Chapter 163: The Headless Man

"What happened?" Cao Yuan asked in confusion when he noticed Lin QiYe stop in his tracks.

Lin QiYe didn't answer. He silently pushed open the door, revealing a narrow hallway. In the center of the hall lay a severed corpse.

It was a woman's body, with her upper half completely separated from her lower half. Bright red blood stained the surrounding floor, and amidst the blood pool, it was clear that she wore a new recruit uniform.

"She's one of ours," Li Shaoguang's voice sounded hoarse. "I recognize her. She was pretty, and I remember one of my comrades was going to pursue her... never thought…"

This was the second body they had discovered today.

Lin QiYe approached the bloodstain and scanned the corpse with his spiritual energy, speaking gravely.

"She only has a wound at her waist, and the cut is very smooth. It was likely made with some kind of sharp weapon in a single strike. The muscles in her upper body are still stiff, which suggests that the atmosphere at the time was tense. She must have been on guard, or perhaps… she was confronting something.

However, the entity confronting her… no, the mysterious force she was facing was likely far stronger than she was. It only took one blow to sever her body, leaving her without any chance to resist."

Li Shaoguang's face darkened. "Didn't they say the mysterious entity is good at trapping enemies? How could its strength be this overwhelming?"

Cao Yuan thought for a moment. "Could it be that the mysterious entity used a space-related Forbidden Ruin to directly split her body?"

"No," Lin QiYe shook his head. "If it were a space-related force, the wound wouldn't look like this. This kind of injury can only be made with a weapon... Could the mysterious entity also be skilled in swordsmanship?"

Lin QiYe frowned slightly, his gaze turning toward the far end of the dark corridor. He spoke slowly.

"Or... there might be a second mysterious entity here."

At the mention of this, both Li Shaoguang and Cao Yuan's hearts skipped a beat.

"A second mysterious entity?" Li Shaoguang exclaimed. "If it could so easily kill a Pool Realm being, does that mean it must also be a Chuan Realm entity?

So, in this building, there are... two Chuan Realm entities?"

Lin QiYe nodded. "It's possible, but we can't draw any conclusions yet."

The three of them fell silent.

If this were the outside world, with two Chuan Realm entities appearing, the over two hundred recruits should be able to handle them. However, in this completely sealed-off building, the situation was entirely different.

Here, counting the fifty or so female soldiers who should have been residing in this building, along with the more than eighty male recruits who had just arrived, they were severely outnumbered. Facing two Chuan Realm entities wasn't entirely hopeless, but they were already fully in the enemy's rhythm. They had no idea where the enemies were, what abilities they possessed, and they were scattered all over, with the space itself being manipulated against them.

They had no advantages: no time, no terrain, no favorable conditions. Their chances of victory were minimal.

Just then, Cao Yuan suddenly looked up, furrowing his brow.

"Do you guys hear something?"

"Hear something?"

"That sound... it's like a heavy object being dragged across the ground."

The three of them fell silent, and sure enough, a faint dragging sound could be heard from a distance, followed by the sound of a door opening and closing.

Creeeek—creeeek—creeeek!

The sound seemed to be getting closer, and the sound of doors opening and closing grew louder and clearer.

Moments later, Lin QiYe's spiritual perception seemed to detect something. His expression changed drastically, and his hand gently rested on the hilt of his knife, his brows furrowing with intensity.

"QiYe, what did you see?" Cao Yuan asked, noticing the change in Lin QiYe.

"It's coming," Lin QiYe said in a heavy voice. "It's the mysterious entity that killed the female soldier..."

Li Shaoguang's expression turned grave, his voice uncertain. "Do we fight, or do we run?"

"Let's test its abilities first. If we have a chance, we take it down. The longer we drag this out, the worse it'll be for us," Lin QiYe said calmly.

He spoke the truth. With everyone scattered due to the distorted space, if any of the others encountered one of these Chuan Realm entities, they would have little chance of surviving. The longer they delayed, the fewer survivors there would be.

At the moment, Lin QiYe, Cao Yuan, and Li Shaoguang had relatively strong abilities—though not top-tier, they were above average. If they worked together, they stood a chance against a Chuan Realm entity.

Hearing Lin QiYe's response, Li Shaoguang nodded and drew the large machete from his back, his eyes gleaming with battle intent.

Although they hadn't known each other for long, Li Shaoguang had already developed deep respect for Lin QiYe. Since Lin QiYe said they should fight, Li Shaoguang had no objections.

Cao Yuan, on the other hand, silently gripped the scabbard in his arms, ready to draw his sword at any moment.

Creeeek—

As the dragging sound grew closer, the door ahead in the hallway finally opened, and a massive figure slowly stepped out from behind it, one hand dragging something from behind, while the other hand closed the door.

In the dim blue light from the window, Li Shaoguang and Cao Yuan finally saw what it was.

It was an incredibly muscular man, with a huge blood hole where his neck should have been, and his head was completely missing. His bare skin appeared grayish-white under the dim light. In one hand, he dragged an exaggeratedly large decapitation blade.

The blade was about three meters long, pitch-black, and unbelievably heavy. The headless man dragged it across the floor, leaving deep grooves in the marble tiles.

The Headless Man, with the decapitation blade, his massive frame slowly advanced down the hallway, emanating a pressure that felt inexplicably suffocating.

"What the hell is that thing..." Li Shaoguang muttered nervously, unable to hold back. "He's walking so slowly, at this pace, we could—"

Just as his words echoed in the hallway, the headless man slammed his foot onto the ground, and without warning, he sped up, moving at a speed completely invisible to the eye!

Like a shark sensing blood, his killing intent surged!

With a loud crash, the marble floor shattered as the headless man's figure appeared in front of Li Shaoguang in the blink of an eye!

Li Shaoguang's pupils contracted.

Before he could react, a blinding flash of cold light appeared before his eyes. When he regained his senses, the headless man was already standing behind him…

Blood gushed from Li Shaoguang's waist!

Then, everything went black, and he saw nothing more.

Seeing Li Shaoguang fall before his eyes, Cao Yuan's pupils shrank, and he reached for the hilt of his sword. But just then, Lin QiYe grabbed his wrist with one hand and raised his other hand to his lips, signaling for silence.