Chapter Eighty-Two: A Mistake

Chapter 82

Mei reacted the fastest. The moment the scream rang out, her arrow followed in quick succession. Yet for the first time ever, her shot missed!

Mo Chen and the others stared in astonishment at the arrow lodged in the snow. Apart from a few spots of blood nearby, there was nothing else to be found. They had spent so much time with Mei, but this was the first time they had seen her miss her mark.

What exactly had attacked them just now? It seemed that whatever it was had fled immediately after striking, and the surroundings once again fell into silence.

“Who was it that got ambushed?” After another cautious moment without further incidents, Ling Feng adjusted his glasses and asked.

“It was Huang Changgen from our team!” someone replied, trembling so hard that the chattering of his teeth was audible.

“Did you see what took him?” Ling Feng pressed.

“No, I didn’t see anything! I just saw something seemed to grab him, and then he vanished!” The man’s voice was thick with terror.

“Did anyone see?” Ling Feng turned calmly to the others.

No one had. Ling Feng then looked to Mei, who had reacted first, only to find her staring dazedly at her own hand, oblivious to his question. Ling Feng asked again, “Miss Mei, did you see what ambushed us?”

Hearing her name, Mei finally looked up to see everyone watching her, her expression bewildered, unable to understand why she was the focus of their attention.

“Mei, what’s wrong?” Mo Chen, worried by her distraction, asked gently.

“It’s nothing! Why is everyone staring at me?” Mei shook her head and returned the question.

“Did you see anything just now?” Mo Chen didn’t press further, seeing her reluctance to talk with everyone watching, and simply asked again.

“I didn’t see, but I know whatever it was has already left!” Mei shook her head once more.

In that brief instant of the ambush, she’d only caught a vague glimpse of something white, just slightly different from the snow, but hadn’t seen it clearly.

“How can you be sure it’s gone?” Ling Feng didn’t doubt her, but wanted to know how she’d sensed the creature. After all, she had been the first to notice something was wrong, and so far, no one else had detected its presence.

“Its camouflage was perfect, blending into the environment so seamlessly that even mental scans couldn’t pick up a flaw. If I hadn’t caught the faintest sound of breathing, I wouldn’t have been sure something was lurking nearby,” Mei explained, her attention returning to the present.

Breathing?

Ling Feng pushed his glasses up and signaled to a soldier beside him. The man quickly took a case from his back, opened it, and assembled a device. In no time, the radar-like instrument was operational, spinning a few times before falling silent, showing nothing.

“Keep the detector on. We’ll move forward,” Ling Feng ordered. He wasn’t sure if the device could pick up whatever was out there, but they had no choice but to test and proceed.

Once more, the group set out, moving with heightened caution, eyes scanning the surroundings, each on edge lest something leap out and snatch them away.

“Mei, let’s go!” After a few steps, Ye Jingxuan noticed Mei still standing in place and called her.

Startled, Mei hurried to rejoin the group, but her mind was still on her missed shot. She had sensed the threat even before it attacked, had been about to draw her bow and fire, but at that crucial moment, her body inexplicably froze! Though it lasted less than a second, she lost her best chance to strike.

Mei couldn’t tell whether it was her own problem, or if some outside force had interfered, but the experience deepened her unease.

“Still thinking about what happened? Everyone makes mistakes—it’s nothing to worry about,” An Ziyou offered comfort, thinking she was upset over her miss.

Mei merely nodded, not explaining that her missed shot hadn’t been a mistake at all. She didn’t want to unsettle the group further while things were still unclear.

Unable to find the reason, Mei forced herself to focus on her surroundings once again. Although the creature had left for now, there was no telling if it would return. This was no time to relax.

They pressed on, nerves stretched taut from the earlier ambush. Even the slightest sound—a gust of wind or a shifting branch—set many hearts racing with anxiety.

After more than an hour, Mei once again sensed that they were being watched.

Tightening her grip on the bow, she signaled Mo Chen and the others, focusing all her senses to locate the source of the faint breathing.

Mo Chen and his group relayed her signal. Ling Feng, receiving the warning, checked the detector, which was spinning erratically, suggesting it had found something but couldn’t pinpoint the direction.

He was about to order the power increased when Mei’s arrow flew again.

Everyone turned to see the arrow embedded in the body of a giant lizard, pure white and enormous. Injured, the beast tried to flee, but now that it was exposed and wounded, escape was impossible. The group unleashed a barrage of attacks, and within minutes, the giant lizard lay dead in the snow.

Once Ling Feng was sure the creature was dead, he gestured for someone to move in. They carefully collected its blood and scales as samples, storing them in a special metal box.

“So this beast was what ambushed us? Hey, can we eat it? If we can, I’ll roast it for dinner tonight!” someone spat beside the three-meter-long corpse, speaking with relish.

“Never heard of a mutant beast you can’t eat. But, Qiang, don’t think of hogging it all for yourself! We all helped kill it—if we’re eating, we all share!” another called out.

“Eat all you like! I’m not stopping you. I just hope nobody’s too scared to eat it. Who’s hogging anything?” Qiang retorted loudly.

“Do you think it’d taste better roasted or stewed? I’ve eaten snake soup before—delicious! This thing just has more legs, the taste should be similar!” someone mused, already salivating.

“I don’t know, but in this cold, something soupy would feel good.”

“Roasted meat is piping hot too—I still say roasted is best!”

As the men discussed how to cook the lizard, most of the women looked on with distaste, especially Xiao Keran, whose expression grew tender with pity as she gazed at the smooth, snowy corpse.

“Mei, you’re not interested in lizard meat?” Mo Chen asked in surprise, noticing her distraction. It was rare for her to show no appetite for food.

“I think we should leave as soon as possible. Who knows how many of these things are out there? If we attract more, we’ll be in real trouble,” Mei replied, shaking her head. She thought the group was letting their guard down far too soon.

“You’re right. We’ll move out immediately,” Ling Feng agreed, nodding and issuing the order.

“What about the body? It’s a pity to just leave it here!” someone said, reluctant to part with the giant lizard.

“If you have the space to carry it, take it; otherwise, the blood will be too strong a lure,” Ling Feng replied indifferently.

Space? That wasn’t something just anyone possessed. As far as people knew, only Mo Chen at Changyang Base had it. If anyone else had such an ability, they kept it well hidden.

Qiang, the one most eager to taste the lizard, looked pleadingly at Mo Chen. “Brother, what do you say?”

“All right, I’ll store it for now. Come find me when you want to eat,” Mo Chen agreed readily, swiftly storing the corpse before anyone could object.

Most people still didn’t know mutant beasts carried crystals inside them. Ling Feng, likely one of the few who did, had already declared that all loot on the journey belonged to the finder. Since Mei had first spotted and wounded the lizard, Mo Chen considered the crystal rightfully theirs.

With the beast dead, the group set out again, their spirits much lighter. Though still on guard, their nerves were no longer stretched so thin.

Ling Feng led the way, frequently checking the map and adjusting their direction. The detector remained on, and though it hadn’t helped this time, no one could say what the next stretch of road might hold; perhaps next time, it would provide an early warning.

Mei kept her position in the middle of the party, projecting her mental senses a hundred meters out, ever vigilant.

As dusk fell and it became clear they’d have to camp in the snow, someone with sharp eyes spotted a cave, half-buried beneath a drift.

At last, they wouldn’t have to spend the night exposed! The thought was unanimous.

It was a little early to stop, but with no guarantee of finding another shelter ahead, Ling Feng hesitated but did not refuse.

Others, fearing he might change his mind, quickly volunteered to scout the cave. No one saw the hint of satisfaction in Ling Feng’s eyes as he watched them offer.

Three bold, careful speed-variant scouts crept inside while the rest waited outside for their signal.

Minute by minute, the time dragged on. Fifteen minutes passed with no movement or sign from within. As the group exchanged uneasy glances, a sense of foreboding settled over them.