The sound exploded from the depths of the dense forest, accompanied by a shrill whistling sound like metal being torn apart. The ground trembled, and gravel and dirt rained down from above, hitting her face.
She lay on some kind of soft plant bed. The leaves were large, covered with fine hairs, like those of a fern. They were damp and brought a cool sensation against her skin.
Autumn remained motionless.
Eyes closed. Senses focused outward.
Ears pick up the direction, distance, and layers of sound. The roar comes from the northwest, about four hundred meters away. The sound of tearing metal is slightly closer, about three hundred meters away, mixed with the muffled thud of bones shattering. The frequency of the ground shaking-heavy footsteps. More than one. At least three large creatures are moving, each weighing over a ton.
Her fingertips pressed lightly into the soil beneath her, sensing its texture, moisture, and temperature. A thick layer of humus covered the surface, beneath which lay hard rock. Groundwater flowed from east to west. Large trees stood nearby, their roots penetrating the rock layers, spaced approximately ten meters apart.
A heart-wrenching scream.
Neither human nor beast. So sharp it could pierce an eardrum.
Then came the sound of a crash. Catastrophic. Like a building collapsing. The ground jolted, and Autumn's body bounced a few centimeters into the air before falling back onto the fern bed. Leaves and twigs rained down.
She struggled to sit up.
My body is protesting in pain. Muscle aches-lactic acid buildup from a prolonged coma. A familiar dull ache throbs in my left shoulder. An old injury. One left on Earth. It aches whenever the weather is cold and damp.
Energy reserves are almost depleted.
She closed her eyes and looked inward. The core within her body was still operating, but at a pitifully slow pace, like an engine about to run out of power. She needed to replenish its energy as soon as possible, otherwise she wouldn't even have the strength to suppress its power.
She stood up, holding onto the tree trunk.
The bark was rough and covered in moss. It felt slippery and damp to the touch. She squeezed herself into the shade of a giant tree, its trunk so thick that it would take three people to encircle it. Huge buttress roots stretched out in all directions, creating ridges in the ground.
She peered out through the gaps in the buttress roots.
In the open space, a creature the size of a truck lay in the center. Its body was almost cleaved open, green blood gushing from the hole in its chest cavity, soaking the surrounding soil. Its head was an inverted triangle, with two compound eyes like black gems, one of which was shattered. Its forelimbs were two huge, scythe-like bone blades, with some kind of dark red flesh still clinging to the blades.
A praying mantis. It looks like a praying mantis, but it's completely different from those on Earth.
Several dark figures stood beside the corpse.
Combat suit. All black, the close-fitting material gleaming coldly. Well-equipped, with a small energy core hanging from the weapon at the waist and some kind of folding launcher on the back.
One of them turned around.
Autumn's pupils contracted sharply.
The man's right arm was not a human arm. It was covered with fine black scales, and at the end was a claw-like structure with five curved black bony claws. Green blood dripped from the tips of the claws.
Partially transformed into a beast.
Her mind raced. This wasn't Earth. These people could transform into beasts. The mantis monsters weren't Earth creatures either.
She took a deep breath.
suppress.
She slowly pressed down on the dormant core within her. The power receded like a tide, converging to its deepest depths. Her muscles relaxed. Her breathing slowed. Her heartbeat slowed too. She transformed herself into a harmless mass of flesh and blood, a useless, weak, ordinary human being on the verge of death.
A combatant with bushy wolf ears looked up.
Its ears twitched. Its sharp gaze swept across the forest.
His pupils gleamed gold in the dim light, like two pieces of amber settling in their sockets. His gaze swept over the giant tree where Autumn was hiding, pausing for two seconds.
Autumn held her breath.
She pressed herself deeper into the shadow of the buttress roots. The coolness of the moss clung to her cheeks. The sound of her blood flowing echoed in her own ears like the beating of drums.
The wolf-eared youth looked away.
She counted. There were six people in total. Besides the wolf-eared youth and the scaly-armed man, there were four others. One of them was extremely tall, with his back to Autumn. His shoulders were as broad as a wall, and he exuded an imposing aura just by standing there.
They began to dismember the body.
The efficiency was astonishing. The sickle-shaped bone blade was removed and placed into some kind of buzzing container. The green blood was collected into a sealed jar. Finally, one of them dug a fist-sized object deep inside the mantis's chest cavity.
A crystal nucleus. It is emitting light.
A faint blue light leaked from between the man's fingers, making the surrounding fallen leaves glow.
Throwing. A parabola traces through the air.
The tall man caught it.
He turned around.
A face with sharply defined features. A jawline as if carved by a knife. Ice-blue eyes. A very thin vertical line in the center of the pupil-a characteristic of some predator. He took the crystal core with a casual yet precise movement, as if accepting a piece of fruit.
Then those icy blue eyes lifted up.
Sweep through the forest.
The light swept across the giant tree where Autumn was hiding.
It stopped.
A powerful aura pressed down on her. Like the pressure of deep-sea water, it tightened from all directions. Autumn felt something gripping her chest, making it difficult to breathe. It was a pure, biological suppression. The signal of a predator locking onto its prey.
He has been discovered.
She made a decision instantly.
She dropped all defenses. She surrendered. She crushed even the last vestige of killing intent. She suppressed every memory of battle to the deepest recesses of her consciousness. She became a blank sheet of paper. A stone. A harmless blade of grass.
A huge two-headed black dog broke away from the group.
It had two heads. Both heads were roaring. Black saliva dripped from the corners of its four mouths, scalding the ground with tiny plumes of smoke. Its body was the size of a calf, its muscles undulating beneath its fur. Its four thick legs pounded the ground, each step heavy as a countdown.
Autumn didn't run away.
Running away only triggers the hunting instinct. That was the first lesson she learned in the apocalypse. When facing a predator, you can't run. You can only make yourself look unlike the prey.
The dog's paws drew closer step by step.
Step. Step. Step.
Two enormous dog heads peeked out from behind the tree.
Four eyes. Cold. Ruthless. Her shadow, curled up in the mud, was reflected in their pupils. Her black nose twitched, and hot breath sprayed onto her face.
Autumn forced her body to tremble.
First, it was the fingertips. Then the shoulders. Finally, the whole body was shaking. The shaking was just right-not like feigned stiffness, nor so violent as to suggest a resistance.
She looked up.
His light brown eyes widened. His pupils dilated. His eyes quickly welled up with tears, which filled just the right amount of time but didn't fall. That fear, poised to spill, was ten times more realistic than any loud crying or screaming.
She stared directly at the pair of dog heads.
The dog's head froze.
A confused growl escaped its chest. They exchanged a glance-a silent exchange of glances between their heads, tinged with obvious hesitation. It sniffed her hair, then her shoulder. It took a half-step back.
She remained motionless. She was just trembling.
A tall man walked over.
His footsteps made almost no sound as they landed on the fallen leaves. The black dog automatically stepped aside, making way for him. The man crouched down in front of her, his icy blue eyes scrutinizing her closely.
The sense of oppression has intensified.
But Autumn's pupils remained dilated. Her breathing was rapid. Her chest heaved violently. Every detail pointed in one direction: fear. Pure, primal, non-aggressive fear.
He looked at her. For a long time.
Then he opened his mouth.
The voice was deep, like a vibration squeezed from the throat of some large feline. It carried a metallic coldness, yet was surprisingly steady.
"Who are you."
Autumn's lips trembled. No sound came out.
He asked again, his voice even lower: "Who are you? Why are you here?"
She opened her mouth. Her lips were cracked. Her voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible.
"I......"
She stopped. Then she clutched her head. The movement was slow, as if it took a tremendous amount of effort. Her fingers dug into her hair, and she curled her body up even tighter.
"I don't know. My head hurts. I can't remember anything..."
Tears finally fell.
A single drop. Perfect. It slid down the curve of her cheekbone, lingered for a moment at the tip of her chin, and then fell into the soil.
The tall man's gaze changed.
A crack appeared in the ice shell. He stood up, no longer looking at her. His voice returned to its usual concise, commanding tone.
"Clean up the scene. Prepare for evacuation."
His gaze swept over her body. A dress stained with mud and leaf debris. A recently healed old wound on her bare arm. Thin shoulders. A pale face.
He turned his head away.
"Take her with you."
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