Baleful Aura

Yu Jing briefly explained some of the conditions in his area.

There was not much important information they knew at the moment. This area resembled some sort of meat-processing factory. Aside from the cold iron corridors connecting the factory rooms, the ventilation ducts overhead could also be used to travel through.

With a huge Dangerous Object known to be present, the overhead ventilation ducts could be considered a relatively safe area.

Jiang Tian replied, "The Dangerous Object in your area should not be as dangerous as the one in mine. If the two of us work together, we should have a chance."

In Jiang Tian's view, the Dangerous Object in this area was at least a relatively normal human being, rather than an omnipresent monster condensed from blood like the one in her area.

"Don't jump to that conclusion. Perhaps every Testing Area has the same level of difficulty, with no difference between high and low. Jiang Tian, you must have encountered the Blood Monster quite a few times in your Testing Area, right?"

"Four times in total." Jiang Tian nodded as she answered.

"Each time the Blood Monster appeared, it took the form of blood and needed a certain amount of time to gather. In my view, perhaps the Dangerous Object in my Testing Area has no tracking ability, but if we encounter him even once, the danger will be several times greater than that of the Blood Monster."

Yu Jing recalled the white pig lying on the platform with its body cut open, and he felt intensely uncomfortable.

"Do you have any specific ideas?" Jiang Tian asked.

"First, we need to conduct a thorough survey of this area's terrain and learn the location of every ventilation entrance. Once the Dangerous Object discovers us outside, we head to the closest ventilation opening and hide. If we run around here like headless flies, getting caught will mean certain death."

"Besides, while scouting the area, we may find the spray used earlier to treat your broken leg. Once we determine the detailed layout of this area, we'll return to the starting point and make a detailed plan for getting rid of the Dangerous Object."

Jiang Tian added, "What if we're discovered while scouting the terrain outside?"

"Because we know so little about this place, the exploration stage is the most dangerous. I already exposed my presence here earlier. He will definitely search the factory for traces of me. What we need to do now is wait for the heavy footsteps to pass by outside the door. Once he passes through once, there should be a long interval before he comes again."

"What if he never comes?"

Slap, slap! Just as Jiang Tian finished asking, the sound of bare feet stomping across the steel floor came from the distance.

"He's here!" Yu Jing said. "Tidy this place up a little. We can't avoid the smell of blood, so throw your blood-soaked white sweater directly into the center of the room to confuse his sense of smell. We'll retreat into the ventilation duct!"

Yu Jing's response in that critical moment exceeded all expectations. After making the arrangements, the two hid in the ventilation duct and barely sealed the exit with an iron grate.

Before long, the heavy footsteps stopped at the door to the room.

"Creak!" The door Opening made Yu Jing's heart tighten. Then a massive creature stepped into the room.

Curled up inside the duct, Yu Jing could see only the lower half of its body through the iron grate. Numerous iron nails were embedded between the flesh of its enormous feet. It wore a black leather butcher's apron, and in the hand hanging at its waist, it carried a chipped cleaver.

"What a heavy stench of blood... and is that Baleful Aura?" Though he had not faced it directly and was hiding in the ventilation duct, Yu Jing could not stop his body from trembling.

Yu Jing had encountered such Baleful Aura when he was a child in the countryside. He often spoke with Liu the Butcher, who lived not far from his home. Liu the Butcher had once mentioned the term "Baleful Aura" in front of Yu Jing. Every butcher who slaughtered too many animals would emit a certain amount of Baleful Aura from their body.

However, Baleful Aura would only affect the corresponding animals. When butchers who slaughtered pigs entered a pig farm, all the pigs would back away and let out fearful squeals.

Yet the Baleful Aura Yu Jing felt now made his entire body tremble with fear. Jiang Tian behind him was the same, covering her mouth with both hands as her body shook continuously.

"Huff... huff..."

Heavy breathing came from outside. Clearly, the Butcher was sniffing for something with his nostrils.

Fortunately, Yu Jing had made Jiang Tian pile the bloodied clothing in the center of the room. The bloody smell from the Dangerous Object in Jiang Tian's room was extremely strong, limiting the Butcher's sense of smell to a certain extent.

In the end, a huge hand covered in iron nails grabbed Jiang Tian's clothing from the center of the room and slowly left.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

As he left, the Butcher deliberately dragged his cleaver across the room's wall. The cutting sound of the metal blade pierced directly into their ears.

After roughly five minutes had passed, and once he confirmed that the Butcher would not return, Yu Jing carefully moved the iron grate aside and led Jiang Tian out of the ventilation duct.

"It's impossible. We can't possibly get rid of him. We were already trembling all over just from this. How can we fight back while standing in front of that giant? Why don't we just keep hiding here until the test ends?"

Jiang Tian's heart was completely consumed by despair. The image of those thick feet studded with iron nails was imprinted in her mind. In her view, he was a monster, not a human being at all.

Yu Jing was no saint either. Before the Butcher, he could not even hold his hand axe steady, let alone kill him. Even if he swung that somewhat chipped axe and buried it in the other party's body, it might not have much effect on someone so huge.

"Wait until the test ends? We should not be discovered if we stay here."

Yu Jing's heart wavered somewhat at that moment, and his thoughts broadened. Even if we wait until the test ends, there are only two possible outcomes. The first is that they use brainwashing to erase all our memories of coming to the research institute. The second is execution...

"Execution? Would they really be that cruel?" Jiang Tian asked in return.

"All seven of us came from county towns rated B and C. This research institute must have an extremely powerful background and can easily retrieve our records. Even if we die here, erasing the information should be effortless for them... Jiang Tian, we continue. I just thought of a method that may be able to get rid of him, but first we still need to thoroughly explore this place."

Yu Jing's resolute words allowed Jiang Tian to see a glimmer of hope.

"I believe you." Jiang Tian nodded at Yu Jing.

"The exploration stage is the most dangerous. I'll first draw a map of what we already know."

There was no paper or pen here, so Yu Jing directly used some bloodstains on the ground to draw on the room's wall, roughly sketching the crawling passages he remembered and the route from the slaughter room to this place.

"You stay here first. I'll go out alone and figure out the situation around us. If there's danger, I'll run back immediately."

After all, Jiang Tian was a woman. Yu Jing planned to handle the initial exploration alone. As Yu Jing stood at the door, Jiang Tian ran over, pressed her full lips to his face, and said softly, "Be careful."