"Let's go, everyone. We have to return to the beach. If rescue really comes, they will definitely prioritize searching that plane crash site."
The path down the mountain was more difficult to traverse than the path up.
The mountain path, scoured by the torrential rain, was muddy and as slippery as if it had been coated in oil.
Because she was physically weak, Alice really couldn't walk. In the end, Banner took the initiative to crouch down, letting Alice climb onto his back.
"I'll carry you," Banner said gently. "Although I can't run fast, my stamina is pretty good."
"Thank you, big guy." Alice didn't stand on ceremony and laid against Banner's broad back.
The group of four carefully made their way through the dense forest.
At first, everyone would occasionally chat, discussing what big meal they would eat after returning.
But gradually, the atmosphere in the group became somewhat off.
It was too quiet.
"Wait."
Strange, who was walking at the very front, suddenly stopped and raised his hand to signal everyone to halt.
"What is it, Doctor?" Hughes tightened his grip on the bow in his hand nervously. After yesterday's lesson, he would act like a frightened rabbit even at the slightest rustle of grass.
"Don't you think it's a bit too quiet?"
Strange looked around vigilantly. "When we came up yesterday, although there were pterosaurs circling overhead, there were at least the sounds of insects chirping and the wind blowing through the leaves in this forest."
But now, the entire forest seemed to have been hit with a mute button.
No birds chirping, no insects buzzing; even the wind seemed to have held its breath.
Alice, lying on Banner's back, suddenly opened her eyes. That intuition as a warrior made the hair on her body stand on end.
She was too familiar with this kind of silence.
It was the silent domain of an apex predator on the hunt.
"It's not just quiet," Alice sniffed, her brows locked in a frown. "There's also a stench of rot with a hint of sulfur."
"I smell it too." Banner's face turned somewhat pale.
The group continued forward for a few dozen meters and rounded a bend.
The next second, the sight before them made everyone's stomachs churn.
In the forest clearing ahead, a massive corpse lay sprawled out.
It was a Triceratops.
This prehistoric Beast, with a body length approaching eight meters, now lay miserably in a pool of blood, like a broken ragdoll.
Its proud, hard head shield and three sharp horns had provided absolutely no protection; its entire abdomen had been completely ripped open, and its internal organs were spilled all over the ground.
Even more terrifying was the fact that the manner of the Triceratops' death was extremely bizarre.
It didn't look like prey killed by a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which would rely on bite force.
Its body was covered in claw marks that were deep enough to expose bone; those claw marks were long, thin, and sharp, as if it had been forcibly torn apart by some kind of massive, sharp claws.
Moreover, its head was twisted in an unnatural way; its cervical vertebrae seemed to have been instantly snapped.
"What kind of thing did this?"
Strange covered his nose and, suppressing the urge to vomit, walked closer to take a look.
"A Tyrannosaurus Rex? No, a Tyrannosaurus Rex feeds very crudely and would crush bones. But this Triceratops' skeleton is intact, yet the meat has been picked very clean, as if it was eaten by something very picky and agile."
"And this blood hasn't been congealed for long," Alice's voice was somewhat cold. "It hasn't been dead long; the killer is still nearby."
Just then.
"Snap."
A crisp sound of a branch breaking came from the bushes on the left.
Everyone froze instantly.
Hughes's bow and arrow immediately pointed in that direction; although his hand was trembling, he did not run away this time.
Because his legs were too weak to run.
"Who's there, come out!" Banner growled, trying to mask his fear with his voice.
There was no answer.
However, a white mist slowly rose from behind the bushes.
Immediately after, a hair-raising head poked out from the shadows.
It was a bony, white head.
At first glance, it looked like a massive skull without flesh, with two deep, black eye sockets that radiated a deathly light.
As it walked out completely, everyone realized that it wasn't a skull, but that this was just what this monster looked like.
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