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

By the time the group left the city center, it was already getting dark.

It wasn't the kind of darkness that comes with the setting sun, but rather the increasing density of the tree canopy overhead, filtering the sunlight layer by layer, turning it from golden yellow to light green, from light green to grayish green, and finally into a murky darkness, like looking at the world through dirty glass.

Su Mu leaned back in the passenger seat, watching the changes outside through the window, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper. Chen Jun gripped the steering wheel, the car already at its lowest speed, the wheels slipping on the leaf-strewn road, nearly getting stuck in potholes several times.

The line ahead stopped. Su Mu heard someone shouting, the voice coming from ahead, wave after wave, like ripples on the water. He opened the car door, stepped on the soft fallen leaves to the roadside, and then he froze.

There were no farmlands, no national highways, and none of the scenes he had imagined a "suburb" should have.

This is a forest.

It's not the kind of forest that has grown naturally for decades or hundreds of years, but the kind that grows out of the ground overnight.

The trees were incredibly tall and thick; even the thinnest trunks were thicker than his waist. Their canopies blocked out the sky, and their branches and leaves were layered upon each other, like a dense, impenetrable net that completely covered the sky.

The trunk was grayish-black, and its surface was covered with fine cracks. What seeped out of the cracks was not resin, but a dark red, blood-like viscous liquid that flowed down the bark and gathered into small puddles on the ground.

The air was thick with the damp, humus-like smell, mixed with the metallic odor of that dark red liquid, making one's throat feel tight.

Su Mu squatted down and brushed aside the fallen leaves with his fingers. The layer of fallen leaves was very thick, at least ten centimeters, and underneath it was not soil, but a kind of black, sticky, swamp-like silt.

He inserted his finger and could feel the sticky resistance, as if something was wriggling beneath the silt. He pulled his finger out, his fingertip covered in black silt, smelling like something had been rotting there for a long time, so long that even the bones had turned to mud.

Several drones rose from behind the column and buzzed into the dense forest.

Su Mu watched the drones weaving through the treetops, their signal lights flashing in the dim light, like a swarm of fireflies navigating the darkness.

A few minutes later, the drones flew back. Several of them had deep claw marks on their fuselages, and one of them had a broken propeller that landed crookedly on the roof of the vehicle, making a clicking sound.

Commander Li ran over from the front, holding a tablet computer in his hand, the screen displaying images transmitted back by the drone.

The edge of the dense forest ended quickly, but the interior seemed endless... The footage showed only trees, more trees, an endless expanse of trees. The canopy was so dense that the drone couldn't fly high enough; it could only traverse beneath the canopy, seeing only tree trunks, fallen leaves, and darkness.

"What are the results of the probe?" Zhou Weiren's voice came from the front.

"All detection methods have failed." Commander Sun pushed up his glasses, his tone carrying a seriousness he rarely displayed. "Electromagnetic waves, sound waves, thermal imaging, infrared... everything has been absorbed by something. My equipment can only detect a range of a few dozen meters around us; beyond that, it's all blank."

Evolvers with detection abilities reported the same information. One sensory-type evolved being closed his eyes, veins bulging on his forehead, as if he were using all his strength to sense something, but finally he opened his eyes, shook his head, and his face was deathly pale. "It's being suppressed, less than a third of its usual strength. And the deeper we go, the stronger the suppression becomes."

Zhou Weiren fell silent. He swiped his hand across the tablet screen, zooming in and out, looking at it again and again. Su Mu stood not far away, watching his back, and could sense that he was making a decision... a decision concerning the lives of more than 20,000 people.

"Take a detour," Zhou Weiren said.

Fatty Qian opened the map, measured the distance with a ruler, then looked up, his expression grim. "Taking the detour will add at least four hours to our journey, and the route goes through a swamp, where the terrain is more complex and we're more likely to be ambushed. We definitely won't reach the retreat point before dark."

Zhou Weiren did not speak.

"What about burning the forest?" someone suggested.

No one answered. How long will it take for this huge forest to stop burning?

Moreover, if the fire got out of control, more than 20,000 people would have nowhere to run. Zhou Weiren finally made a decision: "No detours, no burning of the forest, we will force our way through the dense forest along the original national highway."

No one objected, and no one agreed. Everyone simply accepted the decision in silence. Because everyone knew it was the only option.

The group set off again and slowly drove into the dense forest.

The light dimmed the moment it entered the woods, as if someone had covered the sky with a black curtain.

Su Mu sat in the passenger seat, watching the treetops outside the window grow denser, the light dimmer, and the atmosphere more oppressive. Chen Jun gripped the steering wheel, the car moving at a snail's pace, the wheels slipping between fallen leaves and mud, nearly getting stuck in ditch several times.

The tanks and armored vehicles struggled even more. Their tracks were too wide and their bodies too heavy to move on the soft layer of fallen leaves. The tracks sank into the mud, the engines churned and billowed black smoke, but the vehicles remained motionless. Soldiers jumped off, used shovels to dig through the mud beneath the tracks, laid planks and branches, and continued pushing.

Push a few steps, get stuck, dig, pad it, then push again. Tanks and armored vehicles move slower than walking, and the speed keeps getting slower.

"Abandon the vehicles," Zhou Weiren's order came through the walkie-talkie at the front. The soldiers parked the tanks and armored vehicles on the roadside, covering them with branches and fallen leaves for simple camouflage. The tank crews removed their machine guns, slung ammunition over their shoulders, and joined the infantry.

The soldiers inside the armored vehicle packed as many supplies as they could into their backpacks, leaving the rest in the vehicle.

Chen Jun parked the van at the edge of the woods, jumped out of the driver's seat, opened the door, and began packing his backpack. He moved quickly but methodically... water purification tablets, compressed biscuits, ammunition, a first-aid kit, and spare batteries. He stuffed the backpack full, and it felt heavy on his shoulder.

Su Mu walked over and glanced at his backpack. "It's too heavy. Only bring the essentials."

Chen Jun hesitated for a moment, then kept the water purification tablets and compressed biscuits, kept the first-aid kit, and reduced his ammunition by half. He rearranged his backpack and slung it over his shoulder again; this time it felt much lighter.

Su Mu nodded. Lin Xiaohe's backpack was small, containing only a short knife, spare ammunition, and a bottle of water. Lin Yuwei's backpack was also small, containing not only necessities but also the silver-spotted leopard cub... It was curled up in her backpack, only its small silver-white head peeking out, its amber eyes warily watching its surroundings.