Without the bright flame of the torch or the white light of the flashlight, the entire shelter number two was pitch-black, with only a little light shining through a large hole on the first floor.

Outside, Oreo's barking continued, but the other two barks changed their pitch.

For some reason, Su Mo heard a human emotion from the two barks. 

'Are they making fun of it?'

'Or is it contempt?'

Step by step, Su Mo walked steadily on the steps in the dark, the human fear in his eyes fading rapidly, replaced by a touch of beastly calmness.

He focused, and the game panel appeared. He clicked on the illustration handbook's scanning function.

[No mutant beast presence detected within a thousand-meter radius of the player.]

[Today's count 0/3]

He had run out of chances and failed to scan the face of the creatures outside. Su Mo got tenser.

Crouching at the corner between the first and second floors, Su Mo positioned his crossbow on the railing at the stairway and quietly aimed at the hole where he got down from. 

"Awoo~ Awoo~"

"Woof~"

Hearing Oreo's panic and aggrieved voice and another barking of contempt outside, Su Mo bit his lip.

"Run, Oreo! Let them in!"

Su Mo silently roared to himself, wishing that Oreo would be wise enough to run away.

If the enemy was alone, Su Mo had the confidence to charge out and confront them.

However, once the number of unknown creatures exceeds 1, humans could only defeat them by relying on their intelligence, which was different from beasts.

Suddenly, Oreo's high-pitched cry rang, followed by two more short cries and then another high-pitched cry.

Su Mo's calm face lit up with joy at the sound.

It was at the shelter that Su Mo taught Oreo its first letter for two days while they could not go outside.

In Morse code, it was the first letter of running, R.

It meant there was a strong enemy outside and detour.

Sure enough, after Oreo finished that note, two joyful barks rang outside.

Su Mo watched along the gaping hole closely.

Two footsteps hit the soil, and the sound of footsteps on the ground had already faintly rung in the hole, and Su Mo could hear it after it reflected off the wall.

"Lighter than my footstep. Not very heavy. My initial suspicion is that it's an animal that can walk upright."

It did not matter if he did not know how to differentiate from the sound. After a while of careful listening, Su Mo was relieved by his comparison.

The footsteps were crisp in the front and back. They were not at all canine mammals and were akin to a human.

The voice was very soft, indicating that they were not heavyweight and did not possess overwhelming strength and speed.

One second...

Two seconds...

...

As the sound got closer and closer, the two unidentified creatures finally approach the mouth of the cave.

"Woof awoo hiss hiss woof woo woof deet woof chi woof?"

"Woof poof woof bing woof hiss woo woo woof!"

The two pieces of iron and rope obviously attracted the attention of the unknown creature, and a headachingly inexplicable sound came through the opening.

I can't understand them!

Su Mo could only concentrate and carefully analyze the two creatures' moods from the voice.

"Fortunately, the second creature's tone was assured. The first one was a little doubtful, but they got over it after saying something."

Su Mo's heart was hanging in the air, afraid that two monsters would be waiting for him at the mouth of the cave or that more monsters would be called over to use the huge-crowd strategy.

Two stupid dogs... Oh no, two "people" were obviously not very intelligent.

Even the braver one was already hanging on to Su Mo's rope and walked down.

In the bright part of the hole, a black leg covered in fur had appeared in Su Mo's view.

A boot made of an unknown material was wrapped around the foot.

"It's so thin they look like two bamboo monsters. They probably won't be much of a fight!"

Holding the crossbow by the rear handle, Su Mo put his finger on the trigger and stared at the figure that was about to land.

Another small leg dropped, and the figure appeared in a long animal skin dress like a primitive man.

Before Su Mo could continue his observation, the monster suddenly dropped sharply, and its whole body came into view.

"Holy shit!"

Su Mo had a clear view of the monster because of the light in the cave.

The horror in his heart almost drove him to scream.

"Is this... a kobold?"

The monster that slid down had a scaly upper body. The color changed from dark brown on the lower part of the body to black on the upper part.

If not examined carefully, the head looked slightly like an abstract dog head. It had two small pale horns, shining eyes, and a straight rat tail.

Coupled with the monster's sound earlier, Su Mo knew almost instantly that these two monsters were the legendary monsters that everyone was familiar with in games...

Kobold!

"Woof hiss hiss hiss!"

Su Mo forcibly resisted the impulse to shoot. He calmly watched the kobold, who had just slipped down and was shouting for its partner.

One spear was dropped and taken by the kobold, who came down first. Another wooden stick dropped, and the kobold placed it on the ground.

Then a second kobold began to slide down the rope.

They were probably from different breeds. The second kobold's legs were streaked with blood, rising from its ankles to its profile.

The latter kobold seemed to have a more delicate hide skirt, having a subtle aristocratic feeling.

When both got down, kobold number one kicked the miserable skull aside, making way for the aristocratic kobold.

When all was done, the aristocratic kobold patted the dust off itself, picked up its wooden stick, and began to look around.

At the same time, Su Mo looked away and lowered his head gently, allowing the railings of the staircase to block the kobolds' view.

It was not easy to see in the dark from a bright area.

However...

Su Mo dared not gamble it.

"The world is too insane. Do you know what kobolds are?"

Biologists would have been ecstatic, shouting that they had discovered a new intelligent animal.

However, without extensive testing, they could only give a rough rundown of the habits of this new creature.

Fortunately, the two kobolds did not seem to care at all whether there was anyone inside. They just started rummaging around inside shelter number two.

"Should I kill kobold number one or the aristocratic kobold first?"

After a moment's hesitation.

Su Mo decided to kill the kobold with the spear first.

Under these circumstances, he could only take one shot with the crossbow arrow. He would not have time to reload the crossbow.

Therefore, the first monster to get rid of was of course the one that posed the greatest threat.

Of the two, Su Mo chose the kobold number one, who was the easiest to identify and also appeared to be holding a murder weapon.

He looked up and stared at the kobold number one, who was rummaging under the table.

Su Mo's finger was on the trigger.

Slightly moving the angle of the crossbow, Su Mo made each move as slow and as steady as possible, making sure that no sound of metal against metal was heard.

The two "cute kobolds" had no response at all. They were still talking and searching.

They were trying to find something valuable enough.

Swoosh!

A shrill sound suddenly rang in the dark shelter.

Then a splash of blood erupted from kobold number one's neck.

The acid rain-coated crossbow arrow almost killed it right away. Unprotected by skin, it rapidly eroded kobold number one's fragile veins.

The next moment, all you could hear in the shelter was the sound of blood trickling.

After checking thrice and deciding that kobold number one was no longer a threat, Su Mo stepped onto the first floor in two steps instead of three.

He hurled his crossbow hard at the aristocratic kobold to disrupt his line of sight.

He focused and summoned the Japanese Oak Spear before rushing over.

"Hiyah! Hiyah! You darn thing. Watch me puncture you. Ah ah ah ah!"

Su Mo let go of all his power and screamed as hard as he could as he charged forward.

The thunderous cry echoed back and forth through shelter number two like a dull thunder roar, making people's eardrums hurt.

The kobold on the other side was also scared by the noise. It stopped what it was doing and almost fell over.

However, Su Mo was still too slow when he charged forward. The darkness of the shelter and the obstacles at his feet made him afraid to do so without any hesitation.

It also gave the aristocratic kobold a chance to catch its breath.

A flash of fire started to converge in the kobold's hand, and before Su Mo could reach it, it had turned into a small fireball.

"F*ck! What is this?"