Chapter 51: Awakening

It's not over yet.

Almost the instant Hu Li's words fell, Yu Sheng realized what the other party meant by "it's not over yet."

He heard chaotic roars rising and falling from the dense forest, heard terrifying and hollow wind suddenly echoing through the valley; the eerie and sinister atmosphere permeating the entire Otherworld did not diminish with the death of that flesh-and-blood beast just now, but instead suddenly intensified several times over. A heavy, almost stagnant malice and sense of being watched surged wildly from all directions, as if something had been awakened and was plunging into rage.

"What the hell is this?!" Yu Sheng looked at the fox-girl who seemed to know something and asked quickly.

"I don't know, but it... has appeared before," Hu Li said, her face filled with fear and unease, hiding behind Yu Sheng as she spoke, "On the day the Immortal died, it was like this. Something woke up. The Immortal took the remaining people outside... and didn't come back. Later, only corpses were found..."

The fox-girl's body trembled slightly. Lowering her head, she said, "Mom and Dad... hid me in a cave, wouldn't let me look outside. I didn't know what that was. When I crawled out, everyone was already dead..."

Yu Sheng quickly understood the situation from Hu Li's disjointed and incomplete account.

The truly terrifying thing in this valley was not that flesh-and-blood beast!

Or rather, it wasn't just that flesh-and-blood beast—something far more powerful was sleeping in the depths of this darkness, and from the moment he and Erin entered this valley, that thing had probably already been gradually awakening.

Yu Sheng gritted his teeth, weighed the situation quickly, and immediately ran toward Erin not far away.

"We can't keep fighting," Yu Sheng said quickly. "There's something even more sinister in this valley—Plan B. Retreat first. I'll open the door. How are you? Can you still move?"

Erin tried to push herself up from the ground with both hands, wanting to stand, but the moment she exerted force, she heard a faint crack. Her arms broke at the elbow; the severed parts fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

"No good, and my legs are damaged too. If I force myself to stand, they'll probably break too," the small doll said dejectedly, raising her arm, "I told you the thing you made isn't sturdy... You must have mixed sand into your clay..."

To be honest, the moment he saw Erin's arms break, Yu Sheng was truly startled. After all, he had never dealt with living dolls before and didn't know how serious this situation was, but hearing Erin's complaint at this moment, he instantly felt relieved: "So it can still be repaired?"

Erin nodded: "Yes, but we definitely have to go back."

Yu Sheng sighed with relief. Seeing that Erin could no longer stand on her own power, he unstrapped the picture frame behind the small doll, adjusted the rope buckle, and strapped it to his own back. Then he reached out, picked up Erin, and let her sit on his left arm.

Erin protested slightly, seeming to feel a bit embarrassed by this, but a one-armed doll had no intimidation factor. In the end, she could only settle down obediently and sit quietly on Yu Sheng's arm.

Yu Sheng then reached his free right hand toward the air. After a brief moment of concentration, a large door floating with illusory light and shadow appeared at the end of his arm.

He noticed that the three strangers not far away, who had appeared out of nowhere (the young man among them looked somewhat familiar for some reason), had strange looks in their eyes the instant he opened the door, and all turned their gaze toward him.

But he had no time to think too much. After confirming the passage was established, he yanked open that illusory door.

On the other side of the door was the living room of No. 66 Wutong Road.

"The safe passage is here, everyone retreat quickly," Yu Sheng said hurriedly, "Before that monster regenerates!"

He looked at the fox-girl standing not far away, who looked somewhat nervous and hesitant: "Hu Li, you go first—don't be afraid, the other side of the door is a safe place."

Then he turned his head to look at Li Lin and the other two: "You three, although I don't know who you are, thank you for your help just now—come with me when the time comes."

Encouraged by Yu Sheng, Hu Li finally gathered her courage, walked over, and stepped toward that illusory door.

However, just as she was about to touch the passage, a strange whistling sound suddenly came from not far away. Immediately after, Yu Sheng felt a gust of wind ambush him from behind!

Countless pieces of information, whose origin was unknown, instantly flooded his mind—several gazes focused on this ruined temple, perspectives extending from the distant sky and the depths of the valley, chaotic and cold tactile sensations, and... the joy of about to feed.

Yu Sheng turned his head abruptly and saw that a flesh-and-blood beast had appeared in the darkness at the edge of the ruins at some point. The middle of that beast tore open hideously, and a long tongue like a sharp arrow shot out from within, piercing his chest in the blink of an eye.

He had only time to push Erin, who was in his arms, aside. Unable to dodge at all, he was pierced through the heart by this strike.

Has that monster already regenerated? That fast? Or is it... another one?

Several questions flashed through Yu Sheng's mind in an instant. As his consciousness rapidly sank into darkness, he heard Hu Li's terrified cry, Erin's scream, and the howling of the wolf pack coming from beside his ear.

The illusory door in mid-air flickered twice and quickly dissipated. Yu Sheng's body fell backward. In his slanted and dimming vision, he saw layers of shadows floating at the edge of the ruins, and deep within the trembling of each shadow, a monster piled from flesh was slowly forming. Countless greedy giant mouths opened in this valley, the distant forest was full of foraging tentacles, the distant Shanfeng was covered in sharp teeth and fangs, and the sky... was gradually cracking open a narrow slit from the edges. "Benefactor!!" Hu Li was the first to rush over, throwing herself beside Yu Sheng. Although she had once seen Yu Sheng die and return to life, her already confused and unclear mind obviously couldn't react at this moment. Seeing Yu Sheng fall, her first reaction was still terror. "You, you, you... how are you..."

"How else could it be? This obviously looks like death!" Erin's loud beeping quickly interrupted the fox-girl's cry. The small doll fell to the ground, struggling to move her body. "You shouldn't be seeing this for the first time either. Calm down!"

Hu Li finally froze for a moment, her slow and confused mind reacting slightly, then stared blankly at Yu Sheng's corpse.

The fox-girl wrinkled her face, wearing a conflicted expression as if she wanted to cry, but also knew she didn't need to cry, yet felt that not crying at this point would be a bit disrespectful to the Benefactor, while crying would be even more disrespectful.

Li Lin, standing nearby, obviously didn't know Yu Sheng's situation. After seeing that flesh-and-blood beast not far away, his entire body instantly tensed up. At this moment, while vigilantly watching the monster's next move, he comforted the doll lying on the ground and the fox-girl beside her: "I'm sorry, but the dead cannot be brought back to life—the priority is to solve..."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard that pitiful doll reply: "It's fine, he'll be alive in a while—but we have to hold on for twenty or thirty minutes first until he comes back to open the door. That fox over there, help me get up, and don't forget the painting on the ground."

Hearing this, Hu Li immediately fumbled to pull out the oil painting frame pressed under Yu Sheng's body, then held the immobile Erin in her arms.

Li Lin and the other two watched this scene with shocked expressions, feeling that the doll's reaction was completely incomprehensible, even suspecting it was some kind of manifestation of excessive grief.

But they soon had no extra energy to pay attention to these things.

Chaotic roars rising and falling sounded from the darkness near the ruined temple. A heart-pounding mad atmosphere appeared continuously. Even Xu Jiali, with rich combat experience, had her expression instantly stiffen after seeing the situation around her.

!.

Hideous monsters piled from flesh were forming one after another in the darkness.

Roars filled the entire valley.

"Holy crap!" Li Lin exclaimed in shock, "How could so many appear?! Didn't the data say only one Hunger Entity generates at the same time?!"

Xu Jiali, standing nearby, slowly raised her head, swallowed hard, and then broke the silence: "What if this valley has already been parasitized by an 'Angel'..."

"What do you mean..." Li Lin said instinctively, and immediately after, he noticed the direction Xu Jiali's gaze was looking.

He saw it—the valley was slowly writhing and undulating in the night.

Sharp tooth-like structures appeared on the outline of the distant mountain range.

But even more terrifying than that was the sky—the sky opened.

The Otherworld sky, which seemed covered by a thick curtain and was always in a state of chaotic night, was undergoing changes. One of its edges gradually cracked open a slit in everyone's line of sight. A faint light suddenly appeared in the gap, and immediately after came the truth behind that curtain.

That was not a curtain at all, nor was it dark, heavy storm clouds.

It was an eyelid.

It was an eye that had always been closed, covering the entire Otherworld above, causing the eternal night here.

Now it opened. The eyeball coldly gazed at everything below. Its hollow, sunken pupil was filled with chaotic lines and flickering faint lights, as if carefully observing the prey in the valley. The faint lights that escaped even dispelled the permanent night that never faded in this Otherworld to a certain extent—"Light" descended, bestowing infinite terror.

The whistling cold wind woke Li Lin from his fear. He heard murmuring beside him.

It was Xu Jiali. This veteran deep diver with over a decade of service quietly muttered a term—

"Gloom Angel..."

(End of this chapter)