Feng Yongrui asked the System for a set of clothes and gave them to the youth, who put it on with some difficulty. When the youth was fully clothed, Feng Yongrui told him to come along with them.
Feng Yongrui did not know how their pet dog turned into a human, but he guessed it had something to do with the array. He wanted to investigate the array further, but he was worried about the guards downstairs.
When they first entered the room, there were four children in the center of the array. Hou Renshu had carried two of them to safety, but unfortunately, two children were still trapped in the array when it was activated.
Now, those two children were nowhere to be found. Feng Yongrui could only hope nothing bad had happened to them.
Feng Yongrui first put a spell on all four of them. Then, slowly, they went downstairs. Feng Yongrui was shocked when he stepped into the third floor. There was the thick smell of blood.
Feng Yongrui almost thought he had entered the wrong floor.
"Are the children okay?" The System nervously asked.
Feng Yongrui looked at the children huddled inside the cages. They were all unharmed.
Then... where was the blood coming from?
"Master, look!" Hou Renshu pointed to the ground.
There was a pair of guards lying on the ground, drenched in blood. Their necks had been slit open, and their faces were filled with terror. They were already dead.
Feng Yongrui went around the room and saw several guards, dead as well. They had obviously died in the same manner.
"Let's check downstairs," Feng Yongrui whispered, eyeing the dog-turned-youth. The youth was not surprised or afraid at all, even after seeing such a bloody scene. Feng Yongrui raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
The four of them went downstairs to the second floor, and they were greeted with the sight of corpses and blood littering the floor. All the guards had died in the same way, and not a single one of them was spared.
Feng Yongrui finally understood why none of the guards went upstairs when Xiang Si called them. They were already dead at that time!
But... who did this? And why?
Feng Yongrui covered his nose and examined a few corpses, trying to find clues about their murderer. He didn't find anything, so he simply gave up.
"Whoever killed these guards must be very strong," Feng Yongrui said. "It would be better not to offend that person. In any case, he or she didn't harm the children, so maybe he doesn't really have malicious intent.
With all the threats gone, Feng Yongrui was relieved. He brought his disciples and the youth to the first floor and told them to wait there.
All the guards had been killed, even the ones on the first floor.
"If something happens, make sure to call me," Feng Yongrui said. "I'm going to check the other floors and get the children."
"Okay, Master." Hou Renshu and Ma Bo agreed.
Feng Yongrui went to the fifth floor. There was no one there. The fifth floor was Xiang Si's personal floor. There was a large bedroom, a huge bathroom complete with a tub, and also a study filled with books.
Feng Yongrui studied the books with interest, hoping to find any information on the array that Xiang Si was using.
"System, tell me if you find anything," Feng Yongrui said, skimming over the book titles on the shelf.
"Host, most of the books here have something to do with reviving souls..." The System said.
"Hmm..." Feng Yongrui looked back on Xiang Si's words. At that time, Feng Yongrui was furious to hear Xiang Si talk about life and death as if it was nothing, so he didn't pay attention to Xiang Si's words.
"Now that I think of it, he mentioned something about a sister, right?" Feng Yongrui muttered.
"Well, yes, it seems so," The System replied.
Feng Yongrui went back to the fourth floor and walked closer to the bed. There was a little girl lying on the blanket, her face as pale as paper.
"I didn't notice this kid before..."
"Host, that's... a corpse..." The System said.
Feng Yongrui put a finger underneath the little girl and nodded.
"You're right, she's a corpse... She must be Xiang Si's little sister. When we get out of here, we'll bring her along and bury her," Feng Yongrui decided.
The little girl was already dead. Using a forbidden technique that cost hundreds of lives... all for the sake of reviving this girl... was undeniably wrong.
"This little girl is innocent, though. The one in the wrong is Xiang Si."
Feng Yongrui took a deep breath and went to the sixth floor. The sixth floor was a terrible place -- it was the place where all the children's corpses were put. After the children's blood was drained from their body and they died, their corpses would be put in the sixth floor.
Feng Yongrui did not like this place at all. He flew past the mountain of corpses and checked the seventh floor. There was nothing there.
Feng Yongrui then began a lengthy talk with the System. He wanted to bury all the children who had died, including Xiang Si's little sister. As for the surviving children, he wanted to bring them outside and take them back home.
"But... what about the Gu worm?" Feng Yongrui asked.
The Gu worm was still planted inside the children's brains. Just like Ya'er, the children would suffer when the Gu worm wriggled inside their brain.
The Gu worm might even eat away at their life force.
"System, do you have a way to take the Gu worm out of the children?" Feng Yongrui asked.
The System was quiet for a while.
"Host... I'm not sure... I will search for a method, but it might take some time, and I might not even get results..."
"Alright, it's okay. Just go on and look for a method. If it's doable, then we can save the children from the Gu worm."
The System agreed.
Meanwhile, on the first floor, Hou Renshu and Ma Bo were busy examining the youth.
"Xiao Hei, I can't believe you turned into a human like this!" Ma Bo said, his eyes sparkling like stars.
"How does it feel to be a human?" Ma Bo asked.
"Master... Before that... Can't you please... change. my. name?" The youth said with a strained voice.
"Don't call me Master... Just call me Ma Bo..."
"Alright, Ma Bo!" The youth replied cheerfully.
"As for your name..." Ma Bo trailed off and glanced at Hou Renshu.
"Shu Ge, what do you think?"
Hou Renshu touched his chin and began to think. The youth shuddered when he remembered Hou Renshu's poor naming skills.
"Uhm, maybe we should just ask your Master to name me..." He said, his eyebrows frowning with worry.
"Well, I guess that's all right," Hou Renshu agreed. He hadn't thought of a good name anyway. They would just let their Master decide.
At the same time, Feng Yongrui returned to Xiang Si's study, trying to find clues regarding his plans. Although Xiang Si had claimed to be the mastermind behind this incident, Feng Yongrui did not believe him.
First of all, Feng Yongrui still remembered that during his rambling, Xiang Si had said something about "that person". Feng Yongrui had a feeling the mastermind was "that person", or someone related to him.
Also, Feng Yongrui didn't receive any notification regarding the completion of the side quest. The details of the side quest was to "bring Hou Renshu and Ma Bo to investigate the disappearance of the children and kill the mastermind!"
When Feng Yongrui had cornered Xiang Si, he did not hear any notification stating that he had captured the mastermind. This probably meant Xiang Si was not the real master mind.
"Host, you can just store these books inside the System, and look carefully at them again later," The System reminded him.
"That's right! I'll store these stuff inside the System Inventory," Feng Yongrui said.
The System Inventory was a function that was introduced about two years ago. At that time, Feng Yongrui had bought some items for his disciples, but he didn't want to give it to them just yet.
The System had then "generously" opened the System Inventory function, with 100 empty lots for Feng Yongrui to use.
...Of course, the System made Feng Yongrui pay first before he was allowed to use the Inventory.
The System's stingy habits were hard to change.
Feng Yongrui stored Xiang Si's books inside the Inventory and went to his disciples. They split their jobs: Hou Renshu and Ma Bo went to the third floor, where the children were held captive.
They would be in charge of comforting the children and bringing them outside. As for Feng Yongrui, he would collect the children's corpses and bury them nearby.
The youth had nothing better to do, so he simply tagged along with Hou Renshu and Ma Bo.
***
Hou Renshu: Should I give you a name?
Youth: N-no, thank you... I'll just ask Feng Yongrui to name me...
Feng Yongrui: Sure, sure~ What name do you want? Hei Hei? Hua Hua? Bai Bai?
Youth: "..." Maybe I should just name myself...
***
Who killed the guards in the pagoda? And, just who is the mastermind?
Comment below~