Bruce gave Charlie a glance and quietly handed him a hand axe.
He then walked to the front and spoke to the two Thomas:
"Father, we brothers cannot tell who is real and who is fake. Can we each stand on one side, get a closer look, and then make our decision?"
"Alright, come on!"
The two Thomas replied in unison, clearly confident.
Bruce took a deep breath, patted his younger brother Charlie, signaling him to go to the left, while he walked towards Thomas on the right.
The two brothers stepped forward simultaneously, arriving in front of the two Thomas at almost the same time.
Bruce widened his eyes, scrutinizing Thomas on the right from head to toe.
As if not examining carefully enough, he even walked around him to inspect from the back.
Thomas's face was full of honesty, his expression confident, allowing Bruce to circle around him, even straightening his posture for a clearer view.
However, the moment Bruce stood behind him, his eyes were instantly tinged with a bloody glow, and his expression turned ferocious immediately.
"Do it!"
A sudden shout stunned everyone.
They saw Bruce and Charlie both raise their hand axes, aiming at the "Thomas" in front of them, and swung down fiercely.
Bang…
The hand axe collided with the head; one would expect brains and gore, an utterly gruesome scene.
In reality, though, Charlie's axe hadn't even landed on Thomas's head before the opponent caught it bare-handed.
Yet Bruce, being stronger, managed to strike Thomas's head with the axe.
Firmly splitting the head in two.
However, horrifyingly, Thomas's head had no pus or brain matter coming out, instead splitting like a piece of wood, cleaved but still attached to the neck.
Even more chilling was that with his head split open, "Thomas's" eyes were still moving, examining Bruce with interest, even revealing a smile on his face.
Yet that smile looked sinister no matter how one looked at it.
"Charlie, retreat!"
Bruce didn't have time to pull out the stone axe and shouted to Charlie on the other side, retreating rapidly towards the camp's crowd.
Hearing this, Charlie also quickly withdrew, directly abandoning the stone axe and retreating backward.
Everyone in the camp had just been scared stiff by the brothers' actions, and now seeing "Thomas's" appearance, how could they not understand.
Clearly, the Thomas who came back later on the right was the fake one.
What about the one on the left?
Why did Charlie launch a sneak attack, is he fake too?
Amid the crowd's suspicion, Thomas on the left moved.
He walked up to Thomas on the right, reached into the split head, gently stroked twice, and then pressed both sides, closing it back together.
The split head miraculously sealed itself.
Moreover, that "Thomas" even twisted his neck a bit, then turned to look at Bruce standing in front of the camp people, with a sinister smile.
This eerie scene couldn't help but send chills down the spine of the camp members.
Thomas on the left stepped out and spoke to Bruce.
"Interesting, interesting. My two creations look exactly like your father and didn't show any flaws. How did you two figure it out?"
His voice sounded like wood chips rubbing together, hoarse, harsh, and strange.
"Assuming one of you is real and one fake, the fake one definitely wouldn't know so much about us, nor about Father. But both of you seemed to know everything, so…"
Bruce paused here, his expression becoming gloomy.
Of course, Thomas couldn't have revealed everything to them.
This Mimicking Monster knew so much about the camp and Thomas. There's only one possibility.
"Heh heh, quite clever. That Thomas was running in the opposite direction of your camp before he died, trying to lure me away. Seems he cares a lot about you people!"
"I'll kill you!"
Beside him, Charlie, upon hearing about his father Thomas's death from the Mimicking Monster's mouth, suddenly lost control and charged at the monster barehanded.
Bruce quickly stopped him with sharp eyes.
"Calm down!"
To say Bruce wasn't hurt was a lie.
The problem now is that there's no time to be hurt.
The two "Thomas" already closed in, and those twenty-four logging team members followed expressionlessly, clearly planning to attack.
"Everyone, fight desperately, and there may still be a chance to survive!"
Bruce did not hesitate, letting out an angry roar and rushing forward directly.
Even though he said so, Bruce had no assurance in his heart.
With twenty-six logging-level fighters, even if over two hundred people in the camp fought for their lives, the hope wasn't great.
What's more, about that Mimicking monster capable of transforming into Thomas, he knew nothing.
Surely, its abilities go beyond transformation.
Could it be, having just transmigrated for a month, is this the end?
The answer was apparent.
The people in the camp indeed followed his charge with a loud roar.
But those two "Thomas" were almost one punch per person.
In a short while, they killed at least twenty people.
Blood splattered, wails rose.
Soon, a thick scent of blood filled the cave.
Bam…
Bruce was kicked, slamming fiercely against the cave wall, reverse blood gushing from his mouth.
Watching the bloody massacre inside the cave, a deep despair rose in his heart.
Throughout this month of transmigration, he self-assumed his diligence, constantly thinking about enhancing his strength.
Because no matter if it was Father Thomas or previous logging team members, they constantly reminded him of the outside world's danger.
But with steady power growth and the calm life inside the cave, he gradually thought this was merely a slightly colder other world.
It wasn't until now that he truly realized:
The world's danger far exceeded imagination.
His self-claimed efforts were negligible before the Mimicking Monster.
"Brother… save… me…"
Charlie's hoarse, low sobbing voice reached his ears.
Turning his head, Bruce was suddenly furious, overwhelming anger surging in his heart.
That "Thomas," with a sadistic grin, was choking Charlie's neck, pressing him against the wall.
Seemingly indulging in some play, the monster deliberately eased off some strength, not instantly breaking Charlie's neck, gradually increasing force, causing Charlie growing suffocation and pain.
Since transmigrating to this world, for a month, because his father Thomas often went out, only returning at night, and even when back, spoke little.
Therefore, Bruce did not have deep feelings for Thomas.
In contrast, he valued his brother Charlie, whom he lived with day and night, more.
The monster's grip grew stronger, Charlie's throat constantly compressed, blood seeped from eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, his expression turning more twisted.
At that very moment, Bruce harbored no fear of death, only a self-hatred for being powerless, and a desperate yearning for strength.
If only I were stronger, a bit stronger…
The slaughter within the cave continued, already five to six dozen corpses littered the ground.
Many went madly running towards the cave exit, but neither their speed nor strength matched the enemy, often getting slain before even reaching the exit.
[Encountered catastrophic damage, system reconstructing the camp, gifted a basic building, small bonfire, please collect attentively]
At this moment, a voice resounded in his mind.
Bruce felt that as someone who lived twice, he had never heard a sound so beautiful.
Small fire pit: Can greatly increase the temperature in a ten-meter radius, with a deterrent and destructive function against primary monsters, but at the same time it strongly attracts the Cold Beast.
Daily consumption: Wood 2 (first ignition is complimentary, no consumption for ten minutes)
Bruce didn't have time to carefully check the so-called camp system, and just focused on quickly searching for what he needed among a large amount of information.
It has a deterrent and destructive function against primary monsters!
This is what he wanted.
Bruce turned his head to look at Charlie, who was almost on the verge of death, forcing himself to stand up and stare intently at the fake Thomas.
A tiny spark suddenly appeared in front of Charlie.
The fake Thomas looked down at the flame in front of him, frowning as he sensed something was amiss.
But the spark was weak, seemingly non-threatening.
However, in the next second, the spark exploded violently, and a more than three-meter-high crimson flame surged up suddenly.
The flame seemed ready to spread like wildfire, rapidly expanding its range, engulfing not only the fake Thomas around Charlie but also two other nearby fake logging team members who were directly consumed by the fire.
"Ah… What is this, what kind of fire is this, ah…"
In just an instant, the fake Thomas, swallowed by the flames, let out a terrified, heartbreaking scream.
Meanwhile, the other two fake logging team members didn't even have time to make a sound and were directly turned into two plumes of black smoke.
The body of the fake Thomas twisted and moved constantly within the flames, apparently trying to escape, but the flames clung to him like a leech.
His previously intact body was incinerated into a crimson skeleton in an instant, and then even the skeleton was burnt to ashes, turning into a plume of black smoke like the other two fake logging team members and completely dissipating.
Meanwhile, Bruce had already supported Charlie and turned to watch the campfire still burning in place, his face suddenly filled with hope.
"Brother, what is this campfire?"
"I don't know, but we are saved."
The fake Thomas remained undying even when his head was split open.
But when encountering this small fire pit, he was reduced to ashes in an instant.
"Everyone, stop fighting, come to the fire pit quickly!"
Bruce turned his head and shouted at the people still desperately resisting inside the cave.
Someone had already noticed the scene of the fake Thomas being burned to death, and with this shout, all the remaining survivors quickly gathered towards him.
Soon, all the more than one hundred people left in the camp had withdrawn from the battle and gathered behind Bruce.
Casualties in the camp were heavy, while on the deceitful monster's side, except for the three accidentally burned to death by the small fire pit, the remaining twenty-three were completely untouched.
Another Thomas led the remaining twenty-two fake logging team members towards the fire pit.
However, they stopped more than ten meters away from the fire pit.
Watching the fire pit, the fake Thomas's eyes were full of dread.
But seemingly unwilling to let Bruce and his group go, he opened his mouth with a cold smile after a moment:
"Little thing, how long can your fire burn?"
"For a very long time!"
Bruce also sneered and turned back to Charlie and others, saying, "Bring over all the wood from the back and expand the flames."
The camp's wood was conveniently placed on the side against the wall.
Hearing this, everyone quickly moved the wood from that side of the wall.
As the wood was continually added, the fire from the small fire pit also kept expanding.
Moreover, Bruce and others intentionally guided the wood towards the group of fake Thomas.
Soon, the firelight illuminated the entire cave.
And the group of fake Thomas, as the flames spread, the dread in their eyes intensified, and they continued to retreat.
The standoff with the group lasted for over an hour.
Until forced to the cave entrance by the flames, seeing everyone still relentlessly bringing more wood, the fake Thomas finally showed a look of resentment on his face, gave Bruce a deep look, and then turned to leave with the remaining fake logging team members.
It was already dawn, and Bruce and the others dared not leave the vicinity of the fire pit, only able to watch the departing group from afar.
When they could no longer see them, confirming that the others had indeed gone far, Bruce finally breathed a sigh of relief, and a strong sense of exhaustion surged through him.
"Brother, this bonfire seems problematic."
"I know, it only works within a ten-meter radius. The fire elsewhere is no different from the ones we previously kindled."
Bruce's back was already soaked in cold sweat.
He had realized it when the flames exceeded the ten-meter radius.
The fire in the cave had been spread to fifty or sixty meters, yet beyond the initial small fire pit's ten-meter range, the increase in temperature in the other areas was the same as their previous fires.
Thinking back on the small fire pit's system description, Bruce roughly understood.
The small fire pit only worked within a ten-meter radius.
Even if other means were used to expand the fire, it wouldn't be effective.
Similarly, only the small fire pit had a deterrent and destructive effect on deceitful monsters, the other fires they ignited were utterly useless.
What he did afterwards was merely bluffing to scare the deceitful monsters.
Fortunately, the opponent fell for it.
After surviving, there was not a shred of joy in the cave.
Because disasters are often accompanied by endless pain.
At this moment, many people had realized that the real Thomas and his people had met with misfortune.
Those twelve logging team members were twelve families.
Combined with the massacre just inside the cave, at least seventy lives were lost.
The entire cave was filled with wailing and crying.
"Is the leader really dead?"
"Is my husband also dead?"
"My son was killed…"
"Mother, mother wake up!"
---
Aside from the sadness welling up within him, Bruce felt a stronger sense of frustration.
From beginning to end, about that deceit from Redwood Ridge, he knew nothing.
He didn't even know what the opponent's true form looked like.
Initially, after the two fake Thomas were exposed, it was the one ambushed by Charlie who took the lead, and the one he had split open was just acting in a muddled manner, not appearing intelligent.
After the first one was burned to death by the small fire pit, the muddled one came out to lead and speak.
This was enough to prove that the two fake Thomas were not the real body.
In other words, that deceit from Redwood Ridge had never even shown up, yet it inflicted such severe damage on them.
Additionally, how those two Thomas and the twenty-four fake logging team members were created and controlled by the opponent was entirely unknown to him.
The opponent easily made a move, and they suffered heavy casualties.
The crucial point is that after sacrificing so many people, they did not obtain even a shred of useful information about the opponent.
This sense of powerlessness made Bruce feel extremely frustrated.
Of course, more than that, there was fear.
He turned around and looked around the cave, seeing most people still immersed in sorrow, Bruce took a deep breath, walked to the cave entrance alone, picked up stones and wood nearby, and began to seal the entrance.
After all that had happened, it was already dawning, and the temperature was dropping rapidly.
If they didn't seal the entrance quickly, people would freeze to death.
Moreover, if they accidentally attracted the Cold Beast, it would make things even worse.
Bruce's actions also served as a reminder for the others.
Charlie was the first to step forward and help, followed by a second and a third.
In the end, regardless of men, women, or even children, everyone came to help.
Bruce glanced back at the camp's people, and despite the cold, a faint feeling of warmth rose in his heart.