The steam train raced toward the heart of southwestern England.

The scenery outside the window had gradually transitioned from the oppressive urban forest of London to vast fields and pastures dyed golden-brown by late autumn.

Lin Jie sat alone by the window in the first-class carriage. His taut nerves found a moment of relief in the train's steady motion, allowing him to calm his chaotic mind and begin a race against time with his intelligence analysis.

Before boarding the train, he had used the waiting time at Paddington Station to send another urgent telegram to Julian in Paris.

He believed that by the time he arrived in Devon, that learned and reliable Curator would have already prepared all the detailed academic materials and historical documents related to the "Dartmoor Black Dog" for him.

While waiting for the intelligence to arrive, he took out a book from his luggage that he had borrowed from the Underground City library: "A Geographical and Folkloric Study of High-Risk Anomalous Zones in the British Isles (Fourth Edition)" published internally by I.A.R.C.

He flipped directly to the chapter on "Devon - Dartmoor" and began absorbing the information at a rapid pace.

This book was not merely a geography or travel guide;

every page was written in a calm and restrained tone, recording the hidden terrors concealed beneath the beautiful scenery.

"The Dartmoor plateau," the first paragraph of the book stated, "is primarily composed of granite formed during the Carboniferous period. This special rock absorbed massive amounts of radioactive energy from the Earth's core during its formation deep within the crust."

"Consequently, the baseline 'Spiritual Radiation' intensity of the entire Dartmoor region far exceeds that of other areas in the British Isles. This makes it the most ideal 'habitat' and 'breeding ground' for various UMA that prefer high-energy environments."

Lin Jie's gaze swept over the professional terms related to "geological structure" and "Spiritual Radiation."

This seemingly dry opening had actually revealed the root of Dartmoor's danger.

He continued reading. The book listed in detail dozens of UMA that had been sighted or documented in the Dartmoor region.

For example, the "Lantern Man" who uses will-o'-the-wisps in the marshes to lure travelers and drag them into the mire;

the "Petrifying Demon" that likes to hide in prehistoric stone circles and feeds on the fear of lost individuals;

and a type of "Weeping Stone" that parasitizes granite and can emit human-like crying sounds.

These were just the appetizers.

When Lin Jie's fingers turned to the chapter marked with conspicuous red font at the top of the page reading "Yeth Hound/Dartmoor's Black Dog," his breath caught.

Attached to the page was a sketch, a drawing made by an Investigator who had encountered this UMA centuries ago and survived by chance.

The creature in the drawing was dog-like yet not quite a dog. It possessed a robust body, as stout as a young calf, covered in coarse black bristles, a long thin hairless tail, and a pair of burning eyes that the artist had deliberately painted with blood-red pigment to appear exceptionally vivid in the darkness.

Its most bizarre and unsettling feature was that it had no head.

Its neck was empty, and those burning eyes grew directly on its chest.

The visual impact of this drawing was far more intense than any written description.

Just looking at it, Lin Jie could feel a chilling coldness slowly seeping out from the yellowed paper.

Below the drawing were limited but startling written records about this UMA.

Official Designation: Town-009

Type: Curse/Concept/Tracking Class

Habitat: Core areas of the Dartmoor plateau, with particular preference for ancient abandoned roads and crossroads.

Core Abilities (Confirmed):

Death Omen: Its core ability. According to multiple confirmed cases, any intelligent being that witnesses its form and makes direct eye contact with its "Burning Eyes" will have an indelible "Mark of Death" branded onto their soul.

The effect of this mark will, within the next three hundred and sixty-five days, ultimately lead to the victim's death in an unpredictable yet absolutely unavoidable manner.

Forms of death vary, including but not limited to sudden severe illness, accidents, or even being attracted and killed by other lower-level UMA.

Essentially, this mark is a slowly activating high-level curse.

Fear Aura: Its very existence radiates a spiritual field that can directly trigger the deepest despair and fear.

Prolonged exposure to this field can cause individuals with weak willpower to die suddenly from cardiac arrest or brain overload due to excessive fear.

Intangible Tracking: It can ignore most physical obstacles. It can merge with the earth, penetrate rocks, moving silently and with extreme speed.

Once it locks onto a target (especially one bearing the "Mark of Death"), it will initiate an unending hunt with the persistence of the most determined hound.

Weaknesses (Speculated):

Symbols of Pure Faith: In scattered folk legends, a very few individuals have narrowly escaped by holding "Fragments of the True Cross" or loudly reciting "Prayers of the Saints" at critical moments.

Based on this, it is speculated that this UMA might possess a certain degree of "repelling effect" towards holy relics imbued with powerful faith, but the effect is unstable.

Flowing Living Water: Other legends record that the "Black Dog" cannot cross streams or rivers with flowing water.

It is speculated that its spiritual form might be dispersed by the "Life Field" or "Purification Principle" contained within flowing living water. Its authenticity requires verification.

Lin Jie's finger stopped over the description of "Death Omen." A sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.

William's telegram had only mentioned the "Black Dog" but had not mentioned his own condition.

Given that old soldier's character, he was definitely not someone who would easily ask for help.

So, was it possible that he had already seen the Black Dog, or even made eye contact with its burning eyes?

If that were true, the severity of the situation would far exceed Lin Jie's initial estimation.

When the train finally stopped at Exeter, the capital of Devon, Lin Jie immediately headed to the station's telegraph office.

Sure enough, a thick encrypted document from Paris was already waiting for him there.

Julian's efficiency was, as always, astonishing.

This document was far more detailed and in-depth than the official I.A.R.C. guide.

Julian had not only found for him almost all the different versions of the "Black Dog" or similar phantom hound legends within Britain (such as Norfolk's "Black Shuck" and Somerset's "Guide Dog"), but also provided a convincing explanation for the evolution of this legend from historical and folkloric perspectives.

Julian believed that the earliest prototype of the "Dartmoor Black Dog" legend likely originated from the two ravens named "Huginn" and "Muninn" kept by the chief god Odin in Norse mythology.

When the Vikings invaded England, they also brought their faith, steeped in notions of slaughter and fate, to this land.

The image of the raven, after merging and distorting with the local Druidic nature-worshipping beliefs, eventually evolved into the "Hell Hound," a more concrete embodiment that aligned with the local population's fears.

"So, my dear Lin," Julian wrote in a boastful tone at the end of the document, "what you are facing is likely not merely a simple creature."

"But a concept, a living legend born from centuries of fear, faith, and the vast spiritual energy inherently contained within the very land of Dartmoor itself!"

Attached at the very end of the document was a news report that Julian himself had clipped from the recent week's "Devon Chronicle."

The headline of the report was shocking – "Terrifying Phantom Hound Reappears on Dartmoor? Five Tourists and Local Residents Die Mysteriously in the Wilderness Within One Month!"

The report detailed that the official causes of death for these victims were uniformly attributed to "unfortunate sudden death due to sudden cardiac arrest in a wilderness environment."

But all the deceased had expressions frozen on their faces, as if they had seen the most terrifying thing in the world before dying.

According to the descriptions of the first discoverers at each scene, giant burning footprints, far exceeding the size of any known canid, were found in the mud or grass around the victims.

Yet, most bizarrely, by the time the police arrived at the scenes, these footprints had without exception vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

All the evidence pointed toward that phantom that had roamed the Dartmoor Wilderness for centuries.