WTYTIAAN Chapter 264

With the healing skills from Sylph, Isabel’s health bar finally wasn’t in critical condition anymore, looking much safer. It’s just unknown why she hasn’t woken up yet.

Because Isabel is still unconscious, Merlin hasn’t shown any signs of waking up either. However, neither of them has any debuffs in their status bar, so waking up should just be a matter of time.

Yan Yunqing breathed a sigh of relief. Immediately after, he asked Divick again about what happened before they fell unconscious.

However, Isabel’s serious injury happened suddenly, and no one knew where she went before she was seriously injured. Merlin only went to rescue after sensing that Isabel was in danger.

Unfortunately, Merlin didn’t have time to explain clearly and also fell unconscious after rescuing Isabel.

Yan Yunqing remembered the undead magic debuff he saw in Isabel’s status bar earlier, and his heart couldn’t help but sink.

Undead mages had just appeared in Losreser City, and Isabel was attacked by someone suspected to be an undead mage. Yan Yunqing didn’t believe there was no connection between the two.

Fortunately, Isabel is currently considered safe. Now, he just needs to figure out what those undead mages…or the Eternal God Sect are trying to do, where those missing children are…and where exactly Little Yuri was taken?

Thinking of the Eternal God Sect’s past actions, he had to move quickly.

Yan Yunqing’s heart felt heavy. He didn’t have time to continue waiting for Isabel and Merlin to wake up here. He turned his head to look at Divick, “Since Merlin is still unconscious, you can only temporarily take over the matters of ‘Flame’. However, I will have Alice come over to help you.”

Alice is nominally his student, but he has only taught her for a few months. Alice has a very high talent for politics, probably because she was born into the treacherous royal family from a young age and was influenced by it. In short, just a few months were enough for the already intelligent Alice to be reborn.

Yan Yunqing let her join ‘Flame’, but he didn’t let her join the core. At least, he hasn’t told Alice his identity yet. As for how much Alice’s godmother will tell her, that’s not something Yan Yunqing can control.

However, Alice hasn’t shown how much she knows about his identity yet. They are both in a tacit understanding, and neither of them has spoken first.

But Alice also used various channels of ‘Flame’ to establish her own small power. The last time she investigated Demetrius, who suddenly disappeared from the Sigrit Academy, Alice used her own power.

Now that Merlin is unconscious, Divick is obviously not suitable for handling so many complex matters. Barros can help handle a little, but Yan Yunqing also doesn’t think he’s reliable.

Just look at Barros’ mercenary group, ‘Crimson Mist’. The one who handles the affairs in the group is not Barros. Letting him be responsible for these newly added 40,000 players, Yan Yunqing is really worried that Barros will be angered by the players and kill them all in a fit of anger.

That would be a major accident. At that time, the game forum would probably be filled with question marks. Yan Yunqing can already guess what the forum will say.

Something like NPCs becoming refined, NPCs massacring players, the Japanese devils entering the village, etc…

Yan Yunqing can foresee that a storm is coming, at least let’s spend some time peacefully before the storm arrives.

Alice, such a useful tool person, shouldn’t be hidden. At least after Cornelia finished recounting her past, Yan Yunqing completely let go of the idea that ‘Alice will not return to the Bato Vita camp after she successfully seizes power’.

*

“My child, sob sob…”

“Lyle, where are you? Come home quickly…”

“…”

Losreser City was in chaos. The shadow of death had just faded away, but the children in the city mysteriously disappeared, which added insult to injury for the already grief-stricken people of Losreser City.

Yan Yunqing could hear cries from time to time while walking in the city. The families who lost their children were almost frantic. The few families in the city whose children hadn’t disappeared kept their doors and windows tightly closed and watched their children closely, fearing that they would also lose their children if they weren’t careful.

Yan Yunqing put on a player’s disguise and, after much persuasion, sent Theodore away, not letting him stick to him like a little tail—Theodore’s wings were too eye-catching. At least, in the current Ermann Continent, only the angel race has been heard of, but few people have actually seen them.

The same goes for players. Compared to the natives, players are definitely more enthusiastic about alien races.

If Theodore appeared with three wings, he would definitely be surrounded wherever he went. This would not be convenient for Yan Yunqing to handle things privately.

Following his memory, Yan Yunqing found Little Yuri’s house. It was a small bungalow near the suburbs with a small courtyard. There were also a few trees planted at the entrance for shade. At this time, the leaves on the trees had long fallen, leaving only bare trunks and snowflakes on the branches.

The last time he came, this small bungalow, although it looked dilapidated, was very clean and warm. Even the fallen leaves in front of the door were swept clean. There were also brightly colored rags tied to the branches, adding some color to the unremarkable small courtyard. It was obvious that Little Yuri had prepared them.

However, now there was a thick layer of snow in front of the bungalow. The snow in front of the door didn’t have much left, probably because people often passed by and trampled on it, but it left a muddy mess.

If the neat Little Yuri was here, she would definitely obediently drag a broom that was even bigger than her and sweep the snow with a grunt, taking care of this warm little house.

But Little Yuri is missing.

Yan Yunqing stood in front of the door, wanting to knock, but found that the door was half-covered. He subconsciously reached out and pushed, and the wooden door opened with a creak.

Even the door lock wasn’t on. He could enter this small bungalow with just a gentle push.

Yan Yunqing hesitated in front of the door for a moment, but he still didn’t change to the face he had when he first met Little Yuri and them. Instead, he entered the door with the appearance of a player.

The courtyard was quiet. Messy debris was scattered all over the place, covered with a thick layer of snow. The firewood pile in the corner was also scattered all over the place, but no one helped it up, letting the snow water soak it. It was clear that the owner of the house hadn’t been in the mood to care about these trivial matters for a while.

Yan Yunqing took a few steps inside, and a one-eyed, lame man walked out of another room. He was holding a bowl of black, smelly things. He turned his head and his eyes met Yan Yunqing’s.

One-eyed and lame, the man in front of him was the hunter Rosen, whom Yan Yunqing had met in Sunset Village. He was Karenna’s brother, who had sold everything to send Karenna to the magic academy, but in the end, because of the evil thoughts of those in power, he not only lost his sister but also lost his healthy body and spent seven years in exclusion.

Until Yan Yunqing found the truth and told him, but this truth could only make Rosen, who was trapped in the past, even more painful.

The last time they met, Yan Yunqing found that Rosen had probably come out of the suffering of the past. He was willing to come to Losreser City with Jason and Little Yuri, not without the intention of starting over.

Rosen at that time looked very happy, but the current Rosen…had a lot of white hair on his temples, and even his limp was more severe than before.

Little Yuri’s disappearance was a huge blow to this family.

“You are…?” Rosen’s other eye, which wasn’t blind, stared at Yan Yunqing turbidly, gloomy. If a child saw it, he would definitely cry non-stop, and maybe even be woken up several times in the middle of the night.

Yan Yunqing paused, “I came here on a mission. I want to ask about what happened before and after Little Yuri’s disappearance.”

Rosen silently nodded and turned around, “Come with me.”

After saying that, he walked into the house without looking back. Yan Yunqing followed him into the house. As soon as he entered, he could smell a musty smell of decay, a strong smell of blood, and a faint, indescribable stench in between.

Yan Yunqing frowned and saw an old man lying on the bed with his eyes tightly closed, as if he was breathing more air than he was taking in.

The blacksmith Jason, Henry’s father, was also the one who adopted Little Yuri after the disaster seven years ago.

The smell of blood came from Jason. It was very strong. Yan Yunqing didn’t need to look with his eyes to know how serious Jason’s injuries were.

“What’s going on?” Yan Yunqing asked.

Rosen put the bowl of black soup on the broken table. He didn’t rush to wake Jason up and pour it down. He turned his head and glanced at Yan Yunqing. His face twitched a few times, as if he wanted to squeeze out a smile or a friendly expression, but he didn’t succeed after trying a few times. It even made his already terrifying face look even more ferocious.

Yan Yunqing didn’t have the mood to think about how many children Rosen’s smile would scare. He heard Rosen’s words.

“The night before yesterday, a few people came to steal the children. Yuri was covered with a mouth and nose and was about to be taken out, but her grandfather found out. He tried desperately to stop them but didn’t succeed, but his leg was broken.”

Not only that, Rosen also lifted a corner of the quilt that covered Jason, allowing Yan Yunqing to see the wounds on Jason’s body. Not only was his leg bloody, but there were also several more blood holes on his body. His abdomen was also wrapped in a piece of cloth, which was dyed red and soaked with blood.

The injury was so serious.

“Did they actually steal her directly from home?” After Jason found out, they still forcibly took Little Yuri away and injured Jason so badly. This wasn’t stealing a child, it was robbing in broad daylight.

Rosen silently nodded. He stared at the wound on Jason’s body for a long time before finally picking up the bowl on the broken table. He carefully and meticulously helped Jason up, bringing the bowl to Jason’s mouth and slowly pouring it down.

Yan Yunqing’s keen sense of smell smelled a sour and bitter taste from the black soup. It was really unpleasant. Mixed with the strange smell in this house, it was even more disgusting, making people unable to help but feel nauseous and want to vomit.

There aren’t many healing mages in this world. Most of them are pastors from the Light Church. The Light Church has people dispatched in every medium-sized and small city, including Mother Tree, but wanting these pastors to help with treatment is simply wishful thinking for the poor.

As everyone knows, noble pastors only serve noble lords.

If ordinary people are sick, they can only save some money to go to the potion shop to see if they can buy a potion for treatment. As for those who don’t have money, they can only endure it or go to the wild to see if they can find one or two useful herbs and boil them into juice to barely use.

The bowl of black soup in Rosen’s hand is the product of those messy herbs mixed together. After the system detected it, it only gave a [simple medicinal liquid mixture]. What’s rare is that this extremely disgusting thing actually brought a little bit of healing properties and had the function of restoring health.

Of course, the healing ability is very poor. At most, it will restore seven or eight points of health after drinking a bowl.

Yan Yunqing watched Rosen laboriously pour the black soup into Jason’s mouth, but Jason didn’t show any signs of getting better. On the contrary, his health bar continued to decrease.

This is also someone who is constantly losing health due to serious injuries.

This time, Yan Yunqing didn’t use [Selinvar’s Blessing], but used a small healing spell. His casting speed was very fast. In the blink of an eye, a few white lights lit up. Jason’s originally pale face immediately regained its color, and he no longer looked like he was about to die on the spot in the next second.

Rosen looked back at Yan Yunqing in surprise, and a few tears actually appeared in his turbid eyes.

Yan Yunqing’s heart felt heavy. He took out a few small red bottles from his backpack and stuffed them into Rosen’s hands.

“When Jason wakes up, I need to ask in detail about Yuri being taken away.”

Jason received proper treatment and soon woke up. When he learned that Little Yuri was still taken away, Jason looked as if he had aged ten years.

His face was pale, and he was mumbling something. Yan Yunqing leaned closer to listen but couldn’t hear what he was mumbling.

Time was tight. Yan Yunqing didn’t have any intention of comforting Jason. Instead of wasting time comforting Jason, he might as well find out the process of the matter as soon as possible so that he could find those missing children sooner.

He believed that Jason would be happier to receive the people back than to receive useless comfort.

*

After a detailed inquiry lasting two hours, Yan Yunqing almost grasped the course of this incident. He confirmed that the disappearance of those children was indeed related to the Eternal God Sect. In Grandpa Jason’s description, the people who snatched the children were dressed exactly like the followers of the Eternal God Sect.

That was really bad news.

In Yan Yunqing’s current understanding, the Eternal God Sect has been equated with Qien. It was obvious that these children were not taken away to enjoy happiness. It was very likely that they were going to be used as sacrifices.

Especially when Yan Yunqing learned from Grandpa Jason that Little Yuri had awakened her talent skills more than a year ago.

This further confirmed that the people who snatched the children were indeed from the Eternal God Sect.

But one good news was that the defense pendant that he had given to Little Yuri as a gift was with her when she was snatched away. The necklace can open a defense shield three times and can withstand attacks below level 50.

Little Yuri hasn’t used any of these three opportunities yet.

There are many high-level followers of the Eternal God Sect, but when dealing with some children, he believed that they wouldn’t send out many high-level followers. So as long as Little Yuri is smart enough to use the defense shield, she can safely support herself for a period of time.

This period of time is left for Yan Yunqing to race against time to find her.

The task panel didn’t show any new guidance, nor did it indicate that Little Yuri was dying. But the change from a protection task to a search task itself doesn’t necessarily warn of the safety of the mission target. Unlike before in Freedom City, Yan Yunqing could judge Nana’s life force loss through the system task panel.

Yan Yunqing returned to the temporary base of ‘Flame’ in Losreser City. Theodore didn’t know when he had returned behind him and become one of his little tails.

Barros also wanted to follow, but Yan Yunqing forcibly sent him to work.

At Yan Yunqing’s command, all the ‘Flame’ members who stayed in Losreser City and Castella City began to investigate the surrounding areas for possible strongholds of the Eternal God Sect.

Yan Yunqing didn’t idle either. He also took Theodore to a place.

The small mountain village outside Castella City before.

That area was a known stronghold of the Eternal God Sect. There was also a strange blood pool inside. Although it had been destroyed by Merlin, they were all in the same area, so there might be some clues.

When he returned to the small mountain village, his eyes widened because of the scene in front of him.

Blood.

Dried bloodstains stained the entire village red, as if the blood-colored setting sun in the sky had been sprinkled down, coating this land.

Since the war between Romunike and Bato Vita began, there hadn’t been any sun here for a long time.

The rare warm sunlight shone down, but it couldn’t illuminate this silent village. The entire village was quiet and shrouded in a terrifying haze.

Yan Yunqing only felt his hands and feet go cold, and his heart kept falling, as if falling into an abyss.

He stood at the entrance of the village for a long time, looking at the big tree at the entrance of the village that still had lanterns and red ribbons hanging on it, looking at the ribbons that originally symbolized joy, but now were covered with dark red bloodstains, whirling and shaking in the wind.

The copper bell hanging on the treetop made a muffled sound that seemed to be mixed with whimpers, causing people to feel uneasy.

Yan Yunqing smelled the bloody and rancid smell coming from the village that couldn’t be stopped even by the heavy snow that covered it. He finally realized what the stench he smelled in Little Yuri’s house was.

That was the decaying death that a person on the verge of death exudes.

How could this be…

Yan Yunqing took a step, his steps a little messy. He only felt that his legs were extremely heavy, as if he had been hung with a thousand pounds of weight, dragging his body, which seemed to be out of his body, to move forward blindly.

There was snow everywhere. There had been several heavy snowfalls recently.

There was also blood everywhere, burying countless surprised souls under the white snow.

Yan Yunqing walked step by step.

The lanterns on the tree hung askew, swaying in the wind. The beautiful ‘囍’ character was polluted by blood and rotted beyond recognition in the mud, mixed with unknown pieces of meat, covered by a new heavy snow.

The corpses of villagers lay scattered on the mountain village path. The twisted fingers of the elderly still clutched half a piece of unfinished sugar cake. The widened eyes of the children were frozen in a moment of panic. The young and strong still clutched farm tools in their hands, but their heads were separated from their bodies. A head hung alone on the roadside fence, glaring at the body holding the weapon…

Walking to a place, Yan Yunqing suddenly stopped, looking at the body that had been cut in half. That face had left a deep impression on Yan Yunqing – that little boy.

What was his name…

The one who took them into the wedding banquet, Denny’s brother…

Yan Yunqing’s mind was extremely chaotic at the moment. He couldn’t even remember what Denny’s brother’s name was.

But at this moment, that extremely sensible child, who arranged for them to stay like a little adult, was only half of his body left lying in the snow. The other half of his body was missing.

His face was full of astonishment, as if he had never expected the scene at this moment.

“How could this be…” Yan Yunqing muttered. He looked around this circle. Clearly, before he left, there was still a wedding being held here. The whole village was sending blessings to the newlyweds. It was lively and joyful.

But how long has it been? Just…

No, that’s not right.

Yan Yunqing stared at the newlyweds in the courtyard, who were pierced together by a sharp branch. These were the newlyweds who got married that day. They were still wearing brand new clothes. Those were the new clothes they had carefully prepared for the wedding. They would only take them out and wear them on this day, and then they would put them in the bottom of the box until the next important time to take them out and wear them again.

The place where they were sleeping was the once lively wedding venue. Wine glasses and bowls were broken all over the place. Even under the cover of this heavy snow, the leftovers gave off a rotten, sour smell, exuding a palpitating aura in the night.

Yan Yunqing opened his mouth, “…It was that day?”

Did this massacre actually happen not long after he left? The next day? It was even possible that he had just dared to leave, and this village was massacred clean…

Yan Yunqing couldn’t say what he was thinking in his heart now. According to the situation at the scene, perhaps if he had stayed a little longer, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened – at least if he was there, Divick and Barros wouldn’t have left, and Merlin and Isabel were also combat power.

Even during the God War, if the gods came, they would have a way to protect the people in this village.

But unfortunately…they left.

Eternal God Sect…underground altar…blood pool…

They left because they found the underground altar of the Eternal God Sect. They were heartbroken for Amos, who was trapped in the altar, and even more shocked by the Eternal God Sect’s idea of creating gods and resurrecting gods, thinking about whether the Eternal God Sect was related to Theodore…

Without exception, they all ignored the small mountain village that was close at hand.

Yan Yunqing only felt a burst of dizziness. His eyes were black for a moment. His knees softened, and he almost fell to the ground on the spot.

There was a warm aura behind him that caught him as he leaned back.

The smell of sunlight on Theodore gradually covered the strong bloody and rancid smell in the village, giving Yan Yunqing’s chaotic mind a moment of clarity, but it was only a moment.

“They’re dead…” Yan Yunqing muttered, his forehead resting on Theodore’s shoulder.

To be honest, Yan Yunqing had seen similar scenes before, at least in Erantick City. That was a scene that was more like hell on earth than here. Everyone was frozen in the moment of death, and the rebels’ ugliness was fully displayed.

No matter who entered Erantick City, they would have their emotions mobilized.

Yan Yunqing was still able to rationally analyze the actions of the undead around him, judge his purpose, and judge the truth and falsehood in his words.

But now his mind was in a mess.

Clearly, under the cover of heavy snow again and again, only sporadic blood was revealed outside this tragedy, and the scale was not even one-tenth of that of Erantick City.

Yan Yunqing touched the position of his heart. He felt an boundless grief and anger, constantly gushing out from the bottom of his heart. When he looked at this chaotic scene, he could deeply recognize one thing.

The mess he was in – was a village that he had personally felt, full of life and vitality, and still able to treat every day with enthusiasm even in war.

Yan Yunqing opened his mouth and looked at Theodore’s golden eyes that revealed a few traces of concern. In the end, he only uttered a few words with difficulty, “They…are the remnants.”

Eternal Empire, remnants.

The Demon King’s former people.

After the destruction of the Eternal Empire, after several generations of migration, they finally took root and sprouted here, gradually forming a small village.

Even though they had intermarried with the outside world, they might not even know much Landen language, and they might not even be considered pure imperial remnants, they still stubbornly used the habits passed down from the Demon King’s era.

Yan Yunqing slowly exhaled a turbid breath, eased the shaking of his mind, and closed his eyes.

Short fragments in the village kept echoing in his mind, devouring his sanity, and the anger towards the executioner filled his entire heart.