Transtor: der Transtions--------

  Slightly stunned, Ran raised his left arm and exaggeratedly poi it in front of Jiang g, saying, "Brother Hao, this isn't what you meant to say, is it?"

  On Ran's left forearm, just below his small arm, there was a wound.

  It wasn't serious, about 4-5 timeters long, with blood occasionally oozing out. The bright red blood trasted sharply with Ran's fair skin, finally pooling at his fiips and dripping onto the ground.

  Ran was bewildered, the man before him had clearly lost his ability to resist, being a mb ready to be sughtered, while he himself had only been slightly wounded by the other's reckless move.

  How was it that he had won?

  Suddenly, Ran's pupils stricted, and he immediately looked toward the fmes in the ter of the room.

  The fmes were burning fiercely, and a faint, strange st filled the air.

  "Heh," Ran slowly lowered his arm. He squi Jiang g, who was grinning at him like a sly fox after succeeding in his scheme, and sighed, "The dagger is poisoned."

  "Hmm," Jiang g looked at Ran, who was still holding onto his sanity for the moment but would soo his mercy, Jiang even more wickedly. "It's true that the dagger is poisoned, but it wasn't me who poiso."

  "It was Su Xiaoxiao.", Ran tinued.

  "Yes," Jiang g shrugged and tinued, "She's not as stupid as you think. She figured out the secret of the fmes too. The fuel tains a substahat induces halluations."

  "Her only mistake was being too weak and needing to take care of her brother. If she had been able to wound you with the dagger, you'd be the one oone sb," Jiang g ughed, "That was close, Brother ."

  The fmes in the lighthouse must have some purpose, or else those "things" in Bckstoown wouldn't keep emphasizing it.

  After Liang Long disappeared, Jiang g figured out the secret.

  At the se of Liang Long's disappearance, Jiang g had smelled that familiar st.

  Yes, it was the aroma produced by burning the milky white oil-like substan the lighthouse fme apparatus.

  They had realized that this st could greatly slow people's reas and suppress emotions.

  If they weren't mistaken, Liang Long had secretly taken some of the substance, perhaps wanting to study it when no one was around. But because she had to light a fire alone in the lobby at night, she used some of the oil as fuel.

  The oil was highly bustible and could provide a lot of heat.

  It was this act, by pure ce, that awakehe monsters sleeping ihe stone walls.

  And thus, she was killed.

  Looking at it now, it was clear that those people from Bckstoown had urged them to light the lighthouse to awaken their "kind" who had turo stone.

  Jiang g specuted that Liang Long had actally unsealed a part of the monsters in advance, but if they had waited until they lit the lighthouse in a few days, or even longer, all the stoatues in the lobby would revive.

  At that point, they would be doomed.

  His body started to go numb, ae his superior physical dition, Ra a headache, and he was holding on with sheer willpower, unwilling to fall.

  Ran staggered batil he hit the wall behind him, then slowly slid down to sit on the ground.

  He seemed to want tle for a moment, but his body no longer allowed it.

  "Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle."

  A straooth-grating sound was heard beside his ear. He tried to turn his head, but in his hazy vision, he saw aremely twisted but excited face.

  An old woman's head poked out from a gap, greedily staring at the immobile Ran.

  She seemed to be gathering strength, but more likely she was waiting.

  Like a spider watg a moth struggling in its web.

  The moment it stops struggling, it will be its death.

  "Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle."

  The old ened her mouth, and a long, snake-like, crimson tongue darted around her violet lips. That eerie sound came from her throat, like the rasping of a dying old person with phlegm ihroat.

  With an expression like that of the old woman's, she could have e straight out of a horror film.

  As for Jiang g's view of Ran, he agreed that this person was very smart and skilled, but tant. If he had just used a ko sever his tendons directly, none of this would have happened.

  As he had said, the old woman wasn't one of the pyers, but a special NPC.

  The crisis in this mission came from tects.

  One was external—the ghostly creatures from Bckstoown. However, Jiang g specuted that these ghosts coulder this building; in fact, as soon as they stepped ihey would be petrified.

  The stoatues in the lobby were the result of this.

  The other aspect was internal.

  The old woman, appearing as a "teammate."

  Acc to the Fatty, they had "found" this old woman by the sea.

  If they viewed the building as a safe house to deal with the Bckstoowures, then the old woman was the hidden threat iherwise, if the pyer assigo this task was too cowardly and stayed behind closed doors, the mission duration would be extended.

  She was there to make sure that won't happen...

  So...

  Suddenly, Ran's voice again attracted Jiang g's attention.

  "Brother Hao," his voice was weak, but the flippant tone hadn't ged, as if he was fag death with the same calm demeanor.

  Ran squinted, his only barely lifting due to exhaustion, and chuckled softly, "So, what do you pn to do with me?"

  To others, this might seem like the ramblings of a madman, but Jiang g didn't think so. He found Ran to be exceptional, with a rare thought process that resonated somewhat with his own.

  If it had been Liang Long or the others, they probably wouldn't beg for mercy at this point, but they would definitely emphasize the sequences of hurting teammates in a nightmare.

  Right, and Xiaomeng.

  "Are you going to use my hands to kill this damn old woman?" Ran asked.

  Jiang g stroked his . His injuries weren't life-threatening, but they hurt badly whenever he moved.

  "No, killing is too simple a task for you. What if this is really the way to leave here?" Jiang g said. "Wouldn't that let you escape?"

  "I pn to leave you here," he paused before adding, "So just stay put. I o verify something."

  Jiang g had been keeping an eye on the old woman. She seemed extremely ied in Ran, who had lost his ability to resist, with her tongue almost toug his face.

  Yet she didn't make a move, instead gng impatiently at Jiang g.

  (End of the Chapter)

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