“It’s not over yet,” Foxy whispered.


    Almost the moment she spoke, Yu Sheng understood what she meant.


    He heard chaotic roars rising from the dense forest, and a terrifying, hollow wind suddenly echoed through the valley. The eerie, sinister atmosphere pervading this strangend hadn’t lessened with the defeat of the flesh-and-blood giant beast; instead, it had grown several times stronger. A heavy, almost suffocating sense of malice and watchful eyes surged from all directions as if something had been awakened—and it was furious.


    “What on earth is happening?!” Yu Sheng asked urgently, turning to the fox girl who seemed to know more than she let on.


    “I don’t know exactly, but… it’s happened before,” Foxy replied, her face pale with fear. She hid behind Yu Sheng as she spoke. “The Immortal died that day—it was just like this. Something woke up. The Immortal led the others outside, but they never came back. Later, we only found their bodies…”


    She trembled slightly, lowering her head. “My parents hid me in a cave and told me not to look outside. I don’t know what happened. When I crawled out, everyone was already dead…”


    Yu Sheng quickly pieced together the situation from Foxy’s disjointed tale.


    The real terror in this valley wasn’t that giant beast.


    Or rather, it wasn’t just that beast—something even more powerful slumbered in the depths of this darkness. From the moment he and Irene had entered the valley, that thing had been awakening.He gritted his teeth. After a swift calction, he dashed toward Irene.


    “We can’t keep fighting,” Yu Sheng said urgently. “There’s something even more sinister here. n B: we retreat. I’ll open a door. How are you holding up? Can you move?”


    Irene tried to push herself up with her hands, but as soon as she put weight on them, there was a slight cracking sound. Her arms snapped at the elbows, the broken pieces falling to the ground and shattering.


    “No good. My legs are damaged too. If I try to stand, they’ll probably break as well,” the little doll said dejectedly, lifting her broken arms. “I told you, this body you made isn’t sturdy… Did you mix sand into the y or something?”


    Honestly, Yu Sheng was startled when Irene’s arms broke. He’d never dealt with living dolls before and wasn’t sure how serious this was. But hearing herint, he rxed. “So you can be repaired?”


    Irene nodded. “Yes, but we’ll definitely need to go back.”


    Yu Sheng sighed with relief. Seeing that Irene couldn’t stand on her own, he took the painting frame from her back, adjusted the straps, and slung it over his shoulder. Then he picked up Irene, letting her sit on his left arm.


    Irene protested slightly, seeming a bit embarrassed, but with broken limbs, she had little choice. She settled down and obediently sat on Yu Sheng’s arm.


    Yu Sheng reached out with his free right hand into the air. After a brief moment of concentration, a door shimmering with ethereal light and shadow appeared before him.


    He noticed that the three strangers nearby—one of whom looked oddly familiar—were watching him with strange expressions as he opened the door.


    But he didn’t have time to dwell on that. Confirming the passage was stable, he pulled the door open.


    On the other side was the living room of No. 23 Wutong Road.


    “The escape route is here! Everyone, hurry!” Yu Sheng called out. “Before that monster regenerates!”


    He looked at Foxy, who stood nearby, nervous and hesitant. “Foxy, you first—don’t be afraid. It’s safe on the other side.”


    Then he turned to the three strangers. “You all—I don’t know who you are, but thanks for your help earlier. Come with us.”


    With Yu Sheng’s encouragement, Foxy finally mustered the courage to step forward and approach the door.


    However, just as she was about to enter, a strange whistling sound suddenly came from not far away. Yu Sheng felt a gust of wind rushing at him from behind!


    In an instant, countless fragments of unknown information flooded his mind—several gazes focusing on this ruined temple, perspectives stretching from distant skies and deep within the valley, a chaotic and cold touch, and… the thrill of imminent feasting.


    He spun around to see a giant beast emerging from the shadows at the edge of the ruins. Its middle split open grotesquely, and a tongue like a sharp arrow shot out, piercing straight through his chest.


    He only had time to push Irene aside. There was no chance to dodge. The attack went right through his heart.


    Had the monster regenerated? So quickly? Or… was it another one?


    Questions shed through Yu Sheng’s mind. As his consciousness faded into darkness, he heard Foxy’s terrified screams, Irene’s shouts, and the howls of wolves.


    The ethereal door flickered twice and vanished. Yu Sheng’s body fell backward. As his vision tilted and dimmed, he sawyers uponyers of shadows rising at the edge of the ruins. Within each trembling shadow, a flesh monster was slowly forming. Countless greedy mouths opened throughout the valley. The distant woods teemed with writhing tentacles seeking prey. The far-off mountains bristled with sharp teeth. And the sky… was gradually splitting open at the edges.


    “Benefactor!!” Foxy was the first to rush over, kneeling beside Yu Sheng. Although she had seen hime back to life before, her muddled mind didn’t register that now. Seeing him fall, her first reaction was sheer terror. “Are you… are you okay?”


    “What do you think? He’s obviously dead!” Irene’s sharp voice cut through Foxy’s cries. The little doll had fallen to the ground and was struggling to move. “You’ve seen this before—you need to stay calm!”


    Foxy blinked, her sluggish mind finally catching up. She stared nkly at Yu Sheng’s lifeless body.


    She wrinkled her face, torn between wanting to cry but knowing she didn’t need to. But given the situation, not crying felt disrespectful to her benefactor—crying seemed even more wrong. She was utterly conflicted.


    Nearby, Li Lin clearly didn’t understand what was happening with Yu Sheng. Seeing the giant monster not far away, he tensed uppletely. While keeping an eye on the monster’s next move, he tried tofort the fallen doll and the fox girl. “I’m sorry, but the dead can’te back to life. Right now, we need to focus on dealing with—”


    Before he could finish, the distressed doll interrupted. “It’s fine. He’ll be back in twenty or thirty minutes—but we need to hold out until then so he can reopen the door. Hey, fox girl, help me up, and don’t forget the painting on the ground.”


    Hearing this, Foxy hurriedly and clumsily pulled the painting frame from under Yu Sheng’s body and picked up the immobilized Irene.


    Li Lin and hispanions watched in astonishment. They couldn’tprehend the doll’s reaction, even suspecting it was some kind of grief-induced delusion.


    But they soon had no time to ponder.


    Chaotic howls echoed from the darkness surrounding the ruins. The oppressive aura of madness pressed in relentlessly. Even Xu Jiali, with his extensivebat experience, wore a strained expression as he took in the surroundings.


    Flesh monsters were forming one after another in the shadows, and howls filled the entire valley.


    “What is going on?!” Li Lin eximed. “How can so many appear? Didn’t the reports say only one Hunger shows up at a time?!”


    Xu Jiali slowly raised her head, swallowing hard before breaking the silence. “What if… this valley has been parasitized by ‘the Angels’?”


    “What do you mean…” Li Lin began, but then he saw where Xu Jiali was looking.


    He saw the valley slowly writhing and undting in the night.


    Sharp, tooth-like structures appeared along the distant mountain ridges.


    But even more terrifying was the sky—the sky was opening.


    The alien sky, always shrouded in eternal night, was changing. At one edge, a crack was forming, and in the faint light, the truth beneath the darkness was revealed.


    It wasn’t a curtain of shadows or clouds.


    It was an eyelid.


    An eye that had been closed, covering the entire sky and causing the perpetual night.


    Now it was opening. The eyeball gazed coldly down, its hollow, sunken pupil filled with chaotic lines and flickering faint light as if carefully observing the prey in the valley. The ethereal light even partially dispelled the eternal darkness—”light” had descended, bringing infinite terror.


    The howling wind snapped Li Lin out of his fear. He heard murmuring beside him.


    It was Xu Jiali, the seasoned diver with over ten years of service, muttering a name.


    “The Dark Angel…”


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