Don't provoke mentally ill people in the infinite flow genre!

No one will sleep tonight.

As evening approached, after a short rest in the stone house, Yi Zanglan decided to head to the northern cliff to find the stone door indicated by the blood-written clues.

This time, she brought Yan Zhao, Shen Yubai, Du Songzi, and Qin Shaoyu with her, leaving Ling Ye alone in the fishing village. This was so that if he were possessed by an evil spirit at night and the distance increased, he might not be able to lock onto them as his targets.

This certainly involves an element of gambling—gambling on the rules of the evil spirits, gambling on whether Ling Ye can catch up with them.

Moreover, Ling Ye and Shen Yubai cannot stay together. If he and Shen Yubai are possessed at the same time, it would be easier to subdue Shen Yubai if he stayed by his side. However, if both Shen Yubai and Ling Ye stay in the fishing village, and only Ling Ye is possessed, then Shen Yubai, who is forced to crawl at night, will surely die.

This is already the best way to minimize the risk; everything else is unknown, and we can only deal with whatever comes our way.

Moreover, the journey was fraught with difficulties.

From the fishing village in the south to the cliffs in the north, it almost runs across the entire Chaoyu Island, and there are no available means of transportation on the island.

This disabled group hurried along, relying solely on walking, and had only covered about two-thirds of the distance before midnight arrived.

Shen Yubai lagged behind the group, using the broken mast for support to maintain his balance, trying his best to keep up with everyone's pace, while deliberately maintaining a safe distance from them in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

Every few minutes, Yi Zanglan would check in with him: "Old Shen, are you still there?"

"Here I am."

"Old Shen, are you alright walking?"

"I've gotten used to it."

"Old Shen, are you still conscious?"

"Sober."

"Old Shen, how are you feeling right now?"

"..."

"Brother Shen!"

An ominous premonition arose in Yi Canglan's heart, and he turned around abruptly, at the same time hearing a cry of surprise from Du Songzi beside him.

Shen Yubai stood silently at a distance of no more than twenty or thirty meters.

He lowered his head, his whole body trembling slightly uncontrollably. When he looked up at his teammates again, his eyes were completely black, devoid of light.

Behind him, the blurry outline of the tambourine performer gradually came into view. His body, stripped of its skin, was nothing but rotting flesh and blood. His eyes and mouth, with no clear boundaries, were wide open in anger, radiating a strong sense of resentment and unwillingness.

The rapid drumbeats echoed across the rocky beach, causing the old tree branches to rustle and fall. Everything happened in an instant, and Shen Yubai had almost no chance to resist; his will was immediately swallowed up.

A huge tambourine took shape in his hands, and the cymbals on the edge of the tambourine, used to produce sound, transformed into a ring of sharp, windmill-shaped blades that spun rapidly with his movements.

He leaned forward and immediately charged towards the direction where the five people were.

[System prompt: Equip weapon [Claws of Fury]?]

【Yes. 】

Long, slender, snow-white bone claws extended out from behind Yan Zhao once more, howling and tearing through the night wind.

"You three go first, go find the Stone Gate!" Yan Zhao decisively gestured to Yi Zanglan, "I can handle Old Shen alone!"

The Claw of Fury is a high-level weapon rewarded by the system. Now that she has the weapon's enhancement, her actual attack power is definitely not limited to B, and she is fully capable of fighting Shen Yubai.

Yi Zanglan usually didn't doubt Yan Zhao's confidence and determination, so she didn't hesitate and simply nodded and gave him a word of advice.

Be careful.

While Yan Zhao was holding off Shen Yubai, she took Qin Shaoyu and Du Songzi and quickly left the scene.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

Yi Zanglan quickened her pace, holding Du Songzi with her left hand and Qin Shaoyu with her right, until she was almost running, finally arriving at the bottom of the north cliff.

As a blind person who is only blind at night, Qin Shaoyu relied on his cane to maintain contact with Yi Zanglan throughout the journey, and was able to move forward with the latter's guidance.

However, his advantage lay in his complete trust in Yi Zanglan, which meant he had no psychological burden or obstacles, and his running went relatively smoothly.

"Captain, have we arrived?"

Yi Zanglan looked around and quickly located the cave he had entered with him before. He then used the moonlight to observe the surrounding terrain.

"Hmm, we see that cave entrance. We'd better go around it and climb up the gentle slope on the other side; that will save us some energy. How about this..."

Her words abruptly stopped, and she suddenly looked ahead, falling into a solemn silence.

Qin Shaoyu asked in confusion, "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

Du Songzi was hard of hearing and didn't hear what the two were saying at all, but when he followed Yi Canglan's gaze, he was also stunned in a panic.

"It's Ling... Brother Ling..."

Upon hearing this, Qin Shaoyu felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave, feeling that his fate was as dark as the darkness before his eyes.

"Damn it, we still couldn't escape."

He was weak and muttered a curse under his breath.

……

In the bushes not far from the cave entrance, Ling Ye was quietly lying in wait, having been waiting for who knows how long.

He slowly rose to his feet. His usually aloof and arrogant face was now as if it had been soaked in ice and snow, exuding a terrifying and chilling murderous aura.

Behind him, a huge, reddish-brown hound was revealing its ferocious shadow in the night—its fangs were sealed shut, and its scarlet eyes were constantly oozing sticky, foul blood, filled with an indescribable murderous aura.

He did come after all.

Therefore, it can be seen that no matter where the player is on Chaoyu Island, as soon as midnight arrives, the evil spirit will lock onto their location, blocking their only way and leaving them with nowhere to retreat.

"...Songzi." Yi Canglan gritted her teeth, trying to keep her expression gentle, and patiently gestured to Du Songzi, "Take Lao Qin into the cave first, and don't come out without my signal."

Du Songzi hesitated for two seconds, but ultimately chose to follow her instructions. She pulled Qin Shaoyu away with a worried expression.

To everyone's surprise, Qin Shaoyu stood still and reached out, grabbing Yi Zanglan by instinct.

"No, I have to do something before I hide."

"Are you confident?" Yi Zanglan understood what he meant; she had indeed considered this possibility. "But I don't know the specifics of your other skill, or whether there are any costs involved in using it."

"No cost!" Qin Shaoyu answered her decisively. "Since Old Shen has already confirmed that players possessed by evil spirits are considered ghosts, then I can use my other skill! I've already planned it out: once the Wild King is possessed, I'll weaken him as much as possible to increase our chances of winning!"

[System Prompt: Use the skill [Ghost Currency] on target [Ling Ye]? Due to the target being identified as a special type, this requires consuming five currencies, reducing your own mental strength to D-, and automatically stealing one of the target's highest talents.]

【Yes. 】

The five ghost coins burned simultaneously, turning into ashes in an instant between Qin Shaoyu's fingers and scattering away with the night wind.