The blood-red setting sun cast its glow on the horizon, dyeing the entire wheat field a crimson hue.

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai sat back-to-back in a dirt pit among the wheat rows, their palms soaked with sweat.

The surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the wheat.

"Huff... huff..."

Guo Shuai wiped the cold sweat from his face.

To alleviate the oppressive feeling that was driving them mad, he forced a smile and nudged Yang Wei behind him.

"Hey, Old Yang, there's something I've always wanted to ask you."

"Go ahead."

Yang Wei kept a vigilant eye on the front.

"You seem like a straightforward guy usually, so why do you hate the student council and Li Xin so much? Just because they like to show off?"

Yang Wei's body stiffened slightly, and he shook his head. "Is this really the time to ask that?"

"Come on, just tell me."

Guo Shuai looked at the setting sun with a bitter smile. "Today might be our last day."

"Old Yang, you have Strength Amplification, your physical fitness is better, your chances of survival are higher than mine."

"If I die, consider it fulfilling my last wish."

"Bullshit! Don't say such unlucky things!"

Yang Wei cursed, but after a few seconds of silence, he lowered his head, his eyes dark and unclear.

"Fine, I'll tell you."

He took a deep breath, as if to expel years of pent-up frustration.

"This story... starts before I was even born."

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"My parents, and my grandpa, were all arrested a month before I was born."

Guo Shuai was taken aback. "What?"

Yang Wei laughed self-deprecatingly, his gaze wandering. "My dad used to be an 'official', not too big, not too small."

"But he was crooked, colluding with the local mafia for money and status, doing a lot of dirty work."

"Eventually, it all came to light, and the police came to arrest him."

"My 'good father' planned to abandon his pregnant wife and run away."

"And my mom... to buy time for my dad, she even tried to poison the police, who were her good friends, in their tea."

"My grandpa also embezzled quite a bit."

"In the end, the whole family, all three of them, were sentenced to heavy penalties."

Yang Wei pulled up a stalk of wheat and snapped it harshly.

"My mom gave birth to me and then continued serving her sentence."

"I was raised in an orphanage, supported by the very police officer who was poisoned."

"For twenty years, wherever I went, the whispers followed."

"The offspring of a corrupt official, the descendant of a desperate poisoner..."

Yang Wei's voice trembled slightly.

"Actually, I was a good student when I was young, really."

"But I didn't dare to be first, afraid of drawing attention, afraid of people digging into my background and gossiping."

"So I chose sports, pretending to be a brawny, simple-minded brute."

"I understand that it wasn't the profession of being an official that caused all this, but their loss of direction for money and status."

Yang Wei turned his head to look at Guo Shuai, his eyes unusually serious.

"That's why I hate Li Xin, hate Wu Hao, hate all those in the student council who wield authority like it's a decree."

"I'm not jealous of them; I hate their unscrupulous ambition to climb higher."

"Such people, once in power, can't be good officials; they'll just become pests like my parents."

"I don't want to see such people rise and harm everyone."

After hearing this, Guo Shuai was silent for a long time.

He reached out and heavily patted Yang Wei's shoulder.

"Old Yang, this isn't your fault."

"You didn't enjoy the benefits of their crimes, and you shouldn't bear their sins."

"You're much cleaner than they are."

Hearing this, Yang Wei's tense mouth relaxed a little.

"Alright, stop being so sentimental, it's disgusting."

Just then.

The last sliver of twilight was swallowed by the horizon.

The sky turned dark.

...

The mechanical watch read 19:00, five hours until the "opening."

Darkness enveloped the wheat field.

Time passed quickly during their conversation, but the fear didn't dissipate; instead, it grew stronger with the night.

"Rustle... rustle..."

Accompanied by the wind.

In the distance, a dense rustling sound suddenly arose.

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai sprang up instantly, back-to-back, staring intently in the direction of the sound.

Under the faint starlight, they saw a few shaky figures emerging from the wheat field two hundred meters away.

Those figures moved stiffly, yet uniformly, walking towards them.

As they walked, they raised their hands and waved, as if greeting.

"Is that..."

Yang Wei squinted his eyes.

"Is it Wu Hao and the others? They're still alive?"

If they were human, it would at least mean more strength.

Yang Wei was about to shout when Guo Shuai suddenly grabbed his clothes.

"Don't shout! Run!!"

Guo Shuai's voice trembled, his face as pale as paper.

"Old Yang! Run!!"

"My [Danger Sense] hasn't sounded the alarm yet, but my heart is in a panic! That waving motion..."

"It's too creepy! That's not something a living person can do! It's too stiff!"

Guo Shuai pulled Yang Wei and sprinted in the opposite direction.

"That's a dead man's wave! Run!!"

The two of them sprinted, leaving long trails in the wheat field.

However, the footsteps behind them grew faster and closer.

"Roar!!"

No longer just silent waving, the rustling sound and the crackling of electricity came from behind!

Yang Wei glanced back, his pupils constricting.

He saw that those figures were no longer pretending.

They were running on all fours or in extremely twisted postures.

Under the purple lightning emitted by one of them, Yang Wei saw their faces clearly.

It was Wu Hao, Liang Rui, Wang Jinsheng...

But their skin was loose, their eyes filled with straw, and their joints exposed with withered yellow straw stalks.

"Damn! It's Wu Hao and the others! They've turned into monsters!"

Yang Wei roared in anger.

Even more despairingly, a fireball and a bolt of lightning came whistling from behind!

"They can still use their powers?!"

Boom!

The fireball exploded beside them, igniting the dry wheat stalks, flames soaring into the sky.

"We can't outrun them!"

Guo Shuai panted heavily, his stamina far inferior to Yang Wei's. "They're tireless; if we keep running, we'll be exhausted to death!"

Yang Wei abruptly stopped, turned around, his eyes bloodshot.

"Then we won't run!"

"Let's smash them!"

"Old Guo, work with me!"

Yang Wei roared, activating his C-Level Power Amplification.

Though it's called Strength Amplification!

It's actually an all-attribute enhancement buff!

His overall physical abilities would surge in a short time.

But strength was the most prominent!

"Here they come!"

Guo Shuai closed his eyes, instantly activating [Danger Sense].

"Two on the left! The one with lightning is charging! Be careful!"

Yang Wei, like a human tank, didn't retreat but advanced, charging towards the human-scarecrow hybrids!

Bang!

He directly smashed the two at the front into pieces!

Straw flew everywhere!

But these monsters felt no pain, and the rest continued to charge fearlessly.

The battle quickly reached a fever pitch.

"Zzzla!"

The lightning in Wu Hao's hand struck towards Yang Wei.

"Right roll!"

Guo Shuai shouted.

Yang Wei rolled on the ground, avoiding the vital spot, but his left arm was grazed by the arc, instantly skinning and charring it.

"Ah!!"

Yang Wei cried out in pain, his ferocity unleashed, grabbing a charging scarecrow with one hand and using it as a weapon to smash "Wu Hao."

In the intense struggle, the observant Guo Shuai noticed a crucial point.

"Old Yang! They don't have vision!"

Guo Shuai pointed at the monsters, fast but always needing to "pause and listen":

"Their eyeballs are straw! They locate by sound! Use sound to lure them!"

"Got it!"

Yang Wei picked up a stone and hurled it towards an empty spot.

Sure enough, "Wu Hao" and "Liang Rui" simultaneously turned their heads towards the direction of the stone's landing.

"Opportunity!"

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai exchanged a glance.

These monsters retained their powers from life but lost their brains!

"Old Guo!"

"Here we go!"

Guo Shuai dashed out from cover, shouting loudly, "Bastards! Grandpa's here!!"

"Roar!"

The fireball in Liang Rui's hand instantly formed and hurled towards Guo Shuai.

Guo Shuai dodged desperately, but the explosion's heat wave still scorched half his face.

"Ah!!"

His scream attracted all the monsters' attention.

At this moment, Yang Wei, lurking on the other side, moved.

He didn't attack but kicked the lightning-emitting "Wu Hao" hard.

The direction was right towards the "Liang Rui" about to launch a second fireball!

"Zzzla! Boom!"

Lightning and fireball exploded between the two monsters!

The massive energy conflict triggered a violent explosion.

Instantly, these two elite monsters were blown into a sky full of burning straw!

"Well done!"

With the loss of two ranged attackers, the remaining melee scarecrows were just a pile of rotten straw in front of the rampaging Yang Wei.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Yang Wei put all his strength into every punch until he smashed the last scarecrow's head into its chest.

...

The mechanical watch read 23:55, five minutes until the "opening."

The battle was over.

The once golden wheat field was now charred black, littered with dismembered limbs and scattered straw.

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai sat back-to-back on the ground, too exhausted to lift a finger.

Yang Wei's left hand still trembled, a result of nerve damage from the electric shock.

Guo Shuai was in worse shape.

He covered half his face, blood seeping through his fingers, a burn mark from the fireball.

One eye was blind, half his face disfigured.

"Huff... huff..."

Yang Wei gasped, glancing at the motionless bodies around, his voice hoarse:

"Did we... win?"

Guo Shuai opened his one remaining good eye, glanced at the watch on his wrist, and responded shakily.

"Probably..."

"23:55... five more minutes..."

"In five minutes, the times of the two worlds will coincide... we can get out."

Guo Shuai gave a bitter smile, which tugged at his facial wound, causing him to grimace in pain.

"Too bad... my face is ruined."

"Forget about finding a partner, it'll be good if I don't scare kids."

This time, it was Yang Wei's turn to comfort him.

He patted Guo Shuai's thigh.

"It's okay, this is the apocalypse, strength is the real deal. Some girl will like your inner self."

"Of course... maybe not your face."

Yang Wei cracked a clumsy joke, then glanced at the "human skins" on the ground.

"If worse comes to worst, we can peel off these people's faces."

"Take them back, maybe we'll find a doctor profession who can do a skin graft for you."

Guo Shuai cursed with annoyance, "Get lost! I don't want to wear these dead people's faces! It's bad luck!"

The two exchanged glances, wanting to laugh but the pain from their injuries made them wince.

However.

As they laughed, Guo Shuai's smile suddenly froze.

His one remaining eye stared intently at the bodies on the ground, his lips starting to tremble uncontrollably.

"What's wrong, Old Guo? Are you delirious from the pain?"

Yang Wei sensed something was off.

"No... something's wrong..."

Guo Shuai's voice was filled with indescribable fear.

"The numbers don't add up!!"

"Old Yang, count... when we came from the woods to the wheat field, there were twelve of us!"

"Yu Shishi left then, leaving eleven."

"We two left, leaving nine!"

"Wu Hao's team should still have nine people!"

Guo Shuai pointed at the chaotic pile of bodies, his voice sharp:

"But we only killed... eight!!"

"Wu Hao, Liang Rui, and those extras... I counted, only eight bodies!"

"Where did the other one go?!"

Hearing this, Yang Wei's hair stood on end, the heat from the battle instantly turning to ice.

Nine people.

There were only eight bodies here.

One was missing!

"Who? Who's missing?!"

Yang Wei jumped up, nervously scanning the surroundings.

"I don't know... it was too chaotic... I didn't see clearly..."

Guo Shuai was also panicking, looking around, "Did it run away? Or is it hiding?"

Just then.

Yang Wei suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck.

"Old Guo... why aren't you talking?"

Yang Wei instinctively asked.

Guo Shuai was right in front of him, staring in horror at something behind him.

A soft, sweet, yet hoarse female voice whispered close to Yang Wei's ear.

"Of course not~"

"I've been watching you all along~"

Yang Wei's pupils shrank to the size of needlepoints.

That voice...

It was Bai Lianhua!!

Before he could react.

Something scratchy and soft wrapped around his waist from behind.

Like a lover's embrace.

Yang Wei stiffly raised his eyes, catching a glimpse of a face peeking from behind in the last moonlight.

It was a face with tattered skin, twisted features.

The once bright and lively peach blossom eyes were now filled with two clumps of dark straw.

"Brother Yang Wei... take me... with you..."

"Take me... with you!"

Bai Lianhua's hands turned into scythes.

"Old Yang!!!"

In Guo Shuai's shocked roar, Yang Wei was cut in half at the waist!

His upper body fell to the ground...