Liu Jialin did not let down her guard. She raised a hand to straighten her coat and said, "Let's go take a look first."
As she spoke, she took the lead, her shoes crunching over the stones on the ground.
The Beast Hunter and Zhang Xiao followed close behind. The sound of their footsteps echoed across the open ground beside the camp before quickly fading at the end of the path to the west.
The temporary mining camp had long since been surrounded by a crude wooden fence. People stood at every sentry post outside it... some were investigators, while others were Beast Hunters.
The two Beast Hunters at the western sentry post had been the ones to discover the beasts. The moment they spotted the beast horde, one stayed behind to keep watch while the other returned to the camp to report.
By the time Liu Jialin arrived, the investigators and Beast Hunters from the other three directions had also rushed over.
More than thirty people gathered, all with their weapons drawn.
Liu Jialin swept her eyes over them, confirming that everyone had arrived. Only then did she walk up the high slope, the soil beneath her feet loosening slightly under her steps.
She pulled a monocular telescope from her pocket and aimed it at the horizon ahead.
The foxtail grass in the distance grew taller than a person, rolling like waves in the wind. Several savage figures were crawling out of the grass.
Some of the beasts had tusk-like horns, while others had claws shaped like sickles.
The most conspicuous beast was a wild boar. It was a size larger than an ordinary wild boar, with every bristle on its back standing rigidly on end.
The beasts did not charge recklessly. Instead, they moved slowly along the edge