The mournful cry was so desolate that even He Ao could not help but feel a trace of sorrow.
He Ao frowned and looked into the pitch-black night.
He had still miscalculated one thing. Visibility in the ruins at night was even lower than he had imagined.
Looking down from the rooftop, he could not see the ground at all—only a dark, bottomless abyss.
That mournful cry had come from the depths of that abyss.
Vaguely, He Ao could make out a huge, long, black creature "swimming" through the "abyss" between the buildings beneath his feet.
Beneath the high-rises, within the night, that unfathomable darkness resembled a bottomless deep sea, and the enormous creature wandered through that "sea."
The night was the "seawater" it depended on to survive.
This was a scene the Research Institute's records had never mentioned. Those records merely said that night might be more dangerous than daytime, that stronger monsters might be encountered, and advised explorers to find a building to rest in at night.
They had never said that such lifeforms lived in the ruins at night.
Could it be that the Research Institute's explorers had never encountered creatures like this?
No. Perhaps someone had encountered them.
It was just that they... had all died.
The moment He Ao realized this, a powerful shudder rose from his back.
It was not fear born from realizing the truth, but the trembling sensation of being watched by some powerful mind.
When He Ao saw that Black Shadow, the Black Shadow saw him as well.
This monster was very strong—far beyond D-rank.
Not even Pena had given He Ao such an overwhelming sense of pressure. This creature was most likely a C-rank extraordinary lifeform far stronger than Pena, perhaps even B-rank.
He Ao withdrew his gaze, then abruptly