Chapter 66 Crisis

"Stop talking nonsense. What ghost are you talking about?"

"I don't know, let's just walk and see. Let's get away from this place first, and watch your step," Sister Red said as she walked straight ahead.

Strangely enough, there was no sign of any large puddles on the ground, yet for some reason, the road surface was so muddy and treacherous.

"Help... help me, I have no strength left," Researcher An said after taking only a few steps, unable to pull her foot out.

"Take my hand."

I mustered my strength and pulled her out of the mud.

"Just follow right behind me, step in my footprints, and don't step anywhere else."

"Okay, I understand."

The road conditions were becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. I noticed that while the mud earlier only reached our ankles, after walking for just a few minutes, it had now risen to our calves.

Of all things, the very thing I feared was happening. I had worried about encountering such a situation, but now there was no other choice. If we stayed put, those people would surely catch up to us, so we had no option but to bite the bullet and keep moving, hoping to get out of this muddy swamp as quickly as possible.

Suddenly! Sister Red's startled cry came from ahead!

"Yunfeng!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

I saw that Sister Red had stepped into the wrong spot, and her entire body was sinking rapidly!

"Quick! Help!"

Shocked by the sight, I hurriedly called out to Researcher An to join me in pulling Sister Red out.

They say panic strips people of their rationality. It would have been fine if I hadn't rushed over, but in my frantic, two-step dash to help, not only did I fail to save Sister Red, but I sank right along with her.

The three of us, holding hands, began to sink together. Soon, the mud reached up to our thighs.

Sweating profusely from tension, Sister Red shouted, "Don't move! Don't struggle!"

However, this only temporarily slowed down the descent. Visibly, our bodies were still sinking bit by bit.

"Quick! Think of something!" Researcher An was so terrified she burst into tears.

We mustn't panic, we mustn't panic. As the only male among the three of us, I forced myself to remain calm, knowing very well that once we lost our composure, death would be our only outcome. Covered in sweat and filled with anxiety, I looked left and right, racking my brain for a countermeasure.

I tried leaning backward while relaxing my thighs and stopping my frantic struggles. I adjusted my posture as much as possible, shifting my center of gravity from a downward sink to a backward recline.

Soon, I found this trick was working; my lower body stopped sinking further.

I shouted to the two of them, "Pull your toes up! Lean your bodies back!"

Sister Red and Researcher An immediately followed my method, attempting to shift their centers of gravity.

The advantage of doing this was that it increased the surface area of contact between our bodies and the mud, but we still couldn't free ourselves, so we could only remain half-floating like this. If there were a tree root or a piece of driftwood nearby right now, that would be wonderful. With such an object, we could grab onto it and escape.

Unfortunately, there was nothing. Then, we remained in this stalemate for nearly two hours. None of us dared to make a single move, knowing that any movement would cause us to sink. We maintained this posture until we were utterly exhausted.

Sister Red said weakly, giving up hope, "Yunfeng, there's nothing we can do. It seems we're all going to die here."

"No, no, no, it can't be. There must be a way. We definitely still have a way," I urged Sister Red desperately not to give up.

"I... I have no strength left. I can't hold on," Researcher An said, her face as pale as paper. The moment she finished speaking, her body began to sink visibly.

Panic gripped my heart, but I couldn't move. With reddened eyes, I shouted, yet could only watch as Researcher An sank lower and lower.

Just at this critical juncture—

"Plop..." A piece of rotten wood was thrown right in front of us.

I looked toward the shore and saw a lean, slender figure standing not far away. It was hard to tell whether it was male or female, looking somewhat like a child. The person wore a hat woven from tree bark and tattered clothing, pacing anxiously in circles on the spot. It was this person who had thrown the rotten wood.

Life was on the line; there was no time to hesitate. I grabbed the wood, throwing my upper body over it. Sister Red did the same, immediately clutching onto the log.

"My hands! Quick! Give me your hands!" Researcher An had already sunk more than half into the mud. Seeing a glimmer of hope right before her eyes, a fierce survival instinct surged within her.

Shouting aloud, Researcher An yanked both hands out. Seizing the opportunity, Sister Red and I grabbed her wrists from left and right.

"Up!"

"Sister Red... use your strength!" I exerted every ounce of energy I had.

Against all odds, Researcher An had a slender figure and light weight. With the support of the driftwood and using all our remaining strength, Sister Red and I finally managed to pull her up.

The strenuous pulling caused a sharp, throbbing pain in my left arm. I had previously thought the injury to my left arm was a fracture, but after a few days, it had actually improved and hurt less. I figured my initial judgment must have been wrong; it was likely a ligament tear or a hairline fracture.

Not far away, seeing that we were saved, the small figure wearing the bark and grass hat waved his hands, jumping up and down and gesturing at us.

Panting and sweating profusely, Sister Red said, "Hold tightly onto the wood, the three of us together! I'll count to three, and then we push!"

"One, two, three!"

"Go! Move forward!"

Hard work pays off. Relying on the support of the log, the three of us finally crawled into a safe zone. This piece of wood had saved us, or rather, the person from just now had saved us.

With my physical strength completely drained, I bent over, resting my hands on my knees and gasping heavily, while looking up toward where the person had been.

"Where... where are the people?" I looked up only to find that the person in the straw hat from earlier had vanished. That spot was now empty and deserted, leaving only a trail of footprints on the ground.

The lower bodies of our group were caked in thick mud. As I walked over and looked at the footprints left on the ground, my brow furrowed as I noticed something unusual.

The footprints left in the muddy ground clearly indicated barefoot walking, but that was precisely what was strange. A normal person has five toes, but these footprints clearly showed only four toes, which was plain to see.

Connecting this with the slender, child-like figure of the person from earlier, Sister Red and I exchanged glances, our faces turning pale with shock!

Sister Red and I blurted out almost simultaneously:

"Mountain Ghouls!"

These footprints, combined with that height—this was no human! Nor was it some child wearing a straw hat! It was distinctly a Mountain Ghoul, just like the ones we had encountered before!

Looking at Sister Red, I said with an incredulous expression, "Sis... Sister Red, did that thing save us? How is that possible..."

Gazing at the line of footprints extending into the distance, Sister Red said in a deep voice, "Yunfeng, did you notice? That thing from earlier wore a hat woven from tree bark and tattered rags picked up from who knows where. Its whole body was in tatters. If it really was a Mountain Ghoul, it must belong to a different tribe from the ones wearing black hats that we saw earlier."

The line of footprints extended straight into the darkness ahead. Pointing at the ground, Sister Red said, "Since that creature saved us, it at least shows that it harbors no hostility toward us."

"Then let's follow this trail of footprints and see where it leads."