“Where… are they?”

Su Xiaoxiao curled up in pain. Chen Ran’s palm strike was incredibly powerful, instantly inflicting severe injuries. What’s more, her wrist had been crushed under his foot.

Every movement brought excruciating pain.

“I’m asking you a question…”

After the low growl, the madness in Chen Ran’s eyes was gradually replaced by a hint of murderous intent. He hadn't expected that this stupid thing, whom he had treated as prey, would turn around and play him.

Even more unexpected was that she was willing to hold him back, even if it cost her life.

At that moment, Su Xiaoxiao stopped speaking, only emitting a series of low chuckles, mocking the conceited man before her. Combined with her curled-up posture, she looked, in Chen Ran's eyes, like a buffoon laughing so hard her stomach hurt.

He stepped forward and crushed Su Xiaoxiao’s ankle.

The sound of the bone cracking wasn’t as crisp as one might imagine, but rather filled with the greasy sensation of bone and flesh sticking together.

Su Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth, gasping for breath from the pain, but remained silent.

The slowly flowing blood soaked the soil beneath Su Xiaoxiao. In a place neither of them noticed, a strange scene unfolded: the blood seemed to be drawn by some force, moving towards the stone plate.

The instant it touched the stone plate, a faint red halo suddenly expanded, like a blood-colored barrier inverted over the stone plate, enveloping the entire stone plate and a large area around it.

“Crack… crack…”

A subtle, dense tremor resounded, as if countless giant arthropods were approaching them.

Chen Ran narrowed his eyes, looking at the white stone plate enveloped in the blood mist. The tremor… was coming from the piles of bones on the stone plate.

They were shaking, rubbing against each other, and in his subconscious, he seemed to hear the sharp laughter coming from the bones, the prelude to a hunt.

Those bones… looked as if they were about to stand up in the next second.

An even more bizarre scene appeared: flesh and blood constantly gathered on the pale, withered bones, and the pungent stench assaulted his nostrils. The white stone plate… had become a scene of carnage.

Chen Ran took a few steps back, the murderous intent in his eyes gradually fading.

A moment later, a strange sense of dizziness washed over him. A series of images began to appear before his eyes, appearing strangely, not through his eyes, but as if directly projected into his mind.

A huge wooden ship, weapons on shoulders, iron chains, spears flashing with cold light, symbols painted with bizarre icons…

A large number of scantily clad, strangely dressed people huddled together, holding hands, sometimes kowtowing, sometimes weeping, while women in peculiar clothes poured vessels full of blood over themselves.

Crows circled overhead, and below were countless corpses of seabirds…

These images were forcibly injected into Chen Ran’s mind, like a needle piercing his skull and forcibly灌注 (guànzhù, pouring into) him, making him unable to forget them even if he wanted to.

At the same time, he also felt a strong sense of unwillingness, and… resentment.

The next second, a light flashed in Chen Ran's eyes, and he suddenly smiled. He looked down at Su Xiaoxiao, who was collapsed on the ground, equally dumbfounded by the bizarre influence, and said with a smile, "Miss Su, I'll take my leave first. Please, make yourself at home."

After saying that, just as the flesh and blood on those bones were about to heal, Chen Ran turned around and ran towards the outside of the forest.

The Fatty, who had also been watching nearby, was already stunned by the images in his mind and the bloody scene unfolding on the white stone plate. He didn't even notice that Chen Ran had already left.

Until… the Doctor appeared in his line of sight.

Jiang Cheng ran towards Su Xiaoxiao’s location, moving very fast.

The Fatty, snapping back to his senses, subconsciously wanted to stop him, but the things on the stone plate had already slowly stood up. Gritting his teeth, he chased after the Doctor.

The instant he entered the blood-colored barrier, Jiang Cheng felt a sense of oppression. He ran to Su Xiaoxiao's side and checked her injuries.

The Fatty quickly arrived beside them, enduring the pressure.

Su Xiaoxiao was still collapsed on the ground, one arm and one leg twisted at odd angles, clearly broken.

“You can’t escape,” Jiang Cheng said bluntly after a brief examination, “You're injured like this, we can’t take another person with us.”

Su Xiaoxiao moved slightly, as if trying to make herself more comfortable. After a few seconds, she nodded, “I know.”

For some unknown reason, upon hearing these words, the Fatty suddenly felt sorry for the woman before him.

“What did Chen Ran tell you?” Jiang Cheng didn’t beat around the bush. After all, the creatures on the stone plate were already taking shape and would likely begin hunting soon.

Time was limited, so he needed to be quick.

Su Xiaoxiao endured the pain and sat up, but her wrist and ankle were both twisted, making it particularly difficult. The Fatty stared at her two injuries and her bloody chest, feeling pain for her in his heart.

But the stubborn woman stared at Jiang Cheng, not saying a word.

“You have no choice but to trust me now,” Jiang Cheng said, “Tell me the clues, and I’ll try my best to save your brother.”

Su Xiaoxiao swallowed the blood in her mouth, nodded, and said hoarsely, “Deal!”

“First… on the side of the stone pillar outside the first stone gate, there are clues, there is a picture carved with dark纹 (wén, patterns) on it,” Su Xiaoxiao glanced at the stone plate and said very quickly, “Also, this mission was started by Chen Ran, the clue newspaper is in his hands.”

“Doctor,” the Fatty said, his voice changing with fear as he stared at the creatures on the stone plate, who were already struggling to move, “Let’s go, if we don’t leave now, no one will be able to escape!”

Jiang Cheng looked at Su Xiaoxiao, his lips moving as if to say something, but Su Xiaoxiao smiled first. She covered her abdomen with her only remaining hand, as if trying to stop life from flowing away from her fingers, "I know… what you’re thinking," she said.

Jiang Cheng exhaled and nodded, "Then I’ll leave it to you."

After saying that, he grabbed the Fatty and the two of them ran wildly towards the forest. The creatures on the stone plate, some similar to humans, others so bizarre that they had never been recorded, had awakened and began to take clumsy steps down from the stone plate.

They moved faster and faster, their movements becoming more and more skilled, like creatures after hibernation, readapting to their bodies.

Su Xiaoxiao used all her strength to grab the weapon that Chen Ran had dropped on the ground, and then struggled to stand up. Just before the first ugly creature was about to leave the stone plate, Su Xiaoxiao jumped to the edge of the stone plate in a few steps.

The next second, she dropped the spear she had been using to support her frail body and lunged towards the stone plate.

The flesh and blood that had just grown was peeled away again, and countless deformed bones fell on the stone plate. The bloody light enveloping this space rotated in reverse.

Everything returned to its original appearance.

It was as if… no one had ever been there.