"Damn it! Damn it! What on earth is that monster?!"
"Since when did the brats from the Ten-Lords Commission become so twisted?!"
"Stop talking nonsense! Hurry! Go through the back door! Get out of this hellhole!"
The three of them, still shaken, their hearts pounding so hard they felt like they were about to jump out of their throats, scrambled up the stairs using their hands and feet, and rushed into the desolate, dilapidated lobby on the first floor.
The afternoon sunlight shone through the damaged window lattices, forming murky beams of light; even the dancing dust motes made their hearts jump with fear.
The main entrance of the lobby was right in front of them!
As long as they rushed out, they would be in the streets, could blend into the crowd, and could...
The scarred, burly man running in front grabbed the vermilion-painted door that Huo Huo had kicked open and was now left ajar, and pulled it outward with force—
"Hah!!!"
The three of them gasped in unison, as if their necks had been throttled, all their movements instantly froze, and their pupils shrank to pinpricks due to extreme terror!
The door... was blocked.
No, it wasn't blocked by an object.
It was a face.
An incredibly huge "face," cut from rough yellow ritual paper, almost completely covering the entire doorway!
Distorted facial features, a "smile" exaggeratedly stretched to the earlobes, and "eyes" dotted with cinnabar that stared straight at them!
This paper face was stuck abruptly outside the door, blocking all paths; set against the light from outside, it exuded a bone-chilling eeriness.
"Ghost... a ghost!!!"
The member with the shifty eyes was the most cowardly; terrified out of his wits by this scene that defied understanding, he let out a scream, his legs went weak, and he stumbled backward to the ground, his pants instantly wetting.
The scarred, burly man and the middle-aged man were also terrified out of their wits, instinctively backing away repeatedly until their backs hit the cold wall, with nowhere left to retreat.
And just then, behind them, from the stairwell leading to the basement, came slow, unhurried footsteps.
"Tap... tap... tap..."
Each step felt like it was treading on their pounding hearts.
Like rusted machines, the three of them turned their stiff necks with extreme difficulty to look at the source of the sound.
That petite Fox Girl Little Judge, wearing black sunglasses, was walking out of the dim stairwell step by step, re-entering the murky light of the lobby.
She had no expression on her face, just looking at them calmly, as if watching three mice with nowhere to run.
Despair and fear gave birth to a crazy idea.
"Let's... let's fight her to the death!"
The scarred, burly man's eyes were bloodshot, panting heavily, he pulled another dagger from his boot and roared, "She's only one person! There are three of us! At worst, we'll go down together!"
A ruthless glint flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes as well; knowing they couldn't run, he slid a few poisoned darts from his sleeves.
The one with the shifty eyes, though still slumped on the ground shivering, tremblingly pulled out a handful of medicinal powder.
The three exchanged a look, summoned their last bit of ferocity, and howling, lunged toward the seemingly unguarded Huo Huo!
The goal was clear—first subdue this eerie Little Judge, then find a way to break through the door!
Facing the three who were lunging at her, Huo Huo stopped in her tracks.
She didn't even make any defensive or evasive movements.
Just as the scarred, burly man in the lead, the cold light of his dagger about to touch the hem of her clothes—
"Hum—"
A low, soul-trembling hum echoed through the lobby without warning.
Behind Huo Huo, the air suddenly expanded!
Cyan-green flames, like a fountain of netherworld energy erupting from the void, exploded forth!
Instantly condensing and taking shape!
It was no longer the flames that coiled around a person, but a massive... Giant Fox, composed entirely of leaping cyan fire!
It almost filled most of the empty, dilapidated lobby; its figure was agile and majestic, the burning flames outlining smooth lines and a fluffy tail; a pair of eyes, composed entirely of more solid golden flames, were like two floating molten gold suns, devoid of any emotion, possessing only the majesty of looking down on ants, gazing down from above at the three members of the secret sect who had abruptly stopped their charge.
Time seemed to be frozen by those golden eyes at this moment.
The dagger in the scarred, burly man's hand fell to the ground with a "clang"; he opened his mouth, tilted his head, looking at the Giant Fox that almost touched the rotten ceiling beams, his mind went blank, his knees gave way, and he fell to his knees with a "thud."
The poisoned darts in the middle-aged man's sleeves had long since fallen into some corner; his face was pale as paper, his lips trembling, but he couldn't make a sound, only able to futilely brace himself against the wall to keep from collapsing.
The one on the ground who had wet his pants had forgotten even to shiver at this moment, just rolling his eyes, his throat emitting wheezing "hah" sounds, on the verge of fainting.
The burning Giant Fox slightly tilted its massive head composed of flames, and in the indifference of its golden eyes, there seemed to be a flicker of extremely human-like... "mockery?"
Then, it opened its mouth—the maw composed entirely of leaping flames—no sound came out.
But a chill that reached deep into the soul, like the most biting northern wind, instantly swept over the three people slumped on the ground.
They finally understood completely what kind of existence they had provoked.
This was not at all some Little Judge from the Ten-Lords Commission that could be easily manipulated.
This was a living ancestor who carried netherworld karmic fire and could summon a divine beast (?) from the heavens at any time!
It was over.
Completely over.
The cold wind of Siberia, carrying fine snow, was like cold sandpaper, scraping over exposed skin again and again.
Raven knocked out the last Valkyrie of Schicksal who tried to trigger the alarm with a deft strike, caught her limp body as it fell, and gently placed her beside a supply crate piled with snow, her movements as practiced as if she were handling something fragile.
She straightened up, rubbed her nearly frozen hands, and couldn't help but shiver loudly, her teeth chattering slightly.
"Hiss—this hellhole..."
She complained in a low voice, her gaze sweeping over this small outpost camp that had already fallen silent.
The Valkyries lying helter-skelter became irregular bumps in the snow; in the distance, a few tents flapped loudly in the wind; apart from that, there was only the wailing of the wind and snow.
This was already the second such camp they had dealt with.
The little bit of reserve and professionalism Raven held as an elite of World Serpent was about to be worn away by these aimless attacks and the bitter cold of Siberia.
She looked not far away at Long Night Moon, who was holding a black umbrella, as if the wind and snow were just a backdrop; she was tilting her head slightly, her crimson eyes scanning a patch of snow on the edge of the camp that looked completely normal, with a thin layer of snow already accumulated on the rim of the umbrella.
"Miss Long Night Moon,"
Raven walked over, her voice sounding a bit dry from the cold and mental exhaustion, "What exactly... are we here for? There has to be a goal, right?"
She tried to make her tone sound like simple curiosity, rather than questioning.
Heaven knows what kind of plans were in the heads of these two; one was reticent and did nothing but eat instant noodles or fight, the other was mysterious and unpredictable, smiling in a way that made people's hair stand on end.
Raven had long since figured it out; this "Siberia mission" had absolutely nothing to do with Gray Serpent; it was purely something these two had cooked up themselves.
As for the previous missing persons case in the Paradise that was blamed on aliens?
The vague suspicion in Raven's heart was becoming clearer; it likely had everything to do with them.
But what could she do?
Run? Where to?
With her small arms and legs, it was safer to honestly act as a "guide"—at least for now, it didn't look like they intended to silence her.
Just as Raven's internal monologue was running like a comic strip, Long Night Moon seemed to have finally discovered something.
She paced to a slightly empty patch of snow on the edge of the camp, stopped, and then—performed an action that made Raven's eyelid twitch.
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