They regarded themselves as food!
Xin Meng struggled to move his limbs, but he could only sink little by little. Those white things, resembling corpses, drew closer to him. By the time Xin Meng regained his senses, he was completely surrounded!
The water in the reservoir was very clear, so clear that he could see those corpses opening and closing their dark blue lips, their eyes devoid of whites and eyelids staring at him. The immense resentment and greed almost materialized, threatening to engulf him! Xin Meng looked at them in terror, forgetting his fear of water, frantically paddling his arms, trying to escape, even if it meant going downstream! But he found that his retreat had long been blocked. He didn’t know when it had happened, but above and below, these things appeared, their expressions greedy and thirsty, closing in on him!
The corpses surging from all directions pushed Xin Meng’s emotions to the brink of collapse. He kept turning around, trying to break through the encirclement, but was always forced back to where he started. What was even more terrifying was that those corpses were still changing; pieces of skin were falling off, yet no blood flowed. Upon closer inspection, it looked like bite marks, almost telling Xin Meng what his fate would be!
This won’t do! I need to stay calm! Calm…
As fear reached its peak, Xin Meng instead became calm. In this calmness, he finally remembered that this wasn’t real; it was just a game. Since it was a game, there would always be hints for clearing it. There couldn’t possibly be a route with no hope of escape, and that hint, or clue, must be hidden somewhere around!
His lungs were nearly out of air, yet he forced himself to calm down, scanning the countless approaching corpses around him. But it was too difficult; those things had long lost their appearance from life. Their pitch-black eyes and gaping mouths made them look almost identical, just differing in stature—some were men, some women, some were elderly with sagging skin, and others were small children. The most terrifying of all were the few infants who hadn’t even grown teeth!
Could the clue really be among them?
But he was completely surrounded by these corpses, unable to see even a bit of the outside. The clue couldn’t possibly appear elsewhere, so he had to search!
Xin Meng’s eyes ached and blurred, and he suddenly recalled a small game he had played before, finding an I among a bunch of Ls…
However, the nature of these two games was completely different. In that game, he had leisure and no pressure; he could play if he wanted to, or just turn it off if he didn’t. But this game was life-threatening!
Under the immense pressure of survival, Xin Meng’s focus reached an unprecedented level. He quickly scanned the left side, then turned to the right. Just as he was about to finish looking at the right side, suddenly, a familiar figure made his gaze stop abruptly!
It was… it was her!
The figure was also naked, with pale skin, long black hair cascading beside her face, her head lowered, bangs covering her eyes…
Qi Xiaokui!
Xin Meng looked at her in disbelief. How could it be her? It really was her! Had she already… already died?!
He unconsciously reached out his hand towards Qi Xiaokui. She slightly raised her head, revealing half of her face. The situation Xin Meng was worried about didn’t occur; Qi Xiaokui’s face was pale, unlike a living person, but her eyes were still distinctly black and white, and she didn’t have a gaping bloody mouth. Qi Xiaokui met his gaze, floated forward a couple of steps, and her lips moved.
Xin Meng rubbed his eyes hard, trying to see clearly. The surrounding corpses didn’t stop because of this; they were getting closer and closer. Xin Meng saw Qi Xiaokui frown, then slow down, silently speaking to him.
This time, Xin Meng finally saw clearly; she said, “My name.”
The speed of the corpses rushing towards him suddenly increased, as if a timed hourglass was running out, the closer it got to the end, the more dangerous it became. Xin Meng instinctively knew this was Qi Xiaokui providing him with a hint for escape. He could no longer care about his fear of water. When the first zombie bit his arm, he opened his mouth and shouted, “Qi—Xiao—Kui—”
A torrent of water surged into his mouth, forcing out the last bit of air. He didn’t know if he had shouted underwater, but the pain in his arm instantly disappeared, and all the corpses vanished in an instant!
Qi Xiaokui gave him one last look, turned, and disappeared.
Xin Meng escaped the fate of being devoured, but ultimately lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen, his vision going black.
When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted by a sky full of stars.
The night in the mountains was quieter and darker than outside. Without pollution, the stars became exceptionally bright. Those usually invisible, faintly glowing, and easily overshadowed by city lights scattered across the sky, all shone out, proclaiming their existence. Xin Meng even saw the Milky Way, which he hadn’t seen in a long time.
He blinked, suddenly remembering something, and immediately turned over to sit up, realizing he was lying on the shore near the reservoir, drenched all over, his hair still dripping. Next to him was a small pile of firewood, and You Yi was sitting by the fire, wringing out his shirt. He was bare-chested, revealing his bronze, muscular physique. The flickering firelight cast shadows on his face, deepening his features. Although he always had a blank expression, he inexplicably gave a sense of security.
Xin Meng stared at him blankly, momentarily lost in thought, until You Yi approached him, his rough palm brushing aside Xin Meng’s bangs and resting on his forehead, prompting him to react.
You Yi said softly, “You have a fever.”
Xin Meng looked up, still in a daze, thinking to himself that he felt like You Yi’s palm wasn’t as hot as before; it turned out his own forehead was burning…
After experiencing a series of shocks and nearly drowning, Xin Meng quickly developed a high fever, feeling dizzy as he leaned against You Yi’s shoulder. He glanced around, the darkness surrounding them, and not seeing Dong Xiu, he asked You Yi, “Where’s Dong Xiu?”
You Yi didn’t speak, just pointed towards the shore. Xin Meng stretched his neck to take a look…
The rippling water lifted his hair, his clothes tattered, lying face down, the blood flowing from him quickly diluted, turning pink as it flowed towards the center of the reservoir…
The person was already cold.
“How could this happen…” Xin Meng murmured, then suddenly remembered something and grabbed You Yi’s shirt tightly, “I saw Qi Xiaokui! Just now in the water, I saw her telling me to call her name. I don’t know if I called out, but those things… those things that looked like corpses all disappeared!”
In fact, using the term “ghost” to describe those things would be more appropriate, but Xin Meng, terrified that night, didn’t dare to say that word, instead substituting it with “corpses,” as if that made it less frightening.
“I saw her too,” You Yi said.
“She really is dead…” Xin Meng said, “No wonder we couldn’t find her no matter how hard we looked; it turns out she’s already dead. Her appearance and the clothes she wore were just like what the villagers described about the drowned woman, but why did the timing advance by a year? Is the corpse in that coffin really hers? She couldn’t have arrived here a year earlier than us, so the timing doesn’t match up. I still feel she’s not that corpse, but how could she have died? Even if she did, where did the corpse go? And would Dong Xiu also become one of them now that he’s dead?”
Xin Meng kept asking questions, his mind a chaotic mess, and the fever made him feel dizzy. This game was too bizarre; although the previous zombie game was filled with urgency, the dangers were clear and distinct. This game felt more like a soft knife cutting flesh, slowly tormenting them without giving a quick end. Up until now, they didn’t even know what the mission was, how to clear it, or where the dangers lay. It was likely that their deceased teammates didn’t even understand how they died!
“Don’t think too much,” You Yi draped his jacket over him. “Maybe it’s just the game’s setting; she came in as a ghost and became the key to escape. As long as we find her and call her name, we can survive.”
The jacket still carried the warmth of a man, making Xin Meng, who was shivering from the cold wind, feel warm, gradually stopping his shivering. He calmed down; You Yi’s words awakened him. The more he thought about it, the more he felt the possibility was very high. The game didn’t say they wouldn’t embody a certain game character’s identity. Since Qi Xiaokui didn’t arrive here a year earlier, it was very likely that when she first came, she became the ghost of the woman who had died a year ago. And among those many “ghosts,” finding her was indeed the reason for his salvation.
But there were still some things that didn’t make sense, like why Qi Xiaokui turned and left after those things disappeared? Although these people were unreliable, Xin Meng was sure that if given a choice, Qi Xiaokui would never choose to be with those inhuman, ghostly things, even if she silently followed behind them. So why didn’t she stay? Was it also part of the game’s setting?
They not only lacked Qi Xiaokui but also the card she held in her hand. Many pieces of information couldn’t be connected, leaving Xin Meng feeling overwhelmed.
However, it was no longer suitable to stay by the reservoir. He was supported by You Yi back to their lodging. As soon as he reached the bedside, he collapsed onto the bed, falling into a coma. You Yi took care of him all night, and by the next morning, his fever finally subsided.
The first thing Xin Meng did upon waking was to go to the village chief’s house to ask him to find someone to help retrieve Dong Xiu’s body. After all, he was their teammate, and it wasn’t right to just leave him like that, plus it would pollute the reservoir’s water.
“You’ve lost two people too…” The village chief’s expression was heavy, even more regretful than theirs.
“Two people?” Xin Meng was taken aback.
The village chief pointed to the backyard, “That young man named Li Yougen was found dead on the mountain by De Li. This corpse… sigh, you’ll know when you see it.”
Xin Meng hurried to the backyard and saw a white cloth covering a human-shaped mound. He lifted the cloth and discovered Li Yougen’s disfigured face.
His entire body was pockmarked, as if bitten by something, and certain areas still bore distinct bite marks…
It was similar to Dong Xiu’s death, just more severe.
The village chief followed behind, seeing those bite marks, his face turned pale. “The village is in for a disaster.”
Xin Meng felt uncomfortable and quickly covered the white cloth again, asking the village chief, “What do you mean by that?”
The village chief shook his head and didn’t answer. Xin Meng pressed further, and only then did the village chief say, “People have been dying in the village these past few days. If this isn’t a disaster, what is?”
But Xin Meng always felt the village chief wasn’t telling the whole truth, yet he couldn’t extract any more information.
What exactly was the village chief hiding?
Was it related to that drowned woman?
