Shh! Don't Make a Sound

Silence!

Absolute silence!

What met his eyes was clearly a rainforest, and within his line of sight stood Jue Town, stretching toward a cliff, yet Wu Hen could not hear a single sound.

There were no insect chirps, no bird calls. The rainforest behind him and the cliff-side Jue Town ahead were terrifyingly quiet, which made Wu Hen, who had just entered this world, feel incredibly uneasy.

Wu Hen observed his surroundings. He was not far outside the town, standing in a dilapidated brick house with four crumbling walls.

In the center of the brick house was a campfire.

Beside him were two people.

They looked like vagrants, huddling by the campfire for warmth. When they saw Wu Hen wake up, they both cast a strange gaze toward him.

Wu Hen felt the atmosphere was a bit odd and was about to walk forward when suddenly, the dirty little girl beside him made a stopping gesture and pointed toward Wu Hen's feet.

Wu Hen looked down and only then realized that the floor was covered in shards of glass.

The surroundings were so quiet that even Wu Hen felt that making the slightest sound would be an abnormal act.

At this moment, the dirty little girl and the vagrant placed their fingers to their lips, making a shushing gesture to signal Wu Hen not to speak.

Wu Hen was sharp; he immediately realized there must be something outside!

"Crunch~~~"

Someone, somewhere, had stepped on a soda can while walking, and the can immediately let out a harsh, piercing sound!

It was a drunkard, not far outside the house.

The drunkard stood frozen in place, his entire body stiffened, his eyes filled with terror!

Even though it was just a soda can he had stepped on, it felt as if he had stepped on a landmine.

The alcohol faded from the drunkard's system, and his face turned pale!

"Eee-wah!!"

The next second, a screech echoed throughout Rainforest Town!

Wu Hen's pupils dilated, and the hairs on his body stood on end:

An Evil Monster with trumpet-like ears and a mouth like a demon lunged out, appearing instantly before the drunkard!

Its sickle-like claws were already hovering at the drunkard's throat!

"Snap!"

In the blink of an eye, the drunkard's head was cleanly sheared off!

Blood surged like a pillar, spraying wantonly in every direction.

The severed head rolled, coming to a stop right toward the dilapidated shack where Wu Hen was hiding.

Wu Hen could still see the terror frozen in the drunkard's eyes at the moment of death!

Head-severing!

Living in the city, this was the first time Wu Hen had witnessed such a bloody scene, and his stomach immediately churned.

He nearly vomited!

The visual impact was too intense. Wu Hen pressed his lips together tightly, forcing the stomach acid that had risen to his throat back down.

Beside him, the girl kept making "hush" gestures toward Wu Hen, warning him that he must not make a single sound!

"Gurgle~"

The Head-Severing Demon's trumpet-like ears twitched, as if it had sensed the movement of other living people.

It turned around and slowly began to approach the shack where Wu Hen was.

Just as it reached the doorway, the Head-Severing Demon suddenly stopped, but those trumpet-flower ears extended out from beneath its head, searching for something like tentacles.

The scene looked as if a demonic doctor, equipped with bizarre stethoscope-ears, was using them to probe for any movement inside the house!

The long, trumpet-flower ears entered the room completely. It seemed to hear someone's heavy breathing, so the trumpet-ear slowly extended toward a homeless man!

The homeless man's entire body went rigid. Cold sweat seeped from his pores, soaking his neck.

He dared not move, and he held his breath, for he knew that any tiny sound would invite a fatal disaster, leading to the same end as the drunkard who had just been decapitated!

His breathing was held, and there was no longer any sound of air, yet the stethoscope-like trumpet-ear did not leave the homeless man's body. Instead, it slowly slid downward, coming to rest against the man's chest.

"Thump~ thump~"

"Thump~ thump-thump~ thump-thump~"

His breathing was held, but the rate of the homeless man's heartbeat was accelerating!!

And the stethoscope-ear was stuck firmly against his chest, glued right over his heart!!

"Thump-thump-thump!! Thump-thump-thump-thump!!!!"

The homeless man's heart could not stop pounding wildly!

Just at this moment, the Head-Severing Demon crawled over along its own elongated ears!

"Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!!!!!!!"

Seemingly sensing that he had been exposed, the vagrant's heart began to beat faster and faster!

"Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!!!!"

Finally, as the heart rate reached a certain critical point, the sound frequency changed!

"Snap!!!"

Once again, those scythe-like claws swung out simultaneously! Fierce and swift!

The vagrant's head was sheared off!

Like a watermelon, it hit the ground, splattering a massive amount of blood.

The vagrant's body collapsed limply, his neck spurting blood that pooled all over the floor.

Dead. The vagrant had been killed too. Even though he hadn't made a single sound himself, he still couldn't escape death!

This terrifying, hair-raising scene was unfolding right before his eyes.

Frozen in place, Wu Hen forced himself to control every single muscle in his body, but he still couldn't resist the numbness and chill spreading through him!

I cannot make a sound! Wu Hen warned himself internally.

If it gets close enough, and the heart beats past a certain threshold, it will be heard by this demon!!

The problem was, how could anyone possibly keep their heart from racing in a situation like this!!!

For anyone with a sane mind, it was impossible!

"Gurgle~" That stethoscope-like ear began to squirm once more.

The Head-Severing Demon slowly turned around, facing Wu Hen's direction.

Its mobile ears reached out again like octopus tentacles.

They pressed against Wu Hen's chest once more...

And then slowly adhered to the position of his heart!

"Thump-thump-thump-thump!!!!!!"

Wu Hen's heart immediately began to race. He realized that his fate would be no different from the two people before him.

Yes, he had been in the Desolate Dust for less than five minutes, and he was already going to die!!

Why would a Virtual Game be so realistic and terrifying that Wu Hen felt as if his current situation were actually happening? That primal human fear was impossible to resist, and it was shattering every single one of his nerves!!

He wanted to scream!

He was hysterical inside!

He wanted to unleash his survival instincts and run away regardless of the consequences!

He wanted even more to take off this Virtual Helmet and return to reality immediately!

But how could he take it off??

How could he log out??

There was no way to exit, which only deepened his despair!

Wu Hen's mental state had hit rock bottom.

Yet, it was precisely this rock bottom that allowed his survival instinct to feed back a sliver of calmness and rationality!!

"The Head-Severing Demon doesn't execute the vagrant the moment its ear touches their heart; it listens for a while..."

"It's not that I'll die just because it hears my heartbeat."

"It's that if my heart rate spikes to a certain level, the thumping of my heart exceeds a certain volume."

"There is a threshold of heart rate between life and death. As long as the sound of my heart doesn't cross that line, I might be able to survive!"

I must calm down, I have to calm down!

I must lower this damn heart rate; I absolutely cannot let the instinct of fear control me!

This is a Virtual Game; none of this is real.

I cannot die. Even if this is virtual, I cannot die here!

Don't be nervous, don't be afraid, and absolutely do not break down!

It's all fake!

It's just a game!

I am currently lying on the bed in my own home, just wearing a Virtual Helmet to enter this place. Everything I see right now is no different from a nightmare I'm having while sleeping!

It's just a nightmare!

"Thump-thump-thump~~~~~"

After calming down, Wu Hen could clearly hear the sound of his own heartbeat.

Wu Hen kept giving himself mental suggestions.

"Thump-thump... thump-thump..."

Wu Hen's heart rate finally began to slow down.

It was working!

He then squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself not to think about the scene he had just witnessed, and instead imagined himself lying in his own bed...

Hypnosis. He had to hypnotize himself.

Hypnotize himself into calming down.

"Thump... thump... thump... thump..."

The hypnosis took effect; his heart rate was truly stabilizing!

The oily tumor-like ear was slowly wriggling against Wu Hen's heart, like a hunter waiting for the heart to jump out on its own.

But the heart inside was becoming increasingly steady, and the sound it emitted grew fainter and fainter.

After another minute or two, the ear attached to his chest finally went limp.

It quickly retracted back toward the head of the Head-Severing Demon.

"Eee-wah!!"

With a cry like a giant salamander, the Head-Severing Demon, acting like a hunter that had failed to ambush its prey, turned and left.

It walked toward the outside of the dilapidated shack, its hideous and disgusting body slowly blending into the decaying vegetation, much like a chameleon...

Soon, it turned invisible, though a faint outline could still be seen as it moved into the distance.

Before long, even the outline vanished.

Ultimately, it disappeared completely into this Rainforest Town—as if it had gone off to find its next prey.

The great terror had finally ended.

Yet, Wu Hen was drenched in cold sweat.

His legs were shaking uncontrollably.

Although the hypnosis had played a major role in allowing him to survive, the lingering waves of fear that followed were so intense that he could barely stand!

It was unknown how much time had passed before Wu Hen finally began to calm down.

Wu Hen's gaze fell upon the girl who had warned him not to make a sound earlier.

His mind was currently filled with questions.

But he couldn't speak, so how was he supposed to communicate?

After a moment of thought, Wu Hen crouched down and began to write lightly on the filthy ground.

"Little sister, are you a player too?" Wu Hen wrote.

The girl crouched down as well, her delicate, bright eyes gazing at Wu Hen from up close, observing him with curiosity.

However, the girl didn't write back. Instead, she spoke, "It's fine, brother. We can talk now. That thing won't come back a second time."

This was Wu Hen's first time entering this place, and he knew absolutely nothing about it.

He felt quite favorably toward this girl who had shown him kindness from the start, and he was inclined to trust her.

He nodded.

Just as he was about to speak to her instinctively, a flicker of vigilance crossed his mind.

Why hadn't that monster used its ears to listen to this girl earlier?

There were only the three of them in this room, plus a drunkard outside.

The drunkard was dead, the homeless man was dead, and he himself had just walked through the gates of hell. What about this girl?

"It really is safe to talk now. If I hadn't told you not to make a sound earlier, you would have been the first one to die." The girl naturally noticed Wu Hen's distrust, and a look of grievance appeared on her cheeks.

Seeing the girl like this, Wu Hen forced an apologetic smile.

Afterward, Wu Hen used his finger to write another line in the dust on the ground: "I'm sorry, I'm actually a mute in real life."

"A mute???" The girl was clearly stunned, staring at Wu Hen for a long time.

"My vocal cords have been damaged since I was a child; I can't make any sound. I know sign language. If you don't believe me, watch." Wu Hen wrote next.

Once he finished writing, Wu Hen performed some sign language for the girl—and it was very professional sign language at that.

When the girl saw Wu Hen using sign language, she first frowned, then suddenly burst into laughter!!

"Cough, cough, cough, cough~~~~~"

The girl's laughter was exceptionally shrill, not at all like that of a normal person; it sounded more like a lunatic from an asylum!

In an instant, the girl's face turned extremely sinister!

She beckoned toward the empty air.

A silhouette slowly emerged beside the girl. As the outline became clearer, an evil creature with trumpet-shaped ears and sickle-blade claws manifested out of thin air!!

It was none other than the terrifying Head-Severing Demon!!

It hadn't left at all!!

It had simply been hiding here in invisibility!

What made Wu Hen's scalp tingle and his breath hitch in suffocating terror was that the Head-Severing Demon was currently crouching beside the girl, and she was stroking the demon—as if it were a pet she had raised!

"How boring. A mute showed up; I thought I'd be able to harvest another living person," the girl said coldly.

With that, the girl suddenly leaped up, and her lower body actually fused onto the spine of the Head-Severing Demon!

Seeing this, Wu Hen's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The girl had been wearing a large dress and had remained motionless, so Wu Hen hadn't realized that her lower body was actually like root fibers!!!

She wasn't human at all!!

(Uncle Luan: After finishing Shadow of the Solar Eclipse, I fell into a serious illness. I could clearly feel that I was getting older and my body was a mess. I even wondered if I would end up like Ji Yun, as my heart was racing and I couldn't maintain my balance at all...

I know that day will surely come when I collapse and can no longer create for everyone, but I didn't expect it to come so soon...

Fortunately, Heaven only gave me a warning. I had just been living too unhealthily and isolating myself too much.

I am truly grateful, because I still have so many passionate stories in my head. My inspiration and ideas are still gushing out; I probably couldn't finish writing those stories even in twenty or thirty years, and damn it, I still want to keep writing.

If I want to keep writing, I have to adjust my physical health and mental state, otherwise, the next emergency might not just be a warning.

So, for the past six months, I've been losing weight.

I went from 160 jin to 140 jin.

I exercise, playing badminton to loosen my joints and practicing freestyle swimming to maintain cardio.

I've cut out heavy flavors and forced myself to eat light.

I don't allow myself to become "digitally impotent," and I don't allow myself to lose interest in everything. As a man who wrote League of Legends: Who Will Compete, besides that, I must maintain my esports heart—that is my faith!

I also spent a month reaching the Asura rank in Naraka: Bladepoint solo queue, competing in mechanics against streamers and professional players!

My family noticed I was becoming increasingly withdrawn because of the nature of my work, barely communicating with anyone.

So, I started livestreaming, interacting with readers and authors every day, like chatting with old friends after finishing work, allowing myself to return to my naturally cheerful and active self.)

Through my interactions with everyone these past few days, I know that what you like most about me is Versatile Mage, and I understand that you want me to continue writing it.

My creative themes have always spanned a wide range—I am the "five-element miscellaneous spirit root" of the web novel world. But if I hadn't challenged myself after finishing my Western fantasy work, there would be no unique Chong Mei.

If I hadn't challenged myself after finishing my beast-taming genre work, there would be no youthful, passionate esports novel like League of Legends: Who Will Compete.

If I hadn't challenged myself after finishing my esports work, there would be no urban fantasy genre that you all still remember so fondly, Versatile Mage.

If I want to write something, I have to write it!

And so, I challenged myself with the unique and bizarre Eastern otherworldly tale Dragon Shepherd, and even further with the space-time decoding reality-suspense novel Shadow of the Solar Eclipse.

Over the past six months, I have made so many changes precisely because I want to keep writing and show you all these stories that burst into my mind—stories that I find truly thrilling.

Writing—writing what I want to write—is the original motivation that set me on this path.

If there are any of my past works that you enjoy, please continue to support me. The works you love were born from the joint efforts of a "me" like this and a "you" like this.

During a livestream, a reader once asked me: which of my works am I most satisfied with?

In my heart, the one I am most satisfied with will always be the next one.

Thank you for always supporting this Yu De Tian Kong, this Luan.

The new book setting sail this time is Otherworld Desolate Dust.

I hope you like it.

I also truly need your support!

Recommending the new book from urban master Lao Shi: