In the coal-black sky, the thunder kept raging on and setting the trees aflame. Even the heavy rain couldn't stop the flames from growing and stretching towards the sky, being the only source of light in this god-forsaken place.

"I- I have to run faster, faster, and even faster," mumbled Duan Jian in heavy breaths.

With the blazing flames raging through the forest, the green trees turned bladder-brown and crackled. The stuffy air was now filled with the stench of burning corpses. An occasional screech of pain and misery came from the depths of the forest, probably from a burning animal.

But what could Duan Jian, who had no cultivation now, do against the golden-haired woman? The demonic flames spread faster than Duan Jian could have run and encircled him soon enough.

With nowhere else to go and no chance to fight, he already lost all hope. The sadistic giggling of a woman scratched against his ears. The blazing flames which encircled Duan Jian made a slight bow and made way for the woman.

Not willing to beg for mercy, Duan Jian stared at her and howled, "What are you waiting for?! Kill me already!!"

"Grackgrack," quacked an innocent duckling and waddled in its panic towards the woman. Being disoriented and having lost sight of its mother, it searched for someone to protect it from the hellish flames.

The smirking woman had no pity or sympathy for the duckling whatsoever. She ruthlessly clutched it and threw it far away, giving a satisfied smile afterwards.

Duan Jian's gaze followed the duckling flying into the distance, and before he knew it, he was knocked out cold. His vision turned black and his ears were ringing. With a plump sound, his bones and body collapsed to the ground.

The demonic woman had a look of insanity in her widened eyes, and a soul-shuddering gaze drilled into Duan Jian's insignificant soul. A pugnacious smirk plastered her face and cracked her lips open with hell-red blood trickling down. She hissed, "Sweet dreams, my little boy~," into his ear and stuck out her slimy tongue, licking the blood from her lips.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

". . ."

". . ."

". . ."

Duan Jian woke up with a bad mood. Struggling to heave his heavy eyes open and having a fuzzy vision, he mumbled, "I swear that if someone knocks me unconscious again, I will decimate that person into ashes and stomp on it like a stampede of fat elephants."

His vision became gradually better; he could already see the outline of something big and round next to a thin stick-like thing. The surroundings were still ashen-black, so he was probably still in the prison. His ears already worked better than his eyes and he overheard a conversation.

A heavy and greasy male voice sloppily asked, "Bao Bai, what should we do with him? You know?"

Another male voice answered lightly and hoarsely, "I don't know, Bao Bo. . . Do you have any ideas, or not?"

"Hmmm… I like his military cloths, you know. I want to have them, you know."

"Are you dumb? You're way too fat to fit even a single part of your body into that uniform, or not?"

While the two voices continued arguing, Duan Jian's vision was nearly back to normal but still a bit fuzzy. The outlines in front of him became more detailed. He could now see a big portion of jelly wobbling in front of him. It was probably his meal.

Duan Jian sat himself up and stretched his hand towards the big jelly, grabbing a chunk of it.

"AHHH!!" the greasy voice screeched.

With the screech of pain, Duan Jian returned to his senses and saw what he had grabbed with his hand. It was the big and inhumanely fat belly of a 3-meter tall man. The man looked more like an inflated balloon, ready to burst with grease.

Duan Jian removed his hand and leaped backwards in shock. He stared with wide eyes at the fat man and asked in distress, "Who are you?"

This made the fat man giggle in response, layers of fat wobbled with his giggle. He had to hold his belly with his oily fingers still or else this motion alone would make him sweat. When he finished laughing, he stroked his double chin with his oily fingers like he was marinating some meat.

"It's rude to ask for names before introducing yourself, you know? But I will look over it. I'm the great and mighty Bao Bo," he introduced himself and pointed at the bone-thin person beside him "and that is Bao Bai, you know."

Duan Jian shifted his gaze to the side and saw a thin, old man who was probably in his 50s or 60s. Like the fat man, he also didn't wear a shirt and was only covered by a pair of black pants with his bony hands in its pockets.

His grey, sparse hair stood on ends and was ruffled. After the old man wetted his lips, he asked, "You're LV60C60 named Duan Jian, or not?"

Duan Jian was a little irritated by his question and refuted, "Yes, I'm Duan Jian. But my code isn't LV60C60; it's LV30C10."

This sent the fat, greasy man and the bone-thin, old man giggling. Bao Bo said to him, "You're a funny guy, you know?! We're on level 60 here, the deepest part of the prison, you know. Every prisoner here has a code starting with LV60. Furthermore, the code LV60C60 is clearly written on your dog tags, you know? We checked, you know?"

Duan Jian pulled his dog tags out from under his military uniform and gave them a glance. He had to agree with them; his code was indeed LV60C60.

Bao Bai said, "Because you're a newbie, we will be polite. Let us go eating; you're hungry, or not?"

*growl~~*

The both of them took Duan Jian's growling tummy as a 'yes' and moved to the side, laying the scenery behind them in front of Duan Jian.

His jaw dropped heavily out of shock from seeing the scenery and he asked himself, 'Just how big is this H.I.V.E. prison?!'