Magic Space: Struggling to Survive in the Apocalypse-Chapter 89: Unidentified Creature

’Why are there so many new footprints?’

The first thing Evelyn Ford did every morning was walk a lap around her yard to check for signs of approaching animals.

And sure enough, there were many new footprints outside the fence. The prints weren’t large; Evelyn suspected they were from roe deer or wild boars.

The hot tea in her cup was steaming one moment and cooling the next.

Evelyn Ford checked the temperature. It had stabilized at minus ten degrees Celsius for the past two days with no signs of dropping further. The sky was a hazy gray, without a single sliver of light.

Evelyn checked the pond. A thick layer of ice had already formed on its surface.

Time passed, and it was New Year’s Day. For once, Evelyn didn’t sleep in. She got up and cleaned the wooden cabin from top to bottom. A new year had begun.

The snowman she had built in the yard was now buried under more snow. The accumulation had reached a meter deep. Evelyn climbed onto the roof and scraped the snow off with a shovel.

Around noon, a light rain began to fall. It didn’t feel exceptionally cold as long as it wasn’t raining, but once it started—even a drizzle—a bone-chilling cold would set in.

Evelyn changed into a red crocheted sweater and scarf. Her hair had grown a lot, now covering her ears.

Soup was simmering on the stove in the kitchen. Evelyn rubbed her red nose and quickly went inside the cabin.

Since she had already put up the "Fu" character decoration, there wasn’t much else to do for the new year. She idled around the house all day and had dinner at five in the afternoon.

Evelyn put on her overcoat, planning to go out and burn the trash. The iron bin was full, and she couldn’t leave it for the next year.

The smell of burning trash was awful, so Evelyn stood a little farther away.

There seemed to be some noise coming from the mountain forest behind her. Evelyn took out her Crossbow and decided to go take a look. Maybe she could catch the uninvited guest that had been loitering outside her fence lately.

’As long as it’s not wolves, it’s a minor problem.’ After all, wolves were pack animals and held grudges. Evelyn had no desire to make enemies of them.

She advanced at a steady pace. The snow was now so thick and hard that she no longer sank into it with every step.

As she entered the forest, Evelyn heard a loud THUD, like something heavy had fallen. She picked up her pace. When she spotted a black, unidentified lump about twenty meters ahead, she immediately raised her Crossbow and cautiously approached.

The lump moved. Evelyn instantly fired a Crossbow Arrow. However, when the lump came into full view, she was stunned.

It was a person, curled up in the snow—a wretched figure in ragged clothes, not even wearing shoes.

Seeing the blood spreading across the snow, Evelyn hurried forward to check the person’s injuries.

But just then, a pair of hands suddenly clamped around her neck. Startled, Evelyn drove the dagger in her hand straight into her attacker’s chest before he could snap her neck.

The hands on her neck hadn’t fully released their grip, but the force had lessened. Evelyn pressed down on the dagger, pushing it deeper.

As she struggled with the person, she saw a mud-caked face beneath a mess of tangled hair. His hands were huge. Evelyn saw an Adam’s apple—it was a man.

The hands slowly dropped. Thinking the man was dead for sure, Evelyn sat to the side, gasping for breath.

SQUELCH... Evelyn turned her head and saw that the man she thought was dead had stood up ramrod straight. He pulled the dagger from his chest, then yanked out the Crossbow Arrow that had pierced his ribs.

The gushing blood splattered onto the snow, instantly staining a large patch red.

Evelyn stared intently at the man, raising her Crossbow again. But just as she fired the Crossbow Arrow, the man dodged and caught it in his hand.

Evelyn stared in disbelief. A Crossbow Arrow traveled incredibly fast, almost like a bullet, yet this person had actually caught it.

That wasn’t the main point. The main point was that her two ambushes had failed to kill him. He was tall, nearly one-point-nine meters, and his hair completely obscured his face. Evelyn couldn’t see his eyes.

The man suddenly pulled open his clothes. Evelyn saw that the wound on his chest was no longer bleeding; instead, it was bizarrely beginning to heal. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Evelyn bit her tongue to force herself to calm down. A thought suddenly occurred to her.

’Could it be... from when I broke into that tomb in the karst cave? Did I bring something unclean out with me?’

He slowly approached Evelyn. He twirled the Crossbow Arrow in his hand, and the arrowhead immediately pointed at her.

Evelyn didn’t back down. ’Man or ghost, I’m going to kill him today.’

Imperceptibly, Evelyn pulled a gun from her space. It was already loaded. She narrowed her eyes and, as the man approached again, pulled the trigger.

This was her first time using a gun. It wasn’t much different from the Crossbow. However, in the next second, the gun was in the man’s hands. The person who had been three meters away was suddenly right in front of her.

There were only ten centimeters between her and the man. She could even smell the scent coming from his clothes.

Evelyn’s heart pounded. It was the first time she had ever felt such an intense threat.

"Who are you?" Evelyn asked in a low voice.

The man’s gaze shifted from the gun he’d snatched. He suddenly bent down, drew close to Evelyn, and, like a puppy, began sniffing her.

He didn’t answer. Evelyn tried to back away, but a hand clamped down on her shoulder.

Evelyn pulled an Imperial Blade from her space. It was the sharpest of all her blades, capable of cutting through iron as if it were mud.

As the man’s sniffing moved from her face to her neck and was about to go lower, the Imperial Blade in Evelyn’s hand SQUELCHED as she thrust it into his abdomen.

The man straightened up. He grabbed Evelyn’s arm with one hand, and with a CRACK, her arm was dislocated.

"Ah...!" Evelyn cried out in pain. Her attacker, meanwhile, pulled out the Imperial Blade again, splattering her overcoat with the gush of blood.

"Are you from the karst cave? Did I disturb you a few days ago?"

In Evelyn’s mind, the "person" before her wasn’t a person at all. What normal human could teleport? Who could catch a Crossbow Arrow? Who could survive being stabbed multiple times, not only not dying but having their wounds heal rapidly?

Evelyn started to regret entering that cave. She suspected the thing before her was a "zombie." The world was vast and full of strange things. If she could be reborn, then it wasn’t impossible for zombies to appear.

"I didn’t destroy anything in there. I just took some porcelain. I’ll give it all back to you. After I give it back, can you leave?"

Evelyn tightened her grip on her Crossbow. She was going to fire repeatedly, turn him into a pincushion. She refused to believe he still wouldn’t die.

Just then, he suddenly moved closer to her. Evelyn warily shuffled backward.

A gust of wind blew his messy hair aside, revealing a pair of eyes with different-colored pupils. Evelyn froze.

’This...’

And at that very moment, he suddenly collapsed, fainting right on top of her.

Evelyn kicked him off her. She waited a few minutes, but the man didn’t wake up. Looking at her dislocated arm, she kicked him again in a fit of anger.