Chapter 332: The Quiet Wilderness

At worst, whenever he wanted to sleep and turn on mosquito repellent liquid in the future, he could simply keep Byeol outside the bedroom with the door closed.

It was precisely because Byeol had seen all these things that he had already come to regard Joo Joowon as someone who needed protection.

Otherwise, when Joo Joowon had called for help after the apocalypse, Byeol would never have bothered to help him. He would have simply looked at him with an expression that seemed to say, “Keep pretending.”

He was not some stupid cat like Hwi!

Because Joo Joowon had not listened to what Byeol had discussed with Hwi, he still did not know that Byeol was this worried about him.

At this moment, he was still quite pleased to see how cautious Hwi was acting. He looked very much the part. Joo Joowon had originally been worried that he might be asking too much of such a strong cat.

This definitely had something to do with Byeol’s instructions before they left.

After all, when Joo Joowon woke Hwi up, he had also told him that they were going outside to hunt. However, Hwi’s condition at that time had not been like this at all. Instead, he had been very relaxed, almost as if he were simply going outside to play.

This kind of mentality could not really be said to be wrong either. When cats hunted, before seeing their prey, they would indeed maintain a relatively relaxed attitude. It was both a strategy to lower the enemy’s guard and a way to adjust their mentality before battle.

Besides, cats were naturally cautious and had a very clear understanding of their own strength.

Therefore, when hunting, they would only choose prey they were capable of dealing with. Combined with the fact that they could walk almost without making any sound, apart from worrying about whether they could catch their prey, they really did not need to worry about much else.

However, in the apocalypse, this kind of mentality was definitely not acceptable. It was best to maintain a relatively cautious attitude even while staying at home.

After all, when going outside, the things they encountered were not necessarily going to be small monsters. They could also encounter a Lord Boss.

Even if they stayed at home and did not go outside, it was not as if monsters would never come knocking on their door themselves.

Joo Joowon had personally witnessed those zombies actively entering rooms at night to search for humans. This was already happening now, so why would it suddenly stop happening in the future?

Therefore, a necessary degree of caution was absolutely essential.

However, after entering Hwarim, Joo Joowon discovered that his earlier worries seemed to have been a little too cautious.

The characteristics of zombies meant that it was difficult for the nature reserve to remain as full of life as it had been in the past. Animals all had an instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm. Even the birds that were accustomed to constantly chirping had stopped calling out in the forest.

After all, once they were scratched by a zombie, they would become infected. Not to mention that wild animals already tried their best to avoid getting injured in the first place. Even without that instinct, they still would not want to provoke a monster that, once it locked onto its prey, would stop caring about anything else and relentlessly chase after it.

Those monsters would not get tired, while the animals themselves were certainly not made of iron.

Every living creature would instinctively adapt to changes in its environment. This caused the entire Hwarim mountain range to become strangely quiet.

Under Joo Joowon’s Mental Power perception, even the movements of tiny creatures such as caterpillars had become much more hidden and quiet. As for the mammals, there was even less need to mention them.

This situation also allowed Joo Joowon to breathe a sigh of relief. At the very least, it meant that there should not be any Lord-level Bosses in the outer areas of Hwarim yet.

Unlike cities, places like the wilderness made it relatively easy for the forces of a Lord-level Boss to take shape. It was very easy for them to recruit small monsters into their territory.

When wild animals nearby encountered this kind of situation, they would inevitably flee beyond the boundaries of the Lord Boss’s territory.

Judging from what Joo Joowon had observed so far, however, he could still see some ordinary animals hiding nearby. This indicated that they believed there were no dangers in the surrounding area that they were completely incapable of resisting.

These animals were genuinely ordinary. They had not even reached Level One. There were ordinary squirrels that instinctively cried out when bound by spider silk, rabbit holes beneath the ground, and other similar creatures.

Although there were not many of them, they were indeed all ordinary animals that had not yet stepped into the supernatural realm.

This surprised Joo Joowon somewhat. Almost half a month had already passed since the apocalypse began. He could believe that there were still some players who had never leveled up and had remained at home without even stepping outside their front doors. However, the fact that there were still animals in the wilderness that had not even reached Level One genuinely astonished him.

After all, animals were different from humans, who lived in relatively safe houses. Every day, when they went out to search for food, they had to face life-threatening dangers.

Even though ordinary animals were accustomed to running away at the slightest disturbance, it was impossible for them to escape from predators every single time. Therefore, Joo Joowon had not expected that so many ordinary animals would still be alive.

Thinking about it carefully, however, Joo Joowon felt that it actually made sense.

Before the apocalypse, wild animals had already faced life-threatening dangers every day while searching for food. Although the environment had become even harsher now, it seemed that there was not much difference for them.