"Wick, did you hear what they were shouting?"
Several hundred meters outside Dead Mine Town, amid a patch of dead leaves.
Two thugs lay prone on the ground, camouflaged with dead leaves and weeds, talking in hushed voices.
One cupped a hand around his ear and strained to listen in the direction of Dead Mine Town.
But he could only make out the faintest trace of sound.
"I can't hear it clearly! But if the sound carried this far, it must have been a whole crowd shouting together. What are they trying to do?"
"Should we report it?"
"Pfft... report what? We don't even know what they were shouting. What would we report?"
"Oh... fair point!"
Soon, the commotion in Dead Mine Town died down. After a brief moment of puzzlement, the two stopped paying attention.
Squeak, squeak—
Just then, a palm-sized field mouse suddenly scurried past them, then stood on its hind legs, straightened its body, and looked at them.
Its black eyes, no bigger than mung beans, were a little unnerving in the dead of night.
Especially with the whiskers at the corners of its mouth twitching slightly, as though it were silently mocking them.
"Is it smiling at us?"
One thug's voice trembled slightly.
"I... I think it is, too. This is seriously creepy."
Watching the field mouse a short distance away, both men felt a sense of dread rise within them.
A shadow had already begun to emerge slowly behind them, enveloping them both.
"Who..."
The thug had barely spoken when two soft sounds rang out.
Both men lost consciousness.
The same thing continued to play out elsewhere.
After eliminating all eighteen lookouts near Dead Mine Town.
Yu Yuan entered the shadow dimension again and headed toward the canyon.
Before long, he found Trap, who had