The ring of blood-falls surged, defying gravity, almost reaching the heavens.

Undisguised killing intent, like a raging tide, spread rampantly.

The four groups of players originally gathered around the blood lake had long since retreated to a great distance, watching cautiously.

Before long, the soaring blood-falls began to recede, converging into a single point as if collapsing.

And that enormous blood zombie… had vanished without a trace.

When the Bloodthirsty Demon made its move, the blood zombie was clearly standing in the center of the blood ring, but in a mere few dozen seconds, the behemoth disappeared along with the falling blood curtain, like a prop in a grand magic trick.

"Ah…" The Bloodthirsty Demon stood on the bank of the blood lake, emitting a comfortable groan.

At this moment, it was using its second "mouth" to absorb the lake water in front of it, as well as the shattered remains of the blood zombie.

This half-human, half-snake monster never actually used the mouth on its head to eat. On its abdomen, at the junction of the human and snake torsos, was a strange gash that could open up like a black hole, devouring the blood and spirit that had lost the ability to resist.

"Heh… this city is truly a treasure trove…" The Bloodthirsty Demon quickly sucked the entire lake dry, not leaving a single drop. "Every drop of blood here is attached to the power of darkness, and the monster's flesh… has a very high density of spiritual energy…" As it spoke, the scarlet insect carapace covering its body began to glow brighter. "If I could absorb the power of this entire city, perhaps I too would become a deity…"

Greed and ferocity appeared in the Bloodthirsty Demon's eyes. But… this expression only lasted for two seconds before turning into surprise, and… fear.

"How is it possible… how could it be here!" The pupils of the Bloodthirsty Demon's serpentine eyes suddenly contracted, turning into two extremely thin black lines. When it saw the figure slowly approaching on the opposite bank of the blood lake, its first reaction was to run.

And so, the Bloodthirsty Demon twisted its body and fled, its upper body almost touching the ground, its snake tail writhing like a fluttering ribbon. It was already the fastest of the Nine Dead Souls, and now, going all out, it was extraordinary. Its figure transformed into a flying shuttle, darting towards the city like lightning…

…………

Southwest of the city, on the main road.

A fire truck with an orange-yellow exterior, loaded with all kinds of bizarre firepower, was driving down the street.

Wang Tanzhi sat in the driver's seat of Golden Maggot Number One, cautiously driving forward. Feng Bujue, on the other hand, was nonchalantly "lying" in the passenger seat, hands behind his head, legs propped up. Behind them were the "gunner's positions," the area with the most control levers and buttons, which was Matcha Su's responsibility.

"Jue-Ge, taking the main road is likely to attract attention…" Xiao Tan said as he drove, still looking around. "Such a large orange-yellow object moving on a wide street… even if the players don't see us, NPCs and monsters will be attracted." He paused. "You haven't forgotten the tragedy of Pufferfish Fighter Number One, have you?"

"I say… what is 'Pufferfish Fighter Number One'?" Before Feng Bujue could respond, Matcha Su, sitting in the back, couldn't help but interject.

"You can tell from the name that it's a combat robot." Feng Bujue replied.

"I'm too lazy to imagine the appearance just from the name…" Matcha Su sighed, then asked again, "And what does the tragedy refer to?"

"It's not a big deal…" Feng Bujue leisurely changed the subject. "Xiao Tan means that staying in such a vehicle-type mechanical creation is likely to be hit by concentrated remote fire."

"He's right." Matcha Su narrowed her eyes, looking at Feng Bujue's back and said, "That's the most obvious drawback of riding in a vehicle, right…"

"Tch… walking has its drawbacks too. Anyway, I think riding in a vehicle is more beneficial than harmful." Feng Bujue replied, "Now we don't have to consume our stamina points at all, and we can directly use Golden Maggot Number One's firepower to clear the small monsters on the road. Whether it's in terms of speed of progress or safety, there's a significant improvement."

"Okay… so what's your next plan?" Matcha Su said, "Are we just going to drive around clearing monsters? Don't forget that the main theme of this scenario is player-versus-player combat."

"I already said…" Feng Bujue said, "The next plan will have to wait until we reach the source of that 'explosion' to know."

Just as Matcha Su was about to express her dissatisfaction with Jue-Ge's "take it one step at a time" plan...

Suddenly…

"Ah!" Xiao Tan exclaimed and slammed on the brakes.

Feng Bujue's first reaction was to use his hands, which had been behind his head, to grab the back of the passenger seat, while curling up his legs and stepping on the console in front of him.

Relying on this lightning-fast reaction, Jue-Ge didn't move forward at all after the sudden stop.

Matcha Su wasn't so lucky; her body lunged forward, and her forehead hit the back of the seat in front of her. Fortunately, it wasn't too hard, only causing a 5% loss of survival value, otherwise she might have immediately turned hostile towards the two of them.

"What are you doing!" Matcha Su shouted in dissatisfaction. At the same time, she quickly raised her head and looked forward through the gap between the driver and passenger seats.

This one glance frightened her, and her shock value soared.

They saw a bizarre figure standing on the street less than two meters in front of the fire truck. It was a brown-haired woman in her thirties, and her face, neck, hands, and other exposed areas were covered with sutures; her eyes and mouth were all sewn shut with steel wire.

"Damn… you scared me to death…" Xiao Tan was already covered in cold sweat, his heart racing. Because the [Penitent] in front of him had suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, like a fleeting ghost in a horror movie… coupled with her terrifying appearance, it was impossible for ordinary people not to be frightened.

"Travelers from another world…" The Penitent's voice reached the players' ears directly. Her mouth and eyes were sewn shut, so she naturally wouldn't open her mouth to speak, but this didn't affect her seeing or speaking.

"You… did you guys hear that…" Xiao Tan's hair stood on end.

"Heard it~" Feng Bujue was the calmest one in the car. He replied weakly and looked at Xiao Tan with disdain. "You're supposed to be a master… you're quite imposing when you're cutting people, but you're so scared of demons and ghosts that you can't even speak properly." He turned his head and pointed at Xiao Tan with his thumb, saying to Matcha Su, "Don't worry, this kid won't be like this when he's fighting…"

Before he could finish speaking, Jue-Ge stopped, because Matcha Su's face was also pale, frozen in her seat. She had already forgotten about hitting her head just now.

"Sigh…" Feng Bujue sighed softly, opened the car door, got out of the car, and walked up to the Penitent. He stood casually with his hands in his pockets and said, "May I ask… what's your instruction?" Jue-Ge didn't care what the Penitent looked like. Since she had taken the initiative to communicate with the players, it meant that she was an NPC who could be communicated with. Even if he couldn't get any benefits from her, he could at least get some information.