“Damn it! How did you suddenly appear in front of us!” Baili Pangpang also saw this scene and was dumbfounded.

“Now is not the time to worry about this issue!” Shen Qingzhu shouted, quickly changed direction and leaped to the left.

Coincidentally, Lin Qiye also chose the same direction at the same time.

The two waves of people who were originally blocked from the front and back all rushed to the left, followed by a series of missile bursts!

Two of Shen Qingzhu’s three little brothers behind him were hit at the same time, and after a desperate wail, they fainted and fell to the ground.

Lin Qiye’s knife was almost a blur in his hand. He quickly broke a path through the jungle, while Cao Yuan clenched a useless spoon in his hand and struggled to catch up.

Baili Pangpang exclaimed and flashed behind a large tree, avoiding a series of missiles, and then crawled and rolled to catch up with Lin Qiye and the others.

The group of people ran for their lives, forcibly crossed the entire rugged old forest, and ran to a relatively spacious open space. A small stream flowed from the mountains, making a pleasant tinkling sound.

Lin Qiye took a few steps, bent down by the stream, drank a few sips of water with his hands, then wiped his face and took a long breath.

Baili Pangpang sat down on the ground and collapsed.

“Qiye… how far are we from crossing the mountains?”

“It’s still early,” Lin Qiye said slowly. “From the beginning, the drones have been rushing towards us from different directions, so we had to change direction several times in the middle of the journey. We’ve only covered a straight-line distance of four or five kilometers from the starting point.”

“Is the instructor playing us? We’re being chased by drones and not allowed to fight back…” Shen Qingzhu stood up, kicked a stone into the stream, and spoke with a displeased expression.

“At this rate, we won’t be able to cross the mountains,” Cao Yuan frowned.

“Actually, from the beginning, I felt that this place was strange,” Lin Qiye hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Strange?”

“Didn’t you notice? We’ve been running for so long, no matter which direction we go, the position of the sun in the sky hasn’t changed,” Lin Qiye pointed to the sun above his head. “And the mountain road I see with my eyes often changes…”

The group of people looked up in surprise, and their faces turned grim.

“What’s going on?”

“It seems that the instructors have covered this area with forbidden artifacts. From the beginning, they never intended for us to cross.”

“So what do they want to do?”

“Here, they want to completely drain our energy.”

Baili Pangpang’s face turned pale. “So, are we all destined to accept that punishment?”

“Not necessarily,” Cao Yuan suddenly spoke. “Those who directly faint from exhaustion have not appeared in the punishment.”

“…” Baili Pangpang sat on the ground, sighing deeply in despair.

The drones seemed to know that they were reaching their limit and did not directly catch up, giving them a rare chance to catch their breath.

After running for so long, their physical strength was almost depleted, and they all sat on the ground, and the open space by the stream fell into silence.

Only the “soul questioning” that continuously emanated from the burden, echoed in the mountain canyon, causing them to laugh from time to time.

“Hey, you, the one with the spoon over there,” Shen Qingzhu’s gaze fell on Cao Yuan. “You’re clearly strong. Why didn’t you use your full strength at the beginning when we were fighting the mask last night?”

“Unless necessary, I won’t draw my sword. This is a vow I made in front of the Buddha,” Cao Yuan replied calmly.

“But you still made a move later?”

“That’s because it was necessary to make a move at that time,” Cao Yuan glanced at Lin Qiye out of the corner of his eye.

Shen Qingzhu frowned. “What do you mean? If he asks you to make a move, you make a move, but if I ask you to make a move, you just sit there and daydream? Do you look down on me?”

“Yes.”

“You!” Shen Qingzhu glared at Cao Yuan, clenching his fists tightly, as if he wanted to rush up and beat Cao Yuan. After a while, he let go of his hands.

He stood up, looked at him coldly, and said, “Hmph, strong or weak, we’ll see.”

After that, he turned and walked away in the other direction, followed by the only remaining recruit.

“Damn it, those two have been eliminated, why are you still following?” Shen Qingzhu was angry and scolded the person who followed.

“Because you’re my brother, Shen!” A dark recruit smiled foolishly. “If it weren’t for you helping my mother repay her debts, I’d still be begging on the streets! Let alone becoming a Night Watchman!”

“Are you kidding me? I almost used [Qi Min] to kill you and the moon ghost yesterday. And you still call me brother Shen?”

“That’s because you were trying to force him out!” the recruit said honestly. “And, if you really didn’t care about us, why did you have to throw us into the dormitory building and use an air explosion?”

“You…” Shen Qingzhu kicked a stone in frustration. “Damn it, I don’t care anymore. Since you guys are blind and insist on following me, then do as you please. Remember! Don’t cause me any trouble!”

Shen Qingzhu turned around and walked away quickly, followed closely by the recruit.

“Shen, are you carrying something heavy? Should I help you carry some of the burden?”

“Get lost, I’ll carry my own burden!”

“Oh…”

As Shen Qingzhu and the recruit walked away, Baili Pangpang shrugged:”How strange, Shen Qingzhu is known for his bad temper, arrogance, and penchant for cursing… Yet, there are actually people willing to follow him. Could they really be blind?”

“That boy’s name is Deng Wei. When he was young, his father ran off with someone else, and his mother was addicted to gambling, racking up a huge debt. Eventually, the creditors came knocking with knives, and he had no choice but to borrow money from all over.

It just so happened that he met Shen Qingzhu, who, for some unknown reason, sold several plots of his family’s farmland to lend money to Deng Wei. Later on, the two of them awakened in the Forbidden Ruin and caught the eye of the Night Watchman, which brought them here.”

Cao Yuan briefly explained the situation.

“You know quite a lot, don’t you?”

“That Deng Wei is my roommate,” Cao Yuan shrugged. “There are also two other lackeys, a pair of twin brothers. One is named Li Jia, and the other is Li Liang. I don’t know why, but they are just as devotedly following Shen Qingzhu.”

“He’s quite a storied man, isn’t he?” Baili Pangpang raised his eyebrows.

Just then, the buzzing sound of a drone rose again from the woods, and Lin Qiye’s expression changed slightly as he stood up from the ground.

“Here it comes again…”