Chapter 297: 293 Rescue

The mangled corpses of teammates lay on the ground, twitching and jerking; some had not died immediately, their faces turning deathly pale as they let out heart-wrenching screams.

At the same time, faint whispers, like the chanting of demonic monks, disturbed the mind and echoed through the dark space.

The terrified group found their thoughts becoming increasingly chaotic; they gasped for air and looked around, feeling as if they were surrounded on all sides, as if they had arrived in an Avici Hell filled with nether ghosts and evil spirits.

If not for An Fang's timely warning, some among them would have already buckled under the pressure, forced to vent their intense fear by firing their guns wildly.

Fang Mu pricked up his ears and scanned his surroundings. He could hear the loathsome monsters chanting those fragmented spells nearby; they were hiding in dark, imperceptible corners, watching every human whose face was etched with terror.

Following the sound, Fang Mu saw a hunched, frail, and grotesque figure. It stood in a corner like a gaunt, elderly crone, barely covered by rags, her shriveled, sagging body exposed to the air in such a brazen manner. Her hideous, twisted face twitched, and inside her wide mouth was a set of jagged, incomplete, yellowed teeth, which she used to whisper and chant eerie demonic spells.

This was a Witch! A type of Corpse Thrall that retained intelligence no lower than that of a human. They were skilled in sorcery, witchcraft, and magic, making them even more dangerous than ordinary Corpse Thralls.

The Witch's long, pointed ears twitched slightly. She revealed a sinister grin and slowly turned her head, her gaze immediately locking onto a Mysterious Investigator who was sneaking away but had accidentally made a noise.

Fang Mu cursed the idiot under his breath but could not call out to warn them. He lowered his head to search for a weapon and quickly found a firearm in the hands of a recently deceased Mysterious Investigator. Without hesitation, he lunged out, picked up the dropped weapon, and fired several shots at the Witch he had spotted.

However, Fang Mu was a step too late; the Witch had already finished chanting a spell.

As he aimed at the Witch and the bullets were fired, Fang Mu saw the space in front of her distort strangely. Sand and stones flew up from the ground, as if an invisible slash had broken through the air.

The slash was incredibly fast. As the bullets pierced the Witch's body, that invisible slash also severed the head of the Mysterious Investigator who had been sneaking away.

Fang Mu quickly ducked behind cover. He could hear that the faint whispering had not stopped; there was more than one Witch nearby. Immediately after, the sound of a slash striking the stone beside him rang out, and the explosive noise made Fang Mu's heart tremble.

"Fang Sen!" An Fang had been right beside Fang Mu and immediately realized that the person who had just fired was him; she couldn't help but call out to him in worry.

"Shut up, hide, don't make a sound, their hearing is good!" Fang Mu snapped at her, his scalp tingling. A sharp shout from someone who never usually lost his temper scared An Fang into immediately shrinking back, even though she was usually such a strong-willed person.

And when An Fang felt the stone cover behind her being struck heavily by something, causing it to shake violently, she immediately understood that Fang Mu's words were no lie. Calming down slightly, she also guessed that the monsters attacking them from the shadows were the Witches they were looking for.

At this critical moment, An Fang did not dwell on the fact that Fang Mu had picked up a firearm; after all, he was the only one who could counterattack normally and freely right now.

Fang Mu's heart was pounding rapidly, and he felt blood rushing to his face, his eye sockets burning as if on fire. His focus was at its peak, and with the dual coordination of his superhuman vision and hearing, the time it took for him to lock onto an enemy became shorter and shorter, his ability usage becoming increasingly proficient.

In the darkness, the sound of gunfire rang out in bursts, accompanied by the shrieks of monsters and the sound of Fang Mu's own stomach growling with extreme, ravenous hunger.

Watching the Explosive Flame Bullets pierce the flesh of those savage Corpse Thralls and Witches, blowing their bodies apart into chunks of meat, he felt as if he were looking at freshly served delicacies. He was so hungry he wanted to pounce on them, tear their corpses apart, and devour them immediately.

But Fang Mu's reason was desperately striking the bell of his desires, continuously warning him not to do so.

Thus, his appetite transformed into an even more intense aggression. He couldn't eat, but there was no harm in watching the "splendor," in seeing something "appetizing"!

When the bullets were completely spent, Fang Mu touched the hot gun barrel and smelled the gunpowder, his consciousness slowly returning to clarity.

He looked with a hint of confusion at An Fang, who was walking toward him with a trace of fear. His heart felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer as the memories of the recent battle slowly surfaced in his mind.

He had been frantically gunning down those Witches hiding in the darkness while laughing maniacally with saliva streaming from his mouth.

He didn't even need to imagine it; he knew exactly how terrifying and hideous he must have looked.

He was losing control.

Fang Mu dropped the gun and hurriedly wiped the saliva from his face, saying in a dry, hoarse voice, "It's fine now, we can continue moving forward."

The group was silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to speak. Every Mysterious Investigator gripped their respective weapons, using their Night Vision Devices to stare at Fang Mu's stiff expression. Although their conscience told them he was their savior, their physical instincts and reason told them that this person was far too dangerous.

He could brutally kill a Witch, and he could just as easily kill them all while laughing.

Fang Mu was even more dangerous than the Witches.

After the harrowing ordeal, everyone's emotions had gone through a rollercoaster; the death of their comrades could not make them feel much grief. They just walked in silence and vigilance, keeping their distance from Fang Mu.

Twenty-some minutes later, with the coordination of Fang Mu's perception and scientific instruments, they found the abducted children and teenagers.

When they saw several human corpses soaking in boilers, as well as a mutilated young girl hanging upside down and in the process of transforming into a Corpse Thrall, everyone fell into an even deeper silence, each of them wishing they could grind their teeth to dust.

The Mysterious Investigators hurried to rescue the abducted children. A moment later, as some of the children were rescued from the mine, bursts of sorrowful gunfire erupted behind the retreating team, deafeningly loud...

There were too many people to rescue, and Fang Mu carried one on his back as well.

Whether it was intentional on An Fang's part—perhaps as an apology or an attempt to regain his trust—the child Fang Mu was carrying was An Qin, who bore a sixty-percent resemblance to An Fang, and who was also his wife from his previous life.

"My past is your future..." As Fang Mu and the others walked out of the cave, the slanting sunset reddened every pale face. He looked back at that weak little face.

Perhaps feeling the comforting warmth of Fang Mu's back, or perhaps stimulated by the sunlight, the unconscious little An Qin briefly opened her eyes.

Fang Mu's gloomy, gaunt face and his sorrowful, pained eyes entered those pure, clear eyes, becoming deeply and indelibly imprinted in her memory, however blurry it might have been.

Twenty years later, An Qin, who had been searching for the owner of that blurry face and sorrowful eyes, would save an injured, unknown man in a deserted alley without hesitation, remaining deeply attracted to that dangerous man.