Regarding his current life-and-death situation, David Thompson wasn’t the least bit flustered. After rolling his eyes speechlessly, he silently cursed the direction of this hallucination’s plot, then simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself strapped to a hospital bed with a wide leather belt, and the senior and junior brothers who had been surrounding him had all disappeared.

“Aunt Miller, I’m awake, can you help me loosen this?” David Thompson called out to the night-shift nurse through the microphone at the head of the bed, eager to check if the jade pendant was still in his clothes.

But after calling for a long time with no response, David Thompson understood: Nurse Miller was secretly watching her Mary Sue dramas again during the night shift. She always liked to slack off like this.

David Thompson looked down at his chest, wrapped in the blue-and-white hospital gown, and twisted desperately, trying to feel whether the jade pendant was there by pressing against his chest.

But his body was now tightly restrained, and he couldn’t quite tell if it was there or not. After a few tries, he gave up helplessly.

Yawning, David Thompson could only lie on the bed and pray that after Nurse Miller finished her show, she’d mercifully check the surveillance camera.

In the late-night environment, even the second floor for critical patients was extremely quiet. David Thompson drifted off to sleep. When he woke up again, he found himself lying on the cold floor of a karst cave.

He was still in the same spot, but all those who had tried to escape earlier were now gone.

“Tch, you bunch of NPCs think you can handle me?” David Thompson took out the jade pendant from his chest, tossed it lightly in his palm, and stuffed it back inside.

After about half a stick of incense, he returned to the large communal bed where he lived, lay down in the hay, and patiently waited for daylight. Just thinking about the value of the jade pendant made him so excited he couldn’t sleep.

With no clock, David Thompson had no idea how much time had passed. When he saw the senior and junior brothers on either side of him start to wake up, he sat up as well.

“It’s dawn here, so Aunt Miller should be changing shifts, right? Maybe I should go back and check now? Nurse Allen is much more dedicated than her.”

Just as David Thompson was hesitating, a rush of hurried footsteps came from the doorway.

A young Daoist boy in a black robe, hair tied up on top of his head, rushed in in a panic.

“Hurry up! Master wants everyone to gather at Hui’an Hall!!”

This sudden announcement left everyone confused, but since it was the master’s order, they had no reason to refuse.

Soon, in the largest karst cave known as Hui’an Hall, all the disciples had gathered. The torchlight illuminated the confusion on everyone’s faces.

David Thompson keenly noticed something: there were fewer people in the crowd. Besides Brian Thompson, even a few of the direct disciples of the scabby-headed master were missing.

“Ha, did they run off together?” he thought, enjoying the drama of the situation. The scene before him felt just like watching a TV show.

When an ugly head poked out from the dark tunnel, all the Daoist boys except David Thompson instinctively lowered their heads.

That was their master, Daniel Thompson.

“Ahem~!” A single cough made everyone tense up.

“Last night, during the second watch, someone tried to escape—including two of my own direct disciples. I am truly heartbroken!!”

He said he was heartbroken, but the murderous look on his face was so intense it was almost tangible.

“So they got caught already? Brian Thompson and those guys are really useless.” David Thompson curled his lips.

“As the saying goes, without rules, nothing can be accomplished. Those who break the rules must be punished. This is the rule of our Xishan Donghua Sect! Follow me.”

None of the disciples dared to breathe loudly, silently following behind Daniel Thompson.

They passed through various karst caves and along a rushing underground river, soon arriving at a damp cave about the size of a classroom.

David Thompson saw that all those who had tried to escape last night were now tied up tightly and piled in the corner.

Their faces were listless, but when they saw their master, they immediately struggled excitedly, as if trying to say something. But the rags stuffed in their mouths kept them from uttering a word.

Daniel Thompson seemed uninterested in hearing their explanations. He formed a Daoist seal with one hand, pointed forward, and said, “Open!”

Suddenly, a large hole opened in the smooth, water-worn floor of the cave, and the escapees instantly fell in.

The next moment, muffled screams and hysterical cries, mixed with the sound of flesh being torn, echoed from the hole.

Faced with this terrifying scene, many Daoist boys’ legs began to tremble, and they wished they could close their eyes.

“Get closer! This is what happens to those who try to escape!” Daniel Thompson’s words made everyone’s faces turn several shades paler.

No one dared disobey the master’s order, and everyone crowded toward the edge of the hole.

It was very dark inside—pitch black, in fact.

The round, pitch-black hole looked like a vortex, as if it would swallow everyone up.

After carefully looking, David Thompson saw that inside the hole was a large black cauldron, with twisted talismans pressed around its rim.