What he could be certain of was that, whatever happened, the safe distance left to him would not be very long. Numerous Sculpture Phalanxes lurked in the Wooded Belt. They did not move during the day, but deeper into the mountains, they would gain some initial mobility, not to mention beyond that boundary deep in the mountain forest.
He struggled to observe his surroundings, doing everything he could to capture a few crazed images within his distorted vision. Somewhere in the depths of this Dense Forest, a dark, damp corner brimmed with an ominous air, like a forgotten, accursed place.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."
Suddenly, rustling noises arose around him. They did not sound like moving sculptures, but rather some thick, elongated creature moving through the Dense Forest, its scales scraping tree trunks and dry leaves...
A powerful sense of foreboding enveloped Lin Yi. He heard... heard heavy breathing coming toward him. It sounded like a fine horse blowing through its nostrils, yet also like a gilled amphibian opening its gills and expelling water vapor.
He could see nothing. His vision had warped into a completely incomprehensible picture, filled entirely with irregular points of light. Yet at this moment, he could clearly feel something approaching from the area ahead. That heavy breathing drew closer and closer, and the "rustle, rustle, rustle..." grew increasingly distinct...
Gradually, the rustling became a metallic scraping, like metal plates scraping against a sharp knife rack, making Lin Yi feel a faint pain across his skin.
"Huff... huff..."
That thing came before him, perhaps ten meters away, perhaps twenty, or even farther. Yet its oppressive presence crashed over him like a tsunami, blowing against him like a fierce wind and making his clothes snap as though he were running into a gale.
A creature's