Who gave you permission to travel through time with Earth?

Lu Chen and the others were skeptical of Fang Jin's explanation. Although they didn't have a better explanation, they always felt that something was questionable... such as Fang Jin's background.

However, they chose to keep quiet at the right time. After all, Fang Jin, with his talent, was a great help in clearing the dungeon, and Lu Chen would never do something so self-destructive here.

Fang Jin naturally thought of this, but even if someone really broke through the barrier... he didn't care. After all, if he couldn't pass the dungeon, he would be a prisoner for life, so it was better to loosen some restrictions first.

Aside from his desire for revenge and a homecoming, what he finds most unacceptable now is "boredom." The sudden plunge from a world of unbridled entertainment into darkness is a disparity that's hard to accept.

Even though he only crossed the Heavenly Ruins in a daze, Fang Jin was indeed isolated for far too long across countless distances and immeasurable time.

...I'm almost becoming neurotic.

"..."

For a period of time afterward, Fang Jin and the others passed by peacefully in relative silence. He himself needed to dissipate the heat in his body, and Lu Chen also had to endure the continuous pain brought about by the precepts.

Of course, the most important reason they hadn't gone up to the second floor yet was that they were waiting for the Jin brothers who were going through the leftmost corridor. Even Xu Rou thought they were walking too slowly...

"They're dead."

Zhou Tongtong concluded definitively, and it drew almost no rebuttal. Lu Chen, who possessed the equipment, and Fang Jin, who had awakened ahead of time, were in the other two paths, while the Jin brothers did not show any strengths.

If they were really just two ordinary people with a sharp eye, no special skills and no support... then their chances of surviving in such a scenario would indeed be slim.

"Okay, let's go up then."

Fang Jin silently mourned for them for three seconds, then walked directly towards the elevator shaft, waiting for the steel door, emitting white smoke and cold light, to slowly open in front of her.

To be honest, the sadness Fang Jin felt towards the Jin family members, who were practically complete strangers, was more fake than an illusion. He felt he had done his duty with politeness.

Indeed, I am generally a kind person... Fang Jin thought to herself with confidence and self-encouragement.

The others filed in silently, having essentially accepted the deaths of the Jin brothers. Forty minutes had passed since Fang Jin and the others arrived, and Lu Chen had rested for nearly an hour.

In this amount of time, even if the two groups hadn't encountered any predecessors and had to explore the map from scratch, they should have already found the route to the elevator shaft. But now they haven't even heard any footsteps.

"...We only have twenty-four hours; we can't just wait here to die."

Lu Chen also turned indifferent and personally pressed the button leading to the upper floor. The steel door creaked and slowly closed, gradually compressing the view of the Beast Company's first floor into a slit...

Then he was grabbed tightly by a big, fat hand!

"Brothers and sisters... don't be so heartless, wait for me!"

A dull thud came from behind the door, and then a large amount of white, fermented flesh, wrapped around a chubby face that had been squeezed out of shape, struggled to push forward through the last remaining gap!

Everyone's expression changed, and then they all tried to pull the mass of matter into the elevator, squeezing, kneading, and pulling it through the gaps. Finally, they managed to drag it into the space before the elevator went up!

"Jin Fugui...right?"

Lu Chen couldn't help but speak with a hint of surprise, but then the steel door of the elevator shaft slammed shut, and no other lumps of flesh squeezed into the elevator. The last thing he saw outside... was no one else at all.

"Where's your brother...?"

"Fugui—my Fugui—!"

Before Lu Chen could even finish his question, Jin Fugui burst into tears, pounding the ground and howling in agony. His arms, which covered his eyes and face, were covered with tear stains.

...At this point, no one knew what to say. They could only gently comfort Jin Fugui by pressing his shoulders, saying things like, "His spirit in heaven wouldn't want you to be like this," but the former's emotions only became more agitated.

"...Are you planning to smash the elevator and make us all die with your brother?"

Only Fang Jin spoke with near indifference, causing the latter's shrugging shoulders to stiffen abruptly. He had genuinely not anticipated this scene, and for a moment, his emotions became somewhat disjointed.

Lu Chen and Xu Rou glanced at Fang Jin with slight reproach. After all, the dead should be respected, and to rub salt into the wounds of Jin Fugui, the deceased's brother, in this situation was really too cruel.

Fang Jin remained distant, never glancing in their direction, and neither did Zhou Tongtong… though the latter avoided them due to her germaphobia.

"Tick-tock".

There was so much blood on him that his cotton and linen clothes looked as if they had just been soaked in a pool of water, sticky and heavy, covering his large, fat body. The blood dripping from the corners of his clothes gradually formed droplets and pillars.

The stench was so vivid and intense that it could penetrate the nostrils even from a distance, let alone in an enclosed space like an elevator shaft. There was practically nowhere to escape.

If everyone hadn't gradually gotten used to being in the toy box, those who had just entered Beast Corporation would probably have already collapsed to their knees, vomiting until they fainted.

...But this is not the reason why Fang Jin rejected Jin Fugui.

"Fugui is dead. He... he was actually much smarter than me. Fugui saw through the senior's conspiracy. We walked out of that steel maze on our own."

"But who could have imagined? Whether you follow your predecessors or not, you'll eventually arrive at that toy box full of traps; the only difference is whether you choose to do it willingly or unwillingly!"

His emotions gradually stabilized, and he recounted more details. The Jin brothers had chosen a different path from Lu Chen and the others. Although it took longer, they actually gained a clear advantage in the final main house.

"Even with the most conserved bullets, I was almost out by the time I reached the main house, and Fugui's thigh had been bitten off and eaten by a canine vampire... That beast!"

"He knew his body couldn't possibly pass through that ten-meter-long glass corridor, so... Fugui actually gave me the chance to live!"

"Fu Gui used himself as bait, deliberately crashing into the main room, attracting almost all the vampires inside to gather and dine, thus creating an opening for me to escape."

"I was too weak. I hesitated even in that situation, and even thought about going into the encirclement to save him. Fugui just yelled at me to get out of there! Then he threw his bullets to me from a distance..."

"I... I actually survived like this?!"

In the end, he seemed to be stirred up again, and he burst into tears. He held a few blood-stained bullets in his hand, and with trembling, rough hands, he stuffed the bullets into the magazine, and they went in with a clang.

"..."

How many people in the team were moved by the story? In the current situation... quite a few, at least even Lu Chen, a man from the military region, had a few reddened tears in his eyes.

Fang Jin was also a little moved, after all, all the abnormalities of Jin Fugui's body had been explained. The long time and the blood all over his body made perfect sense, and all his doubts seemed to be dispelled.

Just thinking that the blood on Jin Fugui's body wasn't the monster's blood, but the human blood that had stained his brother's body when he was being eaten... made Fang Jin feel nauseous to the bone.