Chapter 3331
Alfred could not bring himself to continue after that. He felt like he was a burden and knew this, but if he chose not to follow Jackie, he would no doubt suffer.
Rudy could see how helpless Alfred felt and could feel Alfred’s inner turmoil.
If he was as talented as Jackie, he would have been able to shield Alfred and assure him from worrying. However, Rudy was a burden to Jackie as well. If he dragged Jackie down with more burdens, he would be too disgraceful.
Rudy sighed helplessly, saying softly, “Since Jackie hasn’t asked you to leave, it means you can still follow us, so long as you don’t betray us…”
Saying that, Rudy looked at Jackie guiltily.
All this while, Jackie heard them mumbling behind them, so he turned to look at the conflicted Alfred. Even though he did not hear what they were whispering to each other clearly, he could tell what they were talking about from their expressions.
Smiling, Jackie simply said, “I can’t guarantee that I’ll bring you out alive, but I’ll do my best. I don’t even know the dangers awaiting us. After all, this slaughter game has a death rate as high as eighty percent for warriors from third-grade worlds…”
“Don’tworry. IfI die, it’s just because I’m unlucky,” interjected Alfred gently, anxiously.
“You’ve protected me once, and I’m already incredibly grateful for that. If the circumstances aren’t good, you can abandon me at will.”
He was sincere in what he said.
The slaughter game was not just any game, death was everywhere. Before they entered, Alfred had mentally prepared himself. It was just that he did not want to be tortured and toyed around with by warriors from second-grade worlds.
Jackie nodded slightly at that and said nothing else.
Rudy merely sighed lightly, feeling the cruelty of the world. However, there was nothing he could say about it. After all, it was Alfred’s choice. Opportunity and danger always came hand in hand.
Right at that moment, Alfred suddenly shouted, “Look over there!”
As he said that, he rushed ahead and pointed forward.
Jackie turned to see a few corpses lying around some rocks. Frowning, he walked forward into the scene.
They were at a small beach made of gravel, and stones of various sizes were scattered all around.
A total of three corpses were spotted on the ground, and the blood that oozed from these bodies flowed between the rocks and stained the whole area.
Jackie walked closer to better inspect the situation and was shocked to see the state those corpses were in.
They had been tortured so badly that there was not a single patch of unblemished skin on them. One of the corpses even had their innards exposed.
Rudy could not help but look away from the scene and covered his mouth. It was not that he had never seen corpses before. As a matter of fact, he had seen a lot of dead people, but he rarely saw corpses that had been tortured to death.
All of the corpses were from third-grade worlds, so a thought surfaced in their minds.
Chapter 3332
Unless someone harbored venomous vengeance against these three warriors, this had to be the work of a warrior from a second- grade world. Only they would be so sadistic to warriors from third-grade worlds.
After inspecting the corpses, Jackie relayed his findings, albeit in a cold tone. “These people were first heavily injured before they were tortured to death. It looks like it was done by a warrior from a second-grade world…”
Jackie was sure of this.
Rudy and Alfred nodded in agreement as well.
The heavy injuries meant that the corpses had been no match for their opponents. They had been dealt a heavy blow before being tortured to death.
If Jackie had not saved Alfred, he might have shared a similar fate.
The thought of this made Alfred’s breathing quicken. His face paled once more, and he started to tremble with anger.
Death was something common to warriors and many were accustomed to it, but torture was an entirely different story. Torture was something devoid of dignity.
Judging by the state of these corpses, they must have been in great despair before perishing.
Alfred took a deep breath, and his voice trembled slightly as he growled, “These animals! They crossed the line! Even if it’s a slaughter game, they shouldn’t be toying with their enemies!”
Rudy nodded fervently at this.
He gritted his teeth and looked at everything, but there was nothing he could do. He did not have Jackie’s talent. In fact, he was far worse than a warrior from a second-grade world. Facing them, all he could do was feel angry.
Sighing, Jackie slowly stood up as anger flared in his heart.
He realized that he was finding it hard to control his emotions ever since he entered Weinhord City.
“Why do these dogs act like this?” muttered Rudy. “Do they feel happy torturing others? Are they sick in the head?”
Jackie shook his head. Even he did not know what the warriors from second-grade worlds were thinking.
Although if they looked down on warriors from third-grade worlds, they should have taken care of their reputations by just killing their opponents. Alas, that was not the case.
Torture was time-consuming, and unless they were sick in the head and enjoyed looking at others die slowly, they would not do that.
Jackie sighed and shook his head again. “I don’t know what they’re thinking either. Whatever, there’s no point in knowing anyway. Let’s move forward. It looks like these people have formed an alliance and will jump at anyone easy enough. We’ll have to be careful after this. I’m not afraid of facing anyone alone, but I need to be careful against a group.”
Jackie was not worried about facing one or two opponents, but if it was three or four, he might struggle.
They had three with them, but other than himself, the other two were of no help at all. They might even end up holding him back.
Jackie sighed. He would need to be extremely careful after this.
Rudy frowned. He intended on asking Jackie to put him into Mustard Seed but decided against it, not wanting to reveal this secret to Alfred.
The three of them walked forward for a few dozen kilometers. The more they walked, the more shocked they were.
They had seen at least 10 corpses along the way, and every one of them seemed like something straight out of a horror house, having been tortured to death.
These warriors, all seemed to have come from third-grade worlds.
An uneasy feeling surfaced in Jackie’s head. It seemed like this slaughter game was much more serious than any of the earlier ones.
These warriors from second-grade worlds were all crazy.
Chapter 3333
At that moment, footsteps were heard coming from afar, and Jackie, Rudy, and Alfred jumped at the sound alertly.
Jackie frowned as he looked in the direction of these footsteps, but before they could see clearly, someone shouted out, “Don’t be alarmed! The four of us are from third-grade worlds.”
At that moment, a genial-looking man in gray robes came out with three warriors from third-grade worlds behind him.
The group walked toward Jackie gingerly.
Jackie stared at the person for a good while before nodding at him. After the four of them walked over, they greeted each other before revealing their origins.
Their group had been temporarily formed. The one who first walked was called Frederick Gaunt from the Lycan Continent, a third-grade world. The three behind him were Len Davis and Trent Walker from Chaos Continent, as well as Conor Rice from White Marsh Continent.
The four of them happened to meet and decided to form a small alliance. They approached Jackie and his company because they wanted to team up with them and face the hunting alliance together.
The moment they mentioned the hunting alliance,
Jackie raised an eyebrow. A thought flashed in his mind.
Before Jackie could ask, Frederick patiently explained, “Those insolent people from second-grade worlds formed a hunting alliance to keep themselves safe. All of them split up into smaller teams to kill off the warriors from third-grade worlds.”
“They see us as prey, as animals. Not only are they killing us, but they’re torturing us as well. It’s not like we have any grudges against them, but they’re adamant in doing this!”
Frederick’s eyes reddened as he spoke, and it was obvious how angry he was with the way he gritted his teeth.
Jackie furrowed his eyebrows, not entirely understanding the entire story. However, he did not voice out his questions and kept quiet.
Frederick sighed and saluted Jackie again. “Moving alone is incredibly dangerous. Why don’t you stick with us? We’ll put discussions about rewards aside for now. Survival is the most important part.”
Jackie could tell that Frederick regretted taking part in the slaughter game. He probably never thought of how sick in the head warriors from second-grade worlds were.
After deliberating on the situation, Jackie gave them a small nod.
The hunting alliance had split themselves up into small groups, and if he fought them alone, he might put himself in danger.
Teaming up would no doubt reduce the casualty, even if only by a little. At the very least, everyone else would be able to stall their opponents and buy him some time.
Jackie agreed to it with that in mind.
Conor, from the White Marsh Continent, looked at Jackie meaningfully before he looked at the two behind Jackie. He could not tell how strong Jackie was, but he had an idea of the other two.
One of them seemed to be heavily injured. The person’s face was pale and his breathing was not steady. The other was not injured, but his internal energies were not stable. It was obvious that he was weak. From what Conor could see, that person would probably have failed to even get into a level-eight city.
There would only be one way for that person to enter a level four city, which was that someone strong had brought him all the way.
Raising an eyebrow, Conor said, “You can join us, but not these two. This may sound harsh, but it’s just facts. The two behind you won’t be able to help us and will only hinder us. We can’t carry extra baggage.”
The moment that was said, Jackie’s expression turned cold.
Chapter 3334
Conor looked at Jackie’s cold expression and scoffed.
Squinting, he said, “It looks like you don’t agree with me. Well, there’s nothing we can do, then. After all, this group was formed with only one purpose in mind, which is to get out of here alive. Every additional burden means another layer of danger, and anyone can see this logic.”
Jackie coldly looked at Conor before he said plainly, “If that’s the case, then there’s no need for us to work together.”
With that, Jackie turned around to leave.
A flash of surprise could be seen in Conor’s eyes, which Jackie noticed and internally scoffed at.
He knew what was on Conor’s mind.
In Conor’s eyes, they were doing Jackie a great favor by letting him join. Conor thought that Jackie would be defenseless without the help of the group, but Jackie did not seem to think that joining the group was a necessary choice.
He did not see joining the group as asking for protection but merely cooperation. Since they could not come to terms, he could leave at any moment. Even though joining the group would help him when he needed it, he still needed to rely on himself in the end.
Jackie was confident that he would be able to survive even without the group and would be able to get good results.
When Conor saw that Jackie had downright declined their offer, his plans were thrown off. Even though he never saw Jackie fight before and had no way of telling how strong he was, his intuition told him that Jackie was somewhat on par with him.
Jackie joining the group would make them feel safer, but he had two men he had to lug around. That was something Conor would not agree to.
These two had no use other than being cannon fodder; they might even end up dragging everyone down at a critical moment!
Conor felt like Jackie was probably a smart person. Leaving those two behind and joining their group was the wisest choice.
He thought that Jackie would agree if he stated the pros and cons, yet the man rejected him without even blinking, much to his surprise, and chose to continue with those two burdens.
When Frederick saw Jackie leaving, he hastily called out to him. “Wait! Conor was just making a suggestion, and we can still talk about things. It’s not easy to find a team like ours.”
“I know all of the warriors who joined the slaughter game have some confidence in their skills, but confidence won’t be enough to get you out safely, given the current situation. Didn’t you see all those corpses as you walked?”
Jackie frowned and looked at Frederick.
He was no idiot. He could tell that Frederick had the same idea as Conor. Frederick wanted to convince Jackie to leave Rudy and Alfred, prioritizing his own life. Despite his wavering heart, Rudy remained silent as he stared at Jackie with a frown.
He trusted all of Jackie’s decisions. Even if Jackie left him at that moment, he would just lower his head and accept it.
Rudy believed that Jackie would not do that, however.
Jackie merely looked at Frederick quietly, but seconds later, he merely shook his head, not even bothering to explain things as he turned around and walked toward where he came from.
Frederick started to panic at that. His intuition told him that Jackie was not inadequate whatsoever, and at such a dangerous moment, more strength would only ensure their safety.
With Jackie’s actions, it was obvious that Jackie was a righteous man.
After thinking about it, Frederick rushed over to Jackie. “Since you insist on bringing the two of them, I’ll agree to it!”
Chapter 3335
Conor was displeased to hear Frederick’s words. “We won’t benefit from having these two dragging us down!”
Frederick turned and looked at Conor unhappily, saying loudly, “It’s not the time to be stubborn. Even if they’re not strong enough, anything that happens will be their problem. It’s not like we’re splitting up the resources. There’s no reason not to have a few more.”
Conor raised an eyebrow, somewhat accepting Frederick’s point of view.
Just like Frederick said, it was not like they were fighting over profit. They were not splitting up any spirit crystals, so one more person just meant one more scapegoat.
If there was any danger, they would not need to care about those two.
After Conor thought about it, he nodded at Frederick.
Conor thus turned around and grabbed Jackie’s arm, but the latter merely pushed his hand away.
”I’m not joining your group. I’m just cooperating with you,” he spoke, his tone apathetic.
Nonetheless, it clearly showed them where he stood. He did not want them to think that they were doing him a favor. In Jackie’s eyes, it was just a choice.
Frederick raised his eyebrows slightly and knew he would not be easy to deal with. However, he had to accept anyone with the situation as it was. After all, things were getting even more dangerous the longer they stayed. They had common enemies and needed to bolster their own strength.
Frederick nodded vigorously, agreeing with Jackie.
With that, Frederick’s small group of four turned into seven. Of course, to some of them, their group only had five members while the other two were useless.
Jackie did not care about their thoughts. They were just cooperating, after all.
He pulled Alfred away and lowered his voice, saying, “As long as you have the chance, make sure to try and recover so you can face the dangers ahead.”
Alfred nodded, feeling incredibly grateful. If he was to put himself in Jackie’s shoes, he might have left the other two behind. After all, his life was the most important. However, Jackie did not do this, and it showed his moral compass.
Knowing this, Alfred’s respect for Jackie grew.
The seven of them headed east, but they did not actually know where they were going. They just knew that they could not remain in the same place in case they ended up being trapped.
Time slowly ticked away, and four hours had passed in a flash.
Frederick frowned as he constantly swept his senses around, worried about anything that might happen.
He then reached out and motioned for them to stop, turning to look at the other six. “The forest is dense here, so we’ll have a lot of cover, and it’s a good place to rest. As long as we’re careful, we won’t get ambushed. Let’s rest here for now and continue forward after a bit.”
Jackie looked around and noted that it was indeed a vast sea of trees.
Just two hours ago, they had traversed the gravel before they arrived at a densely packed forest, one with gargantuan trees that obstructed one’s sight.