Forest

Various tiny body parts were scattered in front of the altar on the mountainside.

There were also pools of highly corrosive, tadpole-like liquid creatures that were crushed and exploded.

Judging from their positions, they were almost touching each other.

The only intact finger was still crawling, but it was quickly crushed into mincemeat by the spirit.

Even Hua Yuan, Pseudo-Human had been around for over six years and had seen all sorts of situations, squatted down in front of the rotten flesh, even holding it in his hand to examine it closely, observing the luster flowing between the flesh.

"As expected... I should have thought of this back in the cave."

No wonder the rewards for the "Corner Wanted Order" wanted poster are so high; the monster avatar hidden on this island is just too monstrous! Its true form might even surpass that of the Grandmother.

I had imagined many troubles, but I never expected this guy's troubles to be so impossible to guard against.

After Hua Yuan finished speaking, he looked up at the night sky, at the dazzling and enchanting stars.

Standing to the side, also observing the rotting flesh, Luo Di chimed in, "The Starry Sky?"

"Yes.

All living things that are active outdoors at night will be bathed in starlight and unknowingly affected by calamity, which has no structural or symbolic representation in its hidden state.

We have all been infected with a scourge, but the methods employed by the other party are too subtle for us to detect.

Perhaps it's just as he said.

If his true form cannot be found within 24 hours, the long-accumulated malice within us will be fully unleashed.

Hua Yuan then pinched a piece of the rather hard tissue.

"Moreover, the consequences of this guy's misdeeds are quite unique."

The individual did not go insane or die from complete fear, but rather underwent a "special mutation".

It's not just a simple, mindless mutation.

Rather, it is an advanced mutation, a mutation that retains the attribute of growth.

Although the battle ended quickly, this creature showed significant growth and change. If it hadn't encountered us so early and been killed, it probably would have evolved into an even more dangerous form.

The so-called "experiment" might really be interesting, which explains why the corner offered such a large reward.

Luo Di didn't rush to conclusions, knowing that any conclusions drawn from such a single sample would inevitably be inaccurate.

"Let's go check out the village first; perhaps the entire village has already been corrupted."

After Hua Yuan crushed the rotten flesh in his hand, a special, fragrant liquid flowed from his palm, washing away the stains.

"Let's go, maybe Shia and the others are fighting in the village right now."

However, when the two returned to the village, the situation was completely different from what they had imagined.

This island village, which was full of villagers during the day, is now completely deserted and deathly silent, without even a single corpse.

It appears that the villagers were evacuated before the changes occurred on the island, and their exact whereabouts are currently unknown.

The expected Shia, the Sister Eye, and the class monitor were also not here.

There was no trace of life left in the wooden cabin where the group had stayed, indicating that they had never returned here. They might still be trapped in the cave, or they might have gone somewhere else.

The two waited in the cabin for more than ten minutes, but no one came down the mountain to return to the village. Perhaps the team's reunion could not be completed here.

Luo Di suggested, "We can't keep waiting like this. Perhaps they encountered some unknown situation and left the cave, forced to go to other areas of the island, and it will be difficult for them to return to the village."

Of course, they must also be thinking about the issue of "convergence".

How about we try going back to where we started, back to the hotel?

Hua Yuan stood at the window inside the house, gazing at the entire village. After listening to Luo Di's suggestion and combining it with her own observations and analysis, she nodded after a moment.

"No one should be coming here anymore, let's go."

The stone tablets standing along the village roads seemed to have truly worked their magic at that moment. The entire village was not disturbed in any way and remained as quiet as a sleeping baby under the starlight.

But when the two reached the exit of the island village, they both stopped in their tracks, their gazes immediately sharpening, a slight discomfort growing and spreading in their eyes.

Hours earlier, the road the group had taken by bus to the island village had been completely swallowed up by the forest, and there was no "road" to speak of.

Starlight filtered through the dense foliage, scattering across this undeveloped, predominantly dark primeval forest.

The once straight tree trunks are now bent and twisted to varying degrees.

Some tree trunks had obvious cracks on their surfaces, and deep within these cracks, it seemed as if "eyes" had grown, spying on the forest and the intruders.

In the stillness of the night, faint sounds of crying, laughter, and even breathing could be heard coming from the woods.

Both Hua Yuan and Luo Di had the same feeling: the entire forest seemed to have come alive.

It would be difficult for the two to discern the correct direction in such a forested area, and venturing in haphazardly could easily lead to complete disorientation, given the considerable size of this primeval forest.

Hua Yuan paused only briefly before taking a step forward.

"We'll walk in one direction, and even if we don't get back to the hotel, as long as we keep a straight line, we'll reach the coast. Then we can walk around the coastline and we'll definitely get back to the resort."

"OK."

Considering the potential hidden threats that may exist in the forest.

Luo Di put the pig's head back on. His fat body enhanced his basic defense, and the pig's head also allowed him to see farther and more than the naked eye, as well as to spy on spirits that were invisible to the naked eye.

This time, Hua Yuan did not show any disdain; instead, she nodded in approval of Luo Di wearing the pig's head.

The two soon arrived at a severely twisted tree trunk with cracks on its surface. The sense of being spied on from between the cracks became clearer, and they could tell that something inside was watching them.

Just as Hua Yuan was about to cut the entire tree open, Luo Di stepped forward.

"I'll give it a try."

Luo Di placed his right hand in a crevice in the tree that resembled an eye socket, and the pituitary gland on the back of his hand was immediately activated, causing an invisible spiritual finger to plunge into it.

The entire tree shook violently, a large number of leaves fell down, and faint screams could even be heard.

A shiny, oily substance oozed from between the tree branches, emitting a foul stench.

Although the tree still stands here, Luo Di can clearly feel that its vitality has completely dissipated at this moment, and he estimates that it will completely wither and decay in a few days.

"Even the nature of plants has changed; they can no longer be called plants, but rather a completely new kind of animal... How did they manage to do that?"

Hua Yuan didn't say anything and continued walking in a straight line, and Luo Di quickly followed.

Although the feeling of being watched by the trees is very uncomfortable, there are too many to eliminate them one by one, so we just kill the trees that pass by.

After walking about 500 meters, their eyes were once again drawn to something.

A mahogany coffin with symbols engraved on its surface and decorated with wreaths appeared on the right side of the field of vision.

According to the Baldy's account, this is the Coffin Burial method commonly used by the villagers.

There are many coffins like these in the forest.

This decorated coffin corresponds to an elderly person who died a natural death, according to the village tradition, having entered the cycle of reincarnation and passed away peacefully.

current,

The coffin was located more than 20 meters to the right, not blocking their way, and the two did not waste time checking its condition.

However,

Just as the two were about to ignore the coffin and continue walking...

Knock knock knock! A knock came at the door.

The sound was coming from inside the coffin.

When the two were drawn to the source of the sound and looked again, the coffin, which had been tightly closed before, was now open, and the lid slid gently onto the muddy ground in the forest.

A pale, wrinkled old man's body with lividity was standing in front of the coffin, wearing only a loincloth.

It stared at the two of them with black eye sockets that had no eyeballs.

The corpse did not move; it simply stood motionless in front of the coffin, staring at the two men, and a beam of starlight shining through the leaves happened to fall on it.