The slice at Brother Yong’s neck appeared uneven as if his head had been ripped off his body violently when he was still alive.
His eyes were as wide as golf balls. It seemed like he had witnessed something terrifying as the expression on his face was vivid and filled with horror despite him already being dead.
Even Fang Yue felt disgusted by the gory scene, let alone Shi Wuliao.
‘F**k! Must it be so real? A human head is freaking scary!’
Niu Niu and the others were stunned for quite a while before they mustered enough courage to walk up for a closer look.
Fang Yue also went up to inspect the head. He then saw Brother Yong’s torso, arms, and legs scattered on the path ahead. There was also an unlit torch beside the arms.
The limbs were scattered quite far from each other as if Brother Yong’s body had fallen apart piece by piece as he ran. The way that the body fell apart was unusual too.
Usually, when one’s arm was ripped off violently from the body, a part of the bones would be ripped out together and the point of ripping would be jagged. However, Brother Yong’s arms and legs did not show any signs of such force.
Brother Yong’s arms and legs had come apart cleanly as if they were Jenga blocks that had fallen apart with the slightest push. Only the neck showed signs of violent force.
Fang Yue quietly picked up the unlit torch. He ignited it and walked further to investigate more.
A pungent bloody smell gushed into his nose, causing him to frown. He raised the torch forward, and what he saw terrified him.
In front of him was a pile of human parts. Limbs were piled up like a small garbage hill while blood flowed around it like a river.
Fang Yue’s heart sank. He took a closer look at the pile of body parts and recognized them as Brother Yong’s team.
“This is surely a Wicked’s deed,” Fang Yue said.
He lifted the Human Soul Fire Torch high up, attempting to shed light over the area as much as possible. He was nervous as much as he was cautious.
“It might still be close. We just ran into Brother Yong’s team 2 hours ago. There’s a high chance that it is still lurking around.”
The others were petrified when they heard Fang Yue’s hypothesis. They gulped nervously one after another.
“Brother Night, should we go back?” Shi Wuliao asked carefully, but all he got was a glare from Fang Yue.
“What are you thinking? This is the patrol team’s job, yet you are trying to run away when you encounter a problem? If you run, we will all be expelled from the village tomorrow based on the rules!”
There was one thing that Fang Yue had skipped out on explaining. If they ran and caused any kind of commotion, the Wicked might discover them and kill them all.
With that in mind, he extinguished the Human Soul Fire Torch and told Niu Niu to do the same. He then told everyone to gather around him.
“T-then, what should we do?”
According to the rules of the village patrol, they could not flee. The only thing they could do was call for support and fight the Wicked. This would be precisely the reason why the village patrol enjoyed such immense benefits. They were equipped with the best gears and were worthy of the Lifespan.
The village patrol was responsible for the safety of the entire village, but it seemed like Shi Wuliao and the players did not share the same thought.
To them, the life and death of the villagers had nothing to do with them. They would rather sacrifice the villagers than die themselves. The honor and glory of the patrol team was just some silly propaganda from the higher-ups; their own lives were more important.
If they really died, their characters would be dead for good and the efforts that they put into the game would go down the drain.
However, if they disregarded the rules of the village patrol, they would be expelled into the wild and would have to rely on themselves.
There was no central core, no patrols, and no roof above their heads in the wild.
Given the rain, the night, and the most dangerous element, the Wickeds, any single factor would be more than enough to kill them.
On top of that, they had to deal with hunger, cold, and other problems that followed.
Even Fang Yue might die if he spent a night in the wild. He had no way around [Cold Night’s Corruption].
While everyone was at a loss about what to do, Niu Niu took a big step forward and said loudly, “What are you guys afraid of? It’s just a Wicked! We are players. Wickeds are monsters. We kill the Wicked and get ourselves some Lifespan! I heard killing Wickeds will reward us with a considerable amount of Lifespan! Don’t you guys want to make a quick buck?”
His words captured the others’ attention, but all of them shook their heads repeatedly.
He sounded tempting and inspiring, but now that even Brother Yong was killed, they did not want to follow in his footsteps.
None of them had learned any martial arts by now. Only Niu Niu had received some training from the coach and started the game with superstrength, hence he was more capable of fighting compared to the rest.
Besides, Niu Niu seemed to have a certain channel to find out how strong Brother Yong was. He seemed to believe he was stronger than Brother Yong, hence the confidence.
“Let’s put the idea of killing the Wicked aside for now. We have to find out what happened first—that’s the rule. Besides, we still have to request for backup.”
Fang Yue’s words sparked hope in Shi Wuliao and the others. If they could leave the place, they would be more than happy to be an errand boy!
Shi Wuliao was the first one to raise his hand. “Brother Night! I will call for support!”
The others glared at Shi Wuliao because they wanted to run back.
Fang Yue tried to calm everyone down.
“I have two ways of getting help. The first one would be Captain Chen Mu. We can go to his house since it’s near. It will only take, more or less, ten minutes to reach there. Chen Mu is the general captain of the Guyue village guards, and he is strong.
“When we passed by the Chen residence earlier, I noticed that it was quiet inside. So, I assume he must be resting inside at this time.
“The second way would be asking for another patrol team’s support. Supposedly, we are the closest team to Brother Yong’s team, but now, I estimate we have to run at least half an hour just to get to the other team in the area.
“Theoretically speaking, we just have to choose one of the two options, but we must be careful, so we should take both into consideration. Given that we should try both methods, which one are you going to go for?”
Actually, Fang Yue was trying to test both options. He wanted to know if the Wicked would attack them should any of them run to get help and cause a little commotion.
It was the best way to find out whether the Wicked was still in the area, even though the odds were slim and it would put his teammates at risk.
Shi Wuliao was not much of a thinker. He blinked for a while and raised his hand. “I will go to the Chen residence to ask for Captain Chen’s help!”
“Okay, do you know the way?”
“Yes!”
The group had completed their patrol route at least once, and when they passed by Chen Mu’s house, Fang Yue had pointed it out to Shi Wuliao and the others before.
“Great. Go on then.”
Shi Wuliao was surprised. “Huh? Just like that? I don’t have a torch.”
“The Chen residence is near. Even with the torch that I just picked up, there are only two torches. I can’t give it to you, so you will have to make it there through the dark. If you want to go further away and look for the other patrol team, I can give you a torch.”
The others noticed the hesitance in Shi Wuliao. They were moved and wanted to make a suggestion, but Shi Wuliao beat them to it.
“Okay, I’ll go to the Chen residence. Wait for me, Brother Night!”
Shi Wuliao clenched his teeth and ran towards the direction of the Chen Residence. He soon ran out of sight and disappeared into the dark.
Fang Yue stared in the direction that Shi Wuliao ran toward. He waited for a while but did not hear screams or whatsoever, which calmed him down.
“Well, it seems like there’s no Wicked in that direction, but it’s only been a short while, thus that cannot be used as solid evidence.”
Fang Yue had to be careful because there was a high chance that the Wicked might be near.
While the others had no idea how scary a Wicked was, he was lucky enough to have escaped the terrifying Wicked once.
He then looked at Niu Niu and the remaining four.
“As for the other direction, who’s going for that?”