Chapter 25

In the pale gray mist, Lumian woke up.

He immediately rolled out of bed and rushed to the window, looking outside.

The mountain peak, made of reddish-brown stones and reddish earth, stood quietly in the wilderness as usual.

Although it was only twenty to thirty meters high, it gave the impression of piercing the clouds and connecting to the sky, so much so that Lumian instinctively referred to it as a "mountain peak."

At its base, the collapsed buildings of various states formed concentric circles, layer upon layer, spreading outward.

"That monster with the hunting rifle, from its body structure, is definitely good at running and jumping, and it also has a certain level of intelligence, capable of using relatively complex weapons like a hunting rifle...

"It has a very strong tracking ability...

"I'm not sure if it has any supernatural abilities like Orol...

"..."

The various details about the target surfaced in Lumian's mind.

He initially judged that if he were to face the monster with the hunting rifle head-on, his probability of being killed would be as high as ninety percent. If he tried to use his special abilities, he would die even faster, because once he entered a meditative state, he could put himself in a near-death condition, and the monster would only need a simple strike to finish him off.

Besides not being able to face it head-on, an ambush assassination was also not within Lumian's consideration—firstly, given the monster's tracking ability, he might not be able to truly hide himself, making an ambush impossible, and secondly, he had no ranged weapons; even if he had a revolver, he wouldn't be in such a difficult situation now.

Over the past two days, Lumian had repeatedly thought about how to deal with the monster, and in the end, he could only think of one method:

Using traps!

He had once gone into the deep mountains with the village hunters and learned how to set some simple traps, and later, he became proficient through a few pranks.

Lumian originally thought of using the oil at home, for example, putting it in an open large bucket, placing it at a hidden high spot, tying it with a rope, and when the target came, immediately pulling the rope to tip the bucket, drenching the target in oil, and then throwing a lit torch.

But after careful consideration, he abandoned this idea.

Given the monster's strong tracking ability, its sense of smell must be highly overestimated!

The smell of oil is quite noticeable.

If he used another strong smell to cover it, Lumian was unsure if the monster would change its strategy, or if it could detect even the slightest discrepancy like a wild dog.

In the end, he chose to dig deep pits and bury sharp stakes.

This also had its problems: with the monster's tracking ability, there was a high probability it would detect the anomaly and see through the trap.

Lumian's strategy was to try to lower its guard and exploit cognitive biases.

In short, he could only hope to outsmart it, using the greatest advantage of being human in a situation where his weapons were inferior to the target.

"At least from last time, it has some intelligence but not too high..." Lumian consoled himself.

Of course, he wouldn't underestimate the monster because of this; he planned to consider its intelligence at the level of a normal person.

The reference person was Ponce Bane.

"No, that guy is too stupid. If he didn't have so many henchmen, I would have made him kneel and call me dad long ago." Lumian thought for a moment and cautiously raised his estimate of the monster's intelligence. "Hmm, treat it like an uneducated parish priest."

He looked out the window again, his gaze fixed on the wilderness between his home and the ruins.

This place was closer to the "safe zone" and was the safest for him, but it lacked cover, making it unsuitable for an ambush.

"Digging traps is fine, but if I use myself as bait, the monster can see me from a distance and shoot me directly, without even coming over..." Lumian muttered a few words and decided to take the risk of entering the ruins to find a suitable place to set the trap.

The plan, which already had a draft, quickly took shape in his mind, with only one last point to confirm:

Digging deep pits and burying sharp stakes would take a lot of time, and Lumian couldn't command the monster to wait until he was done.

After some thought, Lumian spread his arms in a "hugging the sun" pose, praying more devoutly than ever before:

"My god, my father, please protect me in dealing with that monster.

"Praise the sun!"

Most things in the world can't be done with absolute certainty, and Lumian no longer hesitated. He picked up a steel fork and an axe, left the bedroom, and entered the study.

Considering the target's weapon, he decided to change his "protective gear."

Lumian took off his cotton coat and tied hardcover books to his chest and back with ropes.

This was homemade "paper armor"!

Vaguely, he remembered his sister once saying that this might cause internal injuries, but he couldn't afford to worry about that now.

Lumian moved his body to confirm that the current number of books wouldn't overly affect his combat ability.

He put on the leather jacket again and went down to the basement, searching for materials that might be needed to set the trap.

Soon, he had an iron shovel in his hand and a rope around his waist—this was for climbing and making a rope net to replace branches.

After completing the preparations, Lumian took a deep breath and pulled the front door open with his right hand, which held the iron axe.

The pale gray mist spread over the wilderness, and he walked step by step toward the mountain peak that seemed to be stained with blood.

In the dead silence, Lumian reached the edge of the ruins.

He first walked sideways for a distance, threw the iron shovel, steel fork, and rope into the dark corner of a collapsed building, and then returned to the place where he had entered the ruins with only the axe.

He made no abnormal movements as he explored, slowly moving deeper into the ruins as he had done before.

When he reached the place where the three-faced monster had scared him away, he paused for nearly a minute before turning back.

Halfway through, he began to take a detour, heading toward the collapsed building where he had left the iron shovel and steel fork.

As he approached the destination, Lumian began to observe the terrain, looking for a suitable place to set the trap.

"There's a relatively wide but not long crack here. With a little modification, it would be a good trap and save me a lot of time. The other one might take a long time, so I can only hope the monster doesn't track me so quickly..."

Lumian retrieved the iron shovel and other items, returned to the chosen location, and quickly set up the trap.

After initially modifying the crack, he used the axe to cut and sharpen pieces of wood, placing them at the bottom of the trap. Then, he wove a rope net, laid it over the trap, and covered it with a layer of loose soil, making it as consistent as possible with the surroundings.

After completing this, he pretended to be the monster, tracking himself to this trap.

"If it can detect this trap, it will definitely choose to go around or even jump over it, probably ending up at this position...

"What I need is for it to see me only when it gets here and not before, so I can only hide here..." Lumian measured the distance with his feet and identified the direction with his eyes, slowly approaching a relatively intact wall.

He squatted there and confirmed the line of sight.

Then, he began to dig the second trap.

This was a setup for "normal humans":

When a person tracking a target discovers a trap set by the target and easily detects it, finding the enemy hiding nearby, they are likely to feel very pleased and eager, ignoring the possibility of a second trap and rushing toward the prey.

Ordinary intelligence is prone to such cognitive biases or blind spots.

Lumian only hoped the monster's intelligence was below the average human level; otherwise, he would have to turn and run, likely to be caught and die somewhere in the wilderness, or have a small chance of escaping back to his home and hiding in the "safe zone."

The abnormality in Cordu Village forced him to risk his life.

Time passed minute by minute, and Lumian finally finished the second trap, but the monster with the hunting rifle had not appeared.

The same was true for other monsters.

He could finally relax a bit, hiding the iron shovel and other items, standing up, and spreading his arms.

"Praise the sun!" This time, he was even more sincere.

Lumian then crouched beside the wall, half-squatting, and stared at the first trap.

From where he had come, this place was not visible due to a collapsed building blocking the view.

He patiently waited.

Thump, thump, thump... Lumian clearly felt his heart rate accelerating.

For him, this was an unprecedented experience.

When he was a wanderer, he had faced "enemies" older and stronger than himself, but the goal was not to kill each other, but to compete for food, money, and suitable sleeping places. Even if someone died in the process, it was considered an accident.

Now, the enemy he was about to face was a monster that did not follow human laws and morals, and was much stronger than him, possibly even possessing some supernatural abilities. If his plan had any flaws, his fate was predictable.

Thump, thump, thump... Lumian was inevitably highly tense.

No one wants to live a good life, and he was no exception.

Inhale, exhale... inhale, exhale...

Lumian began deep breathing to adjust his tense state.

But it didn't seem to have much effect.

For a moment, he both hoped the monster would come soon and feared its arrival.

The former was because it would end the situation quickly, and regardless of the outcome, at least Lumian wouldn't be as tense and on the verge of collapse as he was now. The latter was simply out of fear.

Seeing that his state would only get worse, he told himself, "This is to not drag Orol down," and tried to meditate.

The crimson sun was harder to visualize than usual, but with Lumian's efforts, it eventually appeared.

This calmed him down a bit, though his body still trembled slightly.

At that moment, he heard a slight noise.

It was as if there was a grass field where his eyes couldn't see, and a shepherd was quietly approaching.