Just as they were about to leave, their steps paused in unison.
“You can’t go through the main entrance.”
Ke Di was lying on the floor of Old Qiu’s room with his hands and feet tightly bound. Hearing the commotion, he instantly fought to roll over, forcing himself up onto one elbow despite the effort, his eyes blazing with fury as he shot a fierce glare at the group.
His mouth, stuffed with an unidentified object, could only emit muffled growls, clearly indicating he had something to say.
Gang Zi pulled him up and snatched the object out of his mouth. Judging by the shape, it was most likely a pair of socks, though he didn’t know if they had been washed.
Shen Que frowned and took half a step back.
“Got any more crap to say? Spit it out while your Brother Gang is still patient!”
As Gang Zi spoke, he continued to pat and grope Ke Di, searching for anything on him.
Ke Di’s chest rose and fell sharply. He struggled to spit several times before finally managing to steady his breathing. His eyes were dark yet piercingly bright as he looked past Gang Zi and fixed his gaze on Old Qiu. “You’ve gone insane.”
Old Qiu’s expression stiffened for a moment. He sharply ordered, “Stuff his mouth!”
“You’ll regret it! You underestimate him! He…”
Gang Zi pulled a complete deck of playing cards from the pouch hanging at Ke Di’s waist, then stood up with a satisfied grin. At Old Qiu’s instruction, he casually rolled up the socks and shoved them back into Ke Di’s mouth. Seeing that Ke Di still wouldn’t quiet down, he slapped his face a few times, making a crisp, loud sound. There was no practical damage, but it successfully silenced him, leaving only humiliated panting.
“Kid, you’re still talking nonsense when you’re facing death? I treated you like a brother, taught you how to play cards, and this is how you treat us.”
Gang Zi spat, then turned and pushed open the window on the side of the small building facing the mountain. They climbed out one after another. Old Qiu and Gang Zi had long since fallen into a routine, taking the lead as they moved ahead. Before long, they caught up with the final group making their way down the mountain.
The person leading the way impatiently urged them a few times, likely annoyed that they were moving too slowly and almost delayed the journey.
“That person’s voice sounds a bit familiar.” Gang Zi muttered to himself.
Ah Chao tugged at him. “Stop thinking about it, let’s go!”
The group quickly left the stockade and entered the boundless dense forest. Apart from the initial urging to move faster, there was no more conversation. Everyone silently hurried on, crossing an unknown number of hills. In the dense forest with its canopy blocking out the sky, it was impossible to distinguish entirely between day and night. Time slipped by in silence.
The mountain mist also silently spread in all directions, securely enveloping the entire forest.
In the profound silence around them, the sound of breathing grew steadily heavier, gradually and almost imperceptibly overtaking the crunch of their footsteps grinding through rotting branches and fallen leaves.
Shen Que walked in the middle of the group. Seeing Old Qiu suddenly halt in front of him, he also stopped.
As far as the eye could see, only the four of them remained. The people who had been leading the way, neither too close nor too far ahead, had all vanished without a trace.
Alarm bells blared in their minds. They racked their brains trying to remember, yet none of them could determine when they had ended up lagging behind.
The four quickly pressed their backs together, vigilantly observing their surroundings.
“Ah!” Gang Zi suddenly let out a miserable shriek.
A slender black shadow leapt off Gang Zi’s shoulder before disappearing into the grass without a trace, leaving behind only two bleeding holes oozing black blood.
“Where did that venomous snake come from!” Gang Zi roared while clutching his shoulder. The color drained completely from his face at a visible speed. The sharp stinging pain lasted for only a second, then was replaced by a numbing sensation that radiated from the wound to all his limbs and bones. His body instantly lost control. Before he could even react, he went completely limp and slid down.
“Gang Zi!” Old Qiu and Ah Chao quickly supported him.
“We can’t stay here, hurry and go.” Old Qiu’s eyes scanned the surroundings sharply while handing the flashlight to Shen Que. “You go in front. Watch your step.”
Shen Que looked at Gang Zi’s distressed appearance and asked with some uncertainty, “Shouldn’t we treat it first?”
Gang Zi was trembling all over, and his tongue was also going numb. To prove he was still conscious, he spoke with a deep voice, still actively trying to communicate, “No… need. I can hold… it! Go, go, go!”
Dense fog blanketed the path ahead, and the forest around them grew steadily darker. Old Qiu and Ah Chao each supported one of Gang Zi’s arms as they advanced at a slow pace, while Shen Que walked at the front, guiding the way with a flashlight in hand.
The flashlight’s beam stretched deep into the fog, piercing the mist and revealing the vague outline of a figure in the distance, too far away and indistinct to make out clearly.
Shen Que slowed down, and the three behind him followed his gaze.
A massive dead tree trunk lay slanted across the ground. The figure sat beneath it, resting against the trunk, while a bonfire blazed in front of them. In the stillness of the forest, the crackle of burning wood and the occasional burst of flying sparks carried clearly through the air, reaching their ears without obstruction.
In the blink of an eye, several more figures had appeared around the bonfire. They sat around, whispering to each other as if in conversation, yet no human voices could be heard.
“Did we finally catch up to the main group?” Ah Chao rubbed his eyes with one hand, his voice tinged with disbelief. “Or are we hallucinating?”
“It shouldn’t be… a hallucination. I see it too, but I just feel like the one sitting on the side… looks a bit familiar.” Gang Zi narrowed his eyes. His purplish-black lips parted and moved weakly, his words coming out in broken, intermittent fragments.
“You’re familiar with everyone. You just said the voice of the person leading the way was also familiar.” Ah Chao retorted angrily.
“Why would I lie? It’s really familiar, I just can’t remember where I heard it…”
“Should we go over?” Shen Que whispered a question.
Old Qiu took the flashlight, scanned the surroundings, found nothing unusual, and nodded, “Let’s go.” Then he felt Gang Zi ‘s forehead. “His condition can’t be delayed too long, we need to get the snake venom out quickly.”
“This place is truly damned unlucky, with this poison and that poison popping up all the time. Why don’t they poison themselves to death…”
Ah Chao patted Gang Zi ‘s back. “Say less, will you?”
As the group approached, the rustle of their footsteps through the undergrowth was far from subtle. Yet the people gathered around the fire seemed completely unaware of their presence, continuing their animated conversation with broad gestures and expressive faces. Their expressions were strikingly vivid, but despite that, Shen Que could not hear a single word they were saying.
Something was wrong.
Shen Que remained half-crouched before the tree trunk, his body going rigid as the hand he had reached out in greeting toward the nearest person stopped abruptly in midair.
“I remember now!”
Gang Zi let out a sharp shriek, his lips quivering as agitated drove his voice so high it nearly cracked.
“I remember now! The voice of the person leading the way just now is exactly the same as the person who fought with us in the side hall that day…”
At the same time, the person sitting against the tree trunk, away from the crowd, moved. A hand, warmed by the glow of the fire, gently reached out and lifted the hood of the cloak that had completely concealed him, revealing a carefully arranged cascade of long, black hair as smooth as silk.
He slowly turned his head, and as he moved, the silver ornaments adorning his body and hair gave off a faint, scattered jingling sound.
Sheng Qixiao.
Shen Que silently opened his mouth, his heart and throat constricted.
At that very moment, the other figures gathered around the bonfire crumbled into dust, as if swept apart by an unseen wind. The particles swirled around Shen Que, scattering outward before dissolving into the endless white fog that swallowed everything.
It was all fake.
Shen Que finally realized that, from beginning to end, there was only Sheng Qixiao here; there were no other people at all.
Without the slightest hesitation, Shen Que tried to spring up and retreat at once, but a hand clamped firmly onto his shoulder, holding him in place. Cold fingertips traced up his neck with unhurried ease before suddenly gripping his chin. The overwhelming force forced him to tilt his head up, making him meet that strikingly beautiful face head-on.
“Shen Que, what a coincidence running into you here. Can you find your way home, after walking so far?” That face had no expression other than the feigned surprise. His eyes were strangely calm, making one’s spine inexplicably tingle.
“Go away!” Shen Que’s face had gone white the moment he took off his hood. His heart seemed to hang in midair, shaking violently, and that tremor ran through his entire body and even his voice. He could no longer think of anything else; his mind was consumed by a single instinctive thought—run.
“Why are you shaking? Are you afraid of facing the consequences because you know you did something wrong?” Icy fingers pressed against Shen Que’s lips, rubbing them with unyielding force. At the same time, another hand clamped the back of his neck, lifting his entire body upward.
Shen Que realized that Sheng Qixiao had scared his legs into jelly. The rush of anger and shame momentarily overshadowed the panic of his failed escape. He grabbed Sheng Qixiao’s arms with both hands, using all his strength to pry them open, and raised his hand for a heavy punch.
The expected impact didn’t occur. Sheng Qixiao showed no intention of dodging, merely raising his hand casually to effortlessly intercept the swing of Shen Que’s fist.
His entire fist was firmly grasped. The seemingly casual action squeezed Shen Que’s knuckles painfully. After enjoying his furious yet futile struggle for a moment, Sheng Qixiao carelessly pushed him backward.
An unyielding force assaulted him. Shen Que stumbled back several steps and tripped over something underfoot, completely lost his balance, and heavily fell onto the ground.
The flashlight slipped from his grasp along with him, rolling across the ground before coming to a stop. Its beam flickered, dimming slightly, yet it was still enough to reveal the “stumbling block” that had caused his fall.
Old Qiu, Gang Zi, and Ah Chao were lying haphazardly on the ground. They were motionless, though the weak rise and fall of their chests confirmed they were alive but lifeless.
“What did you do to them?!”
Before Shen Que could stand up from the ground, a large shadow loomed over him again. Sheng Qixiao stared down at him. His expression was swallowed by the glare, but within the darkness, those cold eyes remained like sharp daggers, carving into Shen Que’s flesh and striking straight at his pounding heartbeat.
He bent down, his movements gentle as he stroked Shen Que’s cheek. Just before Shen Que could turn his head to dodge, Sheng Qixiao violently grabbed his collar and pulled him forcefully towards himself before saying coldly, “You still have the leisure to care about others, huh?”
But what greeted Shen Que was not a familiar embrace. The unignorable force abruptly shifted direction midway. Just as Shen Que was about to fall into his arms, Sheng Qixiao mercilessly slammed him against the massive tree trunk lying horizontally on the ground.
His back crashed against the uneven surface of the deadwood. Shen Que let out a muffled groan he couldn’t hold back as pain surged through him all at once. The repeated falls and impacts left cold sweat beading on his forehead. It took him a long moment to steady his breathing enough to force out words, “What the hell do you want!”
Sheng Qixiao finally tore off his calm facade, crouching down to meet Shen Que’s gaze. His eyes were engulfed in towering fury. He shoved Shen Que, who was trying to stand up despite the pain, back down and pressed him firmly against the ground. The gentleness and consideration from before had vanished entirely in this moment. He only felt slightly better in his heart when he saw Shen Que frowning or heard him cry out in pain and fear.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Where do you think I’m going? I’m going to leave this place, a hundred and eighty thousand miles away from a lunatic like you!” Shen Que ground his teeth together, glaring at Sheng Qixiao as he issued a threat that lacked any real force: “I advise you to be sensible and get lost!”
“After all this, are you still going to be stubborn?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Sheng Qixiao snapped his fingers. The few people who had been lying motionless on the ground suddenly moved like wind-up puppets, their posture grotesque as they became active.
Gang Zi, likely due to the snake venom numbing his nerves, dragged his whole body backward across the ground, his legs twitching and moving beyond his control.
But even the usually steady Old Qiu rose up with his limbs moving in unison, hugging the tree trunk and tearfully repenting about something, rambling apologies. Ah Chao was half-crawling, half-crouching, pawing at the ground with his hands, stuffing dirt and weeds into his mouth while babbling nonsense.
The scene before his eyes deeply stung Shen Que. His teeth involuntarily ground together with a clicking sound.
“They can barely protect themselves. Who do you think can protect you?” Sheng Qixiao’s voice sounded almost right next to Shen Que’s ear, revealing undisguised mockery.
“Sheng Qixiao!” Shen Que struggled fiercely, erupting with unprecedented strength, and pushed Sheng Qixiao away.
Sheng Qixiao hadn’t anticipated that Shen Que would still have strength, and for a moment, he actually failed to restrain him.
Shen Que hauled Ah Chao up and pinched his cheek, trying to force him to spit out the mud, but Ah Chao suddenly retaliated by smashing his head into Shen Que’s chest, making him stumble backward. A dull pain radiated from his chest.
“Young Master Shen, I’m sorry, I can’t control myself!” Ah Chao’s movements paused. The things in his mouth tumbled out. His eyes were clear for less than half a minute before becoming clouded again. He embraced the same tree as Old Qiu and began gnawing at the bark.
Crazy. They were all going crazy.
A voice in his mind screamed. Shen Que looked at the chaotic scene before him, feeling completely helpless and panicked.
“How is it? Do you like these consequences?” The culprit silently appeared behind Shen Que, his eyes cold. Watching the three people descend into madness, yet struggling to regain consciousness, he only found it exceptionally fascinating.
The familiar scent enveloped Shen Que, yet it made him inexplicably smell the cruel atmosphere of plunging into endless hell.
“Was everything planned by you?”
