Human consciousness is actually quite fragile. If a person is placed in a pitch-black room with not a single sound, that person will have a mental breakdown within twenty-four hours. If someone is in an unfamiliar environment with no one to talk to, within at most a month, their mind will start to show abnormalities, including hallucinations and auditory delusions. And if it’s on a battlefield where death could come at any moment, within three months at most, one will develop battlefield syndrome, which manifests as extreme mental tension and being in a state of mental overload.

But this netherworld is actually a hell even more brutal than any battlefield! No matter how much Henry Clark endures mentally, no matter how strong his will is, in such an environment his nerves are always taut, and over time, he simply can’t bear this mental state any longer. At this moment, his only hope is to return to the world of the living; otherwise, he might go insane… Even though he knows the safest way is to find a place to hide, slowly increase his own obsession, and wait until his strength improves before seeking a chance to return to the living world, knowing is one thing, but whether he can actually do it is another… He doesn’t want to wait any longer—either return, or die! It’s that simple.

Henry Clark forcefully suppressed the fear and excitement in his heart, silently reciting poetry to force himself to calm down, while keeping his gaze fixed on the distant open ground. At this moment, he was lying under a huge rock closest to that open area, about twelve kilometers away—almost the maximum distance he could cover before exhausting the lightning power within him. In fact, he didn’t even know if he could make it that far, but he had to give it a try. His consciousness had already taken control of the lightning power in his body, ready to dash toward the spatial passage the moment it appeared!

(There is actually no so-called command structure among these human-faced giant wolves. The stronger ones have already evolved, so these wolves each act on their own, and their only goal is human souls. If I appear and they come to attack me, they’ll end up devouring far fewer human souls than the others. Since they were all once human, there’s no way they’d do something so self-sacrificing. I don’t believe there’s a Lei Feng among these wolves—unless I foolishly run up to them myself, or all the human souls have already been devoured, I should be safe…)

Henry Clark thought it through clearly. He knew that as long as the human souls hadn’t all been devoured, he was temporarily safe, and he intended to use this window of safety to rush into the spatial passage—this was his only chance!

So, Henry Clark lay quietly on the ground, motionless, his eyes fixed on the distance, carefully observing any movement on that open ground. He didn’t know how much time had passed; when his consciousness was about to go numb, suddenly, in midair above that open ground, about seventeen or eighteen meters up, the space there began to twist and tremble. Then, as if fabric was being torn apart, a pitch-black spatial passage ripped open, and human souls began pouring out from it, one after another falling to the ground.

“Now’s the time!”

Henry Clark sprang up from the ground and dashed madly toward the open area. As he ran several meters, a bolt of lightning appeared on the surface of his body, crackling and exploding, instantly appearing beneath his feet like a cushion of air, boosting his speed more than tenfold. He flashed across a hundred meters in just over a second, leaving a trail of lightning several meters long behind him, as if a phantom was trailing in his wake.

At Henry Clark’s current speed, it would still take nearly two minutes to cover the twelve kilometers, and there were simply too many variables in those two minutes. First, if those human-faced giant wolves attacked him, his only possible outcome would be death—there was no luck to be had. Second, if the spatial passage disappeared within those two minutes, all his efforts would be for nothing; by then, he wouldn’t even have a chance to run. Third, the lightning power within him had to be enough to last; otherwise, once the lightning burn was used up, he’d be unable to maintain it for more than ten seconds, and he’d definitely be doomed!

There was only one chance! Succeed or die!

Henry Clark clenched his teeth and charged forward like a madman, his eyes bloodshot, looking truly deranged. The human-faced giant wolves in the distance did notice his appearance, but just as he had predicted, they all buried their heads and began devouring human souls, completely ignoring this suddenly appearing ant-like human. This allowed him to relax his tense heart a little, but it was not the time to let his guard down. Of the three conditions, only one had been met so far; if even one of the other two failed, the result would be total annihilation. Henry Clark had to muster all his courage to dare this run through the valley of death.