Keshi remained glued to the entrance, cautiously keeping an eye on the noises outside.
After a while, he turned his head, looking at Erha who was sprawled on one side, and inquired, "How should I address you?"
Keshi had a very deep impression of Erha; initially when he was unknowingly sent by Zhu Yiji to assassinate Xiang Beifei, whom he mistook for a member of the Unrestrained, he was bewildered by this guy's fly swatter.
Now that Xiang Beifei was not around, he and Erha were in charge of protecting these people; naturally, he wanted to get to know him better for easier communication later.
"Aoo-wooo!" Erha lifted his head and said lazily.
Keshi couldn't understand at all what he was howling.
However, he knew that this big fellow understood human nature and probably got his meaning.
"Can you write down your name based on our script?" Keshi asked.
Although Erha couldn't speak human language, he had no trouble understanding it.
He tilted his head in thought, then extended his tail, a sharp blade burst from it, and he began etching his name on the ground.
But after writing "Wooden," just as he was about to continue with "Kirin," he suddenly paused!
"Kirin" had too many strokes; he had forgotten how to write these two characters!
Well, human script wasn't essential for him; comprehending it was good enough.
Erha carelessly drew two crosses after "Wooden," deciding it would suffice for his name.
"Wooden XX?" Xu Hongcai squinted at the writing before finally asking.
—You're the Wooden XX, your whole family is Wooden XX!
Erha glared, his tail swelled, whooshing through the air with a threatening sound. If it weren't for the need to protect these people, he would have slapped down already.
"Sorry, sorry," Xu Hongcai hurriedly apologized.
Erha's drawn crosses were not standard, looking just like two tens. Xu Hongcai's first thought was how odd a name it was.
"This...'Wooden,' can you sense Captain Xiang?"
The Wooden Kirin lazily clapped his tail, appearing quite at ease, not panicked in the least.
Keshi couldn't make heads or tails of what the Wooden Kirin was saying; the language barrier was quite troublesome.
"So what's Mr. Xiang's situation right now? Will he come back, or will he not? If he'll come back, nod your head; if he won't, shake your head?" Keshi asked.
Upon hearing this, a fierce light flashed in Erha's eyes!
Its tail swished threateningly, almost curling up a fly swatter to smack Keshi repeatedly!
In its view, how could a being of its supreme stature be compared with a desolate beast? Not to mention something as demeaning as nodding or shaking its head—that's what dogs did!
As noble as it was, every gesture was sacred; to be compared with a dog was an outrageous insult!
Xu Hongcai and Keshi exchanged looks, at a loss for words about the odd, blue behemoth. But after all, it was left by Xiang Beifei to protect them, with greater strength than either of them; they couldn't do much about being spat on, much less if it decided to give them a beating.
At that moment, more shouts came from outside; the Unrestrained had already begun investigating the canyon, searching each cave thoroughly with the intent to find the intruders. Those people were getting closer and closer.
Xu Hongcai whispered softly, "Mr. Xiang Beifei should be alright, shouldn't he?"
"He'll be fine," Keshi said.
"Captain Xu, what we should worry about now is ourselves. Sitting here, we are just waiting for death," said a nervous young man behind them.
This young man, named Cui Shi, was also an S-rank Pioneer, looking very young, probably in his late twenties, his face pale, presumably out of fright.
"Mr. Xiang Beifei told us to wait here for him," said Xu Hongcai.
"But, but what if he can't come back? Captain Xu, you must know, even if Mr. Xiang Beifei is formidable, he is no match for the orifice-transforming Unrestrained. What if he's discovered and then realizes he can't help us? Then he..."
Cui Shi wiped sweat from his brow.
"Then I hope he leaves on his own ensuring his safety," Xu Hongcai said firmly. "He doesn't owe us anything; instead, he's already saved us once and healed our wounds. Without him, we would be nothing more than dried corpses lying in that laboratory by now."
Cui Shi's face went even paler as he quickly said, "I didn't mean to doubt that he would abandon us. I mean, he might not make it back in time, and then we must learn to save ourselves. Those Unrestrained are obviously searching for us, we'll be found sooner or later if we keep hiding here."
"Then what do you propose we do? Right now, there are all kinds of powerful prohibitions outside and various Unrestrained who are stronger than us; even invisibility and spatial items are ineffective. What's the difference between going out there and seeking death?" Xu Hongcai asked.
Cui Shi gritted his teeth and deflated after a long moment.
He knew Xu Hongcai was right; the current situation was indeed terrible, their strength insufficient to defeat the Unrestrained, getting out was a problem in itself.
Actually, you couldn't wholly blame him; the others all wanted to leave as well.
These Pioneers had all walked through the gates of hell, witnessed their companions have their bellies sliced open, hearts removed, and their blood drained while still alive.
As they lay waiting just earlier, other than fear, they felt helpless—the despair had become a shadow that would last their lifetimes.
The Pioneers looked at each other with ashen faces.
Meanwhile, more noise came from outside the cave, and it was getting closer.
"Have you finished checking the desolate beast area?"
"Not yet; the desolate beast field is vast and quite special. Squad thirteen is still investigating."
"Alright, each of you check the caves thoroughly! Don't miss anything; you must have four people go inside to inspect the situation and report back at any time!"
Many whooshing sounds came from the sky as those people had begun to perform a carpet search. Judging by the sound, they were checking the caves not more than ten meters away from them, even those on the opposite cliff walls, which were already visible from the cave entrances.
"They're here, this is bad."
Keshi's heart sank, and he turned around and ordered, "All of you, go to the inner room. If any Unrestrained come in, I'll hold them off first; you must stay silent."
However, no one moved. There weren't many places to hide in the room because it was just a small apartment, unable to conceal anyone through spatial or Invisibility Abilities.
The most powerful of these pioneers was only at the mid-stage of Meridian Opening, Xu Hongcai, and the rest were at the early stages.
And most of the Unrestrained were at the late stages of Meridian Opening!
So no matter how these people hid, they couldn't possibly escape the Unrestrained's Perception.
Deep despair had already appeared on every pioneer's face, and some even trembled uncontrollably.
"If I am going to be treated like that again if I'm captured, I'd rather commit suicide first," a girl muttered through clenched teeth.
"I really can't stand such an end for myself, Captain, please kill me and completely destroy my body," said a man with a beard, who looked as if he was on the verge of collapse.
"Captain Xu, please kill me too! I would rather have my body rendered to dust by the Captain than suffer that kind of torture."
The people here had already begun to gradually give up hope, preferring not to be laid on the operating table again and have their organs arbitrarily removed by someone as terrifying as Hu Cheng.
Xu Hongcai looked at his comrades slipping into despair once more, and despite his resilient nature, he couldn't help but sigh.
He understood these people, and he even knew that this was the worst-case scenario, as well as a more dignified way to die.
But if he dealt with this person's body, who would take care of his own body when he died?
Air of despair pervaded deeply, as everyone had given up the will to live.
The Wooden Kirin straightened its back and roared mightily at the group.
Its formidable presence weighed on these people on the brink of extinction, causing them to involuntarily startle.
Until now, they did not understand what this desolate beast was because they had never seen such a beast before. They assumed it was a system guardian left behind by Xiang Beifei, so they dared not ask too many questions.
Erha walked over to the wooden table, curled its tail around it, and picked up the table, with green vitality spreading rapidly, infusing the table. Suddenly, the table sprouted branches and bloomed rapidly, and soon, it had arranged a giant screen!
Erha unceremoniously scooped up the group of people and tossed them behind the screen, then enclosed them with the screen.
"It wants you all to calm down! To kill yourselves without even attempting resistance is simply too cowardly," Keshi, although not understanding the Wooden Kirin's intention, still commanded.
When Erha had finished this, both it and Keshi also flashed behind the screen.
Simultaneously, three Unrestrained entered the cave.
"There was some noise coming from inside just now," a tall man said as he sniffed the air walking in.
"Right, they must be hiding in this place! I can smell humans!" another man stated.
They began to approach, and their eyes soon fell on the wooden screen.
"There's a wooden board here!"
"It's behind this! I can hear their heartbeats!"
The tall man sneered and approached.
Whether it was Cui Shi or Xu Hongcai, or anyone else, as they heard the sound, their hearts plunged into an abyss; everyone clenched their fists, ready to fight to the death, even if they couldn't win, they would not sit idly by.
The tall man threw a fierce punch at the wooden board!
The wooden board shattered into dust on cue!
However, there was no one behind it!
"Huh? Where are they?"
The tall man was visibly taken aback; he had clearly sensed heartbeats there, but behind the screen, there was nothing!
Another Unrestrained was also quite puzzled. He searched around the room again, even reaching out his hand to comb through the entire room, but the scent had mysteriously vanished.
"It's probably those cunning humans' trick, setting up a beating heart to mislead us deliberately. They are trying to waste our time here to get a chance to escape. We can't delay any longer!" said one Unrestrained sagely.
"Makes sense! Let's move to the next cave!" The tall Unrestrained waved his hand and turned to leave the cave.
Xu Hongcai and the others stood in place, shocked by what they witnessed!
They hadn't disappeared at all!
Nor had they set up any trick to delay time.
Yet they had mysteriously evaded detection!
Xiang Beifei's voice appeared behind them.