Chapter 334: The Moment Has Come (8/10, for the Alliance Leader 'Yi Diudiu De')

Fang Yue frowned slightly.

"Is that unusual? But didn't you say before that on village roads, you rarely run into Guiyi, that Guiyi avoid village roads?"

"It's different. What I mean is, village roads are safe — the chance of encountering Guiyi is much lower than in the wild, and they can be driven away. But… after walking such a long stretch in a single day, with such a big target, and not seeing a single Xiao Guiyi — to me, that's very strange."

"So what's your thinking now? You think something might have happened?"

Hearing Fang Yue ask this, the Blood Hunter's brow furrowed even deeper.

"Ye Ge, I don't know if you've ever seen ants relocating?"

"Ants relocating? Yeah, I've seen it. What about it?"

"When ants sense danger, or special weather, they'll pack up and move. I don't know if it's an illusion, but right now I've got this faint feeling, like… the other Guiyi sensed some kind of danger and are fleeing in a certain direction, leaving behind a brief empty zone with no Guiyi."

The Blood Hunter's take left Fang Yue a bit dumbfounded.

Some massive danger that made a whole swarm of Guiyi choose to retreat in unison?

Could it really be that sinister?

Fang Yue figured that when he went to Mo Cun, it was already full of difficulties — could there be some big trouble waiting for him on the way back too?

"Blood Hunter, is your guess reliable?"

"Not reliable at all — it's just my own gut feeling. But better to believe it and be wrong than dismiss it and regret it. I've been a Hunter for so many years, I'm fairly confident in my instincts. Even now that I'm a cripple, it doesn't stop my instincts from doing their job."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"…Ye Ge, I want the team to push hard the whole way, try not to linger at other villages, rest on a schedule of one night every two days, or one night every three days, and follow the village road straight to Gu Yue Cun.

If we catch up to the tail end of the Guiyi fleeing, maybe we can pick up some truth. If along the way we start running into Guiyi or Xiao Guiyi normally and often, then it means I guessed wrong — I was borrowing trouble that never came — and we can just slow our pace. What do you think?"

The Blood Hunter had thought this through carefully — he'd probably already been mulling over how to respond ever since he noticed the phenomenon.

Which goes to show, when you're out and about, having a reliable old-timer with you means you won't be completely in the dark when things come up.

If it were just Fang Yue leading the team, he'd never in a million years think there was anything wrong with not running into Guiyi the whole way, let alone connect it to anything like the ant phenomenon.

"Then let's do it your way. When I'm not around, the team is yours to command. Just remember one thing — if something happens, wake me up immediately!"

Avoiding stops at villages along the way actually made Fang Yue feel a bit of relief. For instance, the Captain of that Eat-Women Mountain village creeped him out — he really didn't want to see that guy again.

The authority and trust Fang Yue handed over genuinely moved the Blood Hunter.

He was a Hunter — a crippled Hunter — a Hunter who could never hunt again.

If it had been anyone else leading the team, they wouldn't have even brought along a Can Yu Hunter like him, let alone listened to the advice of a useless Hunter.

But Fang Yue, while giving the Blood Hunter respect, had also truly given him trust.

So the Blood Hunter clenched his fists. He wanted to repay Fang Yue for that trust, and make this trip back to the village end safely and successfully.

To avoid mishaps, even if people called him paranoid or said he was being overly cautious, he was determined to stick with it — keep the team in the safest state possible, ideally with not a single person getting hurt, and get back to the village safe and sound.

If nothing went wrong, this was probably one of the last few chances he'd ever have to be out and about like this.

Now that he was a cripple, the next time he wanted to go out, it would be hard to leave as a Hunter — he'd have to go as an employer, hiring people to escort him.

So he treasured this last chance all the more — this last chance to stay with the team as a Hunter.

"Ye Ge, I'll go let the others know about the change in plans."

"Mm, go ahead."

Fang Yue went on to check in with the others. When they saw him, they all greeted him one after another, calling out "Captain Ye, Captain Ye" nonstop.

After finally checking on the team's situation, Fang Yue saw the system prompt that 【Night's Breath】 had taken effect, then logged out of the game.

……

Opening his eyes, Fang Yue saw Bai Xiaoya beside him, sharpening her bone spear with a big rock she'd found from who knows where.

"You're up?"

"Mm. Where's Qiu Dugu?"

"He's over there identifying the corpses, so their families can come claim them. The ones he can't identify, he's planning to dig a pit and bury."

Fang Yue raised an eyebrow, thinking Qiu Dugu's move was a bit melodramatic.

But it quickly dawned on him that something was off.

Because right now, he was in reality — and in reality, doing something like that was perfectly reasonable.

Realizing this, Fang Yue's heart gave a sudden jolt.

He knew he'd gotten too deep into the game — some of his attitudes seemed to have been quietly molded by it.

In reality, a person's death is a big deal.

Take Bai Xiaoya — before she went through what happened at the back hill of Jiangyun Temple, killing someone would have hit her hard mentally. Even when a thief broke in before, she hadn't thought to kill him — just to restrain him.

But if the current Bai Xiaoya ran into that same situation, she'd probably take a cleaver and split the thief's skull open in one swing.

Fang Yue was the same.

In the game, braving wind and rain, licking blood off the blade tip every day, one careless moment and a Guiyi could kill you.

So he'd gradually become more casual about other people's life and death — killing, dying, none of it really fazed him anymore.

And that was the problem… this was reality!

If this kind of life-and-death attitude grew thin, Fang Yue didn't know what he'd turn into, didn't know if it was good or bad…

The only thing clear was that the game had, quietly, changed him.

Tap tap tap.

At that moment, Qiu Dugu came back.

For digging pits and the like, he didn't need tools — this guy's hair was a Guiwu. He'd killed off his own hair follicles with medicine, then let the Guiwu 【Transforming Hair】 parasitize his body to gain this ability.

By changing the form of his hair, he could turn it into quite a few things, but it still kept the properties of hair, so its strength was relatively poor.

Of course, that was relative to Fang Yue — against ordinary people, it was insanely strong.

Beside Qiu Dugu, following along, was A Ming.

After sensing Bai Xiaoya's change, A Ming was clearly very self-blaming and didn't know what to do; when Qiu Dugu suggested burying the bodies, he instinctively followed along.

"You're awake? It's already night now — can we not start moving yet?"

Qiu Dugu saw Fang Yue and asked directly.

Fang Yue didn't dawdle either. He rose and said, "No! It's time — we can start moving and kill that thing in the sky."

……

(End of chapter)