Chapter 62 - 62: Dark Shadows

Yun Hao and the others could not help but look at each other as the head of the man they were arguing with earlier came flying towards them; with the blood he had left on his head squirting out as it bounced a couple of times on the ground.

They haven't even been here for a full minute, and someone already died? And it would seem it wasn't only him. The team he arrived with was nowhere to be found, the only ones here were the others that had gone ahead of them. And suffice to say, all of them were on their guards.

Yun Hao could only hold his breath while gritting his teeth. How can he be so stupid sometimes? He was too relaxed and mesmerized by the scenery in front of him that he completely forgot where he was for a split second.

He is in the Danger Zone… death is nothing but a blink here.

Yun Hao then looked behind him as the last team jumped into the Rupture. Seeing Yun Hao and the others on guard, one of the female members of the group quickly asked,

"What's going on?"

And as soon as she said that, a dark figure rushed from behind her. Jia Ning was about to warn the woman and her group, but before she could do so, her brother's trembling hand prevented her from saying anything.

She could only watch in horror as the woman was completely cleaved in half, followed by her team members who tried to rescue her. Jia Ning quickly slapped her brother's hand away, but before she could do anything else, it was Yun Hao who stopped her this time.

Yun Hao shook his head slowly, placing a finger on his lips as he gestured to Jia Ning not to make any sound. Jia Ning also noticed that Yun Hao was slightly trembling, but after a few seconds, it was gone.

Jia Ning realized that no matter how strong Yun Hao was for his rank, almost all of them here were not accustomed to death. Even she could feel herself unconsciously trembling from fear.

Yun Hao thought he would be used to seeing dead people, as he had already taken the life of another. But seeing someone cleaved in half in front of him truly woke him up from the realities of life.

The man from earlier was right, they were not here to play games. They could die at any moment if they weren't careful.

"..." Yun Hao's thoughts were then disrupted as he felt a light tap on his shoulder. It was Jia Ning, whose mouth he was still covering with the palm of his hand. He quickly removed his hand and bowed to apologize, before once again focusing on the magical beast, who was now eating the cultivators it just mowed down.

What's so magical about this? Yun Hao thought. The creature had 3 mouths overlapping each other; a long claw that protruded from the back of its wrist; unusually short legs belt like a chicken… and not to mention the disgusting wet fur.

There was nothing magical about this, it's just a monster. The 6-legged goat he ate, perhaps it was--

Before he could continue the ominous thoughts he was having, he once again felt a tap on his shoulder. This time, it was Jia Su, holding a phone towards him with a note written in it.

[Grey-claw Mole. Level 3 Beast. Blind but very sensitive to vibrations-- should not be in a Rupture rated for Mortal realms like us. The Confederation made a mistake.]

'A Mistake!?' Was what the rest of team Champion would have shouted, but could not as another grey-claw mole appeared and started feasting on the dead cultivators. They were still near the entrance of the Rupture, just what exactly were the members of the Confederation doing up there!?

"Senior, shouldn't we be checking on them if they all dropped safely?"

"They are not babies, relax."

The cultivator in charge, the one that briefly explained to them about the details of the rupture, nonchalantly waved his hand, "They are cultivators, they should know the dangers of exploring Ruptures."

The cultivator in charge then started relaxing on a soft chair he bought, before sipping on a cold beverage as he looked towards the empty horizon.

"It's just… when we did a check earlier, I felt a little cold. Maybe--"

"Then wear more clothes next time what the fuck," the cultivator in charge once again gestured to the man to go away, "You young ones are too sensitive," he then said before a Beast core suddenly floated in front of him. He then closed his eyes and started meditating, completely ignoring the man.

"..." The Confederation staff could only sigh as he made his way to look at the Rupture, but before he could check it, he heard a song ringing into his ear. He quickly looked back, only to see that the sound was coming from the cultivator in charge.

The man could only roll his eyes as he turned around, "At least answer your god-damn phone," he whispered before heading back to his tent. The treasure hunt lasts for 6 hours. After that, the cultivator-in-charge would start pulling them back up; he might as well relax until then since everyone seems to be casually doing it.

Nothing eventful should happen anyway since the Rupture was only rated for Mortal ranks.

[What do we do now?] Sun Fang raised his phone after typing on it.

[Wait for the Confederation to notice.] Jia Su started typing, [They could detect if we are alive from the tracker they attached on our license. Since we're dying too fast, they should notice something is amiss…

...I am sure they are calling the cultivator in charge right now to rescue us.]

[And what do we do in the meantime?] With Jia Ning typing that, Jia Su quickly turned toward Yun Hao, who had only been watching them exchange notes.

[Leader, what do we do?] Jia Su said as they all looked at Yun Hao.

[Why aren't you contributing to this conversation!?]

As soon as Sun Fang planted his phone on Yun Hao's face, he quickly stole it and started typing on it, [I didn't think I would need my phone with me here.]

[What are you, an old man!?] Sun Fang quickly grabbed his phone back, [You should always bring your phone with you!]

[What do we do, Yun Hao?]

Yun Hao then felt Jia Ning tugging on his shirt. As he saw this, Yun Hao quickly looked around at the other teams, who were also not making any sound. The two grey-claws were still chomping on the other team.

[We wait for them to stop eating, create a distraction and--] Yun Hao then stopped typing as he looked up towards the entrance of the Rupture. How exactly were they going to return to the surface? He hasn't tested how far he could jump yet, but he was sure he wasn't going to reach even half of that with a single jump.

Yun Hao could only let out a quiet breath as he turned to look at his team, before focusing on Jia Su and typing,

[You're the brains, what do you think we should do?]

[Stupid useless leader!] Sun Fang wanted to pull his hair out but did not do so as he might warrant the attention of the moles.

Jia Su, however, only nodded his head as he started typing.

[Grey-claw moles are highly territorial, only their mate could hunt in their area. Judging by the size of the two, they are adults. So there is probably at least one more of them, their children. But there shouldn't be any more of them in another 500 meters.]

500 meters? Yun Hao blinked a couple of times. Just how big is this place?

[Are you saying we should make a run for it? Shouldn't we just stay and wait for help!?] Sun Fang waved his phone around.

[We can. But somehow, there will always be noise. The mole may be blind, but it is not stupid. It'll know there are more of us soon and start randomly lashing out.]

[So what do we do?] Jia Ning intruded.

[We still run, but not now. As soon as a noise loud enough to distract the moles happens, then we run. I just hope the noise… 

....isn't us.]