Chapter 13
Chapter 13: Crimson Sunset
【 Day 2 in the Savage Realm, 10:30 AM.】
【 Location: Former Wheat Field Boundary. 】
The motorhome came to a stop on the wasteland.
The tires kicked up a cloud of dust.
In the driver's cab, Wang Meng stared at the desolate plain stretching endlessly ahead, pressed the brake, and frowned in confusion.
"Strange…the road's gone?"
"Just a few kilometers back I could clearly see a stretch of golden color over here—how did the Wheat Field just vanish the moment we pulled up?"
Inside the vehicle cabin, Jiang Nan was still asleep.
Liu Yuqing pulled Yu Shishi over to the window and pointed at the wasteland outside.
"Shishi, are you sure this is the place? Could you have gotten the direction wrong?"
"Impossible! It's absolutely here!"
Yu Shishi was equally stunned by the sight before her.
But she pointed at a withered old tree several dozen meters beyond the window, her voice utterly certain.
"Look at that tree! The branch on the left side—it's broken off!"
"That was Bai Lianhua, that wretched woman. She deliberately snapped it off and threw it on the ground to trip me last night!"
"I'd recognize it even if it turned to ash!"
Liu Yuqing adjusted her glasses, her expression turning grave.
The landmark matched. But the scene had changed completely.
The dozens of acres of golden Wheat Field that should have been there had evaporated into thin air, leaving nothing but bare, barren ground.
"Is it possible…this area is tied to time somehow?"
Wang Meng rubbed his chin and analyzed the situation.
"Like a mirage? Or maybe the Wheat Field is alive?"
"Maybe it only appears at night? Or perhaps…there's a specific condition that has to be met to enter it?"
"Very possible."
Liu Yuqing nodded. "Should we wake the boss and ask?"
"Don't!"
Wang Meng immediately waved his hand to stop her, lowering his voice.
"Let's wait a bit longer—the boss has only been resting for less than 2 hours."
"I deliberately drove slowly to buy time, but this is still way too early."
A gleam of eagerness to impress flickered in Wang Meng's eyes.
"We can't rely on the boss for everything."
"As trusted subordinates, we need to show our own usefulness!"
"If we can't even handle something as minor as scouting ahead, how are we supposed to keep our place at the boss's side in the future?"
"That's fair."
Liu Yuqing nodded in agreement.
She turned to Yu Shishi. "Shishi, you stay in the vehicle. Don't go anywhere."
"Wang Meng and I will go down and investigate."
"Okay…be careful, both of you."
Yu Shishi nodded obediently. There was no way she was leaving this vehicle right now.
The car door slid open with a soft hiss.
Wang Meng and Liu Yuqing climbed out carefully and began surveying the boundary where the Wheat Field had inexplicably vanished.
……
At the same time, deep inside the Wheat Field.
Unlike the barren wasteland Wang Meng and the others were looking at, this place was still a golden sea.
Yang Wei and Guo Shuai, drenched in sweat and with cracked lips, stumbled along between the rows of wheat, one unsteady step after another.
They had been walking for 3 full hours.
Yet no matter which direction they went, the scenery around them looked as though it had been copied and pasted—an endless expanse of wheat in every direction.
"Old Guo…hah…let's rest for a bit. I'm done."
Yang Wei gasped for breath and dropped onto the ground.
Guo Shuai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and nodded, his face pale.
"Alright…let's just hope those ingrates can keep the monsters occupied a while longer."
Yang Wei furiously trampled down the wheat stalks around him, clearing a patch of open ground.
"Thank god for your Danger Perception! That idiot Wu Hao had no idea what that ability was actually worth!"
"Danger Perception? That's not what it is—that's an 'Imposter Radar'!"
Yang Wei was still shaken even now.
Guo Shuai sat down beside him, letting out a bitter smile. "Yeah."
The truth was, ever since he had awakened his ability, that radar with its 20-meter range had been giving off faint, constant warnings.
At first, he had assumed it was an Imposter that had slipped in when they fled the bus.
But now, he had an unspeakably terrifying feeling.
The monster embedded in their group hadn't followed them out of the bus at all.
It had always belonged to this Wheat Field!
"Old Yang, I never dared say this out loud."
Guo Shuai's voice trembled.
"But if that monster really is a native of this place, then it explains why the crows didn't dare come in…"
"This isn't a Safe Zone! This is that monster's hunting ground—this is the Boss's lair!!"
Yang Wei shuddered violently at those words.
"Damn! We can't rest anymore! We have to get out of here fast! As long as we get out of this Wheat Field, we'll be safe!"
The 2 of them struggled to their feet.
But at that very moment, both froze.
The light around them seemed to be dimming. The golden waves of wheat were bleeding into a deep crimson.
"Old Guo…"
Yang Wei's voice had gone unsteady. "What…what time is it right now?"
Guo Shuai raised his wrist and glanced at the mechanical stopwatch that had never stopped ticking.
"It's…10:31 in the morning, Old Yang."
"10:30 in the morning…"
Yang Wei held up his compass and stared at the sun rapidly sinking in the sky, his face ashen.
"Then why…is it in the west?"
"Does the sun…rise in the west here?"
Dead silence.
Guo Shuai looked up blankly, eyes fixed on the blood-red sun already brushing against the horizon.
10:30 in the morning.
The time when the sun should have been blazing overhead.
Yet here, it was already dusk.
"Old Yang, is it possible…it's not rising—it's setting?"
Guo Shuai's expression had gone completely rigid.
"It's confirmed…all of it confirmed."
"The flow of time here is wrong! It's too fast! The daytime is passing way too quickly!"
"This Wheat Field…it isn't giving us a single chance to travel in daylight!"
"This place is a hunting ground! It's trying to trap us in the night by force!!"
……
On the other side of the Wheat Field. Wu Hao's Camp.
At this moment, Wu Hao was sprawled like a petty tyrant on a flattened pile of wheat stalks.
He held a bag of scavenged potato chips in one hand, crunching away.
"Hurry the hell up, all of you! What, did you skip meals?"
"Flatten every stalk in this area! Clear out a patch of open ground! Otherwise nobody's sleeping tonight!"
Wu Hao jabbed his finger at the students laboring away, barking orders like he owned the place.
"Who does he think he is?…just got lucky and awakened lightning, big deal…"
A male student muttered under his breath.
Crackle!
The next instant, a bolt of purple electricity struck him.
"AAAAHHH!!"
The male student screamed and collapsed, convulsing wildly on the ground, foam frothing from his mouth.
"Anyone else have something to say?"
Wu Hao's hand crackled with arcing electricity as he swept a cold gaze across everyone present.
The group fell deathly silent. Heads bowed, they sped up their work, not a single person daring to resist.
Off to the side, Bai Lianhua watched the scene unfold—not with fear, but with excitement blazing in her eyes.
‘So powerful!’
‘This is what a man should look like in the apocalypse!’
‘If I can get close to Wu Hao, become his woman, I can rule this world however I want—I'll never have to read anyone else's expression again!’
Thinking this, she straightened her slightly disheveled collar and began sashaying toward Wu Hao.
Smack!
A sharp, resounding slap cracked across her face.
The blow spun Bai Lianhua in a full circle. Clutching her cheek in disbelief, she stared at the woman standing before her.
It was Liang Rui—Wu Hao's girlfriend, the woman who had awakened Fireball Technique.
"You little tramp, where do you think you're looking?"
Liang Rui crossed her arms, a ball of flame igniting in her palm, her gaze venomous as she fixed it on Bai Lianhua.
"Wu Hao is MY boyfriend! Put away those shameless thoughts of yours!"
"Or I'll burn that place of yours into charcoal so you can never seduce another man again—do you understand what I mean?!"
Bai Lianhua snapped back to reality immediately.
‘This is a world where you read the room.’
She stumbled back in fright, head lowered, her voice quavering.
"Liang-jie…I wouldn't dare! I absolutely wouldn't dare! How could I ever have ideas about your boyfriend?!"
"Hmph."
Liang Rui let out a cold laugh. "Then what were you staring at Wu Hao for?"
Bai Lianhua's mind raced. In her frantic scanning of her surroundings, her eyes landed on Wang Jinsheng working nearby.
"I…I've taken a liking to Wang Jinsheng!"
Bai Lianhua blurted out a lie on the spot. "I think he's honest and hardworking, so I…I want to be with him!"
"Wang Jinsheng?"
Liang Rui paused, then glanced over at that simpleton with his dopey grin—and a sly smile spread across her face.
"Fine."
Liang Rui clapped her hands. "Since you've got your heart set on it, I'll help play matchmaker."
"Let's aim to get you two in the bridal chamber tonight."
Liang Rui knew she was Grade C, but she was self-aware.
She wasn't as seductive as Bai Lianhua, and she couldn't manipulate men the way Bai Lianhua could.
Throwing this potential rival at that big oaf Wang Jinsheng would eliminate a threat and win her a combat asset at the same time.
Two birds, one stone!
Bai Lianhua felt her heart go cold the moment she heard this.
She'd only said that on a whim!
With her standards, how could she possibly be interested in someone like Wang Jinsheng—that pathetic lapdog?
He was nothing but a spare tire backup option!
But under the threat of Liang Rui's flame-burning palm, she had no choice but to plaster on a smile even more painful than tears.
"Th…thank you, Liang-jie."
Liang Rui moved swiftly. She went straight to Wu Hao and relayed the whole thing.
Wu Hao was initially somewhat reluctant to let go of Bai Lianhua's figure.
But under Liang Rui's gaze that promised to set someone on fire, he weighed the pros and cons and agreed.
After all, Wang Jinsheng might look dim, but that Straw Binding skill of his had tremendous crowd-control value—he was a good enforcer.
Trading a woman for a loyal attack dog was a fair deal.
So Wu Hao announced to the group publicly:
"To celebrate the founding of our team, we've specially arranged a private resting area for Wang Jinsheng and Bai Lianhua tonight!"
"Congratulations to the happy couple!"
The group applauded amid hollow, sycophantic laughter.
Wang Jinsheng stood among the crowd, that same simple, guileless smile still hanging on his face.
Bai Lianhua forced down the revulsion and rage churning inside her, and proactively hooked her arm through Wang Jinsheng's.
‘Liang Rui! Just you wait! Tonight I'll just have to take this loss with this lapdog, but when I get the chance later…’
She tilted her head up, pitched her voice soft and breathy, and whispered into the "honest man's" ear.
"Jinsheng-gege, tonight…you have to be gentle with me~"
"It'll be my first time with a man~"
"But…when I was doing sports training back in high school, I accidentally broke that membrane, so you won't mind, will you?"
This was her tried-and-true trick, the one she used to fool honest men.
The real number—if she were to tell the truth—you'd have to add at least 2 zeros to the back to get close.
Wang Jinsheng turned his head. Those dull, lifeless eyes fixed unblinkingly on the soft, delicate skin of Bai Lianhua's neck.
He broke into a stiff grin.
"Heh heh…"
"I don't mind…I don't mind at all…"
"As long as it's you."
"I…want your person."
‘What a pathetic, brainless lapdog’ Bai Lianhua sneered inwardly.
But she had absolutely no idea.
What the monster meant by "I want your person"—
—wasn't having her heart.
It wasn't having the right to use her body either.
It was……
Literally.
He wanted her entire person.
Skin and bone.
Not a scrap left behind.