“Um…”
The group exchanged glances, until finally someone from the Snake-Walking Team reluctantly stepped forward and said:
“We took down a small Bound Spirit in that direction, and there are no other Bound Spirits nearby.”
“We also took one down, but it ended up attracting a few larger ones. They’ve been lingering around these past couple of days, right over there.”
The crowd began to share their results and findings. In short, from these entry points into the island, the first few hundred meters could be considered safe.
Jiang Junyi walked out, clad in chainmail armor.
“Captain Yunze, for this entry into City 11, could two of our members also tag along? Your veteran Jiang here can hang nearby and divert those monsters’ attention, making it easier for you to come and go.”
“Count us in too.” A member from another team also stepped forward.
Chen Bin from the Snake Form group refused to be left behind, “Captain Yunze, Yang Qi from our squad has some solid martial arts skills—if he tags along, he’s sure to pull his weight.”
Zhang Zhiquan, standing beside Cheng Yunze, watched with a grin as this crowd appealed to his captain.
This was the Four-Phase Team, after all—the strongest squad in the entire city.
Cheng Yunze stated, “This time, we must enter City 11. So, if you’re willing to help draw away the large Bound Spirits along the way, I can grant your team one spot each.”
“One spot?”
“Let me reiterate: it’s helping to divert every Bound Spirit along the path—including that special one at the very depths. Therefore, any team that knows it lacks the capability should drop out now.”
They suddenly realized—was the entire main force of the Four-Phase Team about to go in? Otherwise, why would they need us for diversion?
One person ventured, “Why do we have to draw them all away? Did something happen in City 11?”
Cheng Yunze didn’t even deign to acknowledge the speaker’s expression.
Bai Xiaoshou raised his head and glanced over coolly; the man quickly shut his mouth.
The several team captains exchanged glances, silently guessing…
Something might be brewing inside City 11.
……
“There sure are a lot of people these past couple of days.”
The dimly lit room glowed with the crackle of a campfire.
Sensing a faint psychic pressure from a distant place, Hong Haocheng stretched his neck while munching on roast fish.
Opposite the campfire, the three trembling figures stared at the flames. Cui Rong whispered nervously, gesturing with a finger on his lips, “Dude, please, keep your voice down.”
“Bro, please, don’t be so loud.”
Seeing their sneaky movements, even more pathetic than when he scavenged the ship,
Hong Haocheng pursed his lips.
“Look at you three, acting like you’ve never seen anything in your life.”
Li Yongqin gave a helpless wry smile.
He glanced at Cui Rong, who was biting his lip beside him. Zhang Miao, burying his head in roasting fish, was little better—his hands shaking like a sieve.
All because, within four to five hundred meters radius of this hut, there were several large Bound Spirits that could appear at any moment!
Good heavens!
This was a spot merely two hundred meters away from the monsters on both sides!
Being this deep into the island, it was impossible for the three not to be nervous and afraid.
The aroma filled the air. Barely roasting another fish, Cui Rong quickly opened his tiny seasoning pack, seasoning it fussily, then handed it to Hong Haocheng with an eager, fawning attitude.
“Chairman, have some fresh fish.”
“You guys eat too. I haven’t cleaned this one properly yet. Come on, give it to Zhang Miaomiao.”
Zhang Miao cracked a toothy grin. He pulled away the fish on the branch stuck in front of Cui Rong and murmured, “Brother Hong eats first. This uncooked one’s mine.”
Cui Rong quickly said, “Hey, no, no, Vice President, you eat first. I’ll grill this one.”
He thrust the seasoned grilled fish into Zhang Miao’s hands and snatched back the half-raw one.
“Enough with the ‘Vice President’ nonsense, just call me Brother Zhang.”
“Yes, yes, Brother Zhang. Though I’m not as good a griller as you, I still need to learn. Otherwise, if you’re not around one day, I won’t be able to make top-notch grilled fish for Brother Hong.”
Li Yongqin shook his head and flipped the fish in front of him over.
This kid’s trimmer mechanism must be powered by a thousand horses. Two out of every three sentences flattered Hong Haocheng, with an obsequiousness so cloying it made one’s entire body prickle and feel deeply uncomfortable.
“By the way, Brother Hong, have we settled on a name for our guild?”
“Hmm…” Hong Haocheng frowned slightly, then relaxed it effortlessly.
“Of course, as the president, how could I, mere me, fail to come up with a guild name? You weren’t happy with ‘Fei Xue Bang’ last time. How about ‘Xu Ming Hui’—what do you guys think?”
He wrote the name on the ground with a stick.
By the small campfire, the three exchanged glances. Cui Rong’s mouth twitched, but in the end, he stifled the words of praise he wanted to utter.
“Actually, there’s no rush for this matter,” Cui Rong said, calming his emotions.
Hong Haocheng’s brow furrowed, and the three immediately dared not say a word more.
“It’s just a paltry guild name—how could it stump yours truly?! The decision must be made today!”
The boy, who had already grown half an inch of hair on his head, suddenly opened his hand. A red polyline quickly formed a topographic map of the surrounding area, leaving the three men awestruck. This ability to ‘automatically’ obtain terrain features was simply ‘legendary’ in a world without navigation.
They already understood that this was Hong Haocheng’s ability. What was extremely terrifying was that they still didn’t know where the cocky youngster’s Demonic Nightmare was hiding.
Hong Haocheng said viciously: “How about… we call it ‘Hongtu Society’? But… my wife’s name isn’t in it.”
Cui Rong instantly looked up at Hong Haocheng. Zhang Miao and Li Yongqin exchanged glances. They silently pondered over those characters ‘Xu’ and ‘Fei’ for a moment, thinking, damn, so it was the name of this fool’s girlfriend—no wonder it was so strange.
“Hmm, ‘Royal Consort Gang’ sounds good too.” Hong Haocheng suddenly said while looking at the map. “But I still think ‘Feixue Society’ has both boldness and artistic flair.”
“Hongtu!” Chen Rong dropped to one knee with a thud, staring earnestly at the ruggedly unkempt Hong Haocheng, and reported with cupped hands:
“Let’s go with that name, President. Ours is a great name! Yes, indeed… It’s excellent because it foretells how our Hongtu Society will inevitably achieve great success in the future! As the saying goes… ‘Rushing Hong’s white waves block your course, swan geese conquer and march be on our course, On a tour per swords across be ’round about its helm bearing dome good star.’ President, once your wife learns of this name, I’m sure she will be very pleased.”
Plop.
The fish in Li Yongqin’s hand fell into the ashes beside the campfire.
The three of them stared, jaws nearly unhinged, at Cui Rong—who was down on one knee with hands cuuffed in salute. In just a few breaths, fine beads of sweat had already seeped out on his forehead, clearly showing how much his mind had churned in those mere seconds.
“Then…” Hong Haocheng’s throat caught slightly as he said, “Let’s go with that name. Xu Fei should like it too.”
From a hundred meters away, several slow, heavy vibrations sounded.
“Those two things have finally had enough rest.” Hong Haocheng urged, “Stop roasting. Take these two fish. We only have ten minutes to get through the territory of the two Bound Spirits ahead. Hurry.”
Pff, pff, pff. Several feet unhesitatingly stomped out the flames. With swift movements, they packed up the supplies around them, jumped down from the dilapidated second floor, and quickly threaded their way through the dense vegetation of the abandoned land.
From the earlier hesitation, doubt, and sluggish movements—to now, the instant a command was given, they responded—the three had taken less than two days.
Safely navigating through the kilometer of complex terrain, Hong Haocheng suddenly halted his steps, fell flat to the ground, and raised his hand, opening and closing his palm.
The three behind him immediately crouched down, holding their breath.
A four-meter-tall energy humanoid stood with its head lowered about a hundred meters ahead, its back turned to the group.
The three of them broke out in a cold sweat as they gazed at the massive creature.
If it turned its head to scan around, it would spot them. On the back of the Bound Spirit’s head, rings of ripples slowly rotated, like a vortex.
It stood still for a full three or four minutes before striding off in the opposite direction.
Only then did the three who had followed Hong Haocheng into danger finally breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Half an hour later, the Bound Spirits in this area had thinned out somewhat, but the buildings were even more shattered—scattered in broken, formless shapes among the vegetation.
Suddenly, Hong Haocheng heard a faint roar.
His expression stiffened.
It was the monster that had been chasing him back then!
Under a thick tree trunk, Li Yongqin took in the surroundings, took a deep breath, and hesitated, saying:
“This… must be pretty deep into the island by now, right?”
Zhang Miao and Cui Rong nodded, their faces a mix of joy and worry. But Hong Haocheng’s next sentence nearly broke them.
“Almost. The real center is about three hundred meters away.”
“Middle?”
“A hundred yard!”
They gasped in low voices, and Zhang Miao nearly fainted to the ground.
Hong Haocheng put his hands on his hips and looked into the distance, saying with clear regret:
“But there’s this special Bound Spirit over there. Last time, it chased me all over the place. Hmph, this time there are four of us—I’m sure we can score something good from it.”
“L-last time?”
“Four people!”
Cui Rong stared in shock at the young man before him and stammered:
“Hong, bro, the monster you mentioned—wasn’t it, like, not very tall? And its body has these flickering model lines on the outside.”
“Oh? You’ve seen it? Good kid, not bad. Did your team ever fight with it before?”
The three of them stared at him with expressions as if they were looking at a monster themselves.
Li Yongqin murmured in terror, “That creature can summon all the monsters on the island to protect it. We suspect that it might have once been a high-ranking fighter from Building 11. Even after turning into a monster, it still has impressive skills and commanding charisma.”
“Right, and that lousy flying iron ball of theirs? It’s pinpoint accurate—could hit me from hundreds of meters away.”
Hong Haocheng nodded in agreement.
How could it not be accurate? How many teams that managed to get deep into the island have died at its hands. The three looked at Hong Haocheng, trying to judge if he was joking, but only saw him shaking the meteor hammer in his hand, which had been renewed and refreshed.
“This thing is what it threw at me. There are definitely similar items there.”
The phrase “iron lump” from before suddenly popped into the minds of the three.
“Hiss——”
“Threw at you?”
“You’ve already fought it! And, you’re still alive?!”
“Why are you making such a fuss? Don’t you know who I am?” Hong Haocheng, rough-headed, planted his hands on his hips with a rather lofty air and said, “I am the president of the Hongtu Society, Hong Haocheng!”
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