A moment later.
Mr. Stork swung his cane and struck Miss Sparrow unconscious.
He glanced around. All the Lake God Cultists had been killed. Their bodies lay scattered everywhere, and the surroundings were eerily silent, broken only by his own faint breaths.
A few unknown birds chirped before flapping their wings and flying off through the woods.
"Are you all right, Mr. Snowy Owl?" he asked, turning his head.
"No problem. Just a few superficial injuries." Gilan slowly lowered Miss Seagull to the ground, then asked in a low voice, "What happened to Mr. Oystercatcher and Miss Sparrow? Why did they attack us?"
Mr. Stork shook his head.
"I don't know... Perhaps the only explanation is some kind of supernatural force."
As he spoke, he looked at the gravely injured Miss Seagull and the two unconscious people, then added:
"Thank goodness you joined us, Mr. Snowy Owl. Otherwise, we would have been in real danger."
"It was nothing." Gilan shook his head slightly.
"We're all injured. Old Jerry should have noticed something was wrong in the real world by now. He'll wake us up soon and force us out of this movie."
Regret showed on Mr. Stork's face.
"Looks like we'll have to stop here again. We still haven't found Fima's parents, and we haven't even seen Black Lake."
"But we've found some important clues, haven't we?"
Gilan smiled faintly.
"The local Public Security Bureau and Tourism Bureau are both suspicious. They're probably working with the Lake God Cult, all for that so-called Elixir of Immortality..."
"Indeed." Mr. Stork nodded in agreement.
Just then, Mr. Oystercatcher, whose face was swollen like a pig's, woke up. He struggled to his feet, then sucked in a breath as pain coursed through his body, especially his face.
Seeing Mr. Stork raise his Steel-core Cane to knock him out again, Mr. Oystercatcher quickly raised a hand and called out:
"Don't hit me! I'm completely lucid now!"
The gleaming, engraved cane stopped beside his neck.
Mr. Stork was just about to ask what had happened to him when Fima, who had been hiding behind the others, suddenly cried out in delight:
"Dad! Mom!"
As she spoke, Fima hurriedly ran toward the depths of the forest.
Everyone looked ahead of her, but there wasn't a soul in sight.
Just as they were beginning to wonder what was going on, a massive figure suddenly emerged from the other side and walked toward them.
"That's..." Mr. Oystercatcher's mouth fell open. "My God! What kind of monster is that?!"
The hulking figure stood two meters tall. Its head was completely bald, its features twisted into a grotesque knot, and its body was covered in bulging muscles. A pair of repulsive, fleshy wings sprouted from its back, with raised veins and membranes.
It wore a tattered brown prison uniform, and iron shackles were fastened around its ankles. The chain between them had long since broken and dragged along the ground with a scraping sound.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Mr. Stork didn't waste time. He raised his gun and fired.
But the bullets struck the monster one after another, only making it pause briefly. Not a drop of blood seeped from the bullet holes.
"It's not even afraid of bullets..." Mr. Oystercatcher's face filled with horror. "Are there really Demons in Black Lake?!"
"Go!" Mr. Stork said decisively. "We can't worry about Fima for now. Take Miss Seagull and wait for Old Jerry to wake us up in the real world."
He picked up the unconscious Miss Sparrow and ran.
I haven't caused those corpses to decay yet... Gilan thought. I can't just leave!
He pointed toward where Mr. Stork had gone and said, to Mr. Oystercatcher's confusion:
"You go on ahead."
"Mr. Snowy Owl, what are you...?"
"You won't be able to run fast while carrying two ladies, and the monster might catch up with you." Gilan spoke in a low voice. "I'm barely injured, and I still have enough strength to draw it away and cover your retreat."
Mr. Oystercatcher was about to argue, but then he saw the serious look on the young man's face.
He glanced at the hulking monster drawing closer, gritted his teeth, and helped up Miss Seagull, whose consciousness was already fading.
"Then I'm counting on you, Mr. Snowy Owl... As soon as I wake up, I'll wake you up too."
"All right."
Gilan nodded, then pushed off hard and dashed forward. At the same time, he pulled out a speedloader and reloaded his Colt Snubnose Revolver.
He raised the gun and pulled the trigger.
The hammer dropped, and the bullet shot from the barrel at tremendous speed.
Bang!
A bullet hole appeared in the chest of the muscular Prisoner Monster, and it stopped in its tracks.
It suddenly turned its head. In the center of its twisted features, a deep, black, vortex-like hollow seemed to contain a pair of unseen eyes, fixed on the man in the trench coat as he sprinted away.
Whoosh!
The Prisoner Monster suddenly flapped its fleshy wings and lifted dozens of centimeters off the ground!
It couldn't truly fly, but it could leap more than ten meters at a time!
Boom!
The Prisoner Monster launched itself at him and brought a fist crashing down. Gilan narrowly dodged, but the blow shook the pine tree behind him. Bark flew everywhere, and a bowl-sized dent appeared in its trunk.
Gilan rolled across the ground and glanced behind him.
Mr. Stork and the others were already far away, gradually disappearing into the woods.
His eyes narrowed. He spotted the corpse of a Cultist dozens of meters away and ran toward it.
The Prisoner Monster chased him relentlessly, but Gilan reached the corpse first. He bent down and brushed a hand over it. The corpse rapidly decayed, then crumbled into dust and scattered.
The colorful number in Gilan's eyes jumped from "1" to "2."
Excellent...
He thought to himself, then rushed toward another corpse.
Fortunately, though the Prisoner Monster was fast, it lacked agility and only moved in straight lines. Taking advantage of that, Gilan put all his strength into darting left and right, using the tall, densely packed pines to keep the monster at bay while decaying the Cultists' fallen bodies as quickly and efficiently as he could.
Before long.
Gilan panted heavily as he reached out and decayed the last corpse.
The colorful number in his eyes had shot up to "21"!
The next second, he felt a gust of wind behind his head.
He spun around and raised his arms, crossing them in front of himself.
Bang!
It was like getting hit by a solid iron hammer. Pain shot through Gilan's arms, and a tremendous force sent him flying. He sailed three or four meters before crashing into a pine tree with a thunderous bang.
He hit the ground with a thud and spat blood.
His arms had gone numb, but he knew they had been shattered!
Gilan looked up. The Prisoner Monster stood with its fist still extended. Then it turned its head again and stared at him.
His heart tightened. He knew he was no match for the monster right now.
Just then, Gilan heard faint shouts from the distant horizon:
"Mr. Snowy Owl! Wake up!"
It was Mr. Oystercatcher's voice, accompanied by Miss Sparrow's anxious calls.
Gilan stayed prone, his chin against the dirt, staring back at the monster.
The points should be enough. Once I advance my White Cross Body-Forging Technique, the next time I come back...
He abruptly opened his mouth in a smile, blood coating his teeth and lips.
I'll beat you to death!
Gilan closed his eyes, then opened them.
He was sitting on the sofa in the storage room.