Chapter 39: Invisible Footsteps

Su Weiyu paused for a moment and shrugged indifferently. "Zero temptation whatsoever."

Liu Guangyao, on the other hand, wore an expression of intense internal conflict. It was clear that he was greatly tempted by the offer.

And it was hardly surprising. Xia Shou could easily imagine what Idrisu had promised him. For an ordinary person like him, refusing such an offer was truly difficult.

At that moment, Wang Long suddenly reached out and heavily slapped Liu Guangyao on the shoulder, roaring in a low, furious voice:

"You ended up like this because of the Blood God! This Idrisu is undeniably tied to the Blood God. He's giving back what rightfully belongs to you, and in exchange, you're going to kill for him? Do you want everyone else to end up like you right now?!"

Struck by this sudden awakening, the light that had just flickered in Liu Guangyao's eyes instantly dimmed, and he let out a sigh.

"Damn it... whatever, I'm already ruined anyway,呵呵, forget it." Liu Guangyao stared at his rotting arm, his voice trembling as tears welled up and streamed down his face.

"There has to be another way to fix your arm! Besides, we still have a chance. As long as we can stop Idrisu from continuing his treatments, we can get out of here! Moreover, someone has already pointed the way for us."

Xia Shou raised his head and looked at the phantom girl standing before them.

The hazy girl slowly raised her hand, pointing straight ahead toward a specific building.

Then, the ghost girl instantly teleported to a location further ahead, guiding them along a safe route. Xia Shou and the others crouched low behind the garden hedges, slowly creeping forward, while Su Weiyu openly scouted the surrounding area to prevent any chance encounters with patrolling doctors.

At a time like this, Xia Shou could not help but marvel once again at the sheer utility of Su Weiyu's superpower. Especially with the opposing faction consisting entirely of humans, having her around was practically equivalent to having a full map reveal!

Finally, they managed to enter the building.

"I... I think I've been here before," Liu Guangyao said, his eyes scanning the empty, echoing lobby with a hint of terror.

"What else do you remember?" Xia Shou asked urgently.

Right now, any scrap of intelligence Liu Guangyao could recall would be a tremendous help.

"I know this place! When I was walking through here in my dream, I always felt like someone was following right behind me. There was this constant pattering sound of footsteps. Whenever I walked, those footsteps would echo behind me, and whenever I stopped, the footsteps would stop too."

"Were you ever killed?"

"No. Although there were weird footsteps, nothing ever happened. I just kept walking toward the upper floors. I remember that just past a corner ahead was the staircase, but the stairs ended abruptly at the second floor—you could only enter the rooms on the second floor. Once you went inside, the door behind you would lock. The second-floor rooms were pitch black, completely devoid of windows or any light at all."

Liu Guangyao recounted his entire experience.

Xia Shou noticed a massive set of doors in the vast lobby. On the doors were five keyholes, each surmounted by a distinct symbol: a pair of eyes, a pair of hands, a pair of feet, a pair of ears, and a heart.

"Do you remember anything about that door?" Xia Shou asked.

Liu Guangyao shook his head. "It's always been there, but without the keys, there's no way to open it."

Xia Shou nodded.

There was little doubt about it—Idrisu was most likely behind that door. However, gaining entry would undoubtedly require collecting five keys.

Those five keys were likely in the possession of the five formal doctors mentioned in the diary, each responsible for treating the eyes, the ears, the limbs, and the heart respectively.

"Ah, I remember now! That person mentioned this place to me before! He said he once made it all the way to the very top floor, but there actually is no top floor, it's just—" Before Liu Guangyao could finish his sentence, a thin line of blood suddenly tore across his throat.

Blood spurted from his carotid artery, splashing directly onto Xia Shou's face and hair.

Liu Guangyao raised his only functional hand, desperately clutching the wound on his neck as his body went limp and he collapsed to the ground.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He could only stare at Xia Shou with desperate, pleading eyes.

"It's okay! I can save you!"

Xia Shou hurriedly squatted down, deploying Blood Riot on Liu Guangyao to prevent his blood from escaping his body.

Blood Riot was Xia Shou's only cost-free ability, with the sole risk being that frequent mastery would eventually draw the attention of "Him."

Yet for now, Xia Shou could still use the skill without restraint.

The blood jetting from the wound had not even hit the floor when it was reined in by a mysterious force, forcibly pulled back into the severed ends of his neck vessels to maintain normal blood circulation.

Aside from the blood spraying outward, the blood surging inward toward his throat also had to be strictly controlled, demanding the absolute, undivided focus of Xia Shou's mind.

Yet as long as he concentrated fully, he could pull it off!

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps approaching from the empty space nearby!

He decisively let out Liu Guangyao from his embrace and leaped to the side. While putting distance between them, he maintained the normal blood flow in Liu Guangyao's body through sheer will and Blood Riot. Though mentally draining, he was barely managing it.

"Is it right in front of you?" Su Weiyu drew her odachi and slashed into the space ahead of Xia Shou, but hit nothing.

Then, Liu Guangyao on the ground suddenly stopped struggling, his hand dropping limply away from his neck. A finger-sized wound had inexplicably appeared on his temple, from which blood mixed with white, viscous fluid was welling out.

"Damn it!" Xia Shou cursed angrily.

The attacker's previous move had been a feint; their true target was to assassinate Liu Guangyao!

The footsteps Liu Guangyao used to hear in his dreams were actually an invisible, transparent entity tailing him all along!

"Damn you, I'll carve you up!" Xia Shou made a grabbing motion toward the direction of Liu Guangyao. The pool of blood beneath him, along with the warm blood remaining in his corpse, was extracted remotely by Xia Shou.

The blood coalesced into a sphere of crimson in the palm of his hand.

He stretched the blood into a thin membrane and hurled it out in a 360-degree sweep!

The vast majority of the blood scattered onto the ground after traveling a short distance, laying down a thin red film across the floor. However, in a specific direction ahead of Xia Shou, that patch of blood vanished into thin air!

Without a word passing between them, Su Weiyu grasped Xia Shou's strategy and immediately sprang into action.

She rushed forward, swinging her blade toward the exact spot where the blood had disappeared—that was the location of the invisible entity!

Yet her single strike met empty air once again. Following that, footprints materialized on the blood film on the ground, moving away toward Su Weiyu as if attempting to flee into an unspotted clearing.

"Can you see me?!"

Shocked, Su Weiyu gave chase relentlessly. Wielding her massive odachi single-handedly, she delivered three consecutive, wide-range diagonal slashes from different angles at an unbelievable speed, her blade nearly turning into a blur of afterimages!

The next instant, a massive torrent of blood gushed out from the transparent air. Then, a human silhouette slowly shifted from invisible to semi-transparent before collapsing onto the ground with a dull thud.

"Got 'em."

Su Weiyu let out a breath, inwardly marveling that she had fortunately unleashed the power of [Kogarasumaru], otherwise the fight might have dragged on. With the enemy capable of perceiving her position, that would have been exceptionally disadvantageous.

In the blink of an eye, the battle was over. Before the fallen enemy's body even hit the ground, it dissolved into black ash mid-air, leaving behind a single key that dropped from the embers.

Xia Shou stepped forward, intending to pick up the key, but his field of vision rapidly darkened.

Within mere seconds, his entire view collapsed into pitch blackness, rendering him as good as blind.

"Xia Shou, why did it suddenly go pitch black?!" Wang Long's panicked voice rang out beside his ear.

It seemed he was not the only one who had lost his sight.