Chapter 26: Fall and Escape

Li Yi did not yet know that Yang Yi and the others had successfully hunted down a transcendent creature; he, Tao Ge, and Zhang Gao were still faithfully guarding their observation post as planned, alert to any anomalies around them.

“Two hours already, and not a single sound—this is unbearably boring,” Zhang Gao yawned, feeling the weight of fatigue.

After all, maintaining high alertness easily drains a person.

“If you’re tired, take a rest—I’ll keep watch for the remaining hours. If anything unusual happens, I’ll call you,” Tao Ge said, smoking as he spoke.

Li Yi replied, “I’ll stay with you, Tao Ge. I’m wide awake—no fatigue at all.”

“No need to be so serious. I’ve checked several times—our position is safe. The only thing that troubles me is that spider-like monster I drove off earlier,” Tao Ge frowned. “Didn’t kill it. Might leave behind a hidden threat.”

“Wait—listen. What’s that sound?”

At that moment, Tao Ge’s expression shifted. He tilted his head, listening intently ahead.

From the darkened district far off, faint roars and growls of beasts echoed, accompanied by other unnatural disturbances—sounds rapidly drawing nearer.

Drip-drip!

Simultaneously, Tao Ge’s phone buzzed—a critical message: Mission complete. Evacuate danger zone immediately.

Seeing the message, Tao Ge’s face turned ashen. He hurled his cigarette away and barked, “Yang Yi must’ve completed the hunt. Move—get out of here now. I’ve got a bad feeling. This time, we’re in real danger.”

“What?” Zhang Gao jolted in shock.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Li Yi said.

Tao Ge didn’t hesitate a second. He spun around and sprinted back along their original route.

Seeing his urgency, Li Yi and Zhang Gao dared not slacken. They immediately followed close behind.

As the three raced down the stairs, the noise outside the building grew louder—something was rapidly approaching.

“Nothing that survives in the danger zone is simple. Whatever happens next, just run. Follow the original path back. Once you’re out of the lockdown zone, you’re safe. Those monsters usually don’t chase relentlessly.”

Tao Ge was still a decent man—even now, he took a moment to warn the two newcomers.

But the moment he finished speaking—

He abruptly halted, his body freezing mid-step in the stairwell.

In that instant, all three pupils shrank sharply. Their hairs stood on end. A chill surged from their soles to their skulls.

On the stairwell walls ahead, over a dozen grotesque silhouettes had appeared. Their skin was gray-black, blending seamlessly with the surroundings. Dozens of withered, elongated arms sprouted from their bodies. They crawled across the floor, ceiling, and walls like spiders—silent, stealthy. Had they not been spotted now, these monsters could have reached the top floor without detection.

“We only scared off one earlier… now there are this many?” Tao Ge’s heart clenched.

Such numbers stirred an instant sense of despair.

If surrounded, death was certain.

Before the three could act, the spider-like humanoid monsters ahead, upon spotting them, instantly accelerated—moving with impossible speed toward them.

“Run!”

In that moment, only one thought filled their minds.

Tao Ge reacted first. He whirled around, unleashing tremendous force, trying to create maximum distance.

But the moment he turned, the wall beside him exploded outward. A withered, grotesque arm shot out, lunging straight for his head.

“What?”

Tao Ge was stunned and terrified—he never imagined such monsters existed not just in the stairwell, but on the other side of the wall.

Too late!

Only one thought filled Tao Ge’s mind.

“Crack!”

The next instant, Tao Ge’s head took a brutal blow. His body lost balance, crashing into the nearby steps. Blood gushed forth. His vision went black, then flooded crimson.

Buzzzz!

Tao Ge’s body swayed. His ears rang.

But driven by survival instinct, he fumbled for his black cleaver and swung wildly.

He struck nothing. Instead, countless terrifying hands rained down from above.

Screams echoed.

Li Yi watched as Tao Ge was swallowed whole by the gray-black figures, his body torn apart, blood staining the entire stairwell.

“A Spirit Medium cultivator just died like this?”

His heart pounded, but he didn’t hesitate. He bolted—though not back up the stairs. Instead, he plunged into the floor behind him.

“Li Yi!” Zhang Gao’s eyes widened in terror. He chose to retreat the way they came—the two split apart in the stairwell.

He wanted to change course and follow Li Yi—but it was too late.

The monsters were already behind him. Delay meant a worse death.

Seeing Li Yi vanish, Zhang Gao gritted his teeth and sprinted forward.

Whether either survived now depended solely on their own skill.

Though they fled separately, the monsters showed no mercy—they split into two groups and pursued both.

“Going to the top floor means certain death. This building is the tallest here. Climbing up is trapping yourself. Must find another escape route.”

Li Yi’s body tensed. He moved like a lithe cheetah through the building’s interior.

Behind him, the relentless scuttling of monstrous limbs never ceased.

Li Yi dared not pause. His cultivation hadn’t even reached Spirit Medium. He had no proper weapon. Even one monster could kill him. His only advantage was his agile body.

He leapt over debris, smashing through tempered glass doors, pushing his escape speed to the limit.

Fortunately, Li Yi could see in the dark—otherwise, he wouldn’t even have had the chance to flee.

In his desperate sprint, the monsters behind gradually fell slightly behind—but he still dared not breathe.

“Must get out of this building—or I’ll die here,” Li Yi panted, yet his mind remained clear.

“Where can I escape? The stairwell is blocked. The elevator shaft isn’t here—if it were, I could drop straight to the first floor… No time. This floor’s ending soon.”

“The windows.”

Suddenly, Li Yi gritted his teeth and sprinted toward a window.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the sill and flipped out.

But this was the twenty-somethingth floor.

Falling from this height meant certain death.

Li Yi knew it well—but he had no choice. This was the only path to survival.

Wind howled past his ears as he plummeted.

But after falling three or four floors, he suddenly reached out and seized the edge of a window ledge.

The physical prowess of a cultivator revealed itself.

The impact of the fall was absorbed by his arm, allowing him to hang safely from the ledge.

But he had no time to relax. Above him, glass shattered. Several gray-black arms thrust out from the very window he’d just leapt from.

The monsters had followed—and they could climb walls.

“Again.”

Li Yi gritted his teeth and released his grip.

His body plunged downward once more.

After another three or four floors, he grabbed another ledge, stabilized himself, then let go again.

Again and again he fell—each time teetering on the edge of death.

One slip, and he was finished.

But the desperate gamble paid off: the distance between him and the monsters widened, and he drew closer to the ground.

In barely ten seconds, Li Yi had descended over ten floors.

Yet above him, a horde of monsters scaled the exterior walls at astonishing speed. With no obstacles, they moved faster outside than inside.

The gap between them was closing.

“I don’t want to die here,” Li Yi thought, his eyes gleaming. In this deathly extremity, his body seemed to accelerate its evolution—his eyes were beginning to awaken the Spirit Medium state.

But what good did it do?

The previous Spirit Medium, Tao Ge, had been torn to shreds. Even if Li Yi awakened the state, he still couldn’t escape danger.

He fell again.

This desperate fight for survival unleashed tremendous latent potential. He gradually mastered the sensation of freefall, learning to time his grabs perfectly to slow his descent.

No need to prepare. He simply released—his body dropped—and he knew exactly what to do.

Soon—

Li Yi, once on the twenty-somethingth floor, now hung at the fifth or sixth floor.

At this height, he wouldn’t die from the fall.

Final release.

With a dull thud, he landed safely.

But the monsters behind still chased him—now crawling onto the ground. The danger had not ended.

He ran again, retracing the path he’d come.

In the danger zone, he dared not wander blindly—else he might encounter other horrors.

“Li Yi!”

At that moment, a shout echoed from the rooftop of the building behind him.

It was Zhang Gao’s voice.

Zhang Gao had reached the rooftop platform. He stood at the edge of the railing, spotting Li Yi—but he himself had reached a dead end. No escape remained—unless he jumped.

Because several monsters on the top floor were rapidly crawling toward him.

Li Yi’s fleeing form paused slightly; he glanced back, then accelerated again.

“Li Yi, I can’t go on—help me, take my money to my family.” Zhang Gao’s cry echoed through the dark city, reaching Li Yi’s ears.

Li Yi did not answer, only clenched his fist and raised his arm.

To respond was to agree.

Zhang Gao saw this from afar and smiled, having already made peace with dying here.

Yet just as he prepared to face the horde of terrifying spider-like monsters, something inconceivable happened.

A thin mist suddenly spread around the top floor, pale green in color, growing denser the higher it rose until it merged with the night, becoming indistinguishable.

The spider-like humanoid monsters, as if sensing some dreadful peril, abandoned their imminent prey all at once and scrambled frantically into the building, their frantic climbing sounds never ceasing.

“Could a miracle have happened?” Zhang Gao instantly felt disbelief.

But soon, his pupils sharply contracted as he saw something profoundly terrifying.

Directly above the building, a massive eyeball suddenly emerged from deep within the mist—its eye resembled that of some transcendent creature, for within the mist’s depths, a colossal biological shadow was faintly outlined. Yet at that moment, the giant pupil turned slightly, its gaze fixing upon this direction.

“What… what is that thing?”

Zhang Gao was locked in by that gaze; a crushing terror surged over him, instantly drowning his entire body, and his limbs lost sensation—as if he were melting.

No.

This was no illusion.

Zhang Gao’s body was truly melting.

In mere seconds, his body dissolved into a pool of pale green liquid; only his clothing remained untouched on the ground.

The thick mist gradually dispersed.

A hidden, terrifying figure within it departed, advancing deep into the danger zone—directly opposite the direction Li Yi was fleeing.