Frightened Baby Cartoon

"Little Bear?!"

Old Zhou and the others broke out in a cold sweat at his words, their eyes turning in unison toward where Little Zhou pointed. On the walls of the Tree Hole, among the tangled old roots, two enormous dark red shadows seemed to be imprinted.

Zhang Ze was startled.

Ever since entering the Tree Hole, he had constantly felt the unease of being watched.

With Crow's sudden appearance and equally sudden departure, that feeling of unease had only grown worse, exactly like when he had played the spirit-summoning game at the West Suburbs Peace Hotel.

Now, the source of that watchful feeling had been found.

Those two Little Bears had been hiding behind the Tree Hole, silently watching them.

"Little Bear is nice."

"They won't hurt me."

Little Zhou said.

Old Zhou's expression darkened.

Clearly, fear had overwhelmed reason. They were products of the Door-After World; even if Little Zhou said they posed no threat, who would dare trust a child's words?

"Run!"

Old Zhou scooped Little Zhou up.

Li Yang ran after him.

Zhang Ze only saw the Little Bears standing quietly in the depths of the Tree Hole. Their two enormous shadows could barely be identified as bears from their outlines, but their limbs were exceptionally long, like stretched shadows in the desert, almost blending into the murky dark red air of the Door-After World.

Overall, these two Little Bears resembled the image Little Zhou had drawn, but Little Zhou's strokes had omitted many terrifying details. For example, the proportions of the Little Bears' limbs were nowhere near as balanced as in the drawing, and the fur all over their bodies looked as though it had been soaked in blood, blackish red.

The Little Bears did not chase Old Zhou and the others.

Instead, they noticed Zhang Ze.

Under the effect of "Nightmare New Star," Zhang Ze looked like a five-star Michelin feast to Fierce Ghosts.

Zhang Ze could clearly feel the undisguised malice emanating from the Little Bears.

In an instant, only one thought remained in his mind.

"Run!"

Zhang Ze turned and ran.

He fled the Tree Hole.

The Little Bears did not pursue him.

Yet the four of them ran wildly through the forest. There was no sun in this world; everywhere they looked was an eerie scarlet.

Scarlet sky, scarlet leaves, scarlet streams...

"Run..."

"I can't run anymore..."

"Don't go any farther. We can't get out. The door only appeared in the Tree Hole. If we get too far from it, Little Zhou won't be able to return to reality."

After making sure they were at least three or four hundred meters away from the Tree Hole.

The group slowly stopped, panting and wiping away their sweat. An indescribable fear still lingered in their hearts, but no one dared voice it first.

Still uneasy, Li Yang wanted to keep running deeper into the forest.

But Zhang Ze stopped him.

"Don't. Look."

Zhang Ze pointed toward the top of a distant pine tree.

Li Yang looked in the direction of his finger and saw several crows with pitch-black wings perched at the tips of the branches. Their black-pearl-like pupils flickered faintly, as if searching for prey.

If they rashly went deeper.

The crows would surround them.

Their only fate would be death.

"Hm?"

One crow suddenly tilted its head.

Through layers of leaves, it spotted Zhang Ze.

Man and bird met each other's gaze, and Zhang Ze froze.

"Could I really be this unlucky?"

The effect of that system-granted title was way too intense.

Could this blessing be transferred to Chen Ge? Zhang Ze really did not want to enjoy this kind of blessing. It was worse than being a stinking sewer rat. At least rats were hated by everyone; he was loved by every ghost he met!

The crow spread its wings.

It seemed ready to cry out and draw its nearby companions over.

But right then, accompanied by a bone-chilling chainsaw roar.

"Vrrrrr..."

The pine tree where the crow perched toppled over.

The heavy trunk crashed down before them. From the direction of the stump, a short figure with a deformed head slowly emerged.

This figure was very short, only about one and a half meters tall, completely unlike an adult in height. Yet its head was abnormally huge, almost as large as two basketballs stacked together, and it was topped with a gleaming bald head.

With the lumberjack uniform it wore, along with its earlier tree-cutting motion and the chainsaw in its hand, its identity was obvious.

"Caw caw caw!"

The crows shrieked.

Then they actually flew away.

Zhang Ze stared at the Deformed Human Shadow before him.

This was definitely another Lingering Remnant from the Door-After World, like the Little Bears they had seen in the Tree Hole earlier.

Just as it had suddenly appeared, it blocked Zhang Ze and the others' escape route. The bushes elsewhere were dense; if they plunged into them, they would absolutely lose all sense of direction.

They had been blocked in.

"This..."

"Do you think that thing looks friendly?" Old Zhou could not help asking.

"I don't think anything friendly would rev a chainsaw at us..."

Li Yang and Old Zhou exchanged a glance.

In perfect tacit understanding, they turned and ran.

Zhang Ze did not flee with them. From the direction they had come, he sensed a familiar feeling of being watched, accompanied by heavy footsteps.

The oppressive air made it difficult for him to breathe.

In an environment that felt like oxygen deprivation, his mind made the scene before Zhang Ze seem even more horrifying. Less than twenty meters ahead of them, the Little Bears they had seen in the Tree Hole appeared.

The Little Bears had chased them all the way here.

They had blocked off their route from behind.

Within the narrow forest passage, the chainsaw-wielding Deformed Human Shadow was on one side, while the monsters called Little Bears were on the other. Zhang Ze and the others were trapped right in the middle.

What Zhang Ze had not expected was this.

When the Little Bears saw the Deformed Human Shadow, they actually gave up attacking Zhang Ze, as though the Deformed Human Shadow took priority over him, the "Nightmare New Star."

The two sides immediately began fighting in a tangled mass.

From a distance, they looked like two shadows twisted together. Inhuman howls rang out from time to time, while the chainsaw was caught between the shadows, its teeth covered in blood.

Old Zhou hurriedly covered Little Zhou's eyes with his hand. The group backed away several steps until their backs pressed against the trunk of a thick pine tree, not daring to get dragged into the battle between the Deformed Human Shadow and the Little Bears.

This was far more thrilling than anything shown on television.

If anyone really dared film something like this.

The cartoon would air yesterday, the police would arrive today, and the handcuffs would be collected tomorrow.

The two sides continued slaughtering each other.

The spilled blood gradually gathered into black liquid.

The liquid grew wings, beaks, and two feet.

New crows were born atop the corpses.

"Caw!"

"Caw!"

The crows gathered in flocks, screeching with all their strength.

As time passed, the battle gradually grew less intense. Yet the increasingly heavy air prevented Zhang Ze and the others from moving even half a step, as though an invisible force had tightly restrained their entire bodies.

The battle between the Deformed Human Shadow and the Little Bears was nearing its end. Both arms of the Deformed Human Shadow had been broken, its chainsaw had been crushed flat, and several wounds had been torn open across its body.

The Little Bears were in equally terrible condition. Their abdomen, chest, and neck were all covered in chainsaw wounds. Though they were only blurry shadows, it was still obvious that they had been badly injured.

Neither side continued fighting with the same desperate ferocity as before.

They both stopped, sensing something even more terrifying drawing closer...