"If he doesn't come to save you, you're definitely not going to survive."
The sloppy man glanced at Hu Chan, "Since you already know the outcome, why don't you end it yourself right now, so you don't have to suffer through the torment and fear of facing death?"
Hu Chan did not answer. The sloppy man leaned in close to his face, grinning as he spoke, "Whether you admit it or not, you still have hope for him in your heart."
After hearing this, Hu Chan fell silent for a few seconds, then let out a self mocking smile, "You're right."
"The reason I didn't end myself just now is because I'm still clinging to a sliver of hope that he'll come back to save me. Even though I know the chance of that hope coming true is less than one in ten thousand—"
Before Hu Chan could finish speaking, he suddenly felt an extremely faint vibration coming from underground.
'Was that… an illusion?'
He waited a moment longer. The sensation of vibration grew stronger.
It felt exactly the same as when the drill capsule surfaced earlier.
Hu Chan's expression changed in shock.
'Could it be that Qin Siyang came back again?'
A smile squeezed its way onto the sloppy man's pus covered face. He no longer looked at Hu Chan, instead carefully sensing the movement underground.
A dozen seconds later, a low "BOOM" echoed through the surroundings.
Not far away, sand and stones were instantly flung outward by a high pressure impact. Grit and dust swept in all directions.
The dark gray shell of the drill capsule gleamed with cold light. The spiral drill bit was still carrying chunks of rock from the strata that had not fully scattered yet, sparks flashing faintly as they collided.
The drill capsule revved its power to the limit and shot into the air, breaking free from the pull of gravity, unstoppable as it charged toward the sky.
Qin Siyang really came back.
He was driving the drill capsule to save him.
Hu Chan's emotions were too complicated to describe. He could only silently stare at the drill capsule.
The sloppy man's gaze was also drawn over. Looking at the drill capsule leaping into the air, greed showed on his face.
In the air, countless transparent threads suddenly appeared, weaving into a massive net at an astonishing speed, covering the space above the drill capsule.
The sloppy man chuckled softly, "This time, you won't get awa—"
Before his laughter could finish, his eyes suddenly widened.
'Something is wrong!'
'The driver's seat of the drill capsule is empty?'
'There is no one inside?'
'Where is that boy?'
'Where did he go?'
The sloppy man was just about to scan his surroundings when a figure appeared in front of him like a ghost.
Caught off guard, the sloppy man instinctively shrank back slightly, then entered a combat stance.
But before he could even see that face clearly, a blinding white light blasted out from Qin Siyang's mouth.
BOOM!
In an instant, the sloppy man and Hu Chan beside him were both submerged in silver lightning.
Countless lightning serpents writhed and rolled through the air, intertwining with one another and forming a surging torrent. The thunderous roar tore through the air, and the dark wasteland within several kilometers was illuminated by this dazzling light.
The sloppy man's figure became indistinct within the blinding radiance, his body wrapped in lightning. Hu Chan's face turned paper white in the glow, filled with shock and terror.
But neither of them had time to let out even a single cry.
The surrounding air was instantly scorched and warped by the extreme heat of the lightning.
One second later, the lightning had not yet dissipated.
But Hu Chan's figure suddenly appeared beside Qin Siyang.
Only this time, he was completely naked, with both his armor and clothes gone.
Although his face was still the frail, sickly disguised appearance, the solid, muscular build of his body was fully exposed.
Qin Siyang moved fast. Before Hu Chan could even steady himself, he quickly grabbed Hu Chan's arm.
Without the slightest hesitation, his eyes flicked upward. Relying on sharp intuition and battle instincts honed through experience, he suddenly exerted force and hurled Hu Chan's body into the air.
At the same time, Qin Siyang cut off the lightning surging from his mouth, and his figure vanished from where he stood.
In three or four instantaneous movements, he precisely dove into the drill capsule that was still falling through the air.
Almost at the exact moment he entered the hatch, he kicked the door shut with force, flipped smoothly, and landed firmly in the driver's seat.
Hu Chan's body was still falling through the air. With perfect timing, Qin Siyang shot out his arm and caught Hu Chan precisely, pressing him steadily into the copilot seat.
Everything happened far too fast. Hu Chan had not yet fully reacted, the expression on his face still frozen in astonishment.
Meanwhile, Qin Siyang in the driver's seat remained stern. Because out of the corner of his eye, he vaguely saw the net woven from transparent threads above.
"Hold on tight!"
BOOM!
The drill capsule plunged diagonally toward the ground, violently piercing into the earth.
The roar and the tremor of the ground erupted almost simultaneously. Dust and grit were violently flung aside by the high speed rotation of the spiral drill bit, and in the blink of an eye, the drill capsule entered underground.
Less than five seconds after the lightning subsided, the drill capsule vanished from the wasteland.
The sound of the ground shaking grew weaker and weaker as the two of them moved farther and farther away.
On the wasteland, where the lightning had passed, the ground was scorched black, and the air still carried the smell of burning.
Only a hunched figure flickered in and out of view within the smoke and dust.
His entire body was charred black. In his utterly miserable state, it was impossible to associate him with the danger he posed just moments ago.
The sloppy man's clothes and long hair had all turned to ashes.
But that face covered in pus filled boils was completely intact.
Only the eye sockets had turned into two black holes, with no eyeballs in sight.
A few seconds later, a pair of pitch black eyes reappeared within those holes, yet they gave off an eerie sense of disharmony.
The newly formed eyes and the eye sockets were like misaligned gears, completely unlike parts that belonged on the same face.
It was as if beneath this ugly visage, there was another face hidden underneath.
The sloppy man looked at his own charred body and couldn't help but sigh.
"What terrifying skill. To actually incinerate my Tier Three eyeballs directly. The power contained in that lightning is practically on par with a Thunder Snow Wolf!"
Then his gaze fell on the empty Tier Four armor lying nearby.
"What terrifying skill. To be able to dodge a fatal blow and shed the shell like a cicada. Looks like I still underestimated him. That person was probably using a disguise as well."
Finally, he turned back to look at the hole in the ground where the drill capsule had disappeared, his expression filled with regret.
"A cooked duck flew away. In the end, it's all because I underestimated them. The one doing hired work was unusual, and the one driving was even more unusual. As expected, anyone who can go more than thirty kilometers outside the safe zone to hunt gods is no ordinary person. I underestimated them."
The sloppy man scratched his smooth bald head, feeling somewhat regretful, "But in my current state, I can't continue hiding outside the safe zone to gather materials."
He then sighed, "All things considered, I've been away from the safe zone for over two months, and I did gain something. It's about time to head back and take a look."
The sloppy man inserted his fingers into his eye sockets and pried hard. A layer of charred outer skin peeled off his body, revealing the figure of a middle aged man wearing casual clothes.
He stored that sloppy, ugly outer skin into a storage box, then changed into a set of silver armor, and walked toward the safe zone, filled with endless regret.
[T/N: I hope you all are enjoying and if you are, please do give some reviews, be it bad or good, and keep commenting in the chapters to let me know that there are actually people reading it. It makes my day and I really read every single comment that comes on every one of the books. Have a nice day, y'all~]