367: Chapter 367 Another person is missing?

Senior Ji Youyou sighed helplessly in her heart.

She reached out to rub her throbbing temples, feeling that her confident attempt at probing him just now was incredibly stupid.

What mastermind? What scheming demon king?

It was all just her overthinking.

"What did you call me just now?" Jiang You turned his head and looked at Senior Ji Youyou with some confusion. "Why did you stop halfway?"

"N-nothing."

Senior Ji Youyou gave him an awkward look, silently stepped back, and put some distance between them.

"You misheard. I just wanted to remind you: out with the old, in with the new. My condolences."

Jiang You: "???"

What kind of thunderous consolation was that?

Why did he feel so cold after hearing it!

However, Jiang You could only be shocked for a second, then he continued to stand on tiptoes, looking at the three brothers-in-misfortune who were only wearing boxers.

"Sigh, it seems there are still people in this world worse off than me."

Jiang You secretly rejoiced in his heart: "At least that thief left me my pajamas, instead of making me come out and embarrass myself with my bare butt. Thinking about it this way, losing a ring seems acceptable, right?"

The self-comfort mechanism of a salted fish played a perfect role at this moment.

The spatial tremors in the plaza continued.

That giant teleportation array, stained through with black mist, was like an old slot machine spitting out coins crazily.

Every time it lit up, two or three miserable-looking contestants would fall out of mid-air.

Without exception, everyone's storage artifacts had vanished into thin air.

This unprecedented "zero-dollar purchase" assembly line was basically grinding the dignity and family fortune of these top talents of Great Xia into the dirt.

After a full ten minutes, when the last two bruised and swollen team members from a small academy were thrown out, the pitch-black teleportation light gate in the center of the plaza finally fell completely silent.

There was no more movement, and no one else fell out from inside.

The black mist around the light gate continued to roll, like a tightly closed abyss maw, revealing a suffocating silence.

"Is it over?"

Several high-ranking members of the Organizing Committee looked at each other, their foreheads covered in cold sweat.

"Medical team! Logistics team! Immediately initiate the highest-level headcount procedure!"

President Xia Yun of Imperial Capital Martial Arts University had a face as dark as water. He strode to the front of the plaza, and his voice spread across the entire venue through the amplification array:

"Gather all the escaped contestants, including those who are seriously injured, unconscious, or were eliminated early and went to rest outside the field! Compare them with the registration list and verify their identities one by one!"

"I want to know for certain whether any of Great Xia's martial arts seeds have fallen at the hands of that guy!"

At his command, the entire plaza of the National Martial Arts Competition Center instantly sprang into action.

Hundreds of staff members holding thick paper lists wove through the crowd, starting a carpet-style search and verification.

The team leaders and principals of major universities also took action, running to their respective rest areas to count heads.

In the camp of Magic City Martial Arts University, Principal Pang Ban had a dark face, his gaze scanning back and forth over the group of characters from Class F.

Xie Fuyao, Qiu Yunan, Gou Fugui, Xiang Batian, Bai Zimo, Junior Zhong Wu, Ye Li... even Jiang You, who had the most problems, was currently hugging his shoulders and watching the fun from the side.

"The main force is all here, not a single one missing."

Principal Pang Ban let out a long breath of turbid air, and the heart that had been hanging in his throat finally fell back into his stomach.

"Good! Our Magic City Martial Arts University team is all present!"

Principal Pang Ban wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, finally feeling a bit of confidence.

Ten minutes later.

All parties finished counting.

In the Organizing Committee's data statistics center, several supervisors in charge of verifying the list looked at the personnel list in their hands, their faces turning deathly pale.

They had checked it thoroughly and repeatedly three whole times.

They even sent special personnel to the hospital to confirm the identities of those who had been sent to ambulances early due to injuries.

A supervisor swallowed hard, his Legs weak as he ran to President Xia Yun and several Grandmasters, reporting with a trembling voice:

"President Xia! The principals of all major universities have confirmed it. There were no casualties in their respective teams, and everyone has already left the instance!"

Hearing this, the tightly locked brows of several official bigwigs finally relaxed slightly.

"However..."

The supervisor's tone shifted abruptly, his voice filled with a ghostly sense of horror:

"However, when we added up all the living people and compared it to the official total registration list for this Hundred Schools League..."

"I don't know why, but we are still one person short!"

Huh?

Another person missing?

A high-ranking member of the Organizing Committee immediately widened his eyes and grabbed the supervisor by the collar: "Didn't you say all the principals confirmed no one was missing?! Where did this extra missing spot come from?"

The supervisor was about to cry, stuttering as he explained: "I don't know! We checked the list from beginning to end several times, there is definitely one person missing from the scene!"

"But every school insisted that their people were all present. This, this simply doesn't make sense!"

The whole scene fell into a deathly silence.

The major universities had checked their heads and found that all their own people were there.

But on the list, it was precisely missing this last person!

This "extra" missing spot instantly became a bizarre, unsolved case!

"Could it be..."

A deputy director of the Martial Arts General Administration had a livid face, a chilling thought flashing through his mind.

He pointed to the teleportation gate still emitting black mist, his voice hoarse:

"Could this last person be the Faceless Man?!"

"He isn't some hidden expert who broke into the secret realm at all! From the very beginning, he used the fake identity of some unknown student, brazenly mixed into the team of over a thousand contestants, and got in after passing the security check?"

Once this inference was made, all the bigwigs felt their spines turn cold.

That's right!

If the Faceless Man had snuck in, he would have occupied a registration spot!

And now, all the genuine contestants had been thrown out by him like trash, except for him, who remained in that completely sealed secret realm!

"So, this person who didn't come out is absolutely the Faceless Man himself!"

"What exactly does this damnable cultist want to do in Forbidden Zone No. 009?!"

Just as the official bigwigs were breaking out in cold sweat from this thought-provoking inference and preparing to order the army to seal off the entire competition venue.

"Buzz—!!!"

A harsh energy buzzing sound suddenly came from the center of the plaza.

Immediately after, in the shocked eyes of everyone, the thick black mist covering the hundred-meter-high teleportation light gate actually seemed to encounter some irresistible repulsive force, crazily shrinking inward like a receding tide!

Those ink-colored air clouds, which were enough to isolate the detection of a Tier 6 Grandmaster, dissipated completely in just a few breaths!

The familiar, ghostly white spatial array patterns began to circulate on the surface of the light gate once again.