【After a long run, your Strength has increased.】
【Strength Proficiency +2】
【Bear-like Strength: 122/1000】
Upon seeing the prompt, or perhaps it was psychological suggestion, Chen Guan also felt that his Strength seemed to have become a little stronger?
Chen Guan didn't care; his priority now was to run.
But it was also a good thing to Cultivate his inherited talent while on the run.
So, run!
Chen Guan took off, continuing his escape.
However, during his run, Chen Guan was also thinking about the 'Low-Grade Fire Spiritual Root' talent.
It was the 'legacy' of the old man from his previous life.
What kind of trigger did it need?
Or could he Cultivate fire-attribute Cultivation Techniques?
Whoosh—
An arrow flew past Chen Guan's ear.
The sudden danger interrupted Chen Guan's thoughts.
For now, focusing on running was the most important thing... Squeak, squeak~
Three hours later.
Between the somewhat gloomy dark clouds, moonlight spilled through the gaps in the tree canopy, stirring up a chorus of insect chirps.
At this moment, the air was a bit humid, as if it was about to rain.
Deep in the forest.
Chen Guan, panting, hid behind a large rock.
In the somewhat muggy weather, he sat his large rear on the ground, spread his limbs, and basically didn't want to move.
【Strength +3】
Now, only the proficiency prompts gave Chen Guan some sense of satisfaction and comfort.
As long as he ran, he would become stronger.
“Damn it...”
A hundred meters away, behind a tree, the Head Constable and a group of Constables were not having an easy time.
Facing the ubiquitous mosquitoes and insects in the forest, as well as the potential appearance of wild beasts, and the need to occasionally leave markers along the way, there were too many back-and-forth tasks, leaving them physically and mentally exhausted.
But under the effect of sunk costs, they had been chasing the Black Bear for too long, and had even sent people to inform the villagers.
If they retreated now, all their previous efforts would be in vain, and they would lose all their Face.
Now, they were in a difficult situation.
“Chief... how about... we go back first?”
At this moment, there was a clear-headed Constable who didn't want to stay in the dangerous forest for too long, lest he fail to catch the Black Bear and lose his own life instead.
As he spoke, he rattled the arrows in his quiver.
Only two arrows were left.
Once they were all used up, with no trump cards left, he would have even less capital to restrain the Black Bear.
At that point, it would be the Black Bear's turn to reveal its true intentions.
“I want to try again... chase a bit more...”
The Head Constable, facing the dissuasion of the others, was unwilling to give up.
The Constables nearby saw that they couldn't persuade him, so what more could they say?
Rumble—
Just then, the sky suddenly rumbled with continuous thunder, and the long-awaited heavy rain poured down from the muggy sky.
The visibility instantly blurred.
“I was hoping it wouldn't rain...” A Constable frowned, “It really started?”
“This is not good.” A middle-aged Constable voiced his concern, looking specifically at the Head Constable, “Chief, are we still chasing?”
“Chasing...?”
At this moment, perhaps drenched by the rain, the Head Constable's stubbornness had lessened considerably.
“Forget it! Let's find a place to shelter from the rain, not under a tree...”
The Black Bear itself was difficult to deal with, and now the environment had become harsh.
To continue chasing would truly be risking their lives.
Although the Head Constable had the normal person's struggles and persistence, he ultimately cherished his life.
“Let's go first...”
“Wait until the weather clears...”
The other Constables breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing the Head Constable's words, then followed him to find a nearby place to shelter from the rain.
At the same time, Chen Guan, as a Black Bear, though his eyesight wasn't great, had acute hearing and smell.
Especially the Black Bear he possessed, which was far more exaggerated than real-life bears.
Real bears could only hear about two hundred meters, but he could hear beyond three hundred meters.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Amidst the noisy rain, Chen Guan listened carefully and vaguely heard the distant footsteps of humans breaking branches as they moved away.
‘One Dao... two Dao... four Dao... they've all gone far away...’
After Chen Guan confirmed that all six seemed to have left due to the gloomy rain, he didn't linger there but headed in the opposite direction.
Of course, Chen Guan was very tired now and wanted to sleep right where he was.
But the consequence might be being ambushed by other wild beasts in his sleep.
Furthermore, Chen Guan didn't want to wake up to a bright day, surrounded by the smiling Head Constable and his external reinforcements... He walked and ran for another hour.
The heavy rain continued.
Chen Guan felt heavy; his fur was soaked, increasing his own weight.
But the training effect was also there.
This time, it increased by another 2 points.
The total reached 【Elementary Bear-like Strength: 127/1000】.
In just five hours, he had gained 7 points!
“Wait, I need to find a safe place to shelter from the rain and see if I can manage to gain 10 points today, to make it a round number, without exhausting myself...”
The complete data display, showing that effort yields reward, greatly boosted Chen Guan's desire to keep grinding... Rumble—
Half an hour later.
The thunderstorm continued, and there was suspicion that it was getting heavier.
Chen Guan no longer knew where he was, but he saw a dilapidated temple in an open space in the forest ahead.
It was a good place for effective shelter from the rain and temporary hiding.
Seeing no firelight, it seemed uninhabited.
Chen Guan cautiously approached, his round ears twitching like a wind-listening ear, listening for sounds inside the temple.
A moment later, he cautiously arrived in front of the temple.
Chen Guan, hugging the doorframe, entered the temple.
The next second, although the temple was empty, Chen Guan felt an inexplicable chill.
‘Ghost stories often feature encountering ghosts in dilapidated temples, and now it really is a world of gods and demons...’
Chen Guan felt a little flustered, and looked at the dilapidated statue of a god in the temple.
‘May the gods protect me...’
Chen Guan, like a human, mimicked the prayer pose of clasping his hands together as seen in TV dramas, clumsily seeking blessings.
After doing all this, Chen Guan, using the lightning flashes from outside the temple, observed the back of the temple.
There was a door leading to the backyard.
In the backyard, there was only the sound of rain, no human voices.
Whoosh, whoosh—
He approached the backyard.
When he reached the backyard door, Chen Guan originally intended to find a place like a side room in the back to rest, but as soon as his front paw crossed the threshold, the threshold suddenly seemed to come alive and extended sharply.
Chen Guan hadn't anticipated this change; caught off guard in the dark, he tripped and splashed into a pool of viscous water ahead.
Next to it was a Locust Tree struck by lightning.
These viscous liquids were a mixture of Locust Tree ashes and muddy water, and they had a peculiar fishy-sweet smell.
Gurgle, gurgle—
Chen Guan rose from the puddle, instinctively shaking his body to shed some of the sticky sensation.
He turned back to look.
Chen Guan wanted to see what was wrong with the threshold.
But as he looked and shook, Chen Guan really started to tremble.
Because the threshold was eerily floating!
And behind the threshold, there was a mummified corpse, seemingly of a seven or eight-year-old girl.
In this situation, it was most likely a ghost haunting by the mummified corpse!
‘Gods in the temple... I prayed to you, but you damn well don't seem to be able to hold your own ground...’
Chen Guan was a little scared.
And at the same time as his fear, an ordinary person facing a life-and-death crisis with a ghost might be unable to move, or be terrified, or run away, or fight to the death.
Chen Guan was the latter.
In the scalp-tingling fear, adrenaline completely erupted.
‘Worst case, I'll just reincarnate!’
Chen Guan, now seemingly excited yet fearful, stood upright, facing the floating threshold ahead, instantly mustered all his strength, ran two steps forward, and slapped at the threshold!
Smash—
The next second, the already weathered rotten wooden threshold was shattered by the immense force.
Chen Guan, with his momentum not yet dissipated, stumbled several more steps and crashed into the wall of the back door.
A dull thud.
Chen Guan's hundreds of pounds of weight almost knocked down the stone wall, but it did reveal cracks.
But it was precisely by getting close to the door that he could see the area behind the statue.
For a moment, illuminated by the thunder and lightning outside the temple, and the whooshing sound of the rain, behind the little girl's corpse, there was a translucent figure of a little girl.
In terms of height alone, they seemed somewhat similar.
Now, she was curiously looking at Chen Guan.
‘This is a ghost?’
Chen Guan, seeing a ghost for the first time, completely froze.
The little girl, seeing that Chen Guan seemed to be able to see her, also timidly floated back a short distance.
Because she, too, was seeing such a human-like bear, a bear that would pray to a god statue, for the first time.