Chapter 639 The Guardian of the Collection (Part 3)

The text disappeared quickly.

Like ink spreading out in water, the signboard returned to its original state, as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion.

Yun Zhao turned to look at Xie Tu, "Did you see that?"

Xie Tu's gaze remained fixed on the sign, his jawline slightly tense, and he nodded slightly. "I saw it."

The question, written in black on a white background, carried an all-knowing, chilling calm.

It knew who they were, what they were doing, and even accurately predicted their location, presenting the message to them in an almost provocative manner.

The streets of the ancient town were bustling with pedestrians.

Green hills and clear waters, ancient charm.

Beneath the deafening sounds of gongs and drums and the clamor of voices, it was as if a layer of glass separated Yun Zhao and Xie Tu from this joyous torrent, placing them in a cold, silent, and watched dimension.

The two reacted relatively calmly.

"The message appeared immediately after the others left."

Yun Zhao said, "Was it specially shown to the two of us?"

Xie Tu did not answer. Having lost his keen senses, he could not see anything unusual on the street.

Yun Zhao pondered for a moment, "Is it possible that it recognizes me?"

Was the message shown to her separately?

After all, she was the only outlier in Zone Six of the Contaminated Zone, and the other gatekeepers should know more or less about her existence.

But Yun Zhao felt that something was not quite right.

For example, the gatekeeper uses the word "you" in his sentences...

Xie Tu suddenly moved. He saw a shop selling oiled paper umbrellas, walked along the wall towards the shop, and quickly brought back two bamboo oiled paper umbrellas.

"Regardless of who 'it' knows or how many targets it has, getting caught up in this is tantamount to staying in the same place."

He pointed out the most dangerous key at present: stillness.

In the face of a potentially omnipresent adversary, lingering is the biggest weakness.

Xie Tu stepped aside, using his body to slightly block her from the alley entrance, and handed her the umbrella. "Go inside first. Clues won't come to you on their own."

Yun Zhao thought he was right and decided to put the matter aside for now and discuss it again after finding clues.

She took the umbrella and opened it. "Will this umbrella protect me from the mutants?"

Xie Tu tested the strength of the umbrella ribs. "Walking along the shops, keeping unnecessary contact should be no problem."

It's just isolation, not defense.

Without further hesitation, the two opened their oil-paper umbrellas and tilted them slightly forward, as naturally as if they were doing so in the drizzle, thus cleverly creating an invisible safety boundary.

They left the edge of the flowerbed and joined the flow of people in the ancient street.

Or rather, they merged into that seemingly bustling torrent composed of countless slow-moving, bizarrely shaped "mutants".

As soon as he entered the crowd, Yun Zhao immediately smelled a foul odor of rotting flesh.

The smell was very faint, masked by the various odors on the street, and could only be detected when you got close.

Yun Zhao held his breath, surrounded by these "things" layer upon layer, his vision filled with distorted shapes, and the pressure around him constantly increasing, squeezing his lungs.

If one's mental defenses are even slightly weak, they might be overwhelmed by this pervasive and eerie force in an instant.

Xie Tu placed the umbrella horizontally on his right side to block any monsters that tried to approach, protecting her as she walked forward.

As planned, the two walked along the shops, with Xie Tu using the umbrella tip as a stick to occasionally poke away some of the mutants that were too close.

The little bluebird didn't want to squeeze in with the monsters, so it and the fire phoenix flew overhead to help scout the way.

Yun Zhao walked on the inside and Xie Tu on the outside, but after actually doing it, Yun Zhao found that he still needed to pay attention to the "people" coming out of the shop at all times.

She scrutinized each of the mutants she encountered.

Upon closer inspection, the approaching "tourists" are blurry, or their facial features are slightly misaligned, and their limbs are twisted at inhuman angles; they are all unfamiliar faces...

The crowd moved slowly, emitting a cacophony of sounds—a mixture of muffled laughter and indistinct hissing—that formed the basis of the ancient town's bustling atmosphere.

Yun Zhao was disappointed for a moment, then she mustered her spirits and used some of her mental energy to make the monster move away from her, so that she could then have time to investigate any suspicious places.

They currently have two leads.

—The gatekeeper might be a piece of the collection.

It likes lively atmospheres.

There are many lively places in the ancient town. Huo Feng previously explored the closest one to them, which was a small stall selling sugar paintings.

The area was crowded with people. The stall owner's arms were like soft vines as he skillfully scooped up the boiling syrup and outlined dragons, phoenixes, or other twisted and indescribable patterns on the stone slab before handing them to the waiting "customers".

As Yun Zhao and Xie Tu approached, holding umbrellas, the pattern on the sugar painting turntable blurred and changed again.

"You want to kill me?"

It lasted for almost three seconds before the text disappeared again, and the wheel returned to its original pattern of the twelve zodiac animals.

Yun Zhao appeared much calmer this time.

When they didn't see it, they carefully observed every item on the sugar painting stall.

Xie Tu stood on the outside, keeping a watchful eye on any mutant that tried to get close.

After losing his five senses, he sees everything the same way, but Yun Zhao has the ability to sense the gatekeeper. As long as the distance is close enough, she should be able to distinguish the gatekeeper.

Yun Zhao used his spiritual threads to probe every item on the stall, including the old man making sugar paintings.

After confirming there were no clues here, she shook her head at Xie Tu and continued walking forward.

Neither of them discussed the handwriting that had just appeared.

Within the domain, nothing can be hidden from the gatekeeper, and since its purpose is unclear, there's no need for further discussion.

The two, mixed in with the monsters, couldn't move very fast.

Compared to the others, their progress was slower.

Fu Mo, with her ghostly movements, glided across the rooftops as if walking on flat ground, arriving at the third, more bustling spot.

Downstairs is a whole street of food stalls.

It is also the street with the highest foot traffic in the vicinity. Looking down from the rooftop, the various food stalls are filled with smoke and bustling with people, making the street extremely crowded.

Fuhman climbed from the roof to the second floor, and as she turned the corner to go downstairs, she almost bumped into a mutant that was going upstairs.

Her pupils contracted sharply, and she took two steps back, holding the Gatling gun horizontally in front of her to avoid direct contact.

Having lost her extraordinary sensory abilities, the fact that she failed to detect the potential danger at such close range made Fu Heng feel extremely insecure.

She would rather have her senses overloaded than be 'blind'.

The mutant's clothes brushed against the Gatling gun's metal surface, as if it hadn't seen her. The two passed each other, and the mutant went upstairs to the second floor, heading towards the dining table by the window.

When Fu Mo looked up again, she only saw a figure from behind.

It was a male mutant with broad shoulders, grayish clothes, and a very stiff gait, but it was holding a string of melted candied hawthorns in its hand.

Fu Mo withdrew her gaze and was about to leave when she suddenly stopped and looked up again at the mutant.