What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH157-159

Chapter 157| Chapter 158 | Chapter 159

Chapter 157: She Is Different

Shadow coughed hard, trying to clear the thick dust from his throat. Just as he reached up to pull off his mask and shake out the debris, he noticed Pei Xiqing watching him.

He coughed again, awkwardly dropping his hand. “I don’t know either. But since we fell through the floor of the black market, this must still be part of it. I’m just not sure how many people actually know this place exists.”

Pei Xiqing couldn’t keep her balance on the unsteady pile of bodies. She kicked off her high heels, carrying them in one hand as she gingerly stepped onto the gravel, making her way down bit by bit.

Shadow quickly brushed the thick layer of dust off his clothes, adjusted his mask, and followed her.

Even after making their way down the massive mound, there was still no end to the corpses in sight.

It seemed as though half the people who had died from the zombie virus in the apocalypse had been dumped into this dark, subterranean pit. But she still couldn’t fathom why there were this many bodies here.

Pei Xiqing tried her best to avoid stepping on the corpses, sticking to the fallen rocks instead. Even so, the sharp stones inevitably cut into the soles of her bare feet.

Supported by Shadow, she walked on her tiptoes for over ten minutes before finally managing to clear the edge of the mass grave.

Aside from her and Shadow, several other people began limping out from the ruins one after another.

It seemed they weren’t the only survivors. She counted around thirty in total.

There had been hundreds of people in the auction house, yet only this small fraction had survived. The rest had either been crushed to pieces by the cave-in or had fallen headfirst into the mass grave, merging permanently with the rotting pile.

Someone stumbled toward them, cursing loudly.

“Fuck! What the hell is going on? I just came to an auction and the floor gave out! It hurts like a bitch!”

“Is this black market even reliable? I just dropped a dozen crystal cores on a bid and then this happens! Are they trying to kill us to get out of delivering the goods?!”

“You bastards! Where are you hiding? Stop playing tricks! Come out and face me if you dare! I’m not afraid of you!”

They cursed as they staggered forward, only noticing Shadow and Pei Xiqing resting on a large rock when they got close.

Pei Xiqing’s condition was actually much better than theirs. The minor cut on her forehead could be ignored, and only her feet were scraped. In contrast, the other survivors were a bloody mess—some were missing limbs, while others were covered in deep, jagged gashes.

A few people limped forward and asked, “Hey, were you here for the auction too?”

They stared at Pei Xiqing for a moment.

She didn’t look like one of the black market prostitutes. Although her clothes were dusted with debris, the dress she wore was clearly high-quality, the kind of luxury item most people in the apocalypse couldn’t even dream of affording.

“Miss, do you know what’s going on here?”

Pei Xiqing sat on the rock, her calves aching. She raised her head slightly. “I have no idea.”

“Are there ghosts here?” someone nearby muttered, shivering. “This place is so eerie… so terrifying…”

“Are we dead? Is this hell? This must be hell! Otherwise, how could there be so many dead people?!”

Suddenly, a man took a wrong step.

In the blink of an eye, the ground gave way, and he was swallowed up by a deep, hidden pocket within the corpse pile. It took the combined effort of several people to yank him back out.

By the time he emerged, he was completely covered in a sticky, unknown viscous fluid that made everyone gag with nausea.

Two masked men squatted nearby, carefully examining the surrounding bodies. One of them spoke up. “These corpses were systematically dumped. The blood oozing from their orifices is heavily laced with various chemicals. This must be the dumping ground for the black market’s illicit drug trade. Compared to the market above, this place is clearly their true center of operations—the Ghost Market.”

“Ghost Market? Are you trying to scare us?”

“Why would I try to scare you? Look around. How many living people do you see? People are far scarier than ghosts. Otherwise, how do you explain this many bodies? If not for massive, unchecked drug experiments and illicit activities, there’s no way the death toll would be this staggering.”

Everyone looked around in dread.

It was pitch black, with barely any light filtering in. The path above them was completely blocked by the cave-in. Their only way out was to move forward into the unknown depths.

No one knew where the tunnel led or what awaited them. The absolute unknown was terrifying. A few people had literally wet themselves in fear, and the handful of surviving women couldn’t stop sobbing.

Right at that moment, there was a sudden commotion in the rubble.

Rocks tumbled down as someone aggressively dug through the debris. Soon, a group of people crawled out, pushing aside heavy stones and mangled corpses.

It was Xiao Yue, Pei Yanting, and the elite members of Team S1.

Pei Xiqing wasn’t surprised to see them. In fact, she could easily predict what was going to happen next.

Xiao Yue coughed violently twice. His body was unsteady, but his tone remained firm. “Everyone, don’t panic. This is the real black market, referred to by insiders as the Ghost Market. There is definitely a way for us to escape from here.”

He paused, looking over the survivors. “The very reason we infiltrated this place was to uncover the black market’s true lair. Now that we’re here, even this Ghost Market will eventually pay the price for its crimes.”

Reaching this abyss meant they were finally getting close to the truth.

The appearance of a fully armed tactical squad felt like a sudden beacon of hope.

“Thank God! You’re special forces sent by the base, right? We’re trapped! Please, get us out of here! I swear, once we’re out, you’ll be handsomely rewarded!”

“That’s right! As long as you get us out, I’ll tell you everything I know!”

Xiao Yue covered his mouth with a handkerchief, coughing as he barely managed to stabilize his condition. Turning to his squad, he ordered, “Treat the injured. If they can’t walk, carry them on your backs. We’ll rest for ten minutes, then push forward into the Ghost Market.”

“Yes, Captain!”

As the squad dispersed, one of the members suddenly spotted Pei Xiqing resting behind the large rock. He clearly recognized her. Staring at her face, he jumped in fright, scrambled back two steps, and stammered out, “Captain! Captain… s-s-she’s here to take my life!”

Pei Xiqing had been quietly watching and listening to the protagonist’s heroic speech. Upon hearing the panicked squad member, she drawled listlessly, “If I were a vengeful ghost, you’d be the first one I’d strangle.”

“Y-you! Back then, you turned into a zombie! Don’t blame me for not saving you!”

At the mention of that, Pei Xiqing suddenly felt a phantom itch on her arms. She rubbed her skin beneath the oversized coat, guessing that the cadaver spots were probably starting to surface again. Given the environment, there were likely quite a few dormant zombies buried among these corpses, or perhaps lurking deeper inside the Ghost Market.

She pulled her coat tighter, completely ignoring the terrified man, and looked up at Shadow. “Let’s go.”

Shadow helped her to her feet.

Xiao Yue opened his mouth to call out to her, but Pei Yanting grabbed his arm, stopping him.

“We walk different paths now. We can’t work together,” Pei Yanting said quietly. “Just let her go.”

Xiao Yue covered his pale lips with his handkerchief, his eyes lingering on her retreating figure. “She’s different now.”

Chapter 158: I Don’t Feel Like Seeing Brother Duan

Pei Yanting frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t misunderstand my intentions,” Xiao Yue whispered quickly. “With her in our hands, we can hold Duan Xiaolin hostage. Believe me, our only chance of success down here is to target that man’s sole weakness. Otherwise, we’ll never be able to secure the evidence we need to destroy him.”

During their time in the black market, they had been under constant surveillance. Every word, every action, had been meticulously monitored. They didn’t even have to guess who was pulling the strings from the shadows.

Duan Xiaolin had placed himself squarely in the center of the game, and so had they.

Pei Yanting pursed her lips, looking doubtful.

“I don’t think the relationship between her and Duan Xiaolin has reached the point where he’d sacrifice himself for her. But… we can try. Duan Xiaolin must be terrified to show his face right now. His illicit black market empire has been exposed, his true identity as Franlun’s Chief Judge has been leaked, and every single crime lord down here is trying to hunt him down and kill him.”

No one had anticipated the catastrophic accident at the auction house. In the ensuing chaos, the man widely respected and feared as “Mr. Duan” had his deepest secret exposed. The black market bosses realized they had been dealing directly with Franlun’s deadliest enforcer.

Now, everyone in the subterranean market wanted his head.

That chaos had provided Xiao Yue and Pei Yanting with the perfect opportunity to follow the fleeing crowds and slip into the abyss. In just five hours, the entire power dynamic of the black market had flipped.

“So, we have to force him out of hiding,” Xiao Yue concluded.

“How exactly do we force him? Do you really want to hurt Pei Xiqing to do it?”

“We don’t have to hurt her. As long as she’s under our control, Duan Xiaolin will eventually show up to get her back.”

Making up her mind, Pei Yanting stepped forward. “Pei Xiqing.”

She adopted a warning tone. “It’s too dangerous out there in the dark. You’d better stick with us. Don’t go wandering off and die down here.”

Pei Xiqing turned back to look at her. “Aren’t you the ones who want me dead?”

Pei Yanting crossed her arms defensively. “Your chances of surviving if you go ahead alone are only one in ten. Why don’t you stick with us and wait for your boyfriend to come find you? I still need to negotiate terms with him, and I can only do that if you’re here.”

“So, you want to use me to threaten him?”

“It’s not a threat. It’s just… aggressive communication.”

Pei Xiqing couldn’t help but scoff. “Right. Communication.”

Pei Xiqing genuinely felt like things were spiraling out of control.

She sat back down on her rock. However, her mind was frantically racing, piecing together the details of the master plan Duan Xiaolin had outlined for her the day before.

She desperately wanted to help him, but she had always been kept safely out of the crossfire, forced to watch from the sidelines. Now, with the protagonists practically handing her an opening, she saw the perfect opportunity to play an active role.

Pei Xiqing raised her eyes, casting a subtle glance out of the corner of her eye.

Just then, Xiao Yue was also looking in her direction.

He stared at her with incredibly complicated eyes, his gaze a swirling mix of conflicting emotions.

Pei Xiqing was utterly speechless. There hadn’t been any memorable or positive interactions between her and the male lead since she transmigrated. So what was up with that look? Did it mean… he hated her?

It was perfectly fine if he hated her, but she really hoped he didn’t harbor any other messy, lingering emotional attachments.

After resting for exactly ten minutes, the surviving auction attendees and Team S1 resumed their trek through the mass grave.

Pei Xiqing walked with Shadow by her side, which made her feel vastly more relaxed than she would have been alone.

But even after walking for over an hour, they still couldn’t escape the suffocating darkness of the cavern.

The survivors around them began to complain loudly.

Pei Xiqing was exhausted, and her scraped feet throbbed with every step. Seeing her struggle, Shadow simply offered his back, effortlessly carrying her the rest of the way. With his supernatural stamina, he moved faster and more easily than anyone else, even with her added weight.

She even joked with him to pass the time. “Brother Wang Yue, can you take off that mask and show me your face? Let me see how handsome you are underneath. If you’re decent looking, I’ll introduce you to a nice girl when we get back. You might even have to treat me to a thank-you dinner.”

Shadow nearly tripped. “…Stop talking nonsense. I’m not handsome.” He stammered slightly before squeezing out another sentence, “But… are you serious about introducing me to someone?”

“Of course! You’re basically half a brother to me now. I don’t call you ‘Brother’ for nothing.”

“Then I guess carrying you on my back wasn’t in vain,” Shadow said, his tone lightening. “It’s a deal, then. When we get back to the base, you introduce me to someone. I want someone who is virtuous and kind. She doesn’t have to cook every day, and she won’t have to work hard. She just needs to be willing to live a stable, peaceful life with me.”

“Brother Wang Yue is so smart. With that attitude, you’ll definitely find a partner who suits you perfectly.”

“Don’t just flatter me to get a free ride. You actually have to follow through.”

“Okay, okay, I got it. I’ll definitely introduce you to someone when we get back.”

The group trekked for over an hour. Afraid of exhausting Shadow, Pei Xiqing eventually asked to be let down so she could walk for a while.

Shadow didn’t mind the weight at all. “The training process to join Franlun’s enforcers is a hundred times more exhausting than this. Carrying a single person is nothing. If Brother Duan were here, he could carry you all the way back to the surface without breaking a sweat.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“It’s not hard work. It’s my duty to protect you. If anything happened to you, I wouldn’t be able to face Brother Duan.”

Along the way, Shadow secretly updated her on Duan Xiaolin’s situation via their secure comms line.

Simply put, the entire chaotic collapse of the auction house had been well within his calculations. Once they fully entered the Ghost Market, he had a secure safehouse prepared for them to rendezvous.

Pei Xiqing knew the man’s plan intimately. He would definitely be watching over her from the shadows to ensure her safety. But now that she had managed to embed herself within the protagonists’ group, she refused to give up this golden opportunity.

“When we reach the Ghost Market proper, don’t take me to the safehouse he arranged,” she whispered to Shadow.

Shadow tensed. “What are you planning to do?”

“Just pretend you know absolutely nothing. We’re going to keep following them.”

“You want to—?! No. Absolutely not.”

“You’re assigned to me right now, which means you have to listen to my orders,” she countered firmly. “Besides, this is also part of the contingency plan I discussed with him.”

Shadow: “…”

He knew with absolute certainty that Pei Xiqing was lying through her teeth, but he didn’t have any hard evidence to prove it. He could only let out a long, defeated sigh.

Never mind.

It didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Brother Duan and his elite squad were already tailing them secretly, which meant he was definitely already operating within the Ghost Market.

The group walked for what felt like an eternity. They hadn’t even caught a glimpse of the actual Ghost Market yet.

It felt like they were trapped in an endless maze, bumping into dead ends like headless flies. One second they were convinced they had found a way out, and the next, they were forced into a completely new, more confusing cavern system.

The ordinary survivors were already exhausted. They were as pale as ghosts, as if the damp, toxic air had evaporated every drop of moisture from their bodies. The growing panic in their hearts and the endless, cyclical marching finally caused them to snap when they reached yet another massive pile of bones.

One of the survivors suddenly snapped. He lunged forward, grabbing Xiao Yue by the collar and aggressively lifting him up. “Are you fucking kidding me?! We only followed you because you looked like decent, capable people from the official base! It’s been fifteen hours! We’re practically dead from exhaustion and thirst, and we haven’t even found a single trace of those black market bastards!”

A member of Team S1 immediately leveled his assault rifle at the man’s head. “Let go of him! If you dare lay a hand on our Captain again, I will blow your brains out!”

“Do it, then! Kill us!” the man roared. “If we can’t get out of here, we might as well all die together! Do you think we’re afraid of you bastards? You think you’re so great just because you have military weapons?! You’re nothing down here!”

Spurred on by his outburst, a group of the surviving mercenaries and black market thugs simultaneously drew their own concealed firearms, aiming them back at Team S1.

“We were all invited to the VIP auction. We all know what kind of dangerous people are down here,” one of the thugs spat. “Aren’t you supposed to be high-ranking officials from the capital? Do you really think we’re afraid to shoot you? If we can’t find water soon, I’ll gladly slaughter every last one of you and let your blood quench everyone’s thirst!”

Pei Yanting stepped forward angrily. “We just saved your lives back at the cave-in! Is this how you repay kindness—with threats of murder?!”

“Let’s talk about repayment if we actually survive! Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Amidst the escalating standoff, Xiao Yue slowly raised his hand.

In the palm of his hand, three distinct, terrifyingly powerful streams of supernatural energy began to condense and swirl together.

The entire cavern erupted into an uproar. Everyone’s pupils dilated in sheer shock.

Three supernatural abilities?!

Having two abilities was already considered a heaven-defying miracle in the wasteland, but this man actually possessed three!

In an instant, the rowdy thugs fell dead silent. No one dared to make another sound. They all slowly lowered their weapons, retreating a few steps to obediently fall back into line behind the squad.

Triple supernatural abilities—it was an overwhelming, absolute power that no ordinary survivor could possibly resist. This sickly man was infinitely stronger than anyone had expected.

Pei Xiqing witnessed the display as well. She stared fixedly at the swirling energy in Xiao Yue’s palm, her eyes narrowing slightly.

The protagonist is still the protagonist. His plot armor was incredibly thick.

But she felt a sudden, dangerous urge to test the waters. She wanted to see which was truly stronger—his newly awakened triple ability, or the ancient, primal power of the Qiong Snake.

As long as there was even a slight possibility that the Qiong Snake could overpower him, she was willing to fight for it.

With that thought, she acted instantly.

She extended her hand, silently commanding the invisible, crushing energy of the Qiong Snake to strike directly at Xiao Yue.

Xiao Yue never expected anyone in the terrified crowd to launch a sneak attack, and he couldn’t even see where the invisible force was coming from. Reacting purely on instinct, he raised his glowing hand to fight back.

Chapter 159: It’s Too Messy

When the two completely different abilities violently collided, Xiao Yue finally realized that his attacker was Pei Xiqing.

It was too late to pull back.

Once his supernatural energy left his hands, it was entirely out of his control. He hadn’t fully mastered his newly awakened third ability yet, so he could only watch helplessly as the two opposing forces exploded mid-air.

The shockwave from the blast pushed everyone back several steps. Pei Yanting nearly lost her footing and fell to the ground.

Xiao Yue stared at Pei Xiqing in utter shock.

When did she awaken a supernatural ability?

He could feel the sheer, terrifying power behind her attack. That primal, crushing force was absolutely not something an ordinary survivor could awaken.

Stunned, Xiao Yue stumbled back two steps, clutching his chest.

He suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. In the blink of an eye, he forced his supernatural energy inward to protect his heart from the backlash of the collision.

If he hadn’t awakened his third ability recently, he would have undoubtedly been killed by the impact just now.

He truly never expected Pei Xiqing to possess such a terrifying ability. She wasn’t weak in the slightest.

Pei Xiqing lowered her hand, silently commanding the Qiong Snake’s energy to retreat into her body.

A sharp, numbing sensation shot through her veins, followed closely by a coppery, sweet taste welling up in her throat.

She couldn’t stop herself from spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Half of her arm was completely numb from the sheer force of the collision.

Xiao Yue’s strength was definitely not to be underestimated. After all, he was the male lead of this world.

She had been too impulsive.

However, this brief clash had indirectly proven one crucial thing—the Qiong Snake was fully capable of going head-to-head against Xiao Yue’s triple supernatural abilities.

Thinking of this, Pei Xiqing couldn’t help but let out a slow, satisfied smirk.

She raised her head and looked at Xiao Yue. He was staring right back at her.

“What is the meaning of this?” he demanded, wiping the blood from his mouth. “Were you trying to test me?”

“Yes,” Pei Xiqing replied flatly. “I wanted to see if you actually had the strength to lead everyone out of here. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Next time, just tell me in advance,” Xiao Yue said coldly. “If I had accidentally hurt you, the resulting trouble wouldn’t be worth it for me.”

She simply shrugged in response.

At that exact moment, from the corner of her eye, she felt a heavy, intense gaze lock onto her. It wasn’t coming from too far away, and it was impossible to ignore.

She immediately snapped her head around to look.

The stare wasn’t coming from the protagonists. It was coming from the group of thirty-odd survivors huddled together nearby.

But when she scanned the crowd, all she saw was a group of filthy, masked people watching the drama unfold, clearly enjoying the misfortune of others. Aside from their general misery, there was nothing unusual about them.

Pei Xiqing slowly withdrew her gaze.

Maybe I’m just overthinking it…

Pei Yanting regained her balance and stepped forward angrily. “This is too chaotic! If Xiao Yue hadn’t pulled his power back in time, you would have been killed!”

“I don’t die that easily,” Pei Xiqing retorted smoothly. “If I had used my full strength, it’s hard to say which one of us would be dead.”

“You’d better hope so.”

“Please take good care of yourself, Sister.“

“You—!”

Pei Yanting was stunned for a second when Pei Xiqing called her “Sister,” but she quickly realized the title was dripping with pure sarcasm.

Refusing to engage further, Pei Yanting pushed up her black-framed glasses, pulled a thick notebook from her pack, and began scribbling furiously. Within minutes, she had sketched out a rough topographical map of their surrounding area.

She pushed her glasses up again and addressed the group. “We are currently directly beneath the black market—a subterranean level known as the ‘Ghost Market.’ We’ve been walking for six hours. Based on the distance recorded and the various terrain features we’ve passed, I’ve concluded that we are currently experiencing a ‘ghost wall’ phenomenon.”

“No shit, isn’t that obvious?!” someone yelled, dissatisfied. “The problem is that none of us can figure a way out!”

Pei Yanting ignored the outburst and marked a few more points on her graph. “This is happening to us because of the total darkness. In environments with zero visibility, the human brain cannot rely on visual cues to walk in a straight line. Minute differences between the left and right vestibular systems in the inner ear cause the body to unknowingly begin walking in a slight curve, resulting in circular motion. We’re just walking in circles within a specific radius.”

“Miss, can you speak normal human language?!”

In this desperate situation, no one was in the mood for a physics lecture.

“Why don’t you just tell us how to get out, or how to actually reach this Ghost Market?! Didn’t you say we were going to the Ghost Market? We’ve been walking for hours and haven’t seen a damn thing!”

“Let’s try picking a single, arbitrary direction and walking in a perfectly straight line until we hit a wall,” Pei Yanting suggested.

“Can we even trust that to work?”

“Do you have any better ideas? Then try it.”

Grumbling, the survivors gathered their meager belongings and began marching in a single, unified direction.

But after walking for another long, grueling stretch, they realized with sinking despair that they were still going around in circles.

Pei Yanting stared at her notebook, her brow furrowed in intense concentration as she began rethinking her calculations.

The rest of the group was so exhausted, hungry, and dangerously dehydrated that they simply collapsed onto the ground, refusing to take another step.

They had wasted two hours wandering aimlessly, and they had been trapped down here for nearly ten hours in total. There was no water source anywhere—just hopelessly dry stone, dust, and rotting corpses.

“Is there any water?!”

“I’m dying of thirst over here!”

“Help! Someone just fainted!”

Under Xiao Yue’s stern gaze, one of the elite soldiers from Team S1 reluctantly unclipped his tactical canteen and stepped toward the fainting man.

“Listen to me,” the soldier warned strictly. “This is the very last drop of water our team has. You take one sip. The rest needs to be shared among the others— hey! What the hell?!”

Before the soldier could finish his sentence, the desperate man snatched the canteen from his hands and tipped it entirely into his mouth. After a few frantic gulps, the canteen was completely empty.

“You bastard! You’re incredibly selfish! How could you drink it all?! That was the last of the water for the entire team!”

The man on the ground wiped his mouth, not looking sorry in the slightest. “My bad. I just couldn’t help it. I accidentally drank it all.”

Xiao Yue watched the exchange coldly. “Now that the water is gone, if we are trapped here for much longer, everyone should prepare themselves to die of dehydration or starvation.”

Among the survivors, there were only four or five women; the other twenty or so were all men. Including the fully armed S1 team, there were nearly fifty people in total. It was a decent-sized group, but from the inside out, there was absolutely zero unity. No one trusted anyone else, let alone cared about their survival.

Only Xiao Yue and Pei Yanting were naive enough to take on the thankless job of trying to lead them.

While the others argued, Shadow quietly unclipped a heavy, insulated canteen from his tactical belt and handed it to Pei Xiqing.

Pei Xiqing’s mouth was incredibly dry, her throat parched. She genuinely felt like she was suffocating.

This place was honestly more terrifying than a sun-baked desert. Even though there was no blistering sun, an hour’s hike through this toxic, bone-dry cavern felt like walking for an entire day across sand dunes. It was utterly exhausting, and all the moisture in her body felt as if it were evaporating through her pores.

Seeing the heavy canteen in Shadow’s hand, she was genuinely surprised. “Where did you get this?”

She shook it gently; it felt completely full.

Shadow leaned in and whispered, “Brother Duan gave the order to prepare it before we entered the auction.”

Pei Xiqing let out an exasperated sigh.

That man had calculated absolutely everything, yet he hadn’t bothered to tell her a single detail.

She took the canteen, poured a small amount into the metal cup attached to the lid, and handed the rest back to Shadow. “You should drink some too. You’ve expended far more energy carrying me.”

Shadow didn’t hesitate; he took a long, steady drink.

At that exact moment, she felt it again—that heavy, vague gaze staring intently at her from the darkness.

Pei Xiqing subtly scanned the resting survivors, but she still couldn’t pinpoint the source. Even Shadow, with his highly trained senses, hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

The group forced themselves to march for another two hours before finally collapsing to rest again.

Most of these people were wealthy elite who had been living in absolute luxury within the official bases. They simply didn’t have the stamina for this. Now, they had no water to drink, and even less strength to keep walking.

Pei Xiqing glanced over their exhausted, dirty faces.

Watching them wail and complain, she felt absolutely nothing in her heart.

Anyone who possessed the capital and the desire to attend that sick black market auction was definitely not a good person. Naturally, that included her and Duan Xiaolin.

Therefore, she would only take care of herself. She had zero sympathy to spare for the rest of them.

One of the men spotted her holding a small metal cup of water. Licking his cracked lips, he stared at her with desperate, expectant eyes.

Pei Xiqing calmly maintained eye contact, drank the water in one gulp, and handed the empty cup back to Shadow.

The man could only glare at her fiercely before slumping back down in angry defeat.

The protagonists still hadn’t figured out a way to break through the ‘ghost wall’ maze.

Pei Xiqing looked up at the pitch-black cavern ceiling.

It seemed this was going to be a protracted war of attrition.

Sure enough, Pei Xiqing ended up taking a nap on a relatively clean rock until the next ‘morning.’ They were still trapped, unable to escape the endless, looping expanse of the lost Ghost City.

Shadow sat cross-legged on the ground next to her, casually cleaning his gun. Hearing her stir, he slowly turned his head. “Last night, while you were sleeping, Xiao Yue and Pei Yanting stayed up discussing countermeasures. They finally managed to locate the true entrance to the Ghost Market.”

“Where is it?” she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “You already knew where it was, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“So they actually managed to find it?”

“That’s right,” Shadow nodded. “Pei Yanting is incredibly capable. She was able to mathematically calculate the precise location of the Ghost Market based on the cavern’s airflow and structural resonance.”

“Then let’s let them lead the way.”

“It’s not going to be that easy to get inside.”

“Why not?”

Shadow lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear. “The Ghost Market… is the true core of the entire operation. The black market up above was just a playground for the rich.”

“So, Brother Duan’s actual target this entire time was the Ghost Market.”

“Yes,” Shadow confirmed solemnly. “The true target of Franlun’s investigation is the Ghost Market. Because what lies behind its doors… is everyone’s worst nightmare.”

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