A thunderous roar tore through the forest.
It wasn't merely sound.
It was authority.
It was rage.
It was dominance carved into the air itself.
Leaves trembled violently. Birds erupted from the canopy in chaotic flocks. Even the insects seemed to fall silent.
Lin Feng froze.
A chill crept from the base of his spine to the tip of his tail. It wasn't the fear of prey sensing a predator.
It was something deeper.
This was instinct bowing to a king.
"That's the Alpha…" he muttered inwardly, golden pupils narrowing.
The pressure behind that roar was overwhelming. Whoever had made it wasn't simply strong. It was established. Confident. Furious.
And it was calling out to him.
To the killer of its pack.
Lin Feng lowered his body immediately and began moving—slow, controlled, silent. Running blindly would only waste stamina. If he was to survive, he needed clarity.
"If I face him now, I'll die," he calculated coldly. "Level 5 is nothing."
He needed Level 20.
He needed evolution.
Without that transformation, he was still nothing more than a slightly abnormal lizard with ambition far beyond his strength.
For hours he searched for prey.
Insects. Rodents. Small reptiles. Anything.
Nothing.
The forest felt wrong. Still. Watching.
The Alpha's roar had changed the ecosystem. Everything weaker had retreated into hiding.
"Damn it…" he hissed internally.
Just as he shifted direction—
"Crunch"
A footstep.
Lin Feng froze instantly.
From between the trees emerged a silver wolf.
It wasn't hunting randomly. Its nose skimmed the ground, following scent trails with focus.
Tracking.
"A scout…"
Lin Feng's eyes sharpened.
"If I eliminate it quickly—"
The wolf suddenly stopped.
Its head lifted.
Yellow eyes locked onto golden.
Its nostrils flared.
The wolf inhaled sharply—
And howled.
Not a desperate cry.
Not fear.
A signal.
Lin Feng's pupils constricted.
"I didn't even attack—!"
The undergrowth exploded.
One wolf burst from the left. Another from the right. A third from behind.
They had planned this.
They were herding him.
Lin Feng bolted.
Branches whipped past his body. Leaves slashed against his scales. His lungs burned as he pushed his small body to its limit.
Agility 9.
Not enough.
The wolves moved with terrifying coordination. They didn't rush recklessly. They cut angles. Predicted turns. Closed space with discipline.
They weren't beasts.
They were hunters.
Then he saw it ahead.
The forest floor split apart into a jagged ravine—stone edges sharp and uneven, descending into shadow. It wasn't extremely wide, but the drop was deep enough to shatter bones.
"If I cross it, they'll hesitate."
He poured every ounce of strength into his limbs and sprinted.
Behind him, paws thundered closer.
Hot breath grazed his tail.
Now.
He leapt.
For a heartbeat, he flew.
Wind rushed past his ears.
Claws stretched forward—
Stone scraped under his forelimbs.
Too short.
His body slammed against the opposite ledge, momentum lost.
Claws failed to find purchase.
The world tilted.
Then he fell.
Stone battered his body as he tumbled down the ravine wall. Scales tore. One hind leg twisted violently. His vision blurred from impact after impact.
Finally—
Crash.
He struck the bottom hard.
Air exploded from his lungs.
For several long seconds, he couldn't breathe.
Pain radiated everywhere. His body trembled uncontrollably.
System notifications flickered faintly at the edge of his vision, but he ignored them.
He wasn't dead.
But he was hurt.
Carefully, slowly, he tried to move.
His right hind leg screamed in protest. Not broken—but strained badly. Several scales along his flank were cracked, and warm blood trickled between the stone beneath him.
Above, shadows passed across the ravine's edge.
The wolves.
They peered down.
They didn't jump.
They didn't descend.
They just watched.
Then, after a few tense moments, they retreated.
Lin Feng's breathing slowed.
"They're not afraid of the fall," he realized.
"They're afraid of what's down here."
The air was damp.
Cooler.
And carried a strange scent—earthy, sharp… organized.
A faint clicking echoed through the darkness.
Not random.
Rhythmic.
Claws scraped against stone somewhere deeper within the ravine.
Lin Feng forced himself upright despite the pain. His injured leg trembled, but it held.
Golden eyes adjusted to the dim light.
Along the ravine wall, partially hidden behind loose stone and tangled roots, he saw it.
A narrow opening.
Not natural erosion.
Structured.
Deliberate.
An entrance.
And from within that darkness, dozens of tiny black shapes moved in precise formation.
Ants.
But not ordinary ants.
Each one was the size of his head.
Their mandibles gleamed faintly in the low light.
A colony.
Lin Feng's mind raced.
Ants could lift many times their body weight.
If that rule applied here…
His pain dulled under a new surge of calculation.
"This might be dangerous…"
His eyes gleamed.
"But it might also be opportunity."
Above him ruled a wolf king.
Below him thrived something different.
Something organized.
Something strong.
Lin Feng steadied his breathing.
Level 20 felt impossibly far moments ago.
Now—
He might have just found a shortcut.