Chapter 658

The mist coiled between the withered trees like rotting cotton, oozing dark red resin from the cracked bark, emitting a fishy stench of rust and rotting flesh.

Sticky dampness seeped from the ground; the figures of the four were stretched tall by the fog, and their boot soles occasionally crushed unknown white bones, producing a fine, teeth-grating crisp sound.

A pale, ulcerated moon cast a sickly cyan-gray through the haze,

"I really don't understand why you listen to him so much."

On a pure white cloud, Medlin started the conversation first.

Because one of her lower legs had been severed, she could only move while sitting on Lyla Starwhisper's cloud.

Haley, having just emerged from a fierce battle with her mana nearly depleted, was also sitting up there, too embarrassed to interact with Rod in front of the others.

At the very front was Rod, clearing the way.

Lyla Starwhisper followed right behind him with a small notebook, asking questions left and right.

She chattered a whole bunch, while Rod only replied one or two sentences after a long while.

But the big star remained tireless, excitedly writing and drawing in her notebook.

"What?"

Haley had just emerged from her meditation to restore her state and hadn't heard clearly.

"I said, if you're short on a vanguard, just tell me; why go out and find all sorts of messy people?"

"Rod is my friend, and besides, tell you? If I told you, would you just give him to me?"

"Haven't I introduced him to you? It's just that you never go."

"In the end, you'd just mock me and ask what I'm using him for."

"I-I was just joking! How can you be so grown-up and still not take a joke?"

"Get lost."

As she spoke, she saw Medlin take out a handful of green herbs, crush them, and try to apply them to her injured eye, but she kept missing the mark.

Haley frowned, snatched them away, and pressed on her shoulder to handle it for her.

Medlin's expression struggled; she looked to the side and said angrily:

"My mother said she would pay your father's nursing fees. Actually, it doesn't matter even if you don't pass the trial."

Haley paused for a moment: "Your mother said that? Your family is that generous?"

"Our family has always been generous; it's just that another family was ungrateful. Actually, if your father hadn't betrayed my mother back then—"

"Wait, wait, what do you mean my father betrayed your mother? Your mother betrayed first."

"What are you talking about? If your father hadn't failed to show up for the appointment, would it have come to this? Forget it, there's no need to talk about what happened back then."

The two exchanged a glance and fell silent.

Medlin stubbornly turned her face away, letting Haley bandage her.

Although as usual, the dissatisfaction and friction between them from before had already eased considerably.

"Alright... Ah! What are you doing?"

Haley had just finished bandaging.

Suddenly she realized Lyla Starwhisper had somehow sat on the cloud too, looking at the two of them with emotion.

"The grudges of the previous life, between life and death, good sisters reconciling... sniff sniff... Indeed, as long as I stay by Rod's side, even without being related to him, my thoughts still flow like a spring."

"Who's her good sister!" "Exactly!"

Rod ahead suddenly stopped.

His large hand suddenly waved over, signaling silence, and the playful noise cut off abruptly.

His gaze pierced through the mist, fixed on an unknown area ahead.

"A high-backed Wang Zuo."

He said.

Medlin's face grew Ning Zhong: "It's the Silent Wang Zuo. I just told you; the Silence Zone within has become abnormally powerful, with considerable mental influence. Even an eighth-tier mage entering it cannot focus."

"What about the spell slots of the Mana Web?"

"Spell slots work, but mine have all been used once already; I'm afraid I can't help... Moreover, my magical puppet is under mental control. Perhaps we can lure her out first."

Lyla raised her hand: "I can go with Rod."

Medlin immediately opposed: "You stay put. You actually dared to crave the whispers and listen actively; you're no different from a madman."

Rod shook his head.

"You all stay here; I'll go check it out alone."

Medlin opposed again: "No way. What if you die in there? We are already very weak; we can't afford to lose combat power."

Lyla looked over strangely: "He won't die. He is—"

"Ahem!"

Although his name had been called countless times to his face, Rod still stuck to his original intention of hiding his identity.

Rod is a very ordinary name; no big problem.

"A masked hero?! This theme is great!"

Lyla's face lit up with excitement; disregarding everything, she buried her head and started writing again.

Rod waved his hand and walked into the mist without looking back.

Watching the man covered by the mist, Medlin immediately grew anxious: "Hey Haley! He should be your friend, right? Stop him!"

"He'll be fine."

"As the squad captain of the Security Department, you should have basic situational awareness. You're killing him, do you understand! I really misjudged you!"

Boom!!!

Pfft-pfft—

The words had barely fallen.

From deep within the distant fog came the metallic, buzzing hum of a tremor, like a thousand harp strings snapping at once.

That sound didn't resemble the clash of blades — too fine, too dense, as if something were slicing through air, slicing through flesh, slicing through bone — yet the one thing that couldn't be heard was Rod's roar.

Perhaps he simply couldn't make a sound within the Silent Domain of Wang Zuo.

Medelin's fingers clenched her robe, her face going pale.

Another grating, teeth-aching sound of cutting, followed by the dull thud of something heavy hitting the ground.

"It's over. Our team only has one normal person — me."

A silver thread suddenly pierced through the thick fog, pinning itself at everyone's feet, its tip wrapped in wood shavings, the silver it reflected dazzlingly bright.

Then, all sound ceased.

The whole thing took no more than five minutes.

Hoo—

Suddenly, a figure burst through the fog, slamming into the ground like a torn rag with a clatter, skidding out a long scrape mark.

Skin with a wood-grain texture, metal joints like a puppet's, a long dark-green velvet cinched-waist dress, silver threads bundled into knots.

Both arms had been wrenched clean off, still connected by threads, dangling loosely around the body.

The puppet had not lost its ability to move.

With a face utterly devoid of expression, it tried to struggle free from the tangled mess of silver threads binding it.

The wail Medelin had been about to let out froze in an instant.

"Click."

She looked up in astonishment toward the direction the footsteps were coming from.

There, unhurried and unhurried, the figure of the man called Rod parted the cotton-like fog, his expression flat.

Forget wounds — even his clothes weren't damaged in the slightest.

"You-you—"

"Save your 'you's for later. Let me ask — what's the trial content of this Silent Wang Zuo again?"

Rod noticed the polyhedral eyeball of the magical puppet on the ground swivel once toward Medelin, then its mouth opened, silver light flickering.

He casually stomped over.

With a thud, dirt flew as he stomped, the puppet's head sinking into the soil, twitching every now and then.

Medelin shrank her neck, staring at Rod with a mix of shock and uncertainty.

". As long as you successfully activate the mechanism on the throne — what on earth are you? My puppet has defensive power comparable to the upper tier of the eighth rank, Body-Dominance style. How could its arms possibly be wrenched off like that."

Rod cut her off again: "The mechanism on the throne? What is it?"

Seeing her old rival's stunned expression, as if she still hadn't come back to her senses, Hailey volunteered: "It's a crown inlaid with half a skull — the Crown of Silence. That's the token."

Rod spread his hands.

"That's strange, then. On the throne surrounded by those twelve stone pillars, there's no Crown of Silence, not even any so-called skull — it's completely empty."

(End of this chapter)