Volume 1, Chapter 34: The Titan Emerges from the Den

Hearing the commotion, Li Yan immediately deduced that survivors from World 87 were under attack by a dinosaur. He surged forward, his mind fixed on a single thought: save as many as possible.

According to the rules of the Order Division, ordinary people were never meant to know of their existence, but how could he worry about that now? If he did not intervene, the natives of World 87 would surely be wiped out. Standing by and watching them die was simply not in Li Yan's nature.

At the cave entrance ahead, a massive dinosaur, six or seven meters tall, was slamming its body against the rock wall in a frantic attempt to breach the shelter. The entrance was a gruesome mess of mangled flesh and severed human limbs—the monster had already devoured several people.

Li Yan’s blood boiled at the sight. His space-time locator chimed with a timely notification: "Target contamination detected. Immediate elimination recommended."

This alert was the only justification he needed. "Seventh-level enhancement, energy blade active!" Li Yan clutched the young boy tightly with one arm while gripping his long blade with the other, charging headlong toward the mutated dinosaur.

The dinosaur seemed to sense the disturbance behind it and instinctively turned, but it was already too late. Li Yan was as fast as lightning; with a flash of his blade, he struck with precision across the creature's neck. A second later, the massive head plummeted to the ground, blood erupted like a fountain, and the colossal body crashed down, kicking up clouds of dust.

One strike, one kill.

"Scan for surrounding threats." Li Yan did not rush into the cave, opting to activate his scanner first.

Survivors: 13.
Nearby creatures: 87 species...

After a quick glance at the data, he let out a sigh of relief: aside from the mutated dinosaur he had just slain, the vicinity held only small forest animals, with no immediate lethal threats.

However, moments later, the space-time locator emitted a piercing alarm: "Warning! A 37-meter-long Titan Salamander detected approaching from inside the cave. Estimated arrival at entrance in three minutes!"

A Titan Salamander?

Li Yan’s heart skipped a beat.
Isn't that just a giant, monstrous snake?
These people had actually hidden inside a snake's den?
Damn it!

The thirteen people inside wouldn't even be enough to whet its appetite. Glancing at the rapidly moving, massive shadow on the locator, he sprinted into the cave.

Inside, the thirteen survivors were still in shock, their faces etched with terror and bewilderment. As Li Yan burst in, thirteen pairs of eyes locked onto him, filled with questions.

"Get out! This is a snake's den—the thing is coming out!" Li Yan had no time for explanations and roared at them.

"Who are you? What about the dinosaur outside?..." a middle-aged man holding a wooden club stared at him warily, his voice trembling.

"It's finished! Get out now! A giant snake is inside, and it’s almost here!" Li Yan urged desperately.

The terror on their faces deepened as they instinctively looked toward the depths of the pitch-black cave.

This was a snake's den? Some were skeptical, while others refused to budge. To them, this cave was their only sanctuary in a hopeless situation; the dinosaurs and unknown creatures outside were far more terrifying.

Watching the distance on his locator shrink, Li Yan grew frantic. "There’s no time! Move!"

Seeing them hesitate, he stopped wasting words. He flashed to the middle-aged man, grabbed him, and tossed him out of the cave. Better to be bruised than swallowed by a snake.

The women in the cave shrieked at the sight, the sound piercing and ear-splitting in the confined space. "Stop screaming! If you don't want to die, move yourselves! If you dally, I’ll throw you out one by one!" Li Yan’s roar drowned out their screams, and he immediately grabbed two young people and hurled them outside as well.

The remaining survivors stood frozen in astonishment. How much strength did this man have to toss people around like chicks?

But in those few moments of delay, a violent thumping echoed from deep within the cave, as if a behemoth were closing in rapidly.

No further urging was needed. The group scrambled toward the exit, screaming. The remaining able-bodied people rushed out, leaving only an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl behind, limping due to a leg injury, her face mask of despair.

"Save me... I don't want to die... ugh..." she wailed, calling out to her companions who had abandoned her, then looked back into the dark abyss, fear and hopelessness spreading across her face.

Li Yan immediately handed the young boy to a girl who had just scrambled out. "Hold him for me!"

He lunged back into the cave, scooped the injured girl into his arms, and sprinted outward. The rumbling inside grew louder; the Titan Salamander was closing in faster.

"Run! Why are you just standing there!" Li Yan burst out of the cave, only to find the twelve people who had exited first staring blankly at the entrance, frozen in place. He was both furious and anxious—had they been scared senseless?

"Bad news!"

His combat suit suddenly emitted a sharp alarm. The Titan Salamander had reached the entrance, its blood-red maw wide open, lunging to bite him.

Li Yan didn't have time to think. He threw the girl in his arms toward safety and leapt into the air, trying to dodge the giant maw that threatened to swallow him whole.

But the moment he threw the girl, he had missed his best chance to dodge. The massive snake head slammed into him, sending him flying.

What incredible strength—even greater than the Void-Eater he had encountered before.

"Bang!" Li Yan crashed into the ground, creating a shallow crater. Thanks to his combat suit's protection, he managed to stabilize himself, though he felt his blood churning.

The nearly forty-meter-long Titan Salamander blocked the cave entrance with its body, as if asserting its sovereignty over the territory. It raised its neck high like a vertical tower, blotting out the sky. The mere gaze of its eyes was enough to shatter a person's soul.

The thirteen survivors who had just escaped could only stare in pure, unadulterated terror.

This was far beyond the limits of their comprehension.

"Run! Why are you watching!" Li Yan was furious and anxious, yet he understood that these people had likely been broken by the succession of horrors.

The Titan Salamander opened its giant mouth once more, aiming for the girl whom Li Yan had thrown aside, who now sat paralyzed on the ground due to her leg injury.

The girl was completely terrified, her eyes wide, unable to even scream, her body rigid as a stone. Before this behemoth, she was as insignificant as an ant, even her survival instincts frozen.

"Tenth-level enhancement."

Li Yan activated his tenth-level enhancement and shot forward like a missile.

"You bastard, get lost!"

He landed a heavy punch on the Titan Salamander's head.

With a dull thud, the massive head was knocked sideways, crashing against the cave's stone wall. The giant Titan Salamander had not expected such a tiny thing to possess such power.

It was immediately enraged.

Flicking its scarlet tongue and letting out a hissing, monstrous screech, it fixed its eyes—each the size of a human head—on Li Yan, filled with malice.

"Damn it!" Li Yan scanned the survivors who had already run a distance away; they were too slow. At this speed, they would never escape. Especially the girl with the injured leg, who had fainted in terror.

If Li Yan didn't do something, she would certainly die today.

At this point, Li Yan could no longer worry about anything else. He had to kill this Titan Salamander. Otherwise, the giant snake would devour his kind.

Li Yan could not stand by and watch that happen.