The Tree

Fear suddenly rushed into Auntie Jin's heart, and it felt its muddled brain clear up a little.

What a terrifying aura of pressure.

With such a high level, it should, perhaps... also be a Warden, right?

It stopped in its tracks and looked back trembling.

Its good son had disappeared at some unknown point...

Wait, since when did it have a son?

No, that wasn't the point.

The point was the source of that aura—

That toad was staring at it from just a few meters away.

Auntie Jin gulped and let out a short, nervous chirp.

"E-excuse me, is there something you need?"

Zhu Yan took two steps forward and let out a cold, pretentious snort.

"You heard the wanted poster I issued. You have the scent of the Hunter on you. I can smell it."

"Did you see a middle-aged man with bug skin, about this tall, and very ugly?"

Zhu Yan gestured, carefully managing the time.

"A horror creature reported to me that the Hunter turned into that appearance and came to this floor."

The oppressive aura of a high-level horror creature pierced coldly into Auntie Jin's body.

Under the fear, Auntie Jin's mind became completely clear.

"Y-yes. I heard the wanted poster, but I haven't seen the Hun... Hun..."

Wait.

What did this Mr. Toad just say?

The Hunter, about that tall, very ugly, middle-aged man with bug skin...?

Wasn't that its son?

Auntie Jin stared blankly at Zhu Yan and let out a confused squeak.

No, wait!

It absolutely shouldn't have a son!

Who on earth was that guy who kept calling it Dad?

A wave of horror surged into Auntie Jin's heart, making it shudder in fright.

Was that the Hunter?

Why did the Hunter get so close to it?

Zhu Yan glanced behind him nervously.

He had to sort out Auntie Jin before the real toad arrived!

Seeing that Auntie Jin was still dazed, Zhu Yan immediately chose to be explicit.

"What is that on your neck? A noodle?"

Memories flooded into Auntie Jin's panic-filled head.

It finally realized something in hindsight, its two eyes slowly looking down.

That noodle was personally hung around its neck by that bug-skinned man.

On the noodle, there should be...

No!

The noodle had broken at some unknown point, hanging quite wretchedly on both sides of its neck like accidentally dropped kitchen garbage.

Where was the shadow of the golden key on it?

Auntie Jin felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over it from head to toe.

After a few seconds of trembling, it finally cried out in despair.

"No! Where is my key?"

"Where is... my key?!"

It panicked. The tray on its bug legs swayed left and right, spilling a lot of broth from the noodle bowls.

"It's... it's over... I lost the key. I'm... I'm doomed!"

Zhu Yan sneered.

"It's the Hunter!"

He made the final verdict, putting on full airs to issue orders.

"Go report to the Warden inside immediately. Just say that the Hunter stole your key, and is still on this floor, hasn't left."

Auntie Jin trembled with fear.

Fearing it wouldn't have the guts to go in and report, Zhu Yan quickly made a false promise.

"Go in and report the situation, get the Treant to come out. I need its assistance. With me here, I guarantee you won't die!"

The toad should be arriving soon.

Before the two sides clashed and caused a commotion, he had to get away quickly.

Auntie Jin looked at Zhu Yan with awe, its eyes actually filling with tears out of fear.

"O... okay."

It looked tremblingly inside the door and inched its way in step by step.

Above its bug legs, the noodle bowls and the tray clattered against each other, continuously making rattling sounds.

Auntie Jin looked back with every step. It actually took several seconds to squeeze through the half-person-wide gap in the door, finally disappearing completely into the darkness.

Meanwhile, a new message from Yang Zhanbai popped up on Zhu Yan's retina.

"The real toad arrived a moment ago. They just disappeared from the corridor."

"There's still a risk. Absolutely do not come back!"

At the same time.

A commotion suddenly broke out on the other side of the circular corridor!

It was the toad!

Zhu Yan hurriedly retreated into the crowd of horror creatures.

Taking advantage of the fact that nothing was paying attention, he quickly transformed into that rat wearing a chef's uniform and darted between the legs of the horror creatures!

Having a small size had its advantages.

Hiding like this, even if the toad looked for him directly, it would take quite a while!

Zhu Yan quietly huddled beside a pant leg, planning to secretly watch the drama.

The toad's voice rang out from afar, showing no intention of approaching for now.

"I smelled it. The scent is very strong. He must still be here!"

"Where?!" This slightly more irritable question belonged to the supermarket owner. "Get out here!!"

Who would dare to get out there.

Zhu Yan shrank back a bit more, scanning the pitch-black door gap not far away from the corner of his eye.

Step it up.

When would the Treant come out?

"No rush." The toad snorted. "He doesn't know the floor password. He's just switching back and forth between two places."

"We'll follow the trail and look slowly. I don't believe he can still hide!"

The toad raised its nose and sniffed the air, walking towards the direction of Auntie Jin's Braised Noodles.

"Here!"

Zhu Yan breathed a sigh of relief and shifted a little closer to the door gap.

He could faintly hear movements coming from inside the door, a continuous clattering sound, as if Auntie Jin's tray had flipped over.

...

"Trash. Trash!"

A thick branch smashed fiercely onto the ground beside Auntie Jin, actually cracking a fissure in the concrete bricks.

In front of Auntie Jin stood an imposing dead tree, about two meters tall and as thick as two people embracing.

Draped over this tree was a tattered piece of cloth, presumably its clothing; beneath the canopy, a fleshy mouth had actually grown, with short scarlet tentacles opening like petals, covered in fine, sharp teeth.

Auntie Jin almost curled into a ball.

It fell to the ground with sluggish movements, its hissing sound as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

"Fortunately, Mr. Fr-Frog is here."

Yes, fortunately Mr. Frog was here.

It wouldn't have to die.

"Mr. Frog said, asking you to go out and f-find him for a moment."

"He needs your assistance!"

A voice came from the tree's mottled trunk, deep and muffled.

Auntie Jin didn't make out what was said; it just knelt on the ground in terror, trying to secure a sliver of survival for itself as much as possible.

"I-I can also follow. I-I know what the Hunter turned into..."

Answering it was a muffled thud, a violent tremor, and the terror of the hard shell on its back cracking open.

This time, the branch whipped mercilessly onto its back.

Auntie Jin trembled even more violently. It could smell a strange, sour scent of rotten vegetables—that was its own blood.

It raised its head timidly and vaguely saw the canopy shake twice in the darkness.

The Treant stood up unsteadily, its roots standing up like spider legs, and moved rapidly toward the door.