86: Chapter 86 A Despicable Betrayal!

Inside the dark karst cave, only Xia Li's faint breathing echoed.

This brief twenty minutes of deep sleep was the final straw she could cling to for survival.

However, the nightmare did not end just because she closed her eyes.

"Clack, clack, clack."

The sound of heavy combat boots treading on damp rock slowly approached from the cave entrance.

The guild sisters who were supposed to be guarding there didn't let out any warning sound at this moment.

There were only the muffled sounds of blades entering flesh and heavy objects falling to the ground.

Xia Li's long eyelashes trembled violently.

The instinct of someone who spent years walking the edge of life and death allowed her to snap her eyes open even in the midst of extreme exhaustion.

"Who's there?!"

Xia Li sat up in alarm, her right hand subconsciously reaching for the Chain Blade at her waist.

But in the next second, a piercing, agonizing pain exploded from her lower back!

"Hiss—"

Xia Li gasped, her entire body slumping weakly onto the ground.

She turned her head with great difficulty.

She saw Chen Li, whom she had always regarded as a confidante, holding a dark green dagger in a reverse grip.

The blade of the dagger had completely sunk into Xia Li's lower back.

A trace of eerie green toxin surged frantically into her bloodstream through the wound, causing her already near-collapse sanity to plummet once again!

[Warning: Highly toxic corrosion detected! sanity -10!]

[Current sanity: 25!]

[Warning: You have entered a state of severe weakness. All attributes decreased by 25%!]

"Chen Li... why?"

Xia Li gripped the ground tightly, her fingernails carving glaring bloodstains into the rock.

Her eyes were filled with disbelief and a bone-chilling coldness from being betrayed by someone close to her.

Chen Li's originally pure face appeared incredibly cold under the dim firelight.

She casually tossed away the blood-stained dagger and let out a cold laugh.

"Why? Bai Li, I just want to live!"

"A wise man submits to circumstances. Look at the life we've been living these past three days following you!"

"Hiding every day like stray dogs, not even able to drink a drop of clean water—I've had enough of this life!"

Chen Li pointed outside the cave, her eyes reflecting a morbid sense of rationality.

"I don't want to die here with you. Lord Butcher said that as long as I hand you over, not only will I get ten thousand metal blocks, but I'll also become a core manager of the New Allied Forces!"

"If you're smart, don't move. This poison will make it so you can't even lift a finger for an hour!"

Just then.

"Hahahaha! Nicely done!"

An extremely arrogant burst of laughter came from outside the cave.

Immediately after, a giant man nearly two meters tall and covered in thick muscle—the Butcher—walked into the cave with a sinister grin.

His bloodshot eyes instantly erupted with nauseating greed and lust upon seeing Xia Li slumped on the ground.

"Miss Bai, we meet again."

The Butcher licked his thick lips and thrust the massive cleaver from his back into the ground.

He strode over to Xia Li, reached out with a filthy, calloused hand, and violently grabbed her fair chin.

"Back in Atlantis, weren't you very arrogant?"

"Didn't that man driving the tank protect you?"

The Butcher shoved her hard, and Xia Li's frail body hit the rock wall, letting out a muffled groan.

"And the result? Now aren't you still kneeling before me like a dog, gasping for air?!"

The Butcher spread his arms and roared at the dense crowd of red-named players flooding into the cave entrance.

"Brothers! Look! This is the high and mighty White Hunt Guild Leader!"

"I'm going to take her 'first blood' today and have a taste of this number one beauty!"

The Butcher unbuckled his belt while letting out a piercing, wicked laugh.

"We have so many brothers here, and everyone's worked hard for days. Tonight, everyone gets a share!"

The surrounding red-named players erupted into bursts of vulgar laughter and whistling.

"Thanks, Boss!"

"Haha, we've dreamed of tasting Guild Leader Bai!"

"Don't kill her, the brothers are still waiting in line!"

Filthy words filled the entire cave. Xia Li leaned powerlessly against the rock wall, her vision already beginning to blur.

The poison rampaged through her body. The agony of her consciousness being forcibly stripped away, combined with the clamor of these scumbags, made her feel an unprecedented sense of disgust and rage.

She could accept death, but she could never accept being defiled by such animals.

"Animals..."

Xia Li gritted her teeth, squeezing the words out from between them.

"Oh? Still have the strength to curse?"

The Butcher chuckled and reached his large hand directly for Xia Li's collar.

"I like your stubborn temper the most. Let's see if the sound of you begging for mercy later is just as pleasant!"

At this moment, the oppression reached its peak.

Despair, humiliation, pain.

Xia Li's eyes, which were originally as bright as stars, were completely replaced by a streak of frantic crimson at this moment.

Rather than being defiled by such scum, rather than dying in such humiliation...

She would rather become a machine that knew only slaughter!

"System..."

In the depths of her mind, Xia Li let out one last shrill scream.

"Activate... Beastification..."

[Ding! Detected that player's current sanity are at 25, which has dropped below the safety red line!]

[Forcibly activating [Beastification] in current state. Risk assessment: Extremely high!]

[Warning: Forced activation will result in complete loss of consciousness. The player will become an uncontrollable slaughter monster!]

[Confirm activation?!]

Looking at the Butcher's foul, rotting face so close to her...

A resolute and tragic smile curled on the corner of Xia Li's mouth.

"Confirm."

BOOM—!!!

In the next second, a terrifying murderous aura, strong enough to tear the air apart, exploded from within this slender woman's body!