Chapter 76: 76, Iron chain

Originally, everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they found the cave to camp in, but no one expected that a sudden change would occur.

“Should we find another place to hide?” someone whispered: “What if something from the forest comes after us?”

“No need to change,” Ren Xiaosu shook his head: “They clearly wanted to hide here, but we got here first. At least that means the cave we’re in is probably safe enough.”

“What are they hiding from?” Liu Bu asked, puzzled.

At that moment, Xu Xiancheng looked toward the forest outside the cave: “Perhaps they’re fleeing from this forest, or rather, the forest at night.”

Ren Xiaosu nodded: “That’s what I think too. Animals are far more alert to danger than humans—it’s instinct. Do you remember when we passed through the canyon, there were human skeletons lying there? But after entering the forest, we saw no animal bones at all. That’s abnormal.”

“Any living being must age, fall ill, and die. How could there be not a single animal skeleton?” Ren Xiaosu continued: “Earlier, I discarded fish bones and flesh in the woods south of the canyon. The next morning, they were gone—no traces left. Just like the way Xu Xia’s body vanished. These missing bones or people share one thing in common: they were all in the woods.”

“Yes,” Xu Xiancheng nodded: “And since these creatures fear the woods so much, the forest itself must be the problem.”

A man-eating forest…

The others gazed at the forest outside, uneasy. Had the animals evolved to the point where even plants had changed?

Xu Xiancheng tried to comfort them: “Actually, this is a good thing. Now that we’ve found the pattern, we can prepare in advance.”

The unknown fear turns into a known fear, and if you understand its principle, the feeling of dread lessens slightly.

Yes, as long as we don’t enter the woods at night, it’ll be fine.

Thinking this, the psychological shadow that had haunted them before even began to fade. Wang Lei laughed: “We must find a place far from the forest to camp before nightfall.”

Ren Xiaosu shook his head: “It’s not just at night. We need to be careful during the day too. We don’t know if these animals and plants have finished evolving. What if they eat people during the day as well?”

“Then we’ll take the ridges and valleys where the trees are sparse!” Xu Xiancheng made the final decision.

They began chewing on pine roots again. At that moment, someone asked: “Ren Xiaosu, how did you find out the pine roots are edible?”

“It wasn’t me who discovered it. Someone in the settlement mentioned it,” Ren Xiaosu calmly added some firewood to the campfire.

Liu Bu, eager to ease the tension with Ren Xiaosu, quickly chimed in: “The people in your settlement know this wilderness too well—it’s all human wisdom!”

Liu Bu didn’t know how to flatter further, so he could only force a compliment.

But Ren Xiaosu didn’t quite agree: “It’s not wisdom. Who would willingly eat pine roots if they had better options? The people in the settlement said eating pine roots was something from years ago. When I heard that, I could imagine how many people must have starved to death back then.”

In an era where refugees have no tomorrow, everything is tied to survival.

It was already a forced compliment, and now Liu Bu felt even more awkward.

At that moment, Luo Xinyu lightened the mood: “Why have the beasts grown larger, while humans haven’t? Instead, we’ve evolved into extraordinary beings like Xu Xiancheng.”

“Perhaps because human evolution is different,” Xu Xiancheng said: “Throughout history, human evolution has always been about intellect.”

Ren Xiaosu replied: “I’ve heard another theory. Last year, after escaping a wolf’s mouth, I asked the teacher at the academy, Zhang Jinglin. He posed a question to me: In nature, some creatures can grow strong muscles without much exercise. He mentioned a type of animal called gorillas. Humans once kept them in cages—they’d eat and sleep all day, yet still grow muscles far beyond human capacity. Humans, on the other hand, eat and sleep, and their muscles atrophy.”

Yang Xiaojin spoke up: “That teacher of yours, Zhang Jinglin, isn’t ordinary.”

Ren Xiaosu didn’t know how Yang Xiaojin judged that, whether Zhang Jinglin was ordinary or not. But he knew Zhang Jinglin was a good man.

He continued: “The teacher said there’s a gene in the human body that restricts muscle development. As humans grew smarter, this gene kept evolving. He called it the price of wisdom.”

Everyone fell into contemplation, as if it made sense. The walls had upper-class people who worked out and dieted—it was even a trend two years ago.

Including Liu Bu, who had once followed the trend, but only realized how hard it was to build muscle after trying.

Just then, Yang Xiaojin suddenly threw cold water on Ren Xiaosu: “I’ve seen evolved beings with extraordinary physiques. What’s the deal with that?”

Ren Xiaosu froze. He thought: “Did his ancestors have something to do with beasts?!”

Yang Xiaojin: “……”

Xu Xiancheng: “……”

Liu Bu: “……”

Everyone stared at Ren Xiaosu in silence—this was practically an insult!

Luo Xinyu suddenly grew interested: “That teacher from your settlement must be quite remarkable, right? He’s surely well-read.”

Ren Xiaosu considered and replied: “He’s quite knowledgeable, but when he encounters something he doesn’t understand, he makes things up too…”

“Does he spend his free time reading books or something? There are people like that in the walls,” Luo Xinyu pressed: “Those people are impressive.”

“Not really,” Ren Xiaosu shook his head: “When he’s free, he’s in the courtyard growing vegetables…”

Luo Xinyu fell silent for a moment—why did so many things in the settlement turn out differently than she expected?

Still, Ren Xiaosu thought Zhang Jinglin was commendable. He studied without being rigid, and even with great knowledge, he could bend down and till the soil.

But at that moment, everyone suddenly heard the sound of iron chains dragging across the ground.

Clank, clank.

The chains struck the ground, producing a clear, ringing sound. Their owner seemed to be crawling through the forest, patrolling its territory.

Ren Xiaosu and the others shuddered. How could any creature move through the forest at night? Did their earlier judgment mean nothing?

Were those animals not fleeing the forest?!

……

Thanks to wgwsky and Xi Sān Suì for becoming the new alliance leader of this book!