"Why was he invaded by a strange entity?"
Yuan Qingqing patted her chest, feeling a chill.
She took a step back, grabbing her younger brother's arm.
The thought of how close she and Yuan Yuan had been to Zuo An, and how the hidden danger within him had not erupted, filled her with both dread and relief.
It was fortunate it hadn't.
It was fortunate it hadn't.
Two different sentiments.
She gently patted her chest.
Hill, fearless, strode forward and crouched beside Zuo An's body, examining him with pure curiosity, devoid of any fear.
She picked up a twig from somewhere.
She poked Zuo An's corpse with it, up and down.
Duan Chen frowned, reaching out to pull back the naturally bold and unafraid Hill.
He spoke, trying to dissuade her.
"Are you crazy?"
Hill smiled and patted his hand in response.
"Don't worry, don't worry, I know what I'm doing. There won't be any problems."
Even so, it was hard to feel reassured.
Duan Chen opened his mouth with a hint of helplessness.
"Be careful. Even though he's dead, he's just a host. The entity within him might not be in his brain."
Hill nodded.
Frankly, she understood these matters far better than Duan Chen.
She simply took out a collection of various bottles and jars.
Yuan Qingqing watched with longing.
This was the advantage of having a storage ring.
The items Hill pulled from her storage ring dazzled them, all things they had never seen before.
She used these items to collect samples from the deceased Zuo An.
As she collected more samples, Hill's eyes began to gleam.
She looked utterly fervent.
Jun Ci unconsciously distanced himself from Hill.
What he feared and disliked most were people who became fanatical for the sake of scientific research.
Such people were either geniuses, madmen, or both, but never normal.
One could never tell when they might turn on those around them.
Duan Chen didn't have many thoughts on the matter. He watched as Hill, with her array of bottles and jars, collected her samples. After she was finished, without even glancing at the mess on the ground, she put all the bottles and jars back into her spatial ring.
He exhaled softly.
"Based on what Zuo An told us, if we take his words at face value, it will be difficult for us to return to our starting point A."
"Where are we now?"
Yuan Qingqing asked nervously.
"Who knows where we are?"
Duan Chen thought hard, and when he couldn't figure it out, he simply gave up.
His attitude and tone were serious, but his words were somewhat amusing.
"Hill, do you know how to get back to the initial starting point?"
"You said you knew earlier, right?"
Hill nodded nonchalantly.
She scratched her cheek.
"Shouldn't this have been something you noticed from the beginning?"
"At my initial birthplace, I left behind a companion, a sort of teammate. We have telepathic connection. I can find my way back by following it."
"At most, I'll get lost three times."
The others immediately beamed with joy.
Whether their initial drop points were the same or not was unknown.
It was likely they were different.
Duan Chen thought this and his gaze naturally fell upon Jun Ci, who was still lost in thought.
"The secret realm is supposed to end in a year."
"Is the flow of time inside the secret realm the same as outside?"
When this question was raised, everyone's expression grew somber.
However, in the end, they looked at Hill with a sliver of hope.
Hill answered without hesitation.
"The flow of time inside and outside the secret realm is the same."
"The time when the secret realm's gate opens is also synchronized with the external time flow."
Indeed.
Even Duan Chen couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness for you," Yuan Qingqing said.
Yuan Qingqing's expression was filled with excitement.
It was the excitement of having a glimmer of hope for survival.
Hill paid no mind to the stares.
Her gaze swept around aimlessly.
Finally, it settled on a spot. She joyfully tugged at Duan Chen, urging him.
"Duan Chen, can we go over there? I feel like something is drawing me there!"
She twitched her nose.
Considering her peculiar physiology, Duan Chen did not refuse and looked at the others.
"What are your thoughts?"
Naturally, they agreed.
After all, their hope of escaping lay with Hill.
No one wanted to stray far from her.
What if they got separated because of something like this?
The only remaining concern was Qin Nanyuan.
To this day, no one had encountered her.
Worry flickered in Jun Ci's eyes, but he knew that no one present was less worried than he was.
So, he simply took two deep breaths, concealing his deeply troubled thoughts.
They wouldn't not look for her.
They had to find a way to locate Qin Nanyuan. For now, they could only wait.
The group broke into a run towards the location Hill sensed.
During this time, Duan Chen's breathing remained at a subtle level.
He looked down at the red tattoo on his arm, his sense of unease intensifying.
It had deepened.
This red tattoo, winding and intricate, looked as if it had been on his arm for a long time. Yet, his memory was crystal clear: he didn't have a red tattoo.
Or rather, he had no tattoos at all.
He had tried to ask the others, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
Every time he intended to ask about it, he would unconsciously falter.
By the time he snapped back to awareness, the conversation had already shifted elsewhere.
And when he inadvertently exposed the tattoo, they had all clearly seen it. Duan Chen was certain their gazes had lingered on his tattoo for at least two seconds each.
Yet, not a single one of them had asked.
A bad premonition settled in his heart.
This red tattoo seemed to have appeared on his arm only after he killed Zuo An...