WTYTIAAN Chapter 268

Yuli subconsciously reached out, but only grabbed air. She couldn’t even catch the hem of Dainie’s clothes, and could only watch helplessly as Dainie threw herself in front of the crude map, using her body to wipe away the pattern drawn on the dirt.

The black hem of a robe stopped in front of Dainie.

Dainie blankly looked up, following the black robe upwards little by little, meeting a bizarre mask.

The black-robed figure lowered his head, looked at the child who suddenly darted out and threw herself in front of him, narrowed his eyes, and stretched out his hand towards the child—

Time seemed to stop and freeze at that moment, even breathing was blocked. Yuli heard the agitation coming from her chest, like a thunderclap exploding in her ears.

Dainie watched the hand approaching her and couldn’t help but close her eyes, not forgetting to continue rubbing the map off the ground with her clothes even at this moment.

“Thump”

“Thump”

“Thump”

Her heart beat faster and faster, Yuli’s mind was blank. She watched helplessly as the black-robed figure grabbed Dainie’s collar, about to lift her up. Everything seemed to be slowed down dozens of times, appearing little by little in Yuli’s pupils.

“Gulp.”

Yuli subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva, her hand pressed against the pendant on her neck. No one knew what she was thinking, but she flipped over and rushed towards the black-robed figure and Dainie, grabbing Dainie back from the black-robed figure’s hand and hugging her tightly.

Even though she was also a little beast, she firmly placed the other little beast within her protective range.

“Don’t take my sister away. I’ll go with you,” Yuli’s voice was dry and pleading, like a frightened hedgehog, her whole body bristling with thorns, nervously and uneasily staring in the direction of the black-robed figure.

“Huh?”

The black-robed figure let out a snorting monosyllable, looking at Yuli as if she were a corpse… or rather, a corpse that could tell jokes.

That condescending, overlooking, mocking gaze, like sharp knives, scraped Yuli all over, making her stagger back a step.

The commotion here seemed to attract the attention of the black-robed leader, whose sinister and sharp gaze pierced towards the corner, chilling people to the bone.

Yuli’s heart beat even faster. She hugged Dainie tightly in her arms, imperceptibly stuffing the pendant she had just snatched off into Dainie’s hand.

Dainie quietly opened her eyes and looked at Yuli.

Yuli hugged the ‘doll’ in her arms tightly, murmuring softly: “Don’t be afraid…”

The black-robed figure’s voice rose at the end, “Deep sisterly affection?”

Immediately, he reached out, snatched Dainie back from Yuli’s arms, and then kicked Yuli away. Yuli’s small body quickly flew out, crashing to the ground and rolling several times before stopping miserably when a mouthful of blood spurted out. She lay on the ground, motionless.

Seeing this, Dainie struggled for a moment, then quickly calmed down.

She was quietly held in his hand, like a silent lamb, waiting for the butcher’s knife to fall at any moment.

“Overestimating yourself.”

The black-robed figure looked down at the little cub in his hand with interest, “You are much smarter than her, knowing that resisting at this time will only lead to a faster death.”

“How about it? Why don’t you beg me, and I’ll just take your sister along too, so you can reunite underground faster?”

The black-robed figure’s words were filled with deep malice, causing the children around to become agitated again, and panic spread in the small dungeon.

“Don’t cause unnecessary trouble,” the black-robed leader coldly stopped the black-robed figure from continuing to spew venom. “Just bring back that lamb.”

The black-robed figure was stopped, seemingly a little dissatisfied. He clicked his tongue but said nothing, carrying Dainie back, not even sparing a glance at the little cub who had been kicked away and whose life or death was unknown.

Dainie kept her head down, as if she hadn’t seen what had happened, only tightly clutching the thing in her hand. Just as she was about to be taken away from the small dungeon, she couldn’t help but look up at the direction where Yuli was lying.

Yuli was still lying on the ground, not getting up, but her face had changed from lying on the ground to slightly raised, looking towards the direction they were leaving. At that moment, the eyes of the two children met.

Yuli opened her mouth and mouthed something to Dainie.

‘Escape.’

Dainie, we must escape.

Dainie closed her eyes, her small hand wrapped around a crescent moon pendant. She sniffed, and at the last second, nodded towards Yuli’s direction.

It was very light, even the black-robed figure carrying Dainie didn’t notice Dainie’s movement, but Yuli saw it.

She closed her eyes in peace. As the dungeon door was closed again, she let out a violent cough, as if her internal organs were about to be coughed out. A fishy sweetness with the taste of rust constantly overflowed from her throat, unable to be suppressed no matter how hard she tried. A burning pain spread throughout her body, as if a small hammer was breaking her bones bit by bit, and then piecing them back together.

So painful… Grandpa…

Yuli was in so much pain…

Yuli tried hard to hug herself, shrinking into a ball in the dimness of the dungeon. Even though she tried desperately to hold back, tears still unconsciously slipped from the corners of her eyes.

Fear and longing spread, but little Yuli could only make herself stronger.

She breathed shallowly, slowly suppressing the severe pain in her body. After regaining her strength, she didn’t move randomly. She just lay quietly in place, closing her eyes and recalling the map she had drawn before, while suppressing the fear in her heart.

At this moment, she only had one goal in her heart.

To escape.

…

She didn’t know how much time had passed, maybe an hour? Maybe two hours.

The dungeon door was pushed open again. Yuli’s body tensed for a moment, then quietly relaxed, little by little disguising a state of weakness to the point of almost dying.

It wasn’t until she felt her body being lifted up, placed on a cart, and pushed out of the dungeon door that Yuli slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

She was out.

Next was to fall off at the intersection.

Yuli quietly opened one eye, seeing the position of the cart she was on. Her heart was raised again. She wasn’t lucky enough to be placed on the edge of the cart. She was in the center of the cart. Wanting to jump off the cart here without attracting attention was simply a pipe dream.

What to do?

Yuli was flustered, and subconsciously turned her head, only to meet the eyes of a black-robed figure hidden under his mask.

Yuli:?!

*

Yan Yunqing, with a try-it-and-see attitude, asked Phinney to lead the way to find Little Dainie. He didn’t expect Phinney to actually lead him to the place.

It wasn’t far from the blood pool underground altar that Merlin and the others had found, one could even say it was very close. The entrance was very hidden. If Phinney hadn’t led him here, Yan Yunqing wouldn’t have even been able to see that there was a hidden entrance here.

There were several magic arrays hidden at the entrance, extremely complex, all of which were extremely powerful, using the most top-notch magic stones, with extremely high magic attainments. If one stepped wrong, even a strong person like Theodore would be seriously injured—

Not to mention that Theodore was not at his peak state now.

Yan Yunqing frowned as he looked at the traps at the entrance. This level of defense was simply incredible, a thousand times more complex than the underground altar where the blood pool was located. If Merlin, who was good at this, was here, he might be able to try to break it. However, Merlin was still in a coma and showed no signs of waking up.

Forcibly break through? Not to mention his strength, even if Theodore could forcibly break through this restriction at the cost of serious injuries, the lives of the creatures within ten miles of this place would be instantly strangled by magic fragments. He came to save people, not to simply overturn the table and have everyone die together.

Too coincidental.

It was as if everything was just right.

Yan Yunqing couldn’t help but suspect that Merlin’s coma was deliberately done by someone, as if there was a pair of eyes in the dark, watching him all the time, manipulating everything.

Yan Yunqing lowered his eyes, thinking about how to break the situation.

Phinney was still chirping and yelling beside him, anxiously urging him to quickly find a way to rescue Dainie.

Yan Yunqing’s ears were hurting from the noise. Just as he was about to manually shut Phinney up, he found that his contact list had received a message from [Ying Yi].

[Ying Yi]: I learned from [War Wolf] that the protection mission has changed. You are tracking down the whereabouts of that NPC. I asked around among the players for you and found the location of that group of undead magicians.

[Ying Yi]: [Location Information Sharing]

Yan Yunqing’s spirit brightened. He found that the location information sent by [Ying Yi] was not much different from the location he was currently in. It was obvious that [Ying Yi] did not just give a location at random, but really had a clue.

[Ri An]: How did they know?

[Ying Yi]: It seems that the information is accurate. Have you found where it is?

[Ying Yi]: We have several players in our guild who are particularly good at lurking… uh, stealth, who actively followed that group of black-robed NPCs after the incident in Loresle City that day, without being discovered.

[Ying Yi]: That group of black-robed NPCs ran to a secret base. Our people disguised themselves as the other party and mixed in. They just reported that they saw the missing children.

Yan Yunqing looked at [Ying Yi]’s words and slowly typed out a question mark. Did [Ying Yi] mean that their people… the official people, had infiltrated the Eternal Divine Church’s team and had not been discovered by others, and were doing… undercover work in such an aboveboard manner?

And players who are good at stealth… Could they be comrades who are good at lurking? They had even mixed into the Eternal Divine Church, that cult organization?

This simply refreshed Yan Yunqing’s understanding of the officials once again.

Did the officials value this world so much? They had even sent people to lurk… No, was [Ying Yi] telling him such an important thing so readily? This wasn’t right, was it?

Could it be that his previous attempt to create a hidden GM for the game had been so unsuccessful? Had he not fooled the officials at all? Did the officials still regard him as an ordinary player?

That didn’t seem right either, did it? Then how would they tell an ordinary player such confidential things?

Yan Yunqing was puzzled and a little confused.

It felt weird.

But Yan Yunqing didn’t have time to think about those things. He quickly sent a message.

[Ri An]: Can you have your people come out and take me in? Or can you help me protect the mission NPCs… um, all the children, before I can find a way to get in?

[Ying Yi]: Protection may not be possible. The player who infiltrated is not high-level. Most of the other black-robed NPCs are level 70 or 80, but that player is only level 28.

In short, they couldn’t beat them.

Yan Yunqing frowned. Level 28? It would be difficult for this level to come out and pick him up. After all, among the black-robed people who were generally at level 70 or 80, a level 20 or 30 person would be too conspicuous. Perhaps that player had some way to cover up their level information, to fake their level information.

But in this situation, it was best to be an inconspicuous pawn, to let others ignore them, rather than trying to come up and pick people up. If they were not careful, the player might be discovered and killed by the black-robed people.

By the time the player entered the resurrection CD, he would have completely lost control of the information underground, and would only be groping blindly.

[Ri An]: I’m sorry for the trouble. Can you give me that player’s friend information?

[Ying Yi] was very straightforward and quickly sent the other party’s game ID. Yan Yunqing couldn’t help but be stunned when he saw this ID.

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow]?

How could it be him?

Wait, wasn’t this a game plot research blogger? How did he transform into an official person?

What kind of lurking staff was this? This was not an official person at all, was it?

Yan Yunqing twitched the corner of his mouth. Well, he said that [Ying Yi] couldn’t have been so straightforward in telling him that there were lurking personnel in “The Road Home,” and it was even more impossible to tell him the other party’s identity information ID. This was not in line with the principle of confidentiality.

It turned out that this so-called lurking staff was not an official person at all.

Yan Yunqing casually added the other party as a friend. Don’t look at the fact that [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] had met Yan Yunqing a few times, but they (game IDs) really didn’t have game friends.

After waiting for about ten minutes, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] passed the friend application. He seemed to have known Yan Yunqing’s purpose for a long time. He came up very straightforwardly and threw him a link.

Yan Yunqing clicked in inexplicably, and found that this was actually a live broadcast post on the forum.

Since the internal test 3.0, the game has been updated with many new features, bringing up the game screenshots and game recording that players had been thinking about before, and also added a live broadcast function, allowing players to start live broadcast posts on the forum. Clicking into the post was just like the web page version of a video website, with a playback area and a reply floor that was updated in real time below. These reply floors would also become bullet screens floating in the video area.

And the link that Yan Yunqing clicked on was such a video live broadcast post.

It was still the live broadcast post opened by [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow].

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow]: I think it might not be easy to describe in words, so I’ll open a live broadcast for you to see. Just tell me if you need anything.

Yan Yunqing was silent, reducing the video and placing it on the right front of his vision, while studying how to get in, and also observing the situation inside.

It was not a bad idea.

*

[Broken Bridge Remaining Snow]’s sudden broadcast attracted the attention of many people.

After all, [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] had disappeared again recently, and the previous plot research posts had been discontinued. Many fans who followed him left messages in his posts every day, asking him when he would update.

And he suddenly popped up to open a live broadcast post, catching everyone off guard.

The reply floors were constantly refreshed, turning into bullet screens floating at the top of the video.

[Disappeared Population Returns?]

[Old Snow, why don’t you go home yet? Don’t you want your eighty-year-old mother and eight-year-old child? I order you to update quickly, not open new projects!]

[What is this place? It’s so dark?]

[Did Snow God also open a live broadcast post? I thought Snow God only did plot posts]

Overwhelming bullet screens lamented the return of the disappeared population, interspersed with a few curious questions about where [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] was.

[Why doesn’t he speak? Did he open the wrong broadcast? He wouldn’t have wanted to click Record but accidentally clicked Live Broadcast, would he?]

[Speaking of which, when did “The Road Home” forum have so many people? Before, it took half a day to turn the pages of a new post, but it’s only been a few minutes and the post is already on the third page]

[The person in front, there are already 50,000 internal test players, how can it not be fast? But there are already 50,000 players, I don’t know when the game studio will open the public beta, it’s so slow]

[When will there be a picture? Why is it still so dark? Is he hiding underground mining? Then he should also put up a torch to avoid spawning monsters, right?]

[This is “The Road Home,” not “Minecraft”]

[Eh, there seems to be candlelight in front? Flickering? I feel like my eyes are going to be blind. I’ve been looking for the streamer in a dark mess]

[I rely on, is there someone next to Snow God? I feel like I saw those black shadows next to him moving?]

Soon, after the audience gradually adapted to the brightness of [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow]’s live broadcast, there were more bullet screen discussions.

[There are indeed people next to the streamer! They are walking side by side. Where are they going?]

[Why are they all dressed in black? They don’t look like good people. Could the streamer have encountered some NPC force again and been captured?]

[Rely on, these black robes and patterned masks, aren’t they the Eternal Divine Church believers that [Big A Bro] posted in the popular science post before?]

[Is the streamer in the hands of cultists? Won’t he be tied up and burned?]

[No, why do I feel like Snow God’s dress is similar to these cultists? You can see the clothes of the main perspective from the walking perspective. You see, isn’t this also a black robe? (Comparison chart)]

The live broadcast of “The Road Home” allows you to choose the perspective, and the live broadcast perspective chosen by [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] is the main perspective.

But the audience still analyzed from the details that [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] was wearing the same clothes as the people around him, all black robes.

Some people even uploaded analysis charts.

[I rely on, Snow God, you’ve been missing for so long, and you’re actually going undercover in a cult organization?]

[No, brother? Is this how you play the game?]

[While we are leveling up step by step, Snow God has already infiltrated the super big boss camp to be an undercover agent. It’s exciting!]

Yan Yunqing looked at the trend of bullet screen discussions and felt a little distressed.

Don’t let these players be taken astray, and learn to run to the Eternal Divine Church to go undercover one by one. Don’t startle the snake at that time… Huh? It doesn’t seem impossible?

Anyway, the players won’t really die, and the talent skills probably can’t be deprived. If the undercover is discovered, at most they will get a resurrection CD for one day and drop a little experience, no big deal.

But he could get more clues about the Eternal Divine Church on the forum!

Moreover, if the players fought with the Eternal Divine Church, Yan Yunqing wouldn’t need to worry about these players running to harm ordinary people.

It was a win-win situation.

Theodore silently walked to Yan Yunqing’s side, “King, I found another suspicious place. We can suspiciously try to enter from there.”

Yan Yunqing came back to his senses and immediately followed Theodore, taking Phinney to find another entrance.

He also always paid attention to the [Broken Bridge Remaining Snow] in the live broadcast. When he saw them walking to a dungeon, all the black-robed people stopped. The leader whispered: “Take out those little cubs who are about to die and offer them directly this batch, so as not to lose too much.”

After speaking, he took out the key, opened the dungeon door, and pushed it open forcefully. The scene in the dungeon was displayed in front of every audience in the live broadcast post.

Children.

Many children.

The children locked in the dungeon all had ugly faces. Many of them were lying on the ground, tightly closing their eyes, breathing weakly, and couldn’t even see a trace of undulation.

This scene, coupled with the words of the leader of the black robe, exploded a bunch of lurking parties.

[I rely on, I rely on! What’s the situation?]

[How are there so many children? What are these cultists saying? Are they going to sacrifice these children? Rely on? It won’t be what I think, will it?]

[They are all cultists, is there another “sacrifice”?]

[I rely on, why do I feel that these children are a little familiar? The little boy on the far left, why do I feel like I’ve seen him?]

[Wait, these children aren’t the children who disappeared in Loresle City before, are they?]