Throughout the journey, Youmi was preoccupied with one thought: the three of them had encountered three different situations. She herself could only see the disc mark on her own hand, Chi Hao seemed to be able to see the disc marks on each of their wrists, while Jing Minghe could see nothing at all.
What did these situations mean? Were they related to the Golden Butterfly Pupae they were tasked to find?
What about the others?
As it appeared so far, this instance seemed rather simple, but Youmi knew that simplicity was only on the surface. Perhaps the more clues they uncovered, the more difficult the instance might become.
Walking beneath the giant flowers, the sky was almost invisible, and they could only feel the light around them constantly dimming.
"It's getting dark so fast," Youmi looked up. The enormous flower branches made her feel uneasy. "The clue said there's a three-day limit. I wonder if this counts as one day gone."
"Who knows, maybe..."
Before Jing Minghe could finish his sentence, his vision suddenly blurred, and he almost fell to the ground. After regaining his footing, Jing Minghe immediately sensed something terrible: Chi Hao and Youmi were gone, and he was no longer in the spot where they had just been.
A rustling sound came from his side, carrying a palpable sense of danger.
Jing Minghe wanted to dodge immediately, but in the next second, he realized his speed was significantly slower than usual. His mind understood, but his body's actions lagged far behind.
What was happening?
As Jing Minghe was bewildered, a giant praying mantis suddenly leaped out from the side, pinning him to the ground. Its two enormous forelegs gripped his shoulders, and its sharp protrusions pierced through his clothes, digging into his flesh.
Jing Minghe tried to kick the mantis away, but he couldn't muster any strength. Just like his reaction speed, his strength had also degenerated to almost nothing.
What on earth was going on!
Jing Minghe had never imagined that he would ever be so defenseless. After all, he was known as the strongest boxing champion, renowned for both his agility and his offensive power.
Yet, at this very moment, he was like a vulnerable lamb awaiting slaughter, completely incapable of fighting back.
The sound of hurried footsteps grew closer. Jing Minghe saw Du Heng running from another direction, his small braid at the back of his head having come undone, his short, messy hair disheveled.
Soon, Jing Minghe saw what was chasing Du Heng: another giant praying mantis, just like the one holding him down.
However, Du Heng's agility was clearly better than Jing Minghe's current state. Although he only narrowly dodged each attack, he managed to evade them successfully.
The sound of a clear struggle could be heard not far away. There must be another battle between a human and a mantis. But Jing Minghe had neither the time nor the energy to care, because the giant mantis was approaching him, its mouth agape.
Its forelegs were also exerting increasing pressure, as if trying to tear him apart.
Jing Minghe took a deep breath, mustered all his remaining strength, and struggled to turn, finally freeing himself from the giant mantis's grip. But within two seconds, he was caught again.
This time, no matter how hard Jing Minghe tried, he couldn't exert any force at all.
Du Heng was also desperately playing a game of cat and mouse with his own giant mantis, completely unable to help.
If he didn't want to end up in the mantis's stomach, he had to save himself. Jing Minghe laboriously raised an arm to block the mantis's approaching head. With his other hand, he pulled out a transformation ball. The image of a scimitar flashed through his mind, and the transformation ball slowly turned into one.
Jing Minghe added a loop to the handle of the scimitar, which he could fit onto his wrist, thus saving him considerable effort.
With a roar, Jing Minghe, lacking much strength, used cleverness instead. He rotated his arm nimbly, coordinating his movements with his legs and waist. As he flipped over, the scimitar flashed. Despite the slowness of his movements, he managed to injure one of the mantis's legs.
Seizing the moment when the mantis, in pain from its injury, loosened its grip, Jing Minghe quickly scrambled up and ran towards a nearby giant flower. As long as he had cover, he should be able to evade the giant mantis's attacks, even if his movements were slow.
While dodging, Jing Minghe observed his surroundings. He speculated that the giant mantis's attacks were likely one of the instance's trials, but he didn't know what the solution was.
He had to find Chi Hao and Youmi as soon as possible.
Based on the different situations of Du Heng and himself, the suppression of combat power should vary. He could only hope that Chi Hao and Youmi hadn't become completely useless like him.
After observing for a long time, Jing Minghe couldn't discern any pattern. The sounds of struggle from not far away had disappeared at some point.
Just as Jing Minghe was desperately trying to escape, he saw Ding Chang walking from the direction where the sounds of combat had ceased. The moment he saw Jing Minghe, a smug smile appeared on his face, utterly unconcealed.
Jing Minghe's heart sank. Ding Chang was walking directly towards him.
Compared to Ying Qiang, who only knew how to yelp and bark all day, Ding Chang was the truly sinister and malicious one, utterly devoid of bottom lines when it came to doing evil.
In the outside world, Ding Chang was the first person Jing Minghe had taken the championship title from. Later, it was also Ding Chang who instigated Ying Qiang and others to resort to dirty tricks in their matches against Jing Minghe.
Initially, Jing Minghe didn't want to have too much entanglement with Ding Chang in the City of Death, as no one knew how long they would survive.
However, in the previous instance, Ding Chang's actions had been too much, especially his deliberate redirection of danger towards Chi Hao. When his absolute boundary was so casually crossed, Jing Minghe had decided the moment he learned of it that Ding Chang, this dangerous element, must be dealt with as soon as possible.
But! Jing Minghe found the current situation to be both laughable and unbearable. He had suddenly become a weakling in this instance, while Ding Chang, despite his injuries, could be inferred to have successfully dealt with the giant mantis that had attacked him.
Therefore, among the three people whose situations had appeared so far, Ding Chang was the strongest, and he, Jing Minghe, was the exact opposite. Sudan Novel Network
Jing Minghe couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Was this instance holding a grudge against him? And it was definitely a mortal grudge, otherwise, why would it torment him like this?
As Ding Chang approached Jing Minghe step by step, Jing Minghe noticed that the giant mantis seemed to target specific individuals. This was because Ding Chang walked past it openly, yet the foolish mantis acted as if it were blind, not even glancing at Ding Chang.
This made things even worse. The wolf had yet to be dealt with, and now a hyena had arrived. These two, one wanted to devour him, the other wanted to kill him.
Both Jing Minghe and Ding Chang knew very well that in this instance, only one of them would survive.