Chapter 169: Hunt

In the chaotic rooms, the three groups of female soldiers quickly split into different directions, searching a designated path.

Bai Li Pang Pang, who was with Mo Li's group, lowered his voice and asked with confusion after passing through several dorm rooms:

"Why split up? Aren't we supposed to be hunting the Sound Hunter? Our numbers are already small, isn't it dangerous to separate?"

Mo Li shot him an irritated glance and replied, "Do you want to make more noise by walking together? Splitting up doesn't mean everyone charges in individually. Right now, we have a grasp on the space distortion pattern, but we still don't know where the Sound Hunter is. If one group finds its location, the other two can quickly surround it."

She paused and glared at him. "What's wrong with you? Do rich kids' brains only work for buying things?"

Bai Li Pang Pang thought for a moment and then asked, "Is it all your idea?"

"…Get lost."

Mo Li forcefully suppressed her impulse to smack him, took a deep breath, and quickly moved forward in silence.

Suddenly, one of the girls at the front stopped, causing the others to halt as well, their senses on high alert.

"Do you hear anything?" she asked, furrowing her brow.

"Hear what?" Bai Li Pang Pang listened closely but heard nothing.

"Sounds of fighting," Mo Li said, her eyes clouded with suspicion. "Strange, the other two groups shouldn't be fighting with the Sound Hunter, so why would there be fighting sounds…?"

"And it's getting closer," A Zi, who was sandwiched between them, said with a serious expression. "Get ready for battle!"

The group collectively took a deep breath, lowering their own noise to the minimum while tightening their grip on whatever weapons they had. They'd been stuck in the building from the start and couldn't access proper weapons, so most of them were wielding fruit knives or metal pipes taken from the boiler room—at first glance, they looked like a bunch of street thugs preparing for a fight.

The sounds grew closer. Even Bai Li Pang Pang could now hear the crashing of walls and the sound of metal clashing. There were even eerie laughter mixed in…

Bai Li Pang Pang froze. That laughter… he felt like he had heard it before…

Boom—!!

The wall ahead suddenly exploded. A figure wrapped in black flames was sent flying, crashing into another wall. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he struggled to stand up, the flames surrounding him flickering weakly, as if about to extinguish at any moment.

"Hehehehe…"

Just as this figure regained his footing, another huge silhouette appeared in front of him, and an exaggerated large blade swung down, aiming straight at his waist!

Clang—!!

The black flame sword clashed with the decapitation sword, sending Berserk Cao Yuan flying once again, crashing through yet another wall.

The beheaded man's figure flickered, following Cao Yuan into the new room.

Throughout the entire sequence, the beheaded man didn't seem to notice the presence of the ten or so people watching from the side, as if the black-clad enemy in front of him had consumed all its attention.

The group that had witnessed everything stood in shock, mouths agape, unable to believe their eyes.

"Holy crap, that's Cao Yuan!" Bai Li Pang Pang said, his eyes wide.

"He… he's facing the Sound Hunter one-on-one in such a huge commotion and still hasn't been sliced in half?" A Zi, watching the scene, was also stunned. "And it looks like they've been fighting for quite some time."

"This is insane!"

"Just like the man who could pressure the instructor!"

"What should we do now?"

A Zi pondered for a moment before replying, "We'll quietly follow and inform the other two groups to gather here. Having someone who can fight the Sound Hunter head-on will be a huge advantage for us!"

"Right!"

Everyone moved forward in response, but Bai Li Pang Pang lingered at the back, glancing around with a puzzled expression.

"Strange, Cao Yuan's here, but where's QiYe?"

After scanning the surroundings for a while, he still couldn't find Lin QiYe and could only shake his head, moving forward to catch up with the others.

Berserk Cao Yuan and the beheaded man crashed through two more dorm rooms. To be fair, saying they "crashed" was more accurate than saying they fought. It was mostly Cao Yuan being repeatedly pummeled. As Lin QiYe had predicted, Cao Yuan's mental strength was insufficient to maintain his berserk state for much longer. His combat ability had drastically dropped compared to the start of the fight.

While earlier he could exchange a few blows with the beheaded man, now he was knocked back with one strike. If it weren't for his speed and incredible resilience, he would have been decapitated by now.

In just a few minutes, nearly all the female soldiers had positioned themselves around the two combatants. Some of the others, who had been separated and lost in the building, had been found and pulled into the group. There were now over seventy people in total.

Zhang XiaoXiao's psychic network connected everyone once again, and through this more efficient telepathic communication, A Zi quickly arranged the battle plan.

As Berserk Cao Yuan was knocked back and lying amidst the wreckage, his black flames fading, he struggled to hold himself up, trying to rise. But this time, it seemed impossible.

In the brief silence, the beheaded man, holding the decapitation sword, slowly moved toward Cao Yuan.

"Move!" A Zi's voice rang out in everyone's mind.

In the next moment, several figures shot out from the rooms on both sides, and an array of Forbidden Ruins unfolded simultaneously!

The decapitation sword in the beheaded man's hand trembled slightly and began to rise. At the same time, the dragging sound stopped. The beheaded man's movements slowed down, as though someone had hit the slow-motion button. It took him several seconds just to take one step.

"Got it!" A Zi's eyes lit up. Since the Sound Hunter fed on sound, the beheaded man wasn't wielding that massive sword just to decapitate—he was also using the dragging sound to boost himself. By lifting the decapitation sword off the ground and keeping the sound under a certain threshold, it would be much easier to kill him!

The others silently moved toward the beheaded man, weapons ready and killing intent blazing.

Just as they were about to strike, the surrounding rooms trembled slightly, and the space began to distort once again…

Everyone's hearts skipped a beat!

With the rapid shifting of the rooms, A Zi's eyes filled with disbelief. She realized that this spatial distortion didn't follow the previous pattern at all!

That meant…

Her predictions were wrong.

As the surrounding rooms finally stabilized, everyone realized that this wasn't a distortion after all, but rather…

The space had returned to its original state.

Familiar dorms, the continuous hallway, the bright sunlight outside the corridor… The previous chaos seemed like nothing more than an illusion.

The three buildings had returned to their original layout.