The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

She crouched down and gestured with her fingers to indicate the size and shape of the wound. It wasn't a gunshot wound, nor a laceration; it was from a sharp weapon. A spear, or a lance. Exactly the same wound she'd seen on the leopard before.

"It's him again." He Lin stood up, dusted off her hands, and spoke softly, but loud enough for everyone around to hear.

Zhao Gang squatted beside another corpse, examining a wild dog that had been gutted. He was silent for a moment, then said, "This one too. A single, fatal blow, piercing from the chest cavity to the abdomen."

Zhao Qiang stood behind his brother, unusually quiet. He looked at the corpses on the ground, a hint of something indescribable in his eyes... not fear, but more like a sense of relief that "thankfully someone got ahead of us."

He Lin looked at Zhang Peng. Zhang Peng stood in the center of the group, carrying a cage. Inside the cage was a pangolin, not very big, curled up in a ball, its scales stained with blood. It was badly injured, its breathing weak, and its body trembling slightly. This wasn't what Zhang Peng wanted. He wanted the silver-spotted leopard cub... He knew from the first time he saw that cub outside the zoo that the leopard was different from other monsters. Its fur color, its speed, its gaze—these were not characteristics of ordinary mutated beasts.

But he is in a very awkward situation now.

The team suffered heavy losses, and they didn't know what they would encounter if they continued forward. If they retreated now, they could save most of the team and their existing loot; if they continued, no one knew whether the next wave of monsters would devour the rest of them.

Zhang Peng's gaze fell upon the corpses on the ground. Someone had walked ahead of him. That person, or that group, had followed roughly the same route, clearing their way through; these corpses were the best proof. Without this person clearing the way, they would have faced at least twice the number of monsters. The losses would have been far greater.

He considered the situation in his mind. The fact that someone was clearing a path meant that the road ahead was passable, not a dead end. This was an opportunity. If he retreated now, he might never have such a chance again.

"This loss is quite significant," Zhang Peng said, his voice not loud but loud enough for everyone to hear. "I will provide you with some compensation afterwards. You won't have come for nothing."

No one responded. But someone's nerves relaxed a little.

Zhao Qiang squatted by the roadside, looking at the corpses on the ground, and couldn't help but mutter, "Luckily, someone cleared the way for us, otherwise..."

"Shut up." Zhao Gang's voice wasn't loud, but it was deep. Zhao Qiang opened his mouth, but swallowed the rest of his words.

Zhao Gang didn't look at his brother. His gaze fell on Zhang Peng, and after a moment of silence, he asked, "Shall we continue?"

All eyes were on Zhang Peng. Zhang Peng was silent for a few seconds, then looked at Qian Sheng.

"Can you pinpoint the location of that cub?"

Qian Sheng adjusted his glasses and glanced down at the 3D map on the detector. The red dots were still dense, but amidst the chaotic, constantly moving markings, a faint, silvery-white dot was slowly moving. It roughly matched the location they had previously tracked, but it was deeper, closer to the boundary between the herbivore and predator areas.

"Yes, it's possible," Qian Sheng said, "but that location is near the edge of the predator enclosure. The signal from the detector is unstable; there might be something interfering."

Just as Zhang Peng was about to speak, a loud crashing sound suddenly came from afar.

"boom......!"

It wasn't an explosion, but a dull thud as something heavy hit the ground, making the ground tremble slightly beneath my feet. Then came the roars of wild beasts... not just one or two, but a whole pack.

The roars of lions, the howls of tigers, and some kind of deep, thunderous sound that he couldn't distinguish mingled together, like a small war.

He Lin's body suddenly sank down, and she squatted down close to the ground.

The people behind her reacted a beat slower, but seeing her crouch down, they immediately followed suit. Everyone's movements were perfectly synchronized... No one spoke, no one asked "What's wrong?", everyone instinctively hid behind the nearest cover.

The tremors lasted for almost a minute, then gradually subsided. After another half minute, the roars turned into sporadic, intermittent low growls, and then disappeared completely.

No one moved.

Nearly two minutes later, Zhao slowly peeked out from behind the shield and glanced in that direction. The treetops in the distance were still trembling slightly; something had just run past, but it was no longer visible.

"What is that...?" someone asked in a low voice.

No one can answer.

"It's too dangerous in there," Ah Qing, the hooded man in He Lin's team, said in a low voice, his voice a little dry. "That sound just now... I've never heard it before outside. It wasn't a lion's, it wasn't a tiger's, and it wasn't any animal I recognize." He paused, "That thing's level is at least higher than all the monsters we've encountered before."

Qian Sheng kept his head down, staring at the data for that area on the detector. He could sense a giant creature moving there, its energy fluctuations extremely intense, but he couldn't analyze what it was, how big it was, or how strong it was. The detector could only give him vague location information and a general outline of its size; more detailed data would require him to see it with his own eyes. He didn't want to continue.

If they go any further and encounter that thing, their numbers won't be enough to satisfy its hunger.

He Lin looked at Zhang Peng. Zhang Peng stood there, head down, looking at the cage in his hand. The pangolin was curled up inside, the bloodstains on its scales had dried, and its breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.

Zhang Peng looked up and glanced at the distant woods that were gradually returning to calm.

"Continue." His voice wasn't loud, but it was deep.

No one objected. The group regrouped and continued along the route Qian Sheng had planned.

After walking for less than five minutes, a group of artificial hills appeared in front of us.

Behind the artificial hill, extremely fine, silvery-white ripples flowed slowly in the air, like ripples on the surface of water, spreading outwards from a certain central point. They were almost invisible unless you looked closely, but once you noticed them, you couldn't take your eyes off them.

Everyone slowed down.

"What's that?" Zhao Qiang was the first to speak, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement. "This...this is a secret realm? I saw someone mention it in the channel, saying it's a special space in this world, with good things inside!"