“Watch out!”

Baili Dao roared, swinging his Nine-Ring Broadsword, now stained a deep, dark red, toward his companion.

The other man didn’t dodge or evade.

He simply let the light of the blade fall upon a Ghost Villager that had silently appeared beside him. The creature, a sharp blade clutched in its hand, was instantly split in two.

After dealing with the ambusher, the two men stood back-to-back, gasping for breath. Their eyes were a mixture of frustration, fatigue, helplessness, and even despair.

“Aren’t there too damn many of them?” Baili Dao said helplessly. “Who the hell cleared this Nightmare-level Instance? Is that something a human can actually do? Can’t we get the people outside to come back in?”

They were still surrounded by hundreds of Ghost Villagers. Even after slaying dozens, their numbers didn’t seem to decrease.

If they weren’t mistaken, these were just the grunts. The real boss was still over at the sacrificial plaza.

Even so, the two of them felt their chances of escaping were slim.

The sheer numbers were bad enough, but every two minutes, the Ghost Villagers would start dancing, unleashing a powerful mental impact that affected them both.

Even with the talisman papers Director Xiezhi had given them to counter the attack, they were unable to take any action while resisting it. They were forced to stand still and wait for the dance to end.

Then, they would once again face the despairing crush of numbers.

It was a deadly, unbreakable cycle.

“The message has already reached the people outside. No one will enter the village now,” his companion said, just as helplessly. “We have to rely on ourselves to escape.”

After the Yin Fate Great God’s seal was broken, all their electronic devices had stopped working. He had used a Carrier Pigeon-type item right at the start to send out the director’s order to retreat from the vicinity.

But after fighting to break out for half a day, he had come to a grim realization.

It seemed the two of them weren’t going to make it out. Who knew there were so many of these damn Ghost Villagers?

“I have a large-area crowd control item here.”

The companion took a strange device that looked like a lightning rod from his backpack.

“It can paralyze all creatures within a thirty-meter radius with less than ten points of Mental Strength. The duration is about three minutes.”

Seeing this, Baili Dao’s face lit up with joy.

These irrational Ghost Villagers couldn’t possibly have more than ten points of Mental Strength. Such a large area and long duration… it was more than enough to break through!

He clapped the man’s shoulder.

“Buddy, why didn’t you take out a great item like this sooner? My arms are about to go limp from all the chopping.”

The other man replied irritably, “You think I didn’t want to use it from the start? The side effect of this thing is too stupid.”

Baili Dao froze.

He asked subconsciously, “What’s the side effect?”

His companion’s face was grim as he answered, “After using it, I myself will be paralyzed for five minutes, completely defenseless.”

“?”

Hold on, buddy.

It restricts the enemy for three minutes, but it paralyzes you for five?

What the hell kind of stupid item is this?

Baili Dao now understood why his companion hadn’t used it from the beginning.

It really was idiotic.

“There’s no way to break through normally anymore, or else I wouldn’t have taken this stupid item out,” the companion said, rubbing his temples. “After I use it, you should be the only one within thirty meters who can still move. Carrying me while you run shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“You trust me that much?”

Baili Dao was a little surprised.

Although they were both members of the Abnormal Affairs Bureau, this was their first time meeting. Wasn’t it a bit rash to hand over his life so directly?

What if he just turned and ran? After three minutes, the Ghost Villagers would recover, and this guy would be left lying on the ground, waiting to die.

“No, I trust Director Xiezhi.” The companion’s eyes grew firm. “He’s the one who trained you. I believe in his judgment. He wouldn’t have raised an ungrateful bastard who would abandon his teammate.”

Hearing this, a proud expression appeared on Baili Dao’s face.

He slapped his chest.

“Alright! Just for your trust in my boss, I’m telling you, even if I die today, I’ll die before you do! My name is Baili Dao. What’s yours?”

“Xu Hu.”

The companion stuck the device into the ground. Seeing the Ghost Villagers closing in again, he said, “Enough with the talk about dying. Save it for when we get out of here alive.”

“Are you ready?”

Baili Dao yelled, “Bring it on!”

Pa—

The moment he finished speaking, Xu Hu slapped a switch on the device.

Zzzzz—

A strange electrical hum echoed from within. Xu Hu swallowed, his mouth dry and his hand trembling reflexively. He had used this thing once before.

The memory was not a pleasant one.

BOOM—

Baili Dao heard a loud noise behind him. He turned and was stunned to see a bolt of lightning inexplicably appear in the sky, striking the tip of the device with immense force.

Xu Hu, whose hand was still on the switch, was instantly electrocuted. His hair shot up into a comical afro as his whole body trembled and twitched on the ground. Black smoke wafted from his mouth.

The next second, a strange blue web of electricity spread across the ground, instantly covering a thirty-meter radius.

The Ghost Villagers within range all collapsed, twitching on the ground just like Xu Hu, paralyzed and immobile.

“Fuck! This thing really is a lightning rod, huh?”

So the side effect was that it had to electrocute the user first?

Baili Dao cursed as he grabbed Xu Hu from the ground, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and began to sprint toward the village exit.

Fortunately, the strength bonus from the 【Bloodthirsty Ring Blade】 lasted for one minute. After killing so many Ghost Villagers, he had long since maxed out its stacks. His strength was soaring, making him incredibly nimble even while carrying a grown man.

Five meters… ten meters… thirty meters!

In just a few steps, Baili Dao had dashed past the thirty-meter mark. Looking back at the toppled Ghost Villagers, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

Those things would be paralyzed for more than two minutes. There was no way they could catch up to him now.

From here on out, the sky was the limit!

Thump thump thump thump thump—

Just then, the sound of dense footsteps came from ahead.

The expression on Xu Hu’s face grew uglier, and the helplessness in his eyes gradually turned back to despair.

He saw countless Ghost Villagers.

They were running frantically toward them from the front.

Their numbers were at least double what they had just faced!

They had only broken out a few steps ago!

He still had at least four minutes of paralysis left.

Could Baili Dao alone hold off a horde that had overwhelmed both of them, an even larger one at that?

It was obviously impossible.

The stampeding villagers were still some distance away. If Baili Dao put him down now, he might have a chance to rush into the forest before they arrived. Once inside, escaping would be much easier.

“Brother Baili, put me down…” Xu Hu managed to say.

“Shut up!”

Baili Dao cut off Xu Hu’s strained words.

He took a rope from his backpack, tied the man securely to his body, and gripped the hilt of his blade with both hands. A blood-red color gradually filled his pupils.

He spoke, one word at a time.

“I told you. You will not die before I do!”

【Trustworthy Berserker Baili Dao】

A system notification echoed in Baili Dao’s ear.

His title had changed.

But Baili Dao had no time to check the effects of his new title. He just wanted to slaughter a path to survival.

In the blink of an eye, the horde of charging Ghost Villagers was upon them.

Baili Dao advanced instead of retreating.

With a lunge, he swung his blade in wide, savage arcs. His brutal, efficient technique instantly slew three Ghost Villagers, stunning the paralyzed Xu Hu on his back.

This guy… was he this fierce just now?

Thump thump thump thump—

The frantic footsteps didn’t stop.

Xu Hu immediately noticed something strange.

These Ghost Villagers…

They weren’t attacking them!

They were still stampeding toward the center of the village. Even when Baili Dao cut down several of them mid-run, the Ghost Villagers next to them didn’t stop or even spare them a glance.

It was as if some great terror was chasing them from behind, leaving them no time to deal with anyone in their path.

Although Baili Dao and he were instantly swallowed by the crowd, they were merely mixed in, not surrounded.

The Ghost Villagers rushed past them one after another.

“Wait! Brother Baili! There’s something behind them!” Xu Hu shouted.

The blood-red in Baili Dao’s eyes gradually faded.

Slowly, a thin figure appeared at the end of the road.

The person was not particularly handsome, dressed in a hoodie and wearing black-framed glasses. He carried a rusty, broken sword and clearly did not belong in Yin Fate Village.

He walked just like that, step by step.

Unhurried, as if on a post-dinner stroll, he even whistled a light, carefree tune.

Occasionally, he would pass a Ghost Villager that had been trampled and left with broken legs. As the young man passed, the immobilized creature would let out a piercing scream before exploding into fine bone ash that scattered across the ground.

The same Ghost Villagers that had driven the two of them into a desperate corner couldn’t even bear to stay near this person for an extra second.

“Who… Who is this person?”

The power and relaxed air of this newcomer made Baili Dao’s and Xu Hu’s breath catch in their throats.

If this was a player, they would have to be a high-ranking executive, at least at the level of a Branch Director in the Abnormal Affairs Bureau, to possess this kind of strength.

For a moment, the two of them even forgot about escaping.

The Ghost Villagers had already fled further away. They were now certain that the horde was fleeing from this young man.

Tap, tap—

The young man walked up to the two of them.

He glanced at the blood-soaked Baili Dao.

And slowly spat out a sentence.

“If you’re trash, practice more.”

With that, he turned and walked toward the very center of the village without looking back.

His completely unguarded back was exposed to them, as if he wasn’t the least bit worried they posed a threat to him.

What incredible self-confidence!

And that phrase, “If you’re trash, practice more”… Xu Hu felt like he had seen it somewhere before.

Wait! On the server-wide announcement!

Could he be the master who cleared the Nightmare-level Solo Instance?

“Brother Baili, let’s go,” Xu Hu said with emotion. “I’ll use a Carrier Pigeon item later to inform the director and the others that the master has come to handle this Calamity Lair.”

But Baili Dao didn’t leave immediately. He continued to frown, looking in the direction the young man had gone.

Although the build and voice didn’t match at all, the image of that back, walking away into the horde of Ghost Villagers, gradually overlapped in his mind with the back of Pending Death in Fight Back to School as he walked toward that group of students.

It was too similar…

The same seemingly unremarkable appearance, yet it revealed a kind of solitary uniqueness, a nonchalance born from the ultimate loneliness of being at the peak.

So damn cool!

“Brother Hu, you might not believe what I’m about to say.”

“The way that expert’s showing off… it’s just like a friend of mine.”

Xu Hu blinked.

“?”

Wait, buddy, you know a master like that?