149: The bear's shadow returns, leaving no grass in the land.

A night of terror.

The giant bear ultimately did not return, but the torment of this night far surpassed a head-on fight with it.

As dawn just began to break, the two of them immediately sprang up and quickly packed their camp.

Wang Dalong's face had completely collapsed, written all over with "life is not worth living."

He gripped that can of Bear Spray tightly, his knuckles turning white; that thing was his life now.

He looked back every three steps and shivered with every stride. Any rustle of grass would make him jump, nearly pulling the safety pin.

Being targeted by an apex predator at the top of the food chain—this feeling was too awful!

This wasn't an exploration at all; it was delivering one's head on a silver platter!

The duo's pace slowed down visibly to the naked eye. Every step felt like treading on the edge of a blade.

The mental exhaustion was far more terrifying than the physical drain.

At dusk, as they dragged their leaden legs in search of a campsite, that feeling of being watched—of eyes pinned firmly to their backs—returned!

It was haunting them!

This time, they didn't even need the night-vision camera.

The two of them stopped in their tracks almost simultaneously and stiffly turned their heads.

Just ahead and to their side, on a small hillside about a hundred meters away, that massive black shadow just stood there.

Its hulking body was bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, casting an exaggeratedly long shadow on the ground.

It was behaving exactly as it had last night.

No roaring, no growling, no charging.

It just stood there quietly, its small eyes locked precisely onto the two of them across the hundred-meter distance.

It followed them like a shadow.

"It... it followed us!" Wang Dalong's voice carried a sob. "Brother Feng... Brother Feng, what do we do? What does it actually want? Why doesn't it just charge over and kill us? Can't it just give us a quick death?"

Being strung along like this was more agonizing than dying outright!

"It's waiting."

Lin Feng's expression was solemn to the extreme.

"Waiting for us to collapse from exhaustion, waiting for our spirits to break, waiting for us to make a mistake."

"This beast... no, it's smarter than a human, and more patient than the most experienced hunter."

Hearing this, Wang Dalong nearly collapsed onto his butt.

Waiting for us to make a mistake?

In their current state, they'd probably kill themselves within half a day!

No! They couldn't stay passive like this any longer!

Lin Feng suddenly slammed his marching pack onto the ground with a muffled thud.

He unzipped it and rummaged through, finally pulling out a stainless steel soup pot and a long-handled ladle.

Wang Dalong was dumbfounded.

"Brother Feng, what... what are you doing? Getting ready for dinner?"

Look at what time it is!

Lin Feng ignored him, simply weighing the pot and ladle in his hands.

"Stay here, do not move! No matter what happens, don't move!"

Leaving those words behind, Lin Feng took a deep breath and actually strode toward the giant bear.

Wang Dalong's eyes nearly popped out of his head!

That's a bear! A bear ancestor that can slap a person into meat paste! It's one thing not to run, but you're actively delivering yourself to its door?!

The next second, Wang Dalong understood what Lin Feng intended to do.

As Lin Feng walked, he swung his arm in a wide circle and used the ladle to strike the bottom of the soup pot violently!

Clang!!

Clang! Clang! Clang!!

The piercing, chaotic metallic noise instantly shattered the silence of the forest, startling countless birds into flight.

On the hillside, the giant bear was clearly infuriated by this sudden noise!

Roar—!!!

It suddenly reared up on its hind legs, its massive body almost blotting out half the sky as it let out a deafening roar!

The sound waves were ear-splitting!

Wang Dalong felt the ground beneath his feet buzzing; his heart nearly stopped from the shock!

But Lin Feng didn't stop for a single step!

Facing the giant bear's pressure, he continued forward, banging the pot even more frantically as he went!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

He also used all his strength to scream at the top of his lungs, letting out meaningless roars!

Ah—!!

The sound was hoarse, distorted, and filled with madness and suicidal determination!

One human, one bear. One advanced frantically while banging a pot, the other growled and closed in step by step.

The distance was shortening rapidly!

Eighty meters!

Fifty meters!

Thirty meters!

Wang Dalong's heart was in his throat; he didn't dare to look anymore.

Right then, the rearing giant bear seemed to be intimidated by Lin Feng's suicidal madness.

It roared, slowly lowered its front paws back to all fours, and let out threatening low rumbles from its throat, staring intently at the tiny but crazed human before it.

Now!

Lin Feng didn't stop his pace, but the hand holding the pot had already quietly switched to the other.

He suddenly pulled the safety pin on the Bear Spray!

Aiming at the giant bear's massive head, he slammed down on the nozzle!

Sssss—!!!

A thick, orange-red mist sprayed out like a water column, instantly covering the giant bear's entire face!

This move was too sudden!

The giant bear clearly hadn't expected it and took the full blast!

Awooo—!!!

It let out a roar full of pain and terror, its massive head shaking frantically as its front claws rubbed blindly at its face.

The intense pain in its eyes and nasal cavity sent the king of the forest into a complete frenzy!

Strike while it's down, run fast!

Having succeeded in his strike, Lin Feng had no intention of lingering for a fight; he turned and bolted!

He grabbed the dumbfounded Wang Dalong and roared, "Go! If you don't want to die, run!"

The two of them scrambled and stumbled, fleeing for their lives in the opposite direction of the giant bear with every ounce of strength they had.

Behind them, the giant bear's angry and pained roars echoed through the forest, gradually fading into the distance.

They didn't know how long they ran until their lungs felt like they were about to explode, at which point they collapsed by a stream, gasping for air.

"We... we survived?" Wang Dalong slumped on the ground. "I... I fucking thought we were dead... Brother Feng, you're my real brother! That move just now was too badass!"

Lin Feng leaned against a tree, his chest heaving, but his face showed none of the relief of a narrow escape.

"It will come back."

"This time, it's been provoked and injured. Next time, it won't test us, and it won't wait."

"It will attack directly, until one of us is dead!"

"Then... then we..."

"We must reach the destination before its next attack!" Lin Feng's voice was resolute.

This narrow escape had completely triggered all of their potential.

The desire to survive overrode all exhaustion and fear.

On the third day, they were traveling in a way that seemed to burn their very lives. No rest, no talking; except for drinking water and gnawing on energy bars, all their time was spent moving forward with heads down.

Blisters formed on their feet, which they simply wrapped with strips of cloth.

Their shoulders went numb from the backpack straps, but they gritted their teeth and endured.

Finally, as the sun was about to set, they arrived at the final area Lin Feng had calculated based on the star chart and ancient texts.

It was a mountain ridge that towered into the clouds.

Practically crawling on all fours, they dragged their battered bodies to the highest point of the ridge.

When they stood at the summit and saw the scene before them, Wang Dalong instantly forgot all his fatigue, pain, and fear.

He stood there frozen, completely stunned.

Beneath their feet was a rolling, endless sea of dark green forest.

But directly below them, surrounded by mountains, a startlingly abrupt and massive flatland appeared!

The flatland was roughly an irregular oval, its area so large that the boundaries were not visible at a glance.

The weirdest part was that the surrounding mountain slopes were all covered in lush, centuries-old primeval forests.

Only on this exaggeratedly vast flatland, let alone a tree, there wasn't even a clump of waist-high shrubs!

On the ground, there was only a thin layer of withered, yellow short grass. From a distance, it looked like a giant, ugly scar on the earth!

Wang Dalong stared in amazement.

"Brother Feng... what... what is that place? Is it a naturally formed prairie? This doesn't make scientific sense! Why is it surrounded by centuries-old woods, but that spot is bald, without a single tree growing?"

Lin Feng did not answer.

He just stood at the highest point of the ridge, overlooking the vast and deathly silent flatland below.

The mountain wind whistled through the valley, blowing the withered short grass, but it brought no sign of life; instead, it added a few layers of desolation and eeriness.

His brain was working at high speed at this moment.

Countless fragments of text buried in the corners of history books were frantically overlapping and piecing together with this bizarre scene that defied the laws of nature!

"...The death was kept secret. After the burial, ten thousand horses were driven over it to level it, making it look as flat as ever..."

"...A camel calf was killed upon it, and soldiers were stationed to guard it. When the grass turned green the following year, tents were set up for residence. Once the vegetation flourished, the tents and soldiers were removed, leaving the area looking exactly as it did at first, so that no one could know its location..."

His breathing became more and more rapid.

His gaze was fixed, as if nailed, to that bizarre flatland where not a single tree grew.

"No... that's not a prairie."

Lin Feng's voice was incredibly hoarse, every word carrying the massive shock of solving an ultimate puzzle and a trace of uncontrollable trembling.

"That place,"

"is 'Qinian Valley'."