Seeing the wall rushing toward him, already thrown out of the car, Lincoln Faulkner felt a chill in his heart, his mind blank. Bang! Suddenly, Lincoln Faulkner felt the Gordon's Tome in his arms burst forth with dazzling light, as if he were enveloped in a blazing sun. A surge of heat, unbearably intense, instantly fused into his body. Lincoln Faulkner felt as if he had crashed into something, but his brain stopped responding—he stood there, dazed and motionless.

Chapter Three: The Demon Brian Lee

With a crunch, Lincoln Faulkner was embedded into a wall. The reinforced concrete, perhaps shoddily built to begin with, was smashed open by Lincoln Faulkner's flesh and blood, leaving a giant human-shaped hole.

Hugh King, who had leapt into the air a moment earlier, quickly followed through the hole, grabbed the still-dizzy Lincoln Faulkner, and shouted, “Move! What are you spacing out for?!”

It took Lincoln Faulkner a while to come to his senses as he was pulled along. Turning his head, he saw Hugh King dragging him at a run, while seventy or eighty meters away, Eli Quinn was fighting a massive monster. Clearly, Eli Quinn had no time to worry about them.

Half of the monster’s body was still underground, but the part that had burst through the surface was already three stories tall, its body resembling a giant earthworm, covered in fleshy bristles.

“What on earth are these things! Why am I experiencing this? This must be a dream, it has to be a dream! I actually broke through a fifty-centimeter wall and didn’t die…” Muttering to himself, Lincoln Faulkner marveled that he hadn’t had a mental breakdown yet—it was a miracle.

“Oh! Want to know why we came to save you?”

“Yes!”

If Eli Quinn were by Lincoln Faulkner’s side right now, he’d probably knock the kid out before saying anything else. But at this moment, it happened to be the more talkative Hugh King with him. After thinking for a while, Hugh King grinned and said, “Originally, if we hadn’t come, you wouldn’t be in this much danger for now. But a certain arrogant person thought that if you didn’t go through this, your future growth would be much weaker. So, we were sent to protect you, and another group was sent to hunt you down.”

“Yeah! Although that’s not entirely accurate, at your current level, that’s about as much as you can understand.”

“What kind of nonsense is this! Sending people to hunt me down for my own growth.”

“Exactly. Isn’t it said that without experiencing romance, how can you become a pervert? It’s the same logic.”

Lincoln Faulkner was convinced he’d gone completely insane, or maybe he’d just watched too many Hollywood blockbusters and was now having a very special nightmare.

“Yeah!? Yeah, my foot! Who would care about my growth? Even my parents just want me to be an ordinary person. In this world, I don’t even know anyone that twisted.”

Hugh King dragged Lincoln Faulkner along at a sprint. Now fully awake, Lincoln Faulkner realized his speed was… even faster than those men in black who’d been chasing the car earlier. They were running along a highway, overtaking car after car. Only now did Lincoln Faulkner notice the astonishing frequency of his legs’ movement.

“Don’t worry, with Gordon Lee in your hands, your potential is slowly being unlocked. That’s exactly what that person wanted.”

“Gordon Lee?”

“That book in your hands!”

Only now did Lincoln Faulkner feel a warm sensation in his chest. The ancient book in his hands was sending waves of heat into his body, giving him boundless strength. If he weren’t being dragged along by Hugh King, burning up huge amounts of energy, this power would have already filled him to bursting. Even running for his life like this, Lincoln Faulkner still felt the energy replenishing him faster than he could use it.

“What exactly is this thing! Why was it mailed to me? And how did the three of you end up inside the book?”

“Don’t ask. We need to hurry. If we slow down even a little, it won’t just be you in trouble—we’ll be wiped out too.”

At this, even the usually good-tempered Hugh King ground his teeth in anger, looking fierce and ready to bite. “Damn it! If we could resist, we would have long ago. We wouldn’t be stuck with this lousy job. You can ask that idiot yourself later why he stuffed us into that damn book.”

“No one’s chasing us now, so why are we still running?”

“Because—the next enemy to appear can fly. Finn James is no match for that person, and we can’t interfere with that person’s attempt to kill you. You have to get to the airport. On the plane landing at six thirty, there will be a savior to help you survive.”

“Isn’t it that person who sent people to hunt me? Can’t you talk to them? Wouldn’t it be great if they just stopped?”

Lincoln Faulkner was making a last-ditch effort, but Hugh King shattered his hopes with a single sentence.

“The thing in your hands is the number one treasure in the world’s underworld, stolen and planted on you. These people are just bounty hunters—there’s no way to negotiate.”

“Damn! Is there no justice left in the world?!”

“Boom!”

With a sharp shout, Hugh King barked.