37: Chapter 37 Horrifying Ruins

People always instinctively feel a sense of fear towards the unknown.

Lin Mo and his two companions couldn't help but feel a tightness in their chests.

Not daring to stop, they continued to push deeper into the area.

Evening.

The three set up their tent among some broken walls and ruins, sitting down around a campfire.

The flickering firelight illuminated their faces, barely managing to dispel the thick darkness surrounding them.

From deep within the ruins, hair-raising wails echoed from time to time, making one's scalp tingle.

"These cries don't sound like anything a Corrupt Walker or a rotting corpse could make." Lu Mengmeng shrank closer to Lin Mo, her voice lowered to a whisper.

Lin Mo watched the flames licking the firewood and nodded. "Mm, it seems the monsters in this Wasteland Secret Realm aren't limited to the two types we've seen. It's possible that the blue plant we encountered during the day is also a form of some strange beast."

He paused, casting his gaze toward the pitch-black night outside the tent, and said softly, "Perhaps... there are still humans in this place."

"What?" Lu Mengmeng's eyes widened. "Boss, are you trying to say that this secret realm is actually another complete world?"

Niu Dachun also scratched his head, looking puzzled. "That's impossible, right? My mom told me last night that every secret realm is a fragment of some world, specifically placed on Blue Star by the gods to train us."

"Perhaps..." Lin Mo smiled, not speaking with absolute certainty. "This is just my conjecture."

During dinner last night, Lu Jianjie had indeed briefly mentioned this theory about secret realms.

Currently, most secret realms on Blue Star have boundaries.

Consequently, the authorities of various countries have concluded that they are merely broken remnants of worlds.

Coupled with the sudden arrival of the global Martial Soul awakening on Blue Star, people are more inclined to believe that these secret realms are trial grounds set up by the gods for awakened ones.

But Lin Mo was, after all, a transmigrator, and his mind was filled with too many bizarre and fantastical conjectures.

In his view, these so-called "secret realms" were not necessarily just fragments; perhaps they hid a more complex truth.

For instance, a civilization that once truly existed, or a corner swallowed by a distortion in time and space.

The campfire crackled, casting long shadows of the three of them.

The wailing in the distance continued, as if recounting secrets that no one knew.

After a simple meal, the three went into the tent to cultivate.

Several hours passed; it was now the dead of night.

"That's all for today. Get ready to rest!"

Lin Mo discarded the energy-depleted soul crystal and instructed the other two.

"Yay!"

Lu Mengmeng never really liked cultivating, so upon receiving Lin Mo's permission, she immediately dove into her sleeping bag.

Her bottom wiggled back and forth like a caterpillar.

Lin Mo checked the alarm device, then prepared to crawl into his own sleeping bag.

However... just at that moment.

"Help... someone save me..."

A faint cry for help rang out from outside the tent.

Although the voice was so weak that one would barely hear it without paying close attention.

Yet in the quiet of the night, it still reached the ears of the three clearly.

The three of them shuddered violently and bolted upright from their sleeping bags with a swoosh.

"Alert!"

Lin Mo tilted his head to listen.

"Help, help me..."

The faint cry for help continued, sounding now far away, now near.

"Let's go out and take a look." Lu Mengmeng was just about to unzip the tent.

"Wait..." Lin Mo grabbed her hand.

Lu Mengmeng looked puzzled.

Lin Mo's face showed a strange expression. "This voice... something is wrong..."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Didn't you notice that our alarm device outside hasn't made a sound?"

Lu Mengmeng and Niu Dachun were stunned at first, but then they realized it.

That's right; at first glance, the sound seemed very close, as if it were right outside the tent.

But if someone were approaching the alarm, it should have gone off by now.

"Hiss, could it be a ghost!"

"Don't scare yourself."

Lin Mo lowered his voice and quietly lifted a gap in the tent to look outside.

The night was as thick as ink; the campfire had long since gone out, and everything around was pitch black.

The cries for help continued, and listening closely, the sound seemed to come from outside the ruins.

Lin Mo led Lu Mengmeng and Niu Dachun as they slowly crawled out of the tent.

"Save me... my leg is pinned down..."

The voice suddenly became clear, as if it were just a few meters outside the tent.

It even carried painful gasps.

"Please pull me out, don't leave me behind, I beg you..."

Niu Dachun gripped his Frying Pan tightly and asked in a muffled voice, "Brother Mo, should we go out and check? What if it's real?"

Lin Mo shook his head, his brows furrowed. "Something is wrong. Listen carefully to the breathing; it's too rhythmic, as if someone is deliberately mimicking it."

"Deliberately mimicking?" Lu Mengmeng's heart tightened, and she subconsciously held her breath.

"Mm."

Lin Mo's voice was extremely low, his eyes scanning the surrounding darkness sharply.

"Some things are good at this, intentionally imitating human voices to lure people over so they can hunt them."

"Then what should we do? Should we just let it keep calling?"

"Of course not. I want to see exactly what kind of thing is playing ghost here."

As he spoke, Lin Mo beckoned the two of them.

"Let's go, stay alert."

The three crouched low and crept toward the sandy ground outside the ruins.

Just as they walked five or six meters away.

Suddenly, the cry for help changed.

"Ah! Boss, this thing can even move..."

All three of them shuddered.

Lin Mo and Niu Dachun looked at Lu Mengmeng in the middle with fearful eyes.

The latter had wide eyes, her face turning pale.

Because this voice, this flippant tone, was clearly Lu Mengmeng's.

"She, she, she... I, I, I... it's not me..."

Lu Mengmeng pointed at the darkness ahead and then at herself, her voice trembling with anxiety.

Lin Mo immediately recalled that these were the words Lu Mengmeng had said earlier today while digging a hole.

He instantly understood.

"Damn it, could it be that thing from today..." Halfway through his sentence, Lin Mo immediately corrected himself. "Go back, leave the sandy ground quickly!"

Lu Mengmeng and Da Chun didn't understand why, but they were dragged back by Lin Mo.

And the moment the three of them left the spot, a blue tentacle suddenly stabbed out from the sandy ground.

"Damn it!"

Lin Mo and the others immediately rolled and jumped back into the ruins.

"Wuu, Boss, this really is that thing from the daytime!"

Seeing that blue tentacle, Lu Mengmeng's face turned pale.

Just that strike from before would have surely poked a hole right through them.

Lin Mo also felt a lingering fear.

So it was this thing causing all the trouble.

"No wonder there are no Corrupt Walkers or zombies in this ruin; it turns out they were all hunted by this thing."

They had thought this place without zombies was a good spot to set up camp.

"What exactly is this thing? Not only can it mimic human voices, but it can also chase us this far."

But Lin Mo had a different opinion. "Is there a possibility that they can share information?"

He didn't believe that this thing could chase them for over a hundred kilometers, or that it was just one entity.

"Boss, what should we do now? We seem to be trapped here!" Lu Mengmeng looked worried.

"What else can we do? Let's find another place to camp, preferably the roof of an abandoned building."

However, before the three could pack up their things.

In the sandy ground at the edge of the ruins, three or four blue tentacles suddenly emerged and were already creeping into the ruins.

"Not good, that thing is coming in."