Chapter 68: A Minor Condition

He waved the fire axe in his hand and pointed it toward the lower staircase. "We take the emergency exit, fight our way down to the first floor, and then break out! I know a shortcut that bypasses most of the areas infested by the monsters. But along that route, there are a few particularly perilous spots that require your people to take the lead and crack those hard nuts!"

Mu Chen looked at Scarface Qiang without the slightest expression on his face. "You mean you want our people to walk into a death trap while you hang back to reap the benefits?"

Scarface Qiang gave a grim smile. "That’s a crude way to put it, but accurate. However, as long as you can open up the passage, I guarantee that once we reach the safe zone, there will be plenty of rewards for you. Well, Brother Mu Chen, what do you say? Consider it." A trace of imperceptible cunning flashed through his eyes. "This is your only chance, after all."

In the corner, upon hearing these words, Liu San lost the last shred of color left in his face.

"A chance?" Mu Chen repeated, the corners of his mouth curving upward, though no smile could be discerned. "It certainly sounds tempting."

A flash of triumph crossed Scarface Qiang's eyes. "Those who submit to circumstances are wise men. Brother Mu Chen is an intelligent person."

"However," Mu Chen changed the subject, "I also have a small condition."

"Oh? Let's hear it." Scarface Qiang narrowed his eyes, growing secretly vigilant.

Mu Chen stretched out a finger, pointing at the tethered, mutated monsters behind Scarface Qiang, and then gestured toward the burly men under his command. "Since this is a cooperation, it naturally calls for sincerity. Taking the lead is fine, but your men, along with these 'treasures' of yours, must charge at the absolute front. We will cover your flanks from the rear. How does that sound?"

Scarface Qiang's expression shifted slightly, before he burst into raucous laughter. "Brother Mu Chen really knows how to calculate! Fine! It'll be as you say! Whoever takes the lead makes no difference, as long as we can fight our way out!" Despite his seemingly agreeable words, he secretly cast a sideways glance at his subordinates, signaling them to remain on high alert.

"Since we've reached an agreement, let's not waste time." Mu Chen glanced at the ceiling, where the concrete was beginning to shed once more. "This building cannot hold out much longer."

"Good! Let's move!" Scarface Qiang swung his fire axe and took the lead toward the stairway. His henchmen, prodding the roaring, mutated monsters, followed closely behind with curses and grumbles.

Mu Chen nodded to Chen Jiahe, Doctor Li, and the others. "Keep close and stay sharp."

The group, a coalition of two factions harboring hidden agendas, thus temporarily "united" and began their assault downward.

Inside the emergency stairwell, it was even dimmer and more humid than before, and the sweet, fishy stench hanging heavy in the air had nearly solidified. The mutated monsters belonging to Scarface Qiang's men had their ropes untied. Driven by their masters, they roared as they charged ahead, colliding and tearing into the crystalline worms pouring out from holes in the walls and the darkness.

"Damn it! Why are there so many of these damn things?!" One of Scarface Qiang's subordinates swung a steel pipe, smashing the head of a worm, only to have another clamp its jaws onto his calf, eliciting a shrill scream.

Fierce though the mutated monsters were, the crystalline worms were simply too numerous and entirely devoid of fear in their death-charges. Casualties began to mount among Scarface Qiang's men, and cries of agony echoed one after another.

"Brother Mu Chen! What are you standing there for?! Get your people up here to help!" Scarface Qiang roared back at Mu Chen while splitting an incoming worm with his fire axe. The "cannon fodder" he had brought with him was depleting much faster than he had anticipated.

Mu Chen acted as though he hadn't heard, merely watching the melee ahead with cold detachment, his mountain-chopping saber resting motionless in his hand. "What's the rush? It's not our turn to act yet. Aren't your men and your 'treasures' quite capable of fighting?"

"You motherfucker, you played me!" Scarface Qiang was frantic with rage, finally realizing that he had been played by Mu Chen.

"Boom—crack!"

The structure shuddered with another earth-shaking tremor. The staircase beneath their feet shattered inch by inch, and the walls were torn apart as if by an invisible giant hand, exposing pitch-black cavities from which countless screaming worms poured forth. The situation spiraled completely out of control!

"Ah—!"

"Save me!"

More than half of Scarface Qiang's men were instantly swallowed by the worms, and even the mutated monsters were torn to pieces by the frenzied tide of bugs.

"Fall back! Retreat!" Terrified out of his wits and no longer caring about Mu Chen, Scarface Qiang grabbed the two or three surviving subordinates and scrambled to turn back.

"Want to leave?" Mu Chen's voice sounded as though it came from the netherworld. "Too late."

At that very moment, Chen Si, who had remained silent all along, suddenly summoned the last ounce of her strength and let out a low shout: "[Mental Shock]!"

An invisible wave suddenly erupted centered around her. Although its range was limited and its power far inferior to before, it precisely swept across Scarface Qiang and his remaining henchmen.

Scarface Qiang and the others felt as if their heads had been struck hard by a heavy hammer; they instantly grew dizzy, and their movements froze momentarily.

Now is the time!

"Big Mouth, tear them apart!" Mu Chen roared.

Big Mouth let out a roar, dragging its battered body like a streak of black lightning as it lunged at the nearest of Scarface Qiang's men, biting through his throat in a single snap!

Chen Jiahe struck at the same time, her dagger driving straight into the heart of another thug.

As for Mu Chen, he transformed into a blur and charged directly at Scarface Qiang!

"You dare!" Shocked and furious, Scarface Qiang regained his wits just in time to raise his fire axe in parry.

"Clang!" Sparks flew in all directions.

Mu Chen leveraged the impact to step back half a pace, murderous intent blazing in his eyes. "Scum like you is nothing but a hazard if left alive!"

"Go to hell!" Driven completely insane, Scarface Qiang swung his fire axe, hacking wildly at Mu Chen regardless of the consequences.

"Rumble rumble rumble—!!!"

However, their life-and-death struggle was cut short by a roar far more deafening than any that had preceded it!

At this very moment, the entire apartment building let out a dying groan!

The ground beneath their feet—no, the entire floor slab, along with the surrounding walls—was collapsing downward at a visible rate!

"Ah—!" Xie Youuo let out a despairing shriek as her footing vanished, her body plunging downward out of control.

"Grab my hand!" Quick-witted, Chen Jiahe lunged forward and grabbed her by the hand, but the immense pulling force caused her to lose her balance as well.

Mu Chen's pupils constricted violently. He wanted to go to their rescue, but the ground beneath his feet had completely vanished, turning into a bottomless, massive fissure!

Not just them—Scarface Qiang, Doctor Li, Xiao Mu, Liu San, and the surviving worms, a dense mass of them, fell together like dumplings tossed into a pot, screaming and roaring as they plummeted into the all-devouring dark abyss!

The violent wind howled in their ears, and a sense of weightlessness enveloped everyone.

In the midst of his descent, Mu Chen only had enough time to pull Chen Si—who had been closest to him—into a tight embrace, shielding her body with his own.

The final image he saw was the building above, once their "home," disintegrating like crushed building blocks, shattering into countless fragments that slammed down together into this endless abyss.

"Splash!"

Darkness, cold, and suffocation.

All sounds vanished.