As Ed's figure slowly walked toward the exit of the underground space, Reve turned his head, watching Ed's back.

When Ed had completely disappeared from sight, Reve whispered, his voice low enough only for himself to hear:

"A Seal with enormous power, a strength that seems to match a Silver-level Hunter... Ed, was the one-eyed man really killed by the ghost spirit?"

"If the one-eyed man wasn't killed by the ghost spirit, where would you hide the high-level spiritual treasure?"

Reve slowly closed his eyes. He had already asked Toronto, Ford, and Anthony about all the details of this mission.

From their descriptions, it was clear that Ed had great wisdom and immense power.

This made Reve more suspicious than ever. The one-eyed man had likely not died at the hands of a ghost spirit; it was much more likely that Ed had killed him.

But what about the high-level spiritual treasure?

The sorcerer, who could briefly recreate past scenes, had found nothing of value in the Nightmare Wasteland. The information provided was vague, offering many possible explanations.

Reve didn't care about the sorcerer's results. If possible, he wanted Ed to be fully exonerated from suspicion of killing the one-eyed man.

What mattered most was whether the President of the Moon Eclipse Demon Hunter Association, Arya, would believe that the high-level spiritual treasure truly had nothing to do with Ed when he returned and learned of everything that had transpired.

If Arya believed that, Reve could wait for the right opportunity to quietly kill Ed.

Whether or not Ed had killed the one-eyed man didn't matter to Reve. All he wanted was to obtain the high-level spiritual treasure!

As for the death of the one-eyed man, how many Hunters had died in this world? Only power mattered.

Reve took a deep breath, furrowed his brow, and then shouted loudly to the other Association members nearby, "Someone, come clean up this place. It's just disgusting."

...

At the Moon Eclipse Demon Hunter Association, Ed, feeling exhausted, dismounted from his horse. Holding the reins in his left hand and cradling Alice's body in his arms, he prepared to enter the Association's building.

A few figures were waiting for him at the entrance. Ed glanced and recognized Toronto, Ford, Anthony, and a few others he didn't know.

Toronto and Ford rushed over first. Ford instinctively took the reins from Ed, while Toronto, looking at Alice's body, didn't say anything. He simply removed his Hunter cloak and gently draped it over her.

Toronto whispered, "There are still many people inside. They've all heard about what happened to you, Captain Ed."

Ed nodded. He only wanted to find Melissa now, hoping to get more useful information.

At that moment, Anthony walked over. He stopped about three meters away from Ed, his expression complicated, filled with envy and regret.

As a member of Ed's team—more accurately, a former member—if he hadn't abandoned the mission midway, he would have had a share in the credit for discovering the ruins.

Anthony looked at Ed walking toward him, opened his mouth, and said, "Captain Ed..."

To his surprise, Ed completely ignored him and walked past him, causing Anthony to snap his mouth shut.

It was Toronto, following behind Ed, who apologized to Anthony. "Captain Ed's in a bad mood. Maybe you should come back in a couple of days?"

Hearing Toronto's words, Anthony clenched his fists. Toronto's strength was lower than his! He was a Black Iron Level Mid-tier Hunter, while Anthony was just a Black Iron Level Low-tier Hunter. For this mission, Toronto would get a portion of the bounty and the reward for discovering the ruins.

But him? He had nothing!

Why? Was it because he had chosen to temporarily abandon the mission when he realized the danger? Was that the reason?

It wasn't fair!

Anthony took a deep breath and suddenly turned around, shouting at Ed's back, "I'm also a member of the team! I deserve a share of the reward for discovering the ruins!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Toronto, who had been explaining Ed's bad mood to Anthony, suddenly showed a brief flash of disdain and disgust on his face. The expression vanished almost immediately.

As for Ford, whose temper wasn't great, he snapped, "Anthony, do you still have any shame?"

Anthony pointed a finger at Ford and retorted, "Shame? I know exactly what happened. What did you do? From start to finish, you were injured! Why do you get a share of the reward?"

Ford gave a disdainful smile and directly responded to Anthony, "You're wrong. I already spoke with Vice-Captain Ford. I'm giving up my share of the bounty and the reward for discovering the ruins. They should all go to Captain Ed."

It was the first time Ford had called Ed "Captain." There was no special reason other than that from the beginning, Ford had been dismissive of Ed, but after going through everything, Ford had come to feel that Ed was a real Hunter.

Upon hearing Ford's words, Anthony was completely stunned. He instinctively took a step back, unable to believe his ears.

Ford had actually given up the reward?

The bounty wasn't important, but the reward for discovering the ruins was crucial, especially for new members of the Moon Eclipse Demon Hunter Association. Contribution points were the most valuable thing!

Without contribution points, obtaining items to improve one's strength from the Association would require spending a substantial amount of gold.

Ford was foolish enough to give it all up, without taking anything!

A thought began to form in Anthony's mind. Since Ford had rejected the reward, did that mean that if he could get a share, the reward would be larger for him?

Anthony licked his lips and without hesitation started to approach Ed.

Ed's voice was cold as he spoke directly, "Toronto, Ford, I don't want anyone disturbing me right now. I have things to do. Let's meet in my room later tonight."

Ford immediately responded, "No problem! Captain!"

Toronto nodded and then turned, blocking Anthony's path.

Ignoring the shouting Anthony, Ed carried Alice's body and made his way to Melissa's room. Just as he raised his hand to knock, he heard Melissa's voice from inside:

"Come in, I've already heard about what happened."

After entering Melissa's room, Ed glanced around, looking for a suitable place to lay Alice's body down.

To his surprise, Melissa immediately pulled out an exceptionally expensive-looking blanket and without hesitation laid it on the ground. She then gestured for Ed to place Alice's body down.

Afterward, Melissa removed the Hunter cloak covering Alice's body. She froze for a moment upon seeing the corpse.

Melissa spoke softly to Ed:

"Sigh, when a person is alive, having their soul ripped from their body is an incredibly painful process. Many sorcerers who study the soul's domain, even they can fall into madness from the sheer agony."

"She's just a child."

Melissa's voice was unusually gentle, and Ed felt his chest tighten even more.

Yes, she was just a child. It wasn't her fault.

Ed took a deep breath and began asking, "Lady Melissa, have you heard of a name, Vil?"

Melissa shook her head. She didn't know Vil, but she did know some information about Parasitic Serpent Monsters.

This was an exceptionally rare creature, with powerful regenerative abilities. It could parasitize and take over another's body, gaining fragments of the original body owner's memories.

Only the white serpentine monsters were true Parasitic Serpent Monsters.

As for the black serpentine monsters, they were humans transformed through special methods by the Parasitic Serpent Monster. These creatures possessed some intelligence and combat ability but were controlled by the Parasitic Serpent Monster like puppets.

Ed asked Melissa for more information about the Moon Worship Sect, and to his surprise, she gave him an address, telling him there was a run-down library at that location, which would contain much of the information Ed was looking for.

After receiving the address from Melissa, Ed took out the rubbing of the mysterious text from the stone tablet.

Surprisingly, even Melissa didn't recognize the writing, but she suggested that Ed go to the run-down library and ask the librarian. Perhaps the librarian would know what the text meant.

With this new information, Ed stood in place, not intending to leave immediately. He waited for a moment before speaking:

"If I could bring back the white Alice..."

Melissa answered directly, "It's no use, Ed. Once someone is dead, they're dead. There's no way to bring the dead back to life in this world. And even if there were, it would come at an unbearable cost."

"Ed, you need to remember this: death is final."

"No Hunter, no matter how powerful, can escape death."

Ed nodded. He had only been asking. This world wasn't a game, and death was final—there was no respawning.

Ed didn't want to die. He couldn't be like Anthony, retreating from any danger and abandoning everything.

There was only one way forward: to become stronger, to keep growing!

Only with power could he have the ability to change things.

If even a Gold-level Hunter would find it difficult to kill Vil, then the answer was clear: he needed to become a Gold-level Hunter or stronger!

With his goal now clear, Ed turned to handle Alice's body. He intended to bury Alice alongside her parents.

The process was simple. There was no funeral, no ceremony. Ed merely erected a simple stone tablet.

He stood in front of the stone tablet alone for a while, then left without looking back.

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