In the faint autumn light, the silhouettes of eleven figures stood against the cliff's edge, like eleven ancient statues—solemn and still.
The challengers gathered in clusters of two or three along the gravel-strewn road.
Ever since the Detective had abruptly vanished from the map, no one was left to direct their next steps.
For now, the only challengers deemed credible aside from the Detective were the merchant scion who had openly shared intelligence as the Geographer, and Lanqi, the Lawyer.
Yet because the information they provided was not impossible to deduce or discover through specialized magical recon, even now they could not command the absolute trust the Detective had enjoyed.
The young master from the Petras Chamber of Commerce of the Canberra Kingdom, eager to show off, had wanted to step forward and assume the mantle left by Detective Frey. However, a death glare from his sibling bodyguards behind him made him swallow his words at once, not daring to utter a peep.
Clearly, if this foolish young master became their leader, he would only cause chaos and draw endless hostility.
Meanwhile, Lanqi merely smiled without speaking, maintaining the same gentle, polite, and dashing demeanor as before.
It was impossible to guess what was running through his mind.
He seemed to have no intention of serving as an interim detective—or rather, by the look of it, he had no interest in playing detective whatsoever.
A wind from deep within the gorge swept past the crowd, bringing a subtle chill that dispersed the drifting mists in waves before gathering them again.
In this brief silence, the challengers gradually began to calm down and reassess their current predicament.
Even though the Shadow World's progression had undergone a systemic shift thanks to the great detective's mind-boggling stunt, regardless of what happened next, they would still have to wait two days until the Detective returned with the answers.
Over the next two nights, casualties were still very likely to occur.
None of them knew whether they would be next.
Unless someone skilled enough emerged to counter the traitors further during these two days.
Just then...
"I'd wager there are two people trying terribly hard right now to pretend nothing's wrong. Must be exhausting."
Lanqi smiled placidly, murmuring in apparent sympathy.
"..."
Hearing Lanqi break the silence with those words, the others were momentarily taken aback.
They didn't catch his drift at first.
Hyperion was the quickest to grasp Lanqi's intent. Instantly putting on a gloating look, she lightly covered her mouth and chuckled mockingly, "Yeah, aren't they furious? Why not jump down and catch the detective? It's not too late, you know~"
After being exposed to Lanqi up close for so long, Hyperion felt she had thoroughly mastered his signature, top-tier passive-aggressive snark.
Yet when she delivered it, it carried a distinct air of a villainess ducal lady.
"...Someone's probably dying of anxiety right now."
Once Hyperion helped Lanqi set the pace, the others began to catch on.
"Yeah, surprised their faces aren't red yet."
And so, starting with the first person who chimed in, the challengers all joined in to mercilessly mock the traitors.
It brought a wonderfully cathartic release, venting all the pent-up tension in their chests.
"Dumbass traitors, kowtow twice to everyone right now and we promise not to kill you."
"Only two days left, and you're still digging in your heels trying to play it cool."
"Keep talking and someone's gonna start crying little pearls."
Even though slinging insults might not have any practical effect, at this point, anyone who refused to join in—or dared to talk back—would make their allegiance painfully obvious.
Having endured more than three hours of intense psychological pressure from the two hidden traitors, not a single ordinary challenger didn't despise those two venomous, Oscar-worthy impostors.
They had long been itching to drag them out and beat them within an inch of their lives!
Earlier, when the situation was against them, rashly taunting the traitors would only have made them look exasperated and boosted the traitors' smugness. But now, after the Detective's divine move, the psychological pressure had flipped. Taking advantage of this sudden tailwind to rub it in their faces was the perfect way to ramp up the pressure on the traitors' mental state!
More importantly—
The traitors' composure was already on the verge of collapsing from Frey's masterclass play, and now they had to pretend to fit in, joining the crowd in mocking their very own predicament.
A pure, unadulterated stress test.
At this moment by the cliff, the challengers felt immensely relieved, having vented their emotions, while scrutinizing one another's expressions like judges.
The two traitors clearly possessed tremendous psychological resilience.
Even under such humiliation and torment, they maintained their acting flawlessly.
Yet this only seemed to make the challengers enjoy the sport even more.
The merchant scion spearheaded the jeering with the greatest gusto; his twin bodyguards looked rather helpless, yet still echoed his words.
Meanwhile, the warrior, mage, and priest from the Creti Empire were all very ladylike, not particularly adept at cursing or sarcastic barbs, so they did their best to mock the traitors using relatively polite phrasing.
As for the three clergy members from the Northern Continent, the hot-tempered Executioner cursed outright, while the Paladin and Cleric showed a bit more restraint—though they began praying for the traitors on the spot, making it hard to tell if this wasn't an even more advanced form of torture.
Seeing everyone finally ease the tension that had wound tight all morning, Lanqi folded his arms and let out a sigh of relief.
Just like a psychologist genuinely concerned about everyone's mental well-being.
His philosophy differed from Frey's: Frey prioritized solving problems with maximum efficiency, leading everyone all over the castle all morning.
Lanqi, on the other hand, pursued a harmonious, friendly, and healthy atmosphere.
"..."
Hyperion glanced at Lanqi beside her, reading his thoughts like an open book.
This guy had to be thoroughly satisfied right now, convinced he had successfully eased everyone's stress and performed yet another deed of boundless virtue and goodwill.
Hopeless.
If new teammates ever joined them in the future, Hyperion desperately wanted someone who could roast Lanqi alongside her.
Holding all these grievances in with no one to vent to was truly suffocating.
Nevertheless, Hyperion kept a close eye on Lanqi's every move, staying on high alert.
She could feel that on top of Frey's move, Lanqi had poured fuel on the fire to mess with the traitors' heads as ruthlessly as possible.
If he were willing to gamble and summon the Poet of Great Love, they could fast-forward straight to the final showdown.
Yet the problem with the Poet of Great Love was that she made no distinction between friend and foe, and was far too uncontrollable.
In a Shadow World like this where challengers were gathered together under immense psychological pressure, the Poet of Great Love was without question the most perilous summon.
There was no telling what consequences would follow if she were summoned.
Summoning the Poet of Great Love out of nowhere might drive the other normal challengers into various degrees of psychosis, or even trigger a total party wipe.
Earlier in the sanctuary hall, when the challengers' mental strain exceeded the traitors', Lanqi rashly summoning the Poet would have made him look like a traitor striking first.
Even though the traitors were under greater strain now and nuking the field to start a brawl carried a very high chance of victory, it would likely cost the lives of several innocent challengers.
What was worse, accidentally killing a traitor could summon two Blood Clan Counts in a single day.
The optimal outcome was undoubtedly for everyone to work together to capture the traitors alive first.
Both the generation of two traitors harboring "malicious intent toward the mortal realm" within this Shadow World and the implication that Hyperion's role as the Actress made her "more prone to attack" strongly supported the idea that Resurrection Church cultists had infiltrated the scenario.
For the sake of their graduation project, *Seeking the Original Slate - Seal*,
Hyperion knew Lanqi would surely seize this rare opportunity to find a way to capture the cultists alive within the Shadow World and interrogate them for intel!
Therefore, he likely wouldn't rashly summon the Poet of Great Love to flip the table.
"Hyperion, what are you staring at me for...?"
Feeling Hyperion's gaze, Lanqi turned his head and looked at her, full of puzzlement.
"Nothing."
Hyperion shook her head; she had no desire to sample another of Lanqi's speeches on performing good deeds.
Since Lanqi still wore that air of serene, guileless composure, it could only mean one thing.
Starting from here on out, he clearly had even nastier ways to break those two traitors' minds.
Chapter 127