Xiya's flashlight was quite dim compared to the low beams, but it still illuminated the creature from other angles.
She saw that the creature's "arms" had numerous joints like a crab's, while their ends were sharp, bony structures resembling an insect's hooked claws. Their keen edges were enough to pierce skin and tear flesh.
Its body seemed to be covered in a layer of fine scales, or perhaps an insect's chitinous shell, reflecting a blurry shadow under the low beams.
When she looked toward its head, Xiya realized that the thing had neither a nose nor ears, and she could not find any eyes either. It only had a mouth resembling a toothed mouthpart, with tiny sharp teeth distributed around it. Just one look was enough for Xiya to imagine the brutal sight of the thing grinding down and devouring an animal's limbs, making her scalp prickle.
In any case, this was definitely not a creature that could have emerged through natural evolution.
Thinking this, Xiya looked again at the honeycomb-like holes on its head.
The holes were pitch-black, and she had no idea what purpose they served. Xiya moved slightly closer, raised her flashlight, and peered inside.
Suddenly, something inside seemed to twitch. Xiya blinked, unsure whether it had merely been an illusion or whether it had really happened.
She kept a certain distance and observed cautiously.
The next moment, Xiya saw a pupil.
That dark pupil met her gaze, and in an instant, more pupils appeared.
The pupils were inside the "honeycomb" on the creature's head, like sinister lotus seeds hiding in a withered lotus pod.
Every one of the densely packed holes contained a pupil.
Even more horrifyingly, those eyes began to crawl out of the holes in the creature's head.
Behind every eyeball was a milky-yellow