“Lin Mao, yesterday when Wen Rou and I were clearing zombies around the area, this was the farthest point we reached.”
Shortly after leaving the shelter, Li Ruyue quickened her pace and walked beside Lin Mao.
She raised her hand and pointed toward the distance ahead.
“That area looked strange, so neither of us dared to go any deeper.”
Lin Mao followed the direction of her finger and narrowed his eyes slightly.
Not far ahead stood a dense black forest.
It looked completely different from the lush greenery surrounding it.
The trees inside the forest were twisted and pitch-black, their branches warped into unnatural shapes.
Even the leaves carried a dark gray-green color, while faint black mist lingered above the forest canopy, giving off an indescribably eerie feeling.
Lin Mao frowned.
After several seconds of thought, he spoke in a deep voice.
“This place is too close to the shelter.”
“No matter what’s hiding inside, we need to investigate it.”
The moment he finished speaking, he stepped toward the strange forest without hesitation.
Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan exchanged glances before immediately following behind him.
The instant the three crossed into the forest boundary, a series of harsh cries suddenly echoed overhead.
“Caw! Caw! Caw!”
Dozens of black crows burst into the air from the twisted branches above them.
The sound of beating wings mixed with their shrill cries, reverberating throughout the silent forest and making the atmosphere even more terrifying.
Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan instinctively felt their hearts tighten.
Subconsciously, they moved closer to Lin Mao.
The forest itself was extremely dark.
Sunlight was blocked almost entirely by the dense branches and the layer of black mist hanging overhead.
Only scattered fragments of light managed to reach the ground.
The thick layer of fallen leaves and decaying soil beneath their feet felt soft and damp, carrying a faint rotten stench.
The three had walked barely a hundred meters into the forest when Lin Mao suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Wan Yuyan’s heart skipped a beat.
Lowering her voice quickly, she asked:
“Why did you stop suddenly? Did you notice something?”
At the same time, she tightened her grip around the short blade hanging at her waist, her eyes sweeping cautiously across the surrounding trees and bushes.
Lin Mao frowned deeply.
“This place is too quiet.”
“Other than those crows when we first entered, there hasn’t been a single sound.”
“No insects. No birds.”
“That’s not normal.”
Before he could finish speaking, his pupils suddenly shrank.
Without even a second of hesitation, he activated his telekinesis.
An invisible force instantly wrapped around Wan Yuyan’s body and violently threw her toward a nearby tree behind them.
Everything happened in less than a second.
Wan Yuyan had no idea what was happening before her body was sent flying uncontrollably.
Her back slammed heavily against the thick tree trunk, causing a sharp pain to explode through her body.
She let out a muffled groan before sliding helplessly onto the ground.
Her mind went completely blank.
When she finally forced herself to look up, her heart nearly stopped.
A deep chill rushed from the soles of her feet straight to her head.
The ground where she had been standing moments ago had split apart.
From the crack in the earth emerged a gigantic worm-like creature.
Its dark body was covered in sticky mucus, while its enormous mouth was lined with countless sharp teeth resembling spinning saw blades.
The horrifying mouth snapped repeatedly at empty air.
If Lin Mao had reacted even a second later, she would have already been shredded into pieces.
Cold sweat instantly covered Wan Yuyan’s back.
Her face turned pale as lingering fear overwhelmed her.
After missing its prey, the giant worm let out a low growl.
Its thick body twisted violently before retreating back underground.
But the moment the worm disappeared, strange growls suddenly erupted from all directions within the forest.
“Hrrgh…!”
Zombies began stumbling out from behind the trees one after another.
Li Ruyue’s expression changed instantly.
Without hesitation, she activated her own telekinetic ability and crushed the head of the nearest zombie.
Crack!
Its skull exploded like a smashed watermelon, spraying black-red fluid across the ground.
Grinding her teeth, Li Ruyue cursed coldly.
“Damn it!”
“These things were hiding here all along!”
“They set up a trap and waited for us to walk right into it!”
Before she could finish speaking, even more zombies rushed toward them.
At the same time, several more cracks appeared in the ground nearby.
Clearly, additional giant worms were preparing to ambush them from underground.
Facing the overwhelming horde of zombies and hidden monsters beneath the earth, Lin Mao remained completely calm.
He slowly raised his hand.
An immense wave of telekinetic power spread outward instantly like an invisible net, covering every zombie before him.
The next moment—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One explosion after another echoed through the forest.
The zombies’ heads burst apart like overripe fruit, spraying foul-smelling green fluids everywhere.
After dealing with the front line of zombies, Lin Mao’s eyes swept across the ground.
He instantly locked onto several spots where the soil was bulging unnaturally.
With a sudden motion of his hand, a powerful telekinetic force pierced into the earth and forcibly dragged several giant worms out from underground.
The monsters writhed violently in midair.
Then—
The telekinetic pressure tightened.
A series of sickening cracking noises rang out as the worms were twisted apart alive.
Sticky organs and foul-smelling fluids splattered across the ground.
Within only a few seconds, the once-chaotic forest fell silent again.
Zombie corpses and severed worm remains littered the area.
The entire place had become a horrifying battlefield.
Wan Yuyan slowly stood up while wiping green fluid from her face.
Just as she was about to speak to Lin Mao, the ground beneath them suddenly began to tremble violently.
It felt as though some enormous creature was moving beneath the earth itself.
Even the surrounding trees started shaking, causing dead leaves to rain down from above.
The three immediately looked ahead.
Their expressions changed at the same time.
From the depths of the forest emerged a wave of zombies and giant worms several times larger than before.
They surged toward the trio like a massive tide.
Seeing the endless horde, a cold smile appeared on Lin Mao’s face.
“So the thing hiding behind all this is pretty cautious.”
“Does it want to wear us down using numbers?”
“Fine.”
“I’d like to see how many of these monsters you can keep summoning.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Mao slowly raised his right hand.
Violent blue lightning surged wildly within his palm, releasing sharp crackling sounds.
The blinding light instantly illuminated the dark forest.
Then he swung his hand downward.
“Fall.”
Boom!
Massive bolts of lightning descended from the sky like blue dragons carrying the power to destroy heaven and earth.
The thunder crashed directly into the incoming zombies and worms.
Everywhere the lightning struck, horrifying screams erupted instantly.
The monsters’ bodies were burned black, exploded apart, and turned into ashes under the terrifying electric power.
Several seconds later, the lightning faded.
Nothing remained except scorched black earth.
Not even fragments of monster corpses were left behind.
The air was filled with the stench of burning flesh and rotting blood.
But before the three could even catch their breath, more zombies and worms emerged from the forest once again.
It was as if the monsters were truly endless.
Lin Mao’s expression remained emotionless.
He raised his hand once more, summoning another storm of lightning.
Again and again, thunder crashed down upon the endless monsters.
No one knew how much time had passed.
The layer of scorched earth grew thicker and thicker.
Eventually, the monsters’ roars gradually weakened.
Lin Mao stared at the devastated battlefield before finally lowering his hand.
The lightning in his palm slowly faded away.
This time, no more zombies or worms appeared.
The forest returned to complete silence once again.
Only the heavy breathing of the three survivors remained.
Yet Lin Mao’s eyes stayed cold and vigilant.
Not even slightly relaxed.
The three stood silently in place for a long time, carefully observing their surroundings.
Other than the rustling sound of wind brushing through leaves, there was nothing unusual anymore.
No monsters.
No unfamiliar presence.
Li Ruyue slowly walked to Lin Mao’s side and lowered her voice.
“Lin Mao… we’ve waited here for so long, but whoever’s controlling this still hasn’t appeared.”
“Could it be…”
“There isn’t actually anyone controlling them?”
“Maybe these monsters are simply being influenced by the black mist and instinctively attacking intruders.”
Lin Mao glanced at her silently without answering immediately.
After rubbing his forehead thoughtfully for a moment, he finally made a decision.
“We’ll stop here for today.”
“No need to investigate further for now.”
“Let’s head back first.”
With that, he turned around and walked toward the edge of the forest.
Li Ruyue and Wan Yuyan quickly followed behind him.
The entire return journey was silent.
Only the sound of footsteps and breathing echoed through the forest.
The black mist seemed even denser now, making the air feel heavy and oppressive.
Roughly thirty minutes later, the three finally approached the outer edge of the forest.
The surrounding light gradually became brighter, easing the pressure in their hearts slightly.
Just as they thought they were finally safe and prepared to speed up their pace—
A sudden cold wind blasted toward them.
The gust carried an overwhelmingly foul stench of blood and decay.
Lin Mao’s expression changed instantly.
A powerful sense of danger exploded within his mind.
Just as he was about to activate his telekinesis—
A black shadow shot out from the trees behind him at terrifying speed.
Boom!
The attack slammed directly into his back.
Lin Mao had no time to react.
His body was sent flying like a broken kite.
He smashed violently across the ground, carving a deep trench several meters long through the dirt before crashing heavily into a giant tree.
Only then did he finally come to a stop.