# Chapter 382: Drawn into the Undercurrent
(To be revised later) The black wolf was strapped onto the sacrificial altar, shouting in terror, "I don't want to be sacrificed! Let me go!"
Meni looked at him with pity, "Young man, everyone must take responsibility for what they've done."
The black wolf wanted to argue further, but the people beside him directly covered his mouth, "It's not like you'll really die anyway..."
The golden short sword severed the black wolf's head, blood flowing all over the altar as the crowd below cheered.
Meni raised the black wolf's head high, "I have just received a divine oracle. There are still rebels here. The blood of the betrayers will guide me to find them!"
The blood on the altar began to surge, gathering into thin snakes that flowed down the platform and burrowed into the crowd.
The guests made way one after another. Among those blood snakes, two headed straight for the fox and the hyena. The two shoved aside the people around them and ran, and immediately someone shouted excitedly, "Catch them! Send them to the altar!"
The guests in the hall joined the frenzy, following the blood snakes as they rushed out. Some people on the second floor also followed with great interest.
Vicen Meni, who had orchestrated everything, stepped off the platform with a dancing stride and vanished, reappearing a moment later in one of the corridors leading away from the main hall.
This made Xu Huo abandon the idea of chasing the fox. He came down from upstairs and followed, but when he walked in, the man was already gone, and the corridor had branching paths on both sides, leaving him unsure where Meni had gone.
Walking slowly past two intersections, he caught a glimpse of a figure flickering not far away. He quickened his pace, but the person was waiting at the corner, directly intercepting him. Beneath a hollowed-out golden butterfly mask, a pair of purple eyes appeared: "Why are you following me?"
After the game of hunting rebels began, the light in this place grew dimmer and dimmer. All the lamps were extinguished, leaving only a few small candle flames on the corridor walls that couldn't illuminate far, some of which had been deliberately put out. Thus, most of this palace was shrouded in darkness.
The corner where Xu Huo stood had no candles, but the wall opposite did. Under the dim light, the purple pupils beneath the butterfly mask seemed to shimmer, brilliant as stars.
"Your eyes... are they a game effect?" he asked.
Other masks covered the entire face, but this woman's didn't. The butterfly mask only covered the upper half of her face, without simulating animal features. Her nose and lips were exposed, and she smiled as she said, "Haven't you heard of Purple Pupil Eyes? When they want to kill someone, their eyes glow."
Xu Huo admired those beautiful eyes, "I don't get the sense you want to kill me."
The woman's red lips curled upward, "It seems you really don't recognize me. The fox you're looking for escaped in that direction."
Xu Huo glanced in the direction she pointed, and when he looked back, the woman was already walking toward the candlelight ahead. Vicen Meni, who had disappeared earlier, was standing in the firelight, elegantly extending his hand, "Madam, are you satisfied with this meeting gift?"
The purple-eyed woman placed her right hand lightly over his, and only after he kissed the back of her hand did she say, "Lost lambs are everywhere. Mr. Meni has a heavy burden to bear."
"Just call me Vicen." Vicen Meni reluctantly released her hand, "This isn't the best viewing spot. Please follow me. I've prepared some small refreshments for you, madam."
Watching them walk out of the candlelit area, Xu Huo relit the candlestick in his hand and headed in the direction the woman had indicated.
In the corridor, people occasionally emerged from the darkness to approach him. Aside from two who insisted on harassing him, everyone else chose to maintain a safe distance. However, not everyone was busy with religious activities; some rooms emitted excited gasps and moans, both male and female.
At a certain distance from the main hall, "corpses" began to appear. Several were foxes, their masks tossed aside, bodies slumped against walls or on the ground.
The game guide stated that if a player interrupted the game or encountered an accident, they would exit the game, but the "corpses" would remain within the game.
Xu Huo approached to examine the "corpses'" features, but none of them were the one who had met with the middle-aged man.
So many foxes being killed meant that players in the game had already begun blindly targeting everyone wearing the same mask.
The two targets Vicen Meni had first wanted to kill were the same ones Xu Huo had his eye on. It was hard to call that a coincidence.
The middle-aged man had been keeping watch near the beverage shop. Xu Huo grouped him with the ones who had tried to kill him the day before. The reason these people had come after him was that he had happened to visit Deng Xuan's hiding place a few days ago, stumbling into some special situation that brought about a silencing attempt.
They were very likely connected to Deng Xuan.
So why did Vicen Meni want to kill them in a game?
The few people chosen for this religious sacrifice were clearly connected. Vicen Meni had already learned their identities in advance. There was no need to tip them off here, nor to use such a complicated hunting model... Thinking of the black wolf who had secretly met with the fox, perhaps his target wasn't these few people, but rather he wanted to lure others out.
"Don't move!" A fruit knife pressed against his neck from behind. Someone yanked him hard into a nearby room.
The candlestick in Xu Huo's hand fell to the ground. He obediently followed inside, but the moment the door closed, he twisted the arm behind him, snatched the fruit knife, and stabbed it into the door panel.
"Killing someone in the game doesn't work, you know that, right?" He stared at the hyena mask across from him.
The person behind the mask gasped a few times, "You've been following me for days. Who the hell are you?"
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow, "Who do you think I am?"
The middle-aged man clenched his fists, rubbing them against his pant seams, and said sternly, "Who are you? If you don't tell me, I won't be polite!"
"A rabbit scared out of its wits. How exactly are you going to be impolite?" Xu Huo calmly walked over to the sofa and sat down, lighting a cigarette. "With all this effort, you'd be better off thinking about how to escape."
"You think I don't want to? But Rongxin has closed off the exit channels..." The middle-aged man's rubbing against his pants grew faster, the hyena's eyes bulging, "Are you one of Vicen Meni's people? This game today was set up to lure us in, wasn't it?"
The cartoon sheep mask looked completely out of place in this environment, but it still smiled, "Why would we go to so much trouble for just a few of you?"
"So that's how it is..." The middle-aged man's gaze wavered, "Zheng An must have been exposed, letting Vicen Meni follow the trail and target us. I said we should have canceled this meeting long ago..."
He suddenly cut off his words, a murderous expression appearing as he lunged at Xu Huo.
The game couldn't fully replicate a player's abilities, but physical fitness was no problem. Xu Huo kicked the man back, speaking urgently, "Calm down. I'm not one of Vicen Meni's people!"