Trap

"Hiss..."

Qi Liang's eyes met the cold beastly gaze. His body stiffened, and he bared his teeth as he sucked in a sharp breath. Every hair on his body stood on end, a chill seeping through him from the inside out.

Qi Liang shuddered, opened his mouth, and shouted for a long while before realizing he could not make a sound. He suddenly sucked in a breath, raised his voice, and screamed, "Bear!!"

"Roar!"

Before Zhao Ke could react, he heard a bear's roar and a crashing sound from behind him. Instinctively, he dove to the side.

"Bang!"

Dust and chunks of mud-brick flew like exploding firecrackers, striking Zhao Ke and leaving his entire body burning with pain. When he turned back to look, his heart instantly sank.

"The wall... collapsed!"

This mud house was already old, and the walls were riddled with cracks. Zhao Ke had considered that possibility when they first entered, but he had not expected it to actually collapse.

"Roar!!"

The low growl changed the expressions of all three people in the room. Within the dust, a blurred silhouette gradually became clear.

The forest had been shrouded in fog before, so none of them had gotten a good look at the bear. Now, by the light of the oil lamp, its black mane, solid claws, and enormous body alone gave Zhao Ke a crushing sense of pressure.

There was no doubt that this was the real Xiong Er. Before such a giant beast, even taking a deep breath felt like a luxury.

Especially those blood-red eyes staring at the three of them in the room, making every hair on their bodies stand on end.

At that moment, Xiong Er's gaze suddenly shifted, its eyes fixed directly on Chen Jing, who was hiding in the corner.

"Save... save... save me!"

Chen Jing's face went pale, and all the muscles in her body stiffened. One hand clutched the fruit knife Zhao Ke had given her as she curled herself into the corner.

Xiong Er looked at the fruit knife in Chen Jing's hand. Its thick nose twitched hard, and after catching that familiar scent on the blade, its pupils contracted. It stared at Chen Jing, slowly baring its sharp fangs as overwhelming killing intent poured forth with a low growl.

"Roar!"

Chen Jing only saw darkness before her eyes as a huge black bear paw rapidly filled her vision.

"Move!"

Qi Liang reached out to push her, but his legs were weak. The moment he moved, something red suddenly splashed before his eyes, as if a basin of hot water had been thrown across his face. A strong stench of blood hit him. He wiped his face with his hand and found it covered in blood.

Looking at Chen Jing again, he saw that her body was still standing there, but half her head was gone.

"Fuck you."

Qi Liang caught his breath, grabbed the axe from the table, and swung it at Xiong Er's head. But Xiong Er swept out with a forelimb, sending both Qi Liang and the axe flying.

"Clang..."

Qi Liang's vision went black, and the fall nearly knocked him senseless. When he tried to move, every bone in his body felt as though it had fallen apart.

Luckily, he was built tough. Anyone else would have been knocked unconscious by that blow. He shook his head and struggled to get up, but then the light before his eyes suddenly dimmed.

He looked up and saw Xiong Er's enormous body standing upright like a human, its head nearly touching the roof beam. Its blood-red eyes glinted viciously as it stared coldly at him.

"Hey! Xiong Er."

Hearing someone call it, Xiong Er instinctively raised its head. Its beastly pupils tightened as it saw Zhao Ke holding a bear's head at some point. With a flick of his hand, Zhao Ke threw it into the boiling pot.

"Roar!"

Xiong Er's expression changed instantly. No longer bothering with Qi Liang, it turned and pounced at the stove.

"What are you standing around for? Run!"

In that brief instant, Zhao Ke grabbed Qi Liang's arm with one hand, picked up the axe from the ground with the other, and dragged him outside.

Qi Liang's legs were not very steady. Supporting one of his arms, Zhao Ke led him out the door, and the two ran straight east.

Dawn had begun to break. They had not run far when Xiong Er's deep roar sounded behind them.

"Roar!!"

Even though they could not understand it, they could feel the intense killing intent within that roar. Immediately afterward came the sound of frantic running and furious growls.

Zhao Ke could even hear tree trunks snapping as they were knocked over. Clearly, the beast had completely gone mad after seeing the cooked bear corpse in the pot.

"Buddy, I can't keep going! Give me the axe and run."

Qi Liang's forehead was covered in dense beads of sweat. He had figured it out: if they kept going, both of them would die.

Zhao Ke froze at his words. After staring at Qi Liang for a moment and confirming that he meant it, Zhao Ke's gaze became complicated.

The only reason he had dragged Qi Liang along was to use him as a human shield at a critical moment and buy himself time to escape.

But now... Zhao Ke wavered. Human nature was complicated. Perhaps kindness existed, but how many people could truly hold on to it forever? At least when facing life and death, the instincts buried deep inside would all burst forth.

Just like the female office worker earlier, when she pushed Chen Jing down that steep slope. Yet the determination in Qi Liang's eyes as he prepared to die made Zhao Ke genuinely question himself.

"Stop standing there! Go!"

Seeing that Zhao Ke did not react, Qi Liang gritted his teeth, snatched the axe from Zhao Ke's hand, and shoved him away. "Get out of here. You pulled me along before, so this counts as me paying you back."

Zhao Ke raised an eyebrow and looked at Qi Liang's stubborn face. He changed his mind.

"What's your phone number?"

"What?" Qi Liang froze.

"What's your phone number?"

"I..."

Before Qi Liang could finish speaking, rustling came from the bushes behind them. Zhao Ke did not wait for him to answer. He stepped forward, grabbed Qi Liang's arm, and hoisted him onto his back.

"Let go. If you do this, neither of us will escape."

Qi Liang's expression changed. He tried to struggle free from Zhao Ke's back, but Zhao Ke's hands were like iron pincers. No matter how Qi Liang struggled, he could not break free.

"Shut up."

Carrying Qi Liang, Zhao Ke felt his way east as he ran. The sun had not fully risen yet, but at least it was no longer so dark that they could not see the road.

Then Zhao Ke suddenly stopped. He looked around, lifted his nose slightly, and caught a faint fragrance in the air. His brows rose as he sniffed more carefully.

In the damp, cold air, aside from that faint fragrance, there was also a heavy smell of blood. Sweeping his gaze to the side, Zhao Ke suddenly spotted a ring of white powder scattered over the grass. If he had not looked carefully, he would likely have missed it.

He set Qi Liang down from his back and crouched. Reaching beneath the grass, Zhao Ke grabbed at something. When his fingers pulled the grass aside, his heart skipped a beat, and the corner of his mouth curled upward. He knew he had guessed right.

"Huh? That thing doesn't seem to be chasing us?"

Qi Liang listened carefully to the sounds around them. The roaring and heavy footsteps from before had vanished.

His spirits lifted, and joy appeared on his thin face. "It's not chasing us?"

Hearing Qi Liang's words, Zhao Ke could not help feeling doubtful as well. The two of them were not running fast, and to a bear with a sense of smell rivaling that of a hunting dog, their scent should have made them impossible to lose.

Yet now, they could no longer hear Xiong Er pursuing them. Zhao Ke looked around at the bushes and thought, Did it really not follow us? But the thought flashed through his mind only briefly before he immediately rejected it.

Bears might have poor eyesight, but their sense of smell was just as sharp, even comparable to a hunting dog's. There was no way it could lose their scent.

Just as Zhao Ke was puzzled, a cold wind suddenly changed direction and blew in from the nearby bushes. Zhao Ke sniffed, and a familiar foul stench made his body stiffen. He abruptly looked up.

In the bushes, a pair of scarlet eyes was staring at him.

"Roar!"

Zhao Ke's face stiffened. He instinctively jumped backward as a claw shot out of the bushes, carrying an intense stench of blood. In that instant, Zhao Ke could even see dark red strips of flesh hanging from the claw.

With a tearing sound by his ear, Zhao Ke rolled across the ground. Looking down, he saw that the clothes across his chest had been shredded into strips. His chest burned with pain, and blood began to seep from four claw marks.

A chill ran through Zhao Ke's heart. If he had been even a step slower, that strike would probably have ripped his chest open.

Looking again, he saw Xiong Er emerge from the bushes. Its glossy black mane and blood-red eyes fixed on him. Most eerie of all, that bear face wore a strangely human-like vicious grin.

"Fuck your grandfather! You just won't go away, will you?"

Qi Liang raised the axe before his chest and stood in front of Zhao Ke, fully on guard. At the same time, he urged Zhao Ke in a low voice, "I'll hold it back. Hurry up. If you can run, run. Better one of us escapes than neither."

"Do you think I can outrun that thing?"

One hand pressed over his chest, Zhao Ke climbed to his feet. A bitter smile appeared on his thin face.

"That's still better than waiting to die! Didn't you tell me to trust you? So this is what I get for trusting you?"

Qi Liang turned back and glared fiercely at Zhao Ke, signaling for him to leave quickly.

Hearing Qi Liang roar, Zhao Ke's gaze gradually darkened. He held the heavy black dagger in a reverse grip, a cold smile that did not reach his eyes appearing on his face. "You really are a hopelessly soft-hearted fool."

"You!"

His good intentions had actually been dismissed by Zhao Ke as being a soft-hearted fool. Qi Liang choked with anger, his face turning red as he became too furious to speak.

Ignoring Qi Liang's fury, Zhao Ke looked toward Xiong Er. He bent his knees slightly and sneered. "What, did your mother's meat taste good? It was a little tough, though. Otherwise..."

"Roar!!"

Before Zhao Ke could finish, Xiong Er's eyes turned red. It opened its mouth and pounced toward Zhao Ke and Qi Liang. Its massive black body carried such overwhelming pressure that it made it hard to breathe.

Qi Liang's face went white, and every muscle in his body froze. Holding his breath as he watched that huge body crash toward him, a chill like a venomous snake slithered up his spine, making his scalp feel as if it would explode.

It's over! That was Qi Liang's final thought.

"Move!"

At that moment, Zhao Ke's shout rang out by Qi Liang's ear. Before he could understand what was happening, Zhao Ke kicked him in the back, sending Qi Liang flying away. At the same time, Zhao Ke used the force to leap aside and throw himself to the ground.

"Bang! Awoo..."

Amid a miserable scream and a thunderous crash, a massive pit roughly three meters in diameter appeared behind where Zhao Ke and Qi Liang had been standing.

Zhao Ke climbed up and walked to the edge of the pit. Looking down, he saw sharpened bamboo spears standing upright inside. Xiong Er had plunged headfirst into them, and its head and body had immediately been pierced into a honeycomb.

But what surprised Zhao Ke was not Xiong Er. There were two more people at the bottom of the pit.