"Why not tell Mr. Luli the truth?"

At the edge of the dead forest, Mildred Hampri and Blitz Tailor looked out at the silhouettes of the students being engulfed by the mist.

"This is his chance... you didn't say anything either."

Mildred Hampri watched as that figure stepped into the fog, then turned back toward the cabin.

...

The thick, cheese-like gray mist pulled at Lu Li, it blocked off companions nearby, blocked surrounding sounds, surging silently.

As the thick sensation was about to drag down Lu Li's steps, it disappeared like the last wisp of smoke rising from a burnt-out campfire.

Lu Li walked out of the mist.

Vast and eerie, gloomy and oppressive, twisted branches wrapped in vines and the distant expanse of dead forests were suspended in the air.

The dangling roots from the dome resembled conches' mantis, shorter roots hung like stalactites high above, the spatial scale shifted as if consciousness was minimized. Unfortunately, Lu Li couldn't find any familiar sights around.

Lu Li took out the compass from his inner pocket, with its needle pointing straight towards the bizarre twisted dead forest. He opened the eyeball wooden box, summoning merchant Anthony to confirm the location.

The compass could only prevent Lu Li from getting lost in the vast swamp. Merchant Anthony could help him find an exit, but the "exit" pointed out by Ernie Hamilton Wayne might not be the same as the "exit" in leaving the swamp.

Merchant Anthony soon sensed, confirming they were at the northern part of the swamp, and if he wanted to go back, he only had to walk south towards the distant dead forest.

Surveying the surroundings and confirming no clues were left around, Lu Li bypassed the muddy ponds, approaching the dead forest.

Staying in the open view of the swamp seemed safer than the perception-blocking dead forest. But to Lu Li, the woods were his natural ally.

Swamp.

As a forbidden zone simultaneously close to Midnight City, the old sewers, and Giant Tree Academy, the swamp had always been cultivated and weakened. In some sense, perhaps the surface was even more dangerous than this dim world.

But that doesn't mean it's safe here; the swamp remains a forbidden area, with unknown regions and depths still harboring terrifying existences.

And this is the depths of the swamp.

Despite being alone, Lu Li didn't seem lonely.

Keeping a distance from the silent muddy bogs that could harbor unknowns, after advancing a few minutes, Lu Li only closed some distance with the distant dead forest.

It is farther than expected, fortunately, broken muddy bogs revealed a fragmented trail leading to the dead forest, surrounded by enough open space, avoiding sudden attacks, only needing to be wary of nearby bogs.

Shoes stepped onto soft soil, edge clumps slipped into the bog, creating ripples, then pushed back to shore by more violent ripples suddenly emerging.

Vibration came from the depths below. The surrounding swamp blurred reflected the yellow dome, creating thick ripples in a murky world.

Surveying around, Lu Li looked eastward, the ground vibration seemed to faintly originate from there—

Unfolding the map, the eastern part was marked as the mining area of Earth Dwellers.

The vibrations likely came from the mining area.

The vibrations continued for dozens of seconds, leaving behind the unsettled murky bogs to recede.

Lu Li again looked around, many broken bogs bubbled up blurry outlines, as if certain existences surfaced and then quickly disappeared, seeming like nothing ever happened.

Recording their positions and bypassing them, Lu Li stepped past the bogs, advancing with unwavering steps.

Next, the subterranean vibrations from the mining area appeared several times with an almost fixed frequency, each time muddying the bogs and revealing a safe trail leading into the dense forest, while also washing many things from the bogs onto the shore.

For instance, clothes stranded on the shore, covered in mud, colors indistinguishable.

A branch pried open the dirty clothes, an arm bone wrapped up, covered in bite marks, fresh or old unknown.

Dropping the branch, Lu Li bypassed this bog near the edge of the dead forest.

Stepping into the eerie, silent dead forest, no breeze, only footsteps sounding, they have all perished.

Walking through the dead forest felt like traversing a cemetery of standing tombstones, serene and solemn.

What disrupts this serenity isn't Lu Li's arrival, but a subtle, muffled voice calling out.

"Exorcist? Over here, I'm over here..."

Following the voice, a twisted shadow tightly entwined by a tree's roots was seen. Unsightly, malformed spider-shaped body devoured a pitiful girl, corrosive liquid made the remaining half of her body ooze pus, decay—

Yet the situation wasn't as repulsive and abhorrent as it seemed.

The spider body and the girl's half-body belonged to the same consciousness, with only the corrosive pus truly affecting the spider girl's body.

"I'm from Giant Tree Academy..." the spider girl trapped in the root prison appealed to Lu Li, tossing a badge similar to Lu Li's: "Exorcist, help me out."

The two badges pieced together formed a complete silhouette of a giant tree. This was the lower-level academy badge.

Lu Li's gaze fell on the roots tightly binding the spider girl, forming a stomach slowly digesting within.

"These trees are alive. Don't get close, they'll attack you," warned the spider girl within the prison. She didn't struggle, enduring the pain of being digested as nourishment—

"What should I do?"

"Try using fire."

Lu Li didn't follow the suggestion, focusing on sensing the forest. But just as the feeling when entering the dead forest, this was a cemetery, the trees stood as their own tombstones, there was no vitality, instilling humanity might only turn the trunk into soil, birthing new plants.

"It has nothing to do with the forest, it isn't part of this place."

And the key issue: Lu Li sensed no emotions from the root prison.

Kindness, welcome, rejection, hatred... none of these were present.

As the Speaker of the Trees, Lu Li clearly understood the answer.

"What do you mean?"

"It might be some anomaly mimicking tree roots; your escape wouldn't provoke forest retaliation."

The slightly dazed spider girl attempted to pierce sharp forelimbs into the roots, the prison lightly squirmed, shrinking as it received damage, retracting underground, releasing the annoyed spider girl.

No surprises, no conspiracy.

If Lu Li hadn't shown up, the spider girl would likely have to fight back before being corroded and severely injured, then discover the truth—the Predators almost getting eaten by weak prey.

Lu Li stood aside, waiting quietly for the spider girl to treat her wounds.

The injuries that would be fatal to humans were disregarded by the spider girl, who took crushed herbs from her waist pocket, applying them to her body surface, blending with decay and pus formed by digestion, like mud coating the body.

"I'm so lucky to have met the Exorcist, before entering we were all talking about whether we'd have the chance to meet you, can I follow you, become your companion?"

Lively and cheerful, the chatty spider girl brought liveliness to the "cemetery" and swore.

"Wherever your sword points, the road shall be!"

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