Chapter 198: Chapter 198: Winning Without a Fight

Hearing Xu Qingsui’s voice, a look of worry appeared on Lu Jingyu’s face. However, he had no time to check on her; the blurry shadow had already charged right up to him.

Bears were inherently highly intelligent creatures, capable of even mimicking human behavior. But this bear Mutant seemed completely mindless, relying solely on its sheer brute strength to slam directly into Lu Jingyu.

Lu Jingyu’s gaze turned sharp. He immediately raised both arms to shield himself, forcefully taking the Mutant’s impact with his own body. Grounding his feet, he pushed back slightly as the veins on his calves bulged out one by one. Even so, under the Mutant’s crushing weight, his body slowly began to slide backward. His expression shifted, but with no other choice, he could only continuously adjust his footing in an attempt to withstand the collision. However, when it came to a contest of strength against a bear, Lu Jingyu was clearly at a disadvantage.

Seeing that Lu Jingyu was about to be forced into the cage, Xu Qingsui lifted her Crimson Chain, ready to attack.

But at that very moment, the immense force bearing down on Lu Jingyu suddenly vanished. The bear Mutant remained in front of him, still locked in its previous posture, but in the blink of an eye, its body rapidly shriveled up. Finally, its white bones and fur scattered across the ground, reducing it to a pile of skeletal remains.

Witnessing this, Lu Jingyu felt no joy of victory; instead, his expression grew even more grave. The same was true for Xu Qingsui, who ran to his side with her Crimson Chain in hand.

The exact same scenario had played out again. Although it resulted in them winning without a fight, neither of them felt the slightest bit of happiness. All they could think about was the mysterious entity following them like a shadow, having now devoured two Mutants right in front of their eyes. Yet, up until now, they still hadn’t found a single clue about it. Thus, what had just transpired served as a grim warning. An extremely dangerous entity was lying in ambush nearby, and if they couldn’t even detect it, their only fate was to wait and become a pile of bones themselves.

With darkened expressions, the two stared at the skeletal remains on the ground in silence. Meanwhile, the mysterious entity seemed to have vanished once more, still not launching an attack on them.

After a long while, Xu Qingsui was the first to look at Lu Jingyu. "We’ll just have to take things one step at a time! We’ll deal with whatever comes our way. We’ve finished searching our area, and who knows how the other teams are doing. Aren’t there two other highly dangerous creatures left? Let’s hurry over and check!"

At this point, they had nothing else to do. Lu Jingyu nodded solemnly and immediately led Xu Qingsui toward the area where the leopard was kept. However, as they made their way over, the two saw familiar scenes in the adjacent areas. Seeing this, they both guessed what had happened. They remained silent with grave expressions, simply quickening their pace to find the team members responsible for this sector.

Before long, they finally found Meng Donghua and another team member at the far end of the area. At that moment, the two men hadn’t even noticed Lu Jingyu and Xu Qingsui’s arrival; they were just staring blankly at a pile of white bones on the ground. Hearing footsteps behind them, the two hurriedly turned around, looking at the newcomers on high alert. It wasn’t until they saw clearly that it was Lu Jingyu and Xu Qingsui that their tense bodies relaxed.

Having experienced what had just happened, they couldn’t help but be terrified, afraid that in the next second, they too would be turned into a pile of bones.

Along the way, the encounters of Meng Donghua and his partner had been strikingly similar to those of Xu Qingsui and Lu Jingyu. Whether they came across ordinary animals or infected Mutants, they didn’t need to lift a finger; the creatures eventually turned into piles of white bones. Although something had helped them solve their problems, they didn’t dare to lower their guard in the slightest. After all, no one could say for sure whether the entity taking action was a friend or a foe. If it were an ally, that would be fine, but if it were an enemy, it would only be a matter of time before they too became bones.

Therefore, the two men not only hadn’t relaxed at all during their patrol, but they had grown increasingly tense. In the end, they hardly even dared to breathe heavily.

Finally, they arrived at the cage where the leopard was held. Heaven had not smiled upon them; the leopard inside had also mutated. Just as they were preparing to send out the agreed-upon signal and engage it while waiting for Lu Jingyu to arrive with reinforcements, the scene that had constantly kept them in a state of shock and fear played out once again. The leopard Mutant was instantly devoured right before their eyes, leaving only a pile of white bones.

And just as they were staring at the bone pile on the ground, not knowing what to do next, Lu Jingyu and Xu Qingsui appeared.

"Captain, just now..." Finally finding his pillar of support, Meng Donghua hurried forward, wanting to tell Lu Jingyu what had happened.

But before he could finish, Lu Jingyu raised a hand to interrupt him. "Some unknown entity took care of everything for you, and in the end, only left behind a pile of white bones, right?" Lu Jingyu briefly summarized what had occurred.

Hearing his words, Meng Donghua nodded repeatedly. This was exactly what they had experienced, as if their captain had seen it with his own eyes.

Suddenly, Meng Donghua froze. He hurriedly asked, "Captain, how do you know this so clearly? Could it be..." A guess had already formed in Meng Donghua’s mind, but he didn’t dare say it out loud because the implications were far too terrifying.

Lu Jingyu’s face was as dark as still water. Facing Meng Donghua’s hesitant demeanor, he gave a heavy nod. "We experienced the exact same thing, and to this moment, we still haven’t figured out what that mysterious entity actually is!"

Meng Donghua and his partner drew in a sharp breath. They originally thought their captain could answer their questions, only to find that he was equally caught in the thick of it. What on earth was that bizarre entity?

Although they didn’t need to lift a finger for the entity to solve all their problems, the more this happened, the more panicked they became. Because an entity like that could turn them into white bones in a mere instant.

For a moment, everyone fell into silence. Staring at the pile of white bones on the ground felt like looking at a death warrant.

Amidst the silence, it was ultimately Xu Qingsui who broke the bizarre and eerie atmosphere. "There’s no use waiting around here. Let’s go check on the others! Maybe they’ve discovered something. Even if their situation is the same, it’ll be safer if everyone sticks together."

Xu Qingsui’s suggestion was well-received. Immediately, the group, led by Lu Jingyu, hurried off to regroup with the other teams.

Unsurprisingly, when they found the other two pairs of team members, their experiences were identical. They had won without fighting, yet the sheer weirdness of it kept everyone’s nerves taut, not daring to relax in the slightest.

The nine people gathered together, still facing a pile of white bones. They tallied up the normal creatures and Mutants they had encountered—exactly thirty-seven in total. However, upon hearing this exact number, the group’s expressions turned even more somber.

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