His barrier trembled and Benan moved back, shuffling his feet, looking around in exasperation. There was no way out. There was absolutely no way out.

Time was running short and he knew that he needed to act fast. He looked here and there for an escape, for a way out, but everyone else was dead.

His gaze then landed on the little boy who was still covered by a thick dark mist. His eyes immediately widened. There was it! That boy was his only trump card!

Benan dashed towards him and started shaking him. However, his hands went through the mist, but the boy was still unresponsive.

In his frantic efforts, he completely failed to notice that the black mist was actually eating away at his barrier. Others couldn't see the barrier around him, but he could, and now that the black mist was spreading around it, Qin Hua also could.

[Woof! Let's get this over with.] Qin Hua leaped into a shadow and pounced at the man from behind, and this time there was nothing to block her path.

Her canines sunk into the man's throat and Benan shrieked in pain, making one last effort to shoot at the big black dog. However, before he could, his hand was cleanly severed by a sharp icicle as Qin Hua chewed his throat and finished him off.

Thud. Benan's limp and lifeless body fell on the ground and an eerie silence enveloped the survivors, only to be broken by a dog's excited bark.

<Ding. 1 Level 13 Human killed>

<Ding. 600 Experience points have been rewarded>

<Ding. You have leveled up. Level 10 -> Level 11>

Seeing that everything had settled down and there was no more fighting, the others who were hiding finally walked out from the waiting area.

Xu Meilin immediately ran over to Lu Chen and hugged him, bawling her eyes out. Alex looked at Nan Zhong's body which was still bleeding non-stop.

The entire place was a pool of blood with corpses floating around. "Sorry about your friend." Guan Ye muttered.

Alex shook her head. "He deserved it. It was long overdue."

Her eyes then moved to the black dog that had tiredly settled on the ground, panting. It seemed to be eating some sort of roasted meat.

Was it trying to recover its strength? She wondered.

Her own stomach subconsciously growled from hunger, but Alex didn't dare approach the dog, let alone eye the food it was gulping down.

She walked over to Lu Chen as well and stood near him. "That's your pet? That… small white puppy?" She hesitantly asked.

Lu Chen chuckled as he nodded his head. He freed himself from Xu Meilin's grasp and walked over to Qin Hua's side, rubbing her head.

"Were you the one who took care of everyone else?" He asked, to which Qin Hua shook her head. [Of course, it was me. Who else? Woof!]

Lu Chen sighed, letting out a long breath. "Thanks for not listening to me." He nuzzled her head and muttered.

He had asked her to watch over Su Yan but clearly, the dog had no intention of following his orders and did whatever pleased her, even ending up saving his ass.

If she had done exactly as she was told, he would have probably not made it alive, especially with Nan Zhong around.

Lu Chen couldn't help but wonder how could a dog think and accomplish something like this even if it was mutated and developed some sort of intelligence. Her behavior was extremely puzzling.

While he looked into her elegant sharp eyes, trying to figure her out, Qin Hua was currently thinking of something else.

[Ah shit! Su Yan!] Her body double had disappeared. Probably sometime in the middle of her fight or probably because of her casting [Dark Shackles] repeatedly.

Woof! Woof! She barked hoping that Lu Chen would understand her but he seemed to be clueless. Qin Hua lifted her head up and pointed, even moving her eyeballs up.

She did it three times consecutively and only then Lu Chen noticed her actions. Hmm? His eyes widened and coincidentally Alex asked him at the same time. "Where is Su Yan?"

"I need to go check on him." Lu Chen shook his head. "His condition is not great."

"What happened, brother Chen?" Xu Meilin worriedly asked. Qin Hua rolled her eyes and barked loudly. [Not the time for chit-chatting! Woof!]

But she had a much better opinion of the two women now. When push came to shove, they did not betray them and stood by their side until the end.

Lu Chen smiled, amused at the dog's behavior. "Will tell you guys later. Let's first clean up some things." He then turned his attention towards the boy, the dark mist slowly clearing away from him.