What Ai Si was thinking, Cheng Shi naturally had no idea. All he wanted to know was what was going through the head of the old man pinned under his scalpel.
The la old man lay prostrate, shaking head to toe. Feeling the bone-piercing cold of the blade's tip, he ward his rapidly cooling body the only way available — by wetting himself.
Watching the snow beneath the old man lt into a damp puddle, Cheng Shi's eye twitched. He silently withdrew the scalpel and wiped it vigorously on Zhang Jizu's sleeve.
Zhang Jizu froze. In a heartbeat, his eyes narrowed to slits. Sensing the brewing storm, Cheng Shi hastily pocketed the blade and spoke up.
"Answer my questions. You have my word you'll live. But rember — one chance only.
Na. Where you ca from. Who sent you.
Don't answer, or answer wrong — see the grim reaper with the squinty eyes? He'll personally escort you to et the esteed Death."
The la old man raised his head, caught the simring fury on Zhang Jizu's face, and imdiately broke into a wailing confession.
"...I'll talk! Don't kill ! I'll talk!
Well Si sent . He's the boss of the southern scavengers, stationed at the southern edge of the Devout Land.
Just a while ago, a bunch of unfamiliar scavengers went crazy — broke through the barricade and charged toward the Faith Theater's periter. They charged in without a care, completely fearless of the Devout Land's trials. They even triggered the Theater's Ghost Frenzy.
Well Si was furious. He sent us out to patrol. If we spot any unknown scavengers, we either chase them off on the spot or signal him to send a cleanup crew.
They have to make sure no more outsiders burst in and cause trouble before the Ghost Frenzy subsides.
It's all true, I swear! Don't kill ! I hadn't even fired my signal before you found
— really!"
The old man produced a corroded signal gun — clearly so antique dug out of the waste piles.
But the three Players couldn't have cared less about his signal gun. What mattered was the density of information packed into his words — so dense that for a mont, nobody could sort it all out.
"Wait — one thing at a ti. First: what is the Faith Theater?"
The la old man blinked. These people were clearly newcors. New scavengers this strong? San Dales was about to get a serious shakeup. But regardless of how things changed, for a powerless nobody like him, it was all the sa. So he held nothing back and spilled everything he knew.
"The Faith Theater is the biggest building at the center of San Dales. It's the place every veteran scavenger here dreams of entering. Legend says it holds the thod to beco a god directly, so everybody wants to get inside.
But the place is terrifying — not easy to approach at all. The Theater's outer periter is perpetually shrouded in fog. Inside the fog, an invisible specter patrols. Anyone who tries to approach gets detected... and executed."
Hearing this, Cheng Shi frowned at Zhang Jizu. "Sounds like your Benefactor's handiwork."
Zhang Jizu looked puzzled too but stayed silent, listening.
"It's not a simple death — it's a double desecration of body and soul!" The la old man shuddered, apparently reliving sothing nightmarish. "Once it finds you, it cos silently behind you and announces your deepest secret to everyone. Then, when your terror hits its absolute peak, it..."
The old man curled into a ball. His eyes darted. His voice trembled — then erupted without warning into a screaming shout:
"'Snap' — it wrings your ne—
OW!"
He didn't get to finish. Cheng Shi punt-kicked him across the ice. A scalpel whizzed after, embedding itself above the old man's head, shaving off a few strands of hair. Face black as thunder, Cheng Shi snapped:
"I told you to give
intel, not tell
ghost stories! And you're sitting here hamming it up for dramatic effect!
Seriously, old man — are you actually scared, or do you just enjoy performing?
Afraid of ghosts but not people, huh."
Another scalpel appeared in Cheng Shi's hand.
The la old man wet himself again. Curled up on the ground, he poured out the rest in a frantic stream, rapid as dumped beans.
After a long listen, they understood.
The town's ultimate secret lay inside the fog-shrouded Faith Theater. But because of the "specter," no one could get in.
The scavengers had tried countless thods. Any sound during approach — even the faintest — let the ghost pinpoint the "intruder" and kill them, complete with a public strip of their deepest secret before death.
After all these years, the scavengers' persistent exploration had managed only to glimpse the Theater's exterior, never to enter.
But not everyone possessed infinite patience, and there were clever minds among them. One night, the eastern and northern scavenger factions betrayed the joint exploration pact and launched a combined assault on the Theater.
Their logic: no matter how powerful the specter was, it had to kill one at a ti. Sacrifice enough bodies, and soone with enough luck would slip through while the ghost was busy — reach the Theater doors and push them open. Those doors to the divine throne.
Every person believed they'd be the lucky one. Reality, as always, was cold.
Total annihilation. Not a single survivor.
Those watching from outside spent the entire night just listening to the "gossip" — the parade of exposed secrets.
And that night, the sheer death toll caused the fog surrounding the Theater to boil. Afterward, anyone who entered the fog died instantly — regardless of whether they made a sound. The horrifying phenonon lasted a long ti before subsiding. The remaining scavengers realized: too many simultaneous deaths inside the fog would trigger this lethal state.
So they erected barbed wire around the fog's periter, ford patrol squads, and strictly prohibited lone wolves from reckless intrusions that could jeopardize the factions' cooperation and fog research. That cordoned-off zone beca what they called the Devout Land.
Today, yet another batch of scavengers had recklessly charged in. The Devout Land's fog was already boiling — aning for a ti, the town center was completely off-limits.
After hearing all this, every Player's expression soured.
Cheng Shi, brow knotted, asked: "How long does the fog boiling last?"
"I... don't know. Only Well Si knows. All the research data is in their hands. We're just begging for scraps to survive. Really."
It was true. Every word from start to finish had been true.
And precisely because all of it was true, Cheng Shi felt uneasy.
"You — say sothing false."
"?" The la old man was confused. He didn't understand what this lord wanted.
"Tell
one lie. Don't make
say it a third ti."
"I... don't hate you."
'?'
'That is indeed a lie, but...'
'Old man, you've got so nerve.'
So — under Zhang Jizu's quiet laugh and Ai Si's doubled-over gaze — Cheng Shi slit the old man's throat with a single stroke, then produced the brooch. He kept it hidden in his palm, not letting Zhang Jizu or Ai Si see it, and addressed the corpse.
"Did you see any other unfamiliar scavengers like us today?"
The la old man's corpse said no.
Sowhat relieved, Cheng Shi casually brought the old man back to life with a wave of his hand.
"The mana I spent on resurrection goes on your tab, you two. Rember to reimburse . Let's move — Well Si is clearly the key to this trip.
If we want to find what we're looking for before the trial ends, we need to pick up the pace."
Cheng Shi set off at the front. Ai Si followed with a bemused expression. Zhang Jizu squinted, ran his hands over the old man's body, confird this was indeed just a weak old man, then ambled after them.
Once all three had left, the la old man wobbled upright, exhaled with profound relief.
'These strangers are going after Well Si, so the base is definitely out. Better hide on the outskirts!'
He hobbled off in the direction they'd co from.
But he hadn't gotten far — just to the ice prism where Cheng Shi had stood earlier — when, to his horror, the very lord who had just killed and revived him appeared before him again!
Only now he was wearing a trench coat.
The old man instantly prostrated, wailing.
"My lord, I was wrong! I'm truly sorry!"
"What are you sorry for?" Trench Coat Cheng Shi arched a brow, seemingly piecing together what had happened.
"I... I shouldn't have said I hate you! I really don't hate you!"
"...You say your lies with such conviction." Trench Coat Cheng Shi snorted a laugh, crouched down, and patted the old man's shoulder. "Talk. Repeat everything you told
just now, and I'll let you go."
The old man was dazed but spilled everything at lightning speed.
Trench Coat Cheng Shi kept his word and let him go. But the old man hadn't hobbled far before he encountered the lord once again — this ti outside a ruined shack.
Only now, he was back in the jacket.
"..."
The la old man was stunned. Terror and confusion warring on his face, he slapped himself across the cheek.
For one fleeting mont, he thought the Devout Land's eerie fog might have spread outward. Why else would this lord keep hounding him, asking about "secrets" that hardly mattered?
But he'd learned his lesson this ti. Before Jacket Cheng Shi could even open his mouth, the old man blurted out every last thing he knew in one nonstop torrent.
Jacket Cheng Shi pursed his lips and gazed toward the town center with a loaded smile.
"They're fast, I'll give them that. But sotis... fast isn't always a good thing."
He released the la old man and plunged into the wind and snow ahead.
...
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