Boom!
An immense force abruptly manifested and began destroying everything.
The originally collapsed tunnels, doors, stairs, and passages were grinded to dust under this force.
Everything was destroyed.
Gu Qing Shan’s group of four were all running for their lives.
Behind them, the entire passage was already collapsing under their feet.
The swirling dust blown by the shockwaves almost felt like a gigantic snake that closely pursued them at increasingly faster speeds in an attempt to swallow them up.
Fortunately, the Spatial seal had already been lifted, so Gu Qing Shan’s group was able to move along much faster.
“No need to be in a hurry, the collapse won’t be able to catch up with us” Gu Qing Shan loudly called out.
He lightly patted Scarlet’s shoulder.
Scarlet’s expression was pale, but she clenched her teeth and nodded, finally calming down a bit.
Shroud was running at the very front of the group and abruptly shouted: “There’s no path in front of us, only a straight cliff that leads downwards!”
“Then fly down!” Reneedol shouted back.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry!” Gu Qing Shan urged them.
A really bad omen was plaguing this heart, causing him to feel shortness of breath and even a bit nauseated.
Even my spirit sense is reacting like this, no wonder Scarlet also felt it and became frightened.
The situation is very bad right now.
But then…
How did things become this bad?
Gu Qing Shan silently questioned himself.
At the very next moment, the four of them leapt down from the cliff and started flying downwards.
Gu Qing Shan looked straight down.
Only to see a single downward path that was dark, silent, and bottomless.
The four of them quickly descended.
Suddenly, a deafening noise resounded from the top of the cliff.
This was an indescribable noise.
It was as if everything that could make a noise in the world had howled and cried at the same time.
“This much force… oh no…”
Gu Qing Shan felt his consciousness becoming blurry.
He barely managed to open his eyes to look at the other three, only to see that Scarlet was still flying but her eyes were already closed shut, evidently unconscious.
Reneedol grabbed Shroud’s hand and also fell unconscious.
Shroud was still barely hanging on.
Gu Qing Shan focused his mind as much as he could and called out: “Shannu, catch us”
He then fell unconscious.
Almost at the same time, Shroud also fell unconscious.
An autumn-water clear blue steel sword appeared from behind Gu Qing Shan, circled around the group, then followed their descend.
“Don’t go out, the residue shockwaves of that force is still spreading, it’s unbelievably powerful!” Shannu sent her voice to the other three swords in Gu Qing Shan’s Thought Sea.
「 Such power, what exactly was that? 」the Earth sword asked.
The Six Paths Great Mountain sword continuously circled around the group of four and answered: “It feels like many kinds of powers erupting at once to cause this disturbance”
“Many kinds? How many?” Luo Bing Li asked.
“Numerous, uncountable” Shannu replied.
「 Very well, we don’t have [Invincible] and [Law Breaker], so it wouldn’t even be funny if we got sent flying. We’re staying inside 」the Earth sword spoke with a mountainous heavy voice.
Luo Bing Li also said: “When they’re about to reach the ground, when you catch them, are you going to take that chance to kill Reneedol?”
“No” Shannu resolutely replied.
“Why not?” Luo Bing Li asked.
“Because gongzi told me ‘catch us’, not ‘kill Reneedol'”
“…You sure are rigid”
“This isn’t called being rigid, I’m just listening to gongzi’s orders” Shannu replied.
Faint, unclear.
A crude voice resounded:
“Ahaha, say, how come you Hitmen can earn so much money, you’re just killing a few people, right?”
Gu Qing Shan turned around and saw that it was Liao Xing who spoke.
Ye Fei Li and Zhang Ying Hao were also sitting together.
There was plenty of food on the table, as well as 7-8 different bottles of alcohol.
This was one of the nights when the Frozen Hell first appeared on Gu Qing Shan’s home world.
Everyone was having dinner and chatting for a little bit.
Zhang Ying Hao ate a piece of beef stew and casually replied: “We kill people purely to satisfy someone else’s wish, so it’s considered a luxury customized service”
Liao Xing was unconvinced: “Any of the warp bombs I make can easily kill a large group of people”
“That’s called a terrorist attack that affects public order” Zhang Ying Hao scoffed.
“Alright, less arguing, let’s drink” Gu Qing Shan stepped in.
Everyone cheered and downed their cups at once.
Liao Xing stopped caring about this matter and focused on eating his cake.
Ye Fei Li then asked: “Hey, Ying Hao, no matter how you kill, it’s still murder right? How come you’re making it out to be so much more graceful?”
Zhang Ying Hao’s attitude towards Ye Fei Li was naturally different from Liao Xing.
He put his fork down and looked at Ye Fei Li: “Then I’ll ask you, how do you kill people”
Ye Fei Li naturally answered: “I fly over, kill them, then leave”
Zhang Ying Hao shook his head: “What if you can’t kill them by flying over them?”
Ye Fei Li froze.
Zhang Ying Hao continued: “For example, if there’s a target that’s several times stronger than you are but still ended up being killed by you, why do you think that happened?”
Ye Fei Li thought briefly and replied: “Because I ambushed him?”
“That’s not the right answer”
Zhang Ying Hao pointed at him, then at Gu Qing Shan, asking: “I just sent you out to learn survival skills, hunting skills, as well as various other skills, why do you think that is?”
Ye Fei Li didn’t answer.
Zhang Ying Hao continued: “Gu Qing Shan said that he wanted to act as someone else, so I had Tong Tong take him for a lesson at the Capital’s film academy, why do you think I did that?”
Ye Fei Li put down his ice cream cup and looked at Gu Qing Shan to ask for help.
Gu Qing Shan smiled, then replied: “Killing might be simple, but when it comes to an enemy stronger than yourself, of course you need to use your head”
“Oh? Tell me more” Zhang Ying Hao asked with interest.
Gu Qing Shan explained: “Simply put, you need to collect info, evaluate the circumstances at the scene, investigate the enemy, understand both his strength and weaknesses, try to avoid his strength, rile him up; continuously deceive him, frighten him, bother him up until he reveals his intentions, infer his weakness from his behavior, then look for a chance to use the best strategy you can come up with and the crush him with as much force as you have”
Zhang Ying Hao shrugged: “That’s called war tactics, which is more like a lion going to hunt. For me, the way I kill is another method of hunting”
“What’s that like?” it was Gu Qing Shan’s turn to feel interested.
“Have you ever seen a spider hunt?”
“Hm”
“We remain in the shadows, carefully observing everything about the target, then weave a net using his weakness while he’s still clueless about everything. This isn’t actively killing him, but rather taking advantage of his personality, habits, and hobbies to ensure that under those specific circumstances, he’ll definitely lose his life”
“What do you mean?” Ye Fei Li cut in.
Zhang Ying Hao shrugged, then continued: “Someone who likes scuba diving drowns to death; a racing addict dies in a car accident; a fuckboy dying through contracting a disease; an arrogant person dying in a fight caused by his own mouth. Just like how a greedy person will always look for wealth, the net we weave will ensure that they’ll die from their own desires, drawing no attention”
“This is what you mean by weaving a net?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“That’s right, the kill is only the final result, the difficult part of the art is how to weave those nets in the shadow. That requires a large amount of assets and effort” Zhang Ying Hao replied.
“What do you mean?” Ye Fei Li asked again.
Zhang Ying Hao explained: “Because your net must guarantee a certain thing: As soon as it is cast, the target would never be able to escape from it, only slowly heading towards their death”
Ye Fei Li thought briefly about that situation and couldn’t help but shiver a bit, then said: “If someone doesn’t like money, women, isn’t evil by nature, and only likes to stay home to play games like me, how would you kill someone like that?”
Zhang Ying Hao glanced at him and said: “I only kill corrupt people, what are you worried about?”
“He’s waking up” Scarlet called out.
“Alright, let me give him a bit of healing” Shroud spoke up.
A warm glow enveloped his body.
Gu Qing Shan opened his eyes.
Shroud, Reneedol, and Scarlet were all watching him.
“What happened?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“Nothing much, everyone fell unconscious, you’re the last one to wake up” Reneedol replied.
Gu Qing Shan rubbed his head to check for any bumps and said: “Ah, I just remembered a few things during my dream”
“What is it?” Shroud asked.
“Nothing important, just some past banter. That’s right, how did we survive the fall?” Gu Qing Shan asked while observing their surroundings.
“I already took a look, there was a large slope up there; we probably slid all the way down here, so we weren’t hurt too badly” Scarlet told him.
Gu Qing Shan followed where she was pointing, sure enough, there was a downward slope that continued endlessly into the darkness above.
There was a dusty passage in front of them.
Everything was completely silent.
For some reason, Gu Qing Shan recalled Zhang Ying Hao’s words.
A net in the darkness.
A net…
Gu Qing Shan stood still and carefully thought about everything that happened so far.
Originally, they were heading to the Scavenger Station, but after finding out that everyone there was dead, they helplessly jumped into the tunnel.
After that, the Spatial seal that the Law Behemoths created disappeared.
Everything on the surface died.
So we ran for our lives and ended up here.
Although everything up to now seemed natural, Gu Qing Shan sensed something unnatural.
This was his instinct.
From somewhere unseen, it feels like an invisible hand was moving everything forward.
Gu Qing Shan didn’t show anything on his expression and told everyone: “Seems like we’re safe for now”
Reneedol asked: “When we began to run from the tunnel, you caught something from outside, what was it?”
“I didn’t get to take a look” Gu Qing Shan said.
He took out a long rectangular stone box, put it on the ground, then opened it.
“Whoa” Scarlet exclaimed in awe.
A beautifully-crafted metal spear sat inside the stone box, slowly giving off a sharp sensation.
“What a treasure!” Shroud exclaimed.
Gu Qing Shan picked up a spear and estimated it.
Lines of glowing text quickly appeared on the War God UI:
[Asura War General spear]
[Unique properties: Overlapping Strikes, Thrusting Expertise, Advanced Sharpness]
An Asura realm artifact.
Gu Qing Shan shook his head and gave it to Shroud, telling him:
“You like to use long-handle weapons, you take it”
“Alright, I’ll use it as reference to increase the power of Abaddon. What are you going to use if you give the spear to me?” Shroud took the spear and asked.
“You already gave me a candle. If we run into an enemy that we can’t win against, I’ll pray to not be able to kill him, then he’d definitely die” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Shroud chuckled: “Causality Laws aren’t that simple. The candle can only work for minor matters, otherwise, wouldn’t it be able to decide the survival of the entire world?”
Gu Qing Shan suddenly noticed something.
He yawned, then walked to a corner and sat down:
“I’m tired, let’s rest up a little bit and see whether or not the ceiling will collapse again, then decide what to do later, what do you think?”
“Alright, let me distribute some food for everyone” Shroud said.
Everyone began to reorganize themselves.
Gu Qing Shan silently ate as he asked in his mind: “What’s the matter? Adorable?”
Xiu xiu xiu xiu, wu wu!
The jade gourd pendant Adorable was hurriedly calling out in his mind.
Its voice was filled with dread.