Just as Gu Jin was doing some stretches outside her tent, she noticed a few people throwing her dirty looks.
Their eyes were full of annoyance and anger, and it was clear they were still upset that Gu Jin had handed the woman over to the police.
So what if they’re offended? she thought. It’s not like I came here to serve them tea or become their friend.
She turned away, completely ignoring their looks.
Seeing how calm and unbothered she was, those people got even more annoyed. Some even snorted loudly as if to say, "How rude!"
But others in the camp were different. They had seen the truth. They knew Gu Jin had done the right thing.
So, a few of them quietly came up to her. Some gave her a soft smile. Others gave her small nods or gentle pats on the shoulder.
"Thank you," one man said.
"We’re sorry for how everyone treated you," said a young woman. "Not everyone in Country J is like that."
"Yes," another added. "Please don’t judge all of us because of a few people."
Gu Jin didn’t say much. She simply nodded and stood there quietly until they walked away.
Once they left, she entered her tent again.
She wasn’t here to make friends.
Two full days passed.
Gu Jin sat cross-legged inside her tent, eyes closed, trying to meditate. She figured it might take ten more days before the rift appeared.
"THE SPATIAL RIFT HAS OPENED!!" someone shouted outside.
In seconds, people came running from every corner of the camp. Tents were shaking as crowds rushed out to see it.
Gu Jin opened her eyes and quickly walked out too. She wanted to check if it was really a spatial rift.
Floating in the air ahead of the camp—a large, glowing hole full of swirling energy.
It looked bright and powerful. Many people were already running toward it.
Gu Jin narrowed her eyes. Something didn’t feel right.
She took out her phone and called Wen Xue.
The call connected in seconds.
"Wen Xue," she said quickly, "a rift just opened near the camp. Should I jump in?"
"Wait," Wen Xue replied. "Give me a moment. I need to calculate something first."
Meanwhile, more and more people were diving into the rift without thinking.
Gu Jin watched with a strange feeling in her chest.
Then Wen Xue’s voice came back through the phone—and it was serious.
Then Wen Xue’s voice came back through the phone—and it was serious.
"Gu Jin, don’t jump in! That’s not a spatial rift—it’s a chaos rift!"
Gu Jin’s eyes widened.
Her heartbeat sped up.
Chaos rifts were dangerous—deadly, in fact.
They weren’t like spatial rifts, which were full of treasures and challenges.
A chaos rift was like a black hole in the world of magic. Anyone who went in would have their body ripped apart, piece by piece, until nothing was left.
She looked at the people still running forward and spread her blind wings.
The dark feathered wings flew forward and grabbed several people, dragging them back just before they could jump in.
"What are you doing?!" someone shouted.
"Why are you stopping us?"
They looked at Gu Jin with anger and confusion.
But Gu Jin’s voice was cold and steady.
"If you jump in there, you’ll die."
Her voice was full of certainty.
Then someone who had been angry with her earlier snorted loudly.
"You’re just making up excuses! You want to keep the treasures for yourself!"
Before anyone could stop him, he leaped into the rift.
Gu Jin’s vines tried to catch him, but he sliced them down with his sword. He looked back and smirked.
"I’m going to be rich!" he shouted.
Gu Jin shouted after him, "That’s a chaos rift!"
"Did she say chaos rift?"
Someone quickly pulled out a spatial energy-measuring device and held it near the rift.
The screen glowed red.
"...It’s true," he said, stunned. "It really is a chaos rift."
The crowd went quiet.
Then, they all jumped back in fear.
People were sweating. Some were shaking. One woman even dropped to her knees.
"We were so close to jumping in..."
Suddenly, a young man peered carefully into the rift.
Floating just outside the swirling energy was a human hand, covered in blood.
It hovered in the air for one moment, then got pulled back into the rift.
The crowd was terrified. Everyone stared at the rift, not daring to get close anymore.
They stood far back, waiting.
The chaos rift didn’t close right away like a normal spatial rift.
It stayed open for almost four full hours.
A real spatial rift would’ve closed within ten minutes.
When the rift finally vanished into nothing, the people turned to Gu Jin.
One by one, they began to bow to her.
"You saved our lives..."
"We’re so sorry for doubting you..." Some even wiped away tears.
"If you hadn’t stopped us..."
Gu Jin didn’t say anything.
She didn’t smile. She didn’t act proud. She just turned and walked back into her tent.
But this time—no one felt offended.
She was hurt by how the people of Country J had treated her before.
So they didn’t chase after her.
Instead, they watched her tent quietly.
And behind her back... they started praising her.
"Yeah, she sensed the danger before anyone else.""Without her, we would’ve jumped into that chaos rift like fools.""A death isn’t like losing a game. It’s final... It’s not like a dog you can call back."
People nodded and mumbled in agreement. They looked around the valley with serious expressions.
But as the shock faded, some people started to think more deeply.
"Wait a second," someone said. "Why did a chaos rift appear here?"
"Isn’t that really rare?"
"Super rare," another person replied. "My uncle is a rift hunter, and he said chaos rifts only appear once in thousands of years. Their chance of appearing is less than 1%."
"Then why did it suddenly open in this place?"
"Yeah, it’s weird..."
"Unless... unless someone made it appear..."
That thought scared everyone.
Gu Jin, back inside her tent, was thinking the same thing.
She sat by her bed, holding a cup of warm tea, frowning.
A chaos rift... here... now? That’s not normal, she thought.
Even in wild lands full of energy, a chaos rift shouldn’t just open like that. It was too random... too unnatural.
Could someone have triggered it on purpose?
Why would anyone want to kill everyone in the valley?
There were hundreds of people here. People from different countries.
What reason could anyone have to wipe them all out?
Gu Jin shook her head. She didn’t want to stress over it too much. Not now.
What mattered was that she needed a spatial rift.
And more importantly, she needed a way to measure the rift’s energy before jumping in.
Right now, she doesn’t have the equipment. She could order it, but it would take 4–5 days to arrive.
That was the problem.
What if a real spatial rift appeared before that?
How would she know if it was spatial or another chaos one?
And for some reason, her heart told her—more chaos rifts were coming.
She decided not to overthink it for now. She needed to rest.
By evening, her stomach growled.
She opened her space ring and took out some food she had already prepared earlier—warm rice, spicy vegetables, and soft flatbread.
She sat inside the tent and started eating slowly, the warm food bringing some comfort.
Someone was knocking at her tent’s door.
Gu Jin raised one eyebrow.
She decided to ignore it.
But the knocking came again.
She put her plate down with a sigh and walked to the tent entrance.
And found a group of people standing outside.
She looked at them calmly. "What now? Are you going to yell at me again?"
Her voice was flat, and her face unreadable.
But to her surprise...
One by one, everyone bowed.
"Thank you, Miss Gu Jin," said one man.
"You saved our lives," said another. "We will remember this."
"If you ever need help, you can ask us," someone else added.
"We promise to support you however we can."
They all looked sincere. Some even looked a little embarrassed. They had clearly been the same people who gave her cold looks before.
But now, they were bowing in front of her.
They had seen her strength. Her warning had saved everyone.
And most of all, they now realized something:
Even though they had treated her badly, Gu Jin had still saved all of them.
She could’ve stood back and watched them jump to their deaths.