Waiting Deep into the Night

Gray Wolf's struggle was useless. If anything, it only made things worse.

Besides entering through its mouth, more strands of grass wormed into Gray Wolf's body through other openings in its head—its nostrils and ears, for example. Some strands even pried open Gray Wolf's tightly shut eyelids, slipped around its eyeballs, and entered deep into its skull, invading its most vulnerable brain.

The next moment, Gray Wolf convulsed violently. Its entire body went limp. It was not dead, but it had lost all ability to resist, staring blankly ahead.

"Whoosh!"

The giant tree's branches drooped down once more, curled around the motionless Gray Wolf, and tossed it into the tree hollow.

Before long, the face on the trunk took on a wary, solemn expression.

A few seconds later, its expression turned somewhat sly. After slowly smiling, it returned to normal.

Nothing seemed to have happened there, aside from the faintly bloody smell in the air.

Elsewhere.

Richard, Bobobo Wei Qi, and Heluo continued deeper into the forest until dusk.

The three appeared in a clearing, warily surveying their surroundings and examining clues—this was where the Third Exploration Team had once been brutally slaughtered. The only person who had escaped earlier had been able to provide limited information, so the three tried to gather more clues and reconstruct what had happened here.

The corpses of the Truth Society Wizards who had died in the clearing had long since vanished without a trace. Carnivores in the forest had dragged them away as stored food, leaving behind only scraps of clothing and faint traces of battle.

After studying the area for half the day, the three concluded that the exploration team had once clashed fiercely with the enemy head-on. However, the team had not been defeated in a direct confrontation. Instead, they