A soft whoosh of air followed the players as they emerged from their respective rooms. They found themselves in a living room, its features obscured by the dim, flickering light of a few candles on a table.

In the orange glow, the shadows on the ceiling danced. Three bloody figures hung from the rafters, their faces frozen in ghastly smiles that looked ferocious and terrifying in the wavering light.

All the windows and the main door were shut tight, yet a chill ran down everyone’s spines, as if a sinister wind had just swept through the room.

Are they human or ghosts?

Have they been watching us this whole time?

The feeling of being stared at by those things made everyone intensely uncomfortable. Yun Ze took two quiet steps back, trying to put some distance between himself and the scene.

He ended up stepping right on Wu Wang’s foot.

“Seriously, buddy? Aren’t you backing up a little too far?” he couldn’t help but curse as he turned around.

He saw Wu Wang, who had just been pointing at the ceiling, had already retreated a full two meters. His back was pressed against the wall with no more room to move.

“How can you call this backing up?” Wu Wang frowned. “I’m strategically placing you between me and them for protection.”

The others were speechless.

In reality, Wu Wang wasn’t just trying to escape. He was heading to the corner to grab a chair.

Then, right in front of everyone, he began moving the table and stacking the chair on top of it.

Tangqian Yan seemed to figure out his intentions.

“You want to get them down?” she asked, trying to stop him. “What if they’re ghosts?”

“Do you know what I do in real life?” Wu Wang suddenly changed the subject.

She shook her head.

Wu Wang continued, “I’m a forensic examiner. I can make corpses speak. If you don’t believe me, ask our brother 【Yun Ze】 over there. He knows.”

Yun Ze felt all eyes on him.

“?”

Frustration was written all over his face.

I know my ass!

How would I know if you’re a forensic examiner? And what could you possibly make a corpse say?

You said I was a corpse before, and of course I can talk! I’m not dead!

“Huh? Wait, you mean…”

Yun Ze finally got it.

Those three people hanging from the ceiling, their skin flayed… they weren’t dead?

Wu Wang was already on the chair, tiptoeing to pull out the long nails pinning the bloody figures to the wood.

“The cause of death for most corpses that pass through my hands is found very quickly,” he said. “They’re all surprisingly similar.”

“What is it?” Tangqian Yan asked, then immediately regretted it.

A second later, Wu Wang smiled.

“They died from dissection.”

Thump.

He pulled the last nail, and the three bodies were freed. Gravity did its work, and they plummeted from the ceiling.

Frowning, Yun Ze and the Poet of the Myriad Springs Division stepped forward to catch them, preventing them from being killed by the fall.

There was hardly a patch of normal skin on their bodies. Every place they touched was sticky with blood and slick muscle tissue. One person’s arm even had stark white bone showing through.

Their chests rose and fell with slow, shallow breaths. The sight of their torn flesh was enough to make the three female players feel nauseous.

“This… Are they still conscious?”

“Who tortured you like this?”

“Was it the Fierce Ghosts in the rooms? Can they come out?”

Faced with these questions, the three bloody figures said nothing. They merely stared silently at the players.

The shortest and smallest one made a faint, “huh, huh, huh” sound, like a flute with a hole in it leaking air.

Only then did everyone notice the gruesome scar on his throat. It seemed his vocal cords had been severely damaged.

All three of them had similar wounds. This discovery made everyone’s brow furrow tightly.

They couldn’t speak. Communication was going to be difficult.

Suddenly, a deep, muffled voice emanated from the tall, male victim.

“There is only one truth! Outlanders, have you also come to seek Suffering?”

All the players, except for Yun Ze, shot the man an astonished look.

This guy can talk?

But his mouth didn’t move!

And why does he have such a strange, theatrical accent?

As for why Yun Ze wasn’t surprised? He was standing off to the side with a complicated expression, watching Wu Wang climb down from the chair and squat behind the tall, bloody figure.

The one speaking was this bastard all along!

So this is what you meant by making corpses talk? You just role-play them yourself!

“I know you’re anxious, but don’t be,” Wu Wang said, stepping forward when he noticed he’d been found out. “What I just said were this person’s true thoughts. Believe it or not, it’s up to you.”

The other players were skeptical.

Come on, buddy. If this were any other Instance, we might have been fooled.

But have you forgotten? None of us can use items, equipment, or skills!

What kind of mind-reading ability are you supposed to have?

Ignoring their disbelief, Wu Wang continued in the strange, muffled voice.

“This town is now called Aiguyi. If you wish to receive a miracle in the town, you must first go to the church to worship the supreme Him.”

“Praise the Suffering.”

Listening to the voice coming from Wu Wang, the crowd’s expressions grew even stranger. The guy’s mouth wasn’t moving at all.

“You know ventriloquism?” Jinxiu asked with a puzzled look.

She knew a little ventriloquism herself, but she couldn’t perform it so flawlessly. It truly sounded like another person’s voice was speaking from within Wu Wang’s body.

Wu Wang didn’t answer directly. He just stared silently at the three bloody figures.

To be precise, he stared at the space above their heads.

【The Church of Suffering is the most sacred place in Aiguyi Town】

【Why interrupt our offering to Suffering? O Lord! This was not our intention】

【Pain… So much pain…】

Another Viego, Wu Wang thought to himself.

The Abyss God’s Mark was working again. The Instance restricted everything about the players, but it seemed there was no way to restrict his cheats… ahem, to restrict the fruits of his effort and sweat.

Just like in the 【Masquerade Ball】, Wu Wang was able to see special information as soon as he entered the Instance. It wasn’t even limited to the NPCs’ inner thoughts.

Back in the basement, Wu Wang had seen the words 【There’s something in here】 appear on the radio. That was why he had gone up and dismantled it.

He just hadn’t expected the thing inside to be a Fierce Ghost.

Damn you, Abyss God! You did that on purpose!

That’s like putting a big red button somewhere with a sign that says 【Do Not Press】.

Who could possibly resist that?

“Are you really not joking?” Poet Mei Yige asked, a little uncertain.

Wu Wang shrugged.

“I told you I can make corpses speak. This isn’t a skill, it’s a gift.”

With that, he walked towards the main door and peered through the small window on it. The time in the Instance seemed to be the middle of the night. The darkness outside was deep and unsettling.

He turned back to the bloody figures.

“Where is the Church of Suffering?”

A moment later, Wu Wang spoke again with his ventriloquism.

“Exit, turn left, and go two hundred meters. After you reach 【Dedication Square】, follow the main road. The church is at the end.”

At this point, the group was basically convinced. There was no reason to lie about something they could verify just by stepping outside.

Just as the others turned to leave, Wu Wang cut in.

“I’d suggest you nail the three of them back up first.”

“Why?”

Wu Wang didn’t answer. He just silently looked at the words floating above the three figures’ heads.

【If there is no Suffering, then you shall offer Suffering in our place】

It was clearly an instant-death trap. If they left without nailing the victims back up, the six of them would probably be the next ones hanging from the ceiling.

This Relic Scramble was every bit as dangerous as a Nightmare-level Instance.