Xiao Honglu lowered the pistol with a sigh, muttering, "No good. The guns in this era have such low power, and the accuracy is completely insufficient. The recoil is too much—my whole hand is numb. And the sound is too loud; my ears are ringing constantly. Zhang Heng! Say something!" Zhang Heng was kneeling on the ground, retching uncontrollably. After a long while, he weakly managed to stand up: "Wait for me, wait for me. I’ll go find a torch."

Xiao Honglu sighed again, saying loudly, "If you had managed to fire another arrow just now, that man would certainly be dead. What on earth are you afraid of? I don't really understand these psychological issues. If the doctor who treated you back then was smart enough, they would have used hypnosis therapy on you, and I suppose you wouldn't have let that person escape."

Zhang Heng didn't say a word and ran into the alley to retrieve a torch. He then lit several torches lying on the ground and stuck them onto the wall. Even at this point, Xiao Honglu noticed Zhang Heng was still trembling all over. His face was chalk-white, as if he had been terrified by something truly horrific. "What are you so afraid of?" Xiao Honglu asked curiously.

Zhang Heng silently hoisted Zhang Jie onto his back and managed a bitter smile: "I don't even know what I’m afraid of, but the moment I engage in combat or conflict..."

"...I get terrified of being hit. I am terribly afraid of being beaten. At that moment, if the arrow hadn't already been nocked, I might have just bolted."

Xiao Honglu scoffed, "Like how you ran away from your girlfriend?" Zhang Heng’s face instantly flushed red.

But he still remained silent. After a long pause, he finally mumbled, "If it were possible, I would wish to die in front of her. Since the revenge is taken now, perhaps I can die before her as a form of atonement. I know the harm I caused her is something I can never repay in this lifetime; perhaps I’ll never even have the chance. But I still hope to see her one last time, even just a single meeting."

Xiao Honglu pulled an apple from his coat, took a bite, and said vaguely, "This... if I’m not mistaken, this tomb probably holds something as precious as our lives. Though I can’t be certain, based on the current situation, my inference might be true. In other words, you have a chance too." "A chance for what?" Zhang Heng asked strangely. "A chance for what?" another female voice asked flatly.

Zhang Heng and Xiao Honglu were instantly terrified. Zhang Heng immediately tried to draw his bow, while Xiao Honglu ducked behind Zhang Heng—the little boy finally revealing a touch of his childish nature. As the female voice spoke, she gradually emerged from the darkness. It was Zhao Yingkong, her expression perfectly composed.

Xiao Honglu immediately stepped out from behind Zhang Heng and circled Zhao Yingkong twice: "You handled it so easily? But I don't smell any blood. Did you really finish it? Or did you sneak back alone?" Zhao Yingkong smiled faintly and surprisingly patted Xiao Honglu's head, startling the little boy into widening his eyes. She then said, "I have no habit of abandoning my teammates. If I return, it means the mission is complete. If I don't return, it means the enemy has killed me." With that, she turned and walked deeper into the alley.

Xiao Honglu rubbed his hair strangely. He mumbled, "I heard if someone pats your head, you won't grow tall, right? If I can make it back to the main God space alive, I’m definitely going to enhance an attribute for incredibly stiff hair, so you can pat it, pat it all you want."

Zhang Heng gave a wry smile, gazing with a hint of envy at Zhao Yingkong's receding figure. He tightened his grip on the sturdy wooden longbow, his expression growing increasingly bitter.

Meanwhile, in another passage of the tomb, Zheng Zha was maniacally chasing the young monk with a dagger. His appearance was utterly bloodthirsty and deranged; his face and mouth were covered in blood. One hand held the dagger, while the other frantically reached out to grab the monk. By the look of it, if he managed to grab hold, he would instantly slash down. This image of one pursuing and one fleeing looked exactly like two street thugs fighting, except one was enveloped in crimson flames, and the other radiated Buddhist light.

"Damn it, don't run! Didn't you want to fight me one-on-one? I'm here now! Aren't you all mighty, constantly chasing and killing us from the shadows? Didn't you kill Zero Point and Qi Tengyi? What did you do to that newcomer? Damn it! Don't run!" Zheng Zha’s level of unlocking the second stage of the Gene Lock was clearly higher than the young monk’s, and his leg muscle enhancement was slightly superior. With every stride, the rocks and dirt beneath his feet shattered, and he shot forward like a gust of wind. Gradually, he caught up behind the monk and brought the dagger down fiercely. With a sound like clashing metal, the monk’s steps faltered, and he almost fell into Zheng Zha’s grasping left hand, terrifying him to the core. He desperately sprinted again, widening the gap.

"Damn it! Come out!" After running such a distance, the young monk finally remembered he could summon the two-headed cobra. That moment of cowardice had almost made him forget everything except fleeing. Since becoming the captain of the Indian Team, this was the first time he had been so utterly miserable, and certainly the most humiliating. Before this, he never imagined being so pathetic, running away while being chased by someone else? This disgrace ignited his fury, but simultaneously, whenever he thought of the reckless killer pursuing him, he couldn't muster the courage to turn and fight. Helplessly, he could only continue fleeing forward.

The young monk yelled loudly while running, and following his shouts, a colossal two-headed cobra materialized beside him. One of its heads was pinned under his foot as he floated forward, while the other cobra head turned back to bite at Zheng Zha pursuing him. With a deafening roar, the giant cobra swallowed Zheng Zha whole and pinned him against a wall.

Zheng Zha’s eyes were fixed only on the young monk. Even pinned against the wall, he didn't pause; the blood-red flames engulfing him effortlessly incinerated the cobra head. He pushed off with his feet, accelerating once more toward the increasingly distant monk.

The two continued their chase and flight until they burst into a passage opening that resembled a cliff edge. There, they unexpectedly saw several figures standing on the ledge above the precipice. They were O'Connell, Johnathan, and a few others, gathered around a statue, seemingly in discussion. They looked down in surprise when Zheng Zha and the young monk came charging through, one chasing the other.

The young monk saw clearly and commanded the cobra head beneath him to aim toward the ledge above. Zheng Zha’s heart tightened, and just as he was about to shout a warning, he saw the cobra head shoot lightning, striking the rock right beneath the group. The young monk hadn't attacked the four people directly but had pulverized the rock supporting their footing. Before anyone could react—Johnathan was still thinking of waving a greeting—the ground beneath him gave way, and he began sliding down the cliff. Luckily, he reacted quickly, grasping a protruding piece of rock, thus avoiding a fall into the abyss. However, even so, the three above couldn't reach him, as he was now dangling entirely off the edge.

Zheng Zha’s eyes blazed with fury. He wished he could tear the young monk limb from limb, but helplessly, he gradually stopped his pursuit. The young monk, however, let out an exaggerated wail and sped further away, shouting incessantly: "Go to hell, Team China! Come and kill me if you dare! I’m running straight to Imhotep! If you don't kill me now, you’ll regret it for the rest of your lives, hahahaha! You stupid hypocrites, you idiots! I swear I will flay every single member of Team China alive, hahahaha!" His voice faded into the distance.

Zheng Zha took a deep breath, coldly watching the young monk disappear. He suddenly picked up a small stone from the ground and hurled it violently in that direction. Faintly, he could still hear a yelp echoing from the passage. Jonathan, dangling halfway down the cliff, was so terrified his face was ashen, and he had lost the strength to even scream for help. His fingers were digging desperately into the rock protrusion, but he was inching downwards regardless. His fingers were slick with sweat; how could one person's weight hold indefinitely? At this point, he finally screamed hoarsely, "Damn it, the base of the statue has a gold pedestal!" Then, he plummeted down the cliff.

Zheng Zha stood at the edge of the precipice. The distance to where Jonathan was falling on the opposite side was over eight meters. It wasn't an impossible leap; with his speed and strength, a single burst of acceleration would take him across. But he had to calculate the timing perfectly to catch Jonathan, meaning he couldn't rely on a standard running start. Zheng Zha took another deep breath. Just as Jonathan was about three meters above him during the fall, he jumped from the cliff edge. Using his legs, he stomped hard against the cliff face—the full power enhancement from his unlocked second stage Gene Lock nearly shattered the rock—and shot forward like a cannonball toward Jonathan. In the nick of time, he caught Jonathan securely between his arms. The two of them rocketed toward the opposite cliff wall. Then, he drove his left fist out with all his might, smashing it hard into the stone. The tip of his left fist instantly became bloody, and the fist became embedded in the rock wall.