“Fuck! What the hell? Who was here? Who was watching us?” Alex hugged herself tightly feeling very spooked out by the whole situation.

“See… the footprints are going somewhere… let’s… let’s take a look.” Icy energy swirled around Lu Chen’s hand as he crafted a long sword from his ice magic.

Qin Hua as well summoned her clone and the three of them followed the clone as they walked along with the footprints.

After a while, it looked like they were moving away from the rest of the group, so the wolf turned around and howled loudly.

Lu Chen also waved his hand, gesturing everyone to hurry up and move. Soon, the group once again started walking deeper into the frozen forest, following the footsteps on the ground silently.

Nothing appeared in their view except for tall pine trees and thorny bushes and they even managed to collect more of the Icy Gor Thorn herb.

However, suddenly the number of footsteps increased. In fact, it looked like there was a lot of foot traffic.

“What is this?” Alex stopped and crossed her hands in front of her chest.

Lu Chen as well looked concerned. “Whatever is ahead. There are so many of them.”

While they were standing around and discussing, Qin Hua’s ears perked up as if she had found something and she ran ahead.

“Little white!” Lu Chen ran after her and the two of them came to a halt a short distance away.

In front of them, hidden behind a stretch of tall coniferous trees was a hut or a tent like structure. Or rather several tents that clearly belonged to a group of people.

There seemed to be a whole camp ahead of them, albeit a smaller one!

And walking around this settlement, the owners of the footprints on the ground, were a bunch of tall, big, and blue-skinned creatures.

They looked similar to humans with two feet and two hands, their faces looked like that of a monster. They had big sharp eyes and horns protruding from under their nose.

Their teeth were also big and protruding like those of a beast. Not to mention that they were ridiculously muscular, several times bigger, buffer, and defined than the gym experts of the earth.

[They… should be difficult to fight with…] Qin Hua’s face had a grave expression. [Inspect]

<Ding. Frost Orc; Level 40>

<Ding. Frost Orc; Level 35>

<Ding. Frost Orc; Level 36>

…

…

…

Her eyes scanned the group of 30 to 40 orcs and they were all around the same level.

If both of their groups fought head-on right this second… Qin Hua shuddered just thinking about the casualties.

She cautiously lifted her paw and touched Lu Chen who also looked very solemn. He was also aware of what would most probably happen if they got discovered right now.

They silently understood each other and moved back one step at a time without making the slightest of sounds.

And soon as the rest of the group came into view, especially seeing that Alex was about to shout out something, Lu Chen quickly lifted his finger and placed it on his lips.

No one there was a stranger to Lu Chen’s serious face and they immediately could figure out that something was terribly wrong.

He waved his hand and Qin Hua led the way as everyone cautiously started backing out on the same path that they had entered the forest.

To hide their tracks, Lu Chen also continuously used his magic to cover up their footprints with more snow. It was as if they had never been here.

In this manner, slowly they ended up walking back all the way to the portal, where they had first begun.

After this, there was nothing left except to step outside and leave, so everyone stopped and looked at Lu Chen for an explanation.

“What did you guys see there?” Alex whispered under her breath.

“Very strong enemies. We will die if we fight them.”

Everyone heard him and was utterly shocked. So if they had not been careful, they would have all died just like that? Or even worse…

“So what now? Are we leaving?”

Lu Chen looked at Qin Hua instead of answering the question as he couldn’t possibly decide the fate of these many people without asking her opinion.

The wolf bobbed her head and pulled him aside, scribbling something on the snow.

The two of them were conversing with each other for a while and the others could only simply look. Everyone had absolute faith in them but they were still nervous and anxious.

Were they going to leave because it was too risky? Or were they going to put their lives on the line and fight to the death?

A few minutes later, Lu Chen returned back with the wolf. They had come to a decision. “Guan Ye, Alex, come with me. Everyone else should stay right here, right next to the portal.”

“If we don’t return back within the next couple of hours, you should just leave. Don’t even think about walking back into the forest and searching for us.”

“You know where that military camp is located. You should quickly leave and go back there.”

“Bro Chen! Why?” Xu Meilin opened her mouth to protest, but Lu Chen quickly cut her off. “This is not up for discussion. You will all do what I say or you can leave and get out of here right now.”

The young girl still looked shaken, so Alex sighed and comforted her.

“Don’t worry, Mei Mei. We will return back. This is a precaution. If something happens to us, we want to make sure that at least you guys are able to get out of here safely. Alright?”

After exchanging a few more words, the five of them, including the wolf and the cat, then started walking back into the forest, leaving behind the rest of their group.

“Coco… Sis… everyone… please return back safely.” Xu Meilin silently muttered as she gazed at the five, who soon were nowhere to be seen as they disappeared into the frozen forest.