The Ghost King never expected Serena Feng would risk being caught to chase after him. He hadn't bothered to cover his tracks, so Serena, with her shadow guards, quickly followed the trail.
If not for the Ghost King leading the way, Serena Feng would never have imagined that there was a half-man-high cave on this deserted island. As for what was inside, she had no idea.
"My lady, it's dangerous inside. Let us go in first and check." The shadow guards blocked Serena Feng, refusing to let her take the risk.
"You are no match for the Ghost King." Serena stepped forward, and immediately felt a wave of scorching heat rush toward her...
Fire? There's fire in the cave?
Serena flashed a look of confusion, her unease growing. Ignoring the shadow guards' attempts to stop her, she insisted on going in: "There's definitely something wrong inside. You can't stop the Ghost King. I'll go..."
"My lady..." The shadow guards still refused, but once Serena made up her mind, there was no stopping her.
Serena glanced at the cave, her expression grave as she told the shadow guards, "I suspect the Ghost King wants to take us all down with him. No matter what, I have to go in and see for myself."
She wasn't trying to play the hero—she was genuinely worried something would go wrong. Just thinking about that possibility made Serena want to rush straight to the Ghost King and stop whatever he was planning.
Serena ignored her own physical discomfort and ran inside with all her strength, leaving the shadow guards no choice but to follow...
The deeper Serena went, the hotter it became. The waves of heat nearly made it impossible for her to breathe.
"Could this really be an undersea volcano?" Serena panted, forcing herself to push past the discomfort as she ran forward.
If this island really was the mouth of an undersea volcano, she had to stop the Ghost King before he made a move—otherwise, everyone was doomed.
"Damn it!" Serena silently cursed herself for not being more cautious. Before setting sail, it had never occurred to her to have someone investigate the waters around Ghost Hall—she'd just rushed in blindly.
If something really happened, regret would be useless.
Then again, it wasn’t really Serena’s fault. Even if she’d thought of it, with the current level of technology, no one on the Nine Provinces continent understood the situation at sea, let alone every single region.
Serena’s guess was spot on—the island chain really did sit atop an undersea volcano, and it was active, ready to erupt at any moment. What the Ghost King was about to do was trigger an eruption by force.
If the undersea volcano erupted, not even Prince Nolan and the others would survive—Serena and the Ghost King would be dead too. The Ghost King didn’t know this; he only thought detonating the volcano would destroy Ghost Hall.
By the time Serena and the shadow guards arrived, the Ghost King had already loaded firestones, fire-oil, and gunpowder into the mechanism. All he had to do was throw in the torch, and the device would launch a massive fireball into the volcano’s mouth, setting it off.
A fight to the death. Honestly, the founding Ghost King who built Ghost Hall was ruthless—not just to others, but to his own heirs too.
Once the Ghost King decided to destroy Ghost Hall, he was dooming himself to die with it—though he had no idea.
With everything ready, the Ghost King lit the torch. But just as he was about to throw it in, a hidden weapon flew over...
"No!" Serena's face changed dramatically, and she fired several shots at the Ghost King in quick succession. She didn't care about aiming—her only goal was to stop him.
"Don't light it! We'll all die!" Serena had already handed her AK-47 assault rifle to a shadow guard; now she used the small handgun at her waist, firing without hesitation to force the Ghost King farther from the volcanic mouth.
"Serena Feng, you've got guts, coming here on your own." The Ghost King swung the torch, a gleam flashing in his eyes.
He wanted to kill Prince Nolan and capture Serena Feng.
Serena glanced at the Ghost King, then ordered the shadow guards, "Move up and put out the fire."
At this point, the shadow guards understood everything. Without needing Serena to say more, they rushed forward, trying to make the Ghost King drop the torch.
With Serena right in front of him, the Ghost King didn't rush to light the torch. Instead, he started fighting with the shadow guards.
Chaos erupted. Serena didn’t dare fire again, afraid she’d hit her own men by mistake. She waited for her chance as the shadow guards tangled with the Ghost King, edging closer to the mouth of the cave...
In the cave wall was a circular opening, built from massive stones. The rocks inside glowed red-hot; just one glance made Serena’s eyes sting, her face burning as if scorched by iron.
She didn’t dare look again, couldn’t even tell how deep the hole went—but one thing was certain: it was definitely connected to the undersea volcano.
Outside the opening, there was a layer of something like black iron. Serena touched it to check the temperature—finding it cool enough, she started searching for a mechanism, hoping to seal the cave mouth.
The heat inside the cave was unbearable. After only a short while, Serena was drenched with sweat, like she’d been caught in a downpour…
Her chest felt tight, her throat burned. Panting, she clutched her chest and glanced around, but found no mechanism. Serena had to stop and pull a few bottles of water and other supplies from her Smart Med-Pack.
Watching the shadow guards locked in combat with the Ghost King, Serena gave up the idea of sharing water with them. She twisted open a bottle and gulped down several mouthfuls…
The icy water revived her. Just then, the torch in the Ghost King's hand was knocked away by the shadow guards.
In truth, the Ghost King had dropped it himself. The cramped cave made it hard for him to fight, but the shadow guards still couldn’t wrest the torch from his grasp.
"Serena Feng, what did you mean just now? Why would we all die?" Even while fending off the shadow guards, the Ghost King had energy to question her.
"Don’t you realize what you were about to do?" Serena paused, turning to look at him. Seeing his genuine confusion, she explained, "If you’d thrown the torch just now, it might have triggered the volcano beneath the sea. If it erupts, we all die here."
"Volcanic eruption? There's a volcano under the sea? You're trying to fool me." The Ghost King, who had half believed her before, now didn't believe her at all. "Serena Feng, you're playing me."
Realizing he'd been deceived, the Ghost King's attacks grew more vicious. Soon, two shadow guards lay dead at his hands. Serena's face darkened as she raised her gun and aimed at the Ghost King: "I have no reason to lie about this. If you throw the torch, we'll all die—including you."
From the Ghost King's words, Serena realized he truly didn't know about the volcano. Surprise flickered in her eyes.
She'd thought the Ghost King was trying to take them all down with him, but now it seemed that wasn't the case.
"Impossible. Why would my father want me dead?" Doubt flashed in the Ghost King's eyes as he grabbed the nearest shadow guard, clamping his right hand around the guard's neck. "Nobody move. Serena Feng, put down your weapon."
"No...don't!" The captured shadow guard shook his head desperately, trying to kill himself but was stopped by the Ghost King. The Ghost King dislocated the guard's jaw, his delicate face twisting into a grotesque mask, black eyes burning with madness.
"Serena Feng, put down your weapon and explain everything to me..."