Hunting on Home Ground

Mo Chen's hand, covered in grease and scars, clenched tightly, his knuckles turning white. He uttered a very short reply, "... Yes!" He turned and rushed towards the workshop.

The atmosphere at the camp was extremely tense.

Lu Yuan's fingers quickly traced across the unfolded diagram of the ruins. "Lin Xiao, you take Su Yan and Li Wangye, the mobile team. Shi Jian, lead your men to guard the main passage on the west side. Mr. Shen and Elder Yun's men will be in charge of the research area." He spoke steadily, "Remember the core of the Hive: move, disperse. Don't engage in direct combat, strike and retreat immediately."

Lin Xiao licked his canine teeth, nodded, and disappeared in a flash. Su Yan followed closely behind.

Shen Moxin adjusted her glasses. "I'll go prepare the medicine and the lighting talisman."

"Yes." Lu Yuan looked at Yun Youzi.

Yun Youzi's eyes, sharp beneath his white eyebrows, said, "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on the runes and the ' Source Seed ' meditation room."

After the tasks were assigned, everyone quickly dispersed. The fire was dimmed.

Lu Yuan stood alone in front of the map, his index finger tapping lightly on the side of his knee. His mind raced through the "Hive" preset points—the rudimentary Soul Power sensing runes, the complex passages, and the pre-arranged mechanisms.

Time passed little by little.

From the depths of darkness, the first unusual fluctuation of Soul Power came, so faint it was like an illusion.

His eyes narrowed.

They've arrived.

Almost simultaneously, a second and third wave of energy emanated from different directions. The intruders split up to investigate.

Lu Yuan pointed his fingertip at a spot on the map, channeling his Soul Power into the edge crystal. A faint light flashed, and information spread at a specific frequency.

In the darkness, Lin Xiao's group crouched behind the shadows of the stalagmites at the fork in the road. He felt a burning sensation on the stone slab at his waist. He looked down and saw the simple sign: Northwest, Second Main Fork, East Branch Road, Seventy Steps.

He grinned, a silent laugh, and gestured behind him.

Su Yan lowered his head even further. Li Wangye gripped the cloth-wrapped wooden spear tightly.

Seventy paces away, two black-clad Soul Master moved slowly back to back. One of them stepped on something soft and springy.

"Click."

A very slight crackling sound.

The two men felt their hair stand on end and retreated rapidly, unleashing their Soul Power.

It's too late.

The sound of rocks grinding together came from overhead. A large section of weathered stone slabs, along with the loosened gravel and soil behind it, collapsed with a deafening roar!

Dust filled the air. One person rushed out of the landslide, his shoulder cut open by a piece of rock. Another person was half-buried, his leg pinned under a large rock, his scream turning into a muffled groan.

The commotion carried exceptionally far within the labyrinthine ruins.

The other members of the Eye of Shadow nearby were startled, before they could even make a judgment.

"Whoosh--Crack!"

A blinding light erupted at the end of another fork in the road, accompanied by a deafening bang that ripped through eardrums! The light refracted repeatedly in the narrow space, illuminating the area as bright as day before vanishing. The contrast between light and darkness and the noise made the two black-clad Soul Master' vision blur and their ears ring.

"Damn it! What the hell is this?!" one person cursed under their breath.

Their captain, a tall, thin Soul Master, was deeper in the circular corridor. Hearing the commotion, his face behind his mask turned grim.

Something's not right.

The ruins have come back to life. The traps are specifically designed to activate when they are scattered and lax.

He gestured for the three people around him to move closer and abandon their separate exploration.

The four of them had just gathered together.

Rapid footsteps echoed from a dark side path to the side, accompanied by a hushed, panicked cry, "This way! Come quick! There aren't many of them!"

The captain's eyes sharpened. "Chase!"

The four rushed forward. The passage twisted and turned, and the shouts came from near and far.

After chasing for about a hundred paces, we came to a fork in the road. The shouts seemed to be coming from the middle of the fork.

"Enter!"

The captain rushed in first. At the end of the passage was an empty stone chamber, covered in dust. Where was anyone?

They've fallen for their trap!

The captain's heart sank, and he turned around abruptly.

At the entrance, a heavy stone slab silently slid down, blocking the way with a "boom"! The slab was engraved with crooked, simple reinforcement runes.

They were locked in a sealed stone chamber.

"Smash it!" the captain roared. The strength-type team member stepped forward, his Soul Ring flashing, and his fist slammed into the stone slab with a whooshing sound.

The stone slabs vibrated, dust fell in clumps, but the stone remained motionless.

Almost simultaneously.

The stone floor in the corner of the chamber flipped down, revealing a dark hole. Thick, pungent yellow smoke billowed out, instantly filling the narrow space!

"Hold your breath! Paralyze the poisonous smoke!" the captain shouted, but it was too late. The smoke was corrosive to Soul Power, causing numbness and itching on the skin, and slight inhalation would cause dizziness.

In the chaos, no one noticed that a faint aura of Soul Power flickered in the cracks in the ceiling of the stone chamber, transmitting the chaotic scene outwards.

Similar scenes played out sporadically in the middle of the night.

A lone traveler stumbles and falls into a shallow pit; bone-piercing stakes spring up from the rock face; the road is blocked by piles of rubble marked with incorrect symbols, forcing a detour onto a dangerous side road.

What terrified them even more was that they would occasionally hear screams, fighting, or thuds of someone falling to the ground in the distance, only to find empty passageways or their unconscious, bound companions when they rushed over. The attackers were like ghosts.

The roles of hunter and prey are reversed in the dark labyrinth.

In the darkest hour before dawn, the commotion deep within the ruins gradually subsided. Only a handful of Eye of Shadow members remained active, their organization completely dismantled, and they hid in fear.

Lin Xiao's team had just used a rockfall trap to take down a black-clad Soul Master. Su Yan used resilient vines to bind them securely, while Li Wangye guarded the entrance to the passage.

Lin Xiao squatted down beside the prisoner and pulled out a familiar token. Suddenly, the stone at his waist started to heat up continuously—in the northeast corner, in the ancient storage area, the suspected leader was trying to move towards the backup exit.

Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes, his vertical pupils contracting. He made a few hand gestures.

The three of them moved silently, like water flowing into the shadows.

It was an open area littered with abandoned stone shelves and empty stone boxes. A lean, wiry man in black was cautiously pressing against the stone wall, moving quickly toward the half-open, heavy stone door. His movements were agile, but his breathing was unsteady.

Just as he was about to touch the stone door.

A suppressed growl came from behind the stone box on the right, and a faint light flashed as Soul Power collided.

The man in black stopped abruptly and turned around abruptly. Had his companion been attacked?

He hesitated for half a second, then decided to leave first, turning around and continuing towards the stone gate.

However, in that half-second of distraction as he turned his head and paused slightly, he was distracted.

From the shadows on the left, Lin Xiao's figure shot up like Gui Mei! He moved at full speed, leaving afterimages as his five fingers formed claws, his fingertips condensing into tiny rays of Soul Power, aiming straight for the man's neck!

The man in black was startled and hastily twisted his body to block, his Soul Ring suddenly illuminating.

Bang!

A muffled thud. The two clashed head-on. The man in black staggered backward, his arm numb.

Before he could regain his balance, a gust of wind swept from behind him! Su Yan had somehow appeared behind him and slammed his cloth-covered, stone-embedded short stick down hard on the back of his head!

There are wolves in front and tigers behind.

The man in black roared, unleashing his Soul Power as he forcefully rolled to the side, attempting to evade the attack. This roll landed him inside the half-open, heavy stone door beside him.

He had just rolled inside when a chill ran down his spine—he'd been tricked!

Outside the door, Li Wangye used all his strength to push the thick stone bolt into the stone groove on the door with a "bang"! The stone door slammed shut.

Frantic pounding and roaring came from inside the door, but the stone door remained unmoved.

Lin Xiao took a breath and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth. "It's done."

Soon, Lu Yuan and the others arrived. Working together, they first used specially made paralyzing blowguns to shoot through the crack in the door. Once the noise inside had subsided, they carefully opened the stone door.

Inside the storage room, the man in black lay slumped on the ground, his eyes unfocused and his body convulsing. His mask was off, revealing a pale, thin middle-aged face, his eyes still holding a fierce glint, and his lips tightly pursed.

Lu Yuan didn't rush into interrogation. He squatted down and carefully examined the items: a standard black uniform, a familiar token, and miscellaneous tools and medicines. It wasn't until his fingers touched the inner armor that he noticed a slightly thicker, subtle layer.

He carefully cut it open with a knife.

Inside was a thin, light brown animal hide. Unfolded, it was sketched with charcoal lines, outlining the mountain shape surrounding the ruins and the main entrance to the fissure. Several twisted, ancient symbols were marked beside it.

Lu Yuan's gaze fell on one of the symbols, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

The symbols twisted and Entanglement like countless fine chains, trapping the outline of a tightly closed door. Beside it, in an extremely ancient script that vaguely corresponded to Lu Yuan's memories from his previous life, a word was written.

Yun Youzi leaned closer to take a look, and after just one glance, his white beard trembled, he gasped, and his aged eyes instantly filled with astonishment and doubt.

"The Gate of Finality..." His voice was hoarse, almost squeezed out from between his teeth.