267: Chapter 267 That really was a monster

"Later, the footsteps stopped, stopping right outside the rock crevice."

"That thing... squatted down..."

"It squatted at the mouth of the rock crevice..."

"A face... just leaned over like that... right up to my face..."

Yang Ningcong's weeping abruptly stopped.

He abruptly raised his head, his expression no longer one of a breakdown, but something much deeper than a breakdown.

"Its face... is just like a human's."

"It has all five facial features, eyes, nose, mouth. They are all human."

"But they are gray."

"Gray skin, clinging to the bones... with no flesh in between... just like a layer of skin wrapped directly around a skeleton."

"Its eye sockets are deep... far too deep... those two eyeballs are embedded deep inside."

Yang Ningcong shuddered again. "But those eyeballs..."

"Off-white... like a dead fish's eyes..."

"It stared at me, and the scariest part was that its eyeballs could still move."

"They shifted from Anan to me."

"Then..."

"Then it stood up, as tall as me... No, taller than me... half a head taller..."

"Very thin... so thin that only bones were left..."

"Its arms are very long... hanging all the way down to its knees..."

"Its fingers are also very long... each finger is at least twice as long as mine..."

Yang Ningcong looked down at his own hands. "Fortunately, it didn't touch me."

"It went to find Anan."

"Anan... Anan let out a scream."

"And then there was no sound."

Yang Ningcong bit down hard on the back of his hand, making muffled sounds in his mouth.

"It carried Anan on its shoulder... Anan's head swaying behind its back... her arms also swaying... like... like a wet piece of clothing draped over a drying pole..."

"Then it turned around."

"The speed at which it turned around was normal."

"But the moment it bolted..."

"Lin Fan, listen to me..."

Yang Ningcong stared fixedly at Lin Fan.

"From the mouth of the rock crevice to the edge of the woods, it's at least a hundred meters."

"It crossed it in an instant." Everyone looked at Yang Ningcong; looking at his appearance, it didn't seem like he was lying, and no one spoke.

After a long while, Xu Zhixia stepped forward two steps.

Her expression remained restrained, and her professional instinct led her to seek a rational explanation first.

"Under extreme panic, people tend to experience hallucinations and exaggerate objects."

"At night, the lighting is poor and the fog is heavy."

"Perhaps it's just some large carnivorous animal on the island. Like a bear, or a standing ape. Their silhouettes in the fog are indeed easily mistaken for human shapes."

Yang Ningcong abruptly turned his head, looking despairingly at Xu Zhixia.

"Dr. Xu."

"When it squatted in front of me, it was less than a foot away from me."

"No matter how heavy the fog is, can't I clearly see something a foot away?"

Xu Zhixia did not answer immediately.

"That is not an animal."

"Animals don't have noses, but that thing does."

"A human nose, a high bridge, narrow nostrils."

"Animals don't have eyelids, but that thing does too."

"It blinked."

"Human eyelids."

"You can see the wrinkles on them, you can see the eyelashes."

Yang Ningcong's lips trembled slightly.

"But that color of that face... is the color of a dead person."

"Gray, with a hint of cyan, like a corpse soaked in water."

"There is no color of blood on its skin."

Yang Ningcong took one last look at the sunlight outside the cave entrance.

That sunlight shone on his face, but it couldn't warm him up no matter what.

"That face of it is human."

"But that speed, that strength, those proportions that shouldn't exist..."

"It's not human."

"That truly is a monster, if you saw it, you definitely wouldn't be able to straighten your back either."

He collapsed sideways onto the stone slab, curled up into a ball, his hands still tightly hugging his shoulders.

No one spoke inside the cave.

Xu Zhixia stood in place. This time, her lips moved, but she couldn't say a single word.

Anything impossible can happen on this island.

Lin Fan looked down at Yang Ningcong curled up on the ground and asked, "Then why didn't you come up last night?"

Yang Ningcong was stunned for a moment.

He huddled on the ground, half of his face pressed against the stone slab, his whole body still trembling.

"I... I fucking wanted to come up too..."

"After Anan was carried away by that thing, I didn't dare to move a muscle in the rock crevice."

"I waited for a very long time... a very long time..."

"The footsteps outside disappeared, and the fog cleared up a bit."

"I thought, while it's gone, I should quickly climb up."

When Yang Ningcong said this, his whole body started shaking again.

"I had just poked my head out of the rock crevice... stood up... and hadn't even walked ten steps..."

"It appeared right in front of me."

Yang Ningcong's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"It didn't run over from afar."

"It didn't walk out from the woods."

"It was just like... appearing out of thin air."

"The last second there was nothing in front of me, and the next second, that gray face was just a fist's distance away from me."

"It was still in that posture, hunching its waist, tilting its head."

"Staring at me."

"Ah..."

Yang Ningcong covered his face with both hands.

"I just passed out."

Lin Fan stood in place, looking down at him. That thing carried away the woman, but left Yang Ningcong behind.

Why?

If that thing was a predator, prey passed out on the ground would be easier to catch than lively ones.

It had no reason to let Yang Ningcong go, unless it wasn't here to hunt.

Or rather, it only wanted women.

As soon as this thought popped up, the back of Lin Fan's spine went numb.

He instinctively glanced toward the direction of the compartments deep within the Karst Cave.

Su Qingxue, Song Ya, Xu Zhixia.

Three of them.

"When I woke up, it was already bright, and the sun was shining on my face, and only then did I dare to open my eyes." Yang Ningcong's words interrupted Lin Fan's train of thought.

"When you woke up, that thing was gone?" Lin Fan asked.

"It was gone."

"What about Anan?"

"Nothing." Yang Ningcong shook his head. "There was nothing in the rock crevice, and nothing on the beach. Anan's things, the wild fruits she picked yesterday... they were all still there."

"Only the person was gone."

Lin Fan was silent for a few seconds.

He stared at Yang Ningcong's face; those eyes were bloodshot, with dark, bruised circles underneath them.

His pupils were dilated, and his focus couldn't align.

It didn't look like it was deliberately faked, nor did it look like something a mentally sound person could act out.

Moreover, having encountered such a situation, and with Yang Ningcong being so cowardly, other than passing out, he couldn't figure out why Yang Ningcong would be able to survive down there for an entire night.