79: Chapter 78 All Fear Stems from Insufficient Firepower

Rumble — —!

With a grating muffled sound, the heavy steel gate slammed down, and the last trace of light was ruthlessly cut off.

Darkness surged in like a tide. The air was instantly filled with the smell of rust, mixed with the stench of mold and rotting flesh, making people's throats tighten.

"Tsk, another cliché 'locking the door to beat the dog'?"

Pei Duo didn't scream like she did when she first entered the Thriller Game. Having undergone the baptism of life and death in Mictlan, she wasn't panicked by this level of darkness; instead, she frowned.

She had the confidence.

"Hee hee..."

"Such tender meat..."

Dozens of scarlet eyes lit up in the depths of the darkness. Aided by the eerie red glow, Pei Duo saw that it was a circular obsidian altar, surrounded by rotting priest specters oozing corpse fluid.

The feeling of disgust shot straight to the top of her head.

"So filthy. I might even give it a bad review."

Pei Duo held her breath and her right hand instinctively reached toward her waist. According to the script, the next second she would summon the Karma Fire Red Lotus or the Netherworld Shield to provide comprehensive salvation for these dirty things.

However, her fingertips only touched cold air.

Pei Duo's expression changed drastically.

She missed.

The purple qiankun bag containing the underworld artifacts... was gone!

"It's over..."

Memories flooded back, and she suddenly remembered: earlier, while snacking on the viewing platform of the temple, she found the bag inconvenient, so she casually unhooked it and placed it on the stone table. When Balam took her out shopping, she hadn't taken it at all!

Cold sweat instantly streamed down her temples.

Without the protection of the props, against the monsters of these s-rank instances, she was just a fragile newcomer.

"Roar — —!!!"

The specters seemed to have scented their prey's weakness. Their previously teasing probes instantly turned into frantic killing intent.

"Tear her apart!!"

A giant specter, standing nearly two meters tall, attacked first. Its rotting claws whipped up a foul wind, aiming directly for Pei Duo's throat!

Run!

Only this one thought remained in Pei Duo's mind. Her body instinctively rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the fatal strike. The claws grazed her scalp, and a few strands of severed hair fluttered to the ground.

"Even without props, I'm not made of mud!"

Pei Duo gritted her teeth, a fierce resolve surging from her bones. It was the ferocity ingrained in the DNA of the Pei family—neither Pei Fei nor she would sit still and wait for death!

She took the opportunity to grab a sharp leg bone from the pile of sacrificial offerings on the ground. It felt hard and sharp. Although she didn't know which unlucky soul had left it, it was now her lifeline.

"Get lost!"

Just as the specter turned to pounce again, Pei Duo, instead of closing her eyes and screaming as she had before, roared, gripping the bone spike tightly with both hands, putting all her strength into fiercely stabbing it into the specter's scarlet eyeball!

"Puchi!"

Black blood splattered!

The specter let out a shrill scream and retreated frantically, clutching its face and knocking over a group of its companions.

But this counterattack completely enraged the surrounding mob of monsters.

"Insolent insect..."

"Eat her!!"

More than a dozen specters surrounded her from all directions, sealing off all escape routes. Pei Duo's hand holding the bone spike trembled slightly, and the web between her thumb and forefinger was numb from the shock, but her eyes were fixed ahead, showing no fear.

Even if she dies, she will knock out two of your teeth!

Just as the encirclement was about to close — —

Bang!!

A loud explosion ripped through the air.

The grille of the ventilation duct overhead was violently kicked away, taking half a cement pipe with it, which smashed down like a cannonball precisely onto the head of a specter preparing a sneak attack.

Amidst the dust and smoke, two figures landed heavily, blocking the way in front of Pei Duo like iron towers.

"Ahem... This Mayan architectural blueprint really is an ancient relic from hundreds of years ago. The ventilation shaft has no anti-intrusion design at all. Bad rating."

Xu Mo pushed up his askew gold-rimmed glasses and brushed the dust off his suit, his tone as calm as if he were strolling in his own backyard.

"Less nonsense, let's get to work."

Lin Sa's voice remained cold. She shook her numb wrist, and the pitch-black Hook of Soul was like a living thing in her hand, emitting a low hum and radiating killing intent.

"Xu Mo? Sister Lin Sa?!"

Pei Duo was so surprised she almost squeaked, "How did you get in? That door isn't..."

"The door is dead, but people are alive."

Xu Mo swept his gaze over the stunned specters, a mocking arc forming on his lips. "Since this is a 'renovated attraction,' there must be maintenance passages and ventilation systems. As long as you calculate the pressure difference of the airflow, finding the exhaust port isn't difficult."

He glanced back at Pei Duo, a hint of approval flashing in his eyes: "That stab just now was very well done."

"Although it was dirty, it was effective," Lin Sa added, then her eyes narrowed. "Leave the rest to us."

The specters surrounding the altar finally reacted. The anger of having their territory invaded overwhelmed their fear.

"Intruders... Die!!"

Accompanied by a piercing roar, dozens of specters rushed forward like a tidal wave.

Xu Mo took out the underworld emissary token and shouted, "Underworld Edict, Spirit Restraint!"

With a buzz, ghostly green ripples spread out with him as the center. The specters, which had been moving swiftly, suddenly stiffened, as if stuck in a quagmire, their movements instantly becoming sluggish.

"Kill!"

Lin Sa charged into the horde of monsters. At this moment, she was a cold and efficient killing machine.

The Hook of Soul carved black afterimages in the air. Every swing was accompanied by the crisp sound of shattering bones.

With a snap, just as a specter raised its claw, its head was smashed by the Hook of Soul, and the black soul fire instantly dissipated.

With a *puchi* sound, the s-rank dagger blood kiss flipped agilely in Lin Sa's hand, precisely severing the monsters' cervical vertebrae and tendons—every strike was fatal.

There was no thrilling contention, only one-sided firepower suppression.

Pei Duo stared blankly at the two figures blocking in front of her. Xu Mo controlled the field with one hand in his pocket, while Lin Sa slaughtered them as if entering an unguarded realm.

The fear of being swallowed by darkness vanished completely. In its place was an absurd yet solid sense of security.

In this bizarre world, the best way to eliminate fear was indeed to cover it with absolute firepower!

In less than three minutes, the last specter had its skull crushed by Lin Sa's foot, and the altar returned to dead silence.

"Done," Lin Sa put away her dagger, breathing steadily, as if she had only done a warm-up exercise.

Xu Mo walked to the seamless obsidian wall, his fingers quickly tracing over the surface for a moment before pressing and turning an inconspicuous protrusion.

A *kaka* sound echoed, the mechanism turned, and the wall slowly slid open.

Blinding light flooded in, and the clamor of human voices mixed with the aroma of roasted meat and cheerful music rushed towards them.

Outside the door was the lively Mayan street from before, as if the recent slaughterhouse had been an illusion from another dimension.

The three crossed the threshold and stood under the sunlight again.

Pei Duo was somewhat dazed and even subconsciously looked back, wondering if the dark slaughter from moments ago had truly happened.

"Aiya — —!!!"

A cry of alarm broke the silence. Kaban, the young nobleman who had been smiling at the entrance earlier, rushed over now, drenched in sweat.

His hair was messy, and his face was full of terror, completely lacking the elegance of nobility.

With a thud.

Kaban immediately knelt before Pei Duo, raising his hand to slap himself twice fiercely, the sound crisp and loud.

"I am guilty! Damn it! Truly damnable!"