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

The sound of branches snapping, leaves being crushed underfoot, and something else he couldn't make out, like something breathing in the shadows.

Lin Xiaohe gripped the short knife tightly, while Lin Yuwei placed her hand on the gun handle at her waist. Chen Jun held the steering wheel, his gaze fixed straight ahead, his Adam's apple bobbing, but his hands remained steady.

The car moved slowly along the bumpy road, its wheels crunching over withered branches and leaves. A blurry, gray light appeared and disappeared above the treetops in the distance, like an eye watching them in the darkness.

Su Mu opened his eyes.

The energy fluctuations of that light intensified, so much so that his golden bloodline stirred slightly within him. It wasn't fear, nor was it alertness; rather, it was that familiar craving, like encountering egg yolk in a zoo... His body was telling him that something in that direction was connected to his bloodline.

Bai Liuxi was walking at the front of the group when she suddenly paused. Her senses weren't as sharp as Su Mu's, but she could sense that something was amiss in this dense forest. It wasn't danger, but rather a deeper, more profound feeling, as if she were being watched by something.

She glanced back at Su Mu. Su Mu was leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to what had happened. But Bai Liuxi noticed that he tapped his fingers lightly twice on his knee, a habitual gesture when he was thinking. She knew Su Mu had sensed it too.

Bai Liuxi withdrew her gaze and continued walking forward.

Deep in the dense forest, the hazy gray light slowly rotated, as if waiting for something.

......

The road ahead narrowed, and the tree canopies on both sides almost completely blocked out the sky, making the light as dim as dusk.

The wheels rolled over withered branches and fallen leaves, making a soft, rustling sound that mingled with the footsteps of the procession and the rolling of the wheels, like a low, melodyless march.

Su Mu leaned back in the passenger seat, his eyes closed, but his mind was not relaxed. The golden bloodline flowed slowly within his body, like a quiet underground river, calm on the surface but surging with undercurrents deep within.

His ears caught every subtle sound outside the window... the sound of branches breaking, the sound of fallen leaves being crushed, and some sound he couldn't distinguish, like something breathing in the dark.

Chen Jun gripped the steering wheel tightly, his gaze fixed straight ahead. His Adam's apple bobbed, but his hands remained steady. Lin Xiaohe placed the short knife across her knee, her fingers lightly stroking the hilt, her eyes as calm as still water. Lin Yuwei leaned against the car window, her gaze fixed on the increasingly dense, purplish-black canopy of trees outside, her brows slightly furrowed, lost in thought.

"There's something here." Chen Jun suddenly spoke, his voice not loud, but his tone carried a clear sense of alertness.

Su Mu opened his eyes and looked in the direction Chen Jun pointed. In the gaps between the trees ahead, shadows were moving rapidly—not just one or two, but a whole group. Grayish-black, brownish-yellow, black and white—large and small, densely packed, like a colorful river gushing from the depths of the forest.

The column ahead halted. Tanks and armored vehicles lined up along the roadside, their cannons pointed at the surging black shadows. Soldiers jumped from the vehicles, forming a defensive line on both sides of the road, rifles loaded and muzzles pointing outwards. Zhou Weiren stood beside an armored vehicle, binoculars in hand, his brow furrowed.

"They're animals." Commander Li ran over from the front, his tone carrying an indescribable complexity. "They came from the direction of the zoo: zebras, wildebeests, antelopes, hyenas, and a few lions and tigers."

"What about aggression?" Zhou Weiren asked.

"They're not attacking humans, they're running." Commander Li paused for a moment. "It's not migration, it's fleeing for their lives. Something drove them out of the zoo."

Su Mu got out of the car, walked to the roadside, and looked at the surging herd of beasts.

The zebra herd led the way, their black and white stripes flashing swiftly through the shadows of the trees, their hooves thundering. Wildebeest followed closely behind, their curved antlers swaying from side to side among the drooping branches; some broke branches, others got stuck but then broke free.

The antelope herd followed further back; they were small and fast, weaving through the gaps between the zebras and wildebeest.

Then came a group of hyenas. They were a size larger than normal hyenas, and their fur was not the usual mottled and mixed colors, but an abnormal grayish-black. Their eyes were dark red, and saliva was still dripping from the corners of their mouths.

They were much faster than the herbivores, but they weren't chasing the zebras and wildebeests; they were running too. Something was chasing them.

Several lions and tigers were running at the very back.

Lions are social animals; several lionesses run together, while a male lion runs at the outermost edge of the group, his mane fluttering in the wind like a brown-black flag. Tigers are solitary animals; a huge Bengal tiger runs behind the pride, its orange-black stripes peeking through the shadows of the trees.

They didn't attack each other, nor did they chase the herbivores; they were all running.

The military personnel watched all this nervously, their fingers on the triggers, but they didn't fire.

Because the animals didn't attack humans, they ran past the sides of the procession, some jumped over the roofs of the vehicles, some crawled under the vehicles, and some simply passed through the crowd... They avoided people, didn't touch them, and just ran.

"Something's happened at the zoo." Bai Liuxi's voice came from the front, not loud, but very clear.

Su Mu shifted his gaze from the running animals to the depths of the dense forest further away.

The canopy there was denser than elsewhere, almost completely blocking out the light. Only a few streaks of light occasionally pierced through the gaps in the leaves, flickering on the ground like open eyes. The feeling of being watched returned, but this time it was even more intense.

Amidst the chaos, a silver-white figure darted out from the herd of animals.

The speed was so fast that Su Mu's dynamic vision could only capture a blurry afterimage.

The figure weaved between the zebra and wildebeest herds, darting left and right among the high-speed running animals, like a silver fish swimming in the reeds. It slipped under a zebra's forelegs, flipped over a wildebeest's belly, leaped onto an antelope's back, arced through the air, and landed on the ground, continuing its frantic run.

Su Mu's pupils contracted slightly.

He recognized the figure. A silver leopard cub. He'd seen it at the zoo. Back then, it was only level three, with 28 points in agility, and it moved like a silver lightning bolt, darting past him into the predator enclosure. Now it was even faster, so fast that he needed to use his dynamic vision to barely catch a glimpse of its movements.