Just as it inched forward, nearly reaching the cave!
Suddenly.
A red ring of fire appeared in the rainy forest!
The ring spun rapidly and grew larger, stopping only when it was big enough to engulf its entire body.
All at once!
A flaming chain shot out of the ring of fire, swiftly taking precise aim at it!
Before it could run, the chain fell from the sky, wrapped around it, and pulled hard, dragging it toward the ring.
The red-hot chain seared its skin, raising wisps of white smoke.
It tried to resist.
But then two more chains reached out of the ring of fire!
One chain swiftly tightened around its neck, preventing it from making a sound!
The other chain wrapped around its body as well!
All three chains pulled at once, lifting its body off the ground!
Inside the cave, Song Jie grew alert. "It sounds like something's happening outside."
Glasses listened quietly too. His hearing wasn't as good as Song Jie's, who could still hear something outside over the heavy rain.
But he too sensed that something wasn't quite right.
"It's probably a monster. The rain's so heavy outside, we'd better stay in. Maybe it's just passing by."
Qin Xun kept his eyes tightly shut, a layer of cold sweat beading on his forehead!
Though he couldn't see outside, he could sense the monster out there through the chains.
The chains seemed to be using his strength to drag the monster!
The harder the monster struggled, the faster his stamina was drained.
Qin Xun tried to draw on the spirit within him!
As the spirit within him stirred, the chains seemed to pull harder.
Before long, an image appeared in his mind.
A massive toad-like monster was bound by several chains!
It struggled desperately. A chain descended straight down from the sky and stabbed viciously into its body!
The monster's eyes bulged, and two snake-like tongues spilled from its mouth, twisting and struggling desperately as well!
It seemed to want to make a sound, but a chain was wrapped tightly around its neck, squeezing so hard that it could only swallow its bitter suffering like a mute eating coptis.
As the chain pierced it, wisps of Spiritual Power entered Qin Xun's body.
The monster's body turned to stone little by little, and Spiritual Power continued flowing into his body.
In about the time it took to petrify three Ghost Wolves, the toad-like monster was completely petrified!
The chain that had descended from the sky withdrew, vanishing into the darkness.
At that moment, the Spiritual Power flowing into Qin Xun also stopped.
Qin Xun opened his eyes.
Song Jie noticed that something was wrong with Qin Xun. "What's wrong? Why are you covered in sweat?"
"It's nothing. The fire's too hot."
Qin Xun made up an excuse on the spot.
Now he was certain that he really could obtain Spiritual Power from monsters!
And now he knew how to open the ring of fire and control the chains.
There were nine chains in all.
So far, he could control only three.
No matter how he tried, the remaining six wouldn't budge.
It was as if he wasn't strong enough to wield them!
In the dark space.
The petrified Snake Frog floated alongside the petrified Ghost Wolves.
A petrified Black Blood Pigeon bumped gently against its body, then bounced away.
They floated there aimlessly, utterly lifeless!
Qin Ling looked at Qin Xun with her eyes open and asked softly, "Brother, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just too hot!"
"But you're wet all over. Are you hurt?" The girl's eyes were full of worry. She would rather something happened to her than to Qin Xun.
"I'm fine. I really am just too hot. My clothes are soaking wet, and after sitting by the fire, I feel uncomfortable all over."
Qin Xun had wanted to take off his jacket, but he was afraid Qin Ling would see the gunshot wound on his arm, so he abandoned the idea.
He'd just have to put up with the discomfort...
Song Jie wiped the tearstains from her face. "We can't go back to camp now, and we can't take you to see Brother Shui either. From here on, you'll have to keep moving around with us."
"It's all right."
"We'll do our best to keep you safe, but nobody can say what'll happen on the road ahead."
"I know." Qin Xun fell silent for two seconds, then asked, "How strong would someone have to be to rescue Brother Shui from the Dark Pavilion?"
Song Jie said, "Do you mean one person acting alone?"
Qin Xun nodded.
Glasses shook his head. "For one person, it's practically impossible! There's probably no one in the entire Fallen Zone who can fight their way to the Dark Pavilion single-handedly and rescue Brother Shui unharmed!"
"How strong would someone have to be, at the very least?"
Glasses shook his head again. "I don't know. In any case, they'd have to be incredibly strong. Once you become the number one Psionic in the Fallen Zone, then you can think about fighting your way to the Dark Pavilion alone!"
Song Jie said, "Fighting our way to the Dark Pavilion isn't necessarily the only way to save Brother Shui. Like Smoker said, Brother Shui won't die for the time being. We can take our time and find a way!"
Zone 96.
On a street far from the city gate.
Heavy rain mixed with blood and flowed into the sewers.
Black Crow stood with his hands in his pockets, the rain soaking him to the skin. The battle just now had left a bloody streak on his face.
Not far away, the bodies of several Guard Team members lay in the rain.
"Old Crab... Old Crab!!!"
A middle-aged woman knelt on the ground, shaking Old Crab's body desperately and crying out in anguish.
Old Crab lay in the rainwater, black feathers embedded all over his body. Blood flowed from more than a hundred wounds into the water.
"I was going to spare your life, but you insisted on courting death."
As Black Crow spoke, his gaze turned cold. He looked at the two subordinates behind him. "What are you standing there for? Hurry and chase the man with the dog. Take him alive!"
"Yes!"
The two subordinates hurried off in the direction Xu Chao had fled.
"Tell me, how can there be such a coincidence in this world?" Black Crow raised his head, enjoying the rain washing over him. "I received a new assignment to come to Zone 96 and capture your husband, and I just happened to run into the person we lost!"
That evening, he had received a call from his superiors.
They were furious that he had lost Qin Xun!
They had dispatched two nearby teams to take over the search for Qin Xun.
Since he wasn't far from Zone 96, he had been given a last-minute order to capture a member of the Hunters there!
Once he caught him, he was to take him back to the Dark Pavilion.
He hadn't expected it.
He really hadn't expected it.
For such a coincidence to exist in the world.
For him to run into the man with the dog!
As long as he caught the man and forced Qin Xun's whereabouts out of him, his superiors' anger at him would naturally subside.
"I'll fight you to the death!" the woman roared, rising to her feet and lunging at Black Crow.
Whoosh!
Black Crow seized the woman by the throat and said coldly, "Your husband may be dead, but your daughter is still alive. If you cooperate with me, I can guarantee that you and your daughter won't die!"
"I'll fight you to the death! I'll fight you to the death!"
The woman flailed her hands, clawing at Black Crow's face. Her husband's death had driven her nearly mad; she seemed to have thrown all caution aside and wanted only to fight with her life on the line!
Black Crow squeezed hard, and the woman's throat felt as though it had been caught in a pair of pincers, leaving her unable to breathe!
"Let her go!"
A cold voice cut through the rain from behind him.