114: Chapter 114 Packing

Zhou Che slammed the blood moon scepter into the ground, his voice cutting through the wind.

"Pack up. You have twenty minutes. Twenty minutes from now, The Convoy leaves this place."

A second of silence fell over the area. Then, it erupted into chaos.

But no one dared to question Zhou Che's order!

Wang Laowu was the first to turn around, tucking his machete into his belt before heading off to move supplies.

Captain Liu Ruyan put away her long whip and began directing the survivors to dismantle the tents.

Shen Fei and Ruan Xiaoxiao led people to load quilts and medicine onto the floating cars.

The entire camp sprang into motion, yet no one spoke a word above a whisper.

Only the sound of footsteps, the dull thuds of sacks hitting the ground, and the low hum of the floating cars' power sources starting up could be heard.

Zhou Che stood in the center of the camp, watching as tent after tent collapsed and pile after pile of bonfires were stamped out.

He pulled the book of rules from his chest, his fingers stroking the dark brown cover.

He knew what he had to do next: break the domain.

Writing a rule in the book of rules to break the domain would likely cost him a Sequence level.

He didn't know how many levels he would lose this time by writing to break the domain.

But he had no choice. No matter how many levels he lost, it was better than dying here.

Twenty minutes later, Captain Liu Ruyan ran over, her expression grim.

"Mr. Zhou, we discovered a few people missing during the assembly."

"How many?"

"Four ordinary people. They were here when we were moving supplies earlier, but they were gone during roll call."

Zhou Che gripped the book of rules tightly.

Four more gone.

Since they returned to the camp, two Transcendents, one Zhao Dali, and four ordinary people had vanished.

Seven lives. He hadn't even seen a shadow of the anomaly, yet seven people were already gone.

"No more waiting." Zhou Che opened the book of rules.

"Get everyone in the cars. I'm going to break the domain. The Convoy must follow right behind me. Do not stop, and do not look back."

Pressing his finger onto a blank page, he took a deep breath.

"Break Domain."

He spat out the two words, his voice as raspy as sandpaper grinding against stone.

Where his finger traced, ink manifested on its own, the strokes coarse and rugged, as if carved into bone with a knife.

The moment he finished writing, the entire book began to vibrate violently, making Zhou Che's fingers go numb.

The air around the camp began to warp.

It was like a piece of transparent cloth being torn down the middle.

The crack spread out from beneath Zhou Che's feet, extending along the ground, the fence, and every inch of the camp.

Wherever the crack passed, that cold, viscous presence was torn to shreds.

Then came the sound of something shattering.

It wasn't the crisp sound of glass breaking, but a deeper, dull thud, like bones being snapped.

The domain had broken.

Zhou Che looked down at the book of rules.

The ink of the words "Break Domain" on the page was still wet, seeping downward as if the book itself were bleeding.

He could feel a significant portion of his Sequence power being drained from his body; his Martial Artist Sequence had dropped by one level.

But he couldn't afford to feel the pain of that loss.

Because at the very instant the domain shattered, he saw it.

He didn't perceive it; he saw it with his own eyes.

Standing beside the bonfire on the south side of the camp was a shadow.

The shadow was faint, like the last ember of fire remaining in a pile of ash, ready to be extinguished by the wind at any moment.

But Zhou Che recognized that silhouette instantly.

An old friend!

Its appearance hadn't changed much.

It was taller, more solid than before, and the outline of bones could be vaguely seen within the black mist.

They weren't human bones, but twisted, spliced-together things, as if the bones of countless corpses had been crushed and molded back together.

Its aura was also much stronger than before, by more than just one level.

Before, it was just strong, but now it wasn't just strong; it possessed a domain, something only Rule-based Supernatural Entity entities had.

It actually possessed a domain.

"Fuck." Zhou Che squeezed the word out from the deepest part of his throat.

He spun around abruptly and shouted at the floating cars: "Drive! Start driving now!"

His voice was so loud it tore his own throat.

Captain Liu Ruyan knew something was wrong the moment she heard his shout.

She had interacted with Zhou Che many times, but she had never heard him speak in such a tone.

It wasn't anger, and it wasn't nervousness; it was fear.

A fear that couldn't be suppressed, one that seeped from his very bones.

"Everyone, start your engines! Follow the lead car!" Captain Liu Ruyan's voice carried from the front of the line to the back.

Eight floating cars started simultaneously.

The Transcendent power sources emitted a piercing roar, the car bodies shuddered violently, and then they began to glide forward.

Zhou Che jumped into the car, clutching the blood moon scepter so tightly his knuckles turned white.

He looked back.

It wasn't chasing; it was just standing there, that face—too blurred to distinguish features—facing directly toward Zhou Che.

Zhou Che could feel it watching him.

It wasn't looking with eyes, but with another kind of "gaze," a lock-on that pierced through distance and darkness.

Then its shadow began to fade, vanishing from beside the bonfire.

Zhou Che turned his head back, staring at the road ahead. "Drive faster."

Captain Liu Ruyan pushed the power source to its maximum.

The floating car accelerated abruptly, the entire chassis trembling.

The dozens of vehicles behind followed closely, forming a long dragon, speeding away from the camp into the gray twilight.

No one in the vehicle spoke.

Zhou Che sat in the passenger seat, hugging the book of rules, his lips pressed into a thin line.

His Perceiver Sequence was still active, staring fixedly behind them.

That aura extended from the direction of the camp like an invisible thread, firmly tethered to the tail of The Convoy.

No matter how fast they drove, that thread followed—neither loosening nor tightening, neither far nor near. It was chasing.

"Mr. Zhou, the power source is already overloaded."

Captain Liu Ruyan stared at the dashboard. "If we keep driving like this, the power source will burn out in ten minutes."

"Keep driving," Zhou Che said.

The needle on the dashboard trembled in the red zone, emitting a beeping alarm.

Captain Liu Ruyan bit her lower lip, turned off the alarm, and continued to press down on the power pedal.

The speed of the floating car had exceeded safety limits, and the supplies in the cabin rattled noisily, but no one called for a stop.

Zhou Che looked back.

The scenery outside the rear window was retreating rapidly.

Dead trees, abandoned houses, toppled utility poles.

All were stretched into blurred gray lines by the speed of the car.

Then he saw a black dot. The black dot was at the end of the road, very far away, but very distinct. It was getting bigger.

It wasn't getting bigger; it was approaching.

"Faster," Zhou Che said.

"It's already at maximum speed," Captain Liu Ruyan's voice was also trembling.

The black dot grew larger and clearer.

From a black dot to a black shadow, from a black shadow to a mass of humanoid black mist.

The black mist was moving—not running, not flying, but moving with that unreasonable, distance-ignoring gait.

It was closing the distance between itself and The Convoy, each step appearing to span hundreds of meters.

Zhou Che could see its outline now.

It had devoured who knew how many anomalies, fusing all their powers into its own body.

No wonder it had become so strong.

"It's the Devourer of Calamity!"