Chapter Ninety-Nine: Sinister and Strange

A heavy tread sounded from behind him, and Ye Ran saw the indistinct figures ahead all grow wary.

An especially baleful aura drifted in from the rear, making everyone present feel a chill creep over their skin.

Ye Ran turned and saw a tall man walking slowly toward them. He wore a long white coat, his face pale, his entire body seeming wrapped in a faint reek of blood.

That blood scent was thick and ghastly.

The elves’ bows were raised at once, all aimed at him, while the minotaurs and the other scattered arrivals also watched the man with caution.

Even in a place as chaotic as the Land of Evil, no one welcomed monsters and madmen from the New Species Forbidden Zone.

“Brother Ye,”

Meng Qi hurried out from the crowd, and even Labrador had no time to stop him.

He had just recognized Ye Ran; how could he stand by and let him face the danger from the east alone?

Yet Ye Ran waved him back, signaling him not to come closer.

The man in the white coat kept both hands in his pockets, while a crimson-eyed crow stood quietly on his shoulder. He stopped when he was still an arrow’s distance from Ye Ran.

A rather friendly smile appeared on his face as he looked at Ye Ran.

“Would you give those to me?”

He extended one hand from his pocket.

Ye Ran glanced at him, then at the four eyeballs in his own hand. All four seemed to be wrapped in faint crimson threads.

“Some kind of surveillance tool?” Ye Ran asked.

The man nodded.

Ye Ran flicked his wrist and tossed the four eyeballs over. The man caught them, tucked them into his pocket, thanked him, then turned and produced a bottle of white powder, scattering it over the minotaur and horse-faced beastmen.

An immediate hissing arose. White smoke billowed up, and a pungent odor entered their noses.

Then, with a soft sound, he plunged his fingers into the swamp. A sinister and formidable surge of force spread outward, and soon strange noises came from ahead. Ten meters away, blood suddenly burst upward; then an arm flew into the air... and finally a head, its face that of a frog.

He stepped forward and sprinkled the same powder over the frog-faced monster’s severed remains.

Ye Ran and the others could not help frowning. This man’s methods were truly terrifying.

When the white smoke dispersed, the man was gone as well.

Only then did the minotaurs and elves crowd around Ye Ran with a flood of questions. When they learned of Shali’s identity, their surprise was so great their jaws nearly dropped.

After a round of inquiries, Ye Ran finally learned that he and Shali had somehow gotten lost. They had come from the south and, by some winding path, ended up at the Bloodstone Monument in the east.

“Lady Divine Envoy, we actually got lost. Lost,” he said to Shali with pointed meaning.

Realizing he was mocking her, Shali snorted and turned her head away, refusing to look at him.

The matter of the New Species Forbidden Zone also made Ye Ran and Shali both alert. Two beastmen, four frog-faced monsters, and that middle-aged man of unknown identity yet terrifying strength—the whole of the New Species Forbidden Zone remained a mystery.

At the same time, they came to understand just how tangled and treacherous the Land of Evil truly was. The great races from Troll Forest, the green-masked people of Grus Fortress, the vile hunters of Hunter Pit, and powerful experts from all over the world... it was a true mixture of dragons and snakes, friend and foe impossible to distinguish.

On the way back, several figures wearing green ghost masks flashed past, and no one gave them a second thought. They were long used to such sights.

“Brother Meng, Brother Ye, I’ll see you only this far,” the minotaur chieftain said as the others had already dispersed, leaving him to escort the group personally to the inn.

He had also gained the most today. First there was his growing connection with Sinclair, whose combat strength was considerable, and Meng Qi, so adept at dealing with people. Now he had even added Ye Ran, a friend both cool-headed and formidable.

When they had stood before the Bloodstone Monument earlier, the dwarves’ faces had changed the moment they realized Ye Ran would inevitably side with the minotaurs.

After the minotaur chieftain left, the atmosphere among the remaining few turned subtle and strange.

Meng Qi truly could not understand how Ye Ran had ended up traveling with the divine envoy, and from the look of it, the two of them seemed to get along rather well.

Ye Ran gave a brief explanation, then went first to see Freya.

The little girl nearly burst into tears and threw herself at him the moment she saw him again. Since the day she had descended into the mortal world, she had never been separated from Ye Ran for so long.

But when she saw how filthy and bloodstained he was, she held herself back.

Shali, however, was visibly astonished upon seeing Freya.

“A dream made real.”

She crouched down and studied Freya carefully.

Only when she saw the little girl pinch her nose in obvious disgust did she rise with a slightly embarrassed smile. “I’ll come back after I’ve had a bath.”

Ye Ran also went to bathe, and he told Sinclair and Meng Qi about everything that had happened over the past few days. Both of them marveled at it all.

As for the divine envoy Shali, that was naturally an unexpected blessing. No one had imagined that someone they once thought they would have to guard against forever could become their friend.

“Brother Ye, you really have a way with things. Even the divine envoy has been won over by you. From now on, with us brothers in the Land of Evil, who is there left to fear?” Sinclair laughed from the bathtub.

In only a few days in the Land of Evil, he and Meng Qi had shaken off all the gloom they had carried in Storm City. From the bottom of his heart, he liked this fresh and exhilarating life.

Meng Qi smiled. “With the divine envoy’s help, we’ll naturally have twice the results for half the effort. But we can’t be careless either. The green-masked people of Grus Fortress don’t care for the divine envoy’s face, and the people of Storm City and Frostfall City only appear respectful on the surface. In the shadows, they still do whatever they please. When profits are at stake, no one will let go so easily.”

Sinclair said, “Little Meng, tell Brother Ye about your plan as well.”

“My plan?” Ye Ran, soaking in the hot water, looked at him in confusion.

Meng Qi nodded. “These past few days, Brother Xin and I, with the minotaurs’ help, carefully looked into this place, and we found that it’s far more full of surprises than we expected.”

He put on a bathrobe and walked out of the bathroom, quickly returning with a map and spreading it open.

“Brother Ye, look. This is the map of the Land of Evil. I’ve marked the forces scattered across the region and their industries. The dwarves practically control all the blacksmith shops, the hunters supply the food for the restaurants everywhere, the elves have no real industry at all and rely entirely on support from the elven kingdom’s branch in Green Demon Forest. Only the green-masked people of Grus Fortress have seized the magic crystal mines in the west.”

“Magic crystal mines?” Ye Ran’s eyes lit up at the name.

Meng Qi nodded. “Magic crystal ore is an important material for making spirit stones, and spirit stones are extremely important in the cultivation of inner force. It has to be said that the green-masked people of Grus Fortress made a steady and accurate move, but because of this crystal mine they’ve also become a target for everyone. Everyone covets them.”

“But no one has noticed that there’s another great treasure here.”

“Iron ore.”

Meng Qi pointed toward the east, where almost no faction had managed to intrude, and smiled.

“Iron ore is extremely important to both hunters and dwarves. As long as we get the iron ore, we’ll have the lifeblood of the dwarves and the hunters in our hands.”