Chapter 197: Chapter 197: Mysterious Existence

The two of them left the cage back-to-back. After taking a few more steps and confirming that whatever was lurking in the dark had no intention of threatening them, they finally relaxed enough to walk side by side.

The next two cages had also housed animals, but by the time they arrived, only corpses remained. However, unlike before, these carcasses still had their flesh intact, and the cage doors showed signs of being forced open. They deduced that these two animals had been killed by the mutated giant rabbit they encountered earlier, which was why they hadn’t become food for the mysterious entity. Moreover, while they inspected the bodies, the bizarre phenomenon from earlier did not repeat itself. Xu Qingsui concluded that the mysterious presence was quite a picky eater; it demanded fresh prey and completely ignored anything that had been dead for a while.

Clicking their tongues, the two continued forward.

"Up ahead are those two bears," Lu Jingyu said. "We don’t know their condition yet. Stay behind me for now. If they’ve already mutated, find a safe place to hide first."

Seeing Xu Qingsui’s brow furrow slightly, he quickly explained, "I don’t mean anything by it. It’s just that space is limited here, and I’m worried about accidentally hurting you if a fight breaks out."

Xu Qingsui’s expression softened. "Don’t worry, I can take care of myself."

Lu Jingyu nodded and took the lead, heading toward the deepest room.

The layout here was symmetrical, with a cage on each side of the corridor. As soon as he approached, Lu Jingyu noticed the bear in the left cage standing right at the front, staring blankly straight ahead. He quickly scanned the cage door; there were no signs of damage. The enclosure was clean, devoid of any structural cracks. Deducing that this bear hadn’t mutated, Lu Jingyu immediately turned his attention to whatever it was staring at.

Sure enough, the opposite cage was already wrecked. A bear was crouched in the corner facing the wall, leaving only its back visible. Judging by its size, it still maintained a normal physique, but a distinct odor of decay emanated from its body. Lu Jingyu took out Tan Lang again, gripping it tightly as he watched the black bear with high alert.

"Watch out!" Xu Qingsui, who had been following closely behind him, had also noticed the situation in the left cage. Due to her angle, she couldn’t see what was happening on the right. However, just as Lu Jingyu drew Tan Lang and fixed his eyes on the right, she saw the blank-faced bear on the left suddenly contort into an expression of sheer rage.

Even as she shouted her warning, the bear raised its massive paws and began trying to tear its cage apart.

Warned by Xu Qingsui, Lu Jingyu hastily retreated to her side. After failing to break the bars with its paws, the bear backed up and began ramming the cage with the full weight of its body. Lu Jingyu raised Tan Lang, and Xu Qingsui drew Crimson Chain. They both shared the exact same thought: the moment this bear broke out and charged at them, they would put it down!

BANG BANG BANG! CRASH!

After several successive rams, the cage finally gave way. The two raised Tan Lang and Crimson Chain in unison, ready to strike. However, the bulky figure simply flashed right past them. Not only did the bear not attack them, but it completely ignored them as if they didn’t exist, charging straight into the opposite cage.

The two exchanged another glance, wondering if they had just been so smoothly ignored. They figured that they might not even have to lift a finger now; the two bears inside could just fight it out on their own.

ROAR!

A furious bellow echoed from the room, followed immediately by the massive crash of a violent collision. They both looked toward the cage, wondering if the bears were actually fighting and if they really wouldn’t need to intervene. Fueled by curiosity, the two slowly approached the wrecked cage to see exactly what was going on. But just as they reached the entrance and craned their necks to peek inside, a colossal figure came flying out of the room.

Fortunately, Lu Jingyu had remained on high alert. Sensing the sudden rush of wind, he dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding being caught in the crossfire. Their eyes tracked the airborne figure as its huge body flew all the way back into the left cage, slamming heavily against the back wall. Stopped by the impact, the figure plummeted to the ground like a kite with a snapped string, landing with a deafening thud.

And just as they leaned in to get a better look at it, another figure shot out from the right cage. Leaving behind nothing but an afterimage, it bolted straight into the left cage.

The speed was incredible. They wondered if this was the mysterious entity. The two exchanged a look, but Xu Qingsui shook her head in denial. She knew that whatever was hiding in the dark was even faster than this; otherwise, she wouldn’t have failed to detect it. The lurking entity was still a mystery, but she pushed those thoughts aside for now and peered back into the cage.

The once blank-faced bear was still lying on the floor, but now, there was another bear straddling it. The second bear had its back to them, keeping its face hidden, but they could see its arms moving furiously as if busy with some unseen task. Seeing that the bear was entirely engrossed in its work, Lu Jingyu first made a shushing gesture to Xu Qingsui. He then pointed at the bear inside, signaling that he was going to mount a sneak attack while it was distracted. She nodded, and Lu Jingyu began to creep closer to the creature.

They had thought everything was foolproof—that they could silently dispose of the potentially berserk animal. But just as Lu Jingyu crossed into a three-meter radius behind it, the frantically busy bear abruptly turned its head.

In that instant, Xu Qingsui finally got a clear look at its face.

Normally, when a creature mutated, the first telltale sign was its body expanding to several times its original size. However, this bear’s mutation wasn’t reflected in its physique; it was entirely concentrated in its face. Looking almost like a black bear demon out of an old television show, its entire face was overgrown with thick, coarse black fur. Only the faint outlines of its snout, mouth, and eyes could barely be discerned.

At this moment, its face was completely smeared with blood. If Xu Qingsui didn’t have such sharp eyesight, she might have missed the details. And it was because of all this blood that she realized the bear lying on the floor of the left cage was already dead, its chest completely devoid of breath.

Upon seeing Lu Jingyu, the bear-demon Mutant went utterly berserk. Abandoning all restraint, it charged at him with all its might.

As it lunged, it moved out of the way, revealing what it had been standing over. Xu Qingsui cast another glance into the cage, and in an instant, the blood in her veins ran cold.

The dead bear’s chest had been torn open by sheer brute force. All of its internal organs—heart, lungs, stomach, and intestines—had been violently ripped out in a tangled heap. Seeing a section of the large intestine drooping gruesomely over the carcass, Xu Qingsui’s stomach churned violently. Unable to hold it back any longer, she spun around, braced herself against the wall, and began to violently heave.

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