Before everything goes out

In the dim firelight, Li Fei's frozen face was reflected.

He stared wide-eyed at the two trees in front of him, his eyes trembling.

That's right.

This time, he was absolutely right.

He had just pointed out that "the distance between the two trees is not right," then turned to leave but returned.

Now, in his awe-inspiring view, those few centimeters of error have been completely corrected.

If there was any possibility that he was wrong before, then this time, it completely confirmed his guess.

"Not only that, these trees can understand human speech. They heard me say the distance was wrong, so they moved a few centimeters..."

Realizing this, Li Fei immediately took a few steps back, pulled out his machete, and became wary of the two strange trees in front of him.

No.

It's not just these two trees in front of us, but the entire grove of trees.

In an instant, he felt a chill down his spine, as if he were being watched by countless eyes.

soon.

The others, also carrying torches, rushed over upon hearing the sound.

"What happened?"

Niu Wenbing glanced at Li Fei and noticed that he was staring intently at the two large trees with a strange expression.

"You just said those two trees are moving? What do you mean?"

"They moved stealthily..."

Li Fei swallowed hard, still reeling from the shock.

"These trees move silently when we can't see them, creating the illusion that we're lost, but we're not lost at all, and there's no such thing as being lost in a maze here."

Li Fei explained this to the bewildered faces.

As a staunch atheist, he had previously thought that things like being trapped in a maze were simply inexplicable.

Or.

As it stands, even though this world is dangerous and bizarre, it hasn't reached that mysterious level yet.

ghost?

This stuff is way too much.

If ghosts truly exist, then everything will be rewritten.

Thinking closer to home, even Shuanghe Village wouldn't exist anymore. Those villagers who were killed by Liu Yongxiao have long since returned as ghosts to take their revenge.

"What do you mean? I don't understand."

Niu San scratched his bald head.

This statement came as a complete surprise, leaving the others equally bewildered.

"You mean..."

Niu Wenbing was the first to react.

"You mean, these trees are alive? And they were moved secretly to fool us?"

"Um."

Li Fei nodded.

After calming down, he tried to explain it in a simpler way.

"In fact, no matter which way we go, these trees will run into our path, and whenever we see the same trees, we mistakenly think that we have gone back the way we came."

In other words, we weren't lost; we just lost our sense of direction after constantly hitting walls and wandered aimlessly in the mountains for an afternoon.

Upon hearing this, the group exchanged glances, trying to process what was said.

among them.

The leader, Snake Seven, narrowed his eyes and nodded slightly.

"No wonder, no wonder I always felt something was off. I've been to this forest to the north before, and it does feel a bit different from before..."

Seeing that She Qi nodded, the others didn't fully understand, but they quickly accepted Li Fei's explanation.

Realizing this, they followed Li Fei's example, took out their weapons, and moved away from the nearest tree.

Immediately afterwards, Niu Wenbing discovered something suspicious.

"Wait a minute, didn't you say this afternoon that the distance between us and Huanzi hadn't shortened? Isn't this just going in circles?"

This reminded the group, and they all turned to look at Li Fei.

They verified this together, and it's definitely not wrong.

If they hadn't been going in circles, if they had really gone that far north...

They should have arrived at the location of the rings long ago.

Even if they haven't arrived yet, they shouldn't be too far away.

"Um."

Speaking of this, Li Fei's expression became even more serious.

Looking at the bracelet, they confirmed once again that the distance between them and the bracelet had not shortened; on the radar-like map, it was still two squares, or two kilometers in a straight line.

Before they got lost, they had been heading north, but the distance they had covered hadn't decreased.

This is contradictory.

After eliminating miscellaneous items, only two possibilities remain.

One.

The bracelet is malfunctioning.

Li Fei was not sure about this.

The map displays correctly and can be zoomed in and out, but it's hard to say whether the positioning is accurate.

two.

The rings are moving too.

To be precise, as they drew closer, the rings moved further away, maintaining a distance of exactly two kilometers.

It is a relationship of "relative stillness".

"Oh, right..."

After remembering something, Li Fei zoomed in and out of the map using two fingers.

As the radar's range continued to expand, a new triangular symbol appeared on the map.

Outpost.

This is a sentry post that was automatically marked earlier.

Li Fei remembered clearly that he was previously more than 60 kilometers away from the outpost, but now...

"The distance between me and the outpost has shortened. Yes, we are indeed heading north, but the rings are also moving north in the same direction, so it looks like we haven't moved."

With a reference point and the distance markers on the map, Li Fei became even more certain of his judgment.

His relationship with the ring is one of relative stillness.

The people around him stared at the map, but couldn't quite understand what he was saying.

However, based on their previous experience, they gradually realized that the amnesiac ring in front of them was not simple.

He's physically weak, but he's very intelligent.

"The question now is, why are they avoiding us?"

Li Fei frowned, unable to understand.

Could it be...?

Is it the ring that has turned into a zombie, sensing danger approaching and taking cover in advance?

Is it that smart?

He was about to ask Snake Seven a question when he was interrupted by a shout from the side.

"What a load of bull! A tree can move? Even if it could, could it move faster than a person walking? I don't believe it!"

Clearly, Ma Zi did not accept Li Fei's theory.

He brandished his machete and chopped at the large tree in front of him that had been marked.

One, two, three, ten.

He only stopped when his arms were sore and the tree was dripping with sap.

"Look, there's been no reaction after all these cuts. How could this tree possibly be alive? If you ask me, you can't trust what Huanzi says."

Everyone fell silent.

Ma Zi's statement is not without merit.

After thinking it over, Niu Wenbing went to the tree that had been cut down, squatted down, and dug a few times in the soil with his hands.

"this..."

His expression changed rapidly.

From doubt to shock to fear.

"This soil has been loosened...these trees...they have definitely been disturbed..."

The men froze, and in fright, they took a few steps back.

Ma Zi swiftly retreated behind the crowd.

"It's 'Grandpa Tree'."

Snake Seven, the most experienced member of the team, spoke with a gloomy face.

"I've heard the old folks in the village talk about it, but I've never actually seen it in all these years."

Grandpa Tree?

Li Fei had heard this term from Wang Guodong.

"Because they encountered 'Grandpa Tree,' all the rings died in the southern forest, and only you escaped..."

That's what Wang Guodong said.

So what is Grandpa Tree?

A tree mutated by darkness?

Judging from the grim expressions on the faces of the people around him, Li Fei guessed that the people of Shuanghe Village should all know about this.

And it's quite dangerous.

The creature capable of killing so many fully armed rings must be more than just a hornet.

"This is difficult, very difficult..."

Snake Seven paced back and forth, but did not continue speaking.

"No one knows what Grandpa Tree is, because everyone who has encountered him has died."

Noticing the confusion on Li Fei's face, Niu Wenbing offered to add more information.

These words further dampened the team's morale.

Having to spend the night in the mountains was bad enough, but then they encountered Grandpa Tree, which was undoubtedly adding insult to injury.

"How about we go somewhere else? At least to an open space with fewer trees."

Li Fei broke the silence with his words.

Regardless of what happens next, we should try to stay as far away from these trees as possible.

After Snake Seven nodded, the group began to move to a different location.

Fortunately, they found a suitable open space just a hundred meters away without much effort.