Killing Their Own

"I told him to go fetch water — he should have gone to the pond not far from here," Bai Tingting said, her cheeks still flushed.

"All right, I'll go check it out. Keep your Mental Intent focused and guard your mind — whatever that thing is, it bewitches people without a sound, and it seems to amplify emotions," Mo Fan said.

"Okay. Okay." Bai Tingting nodded.

Mo Fan exchanged a brief word with Mu Ningxue. Since there was no way to know yet how many people had fallen under the influence, he said nothing to reveal what was happening.

The Focus Pendant could, at best, protect Mo Fan's own mind. Helping Bai Tingting come to her senses had been possible mainly because her "poisoning" hadn't run too deep. Liao Mingxuan and Mingcong, on the other hand — those two were probably too far gone to be woken up. Better to keep them tied up.

Mo Fan pretended he was heading out on patrol, then set off to find the pond Bai Tingting had described.

The first to act out had been Mingcong, and aside from fetching water, Mingcong had never left the church — the source of all the trouble had to be that pond.

All of Desolate City had sunk into the terrifying stillness of midnight. Distant cries — barely there, yet impossible to ignore — kept setting nerves on edge, with no way of knowing what monsters prowled these hours in search of prey.

The starlight was cold and bleak, etching the city's ragged silhouette against the dark. Mo Fan had nerves of steel — most people would never have dared venture out from the relative safety of the church at this hour.

The Shadow Element had granted him a degree of night vision, and he quickly located the pond where Mingcong had drawn water.

Rather than approaching directly, Mo Fan scouted the surrounding area first.

He had barely reached a low-lying marshy patch when a pile of bleached bones appeared at his feet — so jumbled it was impossible to tell what creatures they had once belonged to.

Bones were bones — Mo Fan had seen plenty — but when he parted the weeds ahead, he froze. Stretching before him were bones, layer upon layer of them...

The pale mass extended nearly fifty meters from where he stood. The terrain dipped slightly in just the right way, forming what was unmistakably a pit filled with accumulated remains.

The starlight was merciless, the sight so overwhelming he couldn't begin to count the bones. The real question was why — this stretch of ground looked utterly harmless on the surface. What had left all these bones here?

Mo Fan pressed on, and unluckily, right at the edge of the bone-strewn undergrowth, several creatures were locked in combat — tearing savagely at one another's bodies.

He edged closer. One-Eyed Demon Wolves.

For reasons he couldn't fathom, the wolves seemed consumed by a boundless hatred for one another. Every bite aimed for the throat, blood soaking the dark ground in vivid, unmistakable red.

"Strange — One-Eyed Demon Wolves are pack creatures. There's no reason for them to be tearing each other apart like this," Mo Fan murmured from his hiding spot, watching their frenzied behavior.

After some time, several of the wolves had been killed by their own packmates. The last survivor finally collapsed into the grass, its body riddled with wounds. The green stalks had turned red with blood, and the smell of death hung thick in the air.

Mo Fan's mind churned with questions. He cast another glance at the pond not far away — the one that felt so deeply, inexplicably wrong.

*No good. This place is too dangerous. We have to get everyone out.*

The bones blanketing the ground, the Demon Wolves slaughtering each other — something here had to be exerting some kind of demonic influence over the minds of living creatures.

Mo Fan didn't dare venture any deeper. Who knew what level of creature lurked in that pond? Whatever had accumulated so many bones was anything but benign.

He turned and started back toward the church — then stopped dead. A powerful surge of magical energy was rippling from inside.

Firelight!

A massive wall of firelight!!

When he arrived, the sight that greeted him was a blinding sea of red.

The church that had been quiet and still just minutes ago was now engulfed in flames. Several figures were scattered around it — Star Trails slicing through the air, Star Charts taking shape...

Mo Fan stood frozen. He had no idea what had happened in the short time he'd been gone.

He didn't hesitate for a second. His body dissolved into a mass of dark shadow and surged through the darkness, moving swiftly toward the church.

The church was burning, its flames lighting up everything around it.

Mo Fan arrived to find Bai Tingting and Peng Liang supporting a badly weakened Song Xia, all three of them looking like survivors of a disaster.

On the other side of the church, Mu Nujiao and Luo Song were locked in all-out combat, both of them unleashing mid-tier magic — neither giving the other the slightest quarter.

*Why is Mu Nujiao fighting Luo Song? Don't tell me he tried to grope her too.*

*If he did, that's absolutely unforgivable.*

"You fat bastard — you dare lay a hand on my Nujiao?!" Mo Fan erupted, flames already dancing in his palms. "I'll end you!"

"What the hell?! She attacked me first!" Luo Song shouted, clearly terrified. "Mo Fan, don't you dare turn on me after everything I've done for you!"

Luo Song was already no match for Mu Nujiao as it was — he'd already burned through his Enchanted Gear. If Mo Fan joined in, he was actually going to die here. What was wrong with everyone? They'd all lost their minds, turning on their own people and going straight for the kill!

Mo Fan looked more carefully, and that was when he noticed it — a faint streak of livid red between Mu Nujiao's brows, as though it had seeped up through the veins beneath the skin. It gave her — usually so composed and dignified — a strangely dangerous edge... and an undeniably striking one at that.

*Mu Nujiao's been hit too.* Ice shot down his spine. *Before, it was just amplifying emotions — now they're going straight for the kill. Just like those One-Eyed Demon Wolves...*

*I can't go after Mu Nujiao. If she gets hurt, I'm the one who'll suffer for it.*

"Fatty, just hang in there," Mo Fan called to Luo Song. "Don't try to restrain her, but don't hurt her either. I'll track down whatever's behind all this as fast as I can."

Luo Song was on the verge of tears. *Don't hurt her? The one about to get crippled here is me!*

Mo Fan's silhouette vanished, and he drifted, unseen and unheard, to the far side of the church.

He quickly spotted Zhao Manyan and Zheng Bingxiao being surrounded by three attackers: Shen Mingxiao, Jingjing, and Zhao Mingyue.

Beside Zheng Bingxiao towered a staggering rock giant, its body easily three stories tall, its power immense — a single punch sent waves of earth surging more than ten meters into the air.

*Zheng Bingxiao, of all people.* He'd been hiding his true hand — he already had a Battle-General-class Contract Beast.

The Magma Titan swung its powerful arms to block Zhao Mingyue's mid-tier Fire Element magic. The enormous force of a Blazing Fist crashed into its body, and the titan merely staggered back a single step before absorbing the blow completely.

*Formidable creature,* Mo Fan thought.

"Mo Fan — don't you dare tell me you've lost your mind too!!" Zhao Manyan bellowed in his direction.

"I'm fine," Mo Fan called back quickly. "Not affected."

Both Zhao Manyan and Zheng Bingxiao let out long, audible breaths of relief.

If Mo Fan had turned against them, it would have taken three or four people just to hold him down — the Dual Spirit Seeds of lightning and fire were nothing to laugh at.

"Then figure out a way to snap them out of it — fast!" Zhao Manyan shouted. "Because at this rate, either we kill them or they kill us!"