Chapter 10 The Future of the Human World

The Horned Demon Commander realized the iron cage filled with food was empty and ran towards it, swinging its strong forearm and with a "bang", sent the cage flying.

Then it turned and pounced toward the nearest Superpower User, slashing down with one claw.

Ah!

Crack!

This Superpower User was smashed with a single slap, the scream cut short as blood and flesh smeared the ground and walls around.

Seeing this, the other Superpower Users were terrified, running frantically in all directions.

Hu Biao saw his allies scattering like birds and beasts, knowing it was impossible to gather everyone now. While running, he shouted, "First, escape the building! Once out, head north. We'll regroup there!"

The scholarly-looking young man was the last to crawl out of the cage. When escaping, he calmly took the rebar with him.

Lu Heng rushed towards Su Muyu, grabbed her hand, and ran, asking while moving, "What did you find?"

"I grabbed a backpack and a rope. There was a dagger too, but someone else took it. I followed your advice and didn't fight them for it." Su Muyu lifted the backpack to show Lu Heng the rope inside.

"Good, let's just get out first."

Since everyone was on the 7th floor, it was impossible to jump out; hence, most Superpower Users ran towards the staircase.

The Horned Demon Commander, using all four claws, lunged towards the staircase. With a swipe, it turned three people at the staircase into mincemeat.

Boom!

Screams of agony echoed through the building.

Each scream signified another person being devoured by the Horned Demon Commander.

Lu Heng, instead of running towards the staircase, dragged Su Muyu towards the edge of the floor.

Having already witnessed death at the abandoned factory, Su Muyu was no stranger to it, but hearing such brutal screams still made her body uncontrollably tremble.

Lu Heng pulled her to the edge of the floor and looked down.

They were on the 7th floor, more than 20 meters above the ground.

Lu Heng took a rope from the backpack and swung one end down toward the ground.

The rope was only 10 meters long and not suitable for climbing, allowing them only to reach the 4th floor.

Lu Heng made a quick decision, tied the rope to a pillar, and then wrapped a cloth around his palms three times, saying to Su Muyu, "Hold on tight."

Su Muyu nodded vigorously and wrapped her arms around Lu Heng's waist.

Lu Heng released a Shadow Clone and then slid down the rope.

Landing on the fourth floor, he leaped into the building.

Then, he controlled the Shadow Clone on the 7th floor, preparing to untie the rope.

At that moment,

the scholarly-looking young man ran up, shouting while running,"Wait up! Let me slide down. Just give me two seconds; it won't take long."

As he spoke, he had already wrapped his palms with cloth.

Having the cloth on his palms meant he wouldn't tear his skin while sliding down the rope.

Lu Heng, seeing his calm demeanor, allowed the Shadow Clone to pause for a moment.

The scholarly young man quickly grabbed the rope and slid down.

Once reaching the fourth floor, he immediately flipped into the building.

Lu Heng quickly had his Shadow Clone untie the rope and throw it down, now tied to a pillar on the fourth floor.

The rope dropped straight down to the ground.

Lu Heng and Su Muyu descended quickly, landing just as they heard the deafening roar of the Horned Demon Commander from behind the building.

It seemed the Horned Demon Commander had noticed food escaping the building and was preparing to chase outside.

Lu Heng immediately controlled the Shadow Clone to delay the Horned Demon Commander, but it was only for a few moments before the clone was destroyed.

After landing, Lu Heng scanned around and chose a direction, then quickly pulled Su Muyu away.

After sliding down, the scholarly-looking young man quickly caught up, expressing his thanks, "Thank you, my name is Chen Zihang. As a token of thanks, here is a weapon for defense."

He then tossed an iron sword to Lu Heng, while he kept a firefighter's axe in his hand.

"Metal Element power?" Lu Heng thought of the way he had earlier manipulated the rebar from a distance, guessing his ability.

"A bit of magnetic force," Chen Zihang explained casually.

"Thanks." Lu Heng raised the iron sword in his hand and shook it, displaying its attributes.

[Iron Sword]

[Item Level: E]

[Specifications: Length 130 cm, blade width 3.5 cm, weight 1.6 kg]

[Attribute: Attack Power 10]

[Evaluation: A weapon made of refined iron that causes sharp blade damage when attacking. It's rather ordinary in quality and can be bought anywhere.]

Having acquired the weapon, Lu Heng waved goodbye and then, along with Su Muyu, quickened their pace, rushing into the mist.

The roars of the Horned Demon Commander still echoed from the building behind.

...

The two of them sprinted until they could no longer hear the bellowing of the Horned Demon Commander, then they slowed down to catch their breath.

Su Muyu pressed her hand against her chest, gasping heavily. Her chest heaved violently; running this far in one breath had exceeded her capacity.

Seeing her expression, Lu Heng asked with concern, "Are you okay?"

Su Muyu nodded and pulled her anti-stab vest tighter, "I'm fine, I'm just not used to so much exercise. I'll recover in a bit."

At that moment.

A string of data suddenly appeared at the bottom of his eye.

[Subjected to spiritual pollution from an unknown entity, Spiritual -1]

[If Spirit drops to 0, you will go mad.]

Seeing this prompt, Lu Heng exhaled, "Just as I thought."

The data panel on the five-dimensional attributes now read: Strength 11, Agility 14, Constitution 11, Spirit (12/13), Perception 12.

The original value of the Spiritual Attribute was 13, but due to the spiritual pollution from an unknown entity, it had dropped to 12.

Su Muyu also saw the prompt and asked, "My Spiritual Attribute has decreased."

Lu Heng looked up at the mist shrouding the entire city, feeling as if he could sense a terrifying presence hidden within it:

"It's spiritual pollution. No wonder the Danger Level of this world is Level 3."

If it were just the Horned Demon Commander, the Danger Level should be Level 2, but with the ubiquitous spiritual pollution, it escalates to Level 3.

"Since we were teleported here, about an hour has passed. Is it possible we lose 1 point of spirit every hour?" Su Muyu briefly estimated the time and came up with a rough calculation.

Lu Heng nodded in confirmation, "Indeed, we lose 1 point every hour."

Su Muyu frowned and said, "Then our spiritual power can last at most about ten hours, not three days."

"So we need to find items that can resist spiritual pollution, or medicine that restores spiritual power, or perhaps..."

Lu Heng paused, revisiting the task prompt for the Abyss Battlefield.

The second Challenge Task states:

[2. Find the castle hidden in the wasteland city.]

This task didn't appear out of nowhere; at the very least, it indicates that there is a castle hidden within the city's mist.

However, the nature of this castle is still uncertain.

There might be dangers inside the castle, but there's another possibility...

Lu Heng voiced his speculation, "Perhaps, the castle mentioned in the challenge task might shield against spiritual pollution."

As they spoke, they reached a building resembling a shopping mall.

Su Muyu ran over and picked up a product package from the ground, staring at the text on it and turning back to say, "I can't recognize any of these characters. Could it be the language of some obscure small country?"

Lu Heng looked around at the surrounding buildings and said, "Perhaps it's not some small country, but... another civilization."

"Another civilization?" Su Muyu's eyes widened, as this answer exceeded her original expectations.

"The Abyss has swallowed more than one world; this city must be just one of the many worlds the Abyss has consumed," Lu Heng revealed this shocking secret.

This secret was meant to be discovered by humanity a year after the Abyss Descent.

The surprised expression on Su Muyu's face showed she could already imagine what the Abyss Descent would bring to the human world.

The current state of this wasteland city could very well be the future of the human world.