At the same time, with Gong Kaishan and Qian Shaoyuan included, other than the guards responsible for watching Sweet, the rest of the Demon Suppression Action Team members all gathered in front of the basement monitors, watching the battle between Xiao Feng and the man in black in the yard.

"This person can hold out against the boss for this long, he must have some skills."

"Indeed, if it were me, I'd probably be kneeling within ten moves."

"It's about over anyway, didn't you see that kid already starting to flee?"

Everyone gathered around, discussing fervently, while Gong Kaishan was intently watching the screen, ignoring the discussions around him.

Just then, someone suddenly pointed at the monitor, stunned and said, "Holy crap! Look quickly!"

Everyone jumped in shock and hurriedly looked towards the monitor, but the scene they saw left each person dumbfounded...

In the yard, Xiao Feng put away his dagger and grabbed a shovel from the corner, swinging it around.

"Huff, huff..."

The shovel swung wide and fierce in his hands, forcing the man in black to retreat temporarily.

Xiao Feng seized the momentum, taking every opportunity to hit him hard while he was down, making it appear as if he was firmly suppressing the man in black, steadily gaining the upper hand.

The eyes under the hood of the man in black tightened. He held the knife in both hands and slashed horizontally, seemingly intending to split the shovel in Xiao Feng's hands in two.

It's worth noting that the outfit of the man in black, no matter how much he moved, never had major adjustments. The black coat, as if inksilk-dyed, seemed part of him.

In fact, when Xiao Feng used the Silver Needle earlier to make the man in black dodge, he aimed to glimpse under the hood for the real face. But even from above, looking down, it was pitch dark inside the hood, making it impossible to see any features, not even a silhouette.

Seeing the curved knife coming down, Xiao Feng immediately raised the shovel high. He knew well that the curved knife in the man in black's hand was not made of ordinary material and couldn't be blocked by a shovel if it really came to it.

The man in black missed his mark and was about to withdraw the knife, but at that moment, Xiao Feng's raised shovel suddenly came down, striking his hands.

"Bang!"

The man in black let out a muffled groan from the pain, and then the curved knife slipped from his hands, hitting the ground with a crisp "clink".

Weaponless, the man in black dared not retrieve it, nor had the time to. Then, he heard a whooshing wind beside his ear—Xiao Feng swung the shovel over.

Thus, the scene became quite dramatic.

Moments ago, it was a duel between two top experts, looking all upscale and exhilarating, yet the next moment it turned into a street brawl style.

One swung the shovel relentlessly, while the other ran about frantically to evade, leaving Gong Kaishan and others in front of the monitor stupefied.

"Is this the boss?" someone asked in disbelief.

The people around hesitated to speak but didn't know how to comment.

No one had seen such a low-class shovel fight, utterly losing its high stature.

After a while, the man in black, like an arrow, swiftly escaped the yard. Though his expression under the hood was unclear, it probably wasn't pleasant.

There was nothing else he could do. He felt that if he didn't retreat now, the prestige he had built would be entirely shattered.

As the leader of the Demon Suppression Action Team, being chased around the yard by someone wielding a shovel was disgraceful!

"Still fighting?" Xiao Feng asked, standing in the middle of the path, eyes on the halted man in black, balancing the shovel on his shoulder, a half-smile on his face.

The man in black shook his head and then jumped off the middle path, heading into the sea of flowers.

Under the moonlight, the purplish-black Christmas Roses looked particularly enchanting, each with its charm but hiding deadly danger.

For a long while, with his back to Xiao Feng, the man in black said, "I used to be an instructor at the Devil's Concentration Camp, which is my second identity I mentioned."

"So that's it." Xiao Feng realized, no wonder he found the opponent's moves somewhat familiar — they had been old rivals.

Of course, hearing that the current head of the Demon Suppression Action Team was once a mid-level figure in the Devil's Concentration Camp was unexpected for Xiao Feng.

"You are strong; without weapons and other external factors, I'm not your match," the man in black said faintly. "Perhaps if you joined the Devil's Concentration Camp a few years earlier, I wouldn't be the way I am now."

Xiao Feng frowned slightly, "What do you mean by that?"

"You fought your way out of the Camp, openly leaving the organization, but I didn't." The man in black reached out to touch a rose petal nearby, but with his gloved hands, he likely didn't feel anything real.

"You sneaked out?" Xiao Feng probed, though he felt this wasn't the true answer.

The man in black replied, "You joined the camp much later than I did, so it's normal not to know. Actually, besides directly fighting your way out, there's another way to leave the organization."

"Oh?" Xiao Feng said with interest, "I've never heard of that."

"The method I used is quite simple, just take a trip down the Yellow Springs Road," the man in black said blandly, then slowly turned, his body trembling imperceptibly, recalling those nightmarish memories…

Yellow Springs Road is a path for the dead, and for the living to tread it, is far more than just skinning flesh off bones.

A not-so-wide path lay ahead, its end shrouded in darkness. Lining the road were instructors, expressionless and gazing straight ahead, exuding an unspeakable pressure.

Behind these instructors, no red spider lilies bloomed, but purplish-black Christmas Roses swayed gently in the breeze, as if waiting for someone to pass through.

Soon, a not-so-burly figure stepped forward, and the instructors flanking the path collectively moved—each slashing once, sending two bloody arcing paths flying.

Blood stained the stamens of the Christmas Roses, adding a deep crimson to the purplish-black petals, making the flowers even more vibrant, but the scene was too gruesome to watch.

The figure on the path gritted his teeth, silent yet filled with defiance in his eyes, indicating that no amount of pain would make him stop—as long as he was alive, he would forge ahead!

The figure continued forward; those instructors who had struck before did not act again, but dozens more along the path hadn't yet moved. Their purpose wasn't to kill, but to ensure those on this path felt such pain that they'd never dare tread it again.

When the staggering figure finally appeared at the path's end, the instructors flanking the path turned and left, cutting all ties with that former colleague, dead or alive.

The figure collapsed to the ground, looking like a bloody porcupine, or rather a mess of flesh, covered with scars large and small, many exposing white bones—shocking to behold!

"So, after that, I vowed that if I survived, I would eradicate those people to the last one!" the man in black said coldly, his body's trembling becoming increasingly uncontrollable.

Only then did Xiao Feng understand why the man never showed his face or any skin. Given what he said he went through, revealing his true form would have him treated as a monster.

Of course, this was just the man's side of the story, and Xiao Feng couldn't verify it, nor could he fully believe it.

"After paying such a price, did you have a reason you absolutely had to leave?" Xiao Feng asked curiously.

The man in black replied in a somewhat hoarse voice, "You should know that survival environment best: enclosed, oppressive, everyone passively absorbing that person's indoctrination, eventually being fully assimilated.

And I wouldn't live in such a daze forever, so I was the first to try taking that path.

At the time, I naively thought no one would strike hard against me, but when the first knife cut across my face and stabbed into me, I knew—there was no turning back."

Xiao Feng was stunned for a long time, "So, in the end, you honestly just wanted to give it a try, but didn't expect they'd play for real, and by the time you regretted it, it was too late?"

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