This was the first time Yan Jing had seen an Inner World resident with such extreme physical mutation.
"You don't need to know! Because you'll never get the chance!"
The man's voice was hoarse. In the next instant, his appearance began to shift wildly. His body blurred, popping up all around Yan Jing as if he were teleporting.
The effect was a barrage of bizarre silhouettes shifting frantically around Yan Jing—grinning maliciously, dancing wildly, and roaring.
Even with Yan Jing's eyes closed, that piercing, hoarse voice surrounded him from every direction. If this went on for long, his Mental Immunity Value was almost guaranteed to plummet.
"I want to submit a clue."
Yan Jing shouted the secret phrase to summon the Order Management Bureau.
But the shifting silhouettes kept circling him, their hoarse voices stacking into a manic laugh:
"Five minutes. By the time those stupid fools arrive, you'll be a pile of meat. Don't worry, I'll take your shape and submit the clues to them myself."
"I was getting sick of playing that woman anyway. I really should thank you!""Die, die, die!"
His speed grew faster and the hoarse voice grew louder. Yan Jing could no longer see anything else—only terrifying, ever-changing faces drawing closer and closer. The piercing shrieks in his ears worsened, as if he were standing in the eye of a soul storm.
His scalp went completely numb from the noise, and his eardrums vibrated wildly.
Under these circumstances, keeping his Mental Immunity Value from dropping was basically impossible.
Soon, one minute passed, then two, then three...
The silhouette realized something was wrong. Why was the halo of light around Yan Jing still there?!
"Damn it, what trick are you playing?!"
the Disguiser roared in anger.
He was getting anxious.
If he didn't kill Yan Jing, he would definitely be exposed. But for some reason, the halo around Yan Jing remained, preventing the Disguiser from initiating an attack.
"The strong always stand tall in the face of fear, my friend."
Yan Jing's half-removed hoodie snapped violently in the swirling gale, the hair on his forehead whipping wildly.
He wore a smile, looking as if he truly hadn't lost any Mental Immunity Value because he held no fear in his heart.
In reality, most of the credit belonged to the Mental Immunity Potion rewarded from the Stage A mission.
He had palmed it while crossing his arms and drank it the moment he pulled his hoodie over his head.
Fifteen minutes of absolute immunity against external Mental Immunity Value reductions—a must-have.
Finally, Yan Jing felt a presence as cold as deep winter descend behind him.
They were here.
The tension in Yan Jing's chest eased considerably.
The Order Management Bureau was punctual after all.
The Fear Wind swirling around him died down.
The Disguiser stopped shifting, reverting to the appearance of the two-headed woman.
He had naturally sensed the aura of powerful experts approaching and immediately bolted toward the other end of the alley.
But soon, the figure of the Youth emerged at the far end of the alley—an image of absolute despair for the killer—slowly walking in their direction.
He was forced to stop in his tracks, quickly steadying his breath.
Clack, clack, clack—
The sound of boots striking the flagstone road rang out. Appearing as if out of nowhere, a woman with a freezing expression stepped out from behind Yan Jing. The Iceberg Woman said coldly,
"You have two minutes to explain your clues."
Right on cue, the Youth across from them clicked the mechanical watch in his hand.
When they said two minutes, they meant exactly two minutes.
The two of them flanked Yan Jing and the two-headed woman. They didn't ask a single extra question, and their gazes didn't even linger on the two-headed woman.
Since Yan Jing had requested to submit the clues, he was naturally the one expected to speak.
Of course, neither of them expected Yan Jing to submit any particularly important clues, given that it had been less than an hour since this batch of human players entered.
The previous few clues they had received were all useless garbage.
That expectation was hard to shake, right up until Yan Jing spoke:
"I want to identify the killer."
Swish—
Yan Jing faintly heard the sound of a sharp blade slicing through the air. He raised his eyes, realizing the sound seemed to come from the emotionless woman's gaze—a freezing blade intent on slashing through his clothes and skin straight to his heart.
Order Body-Forging Technique, Second Form of the Eye Method: Eye Blade.
The woman swiftly swept her gaze up and down Yan Jing's body before looking away.
"Tell him the rules."
"Understood."
The Youth stepped forward, speaking as if reading from a script:
"You may now identify the killer."
"Please note that identifying the killer requires at least one piece of Grade B evidence, as well as stating the identity of the person you believe is the killer. We will conduct further verification and investigation."
"Rest assured, we have already uncovered a certain amount of evidence regarding the killer's identity. We only require Grade B evidence to justify taking them away for investigation."
"If you fail to provide Grade B evidence, the identification will be deemed invalid. If you cannot provide evidence of Grade C or higher, you will be considered to be interfering with Order and wasting law-enforcement time, and you will draw the gaze of the Eye of Order."
The Eye of Order? What was that?
Before Yan Jing could ask aloud, the woman said indifferently,
"When gazed upon by the Eye of Order, the halo around you will disappear."
Simple and easy to understand.
Yan Jing nodded.
"Understood."
"You may begin identifying the killer,"
the Youth said.
"I identify her as the killer!"
Without hesitation, Yan Jing pointed at the two-headed woman opposite him.
The accused woman wore a panicked expression.
"No, it's not me."
Her voice trembled, her face was pale, and both pairs of eyes were filled with absolute innocence.
It was as if all her years of effort had gone into perfecting this exact performance.
Unfortunately for her, neither the Iceberg Woman nor the Youth so much as glanced her way.
They kept their eyes fixed on Yan Jing. Since he was the one making the accusation, it was up to him to present the evidence.
"Can this evidence... be verbal?"
Yan Jing looked between the two of them.
"Verbal evidence can only reach Grade D at most,"
the Youth said, his expression serious.
He had actually been startled when Yan Jing first announced he wanted to identify the killer, but now it seemed this human was likely just messing around.
Producing Grade B evidence was an incredibly difficult task.
Across from them, the two-headed woman was secretly ecstatic.
This was exactly what made those fools in the Order Management Bureau so stupid. They were completely unable to strike first and ask questions later; they had to evaluate the evidence before making an arrest, and only then could they convict.
Such a tedious procedure was the key to his repeated escapes.
"If I took a photo of this woman changing her appearance, what grade of evidence would that be?"
Yan Jing asked.
"Grade S."
The Youth replied instantly.
"But photos can be faked. Even then it's Grade S?"
Yan Jing sounded puzzled.
"We evaluate the evidence. Forged evidence cannot be graded."
"As long as you provide evidence of Grade B or higher, we will take the suspect into custody for further verification. Do you have a photo?"
the Youth asked.
Yan Jing shook his head.
"No photo."
The Youth remained expressionless.
"Then please submit your evidence quickly!"
Across from them, the Disguiser was laughing like a maniac internally.
All electronic devices in Old Sin City were heavily restricted. He had actually worried for a second that Yan Jing might pull out a photo—what a pointless fear.
"I don't have a photo, but I do have this."
Unexpectedly, Yan Jing pulled out a voice recorder and pressed the power button.
With a soft beep, the Disguiser's earlier furious roars played from the recorder:
"Five minutes. By the time those stupid fools arrive, you'll be a pile of meat. Don't worry, I'll take your shape and submit the clues to them myself."
"I was getting sick of playing that woman anyway. I really should thank you!"
"Die, die, die!"
The two-headed woman's expression instantly froze, as if she had been plunged into an ice cellar.
Beep—"Playback complete. Thank you for using the Chen Nian Brand Voice Recorder, the exclusive voice recorder for scheming bastards. It just works."
Chen Nian's deadpan voice echoed from the recorder. It was hard to imagine what state of mind he had been in to record such a line, given his normally steady demeanor.
At this, even the Iceberg Woman, whose expression had remained completely unchanging until now, gave the recorder in Yan Jing's hand a rather strange look.
Yan Jing smiled.
"I got lucky."
"If the evidence proves authentic, we will take the accused back for further investigation."
The Youth took the recorder with a solemn expression, preparing to verify its authenticity.
From the side, Yan Jing added,
"When you investigate further, all you need to do is ask her to speak loudly—"
Before Yan Jing could even finish, the Disguiser suddenly spun around, revealing his true form, and fled desperately toward the alley exit.
He understood the Order Management Bureau's procedures well enough to know that once the evidence was verified and he was taken away, he was a dead man. So, he took a desperate final gamble.
As long as he could escape the alley and grab some random person to kill, he still had a chance to turn things around.
Almost there. He was almost there.
His heart was filled with absolute terror.
This narrow alley felt just like the one where he had killed the Cameraman a few days ago. Back then, he had wished the Cameraman would move a little slower, but now, he only wished he himself could move faster.
He normally could have used his speed-boosting ability to escape, but he had been wounded by those damn bastards this morning. Because of that, he could only pray his legs had enough strength to carry him to freedom.
But just as he was about to reach the alley exit—and the hope it represented—a pitch-black blade materialized before his eyes.
He looked up, trembling. The woman's face was as cold as frost, making the blade formed from her right hand gleam with an even more chilling light.
In the next second, the pitch-black blade pierced straight into his tumor-covered abdomen. The massive impact pinned the terrified Disguiser directly to the wall. Black blood sprayed out, splashing across the blade-wielding woman's face.
With a fierce fling, she hoisted the Disguiser's massive body over her shoulder. Blood dripped onto the ground with her every step, making her look like an ancient female general returning triumphantly from battle with her spoils impaled on her blade.
"Did you see how she caught up to him just now?"
Yan Jing asked in a low voice, pocketing the voice recorder the Youth had handed back.
"That was the Third Form of the Body-Refining Leg Technique—"
the Youth answered quietly, but immediately cut himself off.
The woman was tilting her head toward him, and he didn't want to spend another few months with his remaining left arm broken.
But the woman wasn't looking at him. Instead, she looked at Yan Jing.
"You're not bad."
"According to the rules, the prizes for the top three places are now all yours."