The light is still on, but the person is nowhere to be seen.

Jiang Luo did not jump off the high ground immediately.

She first handed over the corridor to Long Zhanye, then confirmed with Caesar that the replacement team had taken their positions, that Shura and Moen remained in their original positions, and that the wounded who had retreated had been taken care of. Only then did she change the way she held the scythe so that it wouldn't press on her wrist.

Stella walked over and placed a small packet of crystals in her left hand.

Jiang Luo looked down, then looked up again.

"This isn't medicine either, is it?"

"It's for replenishing what you've consumed. You just gave up your source of energy, and you can't recover by just eating snacks. At least use up this portion first."

Jiang Luo picked one up and pressed it in his palm. The subtle coolness gradually seeped into his body, and the emptiness in his chest slowly subsided.

(｡ŏ_ŏ)

It turns out that what you throw away from yourself can't be made up for by simply eating a couple of sweets.

She didn't absorb the entire bag of crystals in one go. Only after her strength had subsided did she ask Stella to put away the rest, and then they left the highlands along the path that had been cleared below.

Gu Nanchuan relayed the report from the team at the entrance.

The corridor originally connected the shopping mall and the bus transfer station. Before darkness fell, several lone people walked through it. The initial rescue team that went in to look for people consisted of six people, but only two of them came out on their own.

Someone else went in from the other end as well, but the number is still being verified, and there is no complete list on site.

After listening, Jiang Luo first told him to stop the other end as well, and not to continue adding things in one after another.

They walked around two overturned empty cars and stepped outside the commercial street, where people came to greet them.

The leader was a short-haired woman with a torn left sleeve and her arm wrapped with a cloth temporarily pressing down on the wound. When she saw the sickle in Jiang Luo's hand, she paused for a moment before pointing towards the corridor.

"I left someone at the entrance, and my team members were inside. We pulled the rope in, but then something lunged at us, and the rope was cut. We only brought one person back."

Jiang Luo looked in the direction she pointed.

Sunlight shone on the exterior walls of the mall, where half a promotional paper remained on the glass. The shadow of the first pillar under the corridor fell to the ground, but by the time the second pillar appeared, its base was no longer visible.

The darkness lay there flat, like a thick curtain hanging to the ground.

Behind the curtain, a sign was lit. Jiang Luo could see the red characters with a corner missing, but she couldn't see the wall next to the characters that should have been illuminated.

Instead of reaching in with her tentacles first, she asked the female captain to find the person who had withdrawn on their own.

The man was sitting against the wall. When he heard the question, he raised a trembling hand and slowly pointed to the position of the handrail in the corridor.

"The road hadn't changed. I could touch the railing on the left and step onto the original two steps. Then someone grabbed my backpack. I turned my head but couldn't see anything. I was hit on the back before I ran out with the rope."

His clothes on the back were ripped into three long cuts, and bandages had been applied to the wounds, but the lowest tear extended all the way to his waist.

Jiang Luo examined the broken rope; the cut was not neat, and a small, curved claw was still hanging inside the rope core.

The female captain asked her if she needed her to lead the way. Halfway through her sentence, her left arm, which was wrapped up, drooped down, and a little more blood seeped out from under the cloth.

Stella handed over the remaining clean bandage and had someone press it down for her, without taking out the poison from her waist.

"You stay at the entrance and tell Lolo where to go, where those two steps were, and who stopped where last. Make sure you explain everything clearly; it's more useful than trying to squeeze in together."

The female captain looked down at her hands, finally handed the rope coil to her companion, retreated to a spot where she could see both the entrance and the ambulance, and asked someone to pick up the message from the other end.

Jiang Luo tossed the curved claw into the iron plate next to him, telling people not to touch it yet. Then he walked to the first pillar and put his left hand on the railing.

The railings are cold.

She sent out a thin tentacle, probing inwards along the railing. The dark red light had just passed the second pillar when only a tiny point of light remained on the surface of the tentacle.

The tentacles didn't break off immediately, but instead transmitted a dull, oppressive force.

Jiang Luo stopped where he was, and instead of pushing it any further in, he raised his sickle and cut off a section of the canopy hanging above the entrance.

The sheet metal fell into the empty space, and sunlight shone in through the gap.

The light stopped outside the darkness.

There were still no paving stones visible below the gap, and even the few pieces of scrap metal that had just fallen in only flashed briefly before touching the black area.

(눈_눈)

It's not as simple as just taking off the roof to dry the stuff inside.

Jiang Luo withdrew his tentacles, ordered people to lead the onlookers out of the street, and then asked the female captain to point out the exits and steps that he could confirm.

The other person squatted down and drew a few strokes. When they reached the back door of the mall, they stopped and said that section of the wall had been broken by the strange street that had squeezed in, and they couldn't guarantee that it was still open.

"Let's not consider it an escape route for now. Luo Luo, come in from this side. You guys stay where you can see and pick up the people. Don't all rush in just because you hear someone shouting from inside."

The female captain nodded and ordered someone to move the GG rack at the entrance, while she took another roll of rope from her companion.

Stella first reached out and held the end of the rope to test how many people's weight it could support before wrapping it around Jiang Luo's waist, avoiding his injured right wrist.

Instead of handing the end of the rope to just one person, she held the middle section herself, allowing the team members behind her enough room to retreat, and then pushed the rope loop that had fallen to the ground away from the broken glass.

A strange creature that wanted to follow them in stood to the side, carrying a wooden door as a shield. Several broken claws were embedded in the door. Jiang Luo told it to block the side for the people outside and not to block the exit.

Jiang Luo looked down and saw the head maid put the Shadow Binding Needle back into the box, without holding it between her fingers.

You can't even see a complete shadow here.

"Stay outside the pillar. When the rope loosens, pull it in. If you can't pull it, don't force it. Tell Lolo first."

"I will keep watch behind you, my lord. If it gets dark here too, I will have the reinforcements retreat first."

Jiang Luo agreed and stepped over the second pillar.

Darkness closed in before my eyes.

She could feel her eyelids were still open, but she couldn't see the tips of her shoes. Even the breathing behind her seemed to be through a thick cloth. Only when the rope around her waist tightened did she realize that the entrance was still in the same direction.

She turned around and could still see the bright area at the entrance behind her, but the light stayed outside and didn't reach the steps where she was standing.

A layer of dark red power spread out along the body.

She first saw the left hand holding the sickle, then the hem of the skirt, and as the light shone outwards, it felt as if an increasingly heavy stone was pressing down on her chest.

Jiang Luo did not expand the area further, but only kept the red light close to his body. He leaned his left shoulder against the armrest and took a step forward.

The sole of my shoe hit something soft.

She stopped, and tentacles reached out from the hem of her skirt, first touching a suspender strap, then a curled-up hand. The hand clenched tightly when touched, and several hard plates pierced the tentacle.

"Don't grab me if you can still move. Lolo will take you out."

She wrapped her tentacles around the other person's shoulders and back, without pulling on their arms directly. She waited for the person to let go before sending them back in the direction she had come in.

Stella's voice came from the entrance very quickly, saying that she had caught it; it was a living monster carrying a human child's schoolbag.

Jiang Luo continued to feel her way forward.

Suddenly, the sound of fingernails scraping against the railing rang out in the darkness.

She held the sickle handle horizontally in front of her, and the next moment, three sharp objects grazed the handle as it slashed down. A cold, metallic scent pressed against her face. The sickle blade then flipped up, hooked the attacking object, and slammed it hard against the pillar.

The heavy body made a dull thud upon impact.

Jiang Luo pinned it in place with bone spikes. Before he could even see what it looked like, he cut off the still-waving claws. Then he took a half step back and moved the rope that had almost been grabbed from his waist behind him.

The same scraping sound came from inside.

She didn't chase after it. First, she dragged the body that was blocking her feet away from the handrail, asked the people outside to catch it, and confirmed that it was no longer moving. Then she asked the strange creature she had just rescued to speak.

Stella first described the appearance of the creature that had been dragged out, saying that it had six claws, thin bone spurs under its skin, and several unclosed white eyes on its belly. It had already been separated from the person who had just been rescued.

After listening, Jiang Luo instructed his team to move the body to an open space outside the street, and not to rummage around it or pull it out, and not to assume that there was nothing left inside just because one body was dragged out.

The voice on the other end was very soft, and it took a while to hear it clearly.

It said that when it came in, there were several people sitting at the end of the railing, and a child was crying behind them. One of the rescue team members was holding onto the railing the whole time and did not let go.

Jiang Luo held the sickle to his side, about to move forward again, when the rope around his waist suddenly tightened.

Stella didn't pull back; she simply clearly stated the location outside.

"My lord, the darkness has crossed the second pillar and is moving towards where you came in. The messengers have begun to retreat."

Jiang Luo turned her head.

The entrance that was once visible and lit is no longer there.