"Meow!!"
The wild cat opposite sprinted, its powerful legs propelling it forward in a blur of tawny fur, followed by a high jump that carried it through the air, attacking Fang Yun with his sharp claws extended like curved daggers.
"Damn, don't think I'm easy prey!"
Seeing that the wild cat launched an attack, Fang Yun couldn't help swearing, he can't beat it, and the only thing he can do is run and hope he can escape from it.
"Whoosh!"
Luo Feng hurled himself into the undergrowth, his body thrashing through the tangled mass of stems and leaves. Branches snapped under his weight, dry twigs clawed at his scales, and every coil dragged against the damp earth with a gritty hiss that seemed deafening in the tense silence.
The thicket closed around him like a cage, the air thick with the scent of crushed greenery, but he forced his way deeper, each movement tearing open a narrow path that sealed shut behind him. Behind him, the sound of the wildcat's pursuit, a relentless rustling and thudding, sent another surge of panic through his body, driving him to push harder, scraping and writhing until the shadows of the bushes swallowed him whole.
The undergrowth was merciless. Roots coiled like stubborn snakes across his path, tugging at his body with every forward motion. Stems slapped against his flanks, bending and breaking with sharp cracking sounds that echoed far too loudly in the enclosed space. Every scrape of his scales on rough bark was a small agony. He knew he was not moving silently, far from it, but survival in this moment demanded raw speed over careful stealth.
Behind him, the wildcat tore after him without a moment of hesitation. Luo Feng could hear it clearly now the heavy thud of paws on soil, the shredding of leaves under sharp claws, its breathing a sharp and eager pant. The sounds closed in with terrifying ease, the cat just as familiar with the labyrinthine undergrowth as he was, and infinitely more powerful.
A labyrinth of green pressed in on all sides. Branches clawed at him as he passed, tearing a network of fine, stinging scratches across his scales, but he dared not slow down. The air was thick with the smell of his own fear, of crushed leaves and damp, rotting wood, heavy in his straining lungs. His vision narrowed to shifting slivers of light and dark through the gaps in the foliage. A single instinct screamed in his mind. Find shelter. Find escape. Find anything before those claws find you.
The wildcat did not slow. Every time its heavy paws struck the ground, the impact carried like a muffled drumbeat through the undergrowth, a steady and relentless rhythm. The vibrations traveled up through the soil into Luo Feng's belly, making every scale along his underside quiver with a dread he could not suppress. He did not need to look back to know how close it was. The air itself grew heavy and charged with the predator's intense presence, as though the cat's hot breath was already warming the scales on the back of his tail.
Its steps were measured, confident, the pace of a beast toying with its food, ready to launch forward in a final pounce the moment he wavered. His instincts screamed a continuous warning. One wrong move, one pause too long, and the next sensation would be searing pain.
The further he fled, the tighter the undergrowth became, the branches twisting into a veritable cage that sought to claw at his passage. Every push forward was a fresh battle. He kept his body low, his scales scraping over hidden roots, while thorny vines whipped across his sides, leaving faint, stinging trails. The noise of his struggle, a chaotic symphony of scraping and rustling, filled his ears, a roaring announcement of his location.
Then a tough, fibrous vine looped tightly across his midsection, halting his flight with brutal force. Cold, sharp panic surged through him. He twisted violently, thrashed against the unyielding plant, his scales rasping against the tough fibers until they finally snapped with a sharp crack. The effort cost him precious, irreplaceable time, and in that instant he heard the predator crashing closer, its greater weight tearing through leaves and snapping twicks with loud reports. The wildcat was almost on him.
Terror threatened to freeze him solid. The image of those claws punching into his soft body was so vivid he could almost feel the phantom tear. His tongue flicked in desperate, rapid motions, tasting the air now thick with the musky, overwhelming reek of feline. His muscles trembled, partly from fear and partly from deep exhaustion, and they begged him to stop, to just rest.
But stopping meant a swift and certain death.
He shoved the fear down, deep into a hidden part of himself. He coiled his body tighter and lunged forward again, his motions becoming sharper, more desperate than before. Branches whipped at him, scoring shallow lines across his scales, but he ignored the sting. Pain was meaningless now. Hesitation was death. Every scrape, every lash became fuel, proof that he was still alive, still moving, still fighting for every inch of ground.
"Faster," he urged himself silently, pushing through the green snare with the very last ounces of strength in his small, tired body.
Then, for the briefest of moments, the jungle itself tilted in his favor. The thicket closed in even tighter, the vines and stems knotted together so densely they tangled around the predator's larger, more powerful frame.
The wildcat snarled, a harsh, guttural sound of pure frustration that vibrated through the very leaves. Its heavier body tried to shoulder through, but the resistant brush held firm, slowing its relentless momentum. Luo Feng seized the chance without a single hesitation. He twisted his body sharply, slipping into a narrow, almost invisible opening between a network of roots and thorn clad stems, a path so impossibly tight the cat could not hope to follow directly.
Behind him, there was the awful sound of claws raking against tree bark, a deep and grating screech, as the beast vented its fury, shredding the very gap Luo Feng had slipped through. He did not look back. He did not dare. He poured all of his remaining strength into running deeper into the choking, protective tangle of green, praying with every fiber of his being that the cover would hold long enough to grant him a true escape.
Luo Feng barreled forward, his body scraping over stones and hidden roots, his world narrowing to nothing but the motion of escape. His lungs burned with each ragged breath, and his muscles screamed from the constant, brutal strain. He did not know how much longer he could keep this desperate pace. The predator's angry snarls ripped through the undergrowth behind him, each one a grim reminder that it was still there, still hunting, still hungry.
Then his nose struck open air.
The dense green wall abruptly gave way to a break in the earth, a jagged hollow wedged between the thick roots of a long fallen tree. The opening was small, dark, and half choked with a damp litter of dead leaves and crumbling soil. To the cat it was nothing, an insignificant shadow in the brush. But to Luo Feng, it was salvation itself.
Without a single hesitation, he plunged into it, forcing his slender body into the narrow, uninviting crack. Leaves scraped unpleasantly across his scales, soil crumbled under his weight, and for one terrifying moment he thought he was stuck. His chest tightened, pure panic clawing at his mind. But then his body slid deeper, the cool, dark earth seeming to swallow him whole until he was pressed tightly within the confined darkness of the hollow.
The wildcat arrived a heartbeat later, its heavy paws shaking the ground just outside his fragile sanctuary. Luo Feng froze, every muscle locked into absolute stillness, his tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth to silence even the faintest flicker of his breath.
Through the small, fragmented opening, he could see slivers of movement, tawny fur, gleaming eyes filled with predatory focus, the subtle flex of sharp, deadly claws. The beast prowled around the entrance, its wet black nose pushing into the crack, snuffling loudly. The hot, stinking breath of blood and meat washed over him in waves.
The hollow was too small for the cat to enter, but that did not mean Luo Feng was safe. All it would take was one sharp claw hooked into the gap, one strong, determined swipe to collapse the fragile entrance and bury him alive. His heart hammered a violent, frantic rhythm against the packed earth, and he was sure the predator must be able to hear it.