Chapter Thirty: Desperation

"Uncle Wang...!" Qin Ming wiped away his tears and sprinted forward.

He had thought he would never cry again, never shed tears. But today, he simply couldn't hold them back.

Wang Chui! That name was one he could never forget for as long as he lived.

Behind him, the torrent of gray-furred rats surged after him once more, but he'd already left them far behind. Ahead, more of the creatures appeared, though not enough to form an encirclement yet.

He dashed across the bridge without stopping and continued his desperate flight.

"Boss...!" came Niu Piaopiao's tearful voice from his smart wristwatch, punctuated by the sound of wind and the sporadic crack of gunfire.

"I'm... I'm going with Boss. You all... ah!" Xiong Tian'ao's mournful cry was cut short by a scream, followed by the sounds of tearing and gnawing, and then his signal vanished completely.

His smart watch had been destroyed.

"Brother Xiong...!" Qin Ming's heart trembled.

"Everyone!" Niu Piaopiao choked out, "Shut off the channel. Otherwise, we'll lose focus and none of us will get away! Brother Yang, Brother Ma, Little Qin—if any of us make it out, remember to look after the others' families. At the very least, don't let their loved ones be bullied!"

"This is a pact of life and death!"

"For their sake, fight to stay alive!"

"None of you are allowed to die!"

Though their voices were heavy with sorrow, they resolutely switched off their comms.

In the Da Hong world, witnessing the fall of the Jiang family, one death after another, he hadn't felt much. Here, their time together hadn't been long, but in these few days, they'd been inseparable.

Especially Wang Chui, who had cared for him in every possible way, passing on all his hard-earned experience without hesitation.

And in the end, he'd given his life for Qin Ming.

The grief that welled up from the depths of his heart was impossible to suppress.

In the blink of an eye, he'd run two kilometers.

Qin Ming forced himself to collect his emotions and glanced back, cursing under his breath, "Damn rats, why won't you give up? And there are even more of you now!"

Even in the hazy moonlight, he could see the dark mass of rats surging behind him like a tidal wave. His speed far surpassed theirs, but if he stopped for even a minute, he'd be overtaken.

On both flanks, more rats were emerging.

"I'll have to head into the mountains!" Gritting his teeth, Qin Ming pressed onward into the darkness ahead.

There was no going back, and escape to either side was impossible. He could only forge forward into the mountains.

After running fifty li, he reached the foot of a mountain. He paused to catch his breath, but the rustling sound behind made his scalp tingle.

With one last burst of energy, he reached the summit.

Looking back, he saw the gray-furred army sweeping after him, converging from both sides as well.

"What on earth is going on?" Qin Ming wondered in confusion. "There must be at least a hundred thousand of these rats. Why are they chasing me without end?"

Ahead, the darkness showed no sign of ending.

In these forests, even fiercer beasts prowled.

"Is heaven determined to end me?"

In those few moments, the rats had already caught up.

"Go!"

He didn't pause, but pressed on.

He remembered his father's words before he set out: In the wild, either you're hunting, or you're being hunted.

In the days before, he'd always been the hunter, slaying fierce beasts with reckless abandon, exhilarated by the thrill.

Now, the tables had turned completely.

He was the one being hunted, fleeing in utter chaos.

He scrambled over three peaks in succession. Standing atop the third, he saw a deep valley ahead, its waters shimmering with reflected light.

Below was a lake, though no waterfall cascaded down the rock face beside it.

A hundred meters ahead was another peak—close enough to reach.

Qin Ming exhaled and opened his backpack. After a moment's hesitation, he dumped out all the beast materials he'd collected. "What a pity. These are worth at least thirty million!"

No matter their value, his own life meant far more.

He ate most of a box of chocolate, devoured several tins of meat, but left some behind—best to save some, not knowing what lay ahead.

He drank some water, shouldered his pack again, and felt some of his fatigue ease.

Looking back, the distant ruins of the city were no longer visible.

Below the mountain, a dark mass seethed.

Qin Ming was about to sit and recover fully, when he froze, his lips trembling.

The gray-furred rats were upon him once again.

"Damn it, what did I ever do to provoke you?" In just a short time, swarms of rats had appeared at the base of the mountain.

Many more were inexplicably climbing up from both sides, scrambling up the slopes.

"Are you really out to kill me?" Qin Ming raised his head, gazing at the bright moon, his face twisted in bitterness. "I've never enjoyed life, never seen the stars, never explored the universe, and now I'm to die here, just like that?"

"If I die in this world, will the 'me' in the other world also die?"

His mind raced.

There was no way back down.

No escape to either side.

Down the opposite face? The cliffs were too steep—it would waste too much time.

"Jump to the other side?"

"A hundred meters or so—I should be able to make it!"

"Or, jump into the pool in the valley? But where there's water, there are fierce beasts!"

He took a deep breath, tightened his pack, shield in his left hand, battle blade in his right, and after retreating five or six steps, launched himself forward.

His feet struck the edge; he shot out like a cannonball. He'd applied the force technique of his punching to his legs, shattering the rock beneath him as he soared through the air toward the opposite peak.

At the height of his arc, he began to fall toward the peak below.

"I can land on the summit!" Estimating his trajectory, Qin Ming was overjoyed.

"I knew it—heaven can't be so cruel to me!"

But as his lips curled into a smile, his face suddenly froze.

From the summit ahead, a massive, serpentine head emerged.

It was a python.

By the look of it, the body must have been fifty or sixty meters long.

Its jaws gaped wide as it lunged for him.

"How can there be a python on the mountaintop?" Qin Ming cried in despair.

In midair, he had no way to dodge.

All he could do was raise his shield and swing it at the python's head.

Bang!

Qin Ming was knocked aside in midair and sent tumbling down.

"What if there's another python below, lying in wait with jaws open for my fall?"

Despairing, he couldn't help but wonder.

Even if there wasn't, there were surely other fierce beasts in the pool.

Splash!

Turning in the air, he positioned his shield below him. There was a resounding crash and water exploded upward. The powerful impact nearly broke his arm.

He began to sink, and quickly swam for the shore, desperate to get out of the water.

If he could just get ashore, he'd be safe—for the moment.

But before he could reach the bank, his budding hope was utterly extinguished. Despair crawled across his face.

Around the valley, the shore was packed with gray-furred rats.

They stared at him with blood-red eyes, not blinking for an instant.

It was as if they were saying, "Come on, fresh meat, come ashore. We can hardly wait!"