Chapter 33 Dog Chasing

The hounds' barking announced the imminent danger, and it was clearly aimed at Feng Bujue.

He opened the game menu and glanced at the taskbar. The time displayed was: [Time until sunrise: 203 minutes]

Thirty-seven minutes had passed since General Zaroff set out. Although Feng Bujue had traveled as quickly as possible for over an hour, there was still a high probability that the other party would catch up to him at this time.

As the barking of the hounds grew closer, the giant python in the distance actually abandoned its meal, dropping the wild boar and fleeing into the dark dense forest. It seemed that the animals on this island knew very well what the barking meant; even if they weren't afraid of the dogs, they would fear the dogs' master.

Feng Bujue realized that the situation was critical. He had to take effective countermeasures, even if he was destined to die, he should try to buy more time for the other two teammates and increase their chances of clearing the level.

Hiding was probably not an option. Feng Bujue had left some footprints along the way, more or less. With the general's tracking ability, not to mention footprints, even broken branches, trampled weeds, and so on, no clue could escape the Cossack's eyes.

What's more, Zaroff had his hounds with him. The scent left on the soil was like a clearly marked road sign to animals whose sense of smell was hundreds of times stronger than humans.

In this situation, the prey should already be extremely nervous. In a dark and complex environment, hearing an incredibly powerful Boss approaching gradually, but not knowing when or how this hunter would attack. This feeling was self-evident. In most horror or action games, the scenes of being closely chased by something were often a test of the player's psychological quality and operation.

If it were any other player here, they would probably have fled in a panic, not even caring about direction, only trying to get away from the barking, running wherever they could. But Feng Bujue remained calm as usual. Unable to experience fear, he simply quietly and quickly put away his knife and used a flashlight to confirm which direction had more gradual terrain, and then set off running.

He wasn't worried that the light of the flashlight would expose his whereabouts, because even if he turned it off, he couldn't slow down the opponent's approach, but would instead make it difficult for himself to move in the dark.

After observing for a while, Feng Bujue felt that a small path in the due north direction seemed a bit smoother, so he used the flashlight to illuminate the road ahead and ran away at his fastest possible speed. The barking of the hounds behind him was still getting closer and closer, but he ignored this auditory pressure and didn't look back or get distracted even once. He focused all his attention on the road ahead to ensure that his speed wasn't affected.

When running away on this irregular terrain, the escapee should avoid looking back at the pursuer every few steps. Doing so was harmful and had no benefits.

In the countless horror movies Feng Bujue had watched, a frequently recurring scene was a character (usually a beautiful woman) being chased by a monster, and the chase location was often in the woods. The beauty ran and screamed, occasionally looking back, showing a terrified expression to the camera. The camera then followed her from the monster's perspective, constantly shaking and switching. After running like this for a while, the character would almost certainly fall, and then, accompanied by chaotic editing, a screen full of ketchup, and a pig-like scream, the monster would get first blood.

Feng Bujue wouldn't make such a mistake. It was impossible for him to trip; it would be more practical for him to trip the monster.

The chase continued for a while, and the barking finally approached to within about fifteen meters behind Feng Bujue. He knew that he had definitely entered the opponent's line of sight. According to normal analysis, Zaroff had two choices next: first, release the hound's collar and let the dog sprint freely to pounce on the target; second, use his Boss-level shooting skills to take him out with a gun.

In either case, Feng Bujue would be killed in a matter of seconds. The only difference was whether his throat would be torn apart by sharp teeth or his brain would be blown out by a bullet.

However, as the saying goes, a scar on the back is a swordsman's shame. Hmm... that doesn't seem to have much to do with the current situation.

In short, Feng Bujue decided that even if he was going to die, he should put up a last-ditch resistance. Since he was about to be game over, the survival value and stamina value that hadn't been consumed would also lose their meaning. With a thought, he activated [Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu] (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Technique), suddenly accelerated, stepped on the ground, and leaped sideways, flashing behind a tree.

This was the first time Feng Bujue had used this skill. The feeling after activating it was very strange, as if the blood in his body was boiling in an instant, and a faint heat was emanating from all over his body. This "heat" was different from the sultry heat brought by the environment. Not only did it not make people feel sticky and uncomfortable, but it also brought a kind of spiritual excitement. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it ignited fighting spirit.

As a skill that didn't require any consumption when activated and purely burned survival value, this was the effect it was meant to have.

"That's not right..." Feng Bujue suddenly became suspicious behind the tree.

After activating the skill, Feng Bujue's various abilities were strengthened, and his five senses were naturally slightly improved. His hearing became very sensitive, and his reaction speed was beyond ordinary people. To put it bluntly, it was as if even the flow of time had slowed down... At this moment, he could clearly distinguish and separate the various subtle sounds entering his ears, so he could discover that under the cover of the hound's barking, there were only the sounds of four legs trampling on the ground, but no human footsteps at all.

He immediately poked his head out slightly from behind the tree trunk and, sure enough, didn't see the light of a flashlight or other lighting equipment. It was impossible for General Zaroff to lead the hound in a state of blindness, so... it could basically be determined that since just now, only a dog had been chasing him.

Feng Bujue quickly understood that this was the script leaving a way out for the players. He had overestimated the difficulty of the script. He had thought that the general would catch up with the dog in just over half an hour, but now it seemed that Zaroff had first released the large group of hounds he had shown in the castle before, and then slowly followed the hunt himself.

Perhaps it was due to Yi Dao's premature death and Si Yu's disconnection, or maybe the difficulty of this script was originally based on what the players could do in the hour before the Boss set off. In any case, such a setting was indeed more in line with the system's consistent meticulous style.

Since the players could split into several groups, the monsters could of course also split into several groups, so that one team of players would not clear the level without any difficulty, while another team would quickly fall into a desperate situation. Each team of players would inevitably encounter this advanced-level test, and correspondingly, the Boss would appear later.