World-saving Plan: The Only Savior

"Fuck, there's a problem, there's definitely a problem here!"

Zhang Xiaoman's mind was ringing alarm bells as he instinctively turned his head to look behind him.

All he saw was the path he had come from was now gone, and darkness filled his vision.

Everything around him seemed to be shrouded in darkness, unclear in form, even the moon in the sky was obscured by the twisted trees.

Seeing this, how could he not understand what was happening? He had encountered something strange once again!

Zhang Xiaoman immediately started running back the way he came.

However, no matter how he ran, the environment around him seemed to remain the same, as if he was running in place.

The darkness persisted. The path he came by was less than ten meters, yet now it seemed infinitely extended, and no matter how he ran, he couldn't escape.

"No, no...."

Zhang Xiaoman forced himself to calm down and began to scrutinize his surroundings.

The area was pitch black, his field of view extremely limited, unable to see the scenery in the distance.

The twisted trees, accompanied by the rotting mud, brought waves of foul stench from all around.

He had just run at least several hundred meters—a normal island in the lake couldn't possibly be that large. He should have made it out by now.

Zhang Xiaoman knew he might have encountered an illusion like a ghost hitting a wall, or perhaps some monster's domain, restricting his movements.

Clutching the Holy Water in his hand, he started wondering whether he should close his eyes and walk backward. Perhaps that could break the illusion.

But after trying, it was still useless. The surroundings remained the same, and he hadn't exited Lake Island as he had anticipated.

Zhang Xiaoman was burning with anxiety, but suddenly, he heard a series of miserable howls.

"Aoaoaoaoaoaoao!!!!!!"

The eerie silence was broken. In the light of his flashlight, a yellow figure suddenly ran out from the darkness.

Before he could react, the figure reached him and then without stopping, charged down the path he had come from, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Jin Bao!?"

Zhang Xiaoman had come to his senses by now. The one that had just run past—wasn't that his own dog, Jin Bao?

But before he could ponder further, the next scene that unfolded caused his face to change dramatically.

In the spot that had been illuminated by his flashlight, he didn't know when a shadow had cast over it.

And this shadow was rapidly expanding, soon occupying a large area.

Zhang Xiaoman's eyes widened as he made a horrifying discovery—the shape of the shadow was identical to his own!

Or perhaps it was, in fact, his own shadow!

"Fuck!!"

He screamed frantically in his mind, knowing he had finally encountered the real deal.

Observing the shadow on the nearby wall, which mirrored his own, and its increasingly distorted, bizarre movements, Zhang Xiaoman felt as if his heart was going to stop.

Without any hesitation, he quickly backed away.

Yet, no matter how he ran, the surrounding darkness remained unchanged, and the Black Shadow followed him closely like a bone-eating maggot.

Zhang Xiaoman reached into his pocket; he was ready to trigger the hearthstone and make a run for it.

But after fidgeting for ten seconds, the scene around him remained the same, and he was stunned to find himself still at the original spot.

The illusion created by the unknown entity was still present, the view before his eyes still shrouded in darkness.

Zhang Xiaoman didn't know whether it was the existence of the illusion blocking the hearthstone's function or if his own casting had been disrupted by the monster's continuous mental disturbances. Whatever the case, his current priority was to leave this place immediately.

He broke into a run, although doing so might not necessarily allow him to escape the illusion, but at least he couldn't just stay there waiting for death.

Zhang Xiaoman continued to rub the hearthstone while sprinting.

He didn't know if stopping would cause the monster to pounce on him right then.

Even though he held Holy Water in his hand, it had never been tested, and he didn't really know if it would be effective, so he could only use it as a psychological comfort.

Moreover, the Holy Water was in a bottle, and its small quantity could hardly be thrown far; he feared that before it could even touch the monster, it would have all spilled on the ground.

As he fled, Zhang Xiaoman suddenly felt his body stagger, and then, to his horror, discovered that his legs could no longer move.

The abrupt halt in movement, influenced by his forward momentum, caused his upper body to topple forward violently, but eerily his lower body remained standing, causing him a flash of pain in his lower back that made him inhale sharply.

"I can't stop!"

The only thought left in his mind was to try hard to break through this limitation.

But no matter how hard he tried, his body acted as if it was not under his command, and he simply couldn't manage it.

Zhang Xiaoman only felt that he was gradually losing sensation beginning with his legs—as if his body was slowly being overtaken.

This terrifying feeling was almost enough to drive someone to despair.

Looking down, he followed the warped shadow not far away to the ground, and from the shadow on the ground, he saw his own feet.

In that moment, he seemed to understand that he must be under the control of this shadowy ghost-like thing before him.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but start to tremble.

If I can't even run, what should I do?

He immediately thought of the Holy Water in his hand; now it seemed he could only place his hope on it.

Unfortunately, he only managed to open the cap of the Holy Water bottle before his arms, just like his legs, could no longer move.

No matter how hard he struggled or strained, he seemed unable to break free from this restraint, and all that was left for him to move was his head.

"Er... ah..."

He tried to scream, but his voice choked in his throat and could not come out.

The distant shadow began to move anew, slowly sliding down, gradually moving onto the ground.

Afterward, under his terrified gaze, it slowly approached him...

"Ten meters... five meters... three meters..."

The humanoid shadow came over like flowing water, causing ripples to spread.

Then, a semi-transparent black claw extended from it, slowly approaching him.

At the sight of that hand, Zhang Xiaoman's brain buzzed,

and he felt as if suddenly his mind was filled with countless terrifying and bizarre faces twisting.

It was as if a series of shrill and unpleasant wails spread, and a wave of chaos and frenzy rampaged through his consciousness.

"No... I can't give up..."

The remaining thoughts continued to struggle; he was past the point of feeling despair, left only with the ultimate desire to survive.

"Woof woof woof!!!"

Just at this critical moment, he seemed to hear a familiar barking near his ear.

Distant, yet so close!

"Awooo!"

A yellow figure suddenly sprang from behind, unhesitatingly leaping up and lunging at the claw that emerged from the shadow.