Chapter 52 FIFTY-TWO

Chapter 52: Chapter FIFTY-TWO

The only people they can trust...are each other.

This chaotic, dysfunctional and psychologically disastrous team– is the only safe place for them now. They can only trust each other.

"But Xin Linhua..." Naka rises to his feet "You keep coming up with weird techniques and forbidden ones as well– how will we ever practice?"

The sudden relief the team had felt a moment ago suddenly dies down by more than half.

Indeed. They’re prone to corruption. One wrong move and it’s goodbye to their abilities, sanity and humanity. They’ll be discarded or in worse cases, killed like the ones before!

"You don’t have to worry about that." Xin Linhua declares proudly "Naturally, I plan to take responsibility for this team. Leave that to me, I already have a plan in motion.

"But remember this, no matter what happens after we leave this rift, this team comes first, not the institute. You can keep things from them, but not your teammates."

"Understood." Gao Shi nods.

"And betrayal is punishable by death." Xin Linhua stares straight into the man’s eyes "My brothers do a clean job."

"Pfft–" Gao Shi grins "Don’t worry, I have my priorities straight."

"Good." Xin Linhua clears his throat "I already know your codenames, but you don’t know mine."

"Guides get codenames?" A Hydromancer says.

"Nope, but I do."

The team nods. Make sense.

"Hollow." His smile is soft "That’s my codename."

"No story behind it?" Gao Shi’s nosy ass is quipped.

"There is."

"Tell."

"Bite me." Xin Linhua bares his teeth.

"Tsk!" Gao Shi holds his shoulder again "Forget it then."

The team finally feels at ease. They sit on the dirt in a circle, each checking their wounds every now and then.

"Why isn’t he back yet...?" Xin Linhua frowns.

"Should we go look for him?" The female Hydromancer, Aki, says.

"No need." Xin Linhua shakes his head "He can take care of himself."

"Yeah, that’s true– oh he’s back."

The team turns.

Rong Yizhan walks towards them in a steady stride. His forehead has a bit of blood splattered on it.

"What happened?" Xin Linhua rushes towards him "Why are you bleeding!?"

"The blood isn’t mine." Rong Yizhan replies calmly.

Xin Linhua carefully holds the man’s shoulder and wipes the blood away with the sleeve of his clothing.

"You ran into one? You fought it?"

"Mm." Rong Yizhan points towards a direction "I found a safe place, but it’s quite a distance from here."

"It’s fine." The team stands to their feet "We can make the trip. Better than dying out here in the wilderness."

"Let’s go." Xin Linhua nods.

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Rong Yizhan wasn’t exaggerating when he said the cave was quite a distance away from the canyon.

They can’t go back to the mountain because they might run into some Nikuras, so they walk the opposite way.

Due to how injured the members are, it takes them an hour or so to get to their destination. They arrive at the cave.

The crude cave is lodged deep under a hill. It’s dark inside but they still venture in. Anywhere is better than broad daylight where they can get attacked anytime.

"We might run out of resources soon." Xin Linhua walks ahead "Let’s get everyone rested and treated then we’ll devise a way to clear this rift and get the hell out."

"Training’s over." Rong Yizhan’s cold voice accompanies his Guide’s "Survival is more important. We’ll train in a less dangerous rift."

"Understood."

They walk to the inner most part of the cave and settle down.

Xin Linhua takes out a fresh new batch of bandages and hands them out. The old one is soiled with dirt, sweat and blood. The wounds haven’t fully closed yet.

"So what now?" Gao Shi is the first to speak "All we know is that the institute sent us here to kill one another. We’re facing hordes of Nikuras, are we even going to survive by the end of it?"

For the first time, Xin Linhua has no answer to their questions.

He wants to keep everyone safe and alive, but he does not know how to do that. He took it upon himself to keep them safe, but the responsibility is bigger than he thought.

"Stay inside the cave." Rong Yizhan suddenly walks towards the entrance.

"Where are you going?" Xin Linhua asks.

"To ensure your safety."

With those words, he leaves the cave without glancing back.

Xin Linhua wants to go after him, but thinking it over again, Rong Yizhan can handle himself so he stays back and watches over his resting teammates instead.

Meanwhile...

By ’ensuring your safety’, Rong Yizhan doesn’t mean guarding the cave entrance and fighting off any intruder that trespasses– no.

Instead, he begins to hunt down the Nikuras. One by one. The supposed prey has become the predator.

No, he was never a prey to begin with. He was a resting tiger amidst the tall grass, patiently waiting for his prey to let down its guard.

The first wave of Nikuras he encounters doesn’t even get the chance to put up a fight.

The location is a bit far from the cave, giving Rong Yizhan all the time he needs to deal with them without being discovered.

"Hey." He says to no one in particular "You need to come out. If I deal with this myself, it’ll take a while. Xin Linhua doesn’t have a while."

No answer. Obviously, it’s just him standing in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Nikuras who are both wary of him yet, ready to fight him.

Rong Yizhan stays still for a few seconds. A soft sigh escapes him, like he’s tired of dealing with someone’s bullshit.

"Are you fucking with me?" His tone turns terrifyingly cold "You always try to fight me for control, but the moment I need you, you act like a–"

"Why should I listen to you?"

His own words are cut off by him. But the voice that echoes from him, isn’t his, but rather, it’s an entirely different voice!

Deep. Distorted. Like something straight out of a thriller movie with an extreme budget.

"If you want to throw a fucking tantrum, shove it somewhere, I don’t care." Rong Yizhan’s expression darkens "But if anything happens to Xin Linhua in this rift, I’ll pry this sou of yours out of my body myself."

"Xin...Linhua?"

"Yes. Xin Linhua. My guide."

"Our Guide!" The voice corrects angrily "Not... just yours..."

"Fine." Rong Yizhan massages his temple "Our guide. Now take over and clear this place. We have to get out. Fast."

"I...understand."

Rong Yizhan’s entire demeanor changes. One minute, the aura around him attracts the beasts in the rift. The next minute, a different aura surges from him, enough to scare the beasts soulless and have them running in different directions.

Rong Yizhan is terrifying. They can’t beat him. But whatever just happened now– the feeling of dread that spreads around, it’s definitely not normal.

The beasts were confronting a dangerous human, but not anymore.

Because right now, Rong Yizhan is anything but human. He’s something– someone they wouldn’t want to fight with. So they run!

"Preys...where do you...think you’re going?"