The entrance to the ruins was random!
So some people, who entered two days ago, were already near this city, while others, like Ye Cangtian, were not so lucky.
He had spent a full two days traveling more than a hundred kilometers to get here.
When Ye Cangtian arrived at the city, he found it had a massive stone gate, and the gate was open.
It was unclear whether it had always been open, or if it had been forced open by people who arrived here earlier.
The city walls were dozens of meters high.
Looking up felt like being at the bottom of a cliff. The stone gate was at least a dozen meters tall.
Therefore, Ye Cangtian guessed that such a colossal stone gate might not be something that could be opened by human strength alone!
Just then.
The sound of dense footsteps came from behind.
Ye Cangtian looked back and saw the Pandora Mercenary Group arriving. Zhao Ziyang and the female leader of Pandora were among them.
It seemed they had encountered trouble, as almost everyone was injured and covered in blood.
"People from the Dark Association?"
The female leader, Misha, looked at Ye Cangtian vigilantly, a bit on guard. Clearly, he had had contact with the Dark Association, recognizing the mask at a glance.
Zhao Ziyang, on the other hand, sized up Ye Cangtian, finding him somewhat familiar but unable to recall where they had met.
Ye Cangtian knew his attire was changed and he was wearing a mask, so it was normal that they didn't recognize him.
He had no intention of revealing his identity, so he simply glanced at them and withdrew his gaze, then walked towards the city.
After he left, Misha let out a sigh of relief and frowned, "I didn't expect people from the Dark Association to come!"
Zhao Ziyang asked, puzzled, "How did you recognize him as someone from the Dark Association?"
"A year ago, after you were captured by China's Dragon Group, I wanted to take these brothers to China to rescue you..."
Misha stopped midway and changed the subject, "People from the Dark Association contacted me, asking me to become their member. Pandora Mercenary Group was also brought under their outer influence. They would help me improve my strength, which would help in saving you!"
"So you agreed?" Zhao Ziyang's brows furrowed slightly.
"No!"
Misha pouted, "For Pandora to become their subordinate? They're dreaming! These guys are all bad news, fleecing people everywhere, forcing others to join them. I would never agree!"
"It was right not to agree to them!" Zhao Ziyang's expression darkened. He had actually been contemplating something recently.
Why did his wife meet with misfortune back then?
Although the matter seemed simple on the surface, after several years, Zhao Ziyang sensed something unusual. Combining various clues, he even suspected that the Dark Association was behind everything.
His wife died after being humiliated, he defied orders to slaughter the culprits, and ultimately broke ties with the Dragon Group.
This seemed to be exactly what the Dark Association would want. If they then extended an olive branch to him, inviting him to become a member of the Dark Association, wouldn't that be their usual modus operandi?
Zhao Ziyang clenched his fists, a hint of blood red appearing in his eyes.
However, he soon took a deep breath, looked up at the city gate, then glanced back at the noisy crowd behind him, and said, "More people are coming. Let's go in!"
As the group stepped into the city, another noisy procession arrived.
...
The moment Ye Cangtian stepped into the city, he couldn't help but frown.
What greeted him was a spacious plaza, with stone houses in the distance and several orderly streets.
But the city was eerily silent!
"No one?"
Was he the first one to enter the city?
Ye Cangtian shook his head. Impossible, because there were many scattered footprints outside the city walls, along with some compressed biscuit wrappers, proving that people had entered the city much earlier, and quite a few of them.
But where were these people now?
Something was not right!
Ye Cangtian looked around suspiciously. He could feel countless eyes watching him from the shadows.
Could it be that the major organizations had joined forces to set a trap for him?
Just then, a shout reached his ears, "Sir!"
"Sir, over here!"
Two sneaky figures were hiding in a corner along a street in the distance, beckoning him from afar.
Although both were wearing copper masks, Ye Cangtian immediately recognized them as Huang Wu and Huang San, who were under his command.
He didn't think much of it and walked straight towards the street entrance.
There were many streets surrounding the plaza. On both sides of the streets were stone houses, their original purpose as shops or residences unknown.
As Ye Cangtian just entered the street, he saw that the gaps in several stone houses, which were initially visible, were quickly shut tightly with a bang.
It seemed there were people inside those stone houses.
Seeing Ye Cangtian's puzzled expression, Huang San quickly said, "Sir, let's go inside first. It's very dangerous out here!"
Dangerous out here?
Ye Cangtian raised an eyebrow, looked back at the empty street and the vast plaza, and without further questions, followed the two into one of the open stone houses.
The interior of the stone house was not large. It was empty of any furniture, but covered with traces of age and erosion.
It seemed that people had indeed lived in these ruins, but they had long since departed, who knew how many years ago.
"Now, can you tell me what's going on outside?"
Ye Cangtian turned to look at the two.
Huang Wu gestured for Huang San to speak. Huang San nodded and said gravely, "Sir, this city is very dangerous, especially outside. If you don't find an empty house, people outside will be killed!"
"Killed?"
Ye Cangtian was stunned, then asked strangely, "You mean, besides us outsiders, there are still people in this city?"
"No, it's stone figures!"
"Do you remember the island ruins from last time? The stone figures that are almost impossible to kill? This city has them, and they patrol the city constantly, as if organized!"
Huang Wu also nodded, somewhat shaken, "Once they discover outsiders, they will annihilate all outsiders! Back in the plaza..."
Before he could finish, he was interrupted by heavy footsteps.
The footsteps sounded strange, like the thudding of stones hitting the ground, and there were quite a few of them.
Ye Cangtian walked to the door and gently pushed it open a sliver. Huang San and Huang Wu beside him were extremely nervous.
Through the gap, Ye Cangtian looked out.
Indeed, a squad of stone figures passed by the house and headed towards the plaza.
These stone figures seemed similar to those at the island ruins, but they looked more human-like, and they all held stone spears in their hands, like an army on patrol.
Counting them discreetly, there were sixteen stone figures in total!
It was just unknown how strong these stone figures were. If their strength was similar to the stone figures from the island ruins, then sixteen stone figures might not pose a significant threat.
"Sir, more people have entered!" Huang San suddenly said.
Ye Cangtian saw them too and guessed who they were.
As expected, Zhao Ziyang and the Pandora Mercenary Group had also entered the city and were now standing in the plaza, just as bewildered as he had been earlier.
At the same time, the stone figure patrol squad that had just passed by the stone house discovered the outsiders and immediately charged towards them.
Just as Huang San and the others had said, as soon as the stone figure patrol squad discovered outsiders, they would attack and kill them without hesitation!