Captain's eye twitched as he looked ahead. In that sea of corpses and blood, the fourteen jade halls before him all seemed to have turned red. At the spot where the main gate stood open, there appeared to be even more bodies than elsewhere, and behind the pile of corpses, that jade hall was shrouded in darkness, making it impossible to see what was inside.

“Don’t go over there! We’ll take them back to the thirteenth jade hall immediately and report this to the Council of Elders.” Captain said resolutely.

But at this moment, Brian Cooper no longer listened to him. He shook his head at once and said, “No, no one knows what really happened here. Is there some monster or powerful beast lurking nearby? If you turn back so rashly, it’s easy for something unexpected to happen!”

Captain’s face darkened as he looked at Brian Cooper and asked, “Then what do you mean?”

Brian Cooper pointed forward, indicating the depths of that sea of corpses and blood, and said in a deep voice, “The most urgent thing right now is for all of us to go into that jade hall immediately.”

Captain’s expression changed dramatically. He shouted angrily, “Are you crazy, or are you blind? Can’t you see how many people have died there?”

But Brian Cooper gritted his teeth, his expression resolute and unyielding, and said firmly, “For decades, all the monsters and beasts in the inner ring have feared and avoided the jade stones. The jade halls are the only reliable refuge for our people! I don’t know why so many have died here, but I do know that right now, the safest place is in there.”

Captain raised his voice and roared, “So many people have died, and you still don’t realize something might have gone wrong? Are you sure it’s not some monster that suddenly appeared and isn’t afraid of the jade stones?”

Hearing this, Brian Cooper was clearly taken aback for a moment, but then shook his head and said, “If such a terrifying monster really exists, then even if you turn back and walk all that way, you still won’t escape!”

“Nonsense!” Captain was obviously angry, glaring at Brian Cooper and shouting, “There’s nothing happening right now. The safest thing is to leave here quietly without alerting any monsters.”

The two of them suddenly started arguing here, their voices growing louder and more heated, no longer caring about keeping things from the others.

Those who had formed a ring formation naturally noticed the current environment and situation. Each of them wore a look of shock and confusion, clearly not knowing what to do.

The argument between the two dragged on, and in the end, Captain suddenly lost his temper and shouted, “I’m the captain here, what I say goes! Shut up!”

Brian Cooper was stunned for a moment, his gaze turning cold, but he showed no sign of backing down or fear. He just stared at Captain; the other man glared back at Brian Cooper just as fiercely, his presence intimidating.

After a moment, Brian Cooper lowered his gaze slightly, thought in silence, and then said, “If you insist, there’s nothing I can do. But we both came from the guard corps back in the day—you should know me. How about this: since we’re leaving anyway, why not wait a little longer? I’ll go into the jade hall alone to check. If there’s danger, you all leave immediately. If there’s no danger, you can settle everyone here.”

Captain glanced at the blood-soaked, hellish jade hall, hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “Fine!”

Brian Cooper said nothing more, turned, and walked toward that sea of corpses and blood. Everyone around fell silent, watching his back with complicated emotions and expressions.

Just then, Captain suddenly called out, “Hey, Brian Cooper.”

Brian Cooper paused, looked back, and asked, “What is it?”

Captain’s face was still dark and unpleasant, but his voice lowered a bit, his tone softening slightly as he said, “Be careful. Don’t try to be a hero!”

Brian Cooper looked at him deeply, then nodded. “Got it.”

※※※

As his footsteps pressed into the earth, Brian Cooper noticed that the ground, usually hard and solid, was now somewhat soft. With each step, a trickle of blood seeped up from beneath his feet.

Heaven knows how much blood has been spilled here, or how deeply the soil has been soaked.

Looking at the foul, terrifying blood, Brian Cooper’s face changed slightly, but after gritting his teeth, he continued forward.

More and more hair-raising sights appeared before him, the gruesome scenes becoming clearer: torn bodies, severed limbs, even heads with eyes wide open in death rolling in the blood-soaked mud...

Chapter Four: Beast Attack (Part Two)

What met his eyes was a scene straight out of hell, an oppressive atmosphere that made it hard to breathe.

Yet as Brian Cooper walked on, though his face was pale, his nerves seemed unexpectedly strong. Those horrors did not stop his advance.

All the onlookers watched as he walked alone through the sea of corpses and blood.