Deal

Translator: Cinder Translations

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"Where are they?" 

Su Xiaoxiao curled her body in pain. The force of the slap from Chen Ran was so intense that it instantly left her gravely injured, not to mention that her wrist had been shattered under his foot. 

Every movement was excruciating. 

"I'm asking you!" 

After the low growl, the madness in Chen Ran's eyes was gradually replaced by a murderous intent. He hadn't expected that the foolish prey he had once considered a target would turn the tables on him. 

What was even more unexpected was that Su Xiaoxiao was willing to sacrifice her life just to delay him. 

At this moment, Su Xiaoxiao remained silent, only letting out a low, mocking laugh, mocking the man in front of her who thought so highly of himself. Her curled-up posture made her look like a comical figure, laughing so hard that it hurt her stomach. 

Chen Ran stepped forward and crushed her ankle with his foot. 

The sound of bones breaking wasn't as crisp as expected, but rather, it had a slippery, wet sensation, as though the bones and flesh were sticking together. 

Su Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth, gasping in pain without saying a word. 

The blood flowing from her wounds soaked the soil beneath her. Unnoticed by them, something strange began to happen: the blood appeared to be drawn toward the stone slab by some unseen force. 

As it touched the stone slab, a faint red light suddenly spread out, like a blood-red barrier flipped over the stone slab, covering the entire area around it. 

"Crack, crack." 

The sound of tiny, rapid vibrations began, as if countless giant arthropods were closing in on them. 

Chen Ran narrowed his eyes, staring at the white stone slab now enveloped in blood mist. The sound of trembling came from the piles of bones on the stone slab. 

They were shaking, rubbing against each other. In his subconscious, it seemed like he could hear sharp, eerie laughter coming from the bones—a prelude to a hunt. 

The bones looked like they were about to stand up any moment. 

An even stranger sight appeared. The pale, withered bones were gradually accumulating flesh, and a pungent, metallic smell filled the air as the white stone slab transformed into a slaughterhouse. 

Chen Ran stepped back a few paces, the murderous intent in his eyes slowly fading. 

Moments later, a strange dizziness hit him, and one bizarre image after another began flashing before his eyes. These images were not seen with his eyes, but seemed to be directly projected into his mind. 

A massive wooden ship, weapons on shoulders, iron chains, spears gleaming with cold light, bizarre symbols painted on them… 

A crowd of oddly dressed people gathered together, holding hands, sometimes kneeling, sometimes crying, and a woman in strange attire poured a vessel filled with fresh blood over herself. 

Above, crows circled, and beneath, the bodies of seabirds lay scattered. 

These images were forcibly implanted into his mind, like a needle piercing his skull and painfully injecting the images into him, making it impossible to forget them. 

At the same time, he could feel a strong sense of unwillingness and… resentment. 

In the next second, a flash of light appeared in Chen Ran's eyes, and he suddenly smiled. He looked down at Su Xiaoxiao, who was lying on the ground, dazed by the strange influence, and laughed, saying, "Miss Su, I'll be leaving now. Please feel free to do as you wish." 

With that, just as the flesh on the bones was about to heal, Chen Ran turned and ran toward the forest. 

The Fatty, who had been watching from nearby, was completely stunned by the images in his mind and the gruesome scenes playing out on the stone slab. He didn't even notice that Chen Ran had left. 

It wasn't until the doctor appeared in his line of sight that he reacted. 

Jiang Cheng was running toward Su Xiaoxiao's position, moving incredibly fast. 

The Fatty instinctively wanted to stop him, but the doctor had already run far. Determined, the Fatty chased after Jiang Cheng. 

As soon as Jiang Cheng entered the blood-red barrier, he felt a heavy, suffocating sensation. He rushed to Su Xiaoxiao's side to check her injuries. 

The Fatty quickly arrived, feeling the pressure. 

Su Xiaoxiao was still collapsed on the ground, one of her arms and one leg twisted in irregular positions, clearly broken. 

"You won't make it out," Jiang Cheng said bluntly after a brief check. "With your injuries, we can't carry anyone else." 

Su Xiaoxiao moved slightly, seeming to try and make herself more comfortable. After a few seconds, she nodded. "I know." 

For some reason, upon hearing this, the Fatty suddenly felt a sense of pity for this woman in front of him. 

"What did Chen Ran tell you?" Jiang Cheng didn't beat around the bush. After all, the creatures on the stone slab had already started to move, and it was clear they were preparing to hunt. 

Time was running out. 

Su Xiaoxiao painfully straightened her body, though her wrist and ankle were still dislocated, making it extremely difficult for her to move. The Fatty watched her injuries, his heart aching for her, but this stubborn woman just stared at Jiang Cheng, silent. 

"Now, you have no choice but to trust me," Jiang Cheng said. "Tell me what you know, and I'll try my best to save your brother." 

Su Xiaoxiao swallowed the blood in her mouth and nodded, her voice hoarse. "Deal!" 

"The first stone pillar outside the first stone door has a clue carved in dark patterns," Su Xiaoxiao glanced at the stone slab, speaking quickly. "Also, this mission was initiated by Chen Ran, and the clue newspaper is in his hands." 

"Doctor," the Fatty looked at the creatures on the stone slab that were starting to move, and his voice changed with fear, "Hurry up, we need to go now, or no one will make it out!" 

Jiang Cheng glanced at Su Xiaoxiao, his lips moved, but she smiled first. She pressed her remaining hand against her abdomen, as though trying to stop the life from slipping away. "I know what you're thinking," she said. 

Jiang Cheng exhaled and nodded. "Then I'm counting on you." 

With that, he grabbed the Fatty, and the two of them ran toward the forest, leaving behind the creatures that resembled humans or strange, never-before-seen beings, which had now awakened. They began clumsily making their way down from the stone slab. 

The creatures grew faster, more skilled, like animals emerging from hibernation, relearning how to move their bodies. 

Su Xiaoxiao gathered all her remaining strength and grabbed the weapon Chen Ran had discarded on the ground. Struggling, she stood up, and before the first grotesque creature could leave the stone slab, she leapt to the edge of the slab. 

In the next second, she dropped the spear that had been supporting her frail body and lunged at the stone slab. 

The flesh that had just grown back peeled off again, and countless malformed bones fell onto the stone slab. The blood mist that enveloped the space began to spin in reverse. 

Everything returned to its original state. 

It was as if… no one had ever been there. 

(End of the Chapter)

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Read (NS) ahead on (pa treon . com / CinderTL) – Chapter 300. (+6)

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Translated 4 Series, 1.65K+ Chapters and 2.01M+ Words.