Foolish Game of the Chapter 826: This Is Bad — We've Been Duped!!

Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu had indeed left first.

Their discussion hadn't gone very deep. After learning the experint's truth, both had sunk into private contemplation. Before long, Ai Si returned. She hadn't found any materials and reported that the underground pipes contained nothing but sludge and wastewater.

But she hadn't co back entirely empty-handed. She'd brought one thing.

When Ai Si extended her fist, neither of the two steadfast types in the archive room moved to look. They adopted nearly identical defensive postures — chin up, wary — the ssage clear: whether it was intel or a prank, they wouldn't bite until safety was confird.

The perfectly synchronized caution made Ai Si feel like the only outsider on this team.

"Do you really need to be this guarded against ?

Even if I tried sothing clever, could I actually fool either of you?"

She opened her hand, revealing a grimy black ball corroded with mud.

Cheng Shi blinked. "What's that?"

Next second, Ai Si smiled and slowly rotated the ball. One patch still showed its original color beneath the gri. Cheng Shi squinted at it — and one glance told him what it was.

"..."

A clown nose!

This grubby little ball was a red clown nose.

"Great — so while I'm in here cracking codes, you go out, dip a ball in sewage, and bring it back to ss with my head!"

Cheng Shi snatched the ball and lunged for Ai Si's nose. She ducked, scrambling backward.

"Hands off! Yes, it's funny — but I need to clarify: I didn't bring this. I genuinely found it in the pipes.

Look carefully — this clown nose is old."

"?"

Cheng Shi paused. Frowning, he studied the red nose, then tossed it to Mi Laozhang. Zhang Jizu examined it and nodded.

"Indeed. The fuzz is almost entirely gone, and the shell is brittle from corrosion. It's been here a while.

War Supervisor, where exactly did you find it?"

"On my exploration route. These tunnels are barren — literally nothing in them. If I hadn't bumped it with my foot, I never would have noticed.

But I'm curious — why would sothing like this be down here?"

"..."

Cheng Shi was curious too, but his instinct was to deflect.

"Could've blown in from outside. Maybe Well Si brought it. Or so bored scholar used it as a fidget toy — what's the big deal? War Supervisor, you went out there and ca back with nothing useful. How do you even show your face?

Of course we know the tunnels are empty. But how can you be sure there aren't other hidden rooms like this archive?

You're suspicious. Do you know sothing?"

Cheng Shi pressed the attack. A flash of hard-to-mask panic crossed Ai Si's eyes.

Seeing it, Cheng Shi chuckled and backed off.

"Fine — nothing found, nothing found. I suspect there's more material above ground than below. Let's head to the stronghold and have the scavengers help.

But since you're the only one with zero contributions, you — War Supervisor — you're carrying the war machine up."

Ai Si's face darkened but she couldn't argue. With a withering glare at Cheng Shi, she hoisted the machine and left.

Cheng Shi and Zhang Jizu hung back. Watching her slender fra carry a war machine twice her size as though it were nothing, Cheng Shi clicked his tongue.

"Our War Supervisor knows more about this place than we thought.

She didn't even ask what we'd discovered. Didn't even bother with a 'Silence trial restrictions' excuse. Zhang-lao, you don't think she ca here for the 'Faithless God,' do you?"

Zhang Jizu had doubts of his own, but he squinted silently and shook his head — indicating he wasn't sure.

His unease, though, wasn't about Ai Si's motives. Sothing about this Ai Si simply felt... off. She'd been nervous, yet sohow exuded newfound confidence. Why?

On his way out, Zhang Jizu glanced back at the direction Ai Si had explored, then down at the tangled footprints by the door. His eyes narrowed a fraction.

"Zhang-lao, why are you just standing there? Keep up."

"Mm. Coming."

At Cheng Shi's urging, Zhang Jizu smiled, dragged Pro To along, and followed — but didn't breathe a word about what he'd just noticed.

The trio quickly "retraced" their steps to the surface, heading straight for the southern stronghold. But before they'd gotten halfway, all three Players' expressions turned grim.

Because there — before their eyes — the barbed-wire periter ca into view. And the fog that had been boiling and churning earlier was now perfectly calm.

The Ghost Frenzy had subsided!

Worse: pressing against the wire and peering through the not-quite-dense fog, they spotted several fresh corpses lying just inside.

Clearly the scavengers who'd charged in earlier.

Corpses in the fog weren't surprising — scavengers who couldn't stay silent would naturally die inside. But strangely, wisps of smoke still seeped from these bodies' waists and chests, and the color of that smoke bore an eerie resemblance to the dark gray vapor that had been churning through the fog before.

Any fool could piece it together.

Three faces went simultaneously black.

'This is bad. We've been duped!'

'The Ghost Frenzy was fake!'

These scavengers had indeed charged into the Devout Land. They'd indeed died inside. But—

Zhang Jizu's squinted eyes flashed with keen light.

"Their numbers probably weren't enough to trigger a real Ghost Frenzy. Soone used smoke devices to fabricate one. And they killed Well Si — the one person in this area who understood the Frenzy's patterns best.

The plan wasn't even sophisticated. Crude, really. But it worked because they were one step ahead — exploiting the information gap with speed. A simple yet effective deception. As for the purpose..."

"Obviously — to slow us down." Ai Si's face was a study in astonishnt. She clearly hadn't expected this ruse either. "Our teammate seems to be more than one step ahead."

Connecting every anomaly, Cheng Shi finally grasped that the teammate who'd gotten the head start had played them with a massive feint.

Three days of trial ti — and half a day had been burned on a smoke screen!

'Fine. FINE. The only person capable of this, besides that vanished Surna-Zhen woman, is nobody.'

"Still, even with her head start, she couldn't have reached the southern stronghold much earlier than us. Well Si's secrets falling into her hands was just a twist of fate that massively slowed us down.

She's most likely already slipped inside using the gap!

And she definitely has Silence tools on her.

Zhang-lao — we're running out of ti. This person..."

Cheng Shi's brow furrowed, clearly pondering what to do with Pro To, who'd led them on a detour. Pro To wasn't stupid; he read the intent. Terrified, he clapped his hands over his mouth and mumbled: "I won't say a word."

But his begging was useless. Zhang Jizu squinted, stepped forward, and drove his scalpel straight into Pro To's chest.

One quiet squelch — and the light faded from Pro To's eyes. He died in Zhang Jizu's arms.

"?"

Cheng Shi blinked, turning to Zhang Jizu. "Since when are you this decisive?"

"This isn't decisiveness — it's pragmatism. Since the Ghost Frenzy was fake, our priority is catching the lone wolf who's gotten ahead. No ti to babysit NPCs.

Cheng Shi — don't forget why we're here."

Zhang Jizu pointed at the Devout Land beyond the wire.

"Before we go in, we need to consolidate every piece of intel we have. We can't afford a second misjudgnt like this one. So... after you, Fate Weaver."

He gestured for Cheng Shi to take the lead.

Cheng Shi glanced at the corpse on the ground, smacked his lips, and started moving. Mi Laozhang followed close behind, steadily half a step back.

Ai Si didn't rush after them. She cast a aningful look in the direction they'd co from, then casually swept Pro To's corpse into the snow and erased the surrounding footprints and traces. Only then did she chuckle softly and follow.

Wind swept. Snow fell. Within monts, the area returned to silence.

...