By 8 o'clock, Sun Keke's phone had already rung twice with calls from her family.

However, Old Guo didn't allow her to answer and had confiscated her phone.

"Even though it's inconsiderate to worry your parents, I'll make it up to you later. I will release you as soon as I leave early tomorrow morning," he said.

For someone like Old Guo from the jianghu, his slight acquaintance with Chen Nuo certainly didn't temper his current brutishness and dominance.

It wasn't just about Sun Keke. Old Guo figured that even if Chen Nuo himself were home, given his desperation to hide, he wouldn't hesitate to use force if the boy didn't cooperate. He'd make him suffer a bit, and then compensate him later.

There were simple reasons for choosing Chen Nuo's home.

Chen Nuo was an acquaintance. Old Guo knew his background and that his home was usually empty of outsiders. It was quiet, well-suited for hiding, and unlikely to be disturbed.

Secondly, in Jinling, Chen Nuo was the only "friend-who-wasn't-exactly-a-friend" he knew, and he also happened to know Chen Nuo's address—from a past occasion when Chen Nuo was slacking off and had Old Guo make a delivery for him.

Sun Keke was growing anxious, but Old Guo was just leaning back on the living room sofa, resting with his eyes closed.

The medicine left by Old Jiang was truly potent—it had healed Old Jiang in just a day or two after he was thrashed by a high-level expert like the Star Sky Empress.

Old Guo was now calming the chaotic thoughts in his mind and meditating on the sofa. Sun Keke's mood was the least of his concerns.

Considering the calamity Old Guo had faced these past few days, the fact that he could still hold on to a sliver of kindness and not harm others already made him a rare example of a good person in the jianghu.

However...

Suddenly, Old Guo's eyes snapped open, his expression turning terribly grim.

With a SWOOSH, he leaped up from the sofa and snatched the sharp carving knife from the coffee table.

Startled, Sun Keke's face drained of color as she looked at Old Guo.

Old Guo sighed at her and said in a hushed tone, "Little sister, it seems I've miscalculated. I'm afraid I've brought some trouble your way."

Sun Keke stammered, "Wha-what are you talking about?"

Old Guo's face was ashen. "Go hide in the room. Things might get a little chaotic in a bit!"

Sun Keke wanted to say more, but Old Guo had already grabbed her arm, pushed her into the room, closed the door, and then turned to head towards the entrance of the living room!

BANG!

The door was suddenly kicked open!

Old Guo roared. As the intruders barged in, he immediately swung a hammer fist at them! A scream pierced the air, and blood sprayed into the air…

Zhang Linsheng rushed up to the third floor, then slowed and lightened his steps. After all, during his two years of brawling, while he lacked experience in the jianghu, he had plenty of fighting experience.

The closer he got to the fifth floor, the more lightly Zhang Linsheng tread.

By the time he reached the fourth floor, he heard a commotion from upstairs—it sounded like a door being smashed open, followed by the thuds of punches and kicks, and muffled cries of pain.

Zhang Linsheng craned his neck to look upwards and saw that Qu Xiaoling's door was tightly closed...

The sounds of the fight, however, seemed to be coming from the apartment opposite Qu Xiaoling's.

At that moment, Zhang Linsheng hesitated, stopping in his tracks.

If it wasn't Qu Xiaoling's place... should he still rush up and intervene? Or should he back off and just call the police?

While he was still deliberating, a familiar girl's piercing scream suddenly came from upstairs.

"Ah! Who are you people? Help!!"

Sun Keke!!

Zhang Linsheng instantly recognized the voice!

Although he didn't know how Sun Keke had ended up here, or why she was in such a predicament so late at night, just knowing the voice was hers was enough!

In his urgency, Zhang Linsheng didn't have time to think about anything else, nor would he. He dashed up the stairs in large strides!

Hearing a few muffled thuds from the living room, along with a man's painful groan, Zhang Linsheng took a deep breath and charged in!

The person nearest the entrance didn't have a chance to react. Zhang Linsheng, attacking from behind, landed a punch on the man's neck. The man stumbled forward, and Zhang Linsheng followed up with a kick, sending him sprawling!

The living room lights had been shattered, plunging the space into darkness.

In his panic, Zhang Linsheng yelled, "Sun Keke! Where are you!!"

"Ah!" Sun Keke screamed. Clearly, someone had covered her mouth before she could say much, but the sound was enough for Zhang Linsheng to pinpoint her direction. He rushed over, not forgetting to grab a chair from beside the dining table on his way!

In the dark, as Zhang Linsheng moved towards Sun Keke, he felt a strong gust of wind rush towards his face. He lifted his arm and threw the chair forward, hearing a CRACK!

The chair shattered into pieces, but Zhang Linsheng sensed that even after the opponent's punch had crushed the chair, its force had only slightly diminished and was still heading straight for his chest!

Zhang Linsheng's subconscious, instinctive reaction kicked in, and he adopted a posture from the set of movements he had been practicing most diligently for the past few months—specifically, one designed to deflect force!

He managed to grab hold of the opponent's arm. Though in the darkness his grip wasn't perfect and his technique was somewhat off, he had at least seized it. With a slide of his foot, he tugged and pulled, successfully diverting much of the punch's force.

But still, he took a blow to the shoulder with a THUMP.

Zhang Linsheng immediately felt a piercing pain. This guy is really strong! he thought.

Zhang Linsheng was accustomed to fighting and knew that this was not the time to retreat; retreating would only allow the opponent to press the attack. Instead, he gritted his teeth and swung his fist to meet the incoming blow.

After exchanging two punches, Zhang Linsheng felt his own fist being blocked. His opponent's arm was as hard as iron; it was like smashing his fist against stone!

He grunted, the pain forcing him to take half a step back. In the darkness, his opponent sneered.

"Look what we have here, a martial artist! Quick, take them all down!"

「Eighty kilometers west of Tokyo.」

At the foot of Mount Fuji lay a wild lake.

This was a secluded, sparsely populated area.

During the daytime, there might occasionally be some tourists driving by.

But now, at night, all was calm.

In the grass and trees along the lakeside, only the occasional chirp of summer night insects could be heard.

Suddenly, the placid surface of the water churned. In the nearby forest, it seemed as though the birds were startled as well, taking flight in a flurry…

Then, as the water roiled, a figure emerged in the lake!

After struggling and flailing for a few moments, the figure managed to reach the shore. Upon climbing out, seemingly completely exhausted, he flipped onto his back and lay on the ground.

In the night, a faint moonbeam cast its pale light over the earth, illuminating the person's skin and face. It was as if his entire body were in some strange, semi-translucent state.

Flickering in and out of visibility!

Chen Nuo exhaled, barely managing to open his eyes. He then struggled to prop himself up and coughed a few times, expelling the water from his lungs before lying back down, sprawling on the ground, gasping for air!

Damn it... I really don't know if I've struck it big or taken a huge loss this time...

「A few hours earlier.」

Hundreds of meters beneath the sea.

Inside the octopus cave.

Using the process of elimination, Chen Nuo had finally chosen the third tunnel entrance on the right.

Ishii Hisako didn't understand at all how Chen Nuo had selected this entrance; every choice she and her six subordinates had made had been dismissed by him.

Was he using them as decoys?

When Chen Nuo finally made his choice and walked straight into the tunnel, Ishii Hisako felt a twinge of panic, fearing that the cave could collapse at any moment.

But after a minute passed without incident, Chen Nuo, already inside the tunnel, called out firmly, "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and follow me!"

Ishii Hisako's expression was peculiar, but she finally waved her hand. "Move out! Follow him!"

This tunnel was evidently the right choice.

The group walked inside for several minutes, and there were no signs of collapse.

The only unsettling thing was that the tunnel became progressively lower and narrower!

Eventually, they could no longer stand. The entire group had to lie flat and crawl through the tunnel.

Chen Nuo, of course, found it easy, crawling along while still managing to quip, "This tunnel is so small... Are you suggesting that the humans of this prehistoric civilization were so short they could only crawl around like turtles?"

Moreover... as Chen Nuo crawled, he sensed the ground sloping increasingly downward...

Finally, the ground ahead began to steepen sharply, forming a noticeable downward slope!

The area illuminated by the headlamp on his hat revealed a descent so steep that the mere sight of it could make one's skin crawl.

"Stop for a moment!" Chen Nuo gasped for air and looked back at the people behind him.

Ishii Hisako looked even paler. The injuries on her body, coupled with the long period of crawling, had taken a heavy toll on her. If her subordinates hadn't helped share the weight of the oxygen tanks, she might not have made it this far.

"What's wrong?" Ishii Hisako strained to move her body, crawling closer to Chen Nuo.

"Ahead, it slopes downhill. It's too steep. We might slide straight down if we move forward."

"Then let's go down!" Excitement shimmered in Ishii Hisako's eyes. "I've come this far! There's no way I'm stopping here!"

With that, before Chen Nuo could react, she was the first to push forward.

Her six subordinates followed without hesitation.

Chen Nuo sighed and quietly shifted his position from the front of the group to the very back, trailing behind them.

Shortly thereafter...

"AH!!"

A short, sharp scream came from Ishii Hisako up ahead.

Then, Chen Nuo felt the ground beneath him tremble slightly for a moment before the terrain steeply declined. Suddenly, he felt weightless as his whole body slid forward, plummeting down the tunnel...

"AH!!!!!!!!"

Not only Ishii Hisako but also the several subordinates she had brought with her let out screams.

A few seconds later...

"AH!!!!!!!!"

Ten seconds later...

"AH!!!!!!"

As Chen Nuo rapidly slid downward, he paradoxically remained calm enough to perform a self-protective maneuver.

Damn it, it's been over ten seconds, and I still haven't reached the bottom. Just how deep is this tunnel?!

When the screams from Ishii Hisako and the others finally stopped, Chen Nuo immediately released his spiritual power, his hands fiercely digging into the ground!

Under the influence of telekinesis, his hands continuously clawed at the earth, forcibly reducing his sliding speed until… finally, his descent gradually slowed to a halt!

"Hey! Ishii!!" Chen Nuo readjusted his searchlight and looked down...

A few seconds later, a cry of alarm came from Ishii Hisako below!

"My God! What—what is this place!!!"

As Chen Nuo struggled to climb out of the tunnel, he found himself suspended in mid-air. Looking down, he saw a small slope leading downwards on the left side of the tunnel exit. Ishii Hisako and her team were already carefully making their way down it!

This appeared to be a colossal underground rock cavern!

Looking down, the ground was about the height of a seven or eight-story building below Chen Nuo's current position!

Looking up, however, the area illuminated by his searchlight was nothing but pitch-black emptiness; the ceiling was invisible.

Moreover, within the darkness, a faint, shifting glow seemed to obstruct the searchlight's beam, making it impossible to ascertain the height of the cave ceiling!

And as Chen Nuo looked down, he saw that beyond a stretch of flat ground at the bottom of the cave, there was a cliff-like drop in the distance!

Peering over the edge of this drop…

The rock face below emitted a soft, gentle glow…

Further away, beneath the cliff, lay a vista so vast it seemed endless!

Jagged rocks, all black, stretched as far as the eye could see into the darkness.

This place felt like an underground realm no one had ever visited before!

An isolated subterranean world, seemingly cut off from the outside!

Since he couldn't extend his spiritual power to probe further, Chen Nuo could only visually estimate. Below the cliff, perhaps several hundred meters or even a kilometer away, a black column stood on the flat, black rock surface, towering like a monolith!

Its presence seemed to pierce the very sky!

And at the base of that column, faintly visible, were clusters of what appeared to be black, square-shaped structures!

At first glance, Chen Nuo was certain of one thing: these things were definitely man-made! They could not possibly have been formed by nature! Nature, with its incredible craftsmanship, might occasionally produce a single square rock. But for nature to spontaneously create several rows of dozens of perfectly uniform, square objects... That was absolutely impossible!!

While Chen Nuo was engrossed in his observations, Ishii Hisako and her team had already reached the cavern floor and were rapidly heading towards that distant cliff!

Just as Chen Nuo was about to follow, he suddenly shivered!

The hairs on his body stood on end, and a chill ran up the back of his neck!

Faintly, Chen Nuo's spiritual power sensed a strong, unsettling presence!

There seemed to be an intense but hidden spiritual power somewhere in this location... surveilling him!!!

Although it was just a momentary sensation that quickly dispersed, Chen Nuo remained on edge. He warily scanned his surroundings before carefully making his way down the slope, step by step, until he reached the ground.

By the time Chen Nuo caught up, Ishii Hisako and the others were already standing at the edge of the cliff, gazing down at the expanse of black rock below, the towering stone column in the distance, and the cluster of square-shaped objects.

Ishii Hisako's eyes held a crazed glint as she muttered to herself.

"The Heavenly Kingdom Continent! This must be the Heavenly Kingdom Continent! It has to be! Just as the Sect Hierarch said, the Heavenly Kingdom Continent!"

Chen Nuo had once briefly researched some materials from the Truth Society, so he had a general idea of the nonsensical doctrines they fabricated.

The so-called Heavenly Kingdom Continent was the place their charlatan Sect Hierarch claimed he, as a God, would lead his faithful followers to after the end of the world, saving them from the apocalypse on Earth.

Then, he would take them to a disaster-free, so-called "Heavenly Kingdom Continent."

Chen Nuo had always scoffed at such claims.

Even now!

Even as Ishii Hisako deliriously babbled about this being the Heavenly Kingdom Continent.

Chen Nuo merely sneered inwardly.

What Heavenly Kingdom Continent? It's nothing more than a vast underground space formed by shifts in the Earth's crust. And this is supposed to be a paradise? A refuge from disaster? This world of bare rock, without a single blade of grass? This is the so-called haven from the apocalypse? Never mind that the Sect Hierarch lacks the ability to bring his multitude of followers here. Even if they all did come, how would people survive? By eating rocks?

Ishii Hisako's divers had already started taking out their climbing gear. They secured ropes and began rappelling down the cliff.

The cliff was roughly the height of a dozen-story building.

One diver retrieved an equipment bag, took out several coils of high-strength climbing rope, quickly found anchor points, and let the ropes down.

Chen Nuo paid them no mind. He simply leaped off the cliff and began to free-climb downwards.

Although his spiritual power could only extend less than two meters around his body, it was more than sufficient for climbing.

Like a nimble gecko gliding across the rock face, Chen Nuo was the first to reach the ground.

The instant his feet touched the ground, Chen Nuo felt that chill run through his body again!

The sensation of being watched returned, precisely at the moment his feet landed!

He clearly felt a powerful spiritual power directly scrutinizing him!

Chen Nuo's spiritual consciousness immediately reacted!

He released his spiritual power, attempting to envelop his body within its two-meter range, to create a barrier of spiritual power!

But in the next instant, Chen Nuo froze!

The scrutinizing sensation swept over him again. This time, he distinctly felt as if a tendril of spiritual power had made direct contact with his own spiritual power!

Instantly, Chen Nuo's mind was flooded with countless signals, innumerable thoughts!

It was as if myriad strange symbols and languages flickered through his brain…

Finally… at long last…

His consciousness received a clear signal.

"What are you?"

This unfamiliar spiritual power seemed to have finally discerned a way to communicate with Chen Nuo, transforming its intent into a message he could understand.

And the first thought it conveyed was this question: What are you?

Chen Nuo frowned and sent a sliver of his spiritual power in response.

"I am human."

After a pause, the entity posed another question.

"What is human?"

Chen Nuo thought for a moment and replied again, "Human refers to human beings."

Another silence, then the question came once more.

"Humans... what are their characteristics?"

Chen Yanluo pondered for a second and replied, "Everyone has hair on their body..."