Lu An easily snuck into the settlement without being noticed. He kept using Detection on the people inside, and he understood why his Brother did not want to fight these people. Most of them were around level 300 with some of them high enough to reach level 800. These people were not worth their time.

Lu An listened to his brother’s direction, moving to the other side of the settlement. It looked like a normal village on the outside, but he quickly soon found out that this was not just a normal village. The other side was a training ground where high-level people gathered.

Watching from the shadows, he saw some people running with weights on their backs. On the other side some people trained with bows, and on another side, people fought in the arena with the short sword with an instructor watching them. He quickly realized that more than half of the settlement consisted of the training ground. Going further from the training ground, there was access to the underground. He could not find the person he looked for after searching above the ground for a while, realizing the person he looked for might be underground.

Lu An entered the underground, walking through the path with torches lightened up the path. Soon he arrived in an open, big area where more people gathered. Different from the outside who was currently in their training, these people looked ready to enter the battle.

Seven men stood on the wooden platform while hundreds gathered before the platform. Lu An’s eyes were straight toward the man on the platform who was currently speaking. He came closer, hiding under his target’s shadow. It seemed the man was doing a speech before the hundreds would enter the final phase of their training. The last training was to fight each other inside this underground labyrinth. They would pass the final training if they could kill two people.

After finishing the speech, the six people on the platform came down. The hundreds were divided into six groups, following each of these people who were of an Ancient Rank to the branched caves, leaving one person on the platform.𝒩𝑶𝑽𝓛xt.𝗇𝓔t

Lu An patiently waited for the group to leave the area. His mission was to kidnap his target, not to make a ruckus. He came out of the shadow and tapped his target’s shoulder. The latter was shocked but before the man could do anything, the shadow enveloped him. The whole body was covered in shadow, not able to move or even speak. The man could not even make a muffled noise, as if he lost the capability to speak. In the following second, both disappeared into the shadows.

*** ***

Tang Shaoyang, Lu An, and Rosalie found a secretive place to put their prisoner. Lu An used his shadow to restrain the prisoner, having the man sitting against the tree. The man still could not speak with his mouth covered in shadow while Lu An told him what he found within the settlement.

“Let him speak,” Tang Shaoyang told Lu An to free the man from the restraints.

“Who are you? Which group are you from? Are you aware of the consequences of touching the Salvation Fraternity member?” The man questioned the three and seemed not afraid of his current situation.

“As I said, it will be tough to get something out of him, Brother,” Lu An was aware it would take some time to make this man speak.

The man looked confused for a moment, trying to understand the conversation between Tang Shaoyang and Lu An.

“Do you want to do it, or do you want me to do it?” Tang Shaoyang nodded and asked Lu An. For someone who trained the people to ambush them, it was to be expected it would be a little bit tough to get the information. While Tang Shaoyang had not learned anything about the art of torture, it was not that hard to torture someone to make them speak.

“Let me do it,” Lu An was eager to try the technique he learned for sure.

Tang Shaoyang looked at his brother, frowning. Looking at Lu An’s excited expression, he felt like it was a wrong decision to let Lu An do the job. He felt like Lu An was growing in a different direction.

Lu An approached the man, licking his lips, “Let’s make it easy, brother. If you answer all my questions, I will grant you a painless death. I ask, you answer, okay?” He was smiling, a bright smile with his innocent look.

The man looked confused for a moment and furrowed his brow. He understood what the young man said, but he did not understand why the other groups tried to interrogate him. There were several groups on this floor. They might not work together but they had the same purpose, getting out of this cursed tower. There was no reason for them to fight with each other. It was not like the Salvation Fraternity had players as well.

“I have interrogated your subordinates, and they said you might know the way to get to the upper floor. Tell me how to get to the upper floor,” Lu An maintained his bright smile while questioning the man.

The man furrowed his brow deeper before he came to a realization. He made a surprised expression before letting out a hefty laughter. His laughter echoed into the air, “Buahahahahaha… The time for us to get out of this tower has come! Buahahahahaha…” He stopped laughing, looking at Lu An with his eyes big open, “You are a player! And you will lead us out of this tower! Make your choice, young man. Obediently lead us out of the tower, or you will experience The Hell we have prepared for you!”

“Tch. Tch. Tch.” Lu An clicked his tongue, shaking his head, “It seems I need to make you understand your situation first,” He then took out a small knife, a flat knife the size of a finger. He moved the hand closer toward him, but then he stopped midway, turned around, “Are you sure you want to watch me, Sister Rosa? I have to admit that what I am doing is quite disturbing.”

Rosalie hesitated, curious about what Lu An would do, but at the same time, she felt like she had to listen to Lu An’s words.

“You don’t have to watch. This might give you a nightmare,” She listened to Tang Shaoyang’s advice, leaving the two alone with the man.