Under the lock of Divine Awareness, Leo saw that the thing was actually a strange insect with a striking resemblance to a cicada. The insect emitted red light from its rear end, much like a firefly.
Although Leo had never seen this creature before, he knew it must be the Insect Curse without a doubt. If this thing burrowed into his body, it would be beyond description how disastrous it would be.
Leo controlled the wind blades he had just summoned, attempting to intercept the bizarre Insect Curse. However, the Insect Curse was incredibly agile, and the swiftly moving wind blades couldn’t intercept it.
Seeing the Insect Curse about to pounce on him, a cold smile crossed Leo’s lips. He mobilized his Spiritual Power, and a powerful Spiritual Power fluctuation emanated from him.
When the Insect Curse was only a meter away from Leo, it exploded into a burst of blood mist.
Seeing the blood mist about to touch his body, Leo’s figure flickered and disappeared on the spot.
After eliminating the Insect Curse, when Leo used Divine Awareness to search for the person behind the tree again, he found that the guy had already disappeared within the range of his Divine Awareness.
Where was this place, and how did he end up here?
This question echoed once again in Leo’s mind.
Although he couldn’t figure it out, he couldn’t keep wandering around here. He had to find a way out.
Choosing a direction, Leo kept moving forward. There were many weeds and shrubs underfoot, and the forest was hot and humid.
But for Leo, these were not big problems at all. In places where it was impossible to pass through, he simply used teleportation.
After walking for a while, Leo’s Divine Awareness once again sensed the person who had hidden behind the tree before.
It seemed that the guy also knew some teleportation techniques or similar secret methods. Sometimes he appeared in front of Leo, and sometimes he appeared behind Leo, always keeping a distance and lurking.
Leo didn’t want to play hide and seek with him. He walked straight ahead, accelerating to create some distance between them. Then, he took out a Talisman from his body and threw it on the ground.
The Talisman flashed and disappeared.
After walking for a while, Leo heard a scream behind him.
Leo sneered and used teleportation to move backward.
When he arrived at the spot where he had thrown the Talisman earlier, he saw that the person behind the tree was enveloped in a faint golden light screen.
The Talisman he had previously used was a trapping formation. As long as a living creature entered the effective range of the Talisman, it would be trapped inside.
Approaching the guy, Leo examined him carefully.
The guy was dressed in distinctive Miao People attire, with a somewhat slender figure. He wore grass shoes on his feet, a large cluster of silver rings on his left wrist, and his right hand was entirely black.
He wore a mask on his face, shaped like the face of some monster, appearing fierce and terrifying.
“Who are you?” Leo asked.
Whether it was due to a language barrier or because this Miao People simply didn’t want to talk to him, he said nothing and struggled within the light screen.
Leo became angry, summoned his Divine Dragon Sword, and stepped closer to the Miao People trapped within the light screen.
Sensing the approaching danger, the Miao People suddenly collapsed like flowing sand, and then countless black bugs appeared in the light screen, wriggling incessantly.
These bugs had large heads, resembling ants in form, and they began to bite the light screen relentlessly.
Soon, the light screen shattered under the assault of these strange bugs.
Then, the strange bugs swarmed towards Leo like a tide.
Not daring to be careless, Leo quickly retreated.
After chasing him for a while, the swarm of strange bugs realized they couldn’t catch up, so they stopped and began to burrow into the ground. In no time, all the strange bugs had disappeared underground.
Fearing something unusual, Leo protected himself with his Spiritual Power while simultaneously expanding his Divine Awareness.
What surprised Leo was that within the range of his Divine Awareness, there was not a single fly to be found, let alone Miao People and strange insects, except for trees.
As Leo stood there, unsure of what to do, a large screen suddenly appeared three meters in front of him.
The appearance of the screen had a futuristic touch, displaying a line of text: Mission Objective, find and kill the Curse King.
A mission? An objective?
Could it be that he had entered a game or a program!?
Thinking back to when Elizabeth had asked him if he had watched The Matrix, Leo’s heart sank further.
The world of this program was so realistic, so indistinguishable from the real world.
This led Leo to question whether the real world he lived in might also be just a program.
Leo took out his phone, attempting to return to the real world as in The Matrix, but it was clearly impossible.
His consciousness had entered the program, and the phone was merely a virtual program.
It seemed that in order to leave the program, he had to find and kill this so-called Curse King.
Leo chose a direction and walked forward. After crossing a mountain, he found himself in a jungle, albeit not a dense one. Faint wisps of smoke could be seen rising.
Leo felt a sense of relief and quickened his pace.
Before long, the jungle opened up, and a village appeared before Leo’s eyes.
The village probably housed several dozen households.
The village appeared dilapidated, with most houses constructed from trees and thatch.
Some land around the village had been cultivated, but looking at the sparsely grown crops, it seemed questionable whether they could sustain the village.
Entering the village, it did not seem desolate. Some elderly people were basking in the sun outside their homes, while a group of children played and frolicked, all dressed in Miao clothing.
Approaching an elderly man, Leo smiled and asked, “Sir, may I ask where this place is?”
“Warrior, head north once you leave the village,” the old man replied.
Leo was taken aback. “Sir, what do you mean?”
“Warrior, head north once you leave the village,” the old man mechanically repeated.
So, he was an NPC!
Leo was now one hundred percent certain that his consciousness had indeed entered a program. To leave, he had to complete the mission.
North it is then!
As Leo walked north, the trees gradually became sparse. Before long, he arrived at a mountain ridge.
Entering the mountain ridge, a sinister aura hit him.
The further he walked, the more he felt an ominous presence in the air.
As Leo progressed, he felt as though a strange and sinister energy was intermittently locking onto him.
Suddenly turning around, Leo was surprised to see a Miao People behind him.
This Miao People appeared to be in his thirties, short in stature, slender, and with a gloomy expression fixed on Leo.
“Who are you?” Leo asked in a deep voice.
Although the Miao People appeared gloomy, it was evident that his eyes were lifeless.
In a hoarse voice, he replied, “I’ll take you to your death!”
With that, the Miao People drew a Miao knife from his waist and began cutting his own neck.