The pure-white forest was utterly silent. The straight black trees around her seemed to reach the heavens. Yet in Xu Zhi's eyes, those black trees that should have stood straight seemed to be bending around her as their center whenever she was not looking, as though something about her was drawing them in.
The trees' shadows clung tightly to her back like maggots on a bone, while the towering black trees twisted one after another, as though they were forming a huge black bowl to trap her inside.
A cold sweat broke out across Xu Zhi's back. For some reason, her subconscious warned her: She couldn't let them catch her!
She began running forward involuntarily. Fortunately, she had passed a fork in the road just before leaving last time, so Xu Zhi did not have to make a choice for the moment. Her mind was still somewhat muddled, and her vision seemed confined to a narrow range, shrouded in an indistinct mist. When she tried to turn around and see whether those shadows and trees behind her had followed, that ordinarily simple movement became difficult.
She had to pay close attention to the path beneath her feet to avoid falling. As she ran, she could hear only her own footsteps and breathing. Even danger was exceptionally silent.
But soon enough, that brief stretch of road came to an end, and she once again faced a fork in the road.
The two paths looked identical, like mirror images arranged left and right. Even the black trees lining the roads were nearly arranged the same way. Xu Zhi stopped in place, unable to decide which path to choose.
She could not stay here for long. Even after stopping for only a few seconds, Xu Zhi felt a prickling sensation at her back.