Of course, as long as we turn Lilith and the others into big mosquitoes, they will probably follow Moli’s orders just like the other team. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Moli’s mosquito team is clearly superior to Lilith’s members, and now Lilith and her team are all injured.

Oh no, it’s my team members who are all injured.

Moli is very secretive about her true purpose, and asking further probably won’t yield anything.

So Qinghan jumped up from the ground, longsword in hand, and without any greeting, he thrust towards Moli.

The ’mosquito’ members immediately rushed to protect their master, and Moli suddenly spoke, asking Qinghan if he wasn’t afraid that all this was just an illusion created by the transparent box?

Not seeing the monster doesn’t mean he’s not affected. Some people aren’t afraid of monsters but are afraid of certain scenes or moments.

Like being abandoned by family, betrayed by a lover, or losing a child, for example.

Moli said maybe Qinghan is afraid I died from poisoning, so the box created this illusion.

She wanted to shake Qinghan’s sense of reality because if someone stops believing the world they see is real, they’d start doubting everything.

For instance, can people really turn into big mosquitoes? Maybe that’s just an illusion and they’re still normal people.

I looked back at the ’straw’ I had just broken off; it was still there. If the transformation into mosquitoes was Qinghan’s illusion, I shouldn’t be able to see it—each person can only see what they fear, and others can’t see someone else’s illusion.

Qinghan disregarded Moli, and his longsword did not pause, stabbing straight towards her head.

Several ’mosquito people’ jumped out to block the sword for her, though I don’t know what they were thinking, one actually tried to catch the blade with bare hands. The result: with a twist of his wrist and a flick of the sword, Qinghan cut off both of that man’s hands.

It seems that when Moli recruited them, she only brought their bodies here, not their intelligence.

The ’mosquito man’ was very surprised. They are incredibly strong, able to throw Cheng Xuelin out of the great hall instantly and severely injure Lilith and others. Perhaps they didn’t expect to have an opponent in this great hall.

Even though Lilith and her team wielded knives, it seemed the ’mosquito people’ didn’t have any injuries—either they couldn’t hit or the other side’s skin was too tough.

But Qinghan’s treasure sword is not a mundane object; while the ’mosquito man’ hesitated, Qinghan didn’t. After chopping off the man’s hand, he swiftly swept his sword towards the man’s head.

The ’mosquito man’ suddenly sprouted wings from his back and flapped away backward. However, his movement was still slower than Qinghan’s—his head remained, but his throat was slashed open, blood gushing out. He clutched his wound, but unfortunately, it was useless; after a struggle, he died.

So even though they look like mosquitoes, they’re still quite similar to humans and not without weaknesses.

Seeing their companion killed instantly, the other ’mosquito people’ immediately rushed forward, their wings spread, flapping at a frequency akin to dragonflies.

Buzz...buzz...buzz...

Several people created the effect of a thousand flies.

I thought, aren’t they just insect people?

While they were fighting, Moli suddenly walked towards the door, and I quickly ran back to the well. It was too late; however, there was a gap between the well edge and the ground, which Cheng Xuelin occupied, squeezing his body into a C shape as the well’s round opening couldn’t accommodate him otherwise.

I climbed over the hall door, pressing against the wall to blend in with the mural as much as possible.

Moli opened the door and walked out, heading straight to the well. She stood on the edge and reached into the well; moments later, thick black oil began to flow out and down the edge.

I broke into a sweat for Cheng Xuelin as the black oil flowed to the ground beside him. Unlike ordinary liquid, which doesn’t move on flat ground by itself, it was clearly a living entity.

The black oil spread out like waves climbing a beach, advancing bit by bit.

It seeped through the open door into the great hall, as Cheng Xuelin closed his eyes tightly in anxiety. Realizing it was an opportunity not to be missed, I took action before the life-consuming black oil entered the great hall, where it would be hard for those inside to escape.

I seized the opportunity to attack Moli, and Karmic Fire burned towards her as well as the black oil attempting to enter through the door.

In a flash, most of the black oil vanished, and Moli was momentarily stunned. She dodged the attack instinctively, only showing emotion afterward. Developing such a reaction speed isn’t an easy task.

Simultaneously, she absentmindedly said, ’Wasn’t she dead?’

I found her wording a bit off. At that moment, she glanced at the top of the hall door and, seeing it was me, her expression turned strange. Then she disappeared in a way I never expected...

She jumped up to the wall, then to the building debris above. In a few swift moves, she squeezed into the ruins.

The collapsed ruins had only gaps small enough for a child no taller than one meter to slip through, but I could see Moli disappearing into one of those gaps without causing another collapse. But I was uneasy, hastily dragging Cheng Xuelin out from under the well’s edge and into the great hall.

At this moment, only the bodies of mosquito people remained in the great hall. Liang Ruidong and Old Zhao saw me dragging Cheng Xuelin in, and their faces were full of horror.

"Seeing the unfavorable situation, she fled through the ruins, likely using the Bone Shrinking Skill."

After Moli left, the black oil she summoned retreated back into the well.

Of course, much of it was burned by Karmic Fire, so what returned was only a small amount.

"Weren’t you supposed to be poisoned?" Li Du was most surprised since he had checked my pulse and was certain of my death.

"I know the Fake Death Skill." This time, I didn’t need Qinghan to make something up for me; I invented a new skill myself.

One moment it’s the Bone Shrinking Skill, the next it’s the Fake Death Skill; in daily life, no one would believe such stories. But at this moment, no matter how incredible the explanation, they would believe at least half.

Moli indeed escaped through a shaft that was otherwise thoroughly blocked. Since that is a fact, no matter how incredible her escape method, it holds some credibility.

I guess Qinghan wanted me to play dead to lure Moli into exposing herself, perhaps by using my death to completely intensify the conflict between the two teams, allowing Moli to act without concerns.

Once Qinghan ’died,’ Moli indeed revealed her minions, planning to ’recruit’ Lilith and the others.

But we have to wait until we get out to discuss everything else. For now, the priority is to find an exit; Lilith and the others are badly hurt, and the first aid supplies in their backpacks probably aren’t enough.

I don’t know how to unlock mechanisms, so I told Qinghan the location and asked him to find a way to open it.

Lilith was still very concerned about the transparent box, afraid that it had established a connection with their brains, and simply leaving might not solve the illusion problem.

Qinghan said we would take the box with us when we leave. The person who died in Moli’s team indeed died and didn’t revive as a mosquito person.

So the power of the box should not be underestimated, and it must be treated with caution.