Chapter 417: Vicious! A Scheme within a Scheme

The army marched quickly for 3 days and finally arrived at Town Lupin.

Town Lupin was one of the largest towns in the Blue Lava Estate. It was the size of a medium-sized city in Chen Rui’s other world. In the suburbs outside the town, the Dark Moon Army encountered an army, that was sealing off the Town Lupin, with a total of about 3,000 people.

These troops were originally ordered by Lord Chandler to seal off the Town Lupin where the strange disappearances occurred. They even set up magic circles, which should be instructed when Mousse was controlling.

The army had received Chandler’s latest order to cooperate with the Dark Moon Army to investigate the secrets of Town Lupin.

The commander of the army was called Aglas, a Great Demon at the early stage of the Demon King power. Facing the Dark Moon Army and the overwhelming breath faintly emanating from Athena, he seemed considerably tense.

Chen Rui asked, “What happened to Town Lupin?”

Aglas quickly replied, “It’s like this. The residents of Town Lupin have inexplicably been involved in various fights and bloodsheds a while ago. Soon afterwards, it was said that a huge bottomless pit which exuded a strange black gas appeared in the middle of the town. When the body of the person was wrapped in the black gas, they would wither quickly. In the end, there was only a pile of white bones left. Some people try to fill the pit or go down to explore, but those who explored never returned, including the Demon Emperor powerhouse, Sotsen, who lived in seclusion in the town. The black gas of that pit will take the lives of some residents every day. Many people fled out of the town because of this, but sir lord claimed that these people were infected with incurable poison. If they escape, they will spread to the entire estate, so he ordered us to block all exits and prohibit anyone from entering or exiting. Some residents tried to escape before or asked us for help, but we were forced by sir lord’s order and refused these people’s demands. Since then, no one escaped…”

A bottomless pit that exudes black gas that devours people? What does the Bloodfall scheme have to do with this? Chen Rui thought for a while and asked, “I got news from Lord Chandler that General Sumen came here?”

“Yes,” Aglas nodded. “General Sumen came here 5 days ago. He brought about 1,000 people. He insisted on entering Town Lupin, and I couldn’t change his mind. Instead, hundreds of soldiers followed the general and went in with him.”

Chen Rui thought for a while. It seems that Sumen has a high prestige in the army. Even though his “rebel” reputation is well-known and Town Lupin is obviously a dangerous place, many people are still willing to follow suit.

“But… the general hasn’t returned yet. I sent a few soldiers to investigate, but they did not return as well.”

Chen Rui frowned, thought for a moment, and said to Athena, “There is indeed a problem in this town. The situation is unknown now, and it is likely to contain a huge threat. I suggest that the army should not act rashly. It is better to investigate first before deciding the next step.”

Athena spoke, “That’s right, I’ll lead a team to go investigate.”

“No!” Chen Rui shook his head, “You’re the legion leader who is the core and soul of the entire army. You can’t simply take risks, and there will also probably be unexpected situations here. Someone must preside over the overall situation. Let us stay. Just let… Sir Aguile go.”

The poison dragon in the cloak and Athena looked at each other and immediately understood what Chen Rui meant. “Aguile” who was deliberately mentioned in this sentence was Chen Rui himself. Of course, the poison dragon would not be idle; he would follow secretly. One went openly and another hid in te dark to thoroughly explore the secrets within.

As for Athena outside the town, it was relatively safe. She had the strength of the Great Demon King and the Flame Legion elites, so it shouldn’t be a major problem.

Athena knew that Chen Rui’s power was far better than her, and there was no room to waste time at this time. She didn’t say much, but gave him a reminding look- Be careful.

Soon, “Aguile” left the barrack where the Flame Legion was stationed, and the “human financial officer” took a rest in Athena’s tent due to “physical discomfort”.

Chen Rui walked toward the town step by step via the entrance. As he didn’t know what danger was ahead, his speed was not very fast. Paglio followed behind him silently from a distance. Even the [Analytical Eyes] couldn’t detect him, but Chen Rui could clearly sense the existence of his equal link partner through the “spiritual link”.

The whole town was very large, but they still couldn’t see a living person or even a living thing up till now. They just occasionally saw a few piles of bones in the ground, giving people a sense of lifelessness everywhere. It was as though they came to Town Yankou where Guradam made the undead.

Could it be like Town Yankou last time where an undead magician is messing around? But these skeletons are abandoned in place. It is unlike an undead magician’s work; it is more like some kind of terrifying monster that devours life.

Chen Rui frowned as he continued walking. The closer he looked, the more corpses he saw with various postures. The ghastly white mist drifting around was creepy.

Chen Rui deliberately walked into a few rooms to have a look, and he found that there were also many corpses in the room. It seemed that that terrifying “thing” did not spare any life in any corner.

Is it some kind of monster created by Bloodfall? Chen Rui frowned even more thinking of the terrible experiment in Crystal Valley and Mystic Valley.

The interference of elements here was very strong. Items such as magic map and magic compass couldn’t be used. Chen Rui could only rely on a simple hand-drawn map provided by Aglas to proceed cautiously all the way.

The strange thing is that when Sumen broke in a few days ago, he brought in about 1,500 people, and some of them were cavalry, but no relevant corpses could be seen along the way. Where did they go?

Chen Rui walked around a few times, bypassed a river, and gradually approached the center of Town Lupin where the mysterious pit was located.

From afar, Chen Rui saw dozens of bizarre spires in the mist. When he got closer, he discovered that these buildings like bone towers were actually made of piles of bones!

Not only that, there were maroon strange patterns on the ground which should be painted by blood. Skulls were used to decorate in many places, which made it very strange.

Chen Rui’s heart trembled slightly. The largest town in the Blue Lava Estate is equivalent to the number of lives in a medium-sized city. Are all of them…

What’s even more hateful is that under the control of Mousse, the army is actually dispatched to block the way out, cruelly ruining the last hope of all innocent townspeople.

Although Chen Rui was not an eminent monk or saint who was compassionate and benevolent, facing such a gruesome scene, rage surged in his heart suddenly. Bloodfall! Damn it!

Just when Chen Rui stepped into the range of those patterns, the lump of maroon suddenly emitted a faint light, and a puff of black smoke emerged from the bone tower and wrapped toward Chen Rui.

Chen Rui wanted to try the attributes of the black smoke. He did not dodge or launch any protection skills. Instead, he let the black smoke wrap around his body. Sure enough, the Super System gave a hint that the poison was converted. After a long time, a pulling force came, and Chen Rui withdrew the power around his body. He let the force control his body like a dead person. He felt his mind being drowsy as he was “dragged” to another place.

This was an empty area surrounded by several bone towers. There was black smoke wafting around, and he couldn’t see things in the distance. The poison conversion data in the Super System kept changing. This was obviously a poisonous environment.

Chen Rui accidentally saw a large group of people. To be precise, a group of unconscious people, but they were not skeletons or corpses.

Judging from the clothing, they should be soldiers in the army. After counting the number, there were about 1,000 people and over 100 horses. These people were probably the army brought in by General Sumen. Judging from the effect, the black smoke should not be fatal. It was just to render someone unconscious.

Why are the flesh and blood of the corpses seen on the road completely devoured, but these soldiers and I are treated differently? Chen Rui thought of what Aglas said- “The black gas of that pit will take the lives of some residents every day.”

That’s right, that should be the case, the pit requires lives in phase. In other words, life will be swallowed every once in a while, so these soldiers, including myself, are currently “stocked food.”

Chen Rui didn’t want to wait for the monsters to come. Besides, there were nearly 2,000 lives (including war horses). He immediately took out a bottle of detoxification potion and tried to detoxify a soldier beside him.

However, the grand master-level detoxification potion of the exchange center actually only made the soldier a little awake. Chen Rui’s eyes fell on the black smoke that was permeating everywhere. With a thought, God-Eating Mask, one of the 7 artifacts, appeared on his face. He activated the additional skill [God Eater] that was obtained by cracking the artifact.

As soon as the skill was activated, the surrounding black smoke rushed toward Chen Rui’s head. The mask was like a whale sucking water. It had swallowed all the black smoke in the nearby hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye.

The artifact’s power was indeed not trivial. This [God Eater] skill could swallow all spirit power, magic and soul attacks. The only drawback was that it could only be used once every 7 days.

After the black smoke disappeared, the several bone towers that had been condensed by some force seemed to have lost their support; they collapsed one after another.

Perhaps due to an illusion, when the bone towers collapsed, Chen Rui seemed to feel a vengeful emotion rushing toward him. However, the God-Eating Mask was immune to attacks from souls, so Chen Rui, who was still wearing a mask, was not affected at all.

After the black smoke’s unconscious effects subsided, the surrounding soldiers began to regain consciousness. They didn’t seem to have any serious problems. However, because they had been in a coma for a few days without eating, their physical condition appeared relatively weak.

“Who is General Sumen?” Chen Rui asked aloud while distributing recovery potions and detoxification potions to the nearby soldiers.

A voice sounded, “I’m Sumen, did you save us?”

Chen Rui’s current cloak was very eye-catching among the soldiers, and his distribution of potions had attracted Sumen’s attention since the beginning.

Sumen was a Great Demon of the early stage of the Great Demon King. He was tall and wore red armor. Although his physical condition was not good, his eyes still looked sharp. Chen Rui walked forward and handed Sumen a bunch of recovery potions.

“General, I’m Aguile, the deputy legion leader of the Dark Moon’s Red Blood Legion. I was entrusted by Lord Chandler to lead the army to investigate the mysterious incident in Town Lupin as well as to bring the general back safely.”

“Lord Chandler?” Sumen’ss hand, which was raising the recovery potion, stopped suddenly, and his gaze was gradually sharp.

“The general may have misunderstood something. Lord Chandler has been controlled by Financial Officer Mousse with [Mind Leading]. That was why he issued some unintentional orders including declaring the general as a traitor. Now that Mouse is dead, Lord Chandler is back to normal again. He commissioned us, the Dark Moon Army, to come here this time.”

“Before I came here, I also heard some news about the Dark Moon’s help, but how do you prove that you are from the Dark Moon legion?” Even after hearing the news that Chandler was controlled, the hostility in Sumen’s gaze did not reduce. Instead, he was a little more skeptical.

“With the current situation, I don’t seem to need to prove anything,” Chen Rui said while continuing to distribute the bottles of potions. “Moreover, the Flame Legion leader, Athena, and the tens and thousands elite team are now stationed just outside the town.”

“Athena!” Sumen was startled, and he finally tilted his head to drink the potion. His face suddenly became more rosy, and his spirit began to improve a lot. He shouted to the side, “Sandro, Kache, you 2 take 10 personal guards to help this sir quickly distribute the recovery potion.”

With the help of the well-trained personal guards, the speed dispensing the recovery potions suddenly accelerated. However, Chen Rui’s facial expression changed suddenly when Sumen said something.

“I don’t know the purpose of that so-called lord entrusting you to come here, but I just want to tell you that the real Lord Chandler is dead!”

“What?” Chen Rui couldn’t help blurting out. This news is really shocking!

“I found Sir Chandler in the secret room of the lord’s mansion by accident. That’s when I realized that the lord outside was actually fake! Sir Chandler was on the verge of death. Before he died, he asked me to think about the overall situation and go to Town Lupin in secret without attracting attention. I need to first find his young son, Tagow, who is secretly fostered here, then announce the truth and try to support Tagow to become the lord.”

Having said this, Sumen squeezed his fists, “I don’t know if it was because the fake lord noticed me, he actually sent people to block the exit and tried to capture me. Fortunately, I saw the opportunity earlier and fled with a group of loyal subordinates. We were hiding here and there along the way to avoid being caught, and we finally came to Town Lupin. I didn’t expect that Town Lupin actually turned into a dead town under some strange force! I’m afraid Sir Chandler’s youngest son, Young Master Tagow, is…”

Chen Rui finally understood why Sumen would leave Azure Legion silently and detour all the way to Town Lupin. Thinking of the previous performances of Mousse, Chandler and Varit in the Blue Lava City, he suddenly realized it: What a good and realistic play! They actually even sacrificed Mousse. It turns out that it is actually a scheme within a scheme!

I even pride myself on being a little clever usually, and now I have actually fallen into such a scheme! The person who controls everything behind the scene back must be terribly intelligent!

No, not only a scheme, but a vicious scheme! Chen Rui reacted instantly, Since “Chandler” tried his best to trick the Dark Moon Army into here, then this terrifying place must have the terrifying power to bury everyone!

So “Chandler” was really putting up a show… What could be the terrifying force lying in this town?

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