Wang Zhenguo took a deep breath and solemnly held out his finger.
The blood-red Oath Paper floated between them, its patterns shifting as it gave off an eerie glow.
Jiang Ran lightly drew his fingertip across the paper. A bright red drop of blood welled up and sank into it.
The next moment, the patterns on the Oath Paper suddenly lit up and became two streaks of light. One sank into Jiang Ran's brow, while the other burrowed into Wang Zhenguo's chest.
An invisible bond formed between them.
The oath was sealed.
Jiang Ran put away the Oath Paper and said flatly, "Your name."
"Wang Zhenguo," he replied at once, his voice respectful.
Jiang Ran listened, then said quietly, "Once we get out, get an unregistered SIM card and put it in the green mailbox outside the Old Bookstore at 37 Wutong Lane in the old district. I'll contact you then."
With that, he turned and walked away. Within a few steps, he had disappeared at the end of the street.
This time, Wang Zhenguo didn't follow.
He stood where he was, gazing in the direction Jiang Ran had disappeared. After a long while, he let out a deep breath.
He turned and looked toward the distant, faint lights of the Safe Zone.
The fear and despair in his eyes were gone.
Business District.
The twelfth floor of a twenty-story office building.
Jiang Ran pushed open a conference-room door and surveyed the room.
The tables and chairs were neatly arranged. Hasty notes from some project meeting remained on the whiteboard, and a projector sat quietly on the table.
Relatively safe.
He locked the door behind him and took the Heavenly Net Pouch from inside his clothes.
A thought stirred in his mind.
Crash...
Dozens of monster corpses appeared out of nowhere, piling up across half the conference room.
Dark green blood quickly spread over the carpet, and a foul stench filled the air.
Jiang Ran didn't so much as blink. He drew his tactical knife and began cutting open the monsters' heads one by one.
He removed one gray-white Spirit Crystal after another and tossed them into a cardboard box beside him.
Truthfully, Jiang Ran hadn't been interested in signing Wang Zhenguo in the first place.
At first, the other man had asked only because being rejected had made him feel defiant and resentful.
That was a common psychological reaction.
But the real reason Jiang Ran had decided to sign him...
Wasn't anything the other man had said.
His analysis had been correct, but Jiang Ran could have come up with the same points himself.
What had truly impressed Jiang Ran was the man's nerve.
He'd just barely escaped death, yet had made up his mind so decisively—staking everything he had on a faint hope for the future.
Not everyone had that kind of resolve.
The last Spirit Crystal dropped into the box.
Jiang Ran put away his tactical knife and checked the time on his phone.
21:47
Two hours and thirteen minutes until the return.
He poured the Spirit Crystals out of the box in front of him and counted them roughly.
Twenty-seven.
Without hesitation, Jiang Ran held one in each hand, closed his eyes, and focused as he circulated the Blood-Qi Circulation Method.
Cool energy flowed into his body, mingling with his searing qi and blood as it surged through his meridians.
One, two, three...
Time slipped silently by as he cultivated.
When the last Spirit Crystal had turned to gray-white powder, Jiang Ran slowly opened his eyes.
A thoughtful look crossed his face.
Ever since he'd entered the Blood Sensing Realm, the progress he gained from these gray-white Spirit Crystals had been far less than before.
If absorbing one Spirit Crystal had once brought a noticeable increase in his qi and blood, now it took ten to barely match the gains from a single one before.
...There must be different grades of Spirit Crystals.
Jiang Ran looked pensive.
And naturally, the monsters that produced them must vary in strength as well.
Jiang Ran quickly worked out a rough ranking system in his mind.
If the Blood Sensing Realm was equivalent to the First Order Realm, then ordinary monsters probably didn't even qualify as a proper tier.
The gray-white Spirit Crystals inside them no longer offered much benefit now that he'd entered the Blood Sensing Realm.
To progress at the speed he'd managed before, he would have to hunt First Order monsters.
Just as Jiang Ran was thinking this over, the top of the building he was in suddenly shuddered.
Jiang Ran jumped to his feet.
He rushed to the window and peered outside with a frown.
All along the street, the Bone-Spike Cat Monsters that had been crouching or lying down had risen to their feet.
They lifted their heads, gazed up at the night sky with their dark green eyes, and let out a synchronized howl.
Then...
A shadow leaped up from the roof of the building Jiang Ran was in.
It traced an arc through the night sky and slammed down on the roof of another, taller building.
BOOM!!!
The entire building trembled slightly.
Jiang Ran's pupils contracted.
The shadow was even larger than the Human-Faced Spider Mother.
By the light of the moon, Jiang Ran could just make out its shape.
It resembled a tiger, but its back bristled with menacing bone spikes, and its thick, long tail was like that of an ox.
It stood atop the roof of a thirty-story building, gazing up at the full moon.
Moonlight fell on its dark teal fur, stirring it in the wind.
It opened its mouth and let out a long howl...
ROAR!!
The sound waves spread outward from it.
Wherever they passed, every Bone-Spike Cat Monster prostrated itself, heads bowed as though worshipping its king.
The gigantic beast stood atop the building, bathed in moonlight, like a born overlord.
Jiang Ran stared at the scene.
Suddenly, a line from the Classic of Mountains and Seas he'd read just yesterday came to mind:
"There is a beast on Floating Mountain. It looks like a tiger but has an ox's tail, and its cry sounds like a barking dog. It is called Zhi, and it eats people."
At that very moment, the time on his phone screen quietly ticked over to 00:00:00.
Jiang Ran's consciousness wavered for an instant.
When he came to again, the scene before him had returned to his bedroom at home.
Jiang Ran took a deep breath, suppressing the oppressive feeling Zhi had left him with.
Then he immediately sat down at his desk, opened the Classic of Mountains and Seas, and turned to the page about Zhi.
The sketch on the page matched what he'd just seen.
But as he read further, Jiang Ran's brow furrowed.
The account in the Classic of Mountains and Seas was too brief.
Aside from its appearance and the words "eats people," there was nothing about its habits, weaknesses, or abilities.
There was no way for him to learn anything useful about it in advance.
He couldn't help feeling frustrated.
Still, he'd confirmed at least one thing.
The Bone-Spike Cat Monsters in the Business District were probably a group subordinate to Zhi.
Just as the Human-Faced Spiders depended on the Spider Matriarch.
At that thought, Jiang Ran suddenly realized something.
He opened his phone's photo gallery and found the picture he'd taken a few days ago of the gray-green lizard monster.
Based on the different monster groups he'd encountered so far, the Human-Faced Spiders were led by the Spider Matriarch.
The Bone-Spike Cat Monsters were led by Zhi.
These monsters clearly had organization and discipline.
But what about the gray-green monsters near his home?
They were pitifully weak, attacking on instinct alone, and they didn't cooperate with one another.
He hadn't seen any leader-class monster among them, either.
They were like... dregs driven to the very edge of the food chain.
"Something's not right..."
Jiang Ran's eyes narrowed.
If even First Order monsters had groups and leaders, then how had these low-level monsters managed to survive on the outskirts of the city?
Unless...
There was something even more terrifying than Zhi or the Spider Matriarch out there.
Something so terrifying that the monsters didn't dare approach it.
So they could only drive those dregs out to the edge as a buffer zone?
The thought sent a faint chill down Jiang Ran's back.
He'd always believed that the area near his home was the safest.
But now it seemed it might be the most dangerous place of all.
What was hiding there?
Jiang Ran shook his head and set the suspicion aside for now.
There was no time to investigate it just yet.
The most pressing matter was figuring out how to deal with Zhi the next time he entered the Abyssal Void.
Going by the feedback he'd received from Combat Intuition...
Zhi was far stronger than the Human-Faced Spider Mother.
When he'd killed the Spider Matriarch last time, he'd activated Buddha's Wrathful Vajra and endured its attacks, then used a trick to keep it pinned as they crashed down from the rooftop. Even then, he'd only managed to kill it by the skin of his teeth.
If he planned to take on Zhi...
"My attacks have to get stronger."
Jiang Ran analyzed the situation calmly.
The damage from level-one Dragon-Tiger Fist still wasn't enough.
And without a doubt, the fastest way to get stronger was...
To put points into his skills.
Jiang Ran summoned the Profession Panel.
Aside from the Artifact Appraiser panel, the skills close to leveling up were Jiu-Jitsu under Mixed Martial Artist, which needed a little over a hundred more experience points, and Compound Bow Shooting, which needed just over two hundred.
He had to max out both skills within 48 hours if he wanted a chance to challenge Zhi.
Then Jiang Ran closed the panel and looked at his computer.
He opened Mouhu first to check the forum's activity tonight.
But when the page refreshed, Jiang Ran couldn't help frowning slightly.
Several posts about the Abyssal Void and the Second World were prominently displayed on the front page.
They were hugely popular, with more than ten thousand replies each.
More importantly...
The posts hadn't been deleted.
Some people had even gone into detail about what they'd seen and experienced after entering the Abyssal Void.
Keywords like monsters, supernatural inheritances, and Spirit Crystals were all posted openly for everyone to see.
The comment sections were in an uproar.
"Holy crap, so I'm not the only one who went in!?"
"Is the Federation finally coming clean? Are they about to make this public?"
"Anyone know how to get extraordinary inheritances? I've gone in twice, hiding the whole time, and got nothing..."
"Same here. I'd love some tips, too."
Jiang Ran scrolled his mouse, quickly browsing through the posts.
The authorities hadn't deleted them. Instead, they'd left them on the front page.
That meant...
"They're planning to gradually release information about the Abyssal Void."
Jiang Ran muttered to himself.
But it made sense.
After all, hundreds of thousands of people had entered the Abyssal Void. There was no way to keep it secret.
Rather than forcibly suppressing the news and sparking rumors and panic, it was better to reveal things gradually and guide public opinion.
That would give the public time to accept the resurgence of the extraordinary and the existence of the Second World.
Then, if anything unexpected happened later, people would be more prepared to accept it instead of collapsing all at once.
"The tide of the times can't be stopped anymore."
Jiang Ran closed the forum page and didn't look back.
The Federation could worry about public opinion.
He'd turned on his computer for another reason, too.
He logged into QQ, an account he hadn't used in ages.
Most of the avatars in his contact list were gray.
Jiang Ran moved his mouse and found a contact saved as Fatty Zhao.
The avatar was a fat cat, and the signature read: "Professional matchmaker for twenty years. Success rate: 7.3%."
Jiang Ran opened the chat window and typed:
"Is your matchmaking agency still open?"
The reply came almost instantly:
"Of course! You want to give it a try? Let me tell you, I've had a few great girls come in recently. Teachers, doctors, and even women who run their own companies..."
Before you continue