NOVEL SIMPLE 0057 – Secret Place
Looking down at the bear that had been played with on the ground, Zoe Carter felt a tinge of disappointment. It wasn't because she couldn't kill it. She didn't have the heart for it, especially since this bear was implanted with a locator, likely to attract attention from authorities if anything went wrong. Her disappointment stemmed from the fact that this bear's strength was inadequate to showcase her own power.
The strength of the black bear was too low. Among all the land predators, it didn't rank highly. Its relative, the brown bear, with its largest individuals approaching a ton in weight and possessing strength comparable to that weight, was the real deal. The black bear could be killed in an instant, without even putting up half a second of resistance.
Zoe tried shaking the black bear by its neck to wake it up, but the bear seemed smart enough to play dead. She could sense its emotions shifting from mostly unconsciousness to a mixture of nervousness, fear, and unease as she shook it. But despite that, it kept its eyes tightly shut, skillfully pretending to be dead. Zoe couldn't help but roll her eyes in exasperation. "Come on, you're a bear, for heaven's sake."
Unfortunately, the black bear, well-versed in survival tactics, remained still, fully aware of the strength of the bipedal creature before it. Zoe had no choice but to leave the bear on the ground. It seemed like she'd have to find a tiger to play with next time. Speaking of which, after giving the black bear a thrashing just now, she felt a vague sense of enlightenment.
Contemplating this, Zoe turned and walked away, bidding farewell to the seemingly dead black bear. With her somewhat tattered clothes, she headed deeper into the forest.
The lush canopy of broad-leaved trees intermittently blocked the sunlight. Underfoot lay a layer of decomposed organic matter—fallen leaves, twigs, fruits, bark fragments, and other debris gradually accumulating into humus. Each step was exceptionally soft.
After a while, as Zoe walked through the woods, she faintly sensed something peculiar. In this place where there shouldn't have been any human activity, there seemed to be faint traces of human footprints and scent. Even though these footprints were covered by new fallen leaves and twigs in the humus layer, they appeared intermittently to Zoe's transparent world 2.0, suggesting they had appeared just a few days ago.
Contemplating this, Zoe retrieved a rough map of Lawrence Mountain from her almost empty backpack. The map only outlined the general contours of the mountainous forest area without much detail, but it did mark the nearby villages.
Finding the Howards Village where she entered, she compared the distance and direction she had traveled. Zoe realized she was still deep within the mountains.
"In the depths of the mountains, where could these traces of human activity come from?" Zoe murmured, furrowing her brow.
Were they from a research organization? Or forest rangers?
Glancing at the scattered footprints, Zoe pondered for a moment before deciding to follow them. With her powerful perception, she effortlessly traced these barely discernible clues, whether it was the faint footprints, the direction of the fallen weeds, or the scents from outside the forest.
All of these were clues Zoe had been tracking. Before long, she followed these traces to a not-so-large stream. On the opposite bank, there was a clearing of geese-soft stones.
Two men were fetching water with wooden buckets. One appeared thinner with a crew cut hairstyle, while the other was slightly plumper with longer hair. Both were dressed in loose-fitting white robes, not typical attire for people traversing deep mountains, indicating they probably didn't venture far from here often and were too lazy to change clothes.
From this, it was evident that they must have a nearby dwelling. But besides forest rangers and some researchers, who would be idle enough to live in the deep mountains? Not only was life exceptionally inconvenient without utilities and modern equipment, but there was also the possibility of danger. After all, this forest was inhabited by real wild animals like black bears, wild boars, and snakes. For Zoe, it wasn't much of a concern, but for most people, it posed a life-threatening situation.
In silence, the two men also noticed Zoe's arrival. They first paused, then the one with the crew cut slowly lowered the water bucket and looked towards Zoe, saying, "Hello Miss, are you lost? Would you like to rest with us at our spiritual retreat for a while?"
His voice sounded sincere, as if seeing Zoe, ragged and worn, appearing in the deep forest, had stirred genuine sympathy in him. But before Zoe, everything was laid bare. The emotions in the plump man standing silently beside him were serene and peaceful. However, it seemed the man with the crew cut wasn't as sincere and harbored some... greed?
They don't harbor a hint of lust either but... are these guys live in this mountain?
Things seemed less straightforward. Pondering this, Zoe nodded and said, "Thank goodness, I thought I'd be stranded here forever." Though she didn't shed tears as she spoke, there was a hint of emotion in her voice, enough to make her acting seem genuine. Three parts fear, seven parts relief, her performance was lifelike, as if she were genuinely lost in the forest and felt grateful upon suddenly encountering other people.
This kind of acting, coupled with her torn and tattered clothing from running around in the forest, was more convincing than any evidence. In the next moment, Zoe indeed noticed the crew-cut man's emotion shift to one of delight, as if the person rescued in the deep forest was him.
"Well then, come with us. We have food, water, and accommodation," the crew-cut man said, smiling, lifting the water-filled bucket and heading north. The plump man immediately followed suit, carrying his own bucket of water.
Seeing this, Zoe decisively followed. This so-called spiritual retreat, sounding almost cult-like and located so deep in the mountains, was nine out of ten suspicious. The greedy emotion displayed by the crew-cut man earlier didn't sit well with Zoe. Therefore, without much thought, Zoe's choice was to immediately follow these two individuals.
They didn't walk far before reaching a rugged mountainside. There were several caves on the mountainside, with the smell of saltpeter lingering, likely remnants of ancient mining activities. Near the caves were only a dozen or so rudimentary wooden houses.
In the open space between the houses and caves, Zoe saw a scene that made her squint and ponder. A middle-aged man with sideburns sat cross-legged on the ground, eyes closed in a seemingly mystical posture. Around him, eleven men and women, adults, sat in circles, murmuring prayers. Their emotions were fervent.
On the outskirts of these meditators stood a tall woman, silently observing the return of the three newcomers from outside. Her gaze carefully scrutinized Zoe's unfamiliar face. Everyone here, just like the two men who guided Zoe here, wore white robes.
Seeing this, Zoe couldn't help but look up at the sky, which was unusually free from dense foliage. The sun had already descended to around four o'clock in the afternoon. The slightly dim sunlight cast an eerie glow on the scene before her, as if the group of people were engaged in some form of prayer, making the whole scene appear somewhat sinister.
This plunged Zoe into deep contemplation. Have I... stumbled into a cult's lair by mistake?