I'm a monster in Demon King's Castle

Peeking in was none other than the Sand Kingdom merchant, Abed.

Li Yue felt even more puzzled—wasn't this person here to attend the Demon Market in Death Town, Dessler?

It had only been a few days, so how did he end up at the Colosseum?

Accompanying him was a mage-like fellow, his robe embroidered with a pattern of golden sand, clearly a hero from the Sand Kingdom as well.

Li Yue's appearance in the tunnel had already attracted the attention of the Eye Demon, and skeletons and armored figures were rushing this way.

The two "test subjects" weren't far off either, so Li Yue didn't linger, turning in the direction where Jessie and her group had disappeared, soon arriving near the safe zone.

As he entered the safe zone, Li Yue felt a jolt in the air, an intent tugging at his brain, causing a sharp pain, as if a scraper was running across his soul.

This room, originally outside his perception… was forcibly located and entered by Li Yue using surveillance comparisons.

Then, Li Yue came face to face with Abed and the Sand Kingdom mage.

The two of them were standing at the entrance, one in front of the other, Abed behind, the mage in front, manipulating a constantly changing cloud of sand in his hands, seemingly casting a divination-type spell.

"Someone's here!" Abed, seeing Li Yue, was immediately startled, shrinking behind the Sand Kingdom mage; the mage, in turn, condensed the sand in his palm, as if ready to launch an attack at any moment.

Li Yue didn't blame them—one of his hands was still a bone hand, his white beard was covered in Fly Demon fluids, and he was covered in wounds, making it difficult for Abed to feel any warmth.

"Hmm?" Li Yue also feigned surprise, then asked, "Where's Jessie?"

"You know her? Are you Van Helsing?" Abed was taken aback, obviously having already met the genius hero of the Kingston family.

"Let's talk inside." Li Yue pointed to the tunnel behind him. Abed and the Sand Kingdom mage also heard the sound of skeletons approaching and hurriedly re-entered the safe zone with Li Yue.

The safe zone was filled with swirling green light, obviously because Jessie and her group were healing; Jessie, seeing Li Yue again, raised an eyebrow, quite curious as to how he had survived the monsters.

"Killed them?" Jessie asked about the monsters that had been chasing them.

"Evaded them." Li Yue didn't need to explain so much. Seeing the various details of the Colosseum at this moment, he was even more interested in the "safe zone" that was not visible in the picture.

The room was basically the size of a study, not luxurious, with only a sofa, a round table, and a candlestick inside; the candle was red, solidified, and stained the center of the round table red, the candlelight flickering, yet emitting a light disproportionate to its size.

Besides Jessie's group of three, Abed, and the Sand Kingdom mage, there was also a strong man in the room, sitting on the sofa, silently staring at the candlelight.

Listening to his inner thoughts, Li Yue inexplicably felt that this hero was not human, but a demon.

【Rain… rain… need a rain…】

Li Yue couldn't understand his thoughts at all, and then suddenly felt malice from the Gunslinger.

【Dodged the demons so quickly… Has Van Helsing been replaced by a demon?】

"Please verify your identity." Although the Gunslinger was visiting Demon King City for the first time, he had heard many stories of heroes being replaced by demons and then killing the entire team.

"Um…" Hearing the Gunslinger's doubts, Li Yue found it difficult to explain to him.

Should he come clean and say that he was a demon from the start?

The sound of a bullet being chambered.

The surrounding silver threads also began to gradually tighten and approach. Covered in wounds, Li Yue stretched out his bone hand to support his head, then looked into the Gunslinger's eyes and said, "As a hero, your IQ doesn't seem to be very high? How would a demon know where the safe zone is?"

In the vision shared with the Fly Demon, the existence of the safe zone was still completely invisible.

If Li Yue hadn't seen the overall situation and used the Brain Spirit's ability to construct space to complete the positioning, he wouldn't have been able to get here at all.

As for the feeling of his soul being scraped just now, Li Yue understood it as the safe zone's detection—although he didn't know how he did it, he did it.

"This is my friend, trust the intuition of a Seventh-Order Knight." Jessie's friend-or-foe recognition still existed, naturally discovering that Li Yue had not been switched out, "He's still the same as before."

"Heh heh… heh heh…" The strong man sitting on the sofa chuckled upon hearing this.

Seeing his master speak, the Gunslinger Karl also put away his gun.

And although Li Yue was re-accepted by the heroes, he still felt a little annoyed—how is interacting with humans… more difficult than interacting with demons?

"Who are they…?" Li Yue saw Abed and the Sand Kingdom mage sit back on the sofa, naturally not revealing that he knew them beforehand.

"Abed, a Sand Kingdom merchant; Sand, a Sand Kingdom hero, a Seventh-Order mage." Brad introduced them to Li Yue while using the green light to heal, perhaps as a subtle way of apologizing.

Li Yue silently assessed the Sand Kingdom mage's abilities—a Seventh-Order mage… he seemed to know both divination and some combat spells, probably about the same strength as the young mage who triggered the ice pillars in the library.

"Van Helsing, a hero from the Rund River." Li Yue nodded to Abed and Sand, "Merchant? What are you doing at the Colosseum?"

Li Yue was a little curious about what could make Abed leave the relatively safe Death Town and run to the Colosseum.

【Demon merchant Bain sold… identified my golden sand… Bain left a finger in the VIP room… Get that finger… to complete the excess identification…】

Li Yue thought for a moment before understanding the logic—so buying from a demon merchant at the auction on the first day wasn't enough, Abed was willing to hire another mage to retrieve Bain's finger and maximize the profit from this trip.

"Business." Although Abed had a lot of inner thoughts, his answer was a bit aloof, seemingly looking down on heroes without much family background.

And just as Abed was speaking, Li Yue inexplicably sensed that under his robe, beneath his skin, there were three places where muscles and bones twisted for a moment, as if possessed by a demon.

【More… more profit…】

At the same time, Abed's inner voice began to show faint murmurs, far exceeding the level of rationality Li Yue had ever heard, instead similar to the voice of the golden-haired scholar Tom when he was dying on Black Slope, tainted with much madness and depravity.

Back then on Black Slope, Shadow promptly stored Tom in the shadow space, preventing him from losing control. Now Li Yue heard a similar voice on Abed, thinking, could this be… the method by which Death Town attracts humans to fall?

Magnify his desires until death, then the soul returns to Dessler?

Li Yue was skeptical, and at the same time found Jessie's behavior just now amusing—that person who could lose control at any time… was actually right beside them.

"You should know this one, right? Rain Man, also a hero from the North." Brad was referring to the strong man sitting on the sofa—the strong man was also wearing a tattered robe, with broken armor faintly visible beneath the robe, and a black metal short stick hanging from his waist.

Li Yue vaguely sensed that the short stick was covered in a bloody aura, and it was difficult for his mind to land on the stick's entity, as if blocked by some kind of blurred air wall.

【Nobleman destroyed by the Snow Kingdom, Rain Man, performer…】

Brad's inner voice revealed a bit of fear, and Li Yue, listening to Rain Man's inner "want a rain," wasn't sure if this person had already lost control and was about to become distorted, or if he was just a madman who liked rain.

Thus, in this safe zone, there was a Sand Kingdom merchant who could lose control at any time, a group of heroes, and a Rain Man. The lineup could be considered very strange, and Li Yue didn't know how they got together—Abed wanted to go to the VIP room to find the finger, Jessie wanted to get a more substantial demon corpse, only Rain Man's purpose was uncertain, not knowing where it would rain next, and what song he would play.

"If you don't have any problems, let's go, to the high-level gladiators' lounge. If we see those two guys again on the way… we'll kill them." Jessie finished repairing and replaced a layer of incantations on her silver armor, making new preparations for the two test subjects.

"We'll go too." To Li Yue's surprise, Abed's eyes rolled, and he called on the mage Sand, actually choosing to act with Jessie and her group.

【Deep into the VIP room… need the help of heroes… coming, I'm coming, my treasure…】