Freetown Forest Park covered a vast area, but its public facilities were limited to the outskirts.
Goldman had been driving the utility cart for a little over ten minutes when the road began to turn rough and uneven.
As the trees grew denser and the trail more rugged, the group had no choice but to get out and continue on foot.
The trees along the trail formed a thick canopy overhead, blocking most of the sunlight, yet the air beneath them remained hot and humid.
The harsh conditions were difficult for the three young people, who were used to city life.
Beads of sweat formed on Heather and Josh’s faces, while Mike kept swatting at the insects buzzing around his head.
Liam seemed completely unaffected.
Camera in hand, he moved steadily forward while speaking to the lens.
“Kids, we’re now deep inside Freetown Forest Park.
The scenery around here is pretty nice.
If I were Bigfoot, this is definitely where I’d choose to live.”
His easygoing commentary helped ease everyone’s nerves along the way.
Mike even found the energy to whisper to Josh that if their documentary turned out well, it might make them famous.
The forest trails were difficult to navigate, but fortunately Goldman, as the park director, knew the area reasonably well.
After only taking two wrong turns, he finally led them to the right place.
By the time they reached the helicopter crash site, nearly an hour had passed.
The students were exhausted.
Mike pulled his shirt out of his pants and used the hem to fan himself.
Seeing that Goldman had only broken a light sweat, he couldn’t help asking,
“Mr.
Goldman, how come you don’t look tired at all?”
Goldman glanced at Mike’s physique and answered with a touch of pride.
“I’ve worked here for thirty years.
Before I became director, I used to patrol this place on foot twice a day.
You kids have a long way to go.”
Liam ignored their small talk and went straight to the helicopter wreckage.
Up close, the helicopter was in far better condition than he had expected.
Its overall structure was still mostly intact, and the damage wasn’t especially severe.
What was strange was that the cabin door stood wide open.
Several deep gouges marked the frame, as though something had forcibly ripped the door open.
Goldman came over and looked inside.
“Good.
It didn’t explode.
The people inside might still be alive.”
Everyone moved in to help, but unfortunately, there were no survivors.
Only two bodies remained.
Even more disturbing, neither of them appeared to have died from the impact of the crash.
One body lay beside the pilot’s seat with a bloody hole in its chest.
The man had clearly been shot, and it looked as though his death had caused the crash.
The second corpse was far more gruesome.
Its entire body was covered in deep scratches and bite marks, as though some wild beast had attacked and mauled the victim to death.
Liam’s gaze moved between the damaged door frame and the mangled corpse.
What kind of beast could tear open a metal cabin door?
“Hey, look over here.
We found something strange.”
On the other side of the wreckage, Heather and Josh had discovered something else.
Everyone gathered around and saw a rectangular package wrapped in wax paper.
The moment Goldman saw it, his expression changed.
He was just about to stop them when Mike, unable to resist, opened the package.
“Pfft!”
A large cloud of white powder spilled out.
“Shit!
Why did it have to be this stuff?”
Mike’s face went pale.
As an American, he knew exactly what it meant.
A crashed helicopter, two dead bodies, and a package full of white powder.
It all pointed to one thing.
A gang deal gone bad.
They were ordinary university students who had only come here to shoot a documentary for their final project.
None of them wanted to get dragged into something this dangerous.
Then something blinking red among the powder caught everyone’s attention.
Liam walked over, carefully picked it up, and examined it.
“This might be a tracking device.
Looks like these gangsters are pretty professional.”
Josh swallowed hard and glanced at his classmates.
“Maybe we should go back.
This place doesn’t exactly feel safe.”
Mike and Heather immediately nodded, and Goldman agreed.
“Right.
Those two are already dead.
When the police get here, they can handle this.
Don’t touch anything else.
Let’s get back to the ranger station.”
Liam, however, seemed to have noticed something.
He hurried off to one side, set up his camera, and aimed it at the ground.
“Kids, take a close look.
We’ve just made a major discovery.
We’ve barely arrived, and we’ve already found the tracks of a mysterious creature.”
“Huh?”
For the moment, Goldman’s curiosity outweighed his anxiety.
He walked over for a closer look and immediately let out an exclamation.
“My God, that’s a huge bear track!”
Pressed into the mud was a bear paw print nearly the size of a washbasin.
Judging by its size, the bear that made it would probably stand around two and a half meters tall.
Goldman had spent thirty years working in these woods, yet even he had never seen a paw print that large.
The students saw it too, and their fear only grew.
Heather’s voice trembled.
“Let’s get out of here.
I don’t want to get eaten by a bear before we even run into the gangsters.”
Even Goldman’s legs felt a little weak, but as the oldest person there, he forced himself to remain calm.
“Don’t worry.
Normally, the bears around here aren’t very aggressive.
Maybe it was just frightened by the helicopter crash.”
Even Goldman himself didn’t believe what he was saying, but after hearing his reassurance, the students relaxed a little.
Just as everyone was preparing to head back the way they had come, they noticed that Liam hadn’t moved.
Instead, he had his camera pointed deep into the forest.
Goldman grew anxious and called out to him.
“Hey, come on.
It’s not safe here…”
Before he could finish, his eyes followed the direction of Liam’s camera.
Deep among the trees, a pair of red eyes flashed for an instant.
Then they disappeared.
[Exploration Progress: 10%]
“Finally found it, kids.
Let’s get a closer look at what we’ve discovered.”
As he spoke, Liam excitedly started toward the place where the red eyes had appeared.
“Come back!
That’s a bear!”
Goldman shouted after him while drawing the handgun from his waist with trembling hands.
As park director, Goldman carried a handgun with him.
Unfortunately, he had spent too many comfortable years behind a desk and was no longer sure how accurate his shooting still was.
By the time Goldman fumbled with the safety and raised the gun toward the forest, he saw Liam looking directly at him and pointing behind him.
Goldman’s heart lurched.
Had the bear already gotten behind him?
No.
It was behind the university students.
Goldman instantly swung the gun around.
What he saw made his mind go completely blank.
It was a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The red-eyed monster wasn’t a bear.
At least, it wasn’t anything that could be called a normal brown bear.