June really had terrible luck—she picked a random cave, and it turned out to be an ogre’s lair. Yet the Lord God's [Main Quest 1] forced us to follow her in, making us walk knowingly into the tiger’s den. This was truly a case of “knowing there are tigers on the mountain, yet heading straight for the mountain.”

Ryan Carter thought this to himself, subconsciously touching the ring on his ring finger. It was a spatial storage ring that Ryan Carter had exchanged 500 reward points for. The space inside was only a tenth of a cubic meter—quite small—but Ryan Carter had already packed it with plenty of food, water, and some medical supplies. Of course, there were also a few guns. After entering the cave, the supplies in this ring could very well be life-saving. Plus, the cave was so cramped that even slightly larger backpacks couldn’t fit, so everyone’s supplies were extremely limited.

Finally, the cave appeared before the group. It was a pit about ten square meters in size—a large pit, with smaller rock caves below. They would descend from here, and only then would the real cave exploration begin.

“Tie the rope to that tree over there, fasten the other end to yourself, and lower yourself down slowly and carefully. Did everyone hear that?” shouted June to the group.

“No problem. Well, I’ll go down first,” Sarah said, looking eager to try.

“No, wait. I’ll go down first to check things out.”

Ryan Carter stopped Sarah. No way was he letting Sarah, their protection target, go first. If anything happened to Sarah, the three members of the Chinese team would be instantly wiped out by the Lord God.

“Uh... alright then, Xuan, you go first. Be careful,” Sarah said, stepping aside to let Ryan Carter go down first.

After making sure the rope was securely tied, Ryan Carter controlled the rope and slowly lowered himself into the pit. Halfway down, suddenly, a dark shadow lunged at Ryan Carter.

Chapter 10: The Last Person in the Team

A mass of darkness swooped in. Ryan Carter's eyes instantly sharpened. One hand gripped the rope, while the other made a grasping motion in the air—a ball of flame rose from Ryan Carter's palm. The previously dark pit was suddenly illuminated, and the shadowy mass scattered at the sight of the fire, accompanied by the flapping of wings. It turned out to be a group of bats nesting in the pit.

With the danger gone, Ryan Carter flipped his hand and the flame in his palm vanished. He continued to lower himself down the rope, descending another twenty meters or so before his feet finally touched solid ground. The middle of the pit was pitch black, but thanks to the reflection of a pool of water and the glimmer of cave stones below, there was some visibility—enough to roughly make out the surrounding environment.

The people standing at the edge above saw a sudden flash of light from below. Sarah immediately asked, “What happened?”

“It’s probably the headlamp or a glow stick,” guessed Beth.

Sarah nodded at this, but only June showed a hint of doubt in her eyes. She was the one who had prepared everyone’s exploration gear, and only she had a glow stick—no one else had one in their packs. Besides, the light just now was clearly not the direct beam of a flashlight, but a diffused light source. What exactly was Ryan Carter doing?

However, this doubt only flashed by. After Ryan Carter below signaled three times with his flashlight that it was safe to come down, the others began to lower themselves one by one.

Sarah and June were the fastest, with Beth right behind. These three women were all experienced adventurers, so they handled the ropes with ease. In contrast, John Reed and Megan Foster were far less skilled.

John Reed had intended to lower himself slowly, but he gripped the rope too tightly and tensed up. By the time everyone else had reached the bottom, he had only descended about five meters. At this point, John Reed was clearly getting anxious. He loosened his grip, trying to let himself down faster, but ended up releasing too much rope at once and slid straight down from the top of the pit.

“Ah!!!!!!!!!!”

John Reed let out a startled cry, plummeting as if he were falling straight down. The pit was at least thirty meters deep—falling from that height would be fatal. Sarah and the others covered their mouths in shock. They never expected John Reed, who had always joined them in adventure games, to make such a rookie mistake—one that could very well cost him his life!

Among everyone, Ryan Carter reacted the fastest. Emily Cooper had been shot dead by Ryan Carter as a warning to the others, and also because Ryan Carter felt that bringing along someone like Emily Cooper would only be a burden to completing the mission, so it was better to let her die and be done with it. But John Reed was different—he was physically fit, and once inside the cave, if they encountered ogres, John Reed would be a valuable fighter.