Volume One: Entering the City Chapter Twenty-One: Death

Bang! As Xia Rong climbed into the car, the door slammed shut. The atmosphere inside, among the five passengers, was oppressively heavy. Emperor Ao punched the steering wheel hard. “Damn it! Another one died right before our eyes. What is this mission, anyway? Are we just supposed to watch them die one after another?”

Mad Blade’s usual smile had vanished, replaced by a deep frown. “This time, we weren’t caught off guard like at Food City. We went all out, but even so, he still died.”

The teammates in the back seat nodded. They had given their utmost, yet still could not halt death’s relentless march.

“We need to find the last native, the one who isn’t the protagonist. We must figure out how to stop this. I don’t believe Death can orchestrate everything so flawlessly every time,” Emperor Ao said fiercely.

“Beep beep beep.” Xia Rong’s phone suddenly rang. She answered, exchanged a few words, and her expression changed.

“What is it? Don’t tell me the last one died before we got back?” The fury in Emperor Ao’s voice was palpable.

“No, it’s that newcomer, Li Xinran, calling. She said the protagonist told her that Death’s next target is Lu Yi, and the cause will be related to electricity,” Xia Rong quickly relayed.

Emperor Ao stomped on the brakes. “Where is Lu Yi?” Upon receiving the address, he spun the car around, still baffled. “It shouldn’t be his turn yet. What’s going on?”

Meanwhile, Lu Yi carefully placed the knives back on the table, then crawled up from the floor. As he stood, he felt utterly drained, his eyes aching, his vision blurred.

He understood the peril he’d just escaped: shattered fragments stabbing his eyes, a sharp blade at his throat, the cabinet door pushing the knife deeper.

Death’s design was a series of interconnected traps: glass shards, construction downstairs, water in the kettle—elements that had seemed harmless but ultimately became the keys driving him to the brink.

Lu Yi knew that without the Devil’s Eye, facing such a setup, even a thousand of him would have been useless.

He shook his head; the blow to the back was mostly shaken off, but his vision remained fuzzy. Clearly, the Devil’s Eye had been heavily taxed to help him survive.

Lu Yi tiptoed cautiously toward the living room. As he moved, the scene began to change subtly. The tremors from construction made the button controlling the floor fan’s rotation slowly protrude, while Ke Yunyao’s makeup box on the table quivered.

He was halfway to the sofa, finally relaxing, believing he’d weathered the crisis. Just then, the sound of the button popping out and the makeup box lid flipping open reached his ears.

He turned and saw the fan’s head begin to rotate, sending a gust that blew makeup powder into the air. Before he could react, the powder-laden wind struck his face, making his eyes burn with pain.

Lu Yi finally realized—the crisis was far from over.

“This is the place.” Emperor Ao jumped out of the car and asked Li Xinran, who was waiting nearby.

“Huh? Why are there so many people?” Deng Zhi walked over, arm-in-arm with a burly man. Seeing the gathering, he was startled—the five veterans were all present, and among the newcomers, Li Xinran, Lu Ningyu, and Fang Hao had arrived as well.

“That’s right,” Li Xinran nodded.

“So, is the next native victim here?” Deng Zhi quickly deduced the only reason so many seasoned challengers would assemble.

“No, it’s Lu Yi,” Lu Ningyu replied as she walked in with the group.

“Lu Yi, Lu Yi? Oh, that kid.” Deng Zhi remembered, shooing his companion away.