Not far away, on a densely wooded hillside, there was a strange shadow, resembling a human but not quite; it looked more like a beast or an insect.

"Whoo..." Iris took a deep breath and stepped lightly towards the hillside. In her mind, an image automatically appeared - a group of scarecrows floating in mid-air, pointing at her in unison...

Regardless of whether this image was real or not, she treated it as a game. If the scarecrows were indeed real, she planned to use White Flame to communicate friendly with them and make them willingly become her contracted beasts. Then she would release them every night to scare Baixi. It would be quite amusing.

As Iris got closer, the mysterious shadow on the hillside disappeared.

She stopped and carefully observed her surroundings, but she no longer sensed any abnormal power fluctuations.

Frowning, Iris murmured to herself, "Teleportation? Spatial magic? Or something else..." Her gaze sharpened, and she lightly tapped the ground with her toe. Blue veins appeared beneath her feet and quickly formed a Qimen pattern.

"Vampire girl, are you battling with the air?" Chaos's disdainful voice echoed in Iris's ear, mocking and taunting.

"Didn't you see the strange human-like shadow just now?" Iris asked irritably.

"There was nothing at all. You must be hallucinating. I suggest you go back to your dormitory and get some sleep, otherwise you might have a mental breakdown." Chaos chuckled, his tone filled with a sense of schadenfreude, as if he was waiting to see Iris embarrass herself.

Iris closed her eyes and used the Qimen pattern to perceive everything around her. She didn't sense any abnormal power fluctuations, but she believed her eyes would never be wrong.

Just as Iris was about to return to her dormitory to rest, a chilling voice abruptly rang out, "Save... me..."

"It's coming!"

"Help! Don't leave me behind..."

"For the Ruined Land."

The fragmented voices echoed in the darkness, as if coming from a distant void, chilling the bones and causing the hairs on one's body to stand on end.

Iris's Qimen pattern still didn't detect any abnormalities in her surroundings. She couldn't help but wonder, muttering to herself, "What on earth is screaming for help? And talking about the Ruined Land?"

"Chaos, did you hear that strange voice?" Iris asked in her mind.

"I didn't hear anything. There's no strange voice. Are you hallucinating? Go back to sleep." Chaos yawned.

Iris pursed her lips and summoned the Silver Wing Spear, holding it vigilantly as she scanned her surroundings.

"I must see for myself what is playing tricks in the darkness," she said quietly.

Chaos knew who it was and was well aware of Iris's temperament, so he didn't stop her. Instead, he silently watched, hoping to witness a spectacular scene where Iris would be shocked to the point of collapse.

"In the darkness, there are unknown things... Open the door... Let me in..." The voice of the other side scratched like a cat's claws on an iron plate, sending shivers down one's spine.

"Get out!" Iris swung her Silver Wing Spear violently, stabbing towards the direction from where the voice came.

Suddenly, a steel claw that could easily tear a person appeared out of thin air and firmly grabbed her spear.

"Night White... save me..."

"Night White... don't abandon me, please..."

The voice intermittently came from the darkness, a piercing lament echoing endlessly.

Various strange events from her past resurfaced in Iris's mind. It was a scene she had encountered during her childhood, a memory too tragic to forget.

Countless beggars were captured and killed, corpses strewn everywhere, blood flowing freely. Behind each lifeless body were a pair of blood-red eyes...

It was a memory she could never erase!

The horrific incident from that night left a profound shadow on Iris. Even though she had grown strong over the years, she still couldn't escape that nightmare.

There was once a peer who sought help from Night White, but he chose to abandon the fellow and flee.

Iris's pupils suddenly contracted, and she forcefully pulled back her Silver Wing Gun.

"Bang!"

The Silver Wing Gun slammed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Simultaneously, a mysterious voice resounded, "Who's there? Come out now."

"It's... a scarecrow!"

Suddenly, the scarecrow appeared behind Iris, crows circling around it.

"Heh~"

With a cold laugh, the scarecrow transformed into a blur and pounced towards Iris, sharp nails tearing through her sleeves, drawing a droplet of blood.

"Who are you?!" Iris quickly turned her body to avoid the scarecrow's attack, swinging her Silver Wing Gun horizontally.

The scarecrow's head was struck by the Silver Wing Gun, emitting a metallic scraping sound. In an instant, its neck twisted at a horrifying angle, and its head flew towards the nearby bushes.

The opponent's appearance was a body made of withered straw and mechanical constructions, wielding a black and red battle scythe in its left hand and a gigantic steel claw in its right.

Looking at the opponent's weapon, Iris was speechless. "This black and red weapon is clearly a demonic insignia, Chaos always messes around with such chaotic stuff."

"What's your sequence ranking and name?"

After the scarecrow's head flew away, it remained motionless, yet it had not died.

"Chaos, don't play dead! What is the deal with this scarecrow?" Iris angrily asked.

"Demon Sequencer Rank 9, known as the Fear Demon Feidler, nickname Scarecrow," Chaos lazily replied.

"Why isn't he talking? Does he not even know how to introduce himself? So rude." Iris complained.

"Feidler's language skills are not well developed. The words he speaks are just the final words of the dead. He can be considered a last words recording device. His true body is inside this body's cage. You can hold it in your arms, it looks quite adorable." Chaos reminded.

"Is this guy trying to harm me again?" Iris hesitated, then removed the yellow straw from the scarecrow's body, revealing a black spherical object in the cage on its chest, resembling a heart. But this heart hastily retreated two steps back, displaying a guilty expression.

The black spherical object had three red eyes, emitting a dark glow, appearing extremely sinister. As it saw Iris approaching, it immediately hid back inside the scarecrow's chest, too afraid to show itself, perhaps because it was frightened of Iris or maybe due to shyness.

"Chaos, you call this cute?" Iris couldn't help but chuckle.

"Isn't it cute? Among the demons, Fader is the cutest, and the straw man appearance was created when it descended upon the Ruined Land and used nearby items. That's why there has always been a legend of the straw man in the Ruined Land," explained Chaos.

"Hmph," Iris snorted and opened the cage on the straw man's chest, pulling Fader out of the cage.

"You can't speak, which means you're refusing to communicate with Your Majesty. What if I need your help and you delay because we can't communicate? You can't shirk your responsibility, so you need to learn how to speak."

Fader: "..."

Due to Fader's limited language ability, it could only look at Iris with its red eyes.

Then, Iris picked up Fader like a pet and flew towards the direction of the palace.

"Chaos, why can't my Qimen compass detect Federer?"

"Federer is the embodiment of fear, a conceptual creature that cannot be detected by you. Federer only shows its demonic form when the enemy is most frightened. Normally, Federer looks like this in your hand. The stronger the enemy's fear, the stronger Federer's power."

"It seems that this little guy can only be useful in a large-scale war."

"Pretty much," Chaos replied, full of approval.