The last of the Corrupted Thorn-Crawlers dissolved into a foul-smelling sludge, leaving behind a handful of tiny, shimmering motes of purple light. Lin Ke watched, his expression neutral, as the Gene Editor in his mind mechanically purified them, adding a paltry nine units of Raw Corrupted Gene Essence to his inventory.
Nine units. Barely worth the energy his Titan Vole had expended.
"Well," he muttered, the sound of his own voice a small intrusion in the unnerving silence. "Can't say that was a jackpot." He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the sticky, humid air cling to his skin. This place felt diseased. The very air was heavy, thick with the scent of decay and something cloyingly, unnaturally sweet. The massive trees, with their weeping, black sap, seemed less like plants and more like giant, silent mourners at a funeral that had lasted for centuries. The quiet was the worst part, an oppressive blanket broken only by the incessant, low-frequency buzz of insects he couldn't see, a sound that felt like it was coming from inside his own skull.
His newly evolved companion let out a low, guttural rumble, its heavy, obsidian-plated head scanning the canopy above. The amber runes on its back glowed with a faint, steady thrum of alertness. It felt it too. The sense of being prey.
"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Lin Ke sighed. He pulled up his terminal, the cool, logical glow of the map a small comfort. According to Director Thorne's briefing, the alpha-level threat was in the heart of the woods, a place called the 'Gloomfang Mire'. The main energy signature the Gene Editor was tracking confirmed it, an angry, pulsating red beacon on his mental radar, about three kilometers deeper in. A straight shot. Follow the signal, find the boss, finish the mission. Simple. Clean. Efficient.
But nothing about this forest felt simple. He pushed the thought aside. He operated on data, not on vague feelings of dread. "Okay, let's move. We stick to the plan. Cautiously," he said, more to convince himself than his pet.
They pressed forward, his own light tread a stark contrast to the Titan Vole's heavy, deliberate footsteps. They moved for what felt like an eternity through a monotonous, repeating loop of weeping trees and tangled, thorny vines. Then, the Gene Editor's interface suddenly flickered, new information overlaying his vision. A jarring, intrusive alert. WARNING: Multiple chaotic energy signatures detected.
Lin Ke stopped dead. The main alpha-signature was still a pulsating crimson sun straight ahead. But now, two new, smaller signatures had appeared on his mental map, flanking the main one like a pair of malevolent moons. Decoys? Lieutenants? The chaotic nature of the corruption made a precise long-range reading impossible. All he knew was that all three were active and hostile.
A war started in his mind. The direct path was the fastest, but risked an ambush from the flanks. A central approach was cowardly and left him exposed. That left the third option: clear the flankers first. The cautious, methodical, scientific approach. A nagging voice whispered that this felt too much like a trap, but he pushed it down. No. Stick to what works. Neutralize the variables.
"We're changing course," he decided, his voice firm. "We'll take the one on the left. It seems slightly weaker. We clear it, reassess, and then move on the main objective."
It was a sound, logical, and thoroughly reasoned decision. It was also completely wrong.
After another twenty minutes of tense hiking through a forest that had grown even darker, they found the source of the secondary signature. It emanated from a small, dark grove, at the center of which was a shallow cave carved into the base of a massive, ancient tree.
"Okay, partner," he whispered, crouching behind a rotted log. "Whatever's in there, we take it out fast." He signaled for the Titan Vole to prepare an 'Earth Spike' attack, ready to obliterate the target the moment it showed itself.
But the creature that emerged from the cave was not what he expected. It wasn't a creature of corruption. It was a beast of pure, primal nature. Huge, easily three meters tall as it reared up, it was a mountain of muscle and thick, shaggy black fur. Long, curved fangs, stained with gore, jutted from its powerful jaw. Its eyes were not glowing purple, but a deep, intelligent, and utterly furious shade of brown. A Gloomfang Bear. The Editor flashed a confirmation: Corruption Level: Zero.
The bear let out a deafening roar, a sound that was a declaration of ownership. This was its grove. And they were trespassers. It dropped to all fours and charged, its massive claws tearing up the earth.
"Crap," Lin Ke breathed, his carefully laid plan instantly dissolving. "Change of plans! Rock Harden! Brace for impact!"
This wasn't a mission objective. This was a pointless, brutal bar fight with the biggest bouncer in the forest. And he had started it.
The Titan Vole met the bear's charge with a resounding crash of flesh against stone, and was thrown back several feet by the sheer, brute force. The fight was a chaotic, ugly brawl. The confined space made 'Earth Spike' useless. It was a close-quarters slugfest, the exact kind of fight the bear was built for. For every powerful blow the Titan Vole landed, the bear answered with two of its own, its claws leaving deep, screeching gouges across the Vole's crystalline hide.
This is pointless! We're wasting energy! Lin Ke thought, frustration mounting. He had made a stupid, amateurish mistake. He'd let his methodical nature override his gut instinct, and now his partner was paying the price. He watched as the bear landed a vicious blow, sending the Titan Vole stumbling with a pained cry that sent a sharp pang of guilt through Lin Ke's heart. He had to end this. Now. His desperate eyes scanned the grove and found an advantage: a massive, ancient tree, even larger than the one housing the bear's cave.
"Partner, to the big tree on your left! Lure it!" he commanded.
The Titan Vole, understanding instantly, slammed its body against the bear, then scrambled away, putting the ancient tree directly between them. The enraged bear, its intelligence clouded by primal fury, charged again, a freight train of fur and muscle. It didn't try to go around; it slammed into the ancient tree with the force of a battering ram. The tree groaned, but held. The bear stumbled back, dazed for two critical seconds.
"NOW!" Lin Ke roared. "FULL POWER! TACKLE!"
The Titan Vole shot from behind the tree like a cannonball, slamming into the dazed bear's skull with a sickening, final crunch. The massive beast swayed, then collapsed with a shuddering thud that shook the grove.
Lin Ke stood panting, his body drenched in sweat, as he rushed to his partner. The Titan Vole was bruised, its beautiful armor marred with deep scratches. He ran his hands over the injuries, relief making him dizzy. He looked at the bear's corpse. No purple light. No dissolving sludge. No essence. He had risked his partner's life, wasted precious time and energy, and gained absolutely nothing.
"Genius move, Lin Ke," he said to himself, his voice dripping with irony.
He sat down heavily, pulling up the map. He looked at the three energy signatures. The main one pulsed steadily. The one he had just dealt with was now gone. And a chilling realization slowly dawned. The decoy hadn't been random. It had been a guard post, placed deliberately in a grove that formed a natural choke-point on the easiest path to the alpha's lair.
He suddenly remembered a passage from one of his father's old journals, scribbled from a mission deep in some forgotten ruin: The corruption here is different. It's not just growing; it's… thinking. It uses the land. It uses the native creatures as soldiers.
His blood ran cold. The game had changed. He wasn't the brilliant hunter tracking a mindless beast. He was a trespasser in the domain of a cunning, sentient evil. And now, it knew he was here. He was no longer the hunter.
He was the hunted.