The silence here was profound, as if trapped within a tomb. A heavy, deathly stillness dominated the area; no birdsong, no insects, no trace of beastly activity. Even the soft rustle of their boots on the fallen pine needles sounded startlingly clear.

Ahead lay an endless vista of identical pines and snow, seemingly without end. Under such a tense atmosphere, the expenditure of physical energy doubled, as if some invisible weight was pressing heavily upon their chests. Before long, both men had to sit down to rest.

Reef leaned back against a pine, gasping deeply. "Good Lord above, what kind of dreadful place is this? A forest without a single beast! Look at these pinecones, completely stripped clean! But where are the birds that ate them, where are the squirrels? Where are they all?"

Fang Senyan gently set down the girl, Wu Ge, sat down beside her, scooped up a handful of snow, shoved it into his mouth, and after a moment of gazing at the treetops, stated, "There are most likely no beasts, no birds, and no squirrels either." Reef instantly sat bolt upright, astonished. "How is that possible? Then what ate the pine seeds?"

A thoughtful expression crossed Fang Senyan's eyes. He wasn't in a hurry to answer Reef's question. Instead, he picked up a dry twig from the ground and began sketching on the dirt. Soon, Reef realized Fang Senyan was mapping out the route they had traveled, and he immediately joined in.

Reef was slightly older than Fang Senyan and far more experienced in the wilderness. The two quickly confirmed their current bearings and grimly realized they were not terribly far from the Orc camp—a mere twenty kilometers at most in a straight line.

They exchanged looks, managed weak smiles, and shook their heads. But Fang Senyan’s gaze quickly hardened into determination, mixed with a fierce edge Reef found strangely familiar. Whenever faced with extreme danger, Fang Senyan invariably revealed a feral madness and raw strength.

"Go," Fang Senyan stood up, clutching his chest and coughing a couple of times. The wound inflicted by the tentacle monster, though healed, carried a persistent curse—a malignant influence clinging to him like a parasite. It had been nearly two hours, and there was no sign of it abating.

Fortunately, the girl Wu Ge, who had been leaning against his shoulder, managed to open her eyes. Her face was pale as she placed her palm against his chest. As points of green light drifted out, fine wisps of black gas could be seen escaping. The gas briefly coalesced into vivid shapes—centipedes, scorpions, and other venomous insects—before finally dissipating into the air.

Fang Senyan felt a cool wave infuse his entire body, as if every part of him, including his organs, had been washed clean by a crystal-clear spring. He instantly felt refreshed, and a faint, hazy green light began to shimmer over his skin.

The Nightmare Mark then transmitted a notification: “You have received the Blessing of the Dawn Elves: All negative status effects upon your person have been removed. Your overall resistance increases by 15%, and all beneficial abilities related to chance are boosted by 5% (including but not limited to accuracy, critical hit chance, synthesis success rate, etc.)."

After exerting the Blessing of the Dawn Elves, the elven girl swiftly drifted back into a semi-comatose state. However, she did not appear gravely wounded; not only was her delicate, fresh scent still present, but her hair color and the luster of her skin exhibited an intense vibrancy—like the tender new buds on a spring branch.

Undoubtedly, her current condition could only be explained as being in a transformative, advancing phase that required rest and accumulation. Only when she fully recovered could she truly be called a Dawn Elf—a leader capable of guiding the elves of Middle-earth back to the Divine Kingdom.

………………

About half an hour later, the three surviving Uruk-hai slowly approached from the distance. The Uruk leader’s nostrils flared as he sniffed the air, then he looked coldly at the nearby pine tree. "They stopped here."

One of the Uruks beside him looked distinctly unwell, his voice raspy. "It's past noon now. If we chase them further ahead and return, we’ll likely fail to evade that thing!"

The Uruk leader suddenly turned back, his eyes burning crimson and full of fierce warning. Visible on his throat was a raw, bluish growth, crisscrossed with pulsing blood vessels that seemed to beat in synchronization with a heart.

This growth was an experimental piece of bio-technology developed by Saruman, currently deployed only on Uruk-hai deemed of significant value. This growth was called the Heteromorphic Black Tumor. Its creation process was strange and vile, discovered while Saruman was studying the tentacle monsters.

Because the tentacle monsters' mouths were underdeveloped and could only manage basic chewing, swallowing proved difficult to digest. Consequently, their stomachs harbored symbiotic looper worms that specialized in secreting potent digestive fluids capable of breaking down food effectively. Thus, without these parasitic loopers, the tentacle monsters often died from indigestion.

However, everything in the world can be overdone. Once the tentacle monsters found a steady, abundant food source, these looper worms, oblivious to the importance of planned breeding and the principle of 'if the skin perishes, where can the hair attach?', would multiply excessively, leading to the rupture and death of the tentacle monster's digestive system. Therefore, once the monsters realized this, rationing food and periodically purging the worms became two vital tasks in their existence.

Some of these expelled worms were processed by Saruman using his unique concoction method into a peculiar type of parasite. If an Uruk-hai with sufficient utility appeared, a small incision would be made on the creature’s throat, and this substance would be implanted beneath the skin. After a period, the Heteromorphic Black Tumor would develop.

An Uruk-hai implanted with this tumor effectively gained an extra heart, resulting in a massive boost to both strength and survivability. However, because the worms used for the refinement had resided within the tentacle monster’s body for a time, most of the tumor-bearing Uruk’s movements could be perceived by the controlling tentacle monster. Should the Uruk betray them, Saruman's avatar could utilize the corresponding tentacle monster to remotely execute the Uruk at any moment.

Faced with the Uruk leader’s fiercely intimidating gaze, the questioning Uruk immediately took a step back, silenced.

Just as Saruman’s avatar held absolute power over the Uruk leader’s life and death, the Uruk leader exerted absolute dominance over the ordinary Uruk warriors.

"Pursuing might not mean death; not pursuing guarantees death!" The Uruk leader’s hoarse voice laid out the stakes with crushing clarity. If they chased the enemies and brought them back, there was a sliver of hope. If they didn't pursue, the tentacle monster would have witnessed everything that transpired here, and even if they managed to escape this perilous region, they would die regardless!

The three Uruks stood motionless with fear, daring not utter another word, and set off in pursuit, following the tracks left by the trio. Their forms gradually vanished into the pine forest. This deathly silent wood returned to its eerie stillness, a place where everything seemed destined to be devoured and erased. ………………

It was around three in the afternoon. The sunlight, filtered by snow squalls and clouds overhead, managed only a weak, wan penetration, almost unnervingly pale. Nevertheless, it was enough to disperse the thick fog hanging over the valley. Under the weak sun, a faint, pallid mist could be seen rising above the pines. To a distant observer, the view would appear subtly warped, as if a furnace burned below.

If this phenomenon occurred naturally, it would signify the presence of something precious beneath the ground, likely a jade deposit.

There are two lines of poetry: "The bright moon over the boundless sea bears tears; the warm sun over Lantian yields smoke." The first line describes a bright pearl; the second alludes to the way precious purple jade emits a faint, ethereal smoke when touched by sunlight.

There is also an idiom: Zhu Guang Bao Qi (Iridescence and Treasures), meaning fine pearls naturally emit light, and treasures release unique vapors. However, looking at the strange mist cloaking the pine forest now, an unsettling premonition arose involuntarily.

Fang Senyan and Reef pressed onward. They now knew they had to conserve energy as much as possible, so they spoke less frequently. As they advanced, they noticed the pine forest ahead thinning out. The bark of the trees became dry and cracked, and the pine needles were brittle and dead.

Seeing this, Fang Senyan’s expression darkened further. He couldn't help but glance behind him, an almost uncontrollable urge to turn back suddenly surging in his mind—likely an instinctual warning. This impulse, however, was immediately suppressed by his reason.

Fang Senyan looked up at the sky. Because they were inside the mountain, so to speak, he failed to notice the faint mist enveloping the forest canopy, merely sensing that the sunlight was overly bleak. In the jungle wisdom shared between him and Reef, as long as the sun shone, relative safety persisted.

"Hah," Reef let out a long breath. "We should rest now. This damned rule—why does it restrict the storage space of the Nightmare Mark? I can’t even find a decent drink of water. I estimate if we keep forcing the pace, our health will start dropping soon."

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