The prison of 002, its inhabitants calloused by time, yet the Bearer of the Coffin has emerged.
Who will break free from this deadlock?
One, two, three.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In a swift succession, seven or eight individuals forcefully break free of their chains, some wielding the chains themselves, others grasping the jagged shards scattered across the ground, while a few have snatched up high-heeled shoes…
Upon the Bearer's entry, they launch an all-out assault. These are no ordinary fighters; they have forced their way out through sheer strength and resilience. Their close combat prowess far exceeds that of Yao—after all, she is an outsider, originally a pampered businesswoman, untrained in the martial arts from childhood. Her previous reflexes and agility were mostly thanks to genetic inheritance, but in terms of pure combat skill, she was no match for these warriors.
The disparity was ever-present.
Yet their method of combat was the norm, unlike her peculiar, unorthodox techniques. In the face of conventional fighting, the true strength of the Bearer of the Coffin became apparent.
Boom!
The ground and walls shattered under the impact, especially when the Bearer raised the coffin lid and struck it down with ferocious force…
Brutal!
Amid the chaos of the melee, one person, dodging to the side, suddenly sprang into action. Leaping up, they planted a foot on the Bearer's shoulder and used it as leverage to grab the hanging chandelier, pulling it down with their weight.
At the chandelier's base were a dangling lampshade and a sharp, pointed fixture.
With a crash, the fixture pierced the Bearer's skull, and the lamp's oil bag shattered, spilling burning liquid over the Bearer's head and body.
Flames roared as they consumed the cloth bag covering the Bearer's head and spread across their body.
The Bearer howled in agony.
Meanwhile, Lin Hangjing performed a backflip to the ground, joining the others in a combined heavy strike… After three waves of assault, the Bearer collapsed, the coffin falling with them.
Wandering merchants began to appear, but they were immediately discovered. Why? Because they had been monitoring the 001 prison, and the more agile among them had overheard the faintest sounds of commotion.
The final question from Lan Bing had been heard.
The advantage of the first 001 prison lay in the fact that they experienced everything first, though they had zero information and could only rely on their own instincts.
002, on the other hand, was a step behind 001, but the advantage was the ability to eavesdrop on information, allowing for better preparation and increased chances of survival.
In 002, 40 survivors emerged. The first trial was over!
Lin Hangjing +1000 points.
Mo Ruijing +600 points!
…
The third trial begins!
Lan Luoqi felt a tinge of disappointment, knowing that no matter what, Lan Bing was no match for Ox. This boy was more formidable than they had anticipated, hiding his true abilities too well.
What's uncertain, though, is whether Xie An knows about this.
From his investigation, Xie An seemed to harbor murderous intent toward his own son. The assassin from last night was likely sent by Xie An. Although the reasons were unclear, seeing how powerful Ox had become, it was certain that Xie An couldn't sit idly by.
As Lan Luoqi was pondering, he turned to look at Xie An's location, only to find he had vanished.
No one knew where he had gone.
Outside the education center, Xie An sat in an airship, using his connections to investigate the whereabouts of Zhou Miao at the research institute. He quickly received confirmation that she was indeed at the institute, vouched for by her colleagues.
"You were close to her, why didn't you just ask her directly?"
"No, that girl has grown up. I'm not her real brother, after all. She's from the main branch of the family, a noble, and I'm just a branch member. I can't get too close, lest people misunderstand."
"You always took care of her, though. She might not have survived without you. Even though the age difference is considerable, she's just an ordinary person now. The main family doesn't care about her, and if you did, there'd be no harm. You could even raise your own status by doing so, elevate your branch's position. Isn't that a good thing?"
"Stop talking nonsense. I'm not that kind of person."
Xie An responded with conviction, but his gaze drifted to the photo on the holographic screen, his expression briefly betraying a hint of something hidden.
After hanging up, he sighed with relief. He hesitated for a moment, then deleted a certain contact from his phone.
If she was fine, there was no need to contact them.
He didn't want them feeding off him again.
But something had felt off lately, an unsettling feeling he couldn't shake. His genetic talent was special, tied to a warning prophecy, and recently, he was close to breaking through the Blue Blood bottleneck.
This ominous sense was far from a mere illusion.
It could be from that little bastard Ox, or from Lan Xuan Yu's threat, or perhaps…
Xie An was naturally suspicious and after contemplating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and took out a piece of parchment.
This secret map had been obtained half a year ago, and within it lay a treasure capable of advancing his bloodline, increasing his chances of success to at least 75%.
This was crucial.
"I must go ahead… while everyone's attention is on the exam."
With that thought, Xie An began to make preparations.
What he didn't know was that, after hanging up, the communicator was gently placed on the desk, and the person who had taken the call turned to look at a large formalin tank behind them.
A certain "friend" was soaking inside.
Yao had closed the last door behind her, effectively breaking it.
Turning, she faced… and the constant bickering of the crowd suddenly ceased, as they too noticed the scene before them.
A vast, desolate land.
Lonely graves scattered about, with funeral banners fluttering in the wind, the ground littered with paper offerings. Occasionally, fragmented bones were half-buried in the foul-smelling earth.
The tombstones were crooked, ancient and decayed, forsaken and lifeless.
Yao frowned, her fingers twitching.
The elements were present!
But in scarce quantities.
Such meager amounts meant either there was no source for elemental regeneration, or the regeneration source was frail, releasing only a minute amount of energy.
No matter which, she had to leverage the advantage she had as one of the first to emerge from Jingyang City.
With one hand in her pocket, she gathered some elements and released a small locust.
"Go invisible, consume the elements, store them for me. Hide them well and stay close, don't come out without my command."
She intended for the locust to be her trump card.
"Got it, sister."
The locust quietly became invisible and crawled out of Yao's body, disappearing into the depths of the graveyard to begin absorbing the elements.
Yao herself wasn't idle, as she focused on gathering elements while releasing spider silk from her feet, inch by inch exploring the terrain.
The graveyard appeared to be the second stage of the dungeon. If the first stage tested skills and personal attributes under the constraint of forbidden arcane magic, then the second stage was undoubtedly the real combat test.
"Yet the elemental concentration is still so low. Perhaps, like the second stage, it tests mastery and application of skills, or perhaps the elements must be gathered from other places."
"But in any case, if the energy is limited in one area, it's certain that replenishing it elsewhere will also be restricted. Otherwise, the design would be pointless."
Yao's thoughts were sharp. She promptly reached into her bag and withdrew a regular backpack, taking out some supplies.
Though pulling out the backpack meant true weight added to her burden, she preferred to be prepared.
She could wear the equipment already on her, but couldn't carry any more, and the medicine had to come with her—everything else…
She sat down and sifted through the pile of items, some even revealing glimpses of underwear she had glimpsed earlier.
Had she not given those away yet?
What to do, she wanted to keep everything, but couldn't carry it all.
With no choice, she quickly picked a few items and was about to put the backpack on when suddenly, she squatted back down, picking up a wooden stick to push aside some overgrown grass. This revealed the true form of a leaning tombstone.
"Star Era 3214, Zhang Sheng, 35 years old, Engineer. Died from 48 hours of high-heel dancing, excessive blood loss from the legs, with no survivors to erect this tombstone."
The tombstone wasn't odd in itself—after all, when someone dies, someone must put up a monument.
Time, name, identity, cause of death, and the identity of the person who erected the tombstone.
Yao glanced at the other tombstones and noticed that the identities of the people who erected them were hidden—either O, D, L, or S.
The causes of death were varied.
"Died from
suffocation caused by chained restraint."
"Died from being struck by the Bearer of the Coffin."
"Died from being sealed by the Little Skin Peeler…"
"Died from being beheaded by the Little Skin Peeler."
"Died from being torn apart by the Bearer of the Coffin."
"Died from throat-slitting by a fellow prisoner…"
"Died from a drug experiment by the Wandering Merchant Boss…"
Yao paused to consider the information.
Her upcoming opponents were likely to fall into four categories: the Bearer of the Coffin (estimated ten in total, though it was unknown how many would KO the prisoners and release them), Barbara, the Little Skin Peeler (a mysterious figure still unknown), and the Wandering Merchant Boss (likely the leader of the wandering merchants, stronger than previous ones and possibly commanding a more powerful Bearer of the Coffin or possessing martial prowess themselves).
This was Yao's professional analysis.
But beyond this, she noticed that several of the tombstones showed signs of having been dug up.
Had someone been digging graves?
Why would someone do that?
Grave robbing.
Yao thought for a moment before standing up and leaving.
A while later, she found a relatively intact tombstone under everyone's watchful eyes.
Taking out a shovel and rolling up her sleeves, she prepared to dig when, suddenly, her scalp tingled—something felt wrong, as if someone was watching her.
Another player? No, this was close to the exit, and the doors were locked. Even if someone had escaped, she would have sensed it.
Could it be… one of the four suspects—Little Skin Peeler or the Wandering Merchant?
Or perhaps another contestant from a different city, like her, had escaped from their prison early and reached the graveyard area?
No matter who it was, they were clearly observing her, trying to assess her.
Well, then… let them make the wrong judgment.
She began to dig.
Surprisingly quickly, she unearthed a coffin.
Yao examined it and realized its craftsmanship and design were considerably simpler and cheaper than the one the Bearer of the Coffin carried.
With a wary glance, she opened the coffin lid.
At first glance, many parents covered their children's eyes.
The corpse was grotesque, its flesh and blood a mangled mess, unrecognizable, with an overwhelming stench of decay.
Yao glanced at it again and then at the tombstone.
"The death date recorded on this tombstone is twenty years ago, but the corpse doesn't seem right."
It was far too fresh—was it not the actual deceased?
Yao swiftly pulled aside the broken lower half of the corpse, revealing male features and rotting pubic bones.
Judging by age, it matched up, and the coffin's size fit the corpse's height.
It seemed correct.
But a person who died twenty years ago… how could the corpse appear so recently deceased?
Yao suddenly pulled out a pair of gloves, snapped them on, and reached for the head of the corpse. She pried open its jaw… but there was nothing inside.
"How could this be?"
"Did I misjudge?"
"If this is the case, then there's a new corpse. Someone is deliberately torturing and replacing the body in this coffin. It couldn't possibly be the work of a new monster, separate from the Little Skin Peeler or Wandering Merchant Boss…"
She analyzed the situation and swiftly reburied the tomb.
She reasoned that if the one spying on her were the Little Skin Peeler or the Wandering Merchant, as the aggressors, they wouldn't allow anything valuable to be left on their torture victims. They surely didn't know about this, and if they did, they'd have taken the treasure.
Thus, her goal was to mislead them, provide false information, and create a new "monster" to instill a sense of danger. If they began infighting, it would work in her favor.
After all, in the world of monsters, two leaders couldn't coexist.
Evil creatures simply weren't that tolerant.
But what if the observer was a contestant from another city?
Either they knew the secret and feared Yao would seize the resources, or they didn't know yet, in which case, she had to conceal it further.
Yao left, but beneath the ground, the locust's projection revealed a small, quail-egg-sized, green crystal.
Indeed, there was something.
It was a vitality-element gem, capable of refining water, wood, light, and earth elements.
The vitality element was inherently linked to these four primary elements and could slow the decay of flesh when placed within a body.
Because of this, the wealthy nobility used it to make expensive skincare products.
For the super elite, it was merely a cosmetic, but for those in the current tier or even level-40 arcanists, it was an invaluable resource.
Yao was slightly surprised but quickly realized that this was the "攻略点" designed to address the dungeon's low elemental content.
She immediately instructed the locust to continue burrowing deeper into the earth, but feigned disappointment, continuing to dig up several more graves, each time yielding no treasure.
Would the person spying on her grow impatient and leave, or would they approach and attempt to ambush her?
Yao was quietly on guard.
Soon, the sensation of being watched faded.
Had the observer left?
Yao breathed a sigh of relief. Now was the time to play it safe, to develop cautiously and conserve power.
After all, she had understood the importance of the dungeon's "攻略深度"—the deeper she ventured, the higher her score would be.
With that in mind, she continued her journey forward.
About twenty minutes later, the scenery of the graveyard changed.
There were no more tombstones or graves; instead, corpses lay scattered around, surrounded by numerous scarecrows.
They were scattered, dressed in lifelike leather coats.
Lifelike?
Yao squinted, a chill running down her spine. As she carefully approached for a closer look, she noticed the skin's texture and quality. It seemed real… and, to her horror, it moved.
Snap!
One of the scarecrow's hands shot out, its sharp twig-claws aimed directly at her eyes.