The last of the Corrupted Thorn-Crawlers dissolved into a foul-smelling black sludge, leaving behind only a handful of tiny, shimmering motes of purple light. Lin Ke watched, his expression neutral, as the Gene Editor's interface in his mind mechanically did its thing, purifying the motes and adding a paltry—what was it, 9 units?—of Raw Corrupted Gene Essence to his inventory.
Nine units. Barely worth the effort.
"Well," he muttered to himself, the sound of his own voice a small intrusion in the unnerving silence of the woods. "Can't say that was a jackpot." He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the sticky, humid air cling to his skin. God, this place was awful. It wasn't like the Blackstone Wilderness, which was harsh and desolate but… clean, in its own way. This place felt… diseased. The very air was heavy, thick with the scent of decay and something else, something cloyingly, unnaturally sweet. The massive trees, with their weeping, black sap, seemed less like plants and more like giant, silent mourners at a funeral that had lasted for centuries.
And the quiet. It was the quiet that really got under his skin. No birds, no squirrels, not even the rustle of a normal lizard in the undergrowth. Just the incessant, low-frequency buzz of insects he couldn't see, a sound that felt like it was coming from inside his own skull. It was the kind of silence that made you think you were being watched.
"Right, partner?" He looked at the Terran Titan Vole standing beside him.
His newly evolved companion didn't respond with its usual cheerful chirp. Instead, it let out a low, guttural rumble, its heavy, obsidian-plated head slowly scanning the canopy above. The amber runes on its back were glowing faintly, a constant, low-level thrum of alertness. It felt it too. The sense of being prey.
"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Lin Ke sighed. He pulled up his terminal, the cool, logical glow of the map a small comfort in the oppressive, organic gloom. According to Director Thorne's briefing, the alpha-level threat—the source of all this misery—was located in the heart of the woods, a place the locals had creatively dubbed the 'Gloomfang Mire'. The main energy signature the Gene Editor was tracking confirmed it, a angry, pulsating red beacon on his mental radar, about three kilometers deeper in.
A straight shot, logically. Follow the signal, find the boss, finish the mission, collect fifty thousand credits, and get the hell out of this creepy, weeping hellhole. Simple. Clean. Efficient.
But nothing about this forest felt simple.
He pushed the thought aside. He was a scientist. A professional. He operated on data, not on vague feelings of dread. "Okay, let's move. We stick to the plan. Cautiously," he said, more to convince himself than his pet.
They pressed forward, the Titan Vole's heavy, deliberate footsteps a stark contrast to Lin Ke's own light, almost soundless tread. He'd learned a thing or two about stealth in the Blackstone Wilderness. Every step was a calculation, placing his boots on solid rock or packed earth, avoiding the dry, brittle leaves that littered the forest floor like a carpet of broken promises.
They traveled for what felt like an eternity, the scenery a monotonous, repeating loop of weeping trees and tangled, thorny vines. It was disorienting. If it weren't for the unwavering red beacon in his mind's eye, he'd have been certain they were walking in circles. Then, the Gene Editor's interface suddenly flickered, new information overlaying his vision.
[WARNING: Multiple chaotic energy signatures detected.]
Lin Ke stopped dead, his hand instinctively going to the multi-tool on his belt. The main alpha-signature was still there, a pulsating crimson sun straight ahead. But now, two new, smaller signatures had appeared, flanking the main one like a pair of malevolent moons. They were fainter, less intense, but undeniably present.
What the hell?
Decoys? Were there three alphas? He focused the Editor, pushing it to run a deeper analysis, but the feedback was frustratingly inconclusive. The chaotic nature of Abyssal Corruption made it notoriously difficult to get a precise reading from a distance. All he could tell was that all three signatures were active and hostile.
He stood there for a full five minutes, frozen, a war raging in his mind. The smooth, logical path he had plotted was now a three-pronged fork of uncertainty.
Option one: Ignore the smaller signals. They could be traps, designed to lure him away from the main target. Stick to the plan, go for the big one. But what if they weren't traps? What if they were lieutenants, powerful guardians that would swarm him from the sides if he bypassed them?
Option two: Split the difference. Approach from the center, trying to keep an equal distance from all three. A coward's choice. It would leave him exposed from all directions. Terrible idea.
Option three: Clear the flankers first. Treat it like a military operation. Eliminate the smaller threats to secure his path before engaging the primary target. This felt the most logical, the most… scientific. It was the cautious, methodical approach.
But a nagging voice in the back of his head, a voice that sounded suspiciously like the arrogant smirk of Director Thorne, whispered, Is it? The corruption in the sewers hadn't set traps. The creatures in the Blackstone Wilderness had been territorial, but simple. This felt… different. This felt intelligent.
He shook his head, pushing the doubt away. "No. Stick to what works. We neutralize the variable threats first," he decided, his voice firm. "We'll take the one on the left. It seems slightly weaker. We clear it, reassess, and then move on the main objective."
It was a sound, logical, and thoroughly reasoned decision.
It was also completely wrong.
He changed course, veering left, the red beacon of his true target now shifting to the periphery of his mental map. The woods in this direction grew even darker, the canopy above so thick that it blotted out the sky, plunging the world into a perpetual twilight. After another twenty minutes of tense, careful hiking, he found the source of the secondary signature. It was emanating from a small, dark grove, at the center of which was a shallow cave carved into the base of a massive, ancient tree whose roots were as thick as pythons.
"Okay, partner," he whispered, crouching behind a rotted log. "Whatever's in there, we take it out fast. No messing around."
He was expecting another corrupted monstrosity. Another bug, another lizard, something twisted and unnatural. He signaled for the Titan Vole to prepare an 'Earth Spike' attack, ready to obliterate the target the moment it showed itself.
But the creature that emerged from the cave was not what he expected at all.
It wasn't a creature of corruption. It was a beast of pure, primal nature. It was huge, easily three meters tall when it reared up on its hind legs, a mountain of muscle and thick, shaggy black fur. A pair of long, curved fangs, stained with the gore of its last meal, jutted from its powerful jaw. Its eyes were not glowing purple, but a deep, intelligent, and utterly furious shade of brown. It was a Gloomfang Bear, a native C-Rank predator of these woods, known for its insane territorial aggression. And Lin Ke, it seemed, had just stumbled right into its living room.
The bear let out a deafening roar, a sound that wasn't just a challenge, but a declaration of ownership. This was its grove. And they were trespassers. It dropped to all fours and charged, its massive claws tearing up the earth with every thunderous step.
"Crap," Lin Ke breathed, his carefully laid plan instantly dissolving into a chaotic scramble for survival. "Change of plans! Rock Harden! Brace for impact!"
This was not a mission objective. This was not a calculated hunt for resources. This was a pointless, brutal, and completely unexpected bar fight with the biggest, meanest bouncer in the forest. And he had started it.
The Titan Vole met the bear's charge with a resounding crash of flesh against stone. His partner, a titan in its own right, was thrown back several feet by the sheer, brute force of the impact. The bear shook its massive head, dazed for only a second, before swiping with a paw that could decapitate a man.
"Dodge! Move! Get some distance!" Lin Ke yelled, his voice tight with adrenaline.
The fight was a mess. A chaotic, ugly brawl. The confined space of the grove, filled with thick trees and tangled roots, made it impossible for the Titan Vole to use its powerful 'Earth Spike' effectively. It was a close-quarters slugfest, exactly the kind of fight the Gloomfang Bear was built for. For every powerful blow the Titan Vole landed with its armored body, the bear answered with two of its own, its claws leaving deep, screeching gouges across the Vole's crystalline hide.
"This is pointless! We're wasting energy! Wasting time!" Lin Ke thought, his frustration mounting with every passing second. He had made a mistake, a stupid, amateurish mistake. He had let his methodical nature override his gut instinct, and now his partner was paying the price.
He watched as the bear landed a particularly vicious blow, catching the Titan Vole on the shoulder and sending it stumbling. A pained cry escaped his partner, a sound that sent a pang of sharp guilt through Lin Ke's heart.
"Damn it! My fault. My fault," he gritted his teeth. He had been so focused on being the smart, tactical tamer, the "Sweeper," that he'd forgotten the first rule of the wilderness: sometimes, the smartest move is to trust your fear.
He had to end this. Now. He scanned the grove, his desperate eyes looking for any advantage, any environmental factor he could exploit. He saw it: a massive, ancient tree, even larger than the one that housed the bear's cave. Its trunk was thick and gnarled, a veritable wall of wood.
"Partner, listen to me! Get its attention! Lure it! To the big tree on your left!" he commanded, his voice filled with a new urgency.
The Titan Vole, understanding instantly, let out a defiant roar of its own and slammed its body against the bear, then immediately scrambled away, putting the ancient tree directly between itself and the enraged predator. The Gloomfang Bear, its intelligence clouded by primal rage, saw only its fleeing opponent. It lowered its head and charged again, a freight train of fur and fury.
"Hold your ground behind the tree!" Lin Ke yelled.
The bear didn't try to go around. It intended to plow right through the obstacle to get to its target. It slammed into the ancient tree with the force of a battering ram.
The tree shuddered, groaning under the immense impact, but it held. The Gloomfang Bear, however, did not. Its charge was brought to a dead, brutal stop. It stumbled back, its massive head ringing, its eyes dazed and unfocused for a critical two seconds.
"NOW!" Lin Ke roared. "FULL POWER! TACKLE!"
The Titan Vole shot from behind the tree like a cannonball, its entire body glowing with the amber light of its full power. It slammed into the dazed bear's skull with a sickening, final crunch. The massive beast swayed on its feet for a moment, then collapsed to the ground with a shuddering thud that shook the entire grove. It was over.
Lin Ke stood there, panting, his body drenched in sweat. His partner was bruised, its beautiful crystalline armor marred with deep scratches. He rushed over to it, running his hands over its injuries, a wave of relief so powerful it made him dizzy washing over him.
He looked at the corpse of the Gloomfang Bear. The Gene Editor confirmed what he already knew. No purple light. No dissolving sludge. No essence. Nothing. He had risked his partner's life, wasted precious time and energy, and gained absolutely nothing for his trouble.
"Genius move, Lin Ke," he said to himself, his voice dripping with self-deprecating irony. "Really, just a brilliant piece of tactical decision-making."
He sat down heavily on a fallen log, pulling up the map on his terminal again. He looked at the three energy signatures. The main one pulsed steadily. The one he had just dealt with was now gone. He stared at the screen, a chilling realization slowly dawning on him. The decoy hadn't been random. It hadn't been a secondary threat. It had been a guard post. A sentry, placed deliberately in a grove that formed a natural choke-point on the easiest and most direct path to the alpha's lair.
This wasn't just a monster. He wasn't just dealing with a creature driven by corrupted instinct. He was dealing with an intelligent adversary. A hunter that knew its territory, that used the native wildlife as its own personal army, that set traps.
He suddenly remembered a specific passage from one of his father's old journals, a hasty, scribbled entry from a mission deep in some forgotten ruin. The corruption here is different. It's not just growing; it's… thinking. It learns. It sets traps. The things it touches… they don't just become monsters. They become soldiers.
His blood ran cold. The game had changed. He wasn't the brilliant hunter tracking a mindless beast anymore. He was a trespasser in the domain of a cunning, sentient evil. And now, it knew he was here. He was no longer the hunter. He was the hunted.
With a profound new sense of dread, and a respect for his unseen enemy that bordered on fear, Lin Ke stood up. He recalled the Titan Vole to give it a much-needed rest and began to make his way, much more slowly and much more carefully, towards the true heart of the Weeping Woods.