Chapter 29 The Struggle

"Tap, tap~~"

The dull sound of footsteps approached from afar, accompanied by the creaking friction of tree branches, sounding like Death knocking at the door, making everyone's heart tighten.

"Ugh~~ ugh."

"Not good, the sound from the Claw-Suspended Person just now has attracted the Tree Man." Xu Yuanmo's expression changed drastically.

"Quickly dig out the blood core and leave this place."

Before he finished speaking, he lunged forward, reaching out to dig the blood core out of the Claw-Suspended Person's body.

Gu Ye, who had not made a move until now, suddenly appeared behind Xu Yuanmo and threw a punch at him.

Xu Yuanmo dodged in a hurry, steadied himself, his expression so gloomy it could drip water: "Gu Ye, why attack me!"

Gu Ye withdrew his fist, his eyes cold as ice, his tone calm: "Although we are cooperating, you only provided information regarding the Claw-Suspended Person, and offered no other help."

"So you cannot take this blood core."

And you all, Gu Ye turned his head to look at Luo the Third and Ding Ning.

"You..." Luo the Third wanted to say something else, but upon seeing the threatening gazes of Third Mother Li and the others, he immediately shut his mouth, while Ding Ning didn't dare say a word and silently stepped back to the side.

"Fine!" Xu Yuanmo's expression shifted, returning to normal, and he smiled:

The people holding down the Claw-Suspended Person relaxed, and Third Mother Li picked up a kitchen knife, preparing to cut open the Claw-Suspended Person's body to find the blood core.

A flash of ruthlessness appeared in the eyes of Xu Yuanmo, who was standing to the side. Gu Ye had been guarding against him all along and saw him pull out a card and throw it directly toward them.

Gu Ye's mental energy spiked instantly, alarm bells ringing in his head, and he shouted: "Get out of the way!"

Because Yan Shuangling and the other two were from a Noble Families, their mental energy had been strengthened, and their perception of danger was stronger than the others.

The moment Xu Yuanmo threw the card, they sensed the danger and quickly dodged.

Meanwhile, upon hearing Gu Ye's warning, Third Mother Li quickly moved away from the corpse.

Only the Shi Jian brothers in the back were half a beat too slow. The moment the card touched the corpse of the Claw-Suspended Person, there was a deafening "Boom!" A blinding flash of fire erupted, and a violent shockwave, carrying debris and black blood, instantly engulfed the two brothers!

"Little brother!" A shrill cry was swallowed by the explosion.

After the explosion dissipated, they looked toward where the corpse had been. Xu Yuanmo was standing there, with two bodies lying beside him. He grabbed the head of the Claw-Suspended Person and ran quickly toward a door.

"That animal!" Chu Ling cursed, wanting to give chase, but was stopped by Gu Ye.

"Let's go, the Tree Man is coming soon."

Chu Ling glared fiercely at the place where Xu Yuanmo had left, then silently followed Gu Ye and the others. Third Mother Li also followed their lead and left the front desk area.

Luo the Third and Ding Ning had vanished the moment the explosion occurred.

After they left, there was a "click" sound, and the body that had been lying on the ground was pushed by a faint force, rolling over. A charred figure in tattered clothes struggled to sit up.

"Xu Yuanmo... I will have you dead!" A voice filled with hatred emerged from his mouth.

Stone Shield looked at his brother, who no longer had any breath, the image of Shi Jian throwing himself over him to block most of the shockwave still clearly branded in his mind. Hot tears mixed with the black ash on his face, carving two muddy tracks.

With tears in his eyes, Stone Shield said tremblingly: "Brother... I will definitely avenge you!"

"Tap, tap~~"

The sound of the Tree Man grew closer. He wiped away his tears, took one last deep look at the corpse, chose a direction, and left staggeringly.

In the end, the silent front desk was reoccupied by the Tree Man.

...

"Whew~"

"The Tree Man didn't follow, let's stop!"

Gu Ye and the others stopped, panting, and collapsed on the ground to rest. Without the support of cards, after such high-intensity exercise, Gu Ye and Yan Shuangling, who were not Battle Card Masters, felt their legs trembling.

"It seems we ran to the second floor of the restaurant." Chu Ling straightened up, looking at the "2F" sign above, and carefully observed the surrounding environment. They were clearly in a long corridor that stretched out of sight, with several rooms distributed along it.

None of them had noticed while running earlier whether they were going upstairs or downstairs.

"I..."

"Shh!" Just as Chu Ling was about to speak, Gu Ye quickly raised his hand to interrupt, pointing to a room on the left to signal that something was happening.

Everyone held their breath and focused, pricking up their ears to listen carefully.

"Chef Kassian, you've been in the position of sous-chef for nearly five years now, don't you want to sit in the position of head chef?" A sharp voice came from inside the room, laced with a hint of playful cunning.

Kassian said in a low voice: "Yuri, have you forgotten the rules of the kitchen?"

"Scrape~" The sound of footsteps scraping against the floor was exceptionally loud in the corridor, and those outside could feel the nervousness of this Yuri.

"I'll let it slide this time, but if I hear you breaking the rules again, you know what the consequences will be."

Yuri immediately thought of that tall figure and the whip in his hand. Cold sweat broke out on his back involuntarily, and he swallowed, saying nervously:

"I will remember, Chef Kassian."

After waiting for a while, the group outside heard a "click" of a door opening and immediately broke into a cold sweat. They were standing in the corridor; retreating wasn't an option, and neither was advancing.

Before they could figure it out, there was a crisp "clatter" from the room, like a glass being smashed hard against the floor. Immediately after, there was another sound of a door opening and closing, and everything returned to silence.

"Go take a look?" Chu Ling lowered his voice, curiosity flashing in his eyes, and asked, eager to try.

Everyone agreed to take a look. The corridor was extremely quiet, and they carefully walked to the door of the room.

Gu Ye grabbed the doorknob and twisted it hard. With a "click," the door was pushed open smoothly.

He walked in first, scanned the room, and was immediately surprised by the layout.

This was actually an extremely luxurious private room. The gilded chandelier emitted a soft light, and the marble dining table was covered with an exquisite velvet tablecloth. On it sat two high-stemmed glasses filled with a dark red liquid, which, upon closer inspection, looked like congealed blood.

Gu Ye only took a quick glance and didn't pay much attention to it.

"Come over here," Ye Suxuan called out.

Gu Ye turned his head to look. There was actually another door in the private room. It was strange for a room to have two doors.

When everyone walked out of that door, they finally understood why it was called the "Undersea Restaurant."

The center of the restaurant was surrounded by an ocean, and everyone felt as if they were in an aquarium.

"How strange, the seawater is only filled with some plants, I haven't seen a single marine creature." Ye Suxuan curiously pressed against the glass, searching carefully.

Gu Ye looked around and found that Kassian and Yuri, who had been speaking in the room just moments ago, were already gone. Moreover, ever since he stepped out, he had felt that a gaze was watching them.

He frowned and signaled to everyone: "Let's go back to the private room first, it's not a good place to stay for long."

"The most important thing for us right now is to quickly obtain the blood core and unlock the usage rights for our cards."

"The restaurant is too big; moving together is too slow."

"We must split up and act, striving to find the monster and kill it as quickly as possible."

"Fine, then I'll be in a group with Yan Shuangling. Chu Ling and I are both Battle Card Masters; since we can't use cards, our physical bodies are our strength. We'll split up to protect you all," Ye Suxuan analyzed.

"Agreed!"

"After finding the monster, don't act rashly. Wait for the others to come together to kill it."

"What about you!" After dividing into groups, Gu Ye turned to look at Third Mother Li, who had been silent all along.

"I'll go with them." Third Mother Li pointed to Ye Suxuan and the others. Gu Ye looked at Yan Shuangling, who nodded, agreeing to let Third Mother Li join them.

"Alright! Meet back here in 10 minutes!"