Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“W-wolf howls?”
Just as both Jia Lin and Liu Cheng finally pulled through to the point where the fog had started to dissipate, they suddenly heard familiar howls.
Dejection, bitterness, fear, tremor, and more overcame the two again.
They were not exactly sure why they felt that way when they heard the howling of the wolves. They only knew that if they wanted to continue living, they needed to get as far away as possible from where they were, but it seemed like the wolves were closer than before!
“D*mn, where on earth is it coming from? Which direction?” Liu Cheng asked as he trembled. He suddenly realized that ever since he had come to this spiritual realm, he had never once used his strength. He had been like an ordinary person for the majority of the time.
Just like an ordinary person that faced a mutated creature, no matter what he saw, his head would only be filled with the order to run.
“H-here? W-what should we do?” Jia Lin was as pale as paper and cold sweat came off his brow. His clothes were already drenched.
However, it seemed as though the wolf did not want to give them the leisure of time to contemplate. Unbeknownst to them, the wolf had already slipped through the thin fog and was forty meters away from them.
“I-it appeared! H-how did this happen?!”
As the two were taken over by extreme terror, a wolf that was much larger than a calf exposed its fangs. As sharp as daggers, they looked capable of tearing everything apart with no problem!
Those golden pupils dripped with cruelness and bitterness. Mere eye contact with the wolf had consumed every bit of courage possessed by Jia Lin and Liu Cheng.
They never knew wolves could grow into such a terrifying form.
“Run! Quickly, run!” They once again forgot they could apply their transcendence here. After retreating a few steps, they chose to run again.
Running, then staying alive for long enough to escape from this terrifying valley, was their only option today.
“It’s catching up! Hurry! Hurry!” The two turned back. The mutated wolf had caught up with them at an unhurried pace, its speed already matching theirs.
The both of them had already channeled all their spiritual aura around their legs, running wildly in one direction.
However, a second, third, and fourth wolf appeared in front of them again, constantly forcing them to change the direction of their escape.
“I’ll never come here again!” Jia Lin cried out while working his legs as hard as he could. He resented his parents for not birthing him with another leg.
The two realized at last that the four wolves had banded together and were unceasingly chasing them from behind.
“W-what on earth are they doing? Are they playing? Once we stop running, are they going to eat us up?” Jia Lin was about to cry and desperately tried to control his nerves, which were close to unraveling apart under the four wolves’ torture. Their mental states were being broken down inch by inch.
“Run! Run!” Liu Cheng led Jia Lin as they continued to race across the jungle. He did not know when it started, but he suddenly realized that the woods were gradually getting sparser. Gravels and rock walls gradually came into their line of sight.
“The exit? Hold on, isn’t that where we came in through…”
They did not know when the wolves behind them had disappeared. Liu Cheng held onto Jia Lin, who cried as he ran.
At this time, they were standing on a raised stone. Below their sight, they could see wisps of smoke rising into the sky, and in the distance, the sun that they had not seen for a long time was now about to set to the west, dyeing half the sky an orange-red color.
“We’ve g-gotten out?”
The feeling after a disaster caused the two to hold onto each other tightly as they poured their eyes out.
They had no time to consider why the wolves had driven them here. They only knew that they had escaped from the terrible valley of horror.
…
Now, it was almost dusk, and the blood-red sun was about to set.
The Little Li Village.
Zheng Guodong frowned and sighed deeply as he heard Old Li’s cries outside the courtyard.
He had led fifteen people into the Bamboo Sea Nature Reserve and had brought back eight people along with five bodies.
Four were transcendents, while the remaining one was Old Li’s nephew, Li Ming.
As for the eight people, they were all somewhat injured and were undergoing emergency treatment.
Although the mission had been accomplished, they had paid a price too high.
Zheng Guodong bore unshirkable responsibility for this price.
“Captain Zheng, you have tried your best,” said Commander Xu as he nodded at Zheng Guodong.
“Yes. Next, the rest will depend on you,” Zheng Guodong said as he looked at his right leg, which had just been wrapped in a thick bandage.
In the final moments when he was leading the squad out the spiritual realm, they had been attacked by a pack of mutated jackals.
Although they had managed to fend off the enemies, they still escaped with injuries.
However, what made him feel even more terrible was the fact that he had left behind seven people in the spiritual realm.
This was a loss, a great loss indeed.
If he had been firmer and tougher with his words, would this have happened?
At that moment, he had only wanted to make sure those self-righteous, self-important, and those who could be described as ‘super arrogant rookies’ took a little beating, or rather, suffered a slight tumble.
He did not expect things to unfold into an outcome that he could not accept.
“Captain Zheng, I know you are very upset. However, there are still three squad members that haven’t been found. They may still have a chance. Our next mission will be to find them,” Commander Xu said as he reassured Zheng Guodong.
“They have probably already… Ah!” Zheng Guodong looked outside the courtyard, which held close to five hundred troops, each of them standing pencil straight.
“Even if there is only a one percent chance of survival, we will still use a hundred percent of our efforts to conduct the search and rescue. This is our duty and our responsibility!” said Commander Xu who had stood up. “You are a rare talent in the Tang Kingdom, and we will do our best to rescue them!”
Commander Xu walked into the courtyard, but Zheng Guodong’s heart was still fraught with regret and sadness.
If he had been as resolute as Commander Xu, and the squad had been half as disciplined and organized as these soldiers, would this have happened?
It was because of his blunder that these soldiers were now going to go through great risks to enter the spiritual realm to search for the three squad members who he was not even certain were still alive.
Who knew what dangers they would face because of this? How many lives might be lost inside?
They were different from a transcendent being like himself. These troops did not possess the extra support of the spiritual aura. What would happen to them, beings made of flesh and blood, if they encountered that panda, silver snake, and even the wolves that they had not seen? What would happen if they encountered the pack of mutated jackals that had attacked them and had thrown them into a panicked state?
How many close to Grade-D mutated creatures that did not fear ordinary bullets were there in this spiritual realm?
Zheng Guodong stood up and diligently kept to what he believed his duty was. “No way. I will accompany all of you to go in again!”
“Captain Zheng, don’t worry. We will not show any mercy to even an inch of the ground in that valley. We will bring in…”
However, before Commander Xu could finish speaking, they heard a commotion that came from the direction of the valley outside the village.
“Captain Zheng! Captain Zheng!”
After a while, Jia Lin, Liu Cheng and Kang Ying, looking like they had survived a disaster, appeared in the courtyard in front of Zheng Guodong with tears and snot running down their faces!
“Captain Zheng, it seems we can resolve things here and await new orders to be passed,” Commander Xu said as he watched the three huddle into a hug as they cried, and gave Zheng Guodong a few pats on the shoulder.