In the twisted darkness of the jungle, a beam of light flickered erratically.

It was the survival team led by Yang Wei.

They trudged through the rotting leaves, the silence around them broken only by the sound of their breathing and the snapping of dry branches underfoot.

Yang Wei walked at the front, clutching tightly the powerful flashlight he had picked up next to Master Wang's corpse.

In his other hand, he held a window-breaking hammer, his nerves on edge.

"Old Yang..."

A deliberately lowered voice came from his side.

It was Guo Shuai, the school basketball team's guard and Yang Wei's closest buddy.

He glanced back warily at the direction of the bus, leaning in to whisper in Yang Wei's ear.

"Actually... you saw it too, right?"

"That woman Bai Lianhua may be a chatterbox, but she was right about one thing..."

"That crow's death was too strange, and Jiang Nan's gesture..."

Yang Wei's hand holding the flashlight trembled violently, casting a shadow on the tree trunk.

He was silent for two seconds, then nodded with gritted teeth.

"I saw it."

Yang Wei's voice was grim.

"That's why I'm taking you all away."

"Guo Shuai, think about it, if it were some supernatural power or system... why is he the only one who has it?"

Fear glinted in Yang Wei's eyes.

"No global announcement, no phone notifications, we're all just ordinary people!"

"Why can Jiang Nan suddenly look at us like we're dead, and even kill from afar?"

"And did you notice his expression?"

Yang Wei recalled the indifference in Jiang Nan's eyes when he used Li Xin as a human shield and pointed a finger gun at his own forehead.

That was not a human expression.

No anger, no hesitation, not even a ripple of emotion.

It was like looking at a bunch of walking meat.

"That expression... I've only seen it on one kind of thing."

Yang Wei swallowed hard, "Remember that horror game we played all night at the internet cafe a few days ago?"

Guo Shuai froze, then his pupils shrank as if he had thought of something terrifying.

"You mean... the impostor?!"

"Exactly."

Yang Wei narrowed his eyes.

"I have reason to suspect that the real Jiang Nan..."

"Was already dead the moment we crossed over, or even earlier."

"The one occupying that body now is a 'thing' replaced by the monsters of this world!"

Guo Shuai felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, the thought terrifying.

"Yeah... why is he the only one with special abilities, and why is he keeping quiet about it..."

"If it were some kind of crossing benefit, or spiritual awakening, it wouldn't make sense for him to be the only one to awaken! Unless..."

"Unless it's not an awakening at all."

Yang Wei let out a cold laugh, "It's the monster's instinct."

"And think about it, why is he so adamant about not getting off the bus?"

"Why insist on staying in that place filled with corpses and the stench of blood?"

"Maybe... that's his lair, or some rule prevents him from leaving the vehicle!"

This line of reasoning, though tenuous, seemed "reasonable" under extreme fear.

Guo Shuai wiped the cold sweat from his forehead in hindsight.

"Damn... Old Yang, your mind works fast!"

"So, Teacher Chen Tong and that Liu Yuqing, Wang Meng... they're probably doomed too."

"Staying with the impostor, they'll eventually be consumed or even assimilated!"

Yang Wei patted Guo Shuai's shoulder, "Don't think about it, we're buddies, how could I not save you?"

"Let's hurry up and get as far away from that monster as possible!"

The two reached a consensus, quickening their pace.

The group continued in silence for another hour.

By then, the sky was completely dark, with a blood moon hanging high.

"Look! Up ahead!"

Suddenly, Bai Lianhua, walking in the middle, exclaimed in delight.

Everyone followed the beam of light.

Two hundred meters ahead, the twisted purple forest abruptly ended.

In its place was an endless wheat field, swaying in the night breeze!

No trees!

It was truly open ground!

"Great! We've finally made it out of this cursed forest!"

"Brother Yang Wei was right! No trees mean no crows!"

The group, suppressed all the way, erupted in cheers of survival.

Bai Lianhua quickly walked over to Yang Wei, obsequiously handing him an unopened bottle of mineral water.

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"Brother Yang Wei, you've worked hard, have some water!"

"You had the foresight, unlike that mute, waiting to die with a broken bus."

Yang Wei accepted the bottle without hesitation, taking a big gulp, the thrill of escaping death making him feel elated.

"Everyone, keep it up! Once we get through this forest, we'll rest by the edge of the wheat field tonight!"

Yang Wei wiped the water from his mouth, loudly encouraging them.

The boys high-fived each other in celebration, and the girls finally showed long-lost smiles.

As if reaching that wheat field would make all the danger disappear.

However.

Just as they were less than fifty meters from the edge of the wheat field.

"CAW!!!"

A screech suddenly exploded above their heads!

It was the horn of death.

Before anyone could react, countless pairs of scarlet eyes lit up in the dark canopy.

It was the flock of crows that had been scattered by Jiang Nan's firepower!

They had been lying in ambush here all along!

Or rather, Yang Wei and his group had stumbled right into the arms of these ravenous predators!

"Ah!!!"

Two screams rang out almost simultaneously.

The two girls walking on the outside of the group didn't even have time to cry for help!

They were grabbed by the shoulders and hair by four or five huge mutated crows at once.

"Help me! Save me!!"

One of the girls reached out desperately, trying to grab something.

But the next second, more crows swooped in.

They were like coordinated butchers.

Some grabbed the head, some grabbed the legs, some grabbed the hands.

"CAW!!"

With the synchronized flapping of wings, the two girls were forcibly lifted into the air!

"Rip!"

The sound of flesh tearing echoed in the night sky.

Five equal parts.

Under the immense pulling force, the two girls instantly turned into a rain of blood in the air.

Organs and severed limbs pelted their faces with a sickening splat.

"Ugh!"

"Run! Run for your lives!!"

The boys who had been high-fiving moments ago instantly broke down.

"Ah! My leg! My third leg!"

Two more boys at the back were knocked to the ground, instantly swallowed by black wings.

Only a few short screams were heard before silence fell.

In the blink of an eye, four were dead!

"To the wheat field! Get to the wheat field!"

Yang Wei, scared out of his wits, frantically charged towards the wheat field with the flashlight.

The group was in complete chaos.

Everyone cursed their parents for not giving them more legs.

Yu Shishi was at the back.

She wore ill-fitting little leather shoes, stumbling over the root-covered ground.

"Wait for me! Wait for me!"

She cried out, looking ahead.

The three boys who had sworn to be her protectors were now running faster than rabbits.

Not one of them looked back at her.

"Help... Bai Lianhua! Give me a hand!"

Yu Shishi saw her bestie not far away.

However, Bai Lianhua glanced back at the crows relentlessly pursuing them, a malicious glint in her eyes.

Not only did she not extend a hand, but she also deliberately pushed a dead tree in Yu Shishi's path!

"Don't come over here! Don't lead them to me!"

Bai Lianhua screamed, using the opportunity to speed up and join the boys ahead.

"Thud!"

Yu Shishi tripped over the dead tree, falling heavily to the ground.

Despair.

At that moment, Liu Yuqing's expression when she closed the window flashed in her mind.

I was wrong...

Really wrong...

"CAW!"

A crow dove down, its sharp claws about to tear into her back.

The will to survive gave Yu Shishi an astonishing burst of strength, and she rolled and crawled forward!

Barely dodging the fatal strike, she ignored the pain, scrambling towards the golden waves of wheat.

It was the only way out!

Twelve people, like a pack of frightened wild dogs, burst out of the forest, diving headfirst into the golden wheat field!

They ran for dozens of meters until their lungs burned like fire.

"Stop... stop!"

Guo Shuai suddenly grabbed the still-running Yang Wei, his voice trembling as he pointed behind them.

"They... they didn't follow us!"

The group stopped in their tracks, still shaken, and looked back.

What they saw was terrifying.

Hundreds of mutated crows were neatly lined up at the boundary between the forest and the wheat field.

They circled, screeched, and fed on the four corpses.

But not a single crow dared to cross that line!

Not even a meter.

"Hah... haha... we survived..."

Yang Wei collapsed to the ground, laughing as he looked at the crows that dared not cross the line.

"See? I was right!"

"No trees... they don't dare come over! We're safe!"

The other surviving students also collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, grateful they had chosen the right path.

Only Yu Shishi, who had crawled in last, clutched her bleeding knee, shivering in the corner.

She looked at the crows hovering at the "boundary."

In their scarlet eyes, there seemed to be more than just greed.

There was also a deep fear.

As if something a hundred times more terrifying than them lurked in this seemingly peaceful golden wheat field...