Murim Recurve

<Ding>

[Quest: The Other Side of a Quest.]

[Quest Description: Swetha's mother led a different sequence of events before and had arrived at a different outcome thanks to your interference. Now, her original timeline is playing out. Find her, and see the end of her journey.]

[Quest Clue: She's Alive.]

[Quest Duration: Until the end of exploration.]

[Reward: 1 Prana Stone]

[Punishment: 1 Damage]

Re'Kha looked at the window on her right, noticing the words appear automatically on it. And, unlike before, there was a single extra line added in the Quest window.

'She's Alive…?' Re'Kha frowned as she looked at the tree once again, noticing how the figure with the brown pyjama had disappeared. The scene she saw before when the figure flashed the light frightened her.

The tree was only nine metres tall. Its branches were young and sturdy, an obvious sign of maintenance and nurturing by the caretakers. But now, on each of its branches were tied a dead body, using its intestines as a rope to tie it around.

Their body weights caused the branches of the tree to bend. The rate of its bend continued to steadily increase as the chilly winds blew without rest. There were no more sounds in the streets, except for the ones in the hotel opposite.

The people within seemed to have been stirred up by the sounds of the man. But, they hadn't come out yet. Unable to see where the figure had gone, Re'Kha was getting afraid, realistically so as both she and her character felt fear now.

The air had a bloody tang to it now as it filled up the streets with a pungent smell. And, this smell wafted into the car through the vent, causing her to feel nauseous once again. The car was already full of the smell of vomit; adding onto the smell emitted by the corpses, it caused her stomach to churn once again.

Bow wow!

Bow Bow!

She heard the distant sounds of a dog's bark that was soon followed by a whimper. Seconds passed like this as her limbs were paralysed from fear, not budging an inch as she tried to move them. She wished to start the car as soon as possible and just escape from the area.

But unfortunately for her, her limbs failed to cooperate with her. If it had been Re'Kha in the situation in her real body, she wouldn't have been this helpless. Even if she felt fear, she wouldn't have been incapacitated from it.

Unfortunately for her, her character was a member of the society that hadn't ever been subjected to such horrors in her life. So, thrust into it the first time, that too at such a gruesome scene just short-circuited her response system.

The sounds of her heartbeat resounded in her ears as Re'Kha could feel her ragged breaths that were struggling with every breath. Her limbs shivered while she was unable to exert strength in them.

Re'Kha looked forward, seeing how her right hand was close to the car keys but was unable to move now. Leaving that aside, her left hand clutched her phone. A call to the police was all she needed to get some peace.

'Move! Move! Dammit! MOVE!' Re'Kha struggled as her thumb trembled a little, followed by her index finger that moved towards the fingerprint scanner, intending to unlock the phone. Slowly, her index finger moved, little by little, inching towards the fingerprint scanner.

Her heart thumped as Re'Kha could feel something approaching her, for the eerie winds followed by the sounds of the footsteps resounded louder and louder.

One minute, two minutes, one hour, two hours, Re'Kha felt as if she was in such a position for eternity as in actuality, it was only a few seconds. Her index finger finally touched the fingerprint scanner, unlocking the phone, causing it to emit a bright light, illuminating the entirety of the car's interior.

Bang!

The body of a dog slammed into her windshield, splattering blood while spilling out its guts all over through the cuts on its body. One of its eyes popped out, still connected to its optic nerve as it slammed on the mirror.

Thanks to the bright light of the phone, Re'Kha saw it in closeup. And, the loud thud that rattled her car in the silence caused her heart to jump out of her mouth.

"Kyaaaaa! Aaaahhh! Aiiieeeee!" Her character shouted at the top of her lungs, having lost her mind as the fear overwhelmed her. The dislocated jaw of the dog was positioned right before her as its popped-out eye looked directly at her eyes.

The scent of blood magnified in the car, for all she breathed now was its scent. Her heart thumped with the maximum intensities she had ever experienced as Re'Kha felt pain in her chest. It was too much for her to bear, and upon every thump, her chest pain increased.

Finally, her hands moved as Re'Kha flailed around, hitting the centre of the steering wheel once, causing its horn to resound loud and clear in the night. The people within the nearby hotel were stirred up as they flooded out of the building one by one, frowning as they smelled the thick scent of the blood.

"Aahhhhhh!" Re'Kha slammed the accelerator in her hurry, but the car didn't move. For it wasn't started yet. Her right hand trembled as she shot it towards the car keys, barely able to reach it as she tried to turn it on, watching a tiny, flaming wisp appear from the right side of her window.

It was barely three centimetres in length, a mellow orange that appeared bright thanks to the nighttime. The power went off right at this time, plunging the entire area into darkness. The people who exited the hotel were unable to see anything as shouts of surprise resounded. They flailed their hands to pull out their phones to create some light.

Her heart thumped as her right hand finally grabbed hold of the car key as her eyes darted to her right, watching the visage of a face slowly become clear in the mellow, orange light.