Ling Cage, pick up Lu Mingfei at the start.

Maido's body crashed to the ground like a broken kite, excruciating pain tearing at her nerves. She gritted her teeth and propped herself up, her blood-stained body held horizontally, confronting the surrounding Devouring Beasts, every muscle taut like a bowstring.

"It's over!" Xu Tong watched as the spiritual decoy missile, which held their last hope, exploded in mid-air into a tragic blue light. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to his knees. The more dazzling the light, the deeper the despair in his eyes.

Meanwhile, the giant Devouring Beast was climbing up the tower. The shrieking sound of its claws scraping against the metal made every step feel like it was stepping on everyone's hearts, making it hard to breathe.

Bai Yuekui stood atop the tower, the wind whipping her silvery-white hair. The monster's enormous shadow enveloped her, its three pairs of scarlet compound eyes greedily locking onto her. Before her lay a life essence so dazzling and boundless, unlike anything it had ever encountered before.

Her knife was still deeply embedded in the activation device, serving as the final key.

That's too late.

With nowhere to retreat, a resolute glint flashed in Bai Yuekui's eyes. He raised his hand and gestured, a sharp light flashing in his eyes, and the source essence within his body surged like boiling water.

The scattered spiritual light seemed to have received a decree, and under her exquisite control, it gathered again, condensing into a gentle ball of light.

The anomaly attracted the behemoth's attention. It tilted its head in confusion, unable to understand why the energy it had scattered had regrouped.

Simple thinking cannot delve into the matter; instinct drives it to extend its thick forelimbs and seize the ball of light, its foul-smelling maw, filled with sharp teeth, suddenly opening wide.

That suits me perfectly.

Guided by Bai Yuekui's thoughts, she smoothly sent the spirit sphere deep into her throat. Her potential burned wildly, at the cost of a rapid loss of life force. Her internal organs felt as if they were being squeezed and twisted by an invisible hand. She endured the excruciating pain, clasped her hands together abruptly, and then separated them.

"burst."

There was no deafening roar, only a muffled explosion coming from inside the monster's body.

The next second, its body exploded from the inside like a blood sac that had been blown apart!

Blood mist mixed with bits of flesh and bone fell from the sky, like a brief but cruel rain of blood.

Lu Mingfei stood not far away, trembling like a leaf, yet still stubbornly holding up his gun.

He only snapped out of his daze when hot, sticky blood splattered on his face.

The end times... Is this the real end times?

He stood there, stunned, with Fang Yuan's fate unknown beside him, and his companions who had risked their lives lying below the tower. And what about himself? What was the point of him being here? Not only was he powerless, but he had become a burden who needed protection.

"puff--"

Following the sound, he saw Bai Yuekui leaning against the railing, a mouthful of blood staining her pale lips. She was so weak that she could barely stand, as if a gust of wind would blow her away.

"Boss Bai!" Lu Mingfei rushed over to support her, his voice trembling with fear.

He hadn't yet digested the terror of the Devouring Beast, and the severe injuries of the person before him brought him to the brink of collapse. He forced himself to calm down, his nails digging deeply into his palms. Panic was useless; he had to survive.

Bai Yuekui used the support to steady himself, lowered his eyes to look at the battlefield below the tower, and pointed his weak but firm finger at the Devouring Beasts.

"Cough...Go, help them."

"But you..." Lu Mingfei looked at the line of blood constantly spilling from the corner of her mouth and felt so helpless for the first time.

"I won't die." She clutched her chest, each word seeming to be squeezed out from the depths of her lungs. "Grab your gun and provide long-range support."

Lu Mingfei understood the resolve in her eyes and knew that there was no room for hesitation at this moment. He grabbed his gun and chose a position that was neither too close nor too far, enough to cover the battlefield and also enough to provide immediate support if anything happened to her.

He took a deep breath, aligning his gaze, aim, and target. Fragments of memories from his past arduous marksmanship training with Sui Xing flooded back.

boom! boom! boom!

Bullets pierced the skulls of the Devouring Beasts with pinpoint accuracy. However, even with the support of sharpshooters, the defensive line was still crumbling, and more monsters were pouring in from all the entrances of the park.

"Watch out!" Lu Mingfei hissed a warning—a shadow was silently approaching from behind Mai Duo!

Upon hearing the sound, Maido whirled around, her spear flashing like lightning, cleaving the attacker in two.

She turned around and gave Lu Mingfei, who was standing on the tower, a tired but bright smile.

Just as Lu Mingfei breathed a sigh of relief, his pupils suddenly contracted—a long, thin tail with sharp spikes was quietly rising from the corpse of the fallen Devouring Beast!

"Get out of the way—" he roared, squinting as he finally saw the deadly glint of light.

Too late.

The warning roar came too late. The bone tail, like the most venomous snake, pierced through Maido's waist and abdomen in an instant, lifting her up like a broken doll before slamming her to the ground.

Time seemed to freeze. Lu Mingfei watched helplessly as the girl who had taught him to shoot on the snowy mountain not long ago, with her clear and melodious voice, fell into a pool of blood, becoming prey coveted by the surrounding monsters.

"Aaaaaah—!" A piercing scream tore through the air.

The string of reason snapped completely.

"No...no!" Lu Mingfei watched helplessly as Mai Duo was pierced through, bullets raining down on the attacker like a raging torrent. Why? Aren't they supposed to be immune to resurrection inside the shielding tower?!

The bullet luckily shattered the Spirit Seed, and the monster was completely paralyzed. However, Maido, severely wounded and on the verge of death, and unable to resist, became the most tempting bait in the eyes of the surrounding Devouring Beasts.

"Get out of the way! All of you get out of the way!" Lu Mingfei, with courage that seemed to come from nowhere, grabbed the steel cable of the tower and slid down.

"Come back! Are you going to your death?!" Bai Yuekui's voice came from behind, weak but anxious.

"I must save her!"

She can't die! Maido absolutely cannot die!

He ran wildly, his gun firing continuously, his mind filled with the smiling face and voice of Maido teaching him to shoot on the snowy mountain.

The bullets quickly ran out, and he happened to rush to Maido's side.

He pulled the trigger in vain, only to be met with the hollow sound of the firing pin.

Helpless, he could only swing the butt of his gun and smash it against the approaching monster. How could this feeble resistance stop the Devouring Beast? But he was still gambling, gambling that the "privilege" that had come with him into this world was still valid.

Lu Mingfei glared fiercely at his surroundings.

Miraculously, the Devouring Beast seemed to be truly stunned, and actually hesitated to move forward three steps away from him.

Is that you...? (Three-step restricted area)

Lu Mingfei shielded Mai Duo behind him and breathed a slight sigh of relief. The restricted area was still there; they still had time, as long as the shielding tower activated…

He looked anxiously at Maido, who was bleeding profusely, and then at his comrades who were fighting hard. In his heart, he screamed: Hurry! Start it now!

Just then, the tentacles of the surrounding Devouring Beasts began to flash with a ghostly light in unison.

Are they receiving signals? Where are these signals coming from?!

In a moment of terror, a beast's hoof boldly stepped into the restricted area!

Its long tail, like a whip, lashed him away, and several Devouring Beasts immediately surrounded him, pressing him relentlessly.

Lu Mingfei could actually read a kind of fear in their scarlet eyes... and an even deeper greed!

"Ah!" — Maido's cry of pain!

He turned his head sharply and saw a Devouring Beast biting Maido's shoulder and dragging her backward. More monsters surrounded her, their tentacles reaching out to her, ready to extract her life essence.

"Get away from me!" Tears welled up instantly. He couldn't accept that this girl, who had been humming a song not long ago, was about to disappear before his eyes in this way.

He was in dire straits, as the herd of beasts had already surrounded him.

Let her die! It's better for her to be on the road to the underworld than to be alone!

Lu Mingfei lunged back, falling to the ground beside Mai Duo and shielding her tightly with his body.

"Go...you go quickly..." Maiduo said weakly.

"If you take me with you... you won't get out of here."

"No...we must go back together, we must go back together..." Lu Mingfei's voice was choked with sobs, overwhelmed by endless grief.

Perhaps it was this resolute sorrow that resonated with some kind of force, for the Devouring Beast's attack once again came to an eerie halt.

"I want to...go home..." Maido raised her hand tremblingly and gently touched his cheek, her eyes gradually becoming unfocused.

The tentacles of the Devouring Beasts flashed wildly again, as if they had received a stronger command, and they pounced from all directions! They would never allow the precious life essence to be wasted before their eyes.

"Don't die...please don't die..."

Lu Mingfei's tears fell onto Mai Duo's increasingly cold cheeks. He looked up at the approaching shadows of death, then finally bent down, hugged Mai Duo tightly, and closed his eyes to await death.

"elder brother."

who?!