignant after being told that. He was determined to climb the ranks, to break free of the Curse, and to become a normal person, completely different from these people who had come here to just drift through life.
That's why he remembered the words the White-Robed Apostle had deliberately reminded them of when he came to assign the inventory task.
Seeing that the missing living corpse was the only one listed in the manual, he got up and went to the White-Robed Apostle in charge of the matter. He hoped that this time his keen insight would help him climb even higher!