That monster let out an earth-shaking roar and the sharp claws that could pick up a person came towards me. I startled, jumping to one side with tremendous effort and managed to safely evade.

“Hurry up, run! Faster!” Bai yelled anxiously.

I hurriedly picked myself up from the ground and uncaring of my image, just running straight forward. The others weren’t that much better, even the brand-name clad Liang Kaifeng was running like a dog. That terrifying monster roared from behind us and didn’t stop reaching out its claws to try to catch us.

“Come over here!” Bai was indeed nimble on all four paws, he was soon in front of us and found an incline where we could hide. We didn’t have any time to think twice. Running for our lives, all of us hiding behind that not-too-big incline.

As the monster chased us to here, it saw that it had lost its prey and let out a displeased roar. It started looking around for us. That putrid stench permeated the air around us and all of us covered our noses, doing our very best to not make a sound. But that monster probably didn’t have much intelligence, it randomly swiped around with its claws a few times and then left with heavy steps.

“Did it.. l-leave?” Liang Kaifeng asked, holding his breath.

“It seems to have left temporarily.” Bai said.

Liang Kaifeng let out a long sigh, his entire body wilting.

“What on earth was that thing..” I was also almost scared silly. I had never before seen such a huge monster, and the fact that something of that size could somehow suddenly appear behind us without any warning, the fear from that moment was hard to describe adequately.

“I don’t know either.” Even Bai’s expression showed unease. He shook his head. “I’ve never seen a demon like this before. And it could actually appear so suddenly like a ghost, logically speaking, that isn’t a common way for demons to hunt.”

“Could it be that the barrier in the forest was created by that scary thing?” Su Xiaoyun was still holding her nose, her entire body shaking as she said. “As the hunting ground for its meals?”

“I’m also not too sure..” Bai shook his head.

If only Wen Jiubo was here. If he was here, then he could definitely be able to clearly explain what was happening. And then he would be able to use his quick-thinking mind to plan a good way to survive. This thought appeared in my mind, but then I quickly shook my head in regret.

No matter what, since he wasn’t here, he wasn’t here. Even if Wen Jiubo wasn’t present, we couldn’t just lie down and accept defeat. We must find a way to get out of this forest.

This forest was too eerie. And, I couldn’t say why exactly, but apart from the eeriness and the terror, I kept feeling like there was something not quite right. It was as if this entire thing was exuding some sort of unease, but if I had to pin it down, I couldn’t say what exactly was the problem.

“Damn! I’ve really had enough!” Liang Kaifeng stood suddenly, yelling loudly. His expression was fierce. “Demon or whatever, and also hunting food or whatnot! I only came here with the school to camp, I didn’t come to feed myself to demons! I still haven’t taken over my father’s company yet, so I don’t want to die here! Ever since I met you guys, I’ve had bad luck all the way until now. You’re cursed!”

Liang Kaifeng said, huffing angrily. “I don’t care! If you want to discuss this casually here, then you can do what you want! I’m not going to die alongside you, I’m going to leave this godforsaken place!”

“Wait! If you start wandering around aimlessly, it’ll be really dangerous!” I immediately also stood up.

“That’ll still be better than waiting here like you guys!” Liang Kaifeng yelled at me, his eyes red. Following that, he left the incline where we had hidden ourselves with long strides.

“Let him go.” Shi Yitong said coldly, mocking him from the side. “These rich kids, born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Their problems are all because of their coddled upbringing. If he wants to die, then let him go.”

“Stop it. Why are you still spouting such sarcasm when we’re already in this sort of situation?!” I said angrily.

But at this point, Liang Kaifeng had already run out. He even turned around to mock us. “You guys are the dumbasses! Just wait there for death!”

“Liang Kaifeng, watch out!” Su Xiaoyun shouted in warning.

That’s right. Just where Liang Kaifeng was running towards, that monster suddenly appeared. I could only watch as the giant thing appeared on previously completely empty ground.

“Ah —!!” Liang Kaifeng let out a pained scream.

“You dumbass, don’t just stand there, run!”

But Liang Kaifeng hadn’t any energy left to run. His entire body had gone boneless, and he was sitting on the ground trying to crawl away inch by inch. He was still mumbling, “Don’t, don’t kill me, don’t eat me.. I beg of you, I don’t want to die!”

“That dumbass!” I stood up, preparing to run towards Liang Kaifeng but it was then that Su Xiaoyun let out another sharp scream.

“What’s wrong?!” Shi Yitong asked.

“L-look, you guys!” Su Xiaoyun used her finger to point at the deep forest behind us.

I turned around and froze. Under the cover of the night, there were deep, dark shadows that melted out of the depths of the forest.

There were three.. no, four shadows and as they closed in on us, there were more and more monsters that appeared out from the darkness. There were five or even six huge things that came towards us. It was accompanied by ear-splitting roars and a strong putrid smell.

The monsters were like the city wall, even blocking the moonlight.

“This is a joke right.. where did all these monsters come from?!” Shi Yitong couldn’t shut his jaw.

My mind went blank but for one thought. Dammit, everyone is here because of one impulsive move from me!

If it wasn’t for me impulsively running into this forest, then Su Xiaoyun and Shi Yitong wouldn’t have followed me in. If it wasn’t for me getting Liang Kaifeng’s attention on the bus, then he would have never been put into a team with us, and of course, he wouldn’t have run into the forest either.

It didn’t matter what happened to me, to be quite honest if it hadn’t been for Wen Jiubo saving my life back then, then I would’ve long since died at Wang Zhong’s hand. But how could my friends die in such a place? That was a laughable idea!

Thus, at that moment, without thinking, I ran straight towards the monster closest to me and threw out my fist as hard as I could!

Maybe it was due to the bad visibility in the night, my fist met empty air, causing me to trip and almost making me fall over.

However, this did seem to successfully draw that big monster’s attention.

“Gu Yu!” Su Xiaoyun started yelling. “What are you doing?!”

“Come at me!” I raised my head and hollered loudly at those monsters. “Didn’t you want to eat people? You’re big, but you’re dumb! If you’ve got it in you, come and eat me!”

“Gu Yu! Have you gone mad?!”

As I expected, in an instant, all the monsters discarded their chosen targets and looked towards me. An entire pack of huge things with gaping bloody mouths closed in on me. I swallowed hard, backing away.

However, I didn’t take more than a couple of steps back before my back hit something firm and unyielding. It was only when I turned my head to look that I discovered that behind me was a giant rock, completely and utterly sealing off my path.