At the factory entrance.
Ye Meng and his three companions huddled behind a shipping container. The weather grew increasingly murky, and the wind pounded against it like thugs collecting a debt, setting off a series of clangs.
"Brother Ye Meng, did you hear something?" Ye Zhong swallowed, wishing he could shrink his already curled-up body to half its size.
"Don't talk nonsense. What could there be besides the wind?"
"But the people in the factory all had their heads fall off when they died, while the Giant Wolf at the entrance lost all its flesh. Those are clearly two different ways of dying. There's danger inside the factory, and there's another kind of danger out here," Ye Zhong said, trembling.
"Why did you have to get smart now, kid?"
The four of them grew restless.
Ye Meng gripped the Hunting Rifle, glancing at the Mechanical Watch from time to time. Normally, the thick fog lasted three hours. Once it passed, they would be safe. Yet now, the hands marking each minute and second moved so painfully slowly.
Outside, the sound that differed from the wind grew increasingly distinct.
"Be careful. Keep your weapons ready," Ye Meng said grimly.
"Maybe it's some wild animal."
The danger drew closer and closer. Although none of them could see what lurked in the fog, the instinctive sense of peril sent goosebumps crawling over all four of them.
They were like explorers lost deep in the mountains, surrounded by wild beasts.
Splat!
Suddenly, something dropped beside Ye Meng's feet, splashing liquid.
Holding the Hunting Rifle in both hands, he shone the flashlight clenched between his teeth on it. What he saw nearly made him scream.
It was the shattered face of a Giant Wolf. Beneath the face were an esophagus, lungs, a liver, a heart,