Stranger Danger

Ye Qing followed the voice. He saw a man wearing a black robe and a mask standing on his feet. He was staring at Xi Duoduo—or more accurately, the hand beside him.

The mask was stopping him from getting a good look at the man’s expression, but he could still see the madness and infatuation swirling inside his bloodshot eyes.

“Hmm? Do you know where this hand came from, customer?” Xi Duoduo asked immediately.

“She’s still alive. She’s not dead, she’s not dead…”

The man didn’t seem to notice his question. He simply stared fixatedly at the hand and repeated his own words.

“We can give you the hand for free if you know about its origin, customer!” Xi Duoduo said.

“Give it to me?” The man trembled once, and the madness in his eyes suddenly swelled. “She is mine to begin with! Mine!”

The man actually left his seat and started walking unsteadily toward the stage.

“Calm down, customer.”

Xi Duoduo frowned deeply when he saw this. “We are willing to give you the hand for free if you know about its origin, but if you don’t, then please remain at your seat and don’t disrupt the auction.”

“Oh. Right. Yes, I know about her. I know who she is. She is still alive,” the man answered somewhat incoherently while still walking toward the stage.

“You don’t need to come forth to speak, customer. Stay where you are,” Xi Duoduo said warily.

“No. No. I will tell you and only you her secret. She is still alive. I know where she is right now,” the man answered. His tone had suddenly become much lower, and he seemed to be holding back some sort of eagerness and fervor.

Xi Duoduo hesitated for a brief moment. That was enough time for the man to reach the stage.

“Stop him! He’s been infected by the hand!”

Suddenly, Ye Qing turned as pale as a ghost. He knew that something was wrong with the man from the start, but the cloak and the mask he was wearing had prevented him from scanning his spirit and thoughts. It was why he hadn’t yelled out in warning immediately. But when the man got close to the stage, a presence that felt exactly identical to the hand on the stage suddenly washed out of his body. Such was its power that not even his cloak and mask could mask it.

What really scared Ye Qing was the fact that he saw the hand curling its index finger after the man got close to the stage. Every hair on his skin had stood up at that moment.

Thanks to Ye Qing’s warning, Xi Duoduo realized that something was amiss and moved to block the man. At the same time, the man sped up and raced toward the container holding the hand.

A bit of steel entered Xi Duoduo’s eyes. As he curled his fingers, the azure dragon on his arm roared and swam around him, causing a terrifying pressure to wash over the entire Popularity Tower. Then, he launched forward and grabbed the man by the arm.

However, the man stunned Xi Duoduo by ripping off his own arm, leaving the Hill Carrier with nothing but a useless stump. While this happened, he threw himself forward and caught the container with his remaining arm.

“Do you know what you’re doing?! Let go of the hand, now!”

Xi Duoduo was furious. His anger took on tangible form as a stream of pure power washed out of him and suppressed most of the people inside the Popularity Tower.

As if resonating with Xi Duoduo’s fury, the restrictions and arrays of the Hill of Services itself activated and flooded toward the man from every direction.

Xi Duoduo was a Half-Step Grandmaster to begin with, but inside the Hill of Services, he was as strong as a Grandmaster.

Naturally, the man couldn’t withstand the pressure. His bones began popping like peas, and blood began pouring out of his eyes, nose and mouth furiously. It dripped down his mask and dirtied his clothes.

It was said that a Grandmaster’s fury was like a mountain on one’s back. If an ordinary person was struck by its force, they would shatter like a paper that was struck by a tsunami.

At the Grandmaster stage, a warrior had become one with the world around them. As their qi, essence, spirit, power, qi and intent had become one with nature, they could borrow strength from nature itself. For example, they could imbue a single wisp of energy or pressure with the weight of mountains. They could also condense their aura into an unstoppable flood and crush their enemies with pure pressure alone.

In this case, it was clear that Xi Duoduo’s pressure had broke the man’s bones, shattered his blood vessels, and reversed the flow of his vigor.

Despite this, the man couldn’t seem to feel the agony that should be coursing through his veins. He simply clutched the container tightly and caressed it like it was the love of his life. While wearing an infatuated, gentle, and adoring smile on his face, he said,

“I’m here…”

“I’ll never leave you again…”

“No one can separate us any longer…”

The man murmured before tightening his grip. Cracks began spreading all across the container, and the liquid inside it began seeping out earnestly.

“Are you mad?!”

Xi Duoduo turned as pale as a sheet when he saw this. Knowing that he only had seconds left at most, he rushed forward to stop the man with all his might.

He knew better than everyone here just how powerful the hand was. If the container was destroyed, and the liquid suppressing its power was gone, then the hand would be able to unleash its full power and inflict unimaginable consequences.

“Hahahaha! No one can separate us! No one!”

The man suddenly looked up and stared at Xi Duoduo. First, he removed his mask and laughed like a madman. Then, he tightened his grip again and finally crushed the container with a loud crack.

As the suppressive liquid drained away into nothing, an anomalous power washed out of the hand and struck Xi Duoduo head on. His expression flitted between struggle and infatuation for a moment, but he ultimately lost the mental battle and just stared at the hand lovingly.

It wasn’t just Xi Duoduo. Besides a handful of people, everyone in the entire Hill of Services instantly lost their minds and stared at the hand’s direction with infatuated expressions as well. They all began walking toward the Popularity Tower.

Ye Qing was one of the powerful few who was still conscious, albeit just barely. He had anticipated this from the start, and his Heavenly Demon Yin God was resistant toward this type of influence to a certain extent. That was why he was still conscious.

Defeated was conscious as well. He was currently surrounded by a cyclone of mysterious energy. Knowing the warrior’s reputation, Ye Qing wasn’t surprised by this. However, there were two other people who were able to maintain their consciousness despite the hand.

He couldn’t identify their faces since they were wearing masks. One of them had cold, green flames burning on top of their head. It was full of calamitous energy. The other person was surrounded by countless beautiful butterflies, but both the butterflies and the person were indistinct blurs almost like they were a dream.

“This seems like a good opportunity, Dream Master. Should we go now, or…?”

The black-robed person with green flames burning on top of their head glanced briefly at the bewitched crowd before whispering to their companion.

“Not yet. The Hill Carrier won’t fall this easily.”

The other person’s voice was clearly masculine, but it was crisp and melodious like he was singing. “Let’s wake up Shadow Dancer and Slaughterer first. I’ll tell you if it looks doable.”

“Okay! Hehehe, if we can get everything inside this Hill of Services… hahaha!” The person with green flames on his head—Earth Walker—let out a strange cackle and licked his lips.

Neither of them noticed that a villager A heard their hidden conversation loud and clear.