The forest was dead silent, without insects or birds.
Bai Ting continued walking back with Chen Bugu on his back, Lin Lin and the others followed behind, while Liu Shifu used Floating to scout ahead.
Everyone remained vigilant, moving very slowly.
Lying on Bai Ting's back, Chen Bugu was still marveling at the miraculous Holy Light of Lin Lin.
Originally, Chen Bugu thought that even if Lin Lin's Holy Light could heal his wounds, he would still need to lie down for another day to recover.
But he didn't expect that after Lin Lin's Holy Light enveloped him for an hour, his broken right leg bone mysteriously reconnected.
The most miraculous thing was that the comminuted fracture in his right arm also miraculously recovered without him noticing.
After this treatment, Chen Bugu felt even more strongly the importance of having a "healer" in the team.
No, it was the importance of having a "top-tier healer"!
An hour of treatment, during which she even managed to stop Bai Ting's bleeding.
Lin Lin rested twice; her mental power was not enough to sustain Holy Light for a long time.
However, midway through treating Chen Bugu, Lin Lin also successfully broke through to Black Iron Two Star.
Her mental power growth was astonishing; despite being only Black Iron Two Star, she had a high mental power of 70 points.
Breaking through to Black Iron Two Star, Lin Lin did not comprehend new skills, but the healing effect of Holy Light seemed to have become stronger.
The wound on Bai Ting's arm healed at a visible speed under the illumination of Lin Lin's Holy Light, which made everyone marvel.
After walking for two continuous hours, they encountered another Goblin squad midway, but fortunately, this time they were all ordinary Goblins.
Bai Ting and Chen Bugu did not make a move; Lin Xiaoxiao and Yan Kuan and the others had already dealt with them.
Chen Bugu noticed that Lin Xiaoxiao's understanding of the use of Mind had also deepened.
Previously, when she activated "Mind power," she would recklessly control the opponent's entire body, but now, she began to learn to control specific parts.
In the recent battle, Chen Bugu watched her use "Mind power" to bind the legs of a running Goblin.
The Goblin lost control of its legs, directly fell in front of her, and she raised her wooden stick and smashed it violently on its head.
Everyone's combat methods were becoming more proficient.
Wang Bin too; he learned to use Ignite to turn his wooden stick into a "fire stick," making attacks more effective, though it used up wooden sticks quickly.
Teacher Lin's Animal Taming skill attack style was wide and powerful.
Charge, knock-up, stomp—a smooth combo could basically take down a Goblin.
Yan Kuan's earth spikes and rock pillars were also controlled more skillfully.
As for Liu Shifu, the Lianxin Crossbow was still with him; he maintained a Floating state, striking from above, making him the most relaxed and safest one.
The battle ended quickly, and everyone basically sustained no injuries.
So, everyone continued to retreat south until an hour later, when dusk began to fall.
Chen Bugu no longer needed Bai Ting to carry him; he could move normally, but Lin Lin kept warning him not to engage in high-intensity combat, otherwise his bones might not withstand it.
He still needed at least a few more hours of rest before he could fully recover.
Chen Bugu nodded, reassuring her that there shouldn't be any battles for a short while.
"Everyone, it's getting dark soon, and visibility is getting lower and lower; it's not safe to keep going."
"Moreover, we are now far from the Goblin gathering place, so we should be temporarily safe; let's rest here for the night, everyone is tired."
In fact, their current location should be exactly on the edge of the Goblin gathering place.
After dark, the Starting Forest was indeed unsafe.
Chen Bugu still remembered that in his previous life, on the first night in the Starting Forest, their team rested in place, but that night, people went missing one after another.
It wasn't until the next day, when everyone found the clothes of the missing individuals not far away, that they realized only their skeletons remained.
To this day, Chen Bugu still doesn't know what kind of magical beast did that.
However, what was certain was that the night in the Initial Forest was very dangerous.
"Ah, finally we can rest, to be honest, I'm really exhausted."
Wang Bin leaned against a tree and sat down; he looked very tired.
In fact, it wasn't just Wang Bin; everyone's stamina was almost at its limit.
After emerging from the Yu Tan Tunnel, everyone had not stopped, and during that time, they had been constantly fighting monsters, long since exhausted.
Chen Bugu took the backpack from Lin Lin.
Previously, worried that the backpack would be damaged during combat, Chen Bugu had decided early on to let Lin Lin carry it.
Lin Lin, unable to directly participate in combat, always felt she couldn't help much, so she didn't refuse either.
Chen Bugu took out the limited food and water and distributed them to everyone.
Five chocolates, two almond crisps, a small bag of flatbread, and a bottle of mineral water—this was all their current supplies.
Each person ultimately received only a tiny bit of food.
"We only have this much food; I suggest everyone not eat it all at once, save half for the next meal."
Chen Bugu's chocolate was only half-bitten; he carefully wrapped it up and put it back in his pocket.
They were all Awakeneds now and needed more energy; ordinary food would require much larger quantities to meet their intake needs.
But they had no choice now; food shortage had become the biggest crisis at hand.
Originally, Chen Bugu planned to hunt some magical beasts, then process them using his experience from his previous life, and then replenish their food supply.
But unfortunately, he and his group were currently in Goblin territory.
Weak and edible magical beasts had probably long since become food reserves for those Goblins.
This was why they hadn't encountered any magical beasts other than Goblins along the way.
"Gurgle gurgle…"
Yan Kuan's stomach made an uncooperative sound.
"This isn't nearly enough to fill me up."
"If this continues, we'll starve to death before those monsters kill us."
Sighing, reason ultimately triumphed over desire, and he put the remaining half of the almond crisp into his pocket.
Liu Shifu sat on the other side, tightly clutching the red whistle in his hand, reminiscing about his wife and children.
Everyone was silent, unable to speak.
The sky gradually darkened, and darkness spread like a tide, not only swallowing the last vestiges of light but also engulfing everyone.
The already gloomy forest instantly became pitch black.
In the darkness, fear, confusion, and unease silently spread, and the atmosphere became extremely oppressive.
Chen Bugu knew he had to do something, otherwise the other members of this team would give up on themselves before being defeated by external forces.
"Bang~"
A point of light dispelled the darkness, and the flames brought a hint of warmth.
Everyone instinctively looked towards the direction of the firelight.
They saw Chen Bugu holding a fireball, silently standing up, picking up branches and dry leaves from the ground.
He threw the collected branches and dry leaves into the middle of the group, then tossed the fireball onto them.
The flames danced, instantly consuming the branches and dry leaves, and a bonfire was thus formed.
"Haven't you played games? Firelight attracts monsters!"
Wang Bin stood up with a "whoosh"; years of gaming experience told him that it was absolutely not the time to light an open flame.
"You must have played 'Hunger,' right? If we don't light a fire, we won't just be attacked by unseen monsters; we might even be swallowed by the darkness, and once our Minds can't take it anymore, we'll die all the same."
Chen Bugu stood in front of Wang Bin, not letting him extinguish the flames; he knew very well that everyone needed this fire now.
Wang Bin was stunned; he didn't expect Chen Bugu to use "Hunger" as an example.
"Hunger" was also a classic survival game, where characters in the game had to light torches at night, otherwise they would not only be attacked by monsters but also continuously lose sanity points, eventually suffering a mental breakdown and dying.
Wang Bin was about to say something else, but Chen Bugu directly interrupted him.
"It's fine, trust me; compared to being inexplicably attacked in the dark, at least the firelight can give us more time to react."
Chen Bugu wasn't just talking nonsense; their current location should be exactly on the outskirts of the Goblin territory.
Other magical beasts would not easily approach, and Goblins did not have a habit of hunting at night, so this place was relatively safer.
Chen Bugu stood in the center of the group, and everyone silently looked at him.
Clearly, everyone could tell that Chen Bugu still had something to say.
The man's profile looked quite serious in the firelight.
Immediately after, his first sentence once again made everyone pause.
"I'm sorry, everyone, I lied to you…"