# 1561
Chapter 1557: Meeting the Hunt Ancestor Again
"Gone??"
Hearing this, Lin Qiye was stunned. "What do you mean gone? The asylum is only so big—where could he have gone?"
"I don't know! But I've searched everywhere, and I even got the other orderlies to help look, but we just can't find Yerand!"
Lin Qiye's brow furrowed tightly. The next moment, his spiritual power swept across the entire asylum—the inpatient building, the orderlies' dormitory, the underground dungeon… He searched every corner carefully, yet still found no trace of Yerand.
"Really gone?" Lin Qiye asked suspiciously.
How was this possible?
By now, Lin Qiye had seen plenty of strange patients, but someone disappearing directly from within the asylum was a first. According to the rules, patients shouldn't be able to leave without his permission—then where had Yerand gone?
"…What do we do now?" Li Yifei was getting panicky. How did he lose a patient the moment he got back?
Lin Qiye沉思片刻，开口道："别急，先让所有护工散开，搜遍病院的每一个角落，要是发现什么可疑的地方，及时上报……我去问问Gilgamesh。"
"好！"
李毅飞立刻回去调动护工展开搜索，无数身影四下散开，病院的安宁被打破，罕见的喧闹起来。
Lin Qiye径直走到病栋二层，敲了敲Gilgamesh的房门。
"进。"
Lin Qiye走入房中，Gilgamesh正倚靠在墙边眺望窗外，见他走进来，微微侧头：
"外面怎么这么吵？"
"耶兰得失踪了。"
"失踪？"Gilgamesh一愣，不解的开口，"他能失踪到哪去？"
"不知道……但我精神力搜遍了病院，都没找到他。"Lin Qiye反问，"你这段时间见过他吗？"
Gilgamesh仔细想了想，"我见过他跟李毅飞下棋。"
"下完棋呢？"
"然后他就往平日经常去的楼顶去了。"
Lin Qiye转头看向窗外，从Gilgamesh病房的这个位置，能看到对面楼层的顶端，Lin Qiye记得，耶兰得没事的时候经常会在那里俯视病院。
"本王讨厌那个家伙，因为他每次站在这里，就像是在俯视本王……"Gilgamesh像是想到了什么，冷哼一声，神情十分不悦。
"那他最近有什么异常吗？"
"异常……"Gilgamesh思索片刻，"他除了喜欢俯视，最近好像还喜欢抬头看天，这也是本王意外发现的。"
"抬头看天？天上有什么东西吗？"
"不，明明什么也没有。"
Lin Qiye眉头越皱越紧，在Gilgamesh的描述下，耶兰得的行为越来越奇怪……虽然他本来就很奇怪。
Lin Qiye又问了几句，却再也没有什么收获，Gilgamesh毕竟不可能天天站在窗边盯着耶兰得看，看到那个满脸慈祥笑容的老头，只会让他觉得烦躁。
见Gilgamesh这也没有更多的信息，Lin Qiye只能暂时离开病院，将这件事交给李毅飞等人处理。
"怎么了？你的脸色好像不太好。"
Somersault Cloud上，Cao Yuan见Lin Qiye神情变幻，开口问道，"你要是飞累了，我们可以下去休息一会。"
"不用，我没事。"
Lin Qiye确认了Somersault Cloud飞往的方向，精神力便开始观察四周，距离他们离开Great Xia已经过了一个多小时，以Somersault Cloud的速度，他们现在应该到了美洲附近，不过依然没有看到Heavenly Court的影子。
"看来这次失败了……"Lin Qiye犹豫片刻后，正欲重丢树枝，突然像是察觉到了什么，眉头骤然锁起！
He turned his head sharply to look in a certain direction.
At the same moment, Cao Yuan also caught an unusual scent, his palm quickly settling on the end of his blade hilt, scanning the surroundings warily, ready to draw at any moment.
In the void ahead of the Somersault Cloud's path, a smoke-like figure slowly materialized.
It was a figure cloaked entirely in black robes, the wide brim of a hood obscuring its face, with no aura emanating from its body, floating in mid-air like a specter.
At the sight of that figure, Lin Qiye's pupils contracted slightly,
"Number 27?"
During the Asgard turmoil, Number 27 had slain Loki alongside Si Xiaonan. According to his agreement with Lin Qiye, Lin Qiye needed to help him find someone… But ever since Asgard's destruction, Lin Qiye hadn't seen him again.
Running into him here was a complete surprise.
Cao Yuan narrowed his eyes at the black shadow, his muscles tensing all over. Lin Qiye shook his head lightly: "Don't worry, he's not an enemy."
"…Really not an enemy? Why do I feel killing intent?" Cao Yuan couldn't help but say.
As the two spoke, the Somersault Cloud slowly halted before Number 27. Lin Qiye stood up and spoke respectfully:
"Greetings, Hunt Ancestor."
Previously, Lin Qiye had known Number 27 was the Hunt Ancestor, but he hadn't understood what those two words represented. However, after visiting the Ancestral God Temple, he had deeply experienced the power of the Ancestral Gods—these were forefathers who had shattered the Cthulhu Faction head-on in countless ages past!
Hearing these words, the brow beneath Number 27's hood lifted slightly, and the killing intent lingering in the air paused.
Lin Qiye sensed something amiss in the other's aura but couldn't tell what was happening. He continued: "Before, I didn't know the Hunt Ancestor's true identity, so my words may have been presumptuous. Please forgive me."
Number 27 studied him carefully for a moment, then said in a low voice, "You've been to the Ancestral God Temple?"
"Yes."
Number 27 stared at him silently, as if contemplating something.
"Hunt Ancestor, where have you been these past days? Didn't you say you needed help finding someone?" Seeing the atmosphere freeze up again, Lin Qiye took the initiative to speak.
"…" Number 27 was silent for a moment, his eyes beneath the hood narrowing as he looked at Lin Qiye. "Where have I been? Why don't you tell me where you've been? After I killed Loki, I went to find you, only to discover you had already returned to Great Xia.
The Great Xia territory has the Celestial Venerables stationed there—I didn't want to confront them directly, so I've been waiting at the border for an opportunity… Until today, when I sensed your aura leave the border through the mist and chased after you."
Number 27 paused, his voice gradually growing colder. "You… weren't you just hiding from me because you didn't want to fulfill the contract?"
Feeling the chill emanating from Number 27, beads of cold sweat began forming at Lin Qiye's temples,
So that was the problem!
He quickly explained:
"No… I thought you would come directly to find me in Great Xia, like the Seraphim did at the time… You didn't show up for so long, so I thought you must have had something else to attend to, and I was waiting all along.
But wait, aren't you the Hunt Ancestor? You're not an Outer God hostile to Great Xia—why wouldn't you enter my Great Xia borders?"