Chapter 193: The Butcher

Jiang Yuan slowly, inch by inch pulled his head back, his back already pressed flat against the icy wall, cold sweat sliding down his temple.

After further merging with the Shadow Ghost, he could feel that its strength… perhaps not even below that of the Shadow Ghost.

"What's wrong, Jiang Yuan? What did you see?"

Chen Shao lowered his voice, his tone trembling uncontrollably.

Jiang Yuan did not answer immediately; his chest heaved violently as he tried to calm his wildly pounding heart that seemed about to explode.

"In the Underground Passage…" his Adam's apple rolled, and he struggled out a few words, "there's a gatekeeper."

"Gatekeeper? A Patient?" Xiao Ma's face still held a hint of hope, thinking Jiang Yuan could handle a single monster.

"No." Jiang Yuan shook his head, a solemn expression appearing on his face.

"That thing, compared to everything we've faced before combined, is a hundred times more terrifying."

He described in the most concise terms the three‑meter‑tall The Butcher and the massive axe that could easily cleave a person in two.

The Corridor fell into a dreadful silence.

The flame of hope had just ignited, only to be doused by a bucket of ice water poured over their heads.

Even the warm breath in their bones was washed away.

"Then… what do we do? We can't get through!" Xiao Ma's lips turned white as he collapsed onto the ground, "We're doomed… we're definitely doomed…"

Despair, like a plague, spread rapidly among the four of them.

Even the bound Li Na's face lost its last hint of color.

Chen Shao forced himself to stay calm, pushed his glasses, and his mind raced.

"It's patrolling, right?" he looked at Jiang Yuan, "As long as it's patrolling, there must be a pattern! Gaps we can exploit!"

Those words awakened everyone.

"Right!"

Where there's a pattern, there's a chance!

"Let's observe first," Jiang Yuan steadied himself, regaining his composure, "Calculate its patrol route and timing, find the longest gap, and then…"

He recalled that just now he had actually seen room doors on both sides of the Corridor.

"We can rush into those room doors on the side front of the Corridor, repeatedly, to evade it and reach the location of the Exit."

This is the only way.

Though it sounds very difficult, it's still better than sitting here waiting to die.

The five of them huddled in the corner, even their breathing deliberately slowed to the extreme.

Jiang Yuan stuck his head out again, like the most patient hunter, staring intently at the moving behemoth in the distance.

Sizzle... Sizzle...

The axe blade scraping the ground sounded like the Grim Reaper's pendulum, striking each person's heart repeatedly.

Time, at this moment, became unbearably long.

Hunger and thirst gnawed madly at their sanity.

Jiang Yuan could even hear the protest coming from his own stomach.

That The Butcher moved extremely slowly.

It took a full minute to walk from one end of the Underground Passage to the other.

And at the moment it turned, there would be a pause of about three seconds.

"It's now!"

Jiang Yuan's mind had already calculated it countless times.

With the three‑second pause plus their sprint speed, as long as they don't fall halfway, they have a chance to burst into a room door before The Butcher reacts.

"I'll count three, two, one—let's charge!" Jiang Yuan lowered his voice, issuing the final command to those behind him.

Everyone tensed their muscles, crouching like leopards ready to launch.

"Three…"

"Two…"

Just as Jiang Yuan was about to shout "one"—

"Clang—!"

A crisp, glass‑shattering sound abruptly rang out from the darkness behind them!

The sound in this deathly silent Underground Passage was as clear as a thunderclap exploding beside the ear!

Jiang Xin's pupils suddenly contracted!

He whirled around, looking at the area behind him piled with Corpse-wrapping Bags.

There, a glass medicine bottle had shattered into a glittering field of fragments.

Someone had thrown it there, creating the noise!

Who was it?!

Almost at the same time.

At the other end of the Underground Passage, the "Zila, Zila" dragging scrape stopped.

The three‑meter‑tall behemoth turned its massive head slowly and stiffly.

A pair of eyes hidden in the shadows, emitting crimson specks, locked precisely onto the corner they occupied!

"Roar—!"

A roar unlike any human could produce, filled with brutality and madness, erupted from deep within its throat!

The entire Underground Passage trembled!

"Damn it! It's an Inside Traitor!" Xiao Ma let out a desperate scream, "Who did it!"

Everyone's gaze instinctively swept over each other.

Ahu, Chen Shao, and... the bound Li Na!

But Li Na's hands were tied behind her, making it impossible!

That means...

The Infiltrator, there is another one!

Among the three people standing beside them!

Or rather, there is more than one Infiltrator!

This realization is colder to the bone than the charging monster itself!

"Run! Run fast!"

Jiang Yuan no longer had time to think about who the Inside Traitor was; he could only shout.

The earth shook and the mountains quivered!

The Butcher set its massive, disproportionate legs in motion, sprinting toward them at a terrifying speed that defied its size!

Each footfall caused the ground to tremble heavily!

The great axe it dragged behind was now raised high, whistling as it tore through the air!

It's over!

Chen Shao and the others were terrified, rolling and crawling as they fled in the opposite direction.

The instinct to survive overwhelmed all fear and suspicion.

Jiang Yuan ran at the rear.

He glanced back.

The monster's distance from them was closing at a visibly rapid pace!

At most five seconds!

Within five seconds, everyone would be chopped into minced meat by that great axe, as if slicing vegetables!

"You go first!"

A flash of resolve flickered in Jiang Yuan's eyes.

He abruptly halted, turned, and faced the steel giant beast charging toward them.

Chen Shao and the others turned back, seeing Jiang Yuan's death‑bound silhouette, their eyes about to burst.

"Jiang Yuan!"

"Let's go!"

Jiang Yuan roared, pulled several Poker Cards from the Card Bag, and flung them out without a second thought!

Clang—clank!

The Metal Playing Cards struck the Butcher, leaving not even a speck of white mark, and bounced off easily.

Useless!

The Butcher didn't even pause; in its blood‑red eyes was only the most primal lust for killing.

It was less than ten meters from Jiang Yuan!

Jiang Yuan could even smell the strong stench of blood and rust emanating from it.

The shadow of death surged forward.

Just as that great axe, flashing with cold light, was about to strike down.

An indescribable chill burst explosively from the Shadow beneath his feet!

"Come out!"

Jiang Yuan let out a silent roar in his heart!

The unremarkable Shadow beneath his feet came alive at that moment!

It churned and writhed like boiling ink!

Countless tendrils of pure darkness, like arrows released from a bow, surged with unmatched force, lightning‑fast, to entangle the charging Butcher!

Roar!

The Butcher seemed to sense the threat, let out a furious roar, and swung its great axe hard at those Shadow Tendrils!

Boom!

The great axe clashed with the Shadow Tendrils, yet produced no metallic clang.

Those Shadows were unbelievably supple!

They instantly coiled around the axe handle, and more tendrils, like poisonous snakes, tightly bound the Butcher's limbs and body!

The raging beast was forced to halt, stuck within three meters of Jiang Yuan!

It thrashed wildly; the terrifying force stretched the Shadow Tendrils taut, producing a grating "creak" that made one's teeth ache.

Even odds!

Jiang Yuan felt a surge of joy.

But the next second, a draining weakness and tearing pain surged from his limbs and bones!

Thud!

Jiang Yuan's legs gave way, and he dropped to one knee.

He felt his life force being ravenously devoured by the Shadow beneath his feet at a terrifying speed!

His body was turning into a drained container!

The Shadow Ghost's power, when confronting this even stronger monster, consumed and back‑fired, escalating geometrically!

He was ice‑cold all over, lacking even the strength to move a finger.

And on the opposite battlefield, the stalemate is being broken!

"Roar!"

The Butcher let out an even more ferocious roar; the muscles on its body bulged in massive lumps, and a visibly blood‑colored steam rose from its body!

Its power is surging!

Creak... creak...

Those Shadow Tendrils that were coiling around it began, one by one, to emit strained sounds, and even started showing cracks!

Shadow Ghost... can't hold on any longer!

Jiang Yuan's heart sank to the bottom of a valley.

He watched helplessly as The Butcher, with its terrifying brute force, gradually broke free from the Shadow's shackles.

Its blood‑red eyes locked onto the kneeling Jiang Yuan once more, full of mockery and cruelty.

It slowly raised the massive axe in its hand.

High above, it aimed at Jiang Yuan's head.