Chapter Forty-Five: The Black Forest

  Wang Chu came to the window and pulled open the dark green curtains. At this moment, the sky was already bright, and a few sparrows landed on the branches, chirping non-stop, adding some vitality to the campus that had been dead silent all night. Wang Chu went to the door and opened the iron gate that had been closed all night, and a refreshing gust of air hit his nose. Wang Chu couldn't help but take a few deep breaths, as if he had suddenly dispelled the stale air in his body and became refreshed and spirited. He admired the lush green lawn not far from the house, feeling carefree and relaxed, and suddenly wanted to sleep beautifully on that soft lawn.

  But as soon as he stepped out of the laboratory, the fresh and beautiful scenery outside suddenly turned desolate and gloomy. Everything changed, and what appeared before his eyes seemed to be an endless terrifying dark forest. The trees seemed to have withered and died, but their surface was like being coated with a layer of sticky black oil, which had no smell.

  The prince was shocked and lost his color, immediately turned around and went back to the house, but at this time, there were no houses behind him. Every building in the campus had disappeared, and he was now completely surrounded by a seemingly endless black forest. The trees inside the forest were almost every one of them towering trees, tens of meters high, with dry branches crisscrossing each other in a chaotic manner, as if they were woven into a wooden frame that could hold up the sky.

  "Daughter! What... what kind of place is this? How did I end up here?" A string of questions floated into Wang Cang's mind.

  "Could it be... could it be..." Wang Chu's heart suddenly tightened, the only explanation was that he was now in the world of the boundary. If so, then Tian Mi must also be in this terrifying forest, and he had to find her as soon as possible, or else she would be in danger.

  In such a vast forest, finding someone is like looking for a needle in the ocean. The prince couldn't help but let out a faint sigh. With no clue about Tian Mi's whereabouts, he had to randomly choose a direction and start searching aimlessly. The sound of his footsteps on the tree branches echoed with his heartbeat, "crack, crack".

  After walking for a long time, Wang Zhuo suddenly felt that someone was quietly following him behind his back. Wang Zhuo suddenly stopped in his tracks, and the feeling of being followed immediately disappeared.

  "Was it just my imagination? But that voice was so realistic!" Wang Chu recalled the "creaking, creaking" sound from behind him earlier, a sound almost identical to the one coming from beneath his feet.

  The prince continued to move forward, but this time he was much more cautious, his senses heightened as he felt every breeze and rustle behind him, no matter how small, even the sound of an ant. But half a moment passed, and it seemed that there was nothing unusual behind him, so the prince let out a long breath, and his expression relaxed a lot.

  But he didn't know that at this moment, behind a certain tree behind him, a pair of black eyes were staring at him.

  The prince walked for a while longer, but unexpectedly discovered that there was a small path in front of him. This unexpected discovery gave the prince a glimmer of hope, and he thought that this path might lead him out of the forest.

  The prince continued along the path, and suddenly there was a glimmer in front of him. The end of the path was a small wooden house, with a faint yellow light flickering inside. If he wasn't mistaken, it must be the flame of a candle or an oil lamp. In this desolate place, it was almost impossible to have electricity, and besides, he wasn't even sure what era he was in now. It was possible that he had traveled back hundreds of years, or maybe it wasn't time travel at all, but rather space travel. The people here might be monsters, which wasn't entirely impossible. Being mentally prepared was necessary.

  The prince quietly approached the wooden door and knocked twice "Dong, Dong"

  "Is anyone there?" Wang Cang asked in a low voice.

  The prince waited for a moment, but no one responded. He pushed open the wooden door, which let out a harsh creaking sound. As soon as he entered, he was startled by a sudden fright. A thin woman sat quietly in front of the mirror, holding a red comb in her hand and repeatedly combing her black hair. The woman's back was turned to him, and the reflection on the mirror was blocked by the woman's head and body, so the prince couldn't see her face at all.

  The prince was about to take a step forward when an old, hoarse voice stopped him.

  "Halt!"

  Wang Chu was startled and thought to himself, "This woman's voice sounds like she's at least 70 years old, so why is her hair still so black?" He then said: "I... I'm sorry for disturbing you. I wanted to ask if you've seen a girl who's very pretty and cute. She was wearing pajamas, do you know if you've seen her?"

  "A girl? Oh! I think I just saw a girl running in that direction, she looked very frightened! There's an old witch in this forest who likes to use young and beautiful girls for beauty treatments, so now she looks like she's only in her 20s. I think the girl has been targeted by her, hehehe!" The woman pointed to the left with a slow and sinister tone, her voice sending chills down the spine.

  "What? The old witch? Where is she?" The crown prince's mind was a mess as he hastily asked.

  The woman didn't speak again but stretched out her hand and pointed to the left.

  The prince immediately turned around and rushed out of the door, running in the direction the woman had pointed, and in his haste he didn't even consider whether what the woman had said was true or false.

  Wang Chu ran all the way, and the more he went forward, the denser the trees became. Some of the trees were even less than half a meter apart. Wang Chu suddenly seemed to have discovered something, and he abruptly turned around, staring straight at a tree as if his eyes could see through it to what was behind. In a low voice, he said, "Who's there? Come out!"

  At this time, suddenly behind that tree came a few "crack" sounds, like the sound of branches breaking. Wang Cang was all too familiar with this sound and hastily shouted: "Don't run, stop right there!"

  There is still one more in the afternoon