I started with a portal, then turned around and handed it over to the nation.

The camp was completely silent.

Lin Mo pressed the earpiece and tapped it three times with his finger.

This is a sign that "something is wrong".

"Team Dragon." Lin Mo didn't turn around, looking at Rein, his tone quite relaxed: "What do we do?"

There was a few seconds of silence in the headset.

"He was a guide, and also a comrade-in-arms."

Long Fei's voice was calm, with a slight hoarseness: "It's your decision. Don't overdo it."

Lin Mo released his hand from the earpiece, a smile playing on his lips.

"Alright, since you've already seen it."

Lin Mo shifted to a more comfortable position, sitting cross-legged.

"That's right, we don't belong to this world. You can think of us as... another dimension."

Renn let out a long sigh of relief, and his whole body relaxed.

"I knew it..."

He muttered to himself, "I knew it. Only people from the divine realm possess this kind of power."

"Hey~ Stop, stop."

Lin Mo waved his hand, looking helpless: "Stop talking about the divine realm. We don't have any gods where we are. We still have to pay off our mortgages."

He pointed to the night sky above, where no stars could be seen.

"We are human beings just like you. We are made of flesh and blood, and we can die if we are cut."

"However... we're cursed."

"A curse?" Renn was stunned.

"Every now and then, the crack will open."

Lin Mo pointed to his chest, his tone relaxed, but his eyes revealed a fierce glint:

"It forced us here, giving us tasks. Kill goblins, kill minotaurs, and this time, kill cat demons..."

"What if it can't be completed, or the mission fails?"

Lin Mo made a throat-slitting motion, sticking out half of his tongue:

"Snap. Completely destroyed, not even a trace left."

Renn stared wide-eyed at the young man before him who possessed "divine power."

He never imagined that this group of people with powerful weapons would also face the constant threat of death.

"so……"

Raine looked at the cold rifle in his hand, and his expression changed.

He looked at Lin Mo, and the awe and distance that had been in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a sense of empathy and recognition.

"You are also fighting for survival."

Lin Mo nodded and patted the dirt off his bottom.

"Yes. To survive, we're in the same boat now."

Renn suddenly grinned, the scars on his face contorting slightly, revealing a hint of arrogance.

"Since we're all just trying to survive, then we're all in the same boat."

He stood up and raised his fist at Lin Mo.

"Those cat demons have taken over Moonlight City, preventing us from hunting and trading with the elves there. I've wanted to settle accounts with them for a long time."

Lin Mo looked at the rough fist, stood up, and touched fists with it.

"Alright. Let's take them down together."

In the shadows behind the tent, Long Fei silently switched off the safety on his gun, turned and disappeared into the darkness.

"Attention everyone!"

Long Fei's voice rang out on the channel.

"Take turns resting. We'll head into the forest first thing tomorrow morning."

"Take down that den of cat demons."

The next morning, a team wearing exoskeleton armor set off on time.

The soil underfoot was soft and slippery, and the rotting leaves smelled musty.

The surrounding trees were no longer upright, their trunks were twisted, and grayish-white mist drifted through the forest, reducing visibility to less than twenty meters.

"Click."

Long Fei raised his right hand and made a fist to signal him to stop.

The line behind them came to an instant, with only the faint hum of the exoskeleton's motors remaining.

"Entering the Misty Forest area."

Long Fei's voice rang out on the communication channel, devoid of any emotional fluctuation:

"Eagle No. 3, launch the drone."

"receive."

A special forces soldier carrying a square backpack knelt on the ground and unfolded his operating terminal.

"Buzz—"

Four palm-sized black drones were launched into the air.

Without making a loud buzzing sound, the drone's silent rotors cut through the fog, quickly rising and disappearing into the white mist above the treetops.

Ryan, holding the gun, swallowed hard.

He instinctively shrank behind a thick, dark tree, his eyes fixed on the thick fog ahead.

In his experience, the best thing to do in such situations is to lie still in the mud and pray that the unseen things won't pass by.

"take it easy."

Lin Mo walked over to him and patted his alloy shoulder armor:

"Straighten your backs, we're not here to play hide-and-seek."

Renn nodded stiffly.

"Thermal imaging module activated."

"Full-band scan enabled."

The operator's voice sounded somewhat hurried.

Long Fei stood at the forefront, blue data flowing through his tactical goggles.

"Everyone, remain silent. Advance in three-man formation, alternating cover."

Watch your step, don't stomp on the dry branches.

The team started moving again.

This time, the speed was much slower.

The special forces soldiers' boots made almost no sound as they stepped on the mud.

Following the example of the team members ahead of him, Ryan took each step with great care. The exoskeleton distributed most of the weight, allowing him to move as lightly as a cat.

"Report."

Suddenly, the operator's voice came through the communication channel, sounding somewhat hurried.

"Nine o'clock position, 1200 meters away."

"A high pyrogen reaction was detected."

Long Fei suddenly turned his head to look in that direction: "Quantity?"

"Three...no, five."

The operator stared at the screen in his hand, his fingers rapidly swiping across the touchpad:

"They are on the branches, with a constant body temperature and a slow heart rate."

Long Fei's lips curled into a cold smile.

"Sleeping?"

"It looks so," the operator replied. "Thermal imaging shows they're curled up in a ball, showing no signs of movement."

Long Fei lowered the muzzle of his gun slightly.

"Everyone, take cover where you are."

"Eagle Group, release the swarm."

"Plow this area for me, I need to know the location of every single cat."

"yes!"

Two more team members unloaded their backpacks.

A dozen or so thumb-sized miniature reconnaissance drones were released, swarming silently into the forest like a group of black wasps.

Lin Mo leaned against a moss-covered boulder and waved to Raine.

"come over."

Renn crouched down and quickly moved to Lin Mo's side.

"Look at this."

Lin Mo raised his left arm and pointed to a rectangular screen on his forearm armor.

He pressed a button on the side.

The screen lights up.

A green terrain map appeared on it; it was a 3D map that the drone had just generated.

On the left side of the map, several glaring red dots are flickering slightly.

"What is this?"

Renn's eyes widened, and his breathing became rapid.

He stretched out his rough fingers, wanting to touch but not daring to touch the glowing screen.

"That's a cat demon."

Lin Mo pointed to the red dots:

"This is where they are now. You see, they're in the tree, about fifteen meters above the ground."

Raine looked up sharply in that direction, but could see nothing but white fog and twisted branches.

"Invisible."

Lin Mo pulled his gaze back:

"They are invisible to the naked eye, but they cannot hide the heat inside their bodies."

"As long as they are alive and have body temperature, they are like a big light bulb on this screen."

Renn stared intently at the red dot on the screen.

As a hunter, he knew all too well what this meant.