Blood Sunset

Barbaric Realm, Day Two, 10:30 a.m.

Location: Original Wheat Field Border.

The RV came to a stop in the wasteland.

Its tires kicked up a cloud of dust.

In the driver's seat, Wang Meng stared at the desolate plain stretching endlessly before him. He hit the brakes, his face full of confusion.

"Strange... The road's gone?"

"I could clearly see a golden field here just a few kilometers back. How did the wheat field disappear when we got here?"

Inside the RV, Jiangnan was still asleep.

Liu Yuqing led Yu Shishi to the window and pointed out at the wasteland.

"Shishi, are you sure this is the place? Could you have remembered the direction wrong?"

"Impossible! It's definitely here!"

Yu Shishi was just as shocked by what she saw.

But she pointed at a dead old tree several dozen meters beyond the window, her voice utterly certain.

"Look at that tree! One of the branches on the left is broken!"

"That bitch Bai Lianhua broke it and threw it on the ground last night to trip me when she was trying to trick me!"

"I'd recognize it even if it turned to ashes!"

Liu Yuqing pushed up her glasses, her expression turning grave.

The landmark matched, but the scene had changed.

The dozens of acres of golden wheat field that should have been there had vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but bare wasteland.

"Could this area have something to do with time?"

Wang Meng rubbed his chin as he analyzed the situation. "Maybe it's a mirage? Or maybe the wheat field is alive?"

"Does it only appear at night? Or... is there a specific condition you need to meet to enter it?"

"That's very possible."

Liu Yuqing nodded. "Should we wake Big Boss and ask him?"

"Don't!"

Wang Meng immediately raised a hand to stop her, lowering his voice.

"Let's wait a little longer. Big Boss has been resting for less than two hours."

"I deliberately drove slowly to be safe, but it's still way too early."

A glint of eagerness to prove himself shone in Wang Meng's eyes.

"We can't rely on Big Boss for everything."

"As his trusted subordinates, we need to show him what we can do!"

"If we can't even handle a little scouting, how are we supposed to stay by Big Boss's side?"

"Good point."

Liu Yuqing agreed wholeheartedly.

She turned to Yu Shishi. "Shishi, stay in the RV. Don't go anywhere."

"Wang Meng and I will go down and investigate."

"Okay... Be careful, both of you."

Yu Shishi nodded obediently. Right now, she absolutely didn't dare leave the RV.

The door slid open with a soft whisper.

Wang Meng and Liu Yuqing climbed out as quietly as they could and began investigating the strange boundary where the wheat field had disappeared.

Meanwhile, deep in the wheat field.

Unlike the wasteland Wang Meng and the others saw, this place was still a golden ocean.

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai were drenched in sweat, their lips cracked and dry as they stumbled between the wheat ridges.

They had been walking for three whole hours.

But no matter how far they went, the scenery around them seemed copied and pasted. There was nothing but endless wheat.

"Old Guo... Hah... Let's rest for a bit. I can't go on."

Yang Wei panted and dropped onto the ground.

Guo Shuai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and nodded, his face pale.

"Okay... I hope those ingrates can keep the monster occupied a little longer."

Yang Wei angrily trampled the wheat stalks around them, clearing a patch of open ground.

"Thank goodness for your Danger Sense! That dumbass Wu Hao had no idea how valuable that ability was!"

"How is this just Danger Sense? It's a damn Traitor Radar!"

Yang Wei was still shaken to the core.

Guo Shuai sat down too and gave a bitter smile. "Yeah."

Actually, ever since his ability awakened, that radar—with a range of only twenty meters—had been sounding a faint alarm.

At first, he thought it was the Weiren that had slipped in when they left the bus.

But now he had a truly terrifying premonition.

The monster mixed in with their group hadn't escaped the bus with them at all.

It...

Had belonged to this wheat field all along!

"Old Yang, I've been afraid to say this."

Guo Shuai's voice trembled.

"If that monster really is a local, then it explains why the crows wouldn't come in..."

"This isn't a Safe Zone! This is that monster's hunting ground! The BOSS's lair!"

At those words, Yang Wei shuddered violently.

"Shit! We can't rest anymore! We have to get out of here! We'll be safe once we leave this wheat field!"

The two struggled to their feet.

But just then, they both froze.

The light around them seemed to have dimmed. The golden waves of wheat had taken on a layer of blood-red.

"Old Guo..."

Yang Wei's voice sounded unsteady. "What time is it?"

Guo Shuai raised his wrist and glanced at the Mechanical Stopwatch that had never stopped ticking.

"Ten... thirty-one in the morning, Old Yang."

"Ten thirty..."

Holding the compass in his hand, Yang Wei stared at the sun plummeting through the sky, his face ashen.

"Then why... is it in the west?"

"Does the sun... rise in the west?"

A deathly silence fell.

Guo Shuai stared blankly up at the Blood Sunset, now touching the horizon.

It was ten thirty in the morning.

The sun should have been blazing overhead.

But here, it was already dusk.

"Old Yang, is it possible... that it isn't rising, but setting?"

Guo Shuai's expression had stiffened into a mask.

"That confirms it... It all checks out."

"Time here is flowing wrong! Too fast! Daytime passes way too quickly!"

"This wheat field... isn't giving us any chance to travel during the day!"

"This is a hunting ground! It's trying to trap us in the darkness!"

On the other side of the wheat field, at Wu Hao's camp.

Wu Hao was sitting atop a heap of flattened wheat stalks like some feudal lord.

He was eating the potato chips they had scavenged, crunching away.

"Move your asses! Did none of you eat?"

"Break down all the wheat in this area! Clear a patch of flat ground! Otherwise, nobody's sleeping tonight!"

Wu Hao pointed imperiously at the classmates working hard.

"What's he so smug about... It's not like he did anything but get lucky and awaken lightning powers..."

A boy muttered under his breath.

"Crackle!"

The next second, a purple current struck him in a flash!

"Ah!!"

The boy screamed and collapsed, thrashing violently on the ground with foam at his mouth.

"Anyone else got a problem?"

Electric arcs danced in Wu Hao's hand as he coldly surveyed the crowd.

Everyone held their tongues in fear, lowering their heads and working faster. No one dared to fight back.

Watching from the side, Bai Lianhua didn't look afraid at all. She was excited.

He was so strong!

Now this was the kind of man the apocalypse called for!

If she could win Wu Hao over and become his woman, she could throw her weight around in this world and never have to worry about what anyone thought of her again!

At the thought, she adjusted her slightly disheveled collar and swayed her hips as she approached Wu Hao.

"Smack!"

Suddenly, a loud slap cracked across her face!

Bai Lianhua spun around from the blow, clutching her cheek as she stared at the woman in disbelief.

It was Liang Rui, Wu Hao's girlfriend, the woman who had awakened the Fireball Technique.

"You little slut, where do you think you're looking?"

Liang Rui folded her arms across her chest. Flames kindled in her palm as she glared viciously at Bai Lianhua.

"Wu Hao is my boyfriend! Keep your lustful thoughts to yourself!"

"Otherwise, I'll burn your little thing to charcoal! Then you won't be able to seduce any more men. Do you understand me?!"

Bai Lianhua came to her senses at once.

This was a world where you had to know who you were dealing with.

She backed away in fear, lowering her head as she stammered.

"Sister Liang... I wouldn't dare! I absolutely wouldn't! How could I ever have designs on your boyfriend?"

"Hmph."

Liang Rui sneered. "Then why were you staring at Wu Hao just now?"

Bai Lianhua's mind raced. In her panic, she glanced at "Wang Jinsheng," who was working nearby.

"I... I like Wang Jinsheng!"

Bai Lianhua blurted out a lie. "I think he's honest and hardworking. I want... I want to be with him!"

"Wang Jinsheng?"

Liang Rui paused, then turned to look at the man who did nothing but grin stupidly. An amused smile appeared on her face.

"Fine."

Liang Rui clapped her hands. "Since you feel that way, I'll help you two get together."

"Let's make sure... you're married by tonight."

Liang Rui was C-class, but she knew her place.

She wasn't as sexy as Bai Lianhua, nor was she as good at charming men.

If she threw this potential rival to the big oaf Wang Jinsheng, she could eliminate a threat and win a fighter over at the same time.

Two birds with one stone!

Bai Lianhua's heart sank when she heard that.

She'd only said it to get out of trouble!

With her standards, how could she possibly be interested in a pathetic simp like Wang Jinsheng?

He was just a backup plan, someone else's leftover!

But with Liang Rui's flaming palm threatening her, she could only force herself to squeeze out a smile uglier than a sob.

"Th... Thank you, Sister Liang."

Liang Rui acted swiftly. She went straight to Wu Hao and told him what had happened.

At first, Wu Hao was reluctant to give up Bai Lianhua's body.

But under Liang Rui's fiery glare, he weighed the pros and cons and agreed.

After all, Wang Jinsheng might look dumb, but his Straw Entanglement skill had powerful control. He was a good fighter.

A woman in exchange for a loyal dog was a bargain.

And so, Wu Hao announced to everyone.

"To celebrate the founding of our team, we're setting aside a private resting area tonight for Wang Jinsheng and Bai Lianhua!"

"Congratulations, everyone!"

The crowd applauded, smiling obsequiously.

Wang Jinsheng stood among them, still wearing that honest, simple smile.

Suppressing her disgust and anger, Bai Lianhua took the initiative and hooked her arm through Wang Jinsheng's.

She swore inwardly, Liang Rui! Just you wait! Tonight, I'll let this deadbeat simp have his way with me for now. Once I get the chance...

She lifted her head and, pitching her voice high, breathed sweetly into the "honest man's" ear.

"Brother Jin Sheng, tonight... you have to be gentle with me, okay~"

"It's my first time with a man~"

"But... when I was doing sports in high school, I accidentally broke that membrane. You won't mind, will you?"

It was her usual trick, one she used to fool honest men.

The actual number, if you added two zeros to it, would be about right.

Wang Jinsheng turned his head. His lifeless eyes stared fixedly at Bai Lianhua's delicate neck.

He parted his lips in a stiff smile.

"Heh heh..."

"I don't mind... I don't mind..."

"As long as it's you."

"I... want you."

Bai Lianhua sneered inwardly, As expected, he's a stupid simp.

But she had no idea.

What this monster meant by "want you"

was not winning her heart, nor gaining the right to use her body.

It was...

the literal meaning.

Wanting all of her.

Skin and bones, not a scrap left.