Su Bai stared at the message Jiang Yuelan had sent her on her phone and let out a long breath.
Yu Xiaoyan, Jiang Yuelan, and Xiao Xi’s mother had already reached the safe point. They should be fine now.
Safe points were generally set up by the Association to shelter refugees displaced by rift damage. They were equipped with extensive magical defensive measures, so a rift of this scale posed no threat to them.
Now only she and Xiao Xi remained.
Su Bai shifted her body slightly and pressed her eye to the small crack to look outside.
She saw several Demonic Beasts wandering aimlessly through the hall outside, sniffing here and there from time to time.
For the moment, they still had not discovered the two people hidden here.
Su Bai rubbed her smooth bracelet again, sensing the flow of magic within it. The release of the concealment magic showed no major issues.
Going out was too risky, and having to take someone with her would make it even more dangerous.
Besides, a rift of this scale should be dealt with before long. It would be better to just wait here until rescue arrived.
Thud.
Just as Su Bai was thinking optimistically, a muffled sound came from behind her.
Xiao Xi was curled up on the ground, beads of cold sweat forming on her forehead as she endured something in pain.
“Xiao Xi?” Su Bai asked in a low voice, hurriedly touching her forehead.
So hot. Is she running a fever?
Scanning her entire body, the sharp-eyed Su Bai immediately noticed what seemed to be bloodstains on the clothes over Xiao Xi’s left shoulder.
“Xiao Xi, you’re hurt… When did this happen?”
She had told her not to make a sound, and Xiao Xi had truly remained completely still, enduring it here. If she hadn’t lost the strength to hold on just now, Su Bai might never have noticed.
“Don’t move, okay? Let me take a look.”
Exposing the bloodstained shoulder, she saw a circular wound about the thickness of a finger still oozing blood.
Su Bai turned on her phone’s flashlight and shone it on the wound to examine it.
There was a small fragment of debris inside the wound.
It was most likely a piece of concrete that had flown out at high speed and struck Xiao Xi while they were fleeing earlier.
It’s all my fault for not protecting her…
No, now was not the time to think about that. Su Bai immediately calmed down. First, stop the bleeding.
“It’s going to hurt a lot. Xiao Xi, you have to endure it. If it hurts too much, bite Sister’s hand as hard as you can.”
Her movements were gentle as she tried not to make any sound.
She tore several strips from the hem of her dress, turning the long one-piece dress into a short skirt.
She wrapped one strip around her own hand and had Xiao Xi bite down on it.
Then she drew a small strand of magic from the bracelet, carefully touching the debris in the wound and slowly forcing it out.
“Nngh…” Xiao Xi bit down hard on Su Bai’s arm, enduring the intense pain.
Su Bai felt the pain in her arm but remained completely unmoved.
“Okay, next is disinfection and bandaging.”
After forcing the stone out, Su Bai used magic to disinfect the wound and tied a simple bandage with the other pieces of cloth she had torn off.
Xiao Xi’s pain eased a little, but the high fever remained.
“Waiting here isn’t a solution…”
The wound is infected. It could be tetanus… If we just wait here, even if we get rescued, her life might still be in danger.
Su Bai glanced at Xiao Xi. The high fever and pain had already caused the strong-willed girl to pass out.
Su Bai made a silent decision.
They couldn’t delay any longer. They had to escape immediately.
Having made up her mind, Su Bai hoisted Xiao Xi onto her back. Then, using the torn cloth and some iron wire scattered on the ground nearby, she firmly secured Xiao Xi to herself.
Su Bai looked at how her long dress had become an ultra-short skirt.
Good thing I have the habit of wearing leggings. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to show my face going out like this.
Outside, the several Demonic Beasts were still wandering, their bodies emitting a faint bluish glow.
Their glowing crimson eyes stood out particularly in the dim environment.
Clatter. The sound of falling rubble suddenly rang out in the empty, quiet room.
The Demonic Beasts instantly grew alert, letting out low, guttural growls as they lunged toward the source of the sound.
Thud. The Demonic Beasts missed and crashed to the ground.
There was nothing there—just debris that had fallen from a hole in the ceiling.
The Demonic Beasts’ dull minds clearly failed to understand what had happened. Seeing no living creature, they returned to their previous aimless wandering.
On a staircase the monsters had not noticed, a transparent bubble with faintly rippling edges drifted past silently.
“It worked. My invisibility magic can still handle this.” Su Bai was really not skilled at this type of magic.
If one were to speak of someone truly skilled in this kind of magic, it would have to be her former teammate, Green Vine.
Holding their breath and focusing, the two successfully reached the second-floor hall.
There were more Demonic Beasts here, but none posed a major threat. If they moved slowly, they should not be discovered.
There was light over there!
The entire environment was extremely dim right now, with only a few lights connected to the backup power still on.
The light coming from another opening leading to the first floor was natural light.
There had to be an exit connecting to the outside. Su Bai immediately moved toward the target direction.
The journey so far had been fraught with tension but without real danger.
Su Bai wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her little heart was pounding. In the past, she had always charged straight through. When had she ever played at “stealth” like this?
Su Bai arrived at the opening and looked down. There was indeed light below, but nothing to use as footholds.
The ceiling height of a shopping mall’s first floor was generally quite high, nearly 5 meters.
What to do now? Su Bai scanned the surroundings and immediately spotted a clothing store with clothes still scattered on the floor inside.
She sneaked over and, while she was at it, picked up a broken steel rebar from the ground that was about the length of her entire arm.
It would be perfect as an anchor for the makeshift rope later.
Quietly slipping into the clothing store, Su Bai selected some relatively sturdy materials like jeans and denim jackets.
She tied them end to end into a rope.
She tugged hard to confirm it was secure, then tied one end to the rebar and wedged it between two large stones.
Su Bai began climbing down the “rope.”
One meter, two meters, three meters.
Almost there…
Just as the light reflecting off the ground was drawing closer—
Something unexpected happened.
A series of impact sounds rang out.
A massive creature of unknown origin burst onto the second floor and shattered the large stones that had been serving as support.
Su Bai felt her hands lose their grip, and she plummeted downward in an instant.
Not good!
Her body’s instincts kicked in once more. Su Bai performed a midair breakfall, like a little cat.
She spun to disperse the force, then tightened her core and relaxed her body upon contact with the ground.
While ensuring she did not injure Xiao Xi, she successfully executed a side roll and landed safely on the first floor.
But there was no time to rejoice.
She immediately went on alert. In the darkness, pairs of eerie crimson lights attracted by the loud noise had already locked onto her.
Awooo.
Accompanied by a howl, a wolf-shaped Demonic Beast suddenly lunged out of the darkness, its bloody maw gaping as it bit toward Su Bai.