“Alert! Stay alert!”
It was Zhou Wu and Zhao Yan’s turn to keep watch in the second half of the night. Mo Han had just fallen asleep when their loud shouts woke him up.
Still half-asleep, Mo Han sat up and heard Ye Qingtang and the others ask,
“What’s wrong? Is there danger?”
Zhao Yan said seriously,
“A large group of bats is approaching us very quickly.”
Because of his demon eye ability, Zhao Yan could detect danger earlier than Xue Ling, who had the strongest instincts.
Liu Qing asked in confusion,
“Don’t most bats eat insects or fruit? They shouldn’t be dangerous, right?”
Zhao Yan gave a bitter smile.
“That was before mutation. Now they’re more like vampire bats—they are obsessed with blood.”
Shen Yuan asked,
“How strong are they?”
Zhao Yan replied,
“They’re not very strong individually. Only one is Level 2. But their numbers are huge—almost a thousand.”
Hearing this, everyone realized how serious the situation was.
Zhou Wu suggested,
“Can we kill the Level 2 bat first? Without a leader, maybe the rest will scatter.”
Zhao Yan shook his head.
“Bats are not like wolves. Even if we kill it, they won’t easily disperse.”
Xue Ling had already sensed the danger and began to growl uneasily.
Mo Han gently calmed it down and asked,
“What should we do? We’re surrounded by forest—there’s nowhere to hide.”
Ye Qingtang said coldly,
“We can’t run. We can only hold out until dawn. Once the sun rises, they should retreat.”
Lin Yue Ru asked nervously,
“Are we going to fight them?”
Ye Qingtang shook her head.
“No. We avoid direct combat. Xiao Cheng—burn the forest.”
Xiao Cheng immediately understood. He released waves of fire, setting the surrounding trees ablaze and forming a wall of fire around the group.
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
The bats shouldn’t dare fly through flames so recklessly.
Ye Qingtang said,
“Xiao Cheng, keep the fire under control. We need it to last until dawn.”
Xiao Cheng nodded proudly and glanced at Zhong Tianxiang, making him angry.
Seeing Mo Han looking sleepy, Situ Yu said,
“If you’re too tired, get some rest. I’ll protect you.”
Mo Han shook his head and released cold air to wake himself up.
“No need. This won’t be easy. Be careful.”
In the original story, Situ Yu and the snow mastiffs weren’t here. Although no one died in that version, Mo Han wasn’t sure things would go the same way now.
Soon, the bat swarm surrounded them completely.
Even through the fire, they could hear the loud flapping of wings.
When the bats didn’t attack immediately, everyone relaxed slightly—except Mo Han.
He kicked Situ Yu lightly and said coldly,
“You’re relaxing too early. It’s not over yet.”
Before he finished speaking, the bats suddenly went wild.
Ignoring the flames, they rushed straight through the fire and attacked.
Several of the girls screamed in fear.
Everyone quickly reacted, forming a protective circle around Du Xiao, the others, and Xiao Cheng, who was maintaining the fire wall.
Situ Yu cut down several bats with wind blades and shouted,
“Have these bats gone crazy?!”
Shen Yuan frowned.
“They seem organized… Is that Level 2 bat controlling them?”
Mo Han stayed silent while killing bats.
According to the story, there was a leader—but not the Level 2 bat.
It was actually a Level 3 mind-type mutated bat hiding in the shadows.
Even Zhao Yan, with his Level 2 ability, couldn’t detect it because it was stronger and deliberately hiding.
Mo Han felt frustrated—this was already the third time he had faced mind-type enemies.
Even though he knew the truth, Mo Han couldn’t say anything. He had no way to explain how he knew about the hidden bat when even Zhao Yan couldn’t detect it.
So he could only stay alert and hope someone else would discover it.
But soon he realized it wasn’t that simple.
Finding a hidden mind-type enemy was extremely difficult.
At times like this… only the protagonist could turn the situation around.
Just as everyone was about to lose control, the hidden Level 3 bat finally made its move.
While fighting, Ye Qingtang suddenly felt as if a giant hammer struck her head. The pain was unbearable.
Taking advantage of this, several bats rushed toward her neck.
“Qingtang, watch out!”
Zhong Tianxiang reacted immediately and killed the attacking bats with metal blades.
After recovering, Ye Qingtang said seriously,
“There’s a Level 3 mind-type mutated bat among them. That’s their real leader. Be careful!”
“Level 3?!” Zhao Yan was shocked.
“But I didn’t detect it at all!”
Ye Qingtang replied,
“It’s stronger than you and hiding on purpose. That’s normal. Try again—can you locate it?”
Zhao Yan concentrated for a moment, then shook his head.
“I can only sense a vague direction. It’s too unclear.”
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Lin Yue Ru screamed.
Everyone turned and saw that she had been bitten by a bat.
But something surprising happened.
A yellow light appeared on her hand as she covered the wound—and it began to heal at a visible speed.
Lin Yue Ru had just awakened a healing ability.
Ye Qingtang was briefly surprised, but quickly refocused.
Right now, the real danger wasn’t Lin Yue Ru’s awakening—
It was the hidden Level 3 bat controlling everything from the shadows.