Possessed

"Damn it, how can there be something this bizarre?"

When Zhu Yan went out, the dining area was already in complete chaos.

Yang Zhanbai was dragging another "child" in from outside, trying to feed it yogurt.

Unfortunately, as soon as the "child" stepped through the restaurant door, the expression on its face immediately turned from a smile to tears, and it began to wail incessantly.

"I've tried everything I can think of."

Yang Zhanbai wiped away a handful of sweat, pointing out the messy floor to Zhu Yan.

"Smashing bowls, snatching yogurt, hitting people, swapping in the ones from outside."

"None of it works. It's like this thing can't be broken... If this keeps up, both of our lives will be forfeit here."

Here we go again, here we go again.

Zhu Yan pretended to drip two drops of liquid medicine onto his head and dragged Yang Zhanbai outside.

"Can't you say something positive?" Zhu Yan said resentfully. He looked around and lowered his voice.

"Let's go. I actually managed to get something out of her just now. Just follow me."

"Wha—how are you so fast?"

Yang Zhanbai's expression changed.

This wasn't right.

How come every time he struggled for ages and got nothing, Zhu Zeyu hit the jackpot the moment he made a move?

From the Hunter to this ridiculously bizarre scenario right now...

He was clearly the veteran player, but Zhu Zeyu seemed to adapt much faster!

Was this talent?

"What did you find out?"

The two walked out of the store, and Zhu Yan led him in the direction the "woman" had pointed out.

There were long lines on both sides of the street. Zhu Yan led Yang Zhanbai to the front of each line, looking down to check the hair of the fifth little girl.

The "woman" hadn't lied to him—

There really was a tiny bow hairpin clipped to the heads of those "children".

It was so small, only the size of his fingernail, that it was very easy to overlook if one didn't look closely.

Damn, the alpha!

"What's wrong?" Yang Zhanbai followed him and looked at a few, quickly noticing that something was amiss too.

"Is it the hairpins on these little girls' heads? How did you get this information?"

He couldn't quite figure it out, his brows furrowing deeply.

"I traded for it," Zhu Yan said frankly. "Don't worry about what I traded."

He had already thought it through just now.

When the time came, he would just say he traded the Hunter identity for it, which would perfectly clear the mark on his hand.

That way, when the mark was revealed, everything would fall into place perfectly.

If things went smoothly, he could even fake a heroic sacrifice and then pull off a desperate counter-kill, solidifying his image as a good player!

The only slight flaw was that he wasn't sure if he could time it perfectly with the disappearance of Yang Zhanbai's mark.

But it didn't matter—

If Yang Zhanbai's mark hadn't disappeared by then, Zhu Yan would just tell him it was about to.

If Yang Zhanbai's mark disappeared early, then Zhu Yan would have absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Traded what?" Yang Zhanbai froze for a moment, his voice rising. "Holy crap, what good stuff could they possibly want?"

It was terrifying; anyone with half a brain could figure out how terrifying it was!

It was either like the previous "boss" who opened his mouth to demand 300 bone coins, and if you couldn't pay, he'd take your flesh and blood.

Or it was some kind of soul trade, where a person would become a half-human, half-ghost monster, like a demonic possession in the movies!

Holy crap.

The more Yang Zhanbai thought about it, the scarier it felt. The pleasant surprise of just obtaining information instantly turned into fright.

He looked at the children lining up, talking and laughing around them, and the more he looked, the thicker the cold sweat on his back became.

Was this Zhu Zeyu an idiot?

Which of those horror creatures would ever be willing to seriously chatter with a player?

How was this any different from just throwing your life away!

"No, bro, tell me the truth. What exactly did you trade?"

Yang Zhanbai's tone grew serious as he leaned in closer to Zhu Yan.

"Don't act like it doesn't matter. Isn't it obvious what attitude horror creatures have towards players?"

"Bro, don't be foolish. Aren't you just marching to your death!"

Zhu Yan turned his head to glance at Yang Zhanbai, stayed silent for a moment, and continued to check the children in the next line.

Who could understand? He really, really wanted to laugh.

Of course it didn't matter, bro.

It wasn't Zhu Yan's own life that was traded. He traded his bro's life. When it came to dying, it was his bro who had the higher chance of dying.

"Let me tell you the specific information first."

Zhu Yan wisely chose not to continue this topic.

To suppress the corners of his mouth, he pulled his face down desperately until his muscles ached.

If he didn't shift his train of thought, he would definitely be unable to hold back a burst of loud laughter.

"We need to hurry. We need to find this different little girl in the line as quickly as possible."

Yang Zhanbai was so anxious he was about to explode.

He looked Zhu Yan up and down, and no matter how he looked at it, he felt the other guy was a bit mentally abnormal.

How could someone be this calm?

And this weird expression...

Could his sanity meter have been completely drained?

Zhu Yan told him to look at the hairpins on the girls' heads.

"The difference is right here," he said. "We have to find the little girl with the red hairpin, find that shop, and then go into the back kitchen."

The "woman" said they needed to "pass through the wall of the back kitchen," which sounded a bit like a wall-phasing spell.

This was actually what Zhu Yan cared about the most, because behind the wall was complete obscurity.

If there was just a giant mouth right inside without any buffer zone, Zhu Yan would step right in and lose his life instantly.

When the time came, he would still need to think of a way around it.

Zhu Yan raised his head and looked at the endless long lines ahead.

This was already the tenth line he had checked, and there was no sign of a "child" with a red hairpin at all.

"The fifth child in the line, right?" Yang Zhanbai confirmed, his tone a bit irritable. "Are you feeling unwell yourself?"

Zhu Yan walked over and finished checking the twelfth line.

"No," he said indifferently, deciding to ignore Yang Zhanbai from now on.

People like Yang Zhanbai only got more worked up the more you entertained them.

Right now, these "children" around them were all puppets of the Solace Mother.

The "woman" had also said, "Every single me will be watching you."

If Yang Zhanbai talked too much and made the Solace Mother notice something was wrong, all their efforts would be wasted!

Zhu Yan was calm, but Yang Zhanbai was completely not.

He thought for a moment, and simply poured the remaining half bottle of Universal Potion all over Zhu Yan's head.

That should wake him up, right?

Zhu Yan wanted to curse him out but held it in with great self-restraint.

He merely glared at Yang Zhanbai and continued checking the lines as if nothing had happened.

"Holy shit!" Yang Zhanbai cursed, his heart instantly creeping with dread.

Would the real Zhu Zeyu ever have an attitude like this?

Earlier, when he dripped a few drops of the potion, Zhu Zeyu's condition would visibly improve a lot.

The current Zhu Zeyu seemed to be in excellent condition, but no matter how he looked at it, he felt something was off.

Especially when the word "traded" came out...

It made this usually clever companion seem abnormally stupid.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhanbai's expression gradually turned cold, and he stopped talking.

Just now, he shouldn't have let Zhu Zeyu stay alone with that "woman."

Now look what happened. He felt that Zhu Zeyu was slowly turning into a puppet just like the "children" around them, becoming a part of this "order."

In this vast space, he was likely the only sane person left.

The more Yang Zhanbai thought about it, the more terrified he became.

Since things had come to this, words were of no use.

He might as well just follow the possessed Zhu Zeyu and figure out a way to bring him back!