Repentance

The young girl's words stirred a faint sense of foreboding in Lynch's heart.

In his view, whatever allowed Luke's family to witness the truth of the world was highly likely connected to the origin of this bizarre world. If there was still a solution to their plight, it would probably lie with that object. If he wanted to escape this world, he would also have to rely on it. Even if it couldn't directly facilitate his escape, securing it would at least give him some leverage to keep these swollen monsters at bay.

Therefore, from the moment he chose not to kill the family of three, Lynch had made up his mind to guide them back along their original path. This was why he had spent the entire journey matching wits and brawn against their pursuers, putting everything on the line to reach their destination.

At this moment, he trailed behind, carrying their young daughter on his shoulder while using his segmented whip to barely hold back the pursuing corpses. Meanwhile, the husband and wife ahead supported each other as they fled at full speed, staying just a single step ahead of the corpse tide.

Lynch felt as though he could finally see the dawn, yet the words of the monster girl gave him a sudden, sinking premonition.

What a joke, he thought. They're a family who have faced life and death together. Do you really think a cheap provocation like that is going to work?

Yet, despite his thoughts, Lynch still felt an uneasy tension. Surely they wouldn't... Holy shit.

In the next instant, Lynch was left utterly dumbfounded.

The husband and wife, who had been supporting each other as they fled, seemed unaffected by the pursuer's shout and ran a bit further, but then they suddenly fell.

A leg shot out to trip up the husband, Luke, sending him rolling several times across the ground before he came to a stop.

After pulling her leg back, the wife, Clara, spun around violently. As if terrified that someone would compete with her, she shoved Lynch aside, spared a fleeting, decisive glance at her daughter, Nara, and bolted back toward the pursuers.

Lynch was shoved aside before he could even react, forced to watch as the housewife Clara charged straight toward the horde of corpses.

“Don't kill me! Don't kill me! I don't want to go mad with them! I repent! I don't want to know anything anymore, I just want to live!”

In the blink of an eye, Clara, running in the opposite direction, dashed past Lynch, screaming with her hands over her head as she rushed toward the swarming corpses.

Lynch's mind went blank for a moment. He subconsciously wondered if she was trying to buy them time by acting as a rear guard, but he immediately realized how wrong he was. She had abandoned her husband, who was covered in blood from trying to protect her; she had abandoned her daughter, who was staring at her blankly; she had abandoned Lynch, an outsider who had been helping them all this time... to defect to the enemy?

Did a random, cheap provocation really work just like that?

Lynch had certainly seen similar plots in movies, but he had always considered them exaggerated. He had never imagined a real person could actually do such a thing.

Although he knew the saying that "husband and wife are birds of the same forest, but they fly their separate ways when disaster strikes," seeing this couple who had shared so many hardships suddenly turn on each other still left Lynch utterly shocked. What shocked him even more was that after Clara bypassed him and charged into the horde toward the young lady in fancy clothes hovering at a low altitude, the corpses did not part to make a path for her. Instead, taking advantage of her proximity, dozens of living dead suddenly swarmed her. Before she could even let out a shriek, her body was torn into dozens of pieces and stuffed into their mouths.

“Hehehe, what a pity.” Hovering on her flying mount, the young lady masked her face with her black fan. The venom hidden in her crisp laughter sent a chill down Lynch's spine. “She didn't make it to our side. A most regrettable failure, hehe. The only slot is still open. Keep trying, you two!”

“Clara!”

Luke's sorrowful wail snapped Lynch out of his shock. Clara had already been torn to shreds, leaving behind only a severed head that was kicked by a corpse, rolling along the ground until it came to a stop right in front of Lynch.

Lynch quickly covered Nara's eyes and looked back. Luke was struggling to climb back up from the ground. Having suffered his wife's betrayal and witnessed her gruesome death, his eyes had turned blood-red. Though he now limped, he glared with gnashed teeth at the living dead that had just torn his wife apart. The muscles on his face twitched violently; he was clearly on the brink of complete madness.

Lynch frowned. Then, his eyes darting around, he rushed over to Luke in a few quick strides and immediately shoved little Nara into his arms.

“Protect your own daughter yourself!”

Holding his daughter, the nearly maddened Luke froze. The little girl's timely crying sent a jolt through his entire body, locking him in place. The madness in his eyes rapidly receded, leaving only blank bewilderment on his face as his arms instinctively cradled his daughter.

“Now that you're awake, run! Go to the place from your dreams!”

Lynch delivered a hard kick to Luke's back, sending him sprinting down the road. Meanwhile, Lynch stopped in his tracks. Facing the corpse tide surging from behind and both sides of the road, he lit his pipe and took a deep drag, forcing himself to calm down from the horrific tragedy that had just unfolded.

Exhaling a column of smoke at the closing horde, Lynch smiled. He then slipped on the mystery relic ring, The Passion of the Blazing Lady.

Whoosh! His entire body transformed into a blazing, humanoid flame.

Countless corpses rushed frantically toward the fiery figure like moths to a flame, passing straight through Lynch's body. The fire ignited every corpse that touched it, and the burning bodies in turn set each other ablaze. In an instant, flames soared into the sky over the highway, burning hotter and brighter. The roaring fire pierced even the dense fog, illuminating the dark night sky and turning the pitch-black road as bright as day.

Held back by the intense heat, the pursuers in the air dared not draw near. The girl with the black fan, circling at a distance, was especially furious, pointing at the flaming figure from her mount while shouting something that was undoubtedly far from a compliment. Then, her mount suddenly spread its wings and veered to the side, preparing to bypass the firestorm and flank them.

But Lynch had no intention of waiting for her to catch up. With a mere thought, his weightless body transformed into a streak of running fire, hurtling along the highway. Within a few breaths, Luke, who was running with his daughter in his arms, appeared just a short distance ahead.

“Screeech!”

Just as Lynch spotted Luke, the same haunting, ear-piercing screech echoed from behind. Though the corpse tide had been left far in the dust, the crack of rifle fire rang through the air once more.

Their aim was precise this time, with several bullets striking Lynch's fiery form.

However, no bullet could harm a mass of fire; they simply passed through his body and struck the ground, kicking up puffs of dust.

“Stop shooting him! Attack the man ahead!”

The young lady in fancy clothes was the first to shift her aim, and the several men in black quickly followed suit. Anxiety surged within Lynch, but having exhausted all his trump cards, he was powerless to stop them. He could only watch helplessly as the pursuers reloaded their rifles with practiced speed, aiming their barrels at Luke ahead.

“I found it! It's right here!”

Just as Lynch's heart was sinking to rock bottom, Luke suddenly let out a cheer. Without warning, he veered sharply to the right, charging off the road and plunging down the shoulder once more.

No, he hadn't just tumbled down the shoulder. The moment he left the road, he vanished into air, causing the incoming rifle bullets to miss entirely.

The space was clearly empty, yet Luke and his daughter had vanished as if slipping into another world. Lynch let out a long breath of relief. Casting aside all other concerns, he slipped off the protective ring, closed his eyes, and dove headfirst into the exact spot where the father and daughter had disappeared.

【Mm.】

While suspended in midair, Lynch suddenly felt himself collide with a gelatinous substance. Then, as if a bubble had been popped, the resistance vanished, and his feet planted firmly on solid ground.

The moment he landed, Lynch realized something was off and immediately opened his eyes.

The sight before him left him completely rooted in shock.

In an instant, the environment had shifted from late night to broad daylight.

There was no sun in the sky, yet their surroundings were brightly lit. The three of them stood in a picturesque landscape, with a gentle breeze brushing past, lush green grass beneath their feet, and vibrant wildflowers blanketing the fields.

The scents of flowers, grass, and rich earth carried on the breeze, washing over them.

After experiencing the dark, barren wasteland and the mountain of corpses in a sea of fire, suddenly appearing in such a beautiful environment filled Lynch with a sense of unreality. He couldn't help but kneel and gently stroke the ground. The texture of the soft green grass quickly dispelled his doubts.

It was so real, not like an illusion at all.

Beside him, the father and daughter stood motionless, staring blankly at a distant black dot. It was only when Lynch gave them a nudge that they finally snapped out of it.

“This is it! Yes, this is the place we came to before. It really wasn't a dream! Clara, I told you—”

The instinctive call caused his newly emerged joy to instantly freeze. Luke's expression contorted in pain. After a brief silence, he said nothing more, cradling his daughter tightly as he ran toward the distant black dot. Lynch sighed with sympathy and followed closely behind. Soon, as the distance closed, Lynch finally saw the black dot's full appearance.