Chapter 1122: Unspeakable

He didn't even ask the crowd; instead, Lin An directly bent down and casually pried up a tile.

In the next second, he actually directly submitted an application.

"Application for inspection!"

Zhang Tie and Mo Ling were startled, and no one else had expected it either—Lin An had actually just casually submitted an application.

"Lin.. Ye team!!"

"Don't!"

Trembling with fear.

The tile on the ground showed no abnormality at all; even Mo Ling, standing so close, felt nothing. In the previous few times they found the true forms, they were only discovered after moving. Lin An's action instantly terrified them. If they guessed wrong, they would be erased by the system!

Too late to stop, as the familiar buzzer sounded instantly, the system prompt also sounded:

"Inspection passed! Ferocious ghost detected!"

"What!?"

They couldn't believe that Lin An had actually guessed correctly.

In the next second, inside the newly generated white shield, the few of them didn't have time to think further and prepared to fight. But this time, Lin An seemed not intending to hide his strength.

Only see, after a burst of spiritual energy surged out and flashed, Lin An, wrapped in a destructive impact, instantly rushed to the ghostly apparition that had just been generated.

His aura was terrifying; he slashed out with a single sword!

Under the overwhelming pressure of his Third Rank Peak cultivation and massive spiritual energy, the newly formed ghostly apparition didn't even emit a screech before turning into a wisp of black mist in an instant.

Just as they were about to act, Xiao Peng and Li Xiang, standing not far away, stared dumbfounded at Lin An who had instantly killed the ghost with one sword; the terror of that strike almost stunned them.

"Third Rank Peak!?"

Despite being well-informed, Xiao Peng, knowing that even a Third Rank Advanced cultivator couldn't possibly unleash such a slash, shouted in astonishment, his gaze toward Lin An filled with disbelief.

"Are you a Third Rank Peak!?"

The two behind Xiao Peng all turned pale at once upon hearing those words.

Their eyes toward Lin An were full of fear and disbelief.

What a joke—why would their team hide a Third Rank Peak? Isn't the strongest in the world only a Third Rank Intermediate!?

Ignoring the three frightened people, Lin An looked thoughtfully at the inspected tile, a hint of solemnity flashing in his eyes.

"As I thought..."

"No nonsense."

After picking up the tile, Lin An looked at Xiao Peng and the others:

"No need to guess, no need to compare and search."

"The entire mountain villa, everything is a ferocious ghost. We were misled by the system, or rather... we've been looking in the wrong place."

As he spoke, Lin An tapped the ground beneath his feet, indicating that the whole building might simply be transformed by ghosts.

Under the successive impacts, Li Xiang and the others found it hard to accept the news for a moment, and even Mo Ling couldn't help but bend down to touch the ground.

So I didn't feel any abnormality because everything is abnormal?

After voicing this speculation, Lin An seemed to be thinking about something and continued speaking.

"I've actually been wondering what the difficulty of this dungeon really is."

"From what we've seen so far, it's actually not difficult. Although there are various restrictions, once the ghosts start attacking people, they will inevitably reveal their positions."

"But on the other hand, if the difficulty were simply the number of ghosts—several hundred of them—it would be unlikely."

Lin An asked himself that killing a Third Rank Intermediate spiritual entity posed no pressure for him, and even with the three of them at full power, slaughtering a dozen or twenty would be no problem. But without being able to replenish vitality, several hundred ghosts would grind him down to death.

Moreover, what are the rules?

What are the rules for these ferocious ghosts? Do they merely turn into objects?

Something that a camera could easily handle, Lin An doesn't believe the search difficulty would be so simple. Moreover, it doesn't match the rules he secretly guessed.

Like he was talking to himself, yet also to someone else, Lin An paused for a moment and then slowly approached Li Xiang and the others.

Since it's impossible to find things easily, the way to break the situation certainly isn't to kill hundreds or even thousands of ghosts to resolve the incident.

So where is the problem?

First, it definitely isn't about quantity or simple searching, because I've already tested it.

In the system, searching for objects that ghosts disguise as is obviously meant to stall time, trying to slowly wear us down. When we realize we can't possibly finish searching, we'll surely fall into despair. But conversely, if every object can be inspected to reveal a ghost, what's the point of searching?

Being well-versed in the system's tricks, Lin An naturally could not ignore any information the system gave.

"So..."

His gaze gradually turned cold, Lin An continually fixed his eyes on Li Xiang, Xiao Peng, and that Second Rank individual.

"('The true form of a ghost can disguise as a dead object') This statement must be a misdirection, right?"

"The meaning of searching can only refer to: searching in places where one would never think to look..."

"You... what are you trying to say!?"

"Are you doubting us!?"

His mind a tangled mess, after being hit by several major pieces of news, the middle-aged man instinctively stepped back a few steps; he always felt that Lin An's gaze toward them was somewhat hostile.

Beside him, Xiao Peng stared even more intently at Lin An:

"You want to say who the ghost is!?"

"Heh.."

Lin An gave a light chuckle, then spoke calmly:

"I'm actually quite curious."

"Why did you head straight upstairs as soon as you came in? It's obvious the downstairs is safer, right? Your companions initially also wanted to search downstairs."

"The camera you prepared in advance, you knew to look upstairs..."

It's obvious; you knew what before entering.

Like an interrogation, Li Xiang, who understood Lin An's implication, and that Second Level instantly reacted, instinctively retorting:

"You mean Xiao Peng is a ghost!? But these at most only prove that Xiao Peng knew things beforehand!"

As someone who followed Xiao Peng from the earliest, he naturally also knew that Xiao Peng often acted strangely, like being able to obtain information in advance. But to him, it actually seemed more like Xiao Peng's talent for not telling others.

At this moment, the questioned Xiao Peng's face turned grim; seeing Lin An pressuring him, he had no choice but to brace himself and explain for himself.

"Knowing doesn't mean anything!"

"Knowing information in advance certainly doesn't mean anything."

Lin An quickly replied; actually, under the speculation that Xiao Peng had a card, these abnormal places cannot prove that Xiao Peng has a problem.

But..

"But knowing means you observed this place beforehand, right?"

"Preparing a camera can be understood as having prior knowledge of mission information, but heading straight to the third floor? The first ghost appeared there."

Hearing Lin An's increasingly aggressive questioning, Li Xiang beside him could no longer hold back:

"What exactly are you trying to say!!"

"Xiao Peng has been fighting all along; if he were a ghost, he could have killed us during the fight! Even if we concede, just as you said earlier, everything here is a ghost; he could trigger it dozens of times and directly kill us!"

From entering the instance to now, Li Xiang is certain Xiao Peng has shown no abnormality, especially if ghosts can still disguise as Awakened Ones—what's the difference from being unsolvable!?

Ignoring the middle-aged person's rebuttal, Lin An lightly nodded and looked toward Xiao Peng:

"That's right."

"You indeed don't look like a ghost, and I haven't sensed any abnormal aura on you."

"But perhaps you yourself don't even know that a ghost has long been on you?"

"Do you still remember the person who first provoked the ghost attack? He was attacked because he looked at the inside from outside the mountain villa."

"So.."

"Xiao Peng, did you also see something?"

His face turned deathly pale.

The frozen Xiao Peng instantly recalled the eyes he had once seen, that infinitely magnified ghost face.

Without waiting for Xiao Peng to speak, Lin An's speech flew fast, continuing:

"If these are all just speculation, but there's one point that makes me feel very off."

"Xiao Peng, why don't you say the word 'I'?"

Hearing Lin An's successive questions, Xiao Peng gaped his mouth, not daring to think of the terrifying truth behind.

"w.. w.."

As if his throat were glued shut, he horrifiedly discovered that the word 'I' he could not utter no matter what.

"No.. impossible.. impossible!!"

In an instant, an unbelievable thought rose in his mind. Being unable to say the word 'I'—doesn't that mean..

"I.."

"Died!?"

In his shock, a bleak sword light suddenly expanded infinitely in his eyes.

Only seeing Lin An draw his double swords with a backhand, he at once turned into an afterimage and rushed straight at him to kill.

"Request inspection!"

"Hum!"

"Inspection passed, discovered the true form of the fierce ghost!"