"Focus on the mission. Don't do anything unnecessary."
Yan Ye coldly said beside him.
Yan Feng snorted but stayed silent, turning to pounce on the other Fallen.
At that moment, Gu Jianlin had already picked up the chair again, expressionless, walking into the rear of the enemy formation.
Li Xun was entangled in a fierce fight with those men, then suddenly sent flying by a burly giant armed with a hammer.
With a booming sound, Gu Jianlin saw the guy's shadow hurtling toward him.
He narrowed his eyes, swung his arm backward casually, and sent the man flying away.
In his Ghost Transformation state, Li Xun slammed into the wall behind, rolling several times upon landing, seething with fury and shock.
Gu Jianlin turned to glance at him, as if he were looking at a corpse.
At that moment, Li Xun seemed to hear a violent heartbeat.
Simultaneously, his Ghost Transformation state faded, his complexion turned an eerie black, his body trembling and convulsing.
It was as if he was about to lose control.
Such is the price of Ghost Transformation.
Gu Jianlin withdrew his gaze and turned toward the Fallen: "Come, continue."
The Fallen under Grave Digger's command looked at him as if seeing a Demon, trembling as they prepared to kill the hostages.
Fortunately, the rookies weren't entirely useless—they retained some fighting strength and launched a counterattack.
The Fallen clearly hadn't anticipated this hidden resilience and suffered devastating losses.
In that moment, Gu Jianlin charged in, wielding his chair like a weapon, exploding their heads one by one.
One corpse after another fell, turning the tide completely in his favor.
Gu Jianlin scanned the surroundings.
On the ground lay several captives—rookies who had been ambushed while sleeping.
Some were gravely injured, others barely clinging to life.
A few were in relatively good condition and promptly expressed their thanks.
One rather pretty girl even burst into tears, attempting to throw herself into his arms.
Gu Jianlin raised the chair directly, pressing it against her forehead.
Gu Jianlin ordered coldly, then started searching her pockets.
He moved on to search the pockets of others—still nothing.
Finally, his eyes locked onto the corpses of the Fallen he'd just killed.
"Our supplies were stolen by these people."
The girl sobbed and stammered: "Thank you for retrieving them for us."
Gu Jianlin rifled through the Fallen's corpses, retrieving six bottles of Blue Blood and four Purification Stones.
Then, he tossed the Purification Stones to her.
The girl froze for a moment before catching them.
Meanwhile, Gu Jianlin pocketed all six bottles of Blue Blood and walked away.
Leaving behind only one sentence:
"These things are useless to you. Compared to that other person, I'm already being merciful."
The girl stiffened, her head slowly turning.
On another section of the battlefield, Tang Ling had rescued the hostages but seized all their supplies.
Not leaving them even a single bottle.
By then, it was already midnight.
Those previously fearless Fallen now wore expressions twisted by terror.
"The fog is rising! The fog is rising!"
"Run! They're coming!"
"Hahaha, we're dead! We're all going to die!"
In an instant, they abandoned all fighting spirit, scattering like panicked dogs.
The sudden shift left everyone stunned, clueless about why the Fallen had gone mad.
Even Gu Jianlin was stunned.
A hurriedly fleeing Fallen dropped a notebook.
He stooped down, picked it up, and opened it to the first page.
Scrawled in blood, messy and malformed, was a single line:
"After midnight, don't go outside."
Gu Jianlin raised his head, narrowing his eyes.
Because tendrils of black fog spread outward, accompanied by faint, eerie laughter.
From deep within the fog came faint rustling sounds.
As though something was crawling.