This creature, called the “Demon God” by ancient civilizations, moved slowly toward the altar — its face and limbs impossible to make out.

It was like a giant ball stuffed with sand and gravel, then coated all over with coarse fur.

Everyone pressed themselves against the walls, huddled in the narrow strip of shadow, each holding a rope.

Two long ropes lay on the ground in an “X” shape, their intersection point positioned directly in front of the altar.

Step by step, the Demon God advanced, its entire body of fur swaying and shaking. The ropes were hidden beneath the thick, dense fur — it was impossible to see whether they had hooked around its feet.

It lowered its body slightly, as if sniffing at something, then used its protruding tusks to lift the bundle of clothing from the altar and raised it —

The explosives wrapped inside tumbled and rolled right out.

Everyone: “……”

The Demon God let out a puffing snort, as though it hesitated for a moment, then sniffed at the explosives again.

Quickly, it determined that this thing was not a delicious offering.

The Demon God flew into a rage. It swung its tusks and hurled the bundle of explosives aside, then opened its gaping maw and let out a roar! That mouth seemed to tear straight through its own fur — impossibly crimson! Savagely hideous!

The howl erupted from deep within its throat, ear-piercingly shrill — like the screaming of a slaughtered pig!

Bai Youwei suppressed the urge to cover her ears, grabbed her rope, and ran to one side, shouting: “Tie it up!”

All three men sprang into action at once!

They were far faster than Bai Youwei — crisscrossing in their runs, and before the Demon God had time to react, they had wrapped all four of its limbs!

The Demon God let out another pig-like roar and crashed clumsily to the ground, exposing its belly, also covered in long fur.

Its long, hard tusks clacked against the stone slabs. Its stubby limbs thrashed and struggled — it looked exactly like a great wild boar trussed up for slaughter!

The Demon God had never been the most difficult stage in the Sun Temple. So Nik had never bothered to study it carefully. Every time, he’d just tossed in a bomb and called it done — why would anyone need to go through this much trouble?

He ran back and forth with Shen Mo, looping rope after rope, panting heavily.

Subduing such an enormous beast and binding it tightly was no easy feat — it demanded an enormous expenditure of physical strength.

The rough rope was nearly abrading through his palms. Nik couldn’t help but think that Ada’s choice to wear gloves had been exactly right.

“Are we done yet?!” he called out loudly.

He was nearly at his limit.

Just pull something out already! Like you pulled out the rainbow candy, like you pulled out the effervescent tablets — whatever it is, just pull something out and end this deadlock!

The great wild boar heaved and thrashed with all its might. Nik sucked in a breath — he could see the rope at the webbing between his thumb and forefinger cutting bloody marks into his skin. His palm burned like fire!

From the other side, Bai Youwei called back loudly: “Not yet!”

“What are you waiting for?!” Nik bellowed furiously, “You should have had a plan for dealing with it before we used up the offering!”

Bai Youwei: “Can you relax? It was just a little piglet — you’ve been holding a grudge this whole time?”

Nik: “Damn it!!”

If he weren’t trying to save his strength, he’d have gone over there and given her a real piece of his mind!

The long-furred wild boar lurched and thrashed violently again!

Even with all four limbs bound, it could still shift and roll along the stone floor.

The rope in Nik’s hands was yanked out a great length.

“Nik! Did you skip dinner?!” Bai Youwei’s voice turned sharp and cutting: “Pull it back! We need to keep it at the altar position!”

Nik roared back: “Why don’t you come pull it?! This thing weighs tens of thousands of kilos — you know that?!”

“I’m not asking you to lift it off the ground — is shifting its position really that hard?!” Bai Youwei snapped, eyes narrowed, then immediately spun around and shouted at Shen Mo: “Husband! He — yelled — at — me!”

Shen Mo: “……”

“Stop arguing, both of you!” Ada was drenched in sweat from head to toe. He changed direction and moved over to help Nik pull: “Weiwei, how much longer? We’re seriously almost done here!”

Bai Youwei looked at the enormous wild boar on the ground, then lifted her head and squinted up at the sky. She pursed her lips. “Fine, I overestimated your stamina.”

She reached into her backpack and pulled out a stun baton, then lifted out a plush rabbit, and said calmly: “I’ll count to three, then all of you let go at once.”

—