Peninsula: I'm being supported by a top idol.

West 8...

Cui Shi'an struggled to sit up again from the smelly garbage bag. His whole body ached as if his bones were falling apart, and his clothes were already soaked with cold sweat and rainwater.

If it weren't for the fact that this body, "processed" by the messenger of hell, was exceptionally resilient, he probably would have been sent straight to meet Hera after that blow.

"Hey! Goo Hara! This is what you meant by 'not dangerous'?!"

He roared in a low voice at the empty, rainy night, his voice distorted with pain. How could this thing be so fierce, like a hundred-year-old vengeful spirit!

"Boom—!"

A pale bolt of lightning tore through the night, followed by a thunderclap that drowned out his complaints.

The summer downpour was intense, with large raindrops pounding on the ground, effectively masking any unusual activity in the area.

By the light of the electricity, Cui Shi'an saw the "convenience store owner".

Or rather, a spirit that has taken over his body.

At this moment, it is slowly rising from the shadows in an inhuman, twisted posture.

His eyes were now just two empty sockets, emanating a faint black aura, locking onto him.

Damn it… Cui Shi'an's heart sank. That last burst of strength had almost exhausted him, and now even the slightest movement was excruciatingly painful.

As the earthbound spirit drew ever closer, its withered, ghostly hand rose once more, the chill of death almost freezing his blood...

"...Choi Si-an! Choi Si-an! Where are you?!"

An anxious female voice, faintly heard through the pouring rain, drifted over.

That sound...?

Cui Shi'an was stunned for a moment, almost thinking that he was hallucinating because of the excruciating pain.

Impossible... How could she be here?!

Liu Zhimin was soaked to the bone, the cold rain running down his hair and into his neck, but he was completely unaware.

She looked around along the alley, and when she reached the intersection, she immediately recognized the convenience store in the background of the live stream and ran over like a madwoman.

"Cui Shi'an! Where are you??" Her voice sounded particularly helpless in the empty rainy night.

Suddenly, her foot kicked something—it was Cui Shi'an's phone!

It lay all alone in the puddle.

She hurriedly picked it up, her heart pounding. She looked around and shouted even louder, "Choi Si-an!!"

At that moment, it was as if the blood in her body froze instantly.

From the shadows of the alley next to the convenience store, a figure slowly emerged—it was the "boss" from the video!

But he looked even more terrifying than in the video, his face contorted, surrounded by ominous black energy, and his eyes, devoid of white, coldly locked onto her.

That fear of the unknown gripped her like an invisible hand choking her.

Liu Zhimin instinctively stepped back, but her foot suddenly slipped, and she cried out in surprise as she fell heavily to the ground, splashing mud and water all over her.

The earthbound spirit hissed incomprehensibly, and a withered, rotting ghostly hand reached straight for her face!

Liu Zhimin closed his eyes in terror, his mind blank.

"Get out of here!!!"

A familiar roar suddenly erupted!

Cui Shi'an burst out of the darkness from the side like a cannonball, slamming into the earthbound spirit and causing it to stagger. The ghostly hand narrowly grazed Liu Zhimin's face.

However, Cui Shi'an himself was exhausted from the force of the collision and fell next to Liu Zhimin, coughing violently, with a trace of blood even seeping from the corner of his mouth.

"Cui Shi'an!" Liu Zhimin hurriedly crawled over to support him.

With the help of the occasional flashes of lightning that pierced the night sky, Cui Shi'an finally saw the face of the person who had come into view.

That face, though slightly disheveled from the rain, still retained its exquisite features...

"It's...it's you?!" His pupils dilated in disbelief. "You're Karina?! Liu Zhimin?!"

It turns out that the girl in the car accident, that "chaebol fan," was actually the famous aespa captain Karina?!

"Why are you here?" But he didn't care about her identity and helped her up. "Who sent you?"

Looking at his pale face and the blood at the corner of his mouth, Liu Zhimin's tears of fear mingled with the rain, and she said, "I...I was afraid something had happened to you again...I couldn't get through on the phone..."

"Are you crazy?!" Cui Shi'an was both anxious and angry, his voice hoarse. "What are you doing here, an ordinary person?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! Get out of here!"

Liu Zhimin was startled by his shout, then took a deep breath of the cold air. As if he had made up his mind, he trembled as he pulled out the triangular arrowhead that he had been clutching tightly from the inside pocket of his coat.

"I..." Her voice trembled, yet she stubbornly held the arrowhead up to him, "I...I came to give you this!"

Cui Shi'an's gaze fell on the arrowheads, his shock turning into astonishment, then into a mixture of amusement and anger:

"How did this thing end up with you?! Didn't you say you didn't find it?!"

Liu Zhimin lowered his head guiltily, his voice barely audible: "...I...I just wanted to clarify some things..."

"You..." Cui Shi'an was so angry he almost laughed. What kind of time is this!

Forget it, let's not argue with her for now!

"Hiss—" The earthbound spirit had regained its footing, letting out a teeth-grinding roar, and pounced on them again with astonishing speed!

"No time for this!" Despite the excruciating pain, Cui Shi'an shielded Liu Zhimin behind him, staring intently at the approaching monster, and urgently asked, "Do you even know how to use this thing?!"

Liu Zhimin shook his head blankly.

Looking at her innocent yet frightened eyes, and then at the "key prop" in his hand, Cui Shi'an felt an overwhelming sense of absurdity.

He sighed in despair, raindrops dripping down his jawline, a dark humor tinged with resignation, as he muttered:

"I'm truly... doomed to be killed by you, both in my past and present lives..."

"Hey! How could you..." Upon hearing this, Liu Zhimin's competitive spirit immediately surged up, and he instinctively wanted to retort—I came here specifically to save you, okay!

Before she could finish speaking, Cui Shi'an suddenly shoved her forcefully towards the alley entrance:

"Quick, let me hold it off!"

Almost the instant he finished speaking, the enraged earthbound spirit let out a sharp howl and pounced like a black lightning bolt!

The withered, cold ghost hand precisely gripped Cui Shi'an's throat, and the immense force lifted him off the ground!

"Ugh!" A feeling of suffocation instantly struck, and Cui Shi'an's face turned red from lack of oxygen. He struggled in vain, and the arrow in his hand fell into the muddy water with a "plop" during the struggle.

"Cui Shi'an!" Liu Zhimin was terrified by the sight before him, watching him kick his legs in pain in mid-air, his mind blank.

What to do? What to do?!

Her gaze swept frantically across the ground before suddenly fixing on Cui Shi'an's backpack, which had fallen to the side and was already soaked with rainwater.

The backpack was open, revealing several familiar "equipment" items inside—one of which was a transparent, sealed bag containing more than half a bag of snow-white rice!