Chapter 671: A New Answer

Luo En shook his head.

"This matter is complicated. I don't want you to bear the blame for killing the innocent."

"Although I don't know what the other side intends to do to us, one thing is certain—they won't let this go. They'll strike again soon."

Taiyilang suddenly said.

"Let me out. Maybe I can help you."

Luo En looked into Taiyilang's eyes. At this moment, Taiyilang appeared utterly calm, as if untouched by emotion—but Luo En could feel the fire deep within him. He had always been so resolute; he could never be broken by something like this.

"I truly need your help right now, and you're the only person I can trust. But I ask you to give me a little more time. I'll prove to you that I'm right."

Taiyilang looked at Luo En with some confusion and said.

"By now, I don't care about right or wrong. As long as these people can live peacefully, that's my greatest wish."

Luo En could sense the sincerity behind Taiyilang's words. He also knew that Taiyilang had always thought this way. After careful consideration, he decided to let Taiyilang out.

He opened the door. Taiyilang stepped out, glanced at Luo En, but said nothing. It was clear both understood each other's hearts.

Luo En brought Taiyilang before the corpses and showed him the energy.

"They were all killed by a very peculiar energy—not by cursed power. Now, we've sensed this energy on one person, but he doesn't look like the killer. He's likely another victim."

Taiyilang stared at Luo En in surprise.

"If all this is just speculation, then we have no progress at all. These guesses might not even be valid."

Luo En nodded.

"Yes, these are all my speculations. And it's clear that so far, this case has no definitive clue."

"I didn't expect this matter to be so difficult."

Taiyilang stared at the corpses scattered on the ground, his brow furrowed tightly. Earlier, he had been driven by righteous anger and the aura of curses emanating from the bodies, so he'd immediately assumed it was a curse.

But now, after carefully examining the corpses, he realized he'd been too hasty. Though faint traces of cursed energy clung to the bodies, the dominant energy was something else entirely.

And this energy was not emitted by a curse, Taiyilang said.

"Bring out that person. I want to examine him closely."

So Luo En brought out the boy. Taiyilang stared at the boy.

The boy hadn't expected anyone else to come here. He stared nervously at Taiyilang, then said to him.

"I didn't do this. I swear it to you."

Taiyilang shook his head.

"I don't believe anyone's promises. I believe only the truth."

He carefully sensed the energy on the boy, and also the energy on the corpses. Indeed, the two energies shared some similarities—but Taiyilang quickly noticed major differences between them.

The energy on the corpses seemed processed, emitting a faint warm glow, making it easy to identify.

But the energy on the boy was pure, free of any impurities. Clearly, it belonged to the boy himself.

Taiyilang spoke to the boy.

"You may not be the killer, but you might provide us with some information. Not everyone possesses this energy. Who else could have energy identical to yours?"

The boy shook his head, looking utterly innocent.

"They already asked me this. I know nothing. This has nothing to do with me. I was just accidentally captured by them."

Taiyilang neither denied nor affirmed the boy's words. He simply stared at him. Under Taiyilang's gaze, the boy grew increasingly uneasy.

At that moment, a Curse arrived to report that they had found another pile of corpses in a small valley—and the corpses' conditions matched almost exactly those from the previous two sites. This proved the killer had struck again.

Luo En leapt to his feet, his brow tightly furrowed.

"The other side is utterly despicable. This is a direct declaration of war—and they've gone too far, slaughtering so many innocent lives."

The small valley was extremely hidden. They walked for a long time before finding it. Not far away lay a massive deep pit, filled with corpses.

Luo En forced down his revulsion and knelt to examine the wounds on the corpses.

Indeed, the wounds on all the corpses were nearly identical. Taiyilang watched this, his brow tightening. Nearby, the boy said.

"W-what's that thing?"

Luo En followed his finger and saw a small crystal nearby. He picked it up and found it radiating intense energy, with a thin strand of black mist coiled around it.

When Luo En sensed the energy within the crystal, his face changed instantly—it was nearly identical to the energy on the corpses.

"We've cracked it. So this is how it works. The killer is clearly disguising the boy's energy, creating these crystals. When he kills, he releases the crystal's energy—making us believe that energy killed them."

Taiyilang frowned.

"But if that's true, then the killer's body should carry two kinds of energy: the one that kills, and the one he disguises. So why is there only one kind here?"

Luo En suddenly remembered what a Curse had said earlier—that when he was in another village, he had sensed a terrifying burst of energy that vanished instantly. Luo En said.

"The energy the killer can unleash has extreme dispersal. Once released, it dissipates rapidly. That's why only one kind of energy remains here."

"So if that's the case, we just need to find someone whose energy disperses quickly—and we'll find the killer?"

Luo En nodded. Theoretically, yes—but the world was vast. Finding someone whose energy dispersed rapidly was like searching for a needle in a haystack.