Looking at the locked door, Mu Tieying opened her mouth to say something but then shut her mouth in the end, with a look of resignation in her eyes. There was food and water in the safehouse so these people would not starve to death. At the most, they would just have to put up with the hardship of being hungry.
Right now, the sky was getting darker. Gao Peng raised his arm to look at the time on his wristwatch. It was almost 7pm.
"From the looks of it, we have no choice but to spend the night outdoors." Gao Peng took a look at the forest. Although they passed by some safehouses along the way, it would not be feasible to go looking for one right now.
Since there were already people who managed to make their way to this safehouse, it was likely that all the other safehouses along the way were packed with people too. Gao Peng was not willing to place the hopes of entering a safehouse entirely on the kindness of others. If the people in the other safehouses also refused to let him enter, he would be wasting a lot of time.
"It's not very safe to explore further, and we didn't find any caves nearby either. We might as well build a simple shelter on top of a tree," said Gao Peng.
"That's good as well," nodded Mu Tieying in agreement.
The two of them found a pair of trees that were not too far apart in the dense woods towards the west. The trees trunks were upright and branched off around three to four meters above the ground: a perfect place to set up a platform to sleep.
Gao Peng gathered some branches, and then used them to build a simple platform between the branches of the tree trunk. He then returned to layer the platform with smaller and thinner branches, followed by a layer of large leaves, and then lastly, a layer of fine leaf debris. With that, a simple sleeping platform was completed.
Mu Tieying's hands-on ability was not bad as well. Copying what Gao Peng did, she managed to construct a similar platform as well.
Just like that, these two amateur builders managed to construct their own makeshift platform and began to prepare for the night.
Lotus Seed leaned on the tree that Mu Tieying was sleeping on and rested her head against the tree trunk. Her eyes became slits as she slept while standing.
Da Zi made use of its thousand legs and rested along the tree trunk around two meters off the ground. Each of its sharp claws sunk into tree trunk like hooks.
The sky grew darker and darker. Soon, the entire jungle was shrouded in the dark of the night. In the valley, night came earlier than most other areas.
In the jungle, visibility also gradually became lower.
It was rather warm and humid in the jungle at night. Luckily for Gao Peng, he had a layer of Mosquito-Cleansing Grass juice all over his body and there were few mosquitos about.
In the jungle canopy high above ground, a swift and light figure was darting across the treetops like a creeping shadow. It was getting closer and closer.
It had a pitch black body that blended in perfectly with the darkness of the night. If not for its two pale blue eyes, it would be nearly impossible to identify. Its body was perfectly camouflaged in the darkness.
This monster had a slender body. Each step it took on the branches of the trees made no sound at all, and it looked extremely agile. It made its way through the dense jungle just like a black shadow. With a simple leap, it moved from one tree to another.
It stepped on a branch, causing it to sink under its weight, and the dense leaves on the branch to sway gently.
As the monster crept closer and closer, a clear killing intent filled the night air.
Lotus Seed woke with a start, stamping her huge feet against the ground making dull thumping sounds:
Thumpthumpthump~
Roar, roar!
Lotus seed burst out angrily. Her roars woke Mu Tieying and Gao Peng.
Anxious roars echoed across the quiet jungle. Who new how many creatures were awakened by the noise?
Gao Peng and Mu Tieying immediately raised their heads after waking, only to see a black shadow creeping towards them from the tree branches. The shadow suddenly found that its prey had woken up. Its raised foot was still hanging in the air, without the chance to take the next step.
The eyes of predator and prey met.
It became an awkward situation.
Mu Tieying remembered Gao Peng's warning. If they encountered anything dangerous, she was to immediately escape to Lotus Seed's side. Without any hesitation, she turned over and jumped, landing on top of Lotus Seed.
Similarly, Gao Peng slid down the tree trunk at the same time. Da Zi dislodged itself from the tree trunk and landed on the ground with a pata sound. It immediately formed a semicircle in front of Gao Peng to protect him. Da Zi had a vicious look in its eyes as its mandibles snapped, giving off a threatening hiss at the same time. Fierce!
Above them, the tree canopy was thick, blocking off most of the moonlight. They could not get a good look at the unidentified beast within the trees. All they could see was a blur of a black shadow and the two eyes that seemed to glow brightly, like two lamps. They were exceptionally bright under the darkness.
"This should be a shadow-type or dark-type monster. At night, the combat abilities of such monsters are at their highest. Do we run or fight?" said Mu Tieying cautiously. She did not dare speak too loudly, in fear of agitating the monster.
Gao Peng had already gotten a clear look at the monster's data right away. It was a normal grade, level 15 Dark Shadow Panther. But for his own reasons, he did not call out the identity of the monster. Under such poor lighting conditions, how was he to explain how he could identify the monster?
Knowing the identity of the monster, Gao Peng did not dare to be careless.
A Panther's explosive strength was already naturally strong. This Dark Shadow Panther was capable of blending into the dark, making it a perfect killer when coupled with a burst of its explosive strength.
The dense jungle in the middle of the night had low visibility. The two of them dared not simply make a run for it, as that would expose their backs to the vicious beast. Doing so would be extremely dangerous and would only instigate the predatory instincts of the beast.
They were currently in a situation where both sides were stuck, with no options. It was like fighting off a wolf with a stick, both sides fearful and hesitant.
Aooo - Woof! Woof!
The standstill was suddenly broken by a husky.
A Mossy Derp Husky happily pranced its way in between them, then ran up to Gao Peng. Gao Peng could feel a rush of wind as the husky's large and powerful body bounded over. He took no chances and hurriedly hid behind a tree. This husky had no sense of propriety and looked to be a pure-breed, too. It was dangerous.
What's this husky doing here at this time? Gao Peng wondered to himself.
After running excitedly to Gao Peng, it barked loudly at him. It used a proper, authentic woof this time. It seemed overjoyed to be barking at Gao Peng.
In all honesty, Gao Peng felt utmost dislike for the husky right now. The Derp Husky really was rather stupid.
Can't you see that everyone is being serious here? You're spoiling the atmosphere and making everyone nervous.
Gao Peng calmly told the Derp Husky, "Scram."
The Derp Husky, seeing that Gao Peng finally responded, thought that he was praising it. It began to excitedly run around in circles, going crazy in the middle of the jungle.
Up in the branches, the Dark Shadow Panther was looking at the Derp Husky with a deep, serious expression.
Blam!
Coincidentally, the Derp Husky managed to crash head-first into the tree that the Dark Shadow Panther was standing on.
Sharp claws sprang out from the Dark Shadow Panther's paws and hooked onto the tree branch, allowing it to maintain its balance.
It stared intensely at the Mossy Derp Husky below the tree, and then it slowly retreated backwards, blending into the darkness behind it…
The Derp Husky did not realize that there was a Dark Shadow Panther right above its head, and continued to happily run around in circles.
The Dark Shadow Panther that retreated suddenly leapt forward in a burst of speed, forming a black afterimage. It was so fast that Gao Peng's vision could not even keep up. All he saw was a dark blur flash past, and then leap away. The Dark Shadow Panther simply vanished out of sight after that.
It only left behind a whimpering Derp Husky under the tree. The husky's body was cut open, leaving a deep gash that was over a foot and a half long. Blood kept flowing out of the wound.