153: Chapter 153 Before the Black Dragon Cave

Dead silence.

A deathly silence where a pin drop could be heard.

The previous scene had happened so quickly that most people hadn't yet recovered from the shock.

A living Evolver had been dragged into the ground right before their eyes, without even letting out a full scream.

"Did you all see that clearly?"

Brother Bao said angrily:

"That's the price of greed! He threw his life away for a single piece of bait!"

"In this hellhole, anything that looks pretty is a goddamn death warrant! Everyone be careful, don't die like an idiot."

The team began to move again, but the atmosphere was now completely different.

Everyone's alertness was at its peak; any sound of footsteps on dead branches and fallen leaves was enough to make their hearts skip a beat.

They hadn't walked much further.

A faint "rustling" sound came without warning from deep within the dense forest ahead.

The sound was very light, like the wind blowing through leaves, or like some small animal crawling.

Brother Bao suddenly raised his hand, and the entire team came to an immediate halt.

Everyone held their breath, staring tensely in the direction of the sound.

"Rustle... rustle..."

The sound drew closer and closer.

Soon, from the edge of a patch of dark, rotting leaves, something crawled out.

It was an ant.

An ant the size of a palm, its entire body blood-red.

In the team, a thin, small man's face turned pale the instant he saw the ant.

"Fire ants! They're Mutated Fire Ants!"

"Run! Run!"

Before the others could react, the man turned and bolted.

Rustle! Rustle rustle!

From all directions, within the dark woodland, countless red spots of light lit up!

It was an overwhelming swarm of Mutated Fire Ants! They swarmed out from under rotting leaves, from behind tree trunks, and out of the soil, merging into red waves that surged frantically toward the group!

"Run!"

Brother Bao's eyes nearly split from the strain; he only had time to roar that single word before spinning around and sprinting back the way they came.

The team's formation collapsed instantly as everyone turned and ran like mad.

In the chaos, the thin man who had first recognized the fire ants tripped on a vine while turning, slowing him down by half a step.

That half-step decided his life and death.

The fastest wave of ants instantly submerged his legs.

"Aah—!"

The scream came to an abrupt halt.

In less than a second.

Only a set of grim white bones stained with a bit of blood remained; the skeleton even maintained its running posture for a moment before collapsing to the ground with a clatter.

Flesh, organs, clothing—everything was devoured in the blink of an eye.

The chaotic team was like a flock of birds startled by a stone, exploding outward as they fled for their lives in all directions.

Song Yang didn't choose the path they came from; instead, following his intuition, he plunged into a relatively sparse area of woodland to the side.

Closely following him were two rather stout men, and they ran for two kilometers in one breath.

They didn't stop until they were sure nothing was chasing them.

"Whew, did we survive?"

One of them, Long-Haired Fatty, slumped onto the ground. It was impossible to tell if it was sweat or tears on his face, and his voice wavered with the relief of surviving a disaster.

The other, a Bald Fatty, was much more alert. He leaned against a tree trunk, his chest heaving violently, but his small eyes were fixed on the direction they had come from as he cursed in a low voice:

"Shut up! Do you want to lure those damn things back here?!"

Song Yang stood on a tree, looking back toward where they had just been.

The slowest-running ordinary people were basically all dead, with nothing left.

"Where do we go now?" Long-Haired Fatty asked, lost and bewildered.

"Continue looking for the dragon egg."

Song Yang jumped down from the tree.

"Since we're already here, we can't just turn back halfway."

After saying that, he stopped looking at the two of them and continued toward the center of the island.

Bald Fatty and Long-Haired Fatty exchanged a glance. They gritted their teeth, scrambled to their feet, and followed him stumblingly.

The three of them trudged through the dense forest, one in front and two behind.

"Have you guys ever heard of a man named Koizumi Ichiro?"

Song Yang asked casually.

"Koizumi Ichiro?"

Hearing the name, the fat on Long-Haired Fatty's face trembled, his disgust plain to see.

"Why are you bringing up that piece of trash?"

Bald Fatty's expression also darkened. He spat on the ground and cursed:

"Hmph, calling him trash is a compliment. That son of a bitch is a beast in human skin!"

Song Yang didn't stop, his tone remaining calm.

"Oh? Tell me about it."

Long-Haired Fatty chimed in first, "That guy used to be a teacher at some bullshit Japanese language school. He wore gold-rimmed glasses and looked all refined.

When the apocalypse first started and so many people were starving to death, he was doing just fine. He caught a few female students and survived by trading them for food!"

Bald Fatty took over, "The guy does have some strength, though. If people weren't afraid of his power, those on this island who want to skin him alive would stretch from one end to the other!"

Song Yang listened in silence.

A demon in human skin, huh...

Interesting.

The three of them walked for a while longer.

Passing through a patch of sparse shrubs ahead, the terrain suddenly opened up.

A small hill of jagged black rock stood abruptly in the center of the island.

At the foot of the hill, a massive, pitch-black cave entrance appeared before them.

On the open ground surrounding the cave entrance, dozens of bizarre-looking creatures were wandering.

They looked like skinned hounds, covered in a layer of grayish-white scales.

These monsters wandered aimlessly, but not a single one dared to approach the cave entrance even slightly.

Just then, there was movement in the forest to the side.

Several disheveled figures stumbled out; it was the team that had been scattered by the ant swarm earlier.

Counting Song Yang and the other two, only ten survivors remained.

Brother Bao scanned the area, his gaze finally resting on the Scaled Beasts near the cave entrance.

"The plan remains the same. The dragon egg is in the cave. Someone must lure these things away."

No one spoke.

Having just survived a disaster, no one wanted to go to their death.

Brother Bao didn't waste words; he picked up ten dry twigs of varying lengths from the ground and held them in his fist, revealing only the ends.

"Old rules. We'll draw lots. The three who draw the shortest twigs will be the bait."

One by one, people drew their twigs with uneasy hearts.

Soon, it was the turn of Song Yang's trio.

As luck would have it, the three of them drew the three shortest twigs.

With no other choice, the three of them had to take responsibility for luring the monsters.

Stepping out of the dense forest, Song Yang bent down to pick up a stone and hurled it at a Scaled Beast in the distance that was gnawing on something!

"Bang!"

The stone struck the Scaled Beast's head with precision.

The monster recoiled in pain, its crimson compound eyes instantly turning toward them!

"Roar—!"

In an instant, all the wandering Scaled Beasts turned in unison, dozens of pairs of crimson eyes locking onto the three of them.