Chapter 33: The Man-Eating Chasm

As stones tumbled endlessly downward with a rustling sound, the crowd stared with wide, terrified eyes at a massive fissure in the ground ahead.

The few running at the very front had completely lost control of their bodies; they could only watch helplessly as they slid toward the great rift.

A lady from the Marquis of Enyi's manor screamed and wailed, struggling to shake off her husband's hand as he gripped her, "My Mianmian! Mianmian! Mianmian!"

Master Chang III slapped his wife across the face. "If you want to die, don't drag the whole family down with you!"

"Our daughter is beyond saving!"

"No, my Mianmian only regained consciousness half a day ago; there is no way she could die!"

"Don't you understand, A-Yun? This is just fate. Our daughter was clearly senseless for seventeen years, so why would she suddenly wake up? This is just a final surge of life before death!"

*Final surge my ass! Your surge, your whole family's surge!*

Chang Mianmian felt her head buzzing; her intuition told her she was likely about to kick the bucket again.

A torrent of colorful curses surged through her mind.

She tumbled uncontrollably toward the bottomless fissure, watching helplessly as a bailiff beat her to it, sliding down to meet the King of Hell...

She desperately scraped her back against the ground to increase friction, trying to push her belly upward, but she couldn't withstand the steepness of the slope. She was out of control, *waaaah!*

She was so resentful!

She had almost finally figured things out here and was planning to start looking for her beloved Captain next.

She was blindly, almost crazily, confident in her Captain. If a noob like her could transmigrate, the Captain definitely could!

But, before her preliminary plan could even be implemented, why was she dying again?

*Damn Heaven, you're playing me!* Chang Mianmian tremblingly raised a finger and, at the moment she rushed into the great rift, let out a thunderous roar, "Captain!!! If you have a soul, can you save this dog's life!"

She wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but Chang Mianmian discovered that the thousand-foot cliff of the rift, which had been inches away, was receding.

No, it wasn't an illusion; she was flying~

She was soaring freely through the sky, *Awoo!*

Everyone present rubbed their eyes, wondering if they had gone mad.

What did they just see?

The brothers Han Zhao and Han Li exchanged a glance, both seeing a trace of shock in each other's eyes.

Just now, they had clearly sensed an unusual fluctuation from the direction of the great rift, as if a figure had emerged from it and then quickly vanished.

And then... then the third young lady of the Chang family, who had been senseless for years, came flying back with a howl.

Chang Mianmian landed on the ground with a "splat," staring blankly at a pair of legs that had moved in front of her.

She followed the line of those straight, slender legs upward.

Chang Mianmian met an exquisite little face that held no expression whatsoever.

The young lady was beautiful, but her eyes were cold, as if she were looking at a lifeless object.

"Who... who are you?" Chang Mianmian asked cautiously.

"Chang Mianmian~" Xin Nian spoke the three characters one by one, with distinct cadence.

After ascending to the third rank, her teleportation speed had become terrifyingly fast.

Even when used in front of people, teleporting back and forth was merely a matter of a single breath; the eyes of ordinary people could not capture her trajectory at all.

Thus, the onlookers only saw a faint ripple.

In their vision, the air near the great rift ahead seemed to ripple gently, and then nothing happened.

Normally, the lives or deaths of others would have nothing to do with her—someone who had survived the apocalypse and grown accustomed to life and death.

But in that instant, she suddenly heard a familiar cry...

Chang Mianmian looked up at the girl with a dazed expression.

*Huh, that way of speaking... it feels somewhat familiar.*

Xin Nian tilted her head, a half-smile playing on her lips. "Chang Mianmian, I am Xin Nian. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Chang Mianmian's pupils shook violently. She jumped up instantly and lunged forward in a bear hug, clinging to the girl. "Captain! Captain! Captain!"

That was the very first thing the Captain had said to her when she joined the team! There was no mistake.

Every word matched, even the pauses were identical.

Xin Nian pulled the filthy girl away with disdain, her face expressionless. "You smell like a piece of dung pulled straight from a latrine."

Chang Mianmian cried—not because she was being rejected by her "sister," but because she was crying from pure joy.

She was wrong; she shouldn't have cursed Heaven just now. She retracted it immediately.

*Can anyone relate? That feeling of being on the brink of death, twisting through a thousand perils, only to suddenly find your organization and your party... waaaah, she was feeling blessed once again.*

Carrying her youngest son on his back, Xin Wenyuan ran over alongside Xie Ninglan, looking first at his daughter and then at Chang Mianmian.

"Dad, Mom, it's Chang Mianmian."

"Huh?" Xin Wenyuan's mouth hung open as he stared blankly at Chang Mianmian. "Little Chang?"

Chang Mianmian was also stunned.

"Uncle?" She looked at Xin Wenyuan, then at Xie Ninglan. "Auntie?"

"Yes!" The couple nodded repeatedly.

Meeting a fellow townsman in a foreign land brought tears to their eyes; three hands clasped together again, as if they wanted to spin in circles on the spot.

At the same time, Madam Chang III had broken free from her husband's grip and rushed over, pulling Chang Mianmian into a massive, wailing hug.

Chang Mianmian gave an awkward smile and introduced her mother to Xin Nian and the others.

By now, the earthquake had ceased, leaving only a deep, massive fissure that stretched far to the left and right.

Liang Guang's expression was extremely grim. He ordered men to go forward and inspect, but the bailiffs didn't dare get too close, observing only from a distance.

After a headcount and inventory, many things had been lost. Because they had run so frantically just now, the bailiffs had discarded several unimportant items, and even one of the carts transporting grain had been lost.

On the bailiff's side, two people had died falling into the rift. Among the convicts, two more had died; they were the ones who had run ahead and failed to turn back in time, rolling down the slope and vanishing.

Combined with the two ringleaders of the convict rebellion who had been killed earlier, the total loss was six people.

After the headcount was finished, Liang Guang's face could no longer be described as merely dark.

There were forty-five bailiffs. They had only been out of the capital for two or three days, yet they had already lost three people—and that fellow Gouzi had died for no apparent reason. This was truly a bad omen.

"Chief, we can't go forward." The rift was at least thirty feet wide, with rolling stones within it; it was highly likely to collapse again.

Going across would be suicide!

Liang Guang was no fool; he knew the limitations of his group.

They couldn't go straight; they had to detour.

But a detour meant losing time. They had to reach Heng County within two days to complete the formalities; otherwise, they would be overdue, and even he would be held responsible and punished.

"Chief, because we ran so hastily, not only did we lose a cart of grain, but we also lost quite a few shackles. Should the brothers turn back..."

Liang Guang's expression was heavy. After considering it repeatedly, he waved his hand. "There is no time to keep going back and forth. We will replenish in Heng County."

"We must reach the Heng County station within two days!" Liang Guang shouted with great authority, making everyone's skin crawl with tension.

The convoy set off again, this time moving significantly faster to bypass the deep fissure ahead.

(End of Chapter)