Mist!
A thick, impenetrable mist!
It had suddenly appeared and now shrouded the entire Fulong Mountain.
In such an environment, it was terrifying to walk through it even during the day, let alone at night.
But—extremes beget their opposites!
The earlier fear had gone too far.
He was numb now.
Moreover, he had experienced such scenes too many times in his dreams.
So much so that, as he walked, he could clearly feel the slight tremble from instinctive fear and the goosebumps covering his arms. And yet, deep inside, there was a surge of indescribable realness.
A realness independent of both dream and present reality.
At this moment, he felt truly alive.
He could feel fear, trembling, heat, excitement, madness, and…
Ferocity!
All of it—genuine and vivid.
Every physiological reaction was telling him he was a living, breathing human, bound by emotions and desires.
He placed his phone—with the flashlight on—into the chest pocket of his shirt and moved forward slowly.
Guided by a mysterious sense that something must be out there somewhere, he advanced step by step…
Forward!
Forward!
Keep moving!
Thirty meters, a hundred, three hundred!
After walking less than a mile, Ji Fuyou suddenly stopped.
His eyes stared unblinkingly into the mist, tightly gripping the crowbar in his hand.
Something's there!
There was something out there!
He crouched slightly, preparing for a charge, his eyes locked on the mist: "Come out!"
He growled.
But due to the extreme tension and concentration, his voice was hoarse, barely able to form words.
Finally—
"Come!"
A single word, as concise as possible.
It seemed to be an outburst of the madness from a month—no, four years—of nightmare torment.
It also felt like a provocation.
A challenge to the unknown monster lurking in the mist—
A monster that had yet to show itself, but one Ji Fuyou was sure existed!
Suddenly!
Every hair on his body stood on end.
An unprecedented terror exploded inside him.
It's here!
It's coming!
But unlike last time—when he was so paralyzed by fear that he couldn't move—this time...
His mind burned hot. A fierce surge of energy rose from within, driving away the cold.
Adrenaline!?
Or something else?
It didn't matter anymore!
As the thing in the mist lunged forward, lit faintly by the phone's light, he finally saw clearly what kind of monster it was.
Leopard-man!
He didn't know its real name.
About 1.6 meters tall, with a one-meter tail—like a humanoid leopard standing upright—so he referred to it as "Leopard-man."
A Leopard-man!
The same one from the nightmare that nearly killed him earlier that afternoon!
It's real!
A creature from his dreams had entered reality!
If he could kill it, he could conquer his fear and shatter the nightmare!
The sudden sharp gaze from Ji Fuyou made the Leopard-man, which had been silently approaching to strike, leap back in alarm.
Ji Fuyou gripped his crowbar tightly.
He aimed the conical, unsharpened end at the Leopard-man.
"Monster! Come eat me!"
He was no longer afraid.
His speech was clear now.
In the nightmare, he had died multiple times at the hands of this creature—his throat bitten through, dying from asphyxiation.
He remembered the cold sensation of those fangs piercing his neck vividly.
Having "seen" it so many times, he knew its strengths and weaknesses well.
It was cautious, never attacked prey it couldn't hunt.
It was extremely fast—far faster than humans.
Its claws and teeth could tear flesh with ease.
But it had one fatal flaw—
Even when facing huntable prey, it never attacked directly.
It preferred sneak attacks!
Its usual method—
A pounce, a bite!
And—
It liked biting the neck!
So…
Ji Fuyou adjusted his posture slightly, switching to the best stance for counterattack, perfectly matching the angle the Leopard-man would use to lunge at his neck.
The creature only had to leap to his right, use its inhuman speed, and it could cleanly rip out his throat from the side—
Whoosh!
The Leopard-man moved.
Realizing this human was within its huntable range, its powerful legs launched it forward.
A side-dash!
A pounce, a bite!
Its speed was so explosive it became a blur—
Far too fast for the naked eye to track.
But—
Ji Fuyou didn't need to track it.
His right foot braced, his body spun sharply, and in that violent rotation, he drove the conical end of his crowbar like a lightning strike toward the left front.
He counterattacked purely on instinct!
After dozens of deaths—and nearly killing it earlier that day—his hands were terrifyingly steady.
No shaking.
Not even a little.
Accuracy, speed, and control—perfectly combined—
This strike didn't look like a desperate swing from an ordinary person, but rather the precise, deadly blow of a swordmaster, refined over months of training, unleashed at the peak of life and death!
The crowbar's tip, fueled by incredible stability and acceleration, pierced directly into the Leopard-man's lunging skull.
It looked as if the Leopard-man had impaled itself.
Unbelievable!
But inevitable.
"Die!"
His will exploded!
A month of suppressed fury erupted as the crowbar smashed into bone.
"Sshk!"
Penetration!
Though unsharpened, the tip of the crowbar—driven by brute force—pierced clean through the Leopard-man's skull!
The massive rotational force flung its heavy body, swinging it 180 degrees before slamming it hard into the ground—
Boom!
Dirt flew. The crowbar buried an inch deep.
Steel doesn't believe in carbon-based lifeforms!
Impaled and pinned down, the fierce Leopard-man thrashed violently.
But Ji Fuyou stared wide-eyed, pressing the crowbar down with all his might. Even as blood oozed from torn skin on his palms, he held firm—refusing to let it escape.
Seconds passed.
Maybe one or two breaths.
The Leopard-man, its nervous system destroyed, finally stopped twitching.
But Ji Fuyou still didn't move.
Blood stained the crowbar's handle.
Ten seconds… twenty… thirty…
When the corpse began to cool slightly, Ji Fuyou finally yanked the crowbar free—and without hesitation, stabbed down again!
Thud!
This strike lacked the previous precision, speed, and stability.
It didn't pierce the skull—instead, it slid off and struck the ground.
The backlash burned his hands.
His blood blurred his grip.
But—
Even if it didn't pierce, the Leopard-man didn't react. It was undeniably a corpse.
Dead!
Completely dead!
"You beast!
Scared the hell out of me!"
Ji Fuyou cursed.
But cursing alone couldn't express his emotions.
He couldn't help but laugh.
"Haha! Hahahahaha!"
This laugh—cleansing.
This laugh—liberating!
Rebirth through fire!