Chapter 502 - 499: Painted Skin

Chapter 502: Chapter 499: Painted Skin

The "captain’s" behavior was a clear case of self-deception.

His bloodshot eyes and suppressed anxiety couldn’t fool anyone. Even though he had already turned his head, his rapid breathing was still obvious.

The slightly hunched "captain" looked like some kind of bloodthirsty beast. Coarse gasps emanated from him, the air seeming to catch in his throat, creating a choked, gurgling sound.

"Captain, are you all right?" Zhou Dynasty decided to add more fuel to the fire.

The trembling figure turned around again. His shoulders heaved slightly, his mouth now unable to close, and thick drool trickled from the corner of his lips.

The "captain" realized he had lost his composure. He hurriedly wiped away the drool with the back of his trembling hand, then pressed hard on his own jaw.

With a CLICK, the gasping mouth finally snapped shut.

He said nothing, merely shaking his head at Zhou Dynasty with his mouth clamped shut.

A drop of cold sweat slid down his forehead. He seemed to be forcefully suppressing something, but his inhuman display had already given him away completely.

He once again turned his head away anxiously as red specks of light began to emanate from his body.

Under the starlight, his body trembled slightly, the escaping points of light looking like burgeoning flames.

"Captain, are you sure you’re okay? Shouldn’t we rest for a bit?" Zhou Dynasty continued to needle him.

At Zhou Dynasty’s words, the "captain’s" trembling body instantly froze.

Then, his head twisted one hundred and eighty degrees to face them.

"NO! REST!"

"MOVE! OUT!"

His bloodshot eyes glared at Zhou Dynasty. His pale lips were sealed tight, forcing a beast-like snarl from his throat, but the warning in his words was still vaguely discernible.

The head that had turned one hundred and eighty degrees rotated again, spinning another half-circle to face forward.

Seemingly unwilling to wait for the two of them any longer, he plunged forward recklessly, squeezing into the group of beast-like figures.

Under the starlight, they no longer looked human. Their movements were twisted, their strides unnaturally long, and their arms swung like windmills. Some of their heads drooped, while others stared up at the sky, making them look like puppets being dragged along.

They had completely abandoned human ways of moving and had forgotten that Li Luo and Zhou Dynasty were still following them.

Perhaps their original mission was to deceive the two, but with Zhou Dynasty and Li Luo deliberately dawdling, they had lost their patience and stopped paying them any mind.

They continued to advance in this inhuman manner, getting farther and farther away.

"Let’s keep up."

’As long as we follow this fake investigation team, we’ll definitely find the culprit.’

With this in mind, they both sped up, tailing the distorted figures.

The starlight grew brighter and brighter, making the two of them feel a bit dizzy.

Just then, the film-like layer over their vision reappeared. It suddenly grew a bit thicker before vanishing again, and their dizziness eased considerably.

As their dizziness gradually subsided, Li Luo and Zhou Dynasty realized they had unknowingly arrived in the middle of a starry expanse.

The ground was a swirling nebula, the ancient trees were stretching spiral arms, and the leaves were twinkling stars. Countless galaxies were woven in between, with bands of ethereal blue and deep red light linking them together, little points of light flowing freely within.

"Are we... still on the Sky Island?" Zhou Dynasty asked blankly.

He crouched down and scooped up a handful of the nebula, and countless motes of stardust streamed through his fingers.

"This is dirt."

Zhou Dynasty clapped his hands, dusting off the stardust.

This was still the Starlight Forest, but the starlight was so rampant that it had covered everything with a celestial veil.

The group of twisted figures had now stopped moving. They were gathered before a tall spiral arm of a star cluster, staring blankly up at the dazzling light shimmering on it.

"What is that?" Curious, Zhou Dynasty walked forward, squeezed past the stupefied figures, and placed his hand on the spiral arm.

The moment his hand touched it, he froze.

’A beacon? They actually brought us to the beacon?’

Zhou Dynasty could hardly believe it. Beneath the veil of the spiral arm was indeed the beacon he had been so fixated on finding.

However, the beacon, shrouded in starlight, seemed impossible to operate.

Zhou Dynasty fumbled around the beacon for a while before finding the control panel, but he couldn’t see the interface and could only scratch his head in frustration.

"Is this the beacon?"

Li Luo also walked over and placed his hand on the cluster’s spiral arm.

The surface felt like metal. There seemed to be many buttons on the control panel, but under the blinding starlight, it was impossible to tell what any of them did.

"A beacon... it’s just a signal tower?"

"Yes. It’s made of a special alloy, said to be created from some kind of relic. It’s simple, but durable. You could leave it for centuries and it would still work."

Zhou Dynasty waved his hand in front of the fake team members’ faces, but they didn’t react at all.

So, Zhou Dynasty pinched their wrists and placed his fingers under their noses.

"They have human bodies, a pulse, and they’re breathing... But how can they hold such contorted poses?" Zhou Dynasty muttered in confusion.

The men just stood there, frozen, as if their mission was complete now that they had brought the two of them to the beacon.

"Do you have a knife? Let me borrow it."

Zhou Dynasty took a small knife from Li Luo and, steeling himself, slit the tip of a team member’s finger. Bright red blood trickled out, but the man still showed no reaction.

After a short while, the bleeding stopped. The wound began to heal at a visible rate, and in the blink of an eye, it was completely restored.

"Such a strong healing ability..." Zhou Dynasty was surprised.

He pulled up the team member’s sleeve and slashed deeply into the man’s arm. Blood spurted out instantly, but the man just kept staring blankly at the sky, seemingly feeling no pain whatsoever.

But soon, the wound on his arm healed again, and the man’s pale face regained its ruddy complexion.

Seeing this, Zhou Dynasty gave up on further experiments. He was about to return the knife to Li Luo, but discovered it had already vanished from his hand.

"Ah, I forgot about the price of the Holy Sword..." Zhou Dynasty said, embarrassed.

"It’s fine."

After a moment’s thought, Zhou Dynasty went over to the team member carrying the Rift Bomb. He opened the man’s backpack, took out the red sphere, and examined it for a moment.

’It really is a Rift Bomb. Where did they get it?’

Zhou Dynasty couldn’t figure it out. If the investigation team was fake, then where did they get a Rift Bomb, a piece of technology only humans possessed?

Holding the Rift Bomb, Zhou Dynasty was suddenly struck by another thought. He went over to the teammate known as Brother Tie and began searching his pockets.

Soon, Zhou Dynasty froze. His hand trembling, he pulled a box of supplements out of the pocket.

"How can this be?"

He stared at the box of supplements in disbelief. It was the exact brand Brother Tie always took.

At that, his thoughts descended into chaos once more.