Meanwhile, in the back seat of the other white SUV.
A girl in a white dress turned to admire the scenery outside, only to suddenly see a large amount of black, viscous matter gushing out from around the black sedan driving parallel to them.
The substance was pitch-black and deep, looking rather terrifying and ominous under the dim light of the sky.
She covered her mouth and gasped.
“Look at the car next to us!”
Her words caught the attention of the other three people in the car.
The young man in the passenger seat, who had long brown hair and golden eyes, glanced to the side.
He instantly recognized what the black substance was.
“The Madhouse’s Black King?”
Another man in the back seat leaned forward.
He was tall and powerfully built, with rugged, unruly features.
He heard the name “Black King” and a look of confusion crossed his face.
“Hasn’t the Madhouse’s First Mental Hospital already fallen?
The Second Mental Hospital is a million miles from here.
Why would they send the Black King all the way out here?”
The young man in the driver’s seat was the youngest of them, looking not even eighteen.
But dressed in a black shirt and a formal jacket, he was the most maturely dressed of the group.
He turned his head slightly to glance out the window.
Upon seeing the Dark Night, he frowned instinctively, his face showing disgust.
He then said in a low, serious voice:
“Either way, we need to be careful.
The Madhouse is infamous for its evil deeds, and the Black King’s appearance is never a good sign.
I’m going to create some distance.
Our priority is to reach Dawn Base safely.”
With that, he stepped on the accelerator, instantly overtook the black sedan, and moved into the stream of traffic further ahead.
The golden-eyed young man and the burly man had already looked away.
Only the girl in the white dress, Chen Xinran, kept looking back, exclaiming from time to time:
“Hey, look!
There are three people in that car, and a girl is driving!”
The golden-eyed young man didn’t look back, simply guessing aloud.
“The Madhouse is probably having the Black King escort a normal human relative of some high-ranking member to Dawn Base.”
Chen Xinran couldn’t tell, so she believed what the golden-eyed young man said.
“Probably.
She looks so petite.
She must be a normal human, like me.”
The burly man beside her patted her on the head and said proudly:
“Xinran is no normal human!
You’re our Brother Tong’s own sister.
Once we get back to the War Alliance and you drink the Evolution Water, you’ll be a powerful Talent User, too.”
Finishing his sentence, he looked toward the passenger seat, his eyes sparkling.
“Isn’t that right, Brother Tong?”
The golden-eyed young man replied coolly.
“Talents granted by Evolution Water aren’t as powerful as those awakened by the calamity rain.
The Talent Users it creates don’t even meet the minimum requirements to join the War Alliance.”
Chen Xinran pouted.
“Be quiet!
Who said I was going to drink Evolution Water?
I can awaken a Talent from the calamity rain just fine on my own!
When I do, you just watch, brother—I’m going to surpass you!”
The golden-eyed young man was noncommittal.
The burly man, seeing she was angry and not knowing how to comfort her, could only manage an awkward chuckle.
Just then, a violent roar suddenly came from beside them.
The young man in the formal jacket looked to the side.
The black sedan had caught up at some point and was now barreling recklessly through the traffic.
The Dark Night surrounded it, ensuring it didn’t collide with other vehicles.
He remarked, looking thoughtful.
“That car with the Black King… why are they in such a hurry?”
The words had barely left his mouth when the earth behind them began to tremble, accompanied by the steadily growing sound of countless things scraping and crawling.
TAP…
TAP…
TAP…
TAP…
The golden-eyed young man in the passenger seat opened his window.
Ignoring the curtain of rain, he stuck his head out, only to see that the wilderness behind them had, at some point, turned into a surging, pitch-black ocean.
The dim light of the sky illuminated the ocean’s vast and terrifying silhouette.
It was a dense, teeming mass, enough to make one’s skin crawl.
He cried out in alarm:
“This is bad!
It’s an ant tide!”
The burly man gasped, and the girl in the white dress suddenly gripped the hem of her skirt.
“An… ant tide?”
The young man in the formal jacket glanced at the black sedan, which had already reached the very front of the traffic, and said calmly:
“So that’s it…
No wonder.”
Chen Xinran looked out the rear window.
Their car was in the middle of the convoy, and she could see the black ant tide in pursuit far behind.
The densely packed creatures crawled with incredible speed, devouring the last few cars that had fallen behind in almost an instant.
The entire convoy of fleeing survivors was accelerating, but the ant tide was clearly faster, snapping at their heels like a terrifying beast.
“Such… such terrifying ants.”
As a normal human witnessing such a shocking scene for the first time, Chen Xinran could barely speak coherently.
The burly man was also stunned.
He glanced at the young man in the driver’s seat, who was frowning deeply.
After staring at the ant tide for a moment, the girl in the white dress turned back and nervously asked the golden-eyed young man in the passenger seat:
“Brother… are we going to die here?”
The golden-eyed young man heard the anxiety in his sister’s voice and reassured her.
“Don’t worry.
When it gets closer, I’ll fire a volley with the Sun and Moon Bow.
That should buy us enough time to reach the Cangjiang River.”
“Lord Yin is here.
We’ll be safe once we reach the water.”
The young man in the formal jacket, who was driving, nodded with a solemn expression.
To get from this city to Dawn City, where Dawn Base was located, one had to cross a wide river.
An ant tide this massive would be impossible to destroy, but it couldn’t cross the Cangjiang River.
His ability was related to the Water Element.
When the time came, he could get the car across the river, resolving the crisis.
Hearing this, the young girl relaxed slightly.
Meanwhile, in the other black sedan.
Jiang Jianxin floored it, successfully maneuvering her car to the very front of the convoy.
Shen Ye, in the passenger seat, had turned pale.
Under Lin Xin’an’s direction, he had detected the approaching ant tide early on and used his Dark Night to sweep back several waves of ants.
This had bought Jiang Jianxin the time she needed to accelerate and break away.
But his power was now nearly depleted.
Lin Xin’an had him retract the Dark Night to recover his strength, telling him there was still a hard fight ahead.
HONK—WHIIINE—
As the car sped onward, the endless wilderness in the distance seemed to be split by something lying across the middle.
The daylight glinted off the shimmering surface of water, revealing the battered ruins of a broken bridge on both banks.
“This is bad.
There’s a wide river up ahead,” Jiang Jianxin said, frowning.
VROOOM—SCREEECH—
She drifted to a halt on the riverbank, bringing the car to a steady stop near the broken bridge.
The heavy rain hammered against the windows.
Shen Ye, clutching his blade, looked even paler than before.
“My Dark Night has a Shape Transformation Path that lets me cross the river myself, but I can’t take the car with me.”
Jiang Jianxin picked up her sword.
“My Tang Guang Sword can carry me across the river, but it can’t take the car.”
After speaking, they both turned to look at Lin Xin’an in the back seat.
Lin Xin’an: “…”
“Alright, alright, I get it.
I’m the only one who can’t get across the river, is that right?”
He couldn’t help but laugh at how pathetic he sounded.
Jiang Jianxin scratched her head, embarrassed.
“I can carry you with Sword Control, but that would mean the three of us abandoning the car.
There’s still a long road ahead, and we’d have to travel the whole way in the rain.
It’d be a hassle.”
Lin Xin’an, however, was perfectly calm.
He glanced at the vehicles still approaching in the rear-view mirror and, as if sensing something, suddenly smiled.
“Don’t be hasty.
Let’s wait.
A key person is still back there.
Not only can he cross the river, but he can take everyone’s cars across with him.”