Chapter 13: If You’ve Got the Guts, Follow Me!

In the time that followed, it seemed the first prisoner’s plight had tolled a warning bell in the hearts of the others, and such tragedy did not occur again.

About ten minutes after the group began climbing, most were not far from the top. The fastest among them, Lin Kun, let out a great roar, his figure lunging upward as he became the first to successfully reach the top!

He had successfully escaped from danger!

“Quick, quick!”

Lin Kun’s success seemed to bring a kind of encouragement to the crowd. The climbing speed of the other prisoners suddenly increased. Every second counted, and in the face of mortal danger, they erupted with unparalleled potential. One after another, prisoners successfully reached the peak and, with Lin Kun’s help, climbed up. They gasped and laughed in ecstasy.

Climbing this rock face undoubtedly meant they had almost escaped the threat of the base guards. Even if the guards chased them here, they would be helpless against them!

A few minutes later, nearly half of the prisoners had successfully scaled this death barrier. Chen Chong had now climbed to a height of about ten meters, with only six or seven meters left to the top. With broken ribs and one arm nearly useless, it was already a miracle he had made it this far. However, his physical strength was also nearing its limit.

“This won’t work.”

The sense of urgency in his heart grew heavier. From his vantage point at the top, Lin Kun could see that Chen Chong’s climbing situation was far more difficult than the others’. He immediately shouted to the prisoners beside him:

“Let’s take off our shirts! Tie them together and pull Chen Chong up!”

“Alright!”

United in purpose, the group at the safe peak did not hesitate and immediately took off their prison uniforms. Just as they were about to tie several uniforms together to pull Chen Chong up—

Boom. Boom. Boom.

A muffled sound, like the galloping of giant beasts, faintly came through the cave entrance over ten meters away. It made every prisoner’s heart jump, and they stopped what they were doing.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

This sound grew louder, more rapid, and closer, even overwhelming the rushing water! At the same time, a roar filled with boundless fury, venom, and brutality was carried out of the cave by the mountain wind:

“Chen—! Chong—!”

“It’s Johnson!”

Hearing this voice, Chen Chong, still struggling to climb the rock face, changed color dramatically. He abruptly looked up. The distance of merely six or seven meters to the top seemed like an impassable chasm to him at this moment!

In that lightning-fast instant, Chen Chong took a deep breath, as if he had long prepared for this. He did not continue climbing but suddenly released his arms, leaping down from the ten-meter-high rock face!

Bang! The powerful potential triggered by the Ultra Divine Water gave Chen Chong unparalleled balance. He bent his knees slightly, supported himself on the ground with his right arm, and landed heavily, barely steadying himself, though his face was pale.

Immediately, Chen Chong looked up toward the cave exit over ten meters away. At the same moment he landed and looked up, a figure like an iron tower, carrying an incomparably ferocious aura, charged out fiercely! It was the guard captain, Johnson, who had activated [Savage Berserk] and was in an extreme rage!

Johnson, who had just rushed out of the cave, paused at the exit. As his eyes adjusted to the suddenly strong daylight, he took in the entire scene of the river valley in an instant. In a flash, he locked onto Chen Chong, who was just a dozen meters away, his expression becoming one of extreme, ecstatic glee!

“Ah! It’s Johnson!”

“They’ve caught up!”

“Chen Chong!”

The prisoners still climbing the rock face cried out in terror. Lin Kun and the others, noticing Chen Chong had actually voluntarily jumped down, had eyes that instantly turned red!

“Found you…”

Completely ignoring the many prisoners still climbing the rock face, Johnson leisurely rolled his neck. His iron-tower-like body emitted a series of crackling bone-popping sounds. Like a predator fixating on its prey, he stared at Chen Chong with an extremely cruel look.

“Are you covering the retreat for your fellow inmates? What an admirable spirit of sacrifice…”

A gentle breeze blew. On the ground, Chen Chong and Johnson stood over ten meters apart, facing off from a distance. Chen Chong stood up, narrowed his eyes, and scanned Johnson and the dim cave entrance behind him.

Johnson’s muscles were now grotesquely bulging, his entire body swollen a size larger than Chen Chong remembered, like a deformed little giant. It looked truly exaggerated, clearly the effect of some special ability. That Johnson was an Awakener was naturally within Chen Chong’s expectations. For now, no guards other than Johnson had arrived yet, which he considered a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune.

“You son of a…”

Chen Chong fiercely exhaled, the corner of his eye twitching, his heart filled with helplessness.

The reason he had decisively jumped down was not because he possessed some noble quality of self-sacrifice. It was because he had completely not expected Johnson to be so much faster than he had anticipated!

Chen Chong knew clearly that among so many people, he was definitely the primary target of all of Johnson’s hatred. He was incapable of climbing to the top before Johnson spotted him. If he hadn’t jumped down immediately, he would have become a defenseless target; landing actually offered him a slim chance of survival!

But now, his physical condition was at its absolute worst. Looking at Johnson’s swollen, muscle-bursting form—even if he were in perfect health, he wouldn’t have much confidence facing him, let alone now, with one arm half-crippled.

“Trash, why aren’t you climbing anymore?”

At the cave entrance, Johnson’s oppressive figure advanced step by step toward Chen Chong, his face full of vengeful, vicious, and gleeful smiles.

“Don’t you worry… I won’t kill you. I’ll give you a proper welcome. I’ll break the bones in your hands and feet first, leaving you unable to resist, just like you did to the Doctor.”

“Then, I’ll bring you back to the base for Lord Diris to judge you. Trust me, when the time comes, you’ll know what hell truly is, and you’ll regret ever being born into this world. You’ll repent for your sins amidst endless agony!”

Chen Chong’s eyes were icy as he slowly retreated. “Just you alone?”

“Ha ha ha ha ha…”

Johnson keenly noticed Chen Chong’s current physical state and burst into wild laughter.

“Beating Doctor Katherine, a researcher by background and a woman at that, through mutual injury—does that make you so proud? Foolish! Even among Awakeners, there is a difference between strong and weak. In my eyes, your power is not worth mentioning, not to mention you’re now just a wounded piece of waste! Killing you will be as easy as slaughtering a chicken!”

Faced with the imposing, bloodthirsty beast-like Johnson closing in, Chen Chong did not reply. His eyes were calm and cold. Showing not the slightest fear, he instead gave a fierce grin!

Then, he suddenly raised his arm, fingers pressed together, and slowly, heavily drew a line across his throat! It was unmistakably a bloody throat-slitting gesture!

Like a silent mockery, Johnson was instantly reminded of Katherine’s miserable state, his eyes turning bloodshot!

But before Johnson could pounce in rage, having completed the throat-slit gesture, Chen Chong had already turned without hesitation and sprinted away! As he ran wildly, he laughed madly:

“Johnson, if you’ve got the guts, follow me!”

And the direction Chen Chong was running towards was none other than the nearby area marked with the extremely dangerous label on the map—the Mist Zone!