Chen Hao scattered the last pinch of ashes into the ditch, his knees thumping as he straightened up. He leaned against the rock wall, catching his breath, the shovel still clutched in his hand, his knuckles white. This patch of land had just been fenced off; not even a bud had sprouted, yet he was already on edge like a vigilant old dog.

Nana stood to the side, her blue eyes scanning the outline of the defensive trench, her voice as flat as a stone: "The physical barrier is complete, and it is expected to delay arthropod invasion for more than six hours."

"Six hours?" He grinned. "That's enough time for me to get some sleep."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ground beneath his feet trembled slightly.

It wasn't the subtle, trembling sound of insects crawling, but a dull, dragging sensation from deep within, as if something were turning over beneath the rock strata.

He looked down at his shadow, the dust particles shimmering slightly in the beam of his headlamp. The vibration returned, this time clearer, rhythmic, moving back and forth, like some creature slowly shifting.

"Hey." He lowered his voice, not turning around, "This commotion...does it sound familiar?"

Nana's scanning module activated instantly, her shoulder lights adjusted their angle slightly, and her back ventilation grille silently unfolded. "A large heat source signal has been detected. Its estimated length is 4.8 to 5.2 meters, and it is moving along the main road towards the planting area."

"Over four meters?" His lips twitched. "Are we growing vegetables or filming a monster movie?"

“Not insects,” she said. “Their movement pattern is gliding close to the ground, and their surface reflectivity is abnormal, suggesting a possible slime coating.”

Chen Hao slowly took a step back, his heel hitting a protruding rock. He didn't make a sound, but simply held the shovel horizontally in front of him, like he was holding a fire poker.

Where is it now?

"160 meters away, slow speed, no signs of acceleration."

“Not speeding up doesn’t mean there’s no malice.” He swallowed. “What if they just came for a walk before dinner? The old man downstairs walks his dog slowly, but he pounces on any cat he sees.”

Nana didn't reply. Instead, she suddenly turned to the side, raised her arm slightly, and the magnetic adsorption device clicked into the crevice, stabilizing her body. She quickly pulled him with her other hand.

Chen Hao stumbled and almost knelt down, only managing to stay upright by using the handle of the shovel. His knees scraped against the slippery moss, burning with pain, but he gritted his teeth and didn't groan.

The two squeezed into a narrow side cave. The entrance was partially obscured by a hanging stone curtain, allowing only one person to squeeze in sideways. The space inside was barely enough to sit huddled up, with water dripping from above, as cold as the crisper drawer of a refrigerator.

"Turn off the lights," Nana whispered.

The blue light in her eyes went out, and the entire cave fell into near darkness, with only faint reflections coming from the main passage in the distance.

Chen Hao held his breath, his ears ringing. He could hear his own heartbeat, and he could also hear the sound of something approaching outside—not footsteps, not crawling, but more like a heavy body slowly dragging across the damp ground, accompanied by a slight "sizzling" sound, like a wet rag wiping glass.

“It’s coming.” His lips barely moved.

Nana gently placed her hand on his wrist, and the temperature monitoring module automatically activated. "Heart rate 120, it is recommended to reduce breathing rate."

"If I could take a deep breath right now, I wouldn't be my mother's child," he muttered to himself. "Do you think it can see us?"

"Uncertain. Its skin has light-scattering properties, which may give it environmental awareness, but it does not currently exhibit any active detection behavior."

"So it's just wandering around aimlessly?" He breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Then we can just wait for it to finish its shopping trip and go home."

Before he could finish speaking, the thing stopped.

Right outside the cave entrance where they were hiding.

In the pitch black, a broad shadow stretched across the center of the passage, its outline indistinct yet exuding an oppressive aura. Its head was slightly raised, its neck rising and falling rhythmically, as if it were sniffing the air.

Chen Hao felt the hairs on the back of his head stand on end. He dared not move, not even swallow.

A few seconds later, the thing slowly turned in a different direction and continued to glide forward, its movements slow but unstoppable.

"Was it... sniffing just now?" He waited until the figure was a little further away before daring to speak.

“It’s highly likely.” Nana pulled up a sound wave recording. “It stayed at the cave entrance for seven seconds, during which time the frequency of air disturbances increased by 34 percent.”

"In other words, we almost became the test subjects for snacks."

"There is currently no evidence that it feeds on humans."

"What you're saying doesn't reassure me at all."

Nana ignored his complaints and quietly adjusted the sampling period of the internal sensors to prevent overheating from causing infrared anomalies. Her device entered a low-power mode, even pausing its breathing simulation.

Time passed little by little.

Every twelve minutes or so, the enormous creature would reappear on the main road, patrolling back and forth along a fixed route. Each time it passed a side entrance, it would pause briefly, seemingly to check if the surrounding environment had changed.

On his third pass, Chen Hao, using the faint reflection, finally made out its appearance: a flat head, a wide but tightly closed mouth, and a glossy, membrane-like substance covering its body that shimmered with a ghostly green luster as it moved. It had no obvious limbs and propelled itself forward by contracting its abdominal muscles, resembling a slug magnified a hundred times.

"This thing... is it a newt that has become a spirit?" he muttered.

"The scientific name should be olm, which belongs to the class Amphibia and usually inhabits deep cave systems," Nana explained in a low voice. "This individual is much larger than normal, which is likely due to mutation caused by a closed environment and a special food chain."

"So he's the landlord here?" Chen Hao smiled wryly. "We painstakingly fenced off a vegetable garden, and the original inhabitants came to inspect our property."

"Judging from its territorial behavior, it is not in a foraging state, but more like a routine patrol."

"That's good." He breathed a sigh of relief. "At least they weren't after my few seeds. Otherwise, I would have really had to consider switching to selling potted plants."

"It is recommended that subsequent operations avoid its activity cycle," Nana added. "Passive sensing mode should be prioritized for nighttime monitoring."

"Alright then." He leaned against the stone wall, slowly relaxing his shoulders. "Anyway, I don't necessarily have to plant vegetables at night. Hoeing the ground during the day and hiding from monsters at night, this lifestyle is more tiring than working a regular job."

The two fell silent.

The sound of dripping water outside the cave echoed rhythmically, alternating with the monster's patrolling pace. Each time it moved away, Chen Hao felt a sense of relief in his chest; each time it drew closer, he had to tense up again.

During a break after the fifth patrol, Nana whispered, "The heat source signal is starting to weaken, and the movement intervals are lengthening."

"Does that mean... it's about to close?"

"It is speculated that it will soon enter hibernation or move to other areas."

"That's great." He was about to move his numb legs when he suddenly froze.

In the distance, the dragging sound didn't disappear; instead, it became... even closer.

Instead of following the main road, they took a detour via another side road.

"That's not right." His eyes widened. "Didn't it just take that route? Why did it turn?"

Nana quickly retrieved the trajectory data from the previous few times, and after comparing and analyzing it, she concluded: "The path has shifted, and the new direction points directly to 15 meters upstream of our hiding place."

"Upstream?" Chen Hao's mind went blank. "That's the only passage to the planting area!"

"It may sense soil disturbance or chemical traces released from organic matter."

"But I haven't even seen a seedling!" he growled in a low voice. "This little noise can attract giant salamanders? Their noses are more sensitive than police dogs?"

"The possibility that it is extremely sensitive to environmental changes cannot be ruled out."

Chen Hao stared intently at the crack in the cave entrance. The shadow was getting closer, and its gliding speed had increased. It no longer seemed aimless, but was moving towards a specific target.

“It knows the way,” he said through gritted teeth. “It knows that someone has disturbed the earth there.”

Nana was silent for a moment, then suddenly reached out and pressed his shoulder, forcefully pushing him deeper into the cave.

He shrank back a little, his back pressed against the cold rock wall, his whole body entering a state of silent standby.

Outside, the thing slowly came to a stop.

It was less than five meters in front of the cave entrance where they were hiding.

It lay there quietly, its head slightly raised, the skin around its mouth opening and closing rhythmically, as if filtering some kind of information from the air.

Then, it slowly turned its head.

It was directly opposite their hiding place.