Chapter 180: 173 Passing Through

Having just settled in, a neighbor came to visit. Tang Zhao naturally did not neglect his manners; he went downstairs, invited the young girl into the living room, and asked, "May I ask which household you are from?"

The girl in purple waved her hand and said, "Now is not the time to exchange names. Everyone in Maze City is anonymous; it won't be too late to exchange names when we meet at the Rune Assembly. I live right next door to you. Seeing that you just moved in, I specifically came to tell you that a murderous maniac has appeared among our peers, and their methods are very cruel."

Tang Zhao observed her calmly and said, "Cruel? In what way are they cruel?"

The girl in purple said solemnly, "They sneak into rooms in the middle of the night to ambush people, kill them, and then gouge out their bones one by one, leaving the bodies like bags of blood."

Tang Zhao's expression grew even more serious as he said, "Is that so? Have they already killed many people? Has the reputation of a murderer even spread?"

The girl in purple said, "At least two have been killed already. Don't think that's a small number; it's still early, and there are only thirty or forty people in the city. To have killed two in just two or three days—isn't that crazy enough? And with methods like that, killing even one makes someone a madman; since they keep killing one after another, what else could they be but a murderous maniac?"

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "Indeed, it is simply hair-raising! Do you know who did it? Are there any clues?"

The girl in purple said, "Naturally, I don't know. If there were clues, everyone would have united to catch this villain long ago. I see you are a newcomer and don't yet know the danger, so I specifically came to warn you to be careful and not lose your life in a daze. If there is danger, don't begrudge your results; prioritize your life."

Tang Zhao nodded and began to say, "Many thanks. Actually, I..."

"Ahhh—"

A shriek came from upstairs.

It was Gui Ye!

Tang Zhao's body tensed; he suddenly erupted into motion, raising his hand to strike a cluster of flying needles toward—

The girl before him!

The girl in purple was also startled by the cry. A layer of Micro Light floated on her fingers, appearing like Qi but not quite, and her eyes became hazy and unfocused. Little did she know that Tang Zhao's golden needles were too fast and the distance too close; she was instantly struck in several vital points and collapsed onto the chair.

After Tang Zhao struck, he did not look back and dashed out the door.

The reason he went out the door was that jumping to the second floor from the outside was faster than taking the stairs from inside!

Rushing out the door, before he could even jump, he saw a figure fly out from the window.

The window upstairs was closed, but that figure was able to emerge from it, and the window behind them remained perfectly intact. However, as they were in mid-air, they happened to meet Tang Zhao, who was leaping up—the two faced each other—

Bang!

Tang Zhao had already been gathering his Momentum; his Qi transformed into a fist, and he struck head-on, sending the person flying to crash against the wall behind. Following that, he used another hand of golden needles to seal the person's acupoints.

As the person fell, Tang Zhao caught them; it was a girl in blue, similar in age to the girl in purple just now, and her appearance was equally innocent and harmless.

Carrying the girl, Tang Zhao pushed open the window, entered the attic, and called out, "Brother Gui, what happened?"

The turtle poked its head out from its Turtle Shell. Only after seeing Tang Zhao's feet did it crawl out from under the table, still shaken, and said, "Still... still fine. You scared me."

Tang Zhao entered the room and found that everything else remained untouched, save for the secret compartment under the table where the test papers were hidden. Since he had kept the papers hidden on his person, there was no other loss, and he nodded thoughtfully.

He then brought Gui Ye and the girl in blue downstairs, placed her in a chair next to the girl in purple, and crossed his arms to inspect them, saying, "You two, what did you come here for?"

The girl in purple calmed down slightly and said sullenly, "You've already guessed it, so why ask?"

Tang Zhao said, "I want to know, are you the demons who kill to extract bones? Did you come here to play the thief crying 'stop thief'?"

The girl in purple was furious and said, "Nonsense! How could we be that bad?! We just came to steal the test questions!"

Tang Zhao observed carefully; the girl showed no unusual signs. In fact, he was inclined to believe these two girls were partners who had come to steal the questions. The girl in purple had found an excuse, using the murderous maniac as a topic to lure Tang Zhao downstairs, while her teammate took the opportunity to go upstairs to copy the answers—a simple diversionary tactic. The girl in blue's actions upstairs were also normal; it was just the process of stealing test papers. If they were truly killers, they should have targeted him, not gone to the empty room upstairs.

Moreover, it wasn't that Tang Zhao looked down on them, but with their skill levels, they weren't capable of being murderous maniacs.

The girl in blue had been indignant ever since she was captured and suddenly shouted, "You cheated!"

Tang Zhao went "Huh?" The girl in blue stared at the turtle and said, "Stealing questions is a normal competitive behavior allowed by the rules; the Spirit Envoy shouldn't interfere! If you have the ability, you should have detected us yourself. If you don't have the ability, I would have stolen your questions and left. Why did your Spirit Envoy scream as soon as it saw me and take the initiative to report to you? This is a violation! You colluded to cheat!"

Tang Zhao was puzzled; he looked at the turtle and said, "Is that so? Can't the Spirit Envoy interfere with stealing questions?"

The turtle said with slight embarrassment, "It seems so. But... she appeared too suddenly, appearing in the room all at once. I thought she was here to kill me; are you not even going to let me shout 'help'?"

Tang Zhao found it amusing. He had previously speculated that to kill a Talisman Sword Master, one must first kill the Spirit Envoy, and the turtle had taken that to heart. It was old and timid, and just as it was feeling fearful, it suddenly saw an intruder, so it was scared into screaming.

This could also be considered his good luck; although he carried the test papers on him and the two girls couldn't steal them, they originally had a chance to escape unscathed.

Tang Zhao took the opportunity to say, "Actually, I sensed something was wrong with you early on. When you spoke to me, your eyes wandered and you wouldn't look me in the eye. It was obvious you had something on your mind; I guessed right away that you weren't specifically here to warn me to be careful."

The girl in purple was half-doubting, while the girl in blue scoffed, "At this point, you can say whatever you want."

Tang Zhao said, "Exactly, I can say whatever I want. You two failed to steal the questions; I won, you lost. According to the rules, the loser must accept punishment."

The snatching rules of Maze City didn't explicitly state that failure to snatch required punishment, but the winner takes all and the loser accepts the penalty—isn't that only natural?

The two girls were quite forthright; they only secretly blamed themselves for wanting to bully the newcomer before they understood the rules, without doing proper reconnaissance, which led to this disaster. The girl in blue said, "Fine, if we don't leave something behind, you won't let us go. My test paper is on me; it has over five hundred questions, you can copy them. You... you untie my acupoints, I'll get it for you myself."

Tang Zhao did not untie her acupoints; he told the turtle to reach into the girl in blue's clothing and pull out a Scroll. He unfolded it to look and said, "How should I put it? Copying these answers isn't punishing you; it's punishing myself."

In fact, Tang Zhao could have placed a separate observation Rune Formula to invalidate this test paper, but he felt it was harmful to others without benefiting himself—it would be a great detriment to them and of no use to him. He said, "If you are willing to trade other good things, I can leave the test paper alone."

The girl in blue was slightly tempted and said, "What do you want? Origin Stones? I don't have many. I can write an IOU, but it can't be too excessive."

Redeeming the test paper was fine, but Tang Zhao couldn't open his mouth like a lion. Although the test paper was important, it was only used before the Rune Assembly; after the assembly, it would be worthless. Thinking about trading for some particularly valuable life-saving treasure was wishful thinking.

Tang Zhao said, "What was that Rune Formula you used to pass through the wall just now? It was quite impressive."

He had just checked again; the window was indeed intact, yet the girl in blue had clearly emerged from it, and the turtle had testified that the girl had suddenly entered through the window, scaring the soul out of... no, it had just given Gui Ye a bit of a fright.

The girl in blue thought for a moment and said, "That is an Art Tool, not my Rune Formula. I can give the Art Tool to you."

An Art Tool is an artifact forged by a Sword Master; it has no Rune Formula, cannot be copied, and dissipates quickly, serving only as a temporary tool. The girl in blue didn't worry about the Rune Formula leaking, and although she felt a bit of heartache, she gave it up quite readily.

That Art Tool was a chain hanging a piece of glaze; there was a faint scratch halfway across—it might have been whole originally, but now only half remained.

After Tang Zhao got it, he put away the Great Sun Golden Needle and relaxed the two girls' acupoints, saying, "You two may go. By the way, was the news about the murderous maniac fabricated by you?"

The girl in purple was stunned for a moment and said, "No, it's true. Everyone who has entered the city in the last few days knows that at least two have died. Everyone is very panicked and said to let the Spirit Envoy report it to Longyuan, but there has been no response yet. It might be that the people from Longyuan don't intend to come forward publicly. You be careful."

Tang Zhao nodded and said, "Actually, I also discovered a victim. In a brass house... " He recounted his encounter and mentioned the Bone Crow, showed them the remains, and said, "If possible, tell a few more people. Tell everyone to be careful. Also... it is getting late, be careful on the road."

With the matter of stealing the questions settled, they were no longer enemies; perhaps in a couple of days, they would be sitting together chatting and laughing, so a word of warning was normal.

The two girls nodded with solemn expressions, and with the relief of having escaped a disaster, they pushed the door open and left together.

After they left, the turtle said, "Actually, that little girl had something more precious on her. And she might not have used that Art Tool to pass through the wall."

Tang Zhao wondered, "You knew this too? Why didn't you say so just now?"

The turtle said, "I don't interfere in the games between you contestants. Gui Ye is a Spirit Envoy who understands the rules. It's only now that there are no obstacles that I'm reminding you; you might have lost out."

Tang Zhao smiled slightly: Gui Ye was sometimes quite bothered by the fact that it had just broken the rules.

However, as for suffering a loss...

Gripping the half-depleted Art Tool, a glimmer of light flashed across Tang Zhao's Glasses, visible only to him.

"Sword Art: Instant Shuttle."

By now the sky was completely dark, and both sides of the street were lined with strange houses, without a single Lamp. The two young girls dared not turn on any lights to expose their positions, moving cautiously along the walls.

"Another day with nothing to show for it," the girl in blue sighed. "These peers are all difficult to deal with; young in age, but old in the ways of the world. Today's one was just as cunning. I actually thought I could capture him easily with my Sword Law of Shuttle."

The girl in purple said, "I guessed it would go badly the moment I saw his face. It's fine, victory and defeat are common matters for soldiers. As long as we didn't suffer any major losses, it's fine."

The girl in blue scoffed, "You're at it again, judging everything by looks. What can you tell from someone's appearance? A murderer isn't necessarily unattractive."

The girl in purple said, "No, it's not that he's handsome; he has an upright look on his face, he is definitely not..."

Suddenly, the two girls stiffened all over as a patch of Shadow blocked their path.

---Author's Note---

There will be an extra update tonight for the collection count.