Outskirts, inside the large compound.

When the sky suddenly turned blood-red, the people hiding inside the compound all became nervous.

After Qi Ye left, they had been hesitating, not daring to enter the house.

Instead, under the protection of the Armored Mud Toads, they began searching the bodies of the demon beasts.

Any items that could be taken out of the dungeon, demon beast materials, or otherworld crystals they could find would be a considerable gain for these Civilians.

When the blood-red ripples spread into the yard, they all felt a terrifying gaze sweep over them, sending shivers down their spines, so they all retreated back into the yard.

The dozens of Armored Mud Toads guarding them were also scared, all sprawling on the ground, having an stress reaction, not daring to move.

After a while, the summoning time for the Armored Mud Toads ended, and they reverted to Magic Swamp Frog statues. The statues, having lost their summoning function, could only be displayed as souvenirs.

The Old Man with the Cane said, "Xiao Jun, why don't we listen to the Shelter Sprite and hide in the house?"

The people nearby also chimed in, "Yes, I feel like this place is still not safe!"

"Look how scared these Armored Mud Toads were just now."

"Since the Shelter Sprite said there's no danger for us inside, it shouldn't be lying to us, right?"

Because of Xiao Jun's impressive performance earlier, everyone regarded him as the team's commander.

Xiao Jun gritted his teeth and pointed at the bruised and swollen Merchant: "You go scout ahead!"

"Me?" The Merchant pointed to his nose.

"Wait a minute, ouch!"

"Go when I tell you to go, stop with the nonsense!" Xiao Jun kicked him in the butt. The Merchant cried out,

He rubbed his butt, stood up, and finding himself unharmed, quickly waved his hands, beckoning everyone over: "I'm fine, the Shelter Sprite was right!"

Seeing that the Merchant was unharmed, everyone finally relaxed and entered the house.

After closing the metal door outside and locking it, the crowd finally felt a sense of security and began to examine the construction of the house.

The room was empty, with nothing inside except a tightly closed mysterious metal door on the opposite side.

Someone exclaimed:

"Everyone, come here, look at this Inner City door!"

Soon, many people gathered, offering their guesses.

"There might be some good things inside."

"Perhaps those two warriors fell into a trap because they coveted the treasures inside."

Someone pushed hard, but the metal door didn't budge.

"Such a hard door!"

Someone pointed to a groove next to the door: "This door looks like our card-swipe doors, look, there's a card slot here."

"It seems the door can only be opened by swiping a card."

Everyone sighed.

Just then, the girl seemed a bit proud, pulling out a golden metal card from somewhere and waving it in front of Xiao Jun's face.

"Brother, look at this."

Xiao Jun's eyes lit up:

"Where did you get this thing?"

"I found it where the Magic Swamp Frog disappeared. I have sharp eyes, so I saw it right away," the girl said.

She had thought it was some kind of item, but it turned out to be just a metal card, nothing special.

"Let me try!"

Xiao Jun took the card from his sister's hand, aimed it at the groove, and gently swiped it.

"Beep!"

The previously unresponsive metal door suddenly let out a muffled sound, then opened a crack.

"It really is the metal door's card!"

People pushed the door open together, revealing a dim tunnel, with only the light panels on both sides of the tunnel emitting a faint glow, indicating the way forward.

"This place seems a bit creepy..."

One person said.

The door was open, but instead of the expected treasure vault, it was an underground tunnel leading elsewhere.

Bang!

Rumble!

Just then, loud thuds came from the outdoor gate, and everyone's faces changed.

A stronger demon beast had discovered them.

The demon beast was like an overloaded truck, smashing into the gate at full speed. The gate's sturdiness was not as high as the metal door inside, and it quickly became full of dents and pits, clearly unable to hold out much longer.

"We can only hide inside!" Xiao Jun said urgently. "Everyone, quickly, into the tunnel!"

"I'll scout ahead!" This time, the Merchant didn't refuse; he was the first to shout and rush into the tunnel.

Soon, everyone hid in the tunnel and worked together to close the metal door again.

Coming to his senses and looking at the dark tunnel, Xiao Jun touched the Reinforced Armored Mud Toad Statue on his waist and swallowed.

Such a narrow passage made it impossible to summon Armored Mud Toads. If they encountered demon beasts ahead, they would be finished.

The Merchant, who had disappeared without a trace, ran back, his face filled with fear.

"There's movement ahead!"

He said, panting.

The crowd immediately became agitated.

"Brother, there seems to be a yellow light!"

The girl pointed behind the Merchant. Xiao Jun squinted and saw something glowing yellow, crawling towards them along the tunnel... In the Inner City streets, Zheng Yu sped up, quickly arriving at the Academy's entrance.

The once bustling Academy was now desolate, littered with damaged machine wreckage and shattered demon beast flesh and limbs.

After destroying two Guard Robots, Zheng Yu quickly reached the Academy's dungeon zone.

Without maintenance, four teleportation gates continuously spewed demon beasts into the Dusk Wasteland. A humanoid Eighth-Tier Monster Lord had taken control of the entire dungeon area, feeding on these demon beasts.

The entire Academy's dungeon zone was as large as a football field. This Monster Lord was named Taotie Demon, with deep green skin all over.

The Taotie Demon is an Eighth-Tier Monster Lord, extremely rare in the Otherworld, possessing the ability to devour all things. It appears on the Alien Demon Battlefield and is a leading type of demon beast.

It had a round belly, stood ten meters tall, with a pair of small wings on its back for flying. Its massive belly seemed perpetually unsatisfied, occupying half of its body size.

At this moment, the Taotie Demon was clutching a Fierce-Haired Lion that was not yet completely dead, devouring its flesh in large mouthfuls, its face covered in blood.

Zheng Yu had once led the Dragon Soaring Second Team to kill more than one Taotie Demon. Now, if he were to face it one-on-one, Zheng Yu wasn't sure he could win.

This particular Taotie Demon gave Zheng Yu a different feeling; its movements were somewhat slower than other Taotie Demons Zheng Yu had encountered.

Could it be overfed?

Looking at its unusually large belly, as if it were about to burst, Zheng Yu guessed.

That's good news.