The first light of dawn pierced the horizon, sweeping away the dark shroud that had enveloped the city.

Ye Chen emerged from the mountain, sheathing his blood-red battle saber. The warm sunlight fell upon him, casting a long shadow behind him. After a night of rest, a familiar hunger gnawed at his stomach. Cautiously, he ventured into the nearby woods, gathering some mutated wild fruits to appease his appetite before setting off toward the direction of the base city.

He hadn't run far before reaching a stretch of flat, barren wilderness. Ye Chen swept his gaze around; seeing no monsters nearby, he charged straight ahead. Suddenly, his body jerked to a halt as his eyes fixed upon a patch of yellow sand about ten feet in front of him.

Yellow sand was common, but this particular patch was different.

The sand here possessed a subtle variance in color compared to its surroundings. The ambient sand, scoured by the relentless wind, was a dusty, charred black. Yet, this spot showed an outer layer of charring, with a yellowish hue beneath, a mix of old and new.

"A pitfall?" Ye Chen frowned slightly, surprised that someone would set an ambush trap so close by. Still, the method was laughably crude; in later eras, intelligent monsters would spot such a transparent setup immediately.

Hidden amongst some nearby dirt clods lay several inconspicuous bamboo tubes. Concealed within the sand, three figures watched the excavated trap, and upon seeing Ye Chen stop at the edge, one exclaimed with delight, "Unexpectedly, instead of catching a monster, we've caught a person."

"Humans taste much better than monsters," the middle figure muttered, licking his lips with anticipation.

"Huh? Why did he stop? Did he discover our trap?" the figure on the right asked, puzzled.

"Impossible!" the one on the left dismissed, "Our trap was set so secretly, it looks exactly like the surroundings. How could he possibly detect it?"

"True."

"But why the sudden stop then?"

"Maybe he's anxious."

"..."

While these men conferred, Ye Chen skirted around the pitfall and walked to the side, uninterested in dealing with these petty hunters. After only a few more steps, he paused again, staring at a section of earth spanning about ten feet before him, feeling utterly exasperated—another small trap pit lay here.

The three men not far off noticed Ye Chen’s movement. The one on the right frowned. "He seems to have found the trap."

The leader remained unconcerned. "Don't worry. Beyond those two traps, there are more. If he tries to leap over them, thinking he’s cleared the danger, he’ll be gravely mistaken. Behind the next pit is yet another one—he’ll have jumped right into it himself."

"As expected of the Boss, so clever."

"Nonsense!"

At this moment, Ye Chen observed traps directly ahead and to both sides, his brow knitting. He picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it toward the area behind the foremost pitfall. The stone soared high into the air before plummeting with significant force, striking the patch of earth.

Thump!

The sandy ground immediately collapsed, accompanied by the splintering sound of wood, revealing a gaping hole. Ye Chen shook his head in resignation; whoever set these traps was truly childish, using such an ancient technique.

He walked along the narrow earthen mound separating the pitfalls. Passing the second trap, he peered into the pit. It was deep, perhaps fifty meters, and the bottom was lined with sharpened wooden stakes, their tips a dull cyan—clearly coated in a paralyzing toxin.

"So cliché," Ye Chen muttered again, moving on. Then, he noticed a third trap immediately following the second one. He raised an eyebrow; the trapper must have been incredibly bored to set up such a sequence.

The three men nearby watched as Ye Chen trod right beside the first pitfall. They exchanged glances, and the leader roared in fury, "Damn it! Why didn't he fall in!"

The man on the right, assuming Ye Chen had accidentally stepped onto the trap without realizing it, frowned. "Perhaps the wood underneath was too sturdy? With his weight resting on the structural supports, the wood didn't break?"

The leader snapped back, "Damn it, why did you use such strong wood? What’s the point of trapping anything like this?"

The man on the left timidly interjected, "Boss, that wood is yours."

The leader choked for a moment, then erupted, "Nonsense! What are you waiting for? He’s getting away! Hurry up and grab him! The nerve of him, daring to break my traps and then just walk off!"

The man on the right nodded. "He must be too light. If his physique were stronger, maybe Level 10, his weight would have snapped the wood." The implication was clear: Ye Chen’s physique hadn't reached Level 10 yet.

Immediately, the three men burst from the sandy hiding place and gave chase after Ye Chen.

"Hey, you brat, stop right there!"

"Damn you, don't move..."

Wielding their weapons, the three charged out of the sand and pursued Ye Chen.

Hearing the commotion, Ye Chen turned, but only registered the sound, not the sight of the pursuers. He blinked in surprise, then lowered his gaze, watching the sand covering the first trap collapse, revealing the deep pit.

"Ah..."

"Oof..."

"It hurts!"

Several inhuman cries echoed up from the pit. Even with Ye Chen's composure, he was momentarily stunned. He walked over and saw three burly men contorted in a grotesque 'W' shape at the bottom of the pit. They were entangled among the sharpened stakes, wriggling like earthworms, their hands and feet gripping the wood—yet, miraculously, none of them had been pierced.

Ye Chen glanced at them, shook his head in resignation, and was about to turn away when one of the men roared, "Hey, you kid up there, hurry and find a rope and pull your grandpa out."

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow, kicked a nearby stone, sending it tumbling down. The stone landed perfectly, striking the speaker directly on the forehead. The man tried to dodge, but with sharp stakes surrounding him everywhere, evasive maneuvering was impossible. A large red lump immediately formed on his head.

The brute glared at Ye Chen. "Damn you, I told you to toss down a rope, not a rock!"

Ye Chen uttered an "Oh," then kicked another stone, sending a sizable rock down. Thwack! It landed squarely on the man's head, creating another bump. The man staggered momentarily, then cleared his head and began cursing Ye Chen wildly, "Damn you, wait till I get out of here, you’ll regret this! Remember this, next time I see you, I’ll beat you senseless!"

Ye Chen looked at the man with genuine surprise. That, even in the apocalypse, such an idiot still existed was a genuine miracle! Furthermore, he suspected that with such low intelligence, the man wouldn't have been considered very bright even in peacetime.

Shaking his head, Ye Chen ignored them and turned, speeding away.

"Hey, don't go! Pull us up first..."

"Ah, I can't hold on much longer."

"Damn you, come back here!!!"

Ye Chen left the area of traps and ran quickly into the distance. As the three men's shouting faded behind him, his feet suddenly felt soft, as if suspended in air. A jolt of alarm shot through him. Before he could push off to leap clear, his body plunged downward.

"A trap here too!" Ye Chen felt surprised, but quickly realized he hadn't even stepped on the sand covering any previous traps; he was completely suspended. He looked around, but saw only utter blackness, not even the sound of wind. He felt as if he were hanging motionless in mid-air, or perhaps falling indefinitely.

"Could the section of land I just saw be an illusion?" Ye Chen wondered internally. He looked up but saw no sky or light, only an unbroken void, as if he had suddenly been transported to another world.

Then, a patch of fiery red light appeared below, gradually illuminating the space ahead. Before him stretched a vast expanse of roaring fire, filled with churning lava, where bubbles occasionally rose and burst like balloons.

A wave of searing heat washed over him, accompanied by the sound of rushing air, confirming to Ye Chen that he was indeed falling. He quickly focused on the ground beneath his feet and saw scorched earth, not a pool of molten lava, which brought some relief. He flipped his body in mid-air, dissipating the downward momentum. His toes touched down first, followed by his sole, then his knee, then his waist—he shed about seventy percent of the descent force this way; the remainder posed no threat to his body.

Ye Chen landed barefoot. The ground radiated intense heat, easily several thousand degrees Celsius. However, his specialized outer membrane could just barely withstand it. He kept lifting his feet, like marching in place, to bleed off the thermal energy.

He looked around. This seemed like an underground world, pitch black in most areas. On some jagged rock formations protruding from the walls, molten lava flowed, twisting the ambient light with its terrifying heat.

On the opposite side of the lava sea stood an immensely grand gate, towering perhaps ten thousand feet high, seemingly reaching the ceiling of this cavern—its top was invisible. The entire structure was bathed in a deep crimson glow from the lava, and the surrounding rock had melted into magma.

Before Ye Chen could examine it closely, a low roar echoed from a small lava pool nearby. A monster, entirely crimson and wreathed in flames, climbed out. It stood two tall, upright like a gorilla, possessing four arms on its upper torso. The upper pair of arms were thick and powerful, ending in fists, while the lower pair resembled the serrated arms of a praying mantis, wickedly sharp.

This was the first time Ye Chen had encountered such a bizarre creature; he hadn't seen anything like it even in his previous life, and he was slightly taken aback. "Is this some hidden ruin? One that was never discovered in my past life?"

At that moment, the flame monster roared again and charged toward Ye Chen.

Ye Chen’s brow furrowed. He flipped his hand, drawing his blood-red battle saber, and slashed toward the fiery beast. The monster did not evade the incoming scythe-like arm attack, instead meeting the blade head-on.

Shhhk!

The blade flashed, severing one of its wrists.

Ye Chen immediately retreated, dodging two subsequent blows. His eyes caught sight of the severed limb: flames instantly engulfed the wound, and molten lava surged, re-forming a wrist. The detached section of the arm simply collapsed upon hitting the ground, dissolving into liquid magma.

...A