A beam of light swayed through the dark, twisted forest.
It belonged to the Escape Team led by Yang Wei.
They stumbled over rotting leaves, one step sinking deeper than the next. The surroundings were utterly silent save for their breathing and the crisp snap of dead branches beneath their feet.
Yang Wei walked at the front, clutching the High-Power Flashlight he had picked up beside Wang Shifu's corpse.
In his other hand, he gripped the Window Breaking Hammer, his nerves taut.
"Old Yang..."
A deliberately hushed voice came from beside him.
It was Guo Shuai, a guard on the School Basketball Team and Yang Wei's closest buddy.
He glanced warily back toward the bus, then leaned close to Yang Wei's ear.
"You saw it too, didn't you?"
"Bai Lianhua may be a chatterbox, but she was right about one thing..."
"That crow died in a really unnatural way, and that gesture Jiangnan made..."
Yang Wei's hand holding the flashlight jerked. Its beam streaked across a tree trunk, leaving a blurred afterimage.
He was silent for two seconds, then gritted his teeth and nodded.
"I saw it."
Yang Wei's voice was grim.
"That's why I brought you guys with me."
"Guo Shuai, think about it. If that was a Supernatural Ability or some kind of system... why would he be the only one with it?"
Fear showed in Yang Wei's eyes.
"There's been no Server-wide Announcement, no notification on our phones. We're all ordinary people!"
"What gives Jiangnan the right to suddenly stare at us like he's looking at corpses? And kill people from a distance?"
"And did you notice his expression?"
Yang Wei thought of how coldly Jiangnan had used Li Xin as a Meat Shield, and the look in his eyes when he'd made a gun with his fingers and pointed it at Yang Wei's forehead.
Those weren't the eyes of a human being.
No anger, no hesitation, not even the slightest ripple.
He'd been looking at a pile of walking meat.
"I've only seen that kind of expression on one sort of thing."
Yang Wei swallowed. "Remember that Horror Game we stayed up all night playing at the Internet Cafe a few days ago?"
Guo Shuai froze. Then his pupils contracted as if he'd thought of something truly horrifying.
"You mean... a Weiren?!"
"Exactly."
Yang Wei narrowed his eyes.
"I have reason to suspect the real Jiangnan..."
"Died the moment we crossed over, or even earlier."
"What's occupying his body now is a 'thing' that was replaced by a monster from this world!"
A chill shot from the soles of Guo Shuai's feet straight to his scalp. The more he thought about it, the more horrifying it seemed.
"Yeah... why is he the only one with a Special Ability, and why's he hiding it instead of saying anything?"
"If it's some kind of transmigration perk or Spiritual Energy Revival, there's no reason only he would awaken! Unless..."
"Unless that wasn't an awakening at all."
Yang Wei gave a cold laugh. "That's a monster's instinct."
"And think about it. Why is he absolutely refusing to get off the bus?"
"Why does he insist on staying in a place full of corpses and the stench of blood?"
"Maybe... that's his lair, or some kind of rule is keeping him from leaving the vehicle!"
His theory was shaky, but in their overwhelming fear, it seemed strangely "reasonable."
Guo Shuai nervously wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Holy crap... Old Yang, your brain really works fast!"
"So Teacher Chen Tong, Liu Yuqing, and Wang Meng... they're probably done for too."
"If they stay with that Weiren, they'll get eaten alive sooner or later—or even turn into one of them!"
Yang Wei patted Guo Shuai on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We're buddies. Would I really leave you behind?"
"Let's hurry. The farther we get from that monster, the better!"
The two had reached an agreement, and their pace quickened.
The team walked on in silence for another hour.
By then, night had fallen completely, and the Blood Moon hung high overhead.
"Look! Up ahead!"
Suddenly, Bai Lianhua, walking in the middle of the group, cried out in delight.
Everyone followed the beam of light.
Two hundred meters ahead, the twisted Purple Woods came to an abrupt end.
In their place stretched a vast, seemingly endless Wheat Field, swaying in the night breeze!
No trees!
It really was an Open Area!
"Thank goodness! We finally made it out of that cursed forest!"
"Brother Yang Wei was right! No trees means no crows!"
The group, oppressed by fear all the way there, burst into relieved cheers.
Bai Lianhua hurried over to Yang Wei and obsequiously offered him an unopened bottle of Mineral Water.
"Brother Yang Wei, you've worked so hard. Have some water!"
"You really saw things coming. Unlike that mute bastard, sitting in a broken-down bus waiting to die."
Yang Wei took the bottle without hesitation and tipped back a long gulp. The thrill of escaping alive made his head swim.
"Come on, everyone, keep it up! We'll cross these woods and rest by the Wheat Field tonight!"
Yang Wei wiped the water from his mouth and shouted encouragement.
The boys slapped each other's hands in celebration, while the girls smiled for the first time in ages.
It was as if reaching that Wheat Field would make all danger vanish.
However.
They were less than fifty meters from the edge of the Wheat Field when—
"Caw!!!"
A shriek suddenly exploded above their heads!
It was the trumpet of the Grim Reaper.
Before anyone could react, countless pairs of scarlet eyes blazed to life in the dark canopy.
It was the Crow Flock, scattered and driven off by Jiangnan's Suppression just moments ago!
They had been lying in wait here all along!
Or, to be precise, Yang Wei and his group had stumbled straight into the embrace of these ravenous predators!
"Ah!!!"
Two screams rang out almost at the same time.
The two girls walking along the edge of the group didn't even have time to cry for help!
Four or five enormous Mutated Crows seized them by the shoulders and hair at once.
"Help! Somebody, help me!!"
One of the girls reached out desperately, trying to grab hold of something.
But the next second, even more crows swarmed in.
They moved like butchers working in perfect unison.
Some grabbed their heads, others their legs, and still others their arms.
"Caw!!"
With a synchronized beat of their wings, the two girls were lifted bodily into the air!
"Rrrip!"
The sound of flesh tearing echoed through the night sky.
Split five ways.
Under the tremendous force pulling at them, the two girls were torn apart in midair, raining blood.
Their organs and severed limbs pattered against the students' faces.
"Urgh!"
"Run! Run for your lives!!"
The boys who had been high-fiving each other moments ago instantly fell apart.
"Ah! My leg! My third leg!"
Two more boys at the back of the group were knocked to the ground and instantly swallowed by black Wings.
They let out a few brief screams, then fell silent.
In the blink of an eye, four people were dead!
"To the Wheat Field! Hurry, get to the Wheat Field!"
Yang Wei was scared out of his wits. He sprinted toward the Wheat Field like a madman, the flashlight in his hand.
The group dissolved into chaos.
Everyone wished their parents had given them two extra legs.
Yu Shishi was at the very back.
Wearing ill-fitting little leather shoes, she stumbled over the Tree Roots scattered across the ground.
"Wait for me! Wait!"
She cried out and looked ahead.
The three boys who had sworn to be her Flower Protectors were now running faster than rabbits.
Not one of them even looked back.
"Help... Bai Lianhua! Give me a hand!"
Yu Shishi spotted her best friend not far away.
But Bai Lianhua glanced at the Crow Flock hot on their heels, a cruel glint flashing in her eyes.
She didn't just refuse to help. She deliberately shoved a fallen log into the path Yu Shishi was running along!
"Stay back! Don't lead them over here!"
Bai Lianhua screamed, using the momentary opening to race toward the boys up ahead.
"Thud!"
Yu Shishi tripped over the log and crashed hard to the ground.
Despair.
At that moment, the look Liu Yuqing had given her while closing the window rose in her mind.
I was wrong...
I really was...
"Caw!"
A crow dived toward her, its razor-sharp claws about to tear into her back.
The will to survive unleashed an astonishing burst of strength in Yu Shishi. She rolled and scrambled forward!
She narrowly dodged the lethal strike, then rushed toward the golden waves of wheat on all fours, pain forgotten.
It was the only Path to Survival!
The twelve of them, like a pack of terrified stray dogs, bolted out of the forest and plunged headlong into the Golden Wheat Field!
They ran dozens of meters in, until their lungs burned as if on fire.
"Stop... stop!"
Guo Shuai suddenly grabbed Yang Wei, who was still sprinting, and pointed behind them with a trembling hand.
"They... they're not following us!"
The others stopped, shaken to the core, and looked back.
They saw a terrifying sight.
Hundreds upon hundreds of Mutated Crows had gathered in neat rows along the boundary between the forest and the Wheat Field.
They circled, shrieked, and fed on the four corpses.
Yet not one crow dared to cross that line!
Not even by a single meter.
"Ha... haha... we made it..."
Yang Wei collapsed onto the ground. As he watched the crows refuse to cross the line, laughter bubbled out of him.
"See? I told you I was right!"
"No trees... and they won't come over! We're safe!"
The other surviving students also slumped to the ground, panting heavily and grateful they'd chosen the right path.
Only Yu Shishi, who had crawled in last, huddled in a corner, trembling as she clutched her bleeding knee.
She watched the crows pacing along the "boundary line" in the distance.
There seemed to be something in their scarlet eyes besides greed.
Something like... deep fear.
As if this seemingly peaceful, serene Golden Wheat Field concealed something a hundred times more terrifying than they were...
Before you continue