It’s not over yet.
Almost at the moment Hu Li's words fell, Yu Sheng realized what she meant by “it’s not over.”
He heard chaotic and distorted roars echoing through the dense forest, and the terrifying, hollow sound of wind suddenly reverberated in the valley.
The eerie, chilling atmosphere that filled the unusual land did not diminish with the death of that flesh-and-blood giant beast; rather, it intensified manifold.
A heavy, almost stagnant malice and sense of being watched surged from all directions, as if something had been awakened and was now descending into fury.
“What on earth is that?!” Yu Sheng quickly asked the fox girl Hu Li, who seemed to know something.
“I don’t know, but it has appeared before,” Hu Li replied, her face expressing panic as she hid behind Yu Sheng. “The day the immortal died was just like this. Something awakened, and the immortal took the others outside... They never came back. Later, only their corpses were found...”
The fox girl trembled slightly, lowering her head. “My mom and dad... hid me in a cave, didn’t let me look outside. I don’t know what that is. When I crawled out, everyone was already dead...”
From Hu Li's disjointed and incomplete narration, Yu Sheng quickly grasped the situation.
The real terror in this valley was not just the flesh-and-blood giant beast! Or perhaps more accurately, it was not only that beast—something even more powerful lay sleeping in the depths of this darkness, and ever since he and Ailin entered the valley, that thing had probably already begun to awaken.
Grinding his teeth, Yu Sheng swiftly contemplated his options and ran towards Ailin, who was not far away.
“We can’t continue fighting,” Yu Sheng said urgently. “There’s something much more sinister in this valley—Plan B, let’s retreat first, and I’ll open the door. How about you? Can you still move?”
Ailin tried to prop herself up with her arms to stand, but as soon as she exerted herself, there was a faint cracking sound, and her arms broke apart at the elbows, with the severed parts falling to the ground and shattering.
“I can’t. My legs are injured too. If I force myself to stand, they might break as well,” the little doll said dejectedly, raising her arm. “I told you this thing you made isn’t sturdy... Did you mix sand into the clay?”
To be honest, Yu Sheng was startled for a moment upon seeing Ailin’s arms break.
After all, he had never dealt with a living doll before and had no idea how serious this situation was.
But hearing Ailin’s complaint, he suddenly felt relieved. “So you can fix it?”
Ailin nodded. “I can, but we definitely need to go back.”
Yu Sheng sighed in relief.
Seeing that Ailin could no longer stand on her own, he unfastened the frame on her back, adjusted the ropes, and slung it behind him.
He then picked Ailin up, letting her sit on his left arm.
Ailin protested a little, seeming embarrassed, but the broken doll had no deterrent power, and in the end, she had to yield, sitting obediently in Yu Sheng’s arm.
Using his free right hand, Yu Sheng reached into the air.
After a moment of concentration, a door, shimmering with illusory brightness, appeared at the end of his arm.
He noticed three unfamiliar figures not far away, who had suddenly appeared (one young man looked strangely familiar) casting odd glances as they saw him open the door.
But he didn’t have time to ponder it.
Once he confirmed the passageway was established, he pulled open the illusory door.
On the other side was the living room at No. 66 Wutong Road.
“The safe passage is here, everyone hurry and retreat!” Yu Sheng urged. “While that monster hasn’t yet reconstituted!”
He turned to the fox girl who looked somewhat anxious standing nearby. “Hu Li, you first—don’t be afraid; the other side is safe.”
Then he turned to Li Lin and the others. “You three, I don’t know who you are, but thanks for helping just now—follow me when the time comes.”
Encouraged by Yu Sheng, Hu Li finally mustered the courage to walk over, stepping toward the illusory door.
However, just as she was about to touch the portal, a strange howling suddenly erupted from not far away.
Then Yu Sheng felt a strong, rushing wind attack him from behind!
Countless pieces of information flooded his mind in an instant—multiple pairs of eyes were focusing on the ruins of the broken temple, perspectives stretching down from the distant sky and the depths of the valley, chaotic and cold sensations, and... a joy of impending feast.
Yu Sheng abruptly turned around and saw that a flesh-and-blood giant beast had emerged from the shadows at the edge of the ruins.
The monster's body split open in a vicious manner, and a long, arrow-like tongue shot out, piercing through Yu Sheng’s chest in the blink of an eye.
He only had time to push Ailin aside and could not dodge in time, feeling his heart being pierced by the blow.
The monster had regenerated? So quickly? Or was... it another one?
A flurry of questions flashed through Yu Sheng's mind, and as his consciousness rapidly sank into darkness, he heard Hu Li’s terrified cries, Ailin’s screams, and the howls of wolves.
The illusory door high in the air flickered twice and quickly vanished.
Yu Sheng’s body fell backward, and in his dimming vision, he saw layers of shadows rising at the edge of the ruins, and within each undulating shadow lay a grotesque monster slowly materializing.
Countless greedy mouths opened across the valley, and in the distant woods, foraging tendrils thrived.
The far-off peaks were brimming with sharp teeth, and the sky... was gradually splitting open.
“Benefactor!!” Hu Li was the first to leap forward, rushing to Yu Sheng’s side.
Though she had seen him die and come back before, her already confused mind clearly couldn’t register it, and upon seeing Yu Sheng fall, her first response was panic. “What... what happened to you?”
“What else could it be? This is clearly death!” Ailin's loud voice quickly interrupted the fox girl’s worries, as the doll fell to the ground, struggling to move. “You shouldn’t be surprised by this. Stay calm!”
Hu Li paused, her sluggish mind finally beginning to grasp the situation as she stared dumbfounded at Yu Sheng’s lifeless body.
The fox girl’s face wrinkled in despair, showing an expression of wanting to cry but also understanding that crying wouldn’t do any good; feeling it was inappropriate to not cry for the benefactor made a mere thought of tears increasingly complicated.
Meanwhile, Li Lin did not understand what was happening with Yu Sheng.
The appearance of the nearby flesh-and-blood giant beast had rendered him tense.
Now he was alertly watching the monster’s next move while comforting the fallen doll and the fox beside her. “Sorry, but a dead person cannot be brought back to life—our priority is to resolve this...”
Before he could finish speaking, he heard Ailin, who had fallen to the ground, reply, “Don’t worry, he’ll come back later! But we need to hold on for another twenty or thirty minutes for him to open the door. Fox, help me get up, and don’t forget the painting on the ground.”
Upon hearing this, Hu Li hurriedly fumbled to pull out the oil painting frame pressing down on Yu Sheng’s body, then held the immobile Ailin in her arms.
Li Lin and the others looked at this scene with bewilderment, utterly unable to comprehend the doll's reaction, even suspecting it to be some sort of expression of excessive sorrow.
But soon they were too preoccupied to worry about such matters.
The chaotic roars rang out again from the darkness near the broken temple ruins, a heart-stopping mad atmosphere continuously emerging.
Even Xu Jiali, with her combat experience, found her expression suddenly stiffening after seeing the situation around her.
Grotesque monsters made of fused flesh were emerging one after another from the darkness.
The roar filled the entire valley.
“Oh no!” Li Lin exclaimed. “How can so many appear?! Didn’t the records say that the hungry entities can only generate one at a time?!”
Xu Jiali slowly lifted her head, swallowed hard to break the silence. “What if this valley has already been parasitized by the ‘Angel’...?”
“What do you mean…” Li Lin instinctively responded.
Yet, he quickly noticed the direction Xu Jiali’s gaze was fixed on.
He saw the valley quietly twisting and undulating under the night sky.
Sharp, tooth-like structures appeared in the outline of the distant mountains.
But more terrifying was the sky—The sky was opening.
As if covered by a heavy veil, the eternally chaotic night sky was changing.
One of its edges slowly began to slit open before everyone’s eyes, a faint light flickering within the gap, revealing the truth behind the veil.
It was not a veil nor dark, stormy clouds.
It was an eyelid.
An eye that had remained shut, covering the entire foreign land, causing this place to be enveloped in eternal darkness.
Now it was opening, the pupil coldly observing everything below.
The hollowed-out iris was filled with chaotic lines and flickering lights, as if it were scrutinizing the prey in the valley.
The scattering lights began to dispel, to some extent, the permanent night in this land—“Light” was descending, bringing boundless terror.
The howling cold wind jolted Li Lin from his fear.
He heard mumbling beside him.
It was Xu Jiali, the experienced deep diver with more than ten years of service, softly murmuring a term—
“Obscure Angel…”
(End of this chapter)