"Five hours from now, regroup at the highway entrance thirty kilometers north of town."
"Good luck, everyone."
The moment he finished speaking, Lin Lu's heavily modified pickup charged into Apricot Blossom Town ahead of the others.
Right behind him came Su Qian's white SUV and Big Niu's off-roader.
The Transcendents' vehicles rushed in one after another without the slightest hesitation.
They did not even glance back.
As though the wailing survivors behind them were nothing more than mud splashed on their windows.
The crowd they left behind instantly erupted.
"Captain Lin! Don't abandon us!"
"Captain Su, take us with you!!"
Brother Dao's face turned livid. He muttered a curse under his breath,
then urged on the blond-haired man driving the other car beside him.
He jerked the steering wheel and charged in after them.
Brother Dao knew that staying here meant waiting to die.
Rather than be caught and devoured by the horrors, he might as well rush in and look for a way to survive.
Away from the Transcendents' convoy, they could be devoured at any moment.
Now that someone had taken the lead,
the remaining private cars followed in a blind panic.
Amid the chaos, nobody noticed.
The bus carrying the most survivors remained parked there, all alone.
Behind its windows, face after face twisted with despair.
Weeping, curses, and pleas mingled together, echoing across the empty highway.
"Save us..."
"Take us with you, please!"
"May you all die horrible deaths!"
"Tsk, tsk. Humans."
In the passenger seat, Red Hare sat with his legs crossed.
He leisurely gnawed on a potato.
His commentary came out muffled around his mouthful.
"Quite a performance of every man for himself when disaster strikes."
Chen Mo ignored him.
There was only one thought in his mind now.
It grew wildly, like weeds.
Get stronger.
Become a Transcendent.
Hold his fate in his own hands.
Instead of being treated like a dog.
Discarded on a whim, his life and death decided by someone else.
Chen Mo suddenly spoke, turning to look at the donkey.
"Can this place awaken me?"
Red Hare paused in the middle of chewing his potato.
His donkey mouth stretched into an exaggerated grin.
Revealing his trademark buckteeth.
"Have you made up your mind?"
"Ready to stake your life?"
Red Hare waved a hoof.
He pointed toward a fork in the road ahead.
"Turn left."
"Go straight for a hundred meters, then turn left again."
The dump truck twisted and turned through the eerily silent town.
The shops lining both sides of the streets had their doors and windows tightly shut.
Chen Mo could clearly sense it.
Countless pairs of eyes were watching them.
As though wary of something.
They did not immediately rush out.
The dump truck stopped in front of a two-story building.
Large patches of white paint had peeled off its walls.
Exposing the dark red bricks beneath.
A faded sign hung by the entrance.
A few words were still barely legible.
Apricot Blossom Town Clinic.
Red Hare tossed his half-eaten potato out the window.
"This is the place."
"There's a fellow inside who just advanced to level two."
"A rule-based horror. Its energy fluctuations aren't strong."
"Nice and fresh. Just right for you."
Chen Mo studied the seemingly unremarkable clinic.
The surrounding area was far too quiet.
He could not even sense a trace of a horror's presence.
"Are you sure?"
"Brother Hare knows what he's doing. Relax."
As Red Hare spoke, he rubbed his belly back and forth with his hooves.
Before long, he had rubbed off a lump of black grime.
Under Chen Mo's disgusted gaze,
he molded the grime into the shape of a token between his two hooves.
With a hoof, he carved a crooked "Chen" into it.
Red Hare handed the token to Chen Mo.
"Take it."
"When it counts, this can die in your place once."
"If you suffer a fatal attack, it'll automatically teleport you back to wherever you were ten minutes earlier."
Of course, if the enemy is stronger than me, it won't work.
Chen Mo took the token and carefully tucked it into his jacket pocket.
This thing was an extra life.
"Get out. Go inside."
Red Hare waved a hoof.
"Find its killing rules, then come out alive."
Chen Mo looked at the donkey and spoke slowly.
"You're not coming in with me?"
"Can I beat it?"
The prospect of awakening had not gone to Chen Mo's head yet.
He was an ordinary person. Going in would only make him easy prey.
Red Hare dropped his flippant expression.
He slowly climbed out of the truck.
"Listen carefully, kid."
"There's a rule-based horror in there. Inside its domain, it's invincible."
"Unless I reach level three."
"Your job is to find all its killing rules."
"Then escape."
"I'll step in then."
"I'll help channel the eerie energy it releases to break through the barriers inside your body and make you a Transcendent."
Chen Mo climbed out after him and waited for Red Hare to continue.
"I'll give you three hours."
"If you're still not out after three hours,"
"I'll leave immediately."
"Don't expect me to avenge you."
"Bringing you here and giving you a chance to cheat death already fulfills my promise."
"The rest depends on your own luck."
"Or, if you're scared, I'll take you out of this town."
"Our deal will still stand."
Chen Mo knew Red Hare was telling the truth.
This cowardly donkey who clung to life would absolutely do something like that.
They were only chance acquaintances. Giving him an opportunity was already more than enough.
This was a transaction.
It was also a gamble.
Lose, and he would die.
Win, and he would be reborn.
At that moment, Chen Mo remembered many things.
He remembered Lin Lu's taillights pulling away without hesitation.
He remembered the desperate cries from the bus.
He remembered all those days and nights of being sacrificed so others could escape.
Keep living like a coward, or take a chance?
It was not even a choice.
Chen Mo said nothing more.
He stepped down from the truck and reached for the Mountain-Cleaving Blade.
The donkey caught his hand.
"Don't bring it. It's useless."
"Find the rules, then run out."
Chen Mo put down the blade and slowly walked toward the clinic.
The early morning breeze seemed a little colder now.
The rising sun drew a stark boundary of shadow across the ground.
On one side lay the road where Chen Mo's truck was parked.
On the other stood the terrifyingly silent clinic...
Chen Mo tightened his grip on the token in his pocket.
He slowly approached this gateway to transcendence.
Step by step, he walked toward the wooden door that smelled of disinfectant.
This was his only chance.
He pushed open the clinic's front door.
Creeeak-
With a grating sound that set his teeth on edge, the door opened a crack.
The smell of formalin and disinfectant hit him in the face.
Chen Mo held his breath and squeezed inside sideways.
The clinic's interior was very clean.
A row of chairs stood neatly beside the spotless white floor.
Before him was a small reception hall.
A reception desk had been wiped free of even a speck of dust.
Everything was frighteningly quiet.
He reached back to pull the door nearly shut, intending to leave a gap.
But the instant he stepped into the clinic,
Click.
Before you continue