Yan Bubu was, as usual, on the bed with the two quantum beasts, chatting away.

Yan Bubu was, as usual, on the bed with the two quantum beasts, chatting away.

Feng Chen’s psychic power spread out in all directions.

He saw soldiers on patrol; they hadn't noticed anything unusual here, just conversing softly as they moved slowly. He saw several people hurrying towards the civilian camp and his psychic energy divided into several strands to scrutinize them until they entered the wooden houses...

His psychic energy quickly swept over the mining area, not missing any corner, but found no suspicious targets, so he left a part of it to climb to high points on the roofs, overlooking the camp from above, while another part flew towards the plantation.

Feng Chen's psychic energy searched everywhere, but his eyes were fixed on the shuttle red spider, watching it quickly spin webs to entangle the people on the ground. In just half a minute, the web had reached the person's chest, wrapping him up like a white cocoon.

He couldn't just watch this person be dragged away by the shuttle red spider; he had to act in the last moment, and also find its master before startling it, otherwise, if it was retracted into the psychic realm instantly, there would be nothing he could do.

Feng Chen mobilized a strand of psychic energy, lurking in a corner a dozen meters away from the shuttle red spider, while his other psychic forces continued to search, spreading rapidly everywhere.

The shuttle red spider finally wrapped the person completely in white silk, leaving only two nostrils exposed, looking like a mummy from a distance. Then it picked up the thread on its head and dragged the person to the left.

"Left side! The back mountain!"

Feng Chen's psychic energy instantly changed direction, rushing towards the back mountain, climbing up along the ridge.

The next second, he finally saw a person standing beside a large rock halfway up the mountain. Because his position was in the shadow of the rock, he wouldn't have been noticed by anyone in the camp without the use of psychic power.

This was a stranger he had never seen before, a man in his early forties, with very short hair, gaunt cheeks, and a sickly pale complexion. There was also a long scar across his left face, almost spanning the entire side.

He was dressed in black, his sinister eyes fixed on the direction of the camp, and he even coughed softly twice.

Feng Chen suddenly grabbed the wall behind him, vaulted over it in a single motion. His feet barely touched the ground as he dashed towards the back mountain like a hunting cheetah, swiftly retracting Heishi into his psychic realm and then releasing it again.

The scarred man on the mountain and the shuttle red spider nearby both noticed him at the same time. The man instantly fixed his gaze on Feng Chen. The spider, which had been dragging a person, now stopped, its spines bristling.

Feng Chen's eyes locked onto the scarred man on the mountain. As he ran, he fired shots into the air, breaking the silence of the camp with successive gunshots.

All he needed to do now was fire warning shots; the soldiers would naturally discover the mummified body on the ground and rescue the person.

"Who's there? Who is it?" As shouts rang out, patrolling soldiers immediately rushed towards the area, and at the same time, the shuttle red spider vanished into the air.

The scarred man and the running Feng Chen locked eyes, each gaze filled with ruthless intent. The man raised his hand and fired an incendiary grenade towards a row of wooden houses, then turned and ran towards the mountain top.

Feng Chen also reached the mountain, chasing after the man. They ran, one after the other, quickly moving beyond the area lit by lights, disappearing into the thick darkness of the night.

Yan Bubu was lying against Heishi's back when she suddenly felt a void behind her and fell onto the bed. She turned to look back, saw no sign of Heishi, just a bewildered Bi Nunu.

"Where's Sasa Ka? Why is it gone? Did it fall under the bed?"

Yan Bubu glanced outside the bed and didn't see Heishi. A flicker of confusion crossed her mind before she realized, Sasa Ka must have been taken into Feng Chen's psychic realm.

"Why did brother take Sasa Ka back? I hope nothing's wrong..." Yan Bubu and Bi Nunu exchanged glances, each finding a hint of anxiety in the other's eyes.

Yan Bubu got out of bed, saying, "Bi Nunu, I'm going to find—"

Bang! Bang bang!

Gunshots suddenly exploded, making Yan Bubu shiver and freeze in place.

There were six gunshots in total. By the time they ceased, Yan Bubu had already flung open the door and rushed out, followed by Bi Nunu.

Doors were hastily opened, and sentinels and guides peeked out. Most of them, clad in pajamas, had just stepped into the corridor, puzzled, when they were brushed aside by Yan Bubu.

They turned their heads, only to see a figure and a quantum beast quickly dashing out of the dormitory entrance.

"What's happening? Is it a mutant? It can't be zombies on our side."

"Not sure, didn't hear any alarm."

"Then why is he running?"

"...Don't know, let's go and see."

……

When Yan Bubu reached outside the dorm, he saw a group of soldiers stationed near the academy's main gate, crouching beside a large white cocoon that looked human-shaped, tugging at strands of white silk.

Drawing closer, he heard the soldiers shouting, "Hurry up, get the person out, there’s still breathing... Scissors can't cut through it, don’t waste time, find the end of the silk and start peeling, layer by layer..."

Already tense, Yan Bubu’s first thought upon hearing that someone was inside the cocoon was that Feng Chen was wrapped in it.

"Brother!" he yelled towards the white cocoon.

He immediately rushed over, pushing aside two soldiers, and knelt down to tear at the cocoon.

Bi Nunu squeezed next to him, desperately pulling with its paws and biting hard with its teeth, emitting anxious purring sounds.

Yan Bubu was trembling all over, his hands too weak to exert force, even though he had grabbed a strand of white silk, which repeatedly slipped through his fingers.

"Brother!" His tears flowed in urgency, and he was about to bend down and bite the cocoon like Bi Nunu.

A nearby soldier immediately comforted him, "It's okay, don't worry, there's breathing, it's alright. This silk can't even be cut with scissors, your teeth definitely won't work, don't panic..."

Hearing this, Yan Bubu felt a bit more stable, regaining some strength in his hands to pull on the cocoon silk.

Everyone was frantically peeling the silk, quickly revealing the head of the person inside, allowing Yan Bubu to see the face within the cocoon.

It was a stranger's face, eyes tightly shut, unconscious, but seemingly not in life-threatening danger.

Yan Bubu let out a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the ground, exhausted. Even though he now knew it wasn't Feng Chen, the shock had been too great, his limbs still trembling uncontrollably, his back soaked with cold sweat.

Bi Nunu also relaxed, standing next to Yan Bubu, patting its chest with a little paw, looking visibly shaken.

"His heartbeat and breathing are normal, but he's unconscious, as if poisoned."

"Spider poison, maybe? Shouldn't be fatal, try injecting an anti-toxin."

"How big a spider does it take to wrap a person up like this? Was it a group of spiders?"

"Stop the chatter, let's get him to the medical point."

……

Just as the man was being lifted, a sharp alarm suddenly sounded above the camp, everyone stood up and looked around, seeing flames rising from a residential area in the distance.

"It's a fire... a fire..."

Except for two people who carried the unconscious man to the medical point, the others ran towards the fire. Yan Bubu stood up and said to Bi Nunu, "There are many people to help with the fire, we need to find brother first."

After such a scare, he really couldn't rest easy until he saw Feng Chen safe and sound. Moreover, with someone wrapped up in spider silk like that, he suspected it might be the work of the shuttle red spider and wanted to tell Feng Chen quickly.

Yan Bubu hurried towards the military headquarters, but as he approached the main entrance, he saw that the meeting room was pitch dark, not a single light on.

He immediately asked a soldier coming out of the headquarters, "Excuse me, where did all the people in the meeting go?"

"The soldier ran towards the fire, shouting, 'The meeting is over.'"

"Over?" Yan Bubu asked.

The soldier replied, "Yes, it ended half an hour ago."

Yan Bubu caught up and asked, "Where are they now?"

The soldier answered, "They probably went back to their respective military headquarters. I'm not sure."

Yan Bubu stopped, then turned towards the Eastern Allied Forces headquarters, thinking that Feng Chen might have gone there after the meeting.

As he hurried along, he brushed past two unfamiliar sentries, overhearing their conversation.

"...It must be some kind of spider mutant, wrapping people up like that."

"I came out when I heard the gunshots, and only saw a sentry firing into the air."

Yan Bubu abruptly stopped, grabbing the talking man, "Do you know that sentry? The one who was firing?"

The man was startled but seeing that he was grabbed by a pretty little guide with an anxious face, he amiably responded, "No, I don't know him."

"Did you see what that sentry looked like?"

Pointing towards the back mountain, the man detailed, "It was too dark to see clearly, just knew he was running and firing, heading towards the male sentry dormitory at the academy, I guess. I then saw someone entangled in webs and lost track of where he went."

Yan Bubu sighed in disappointment but quickly asked, "If you couldn't see clearly, how did you know he was a sentry?"

The man honestly replied, "Because there was a quantum beast beside him, looked like a lion."

As soon as he finished answering, the little guide turned and ran away without a word, followed by a quantum beast of indiscernible species leaping alongside.

"Who was he?" asked the sentry next to him, nudging his shoulder.

"I don't know him."

"I thought you knew him; I wanted to ask for an introduction."

"What are you imagining? Hurry up and get a bucket to put out the fire."

……

Not a single light shone on Yin Xie Mountain, but two figures ran back and forth in the darkness, maintaining a certain distance between them.

Feng Chen couldn't see his surroundings, relying solely on his mental power to navigate, assuming the person ahead was doing the same.

His endurance and speed were among the best in the sentries. Surprisingly, the seemingly frail figure ahead matched his pace. Though he wasn't left behind, he couldn't close the gap either. They ran on the mountain for half an hour, exhausting their bullets, occasionally engaging in mental power skirmishes.

They had passed the edge of the territory with the bashful grass and reached the end of Yin Xie Mountain, ahead lay the towering, unnamed mountains. Those mountains, with their strange terrain and numerous mutants, were so dangerous that even the military had never ventured in.

Feng Chen's thread of mental power always followed the person ahead. As he plunged into the unnamed mountain territory, he didn't hesitate to follow.

He knew the man was probably fleeing towards a place where he could seek help and was aware that traps might lie ahead. However, he had no other choice; even if it was a dragon's den or a tiger's lair, he had to push forward.

This was his only chance to find Lin Fen and the cipher box. If he let him go this time, capturing him in the future would be nearly impossible.

As Feng Chen leaped over a ravine, he sensed a silent, impending danger from the darkness on his left. Without turning his head, he continued forward, but the black lion following him suddenly leaped up, swiping at the air to his left.

Bang!

A burst of fire illuminated a jumping shuttle red spider in the air, also revealing its silver thread shot towards Feng Chen's back like an arrow.

As if he had eyes on his back, Feng Chen dodged the incoming silver thread, not slowing down for a second, continuing his pursuit.

His mental power lashed forward, predictably hitting a mental barrier. With a loud bang, both forces of mental power dissipated in the air.

The black lion and shuttle red spider had clashed multiple times along the way, both emitting wisps of black smoke. The spider, missing its attack and sustaining a long wound from the black lion, vanished into the darkness as it had after each sneak attack.

The black lion, undeterred, kept closely following Feng Chen, relentlessly pursuing the scarred man ahead.

Having ventured deeper into the unnamed mountain, Feng Chen checked his wristwatch for the map, only to find that the real-time mapping system was in disarray, not displaying the terrain. However, he remembered the general direction and was confident he wouldn't lose his way even on the return journey.

It seemed no one had ever traversed the unnamed mountain. Although devoid of tall trees, the shrubs that thrived in dark, damp conditions grew lush and dense.

Feng Chen found the going tough, nearly tripping over the knotted vines on the ground twice. The man ahead struggled even more, occasionally disappearing from Feng Chen's mental vision, only to get up from the ground and continue forward.

The man's sentinel abilities were originally superior to Feng Chen's, but perhaps due to illness or injury, he avoided confrontation and desperately fled. As the chase prolonged, the physical gap between them began to show. The scarred man's pace slowed, and he nearly fell into deep ravines a few times.

Seeing the distance between them closing, Feng Chen quickened his steps.

The black lion leaped ahead, clearing a path through the bushes for Feng Chen, who kept his eyes fixed on the man ahead, his thoughts drifting to Yan Bubu.

He wondered what Yan Bubu was doing, surely anxious by now, not having seen him return, probably searching around the camp...

The campsite was chaotic with everyone busy putting out fires. Fortunately, the dormitory blocks, made of fire-resistant materials, were mainly burning items like curtains. Thus, the fire was quickly contained and didn't spread.

Yan Bubu, along with Bi Nunu, followed the direction given by the sentry to the single sentry dormitory area, where they encountered an instructor carrying a bucket of water, hurrying out.

"Instructor, my brother is missing," Yan Bubu immediately sought help.

The instructor stopped, his expression turning solemn, "Your brother is missing? For how long? Where did he go missing?"

"Just now, it's been over twenty minutes," Yan Bubu said, somewhat incoherently, "The one entangled by the shuttle red spider, he fired the warning shots, and now I can't find him."

The instructor's expression eased, "Twenty minutes doesn't count as missing. The camp is all in disarray; he must have gone somewhere else. Be patient, you'll see him soon."

"But—"

"Go look for him first, and report back if you really can't find him," said the instructor before running towards the fire with his bucket.

Watching the instructor disappear, Yan Bubu searched the sentry dormitories again for Feng Chen but to no avail. He did, however, borrow a flashlight from a sentry.

Standing outside the dormitory in the open space, Yan Bubu swung the flashlight around, finally resting the beam towards Yin Xie Mountain.

"Bi Nunu, I think he didn't come to the male sentry dorm. This direction also leads up the mountain. Do you think he might have gone up there? If he fired the warning shots and the incident involved the shuttle red spider, could he have followed the fleeing spider up the mountain?"

Bi Nunu nodded in agreement.

Yan Bubu bit his lip in determination, "Now that Wang Suizi and Ding Hongsheng aren't in the camp, and everyone else is busy, only we can search for him. How about we go up the mountain now and if we don't find my brother, we'll come back?"

Bi Nunu didn't respond but immediately headed towards the back mountain, with Yan Bubu following closely, flashlight in hand.