Chapter 1: Afternoon

Afternoon.

In a deep, towering forest.

Soft sunlight filters through the gaps in the layered leaves, at times gathering into golden pillars of light, at others transforming into mottled spots of light, gently sprinkling onto the moss-covered soil.

It truly is a beautiful scene; if posted on one of those popular red-book apps, it would surely attract a swarm of trend-followers.

It is just a pity that the person witnessing this scene with their own eyes only finds it blinding.

So tired, so thirsty, so hungry.

Xia Mingyu muttered silently in his heart, looking at the pathless expanse of dense forest ahead, a trace of despair inevitably rising within him.

"Damn it, what kind of place is this! Is it Southeast Asia or the Amazon?"

Xia Mingyu fiercely punched the large tree beside him, the stinging pain on the back of his hand making his consciousness slightly clearer.

He was just an ordinary college student from Blue Star, who had decided to take a trip to Thailand with friends before the New Year during winter break, only to be knocked unconscious right after getting off the plane; when he woke up, he was already in this seemingly endless dense forest.

He had called for help and shouted, but eventually realized no one would respond, so it was better to keep his mouth shut and conserve his energy.

"Still no signal on the phone, and not only that, the battery is about to die."

Xia Mingyu took the phone out of his pocket, looked at the call that still wouldn't go through and the blood-red battery warning, and could only let out a heavy sigh.

He glanced at the sky, heavily obscured by the canopy above; although very slowly, he could still notice the sunlight gradually weakening.

Although he hadn't studied wilderness survival, the few survival clips he had occasionally seen on video apps made him understand—the forest at night is ten times more dangerous than during the day!

Especially in this dense forest with such a perfect ecosystem, it was impossible for there to be no predators.

"I'll search a little longer, and if I still can't find a path, I'll find a safe place like a tree hollow to hold out for the night."

Xia Mingyu made his decision; he held his breath and focused, pushing aside the tangled bushes while trying his best to listen to the sounds around him.

At the same time, he used fallen branches and stones from the mud to leave marks so he wouldn't lose his way.

About half an hour later, he stopped in his tracks.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

A sound reached his ears from the distance.

Although very faint, he could still tell it was the sound of flowing water.

"Found it!"

After listening carefully to confirm the direction of the water sound, Xia Mingyu didn't stop to rest, quickening his pace and rushing toward that direction.

Before long, after he pushed aside a dense thicket, the scene before him suddenly opened up.

On the grassy, wide riverbank, a small stream about four or five meters wide flowed through; the water was crystal clear, revealing the fine texture of the sand and pebbles at the bottom, as well as small fish occasionally swimming by, shimmering with silver light.

Xia Mingyu slowly approached the riverbank, squatted down, and reached out to gently touch the slightly cool stream water; an indescribable joy spread from his fingertips to his whole body, making it hard to hide the excitement in his expression.

Because he knew very well that where there is water, there is life.

As long as he followed this stream, he would definitely be able to find signs of human life and get out of this dense forest.

Splash, splash.

Xia Mingyu cupped the stream water and gently washed his face; the cool water helped clear his consciousness.

However, although he was slightly thirsty, he had no intention of drinking the stream water yet, because even though it looked clear, there were still many impurities like bacteria and fish eggs inside.

Unless his thirst became severe enough to affect his movement, he was not prepared to drink raw water directly.

"I'll follow the stream for a while longer, and if I still don't see any signs of people or a way out, I'll find a way to start a fire and solve the drinking water problem."

Xia Mingyu pondered for a moment, but just as he was about to stand up, he suddenly froze.

He saw a line of strange text quietly floating above his reflection in the stream.

It wasn't any language he understood, but the sense of pattern they shared told Xia Mingyu that it was indeed a language.

At first, he thought he was hallucinating, but after rubbing his eyes several times and seeing the text still hadn't dissipated, he had to accept the fact.

"What does this text mean? And why is it appearing above my head?"

Xia Mingyu tried to move his body, but the text in the stream moved along with his reflection, which meant the text was indeed related to him.

Clearly, he couldn't see the text above his head when he looked up, but he could see it in the reflection.

Not only that, when he focused his mind on the text above his head, another line of similar text actually appeared below it!

Seeing this, a tremor of fear spread through his mind.

Although many people on Blue Star hoped to encounter supernatural events, when such an event actually happened to them, the first reaction of the vast majority was undoubtedly panic.

"Calm down, calm down, the most urgent task is to follow the stream to find signs of people and start a fire to solve the drinking water problem."

Xia Mingyu took a few deep breaths, and his emotions gradually calmed down.

This was a small trick a senior taught him when he participated in a college speech competition; whenever his emotions were too agitated, he just needed to take deep breaths as many times as possible, and his emotions could be quickly controlled.

After calming his mood, just as Xia Mingyu wanted to stand up and continue moving forward, a strange feeling of being watched suddenly appeared behind him.

Considering that anything could happen in this land that felt like a primitive forest, he immediately stood up and turned around, staring fixedly at the dense thicket behind him.

Seemingly sensing that it had been discovered by its prey, accompanied by a faint rustling sound, a large wild wolf slowly crawled out of the thicket.

Hiss!

This scene made Xia Mingyu's pupils shrink.

It wasn't that he hadn't seen wolves in the zoo, but the size of this wild wolf was simply too large!

Its shoulder height was already over half a meter, and its muscles were faintly bulging under its deep gray-brown fur, displaying the unique beauty of a beast's power.

That wild wolf stared at him with its ghostly green eyes, revealing a mouth full of fangs, and walked toward Xia Mingyu step by step, which was daunting.

"This size is almost catching up to a North American gray wolf..." Xia Mingyu's mouth twitched.

Despite being terrified inside, he didn't choose to run; instead, he opened his arms and made a fierce expression, glaring viciously at the wild wolf.

He had watched a few episodes of Animal World; a two-legged creature couldn't outrun a four-legged one, not to mention that predators have a hunting instinct for creatures that expose their backs.

In summary, running was a dead end, while opening his arms and staring back might offer a glimmer of hope.

Sure enough, under Xia Mingyu's actions, the wild wolf stopped its pace, only staring fixedly at him, seemingly weighing the value and strength of this prey to see if it was worth hunting.

"You will definitely get hurt if you hunt me, get lost!" Xia Mingyu shouted in his heart; he had never been as nervous as he was now.

However, just as his eyes were about to dry from staring, the wild wolf suddenly let out a mournful howl!

Awoo—!

Xia Mingyu's face changed drastically; he knew very well that the purpose of this howl was definitely not to intimidate, but to call for companions!

Just as he expected, after only a few dozen seconds, accompanied by the sound of bushes being pushed aside, two more wild wolves of equally large size crawled out of the thicket.

(End of chapter)