32: Chapter 32 Death Desert 15

Camo Uncle clearly remembered that they had only managed to escape after placing the Blond Youth and the Girl with Double Braids on that mechanism.

Now that the Blond Youth said he just got up and left, what was going on with those mechanisms? Had they disappeared along with him?

Camo Uncle was extremely confused, but he did not show it on his face, instead looking at the Blond Youth and saying: "Continue."

The Blond Youth did not know what Camo Uncle's pause meant, and he couldn't be bothered to guess the other's attitude, so he continued: "Then I walked toward that opening. Just as I was about to reach the exit, I suddenly stepped into thin air and fell into a pitch-black space."

At this moment, Wolf-tail Guy suddenly stepped forward, scaring the Blond Youth so much that he stumbled back a few steps and almost fell to the ground. However, Wolf-tail Guy simply brushed off the Blond Youth's shoulder.

Embarrassed by his recent stumble, the Blond Youth's face turned red, and he shouted discontentedly: "What are you doing? Why are you touching me for no reason?"

Wolf-tail Guy extended his hand; on his slender, bony, and distinct fingers lay a single pure white hair.

Seeing this hair, everyone subconsciously looked at the White-haired Girl; after all, in this game, only Luo Yuejian had white hair.

Luo Yuejian: "...It wasn't me."

Everyone realized this as well. The White-haired Girl had always been with them and had never left the team. Based on what the Blond Youth had described so far, his route into this current space was completely different from theirs, so how would the White-haired Girl have had the time to go to the places the Blond Youth had been?

The Blond Youth also looked curiously at the white hair in Wolf-tail Guy's hand, not knowing himself where he had picked up the thing.

Realizing that Wolf-tail Guy had a reason for patting him, the Blond Youth couldn't continue making a fuss, so he had to suppress his dissatisfaction and continue explaining how he had made it here.

"After I fell into that pitch-black space, I felt like my tailbone was about to break, and it seemed like I had landed on something. I reached down to feel it; although I couldn't see anything in that pitch-black space, after I left that area, I carefully identified it. It should be a fire poker... Here, look, it's this."

As he spoke, the Blond Youth pulled a piece of wood from his backpack that was relatively straight but scorched black at the top.

"Hiss... It really does look like a fire poker." At first, they hadn't believed the Blond Youth, but only after seeing the actual object in his hand did they believe that it was indeed a fire poker.

"How could a fire poker appear in this place?" Camo Uncle was puzzled, while Wolf-tail Guy on the side wore a thoughtful expression.

The Blond Youth ignored their confusion, as he didn't know anything either. He continued: "As soon as I picked up this fire poker, I could immediately and clearly feel that the already dry air around me became even drier. I felt like I was about to crack, so I quickly wanted to leave that space."

"But that space was very complex, made up of many caves. I walked around blindly without any goal and got lost down there. Then, a strange cry came from behind me; the sound was like both a bird chirping and a woman weeping..." At this point, the Blond Youth couldn't help but shiver.

"When I heard that ghostly sound, I was so scared that I grabbed the wall and just turned and ran, not daring to delay for a second. Then, inexplicably, I saw light. I rushed toward the light, and as soon as I came out, I heard your voices."

Without thinking too much about the Blond Youth's words, Camo Uncle looked at him with a grim expression and asked: "So, that unknown creature is still following behind you?"

The Blond Youth froze; the joy of seeing his companions had made him completely forget about this. Just then, a cry—like the one the Blond Youth had just described, sounding like both a bird chirping and a woman weeping—came from behind him.

"Get out of the way!" Wolf-tail Guy shouted, immediately lunging forward to tackle the Blond Youth and rolling a few times.

A creature with a bizarre appearance, even more terrifying and chilling than the giant Mythical Serpent from before, appeared before them.

It was a strange, eerie bird shaped like an owl, but with a human face and human ears, and four eyes.

"What the hell! What is this thing?" The Blond Youth couldn't help but curse; this thing was just too weird and disgusting.

It was already chilling enough to have a human face on an animal, but this eerie bird actually had four eyes on its face, which almost made the Blond Youth retch.

"Yong..."

"classic of mountains and seas": "Four hundred miles further east is the mountain of Lingqiu, where there is no grass or trees, but much fire. To the south, there is a valley called Zhonggu, from which the Tiaofeng wind originates. There is a bird there, shaped like an owl, with a human face, four eyes, and ears. Its name is Yong, and its cry sounds like its own name. When it appears, there will be a great drought throughout the land."

"Another creature from the classic of mountains and seas?" Camo Uncle frowned and pondered.

Glasses Man suddenly said tremblingly: "Do you think... this creature looks like those two stone carvings at the entrance..."

Once Glasses Man said this, Camo Uncle was stunned. Recalling carefully, he remembered that the two stone carvings at the entrance did indeed seem to be owl-shaped.

Could this monster really have transformed from the owl stone carvings at the entrance? Camo Uncle remembered that the snake-shaped sculpture coiled around the pillar in the previous space could also turn into a real snake, and he suddenly felt that this made sense.

However, the eerie bird did not give them much time to think, as its strange, unpleasant cry rang out again.

Because the Blond Youth had been blocking the way, everyone did not yet know what the eerie bird's method of attack was. At this moment, sensing the creature's pre-attack signs, everyone couldn't help but tense up, staring intently at the human-faced bird before them, ready to escape at any moment.

But this time they all guessed wrong; the strange cry the eerie bird had just made was not a pre-attack signal. Because shortly after that cry, countless piercing screams rang out, reaching the heavens.

In an instant, countless eyes filled with greed and bloodlust lit up in the dark underground world. Densely packed, these eyes that seemed to glow in the dark night were just like the night-luminescent pearls on the ceiling of the grand hall in the previous space. There must have been at least hundreds of them, making one's scalp tingle. It was truly chilling.

The moment he saw so many eyes in the darkness, Camo Uncle's heart sank, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead and back from extreme fright.

If these were all of the same species as that eerie bird, they would definitely not be able to survive among this flock. Even if they were just killing this many chickens, their hands would fall off from the effort, let alone these ancient classic of mountains and seas creatures that could attack and appeared to have formidable attack power.

Camo Uncle stiffly turned his head to look at the path behind him, which had already been sealed off by a stone door. Even that giant Mythical Serpent couldn't break through it, so how could they?

Furthermore, even if they really had a way to open that stone door and escape, the Mythical Serpent was still guarding the other side. Given how much the White-haired Girl had provoked that giant serpent earlier, it would definitely not let them off.

Camo Uncle's heart was almost cold with despair. In this situation, other than fighting to the death until they collapsed from exhaustion and were devoured by this flock of eerie birds, he couldn't think of any way to survive.

He couldn't help but look at Wolf-tail Guy and the White-haired Girl, hoping they might come up with some solution, but in his heart, he knew clearly that under these circumstances, they were most likely just waiting to die...