When they caught up with Xiong Jiabao, he was squatting on the ground, rubbing his legs with both hands, groaning in pain.
“What’s wrong with you?” Xin Meng asked.
Xiong Jiabao turned his head, his face contorted in agony, “I don’t know what’s wrong, my legs suddenly started hurting, but I don’t see any marks!”
Xin Meng looked down and saw that Xiong Jiabao had rolled up his pant legs, revealing his calves. There were only a few faint old scars, and overall, his skin was smooth, without any bruises or discoloration.
“Ouch!” Xiong Jiabao cried out again, “It hurts, it hurts! What on earth is going on! It’s really… it’s…”
In such a sensitive period, even the carefree Xiong Jiabao felt a chill at the mention of that word, and he couldn’t help but skip over it.
The others looked at Xiong Jiabao’s calves, which showed no change, but Xiong Jiabao kept groaning every little while, insisting that it hurt.
“Ouch, I say, there’s not some infectious disease here, is there?” Xiong Jiabao shouted, “If I die from this, won’t they laugh at me to death!”
At this moment, he was still holding a grudge against Dong Xiu and the others. Xin Meng was speechless. He tried to help Xiong Jiabao up but couldn’t, so he had to let him sit on the dirt road by the village, glancing over at the house where no one was present, the home of the deceased Wu Jianwei and the others.
Xin Meng’s mouth twitched, “You really know how to pick a spot.”
Xiong Jiabao still hadn’t figured out the situation and naturally didn’t know what Xin Meng was talking about. He only felt that his leg was hurting more and more, as if something was biting his leg, tearing his flesh piece by piece!
But looking at his leg, there was indeed nothing there. He touched it, and the skin felt normal.
It must be the nerves inside that are hurting… Xiong Jiabao thought hesitantly. He was very afraid of ghosts and didn’t want to mention anything supernatural, so he didn’t say it right away. Xin Meng and the others also didn’t know how he was hurting.
Seeing that he seemed unable to get up for a while, Xin Meng squatted down beside him, carefully examining the necklace on his chest. The pile of necklaces was tangled together, but it was still relatively easy to distinguish. He looked at it, feeling that something was off, but every time he counted, there was no problem. After counting five or six times, his eyes were getting blurry, yet he still couldn’t find any issues.
“What should we do?” Xin Meng was really at a loss and looked to You Yi for help.
You Yi took a quick-drying towel out of his bag, twisted it into a thin strip, and directly tied it over Xiong Jiabao’s eyes.
“Hey, hey! What are you doing!” Xiong Jiabao shouted, trying to struggle, but the increasingly intense pain in his body made his hands feel weak, and he couldn’t push You Yi away.
Seeing him trying to grab the towel, Xin Meng quickly stopped him, “Don’t move! We just want to confirm something, it’ll be over soon!”
Xiong Jiabao grumbled unhappily, “What’s the matter? Can’t you see I’m in pain here!”
Xin Meng said, “It’s very important. If we don’t confirm it, we’re all in danger, and you’ll die the fastest.”
Xiong Jiabao: “…” Dying the fastest or something… “Then hurry up and confirm! Quickly, quickly!”
Xin Meng looked at You Yi, who asked Xiong Jiabao, “How many skulls are on your necklace?”
Without thinking, Xiong Jiabao replied, “Seven, one big one, surrounded by six small ones.”
You Yi didn’t continue asking but exchanged a glance with Xin Meng. Understanding his intent from the question, Xin Meng took over and asked, “How many crosses are there?”
Xiong Jiabao still answered quickly, “Four, two necklaces, one has three, and the other has one super big one.”
Xin Meng: “What about the snake?”
“One, and there’s also a tiger.”
Xin Meng ruled out the oddly shaped snake and tiger, as single items were the least likely to cause problems.
Then he asked, “How many fake teeth are there?”
Xiong Jiabao replied, “Six!” Just as he finished saying it confidently, he suddenly became uncertain, “Or maybe… five, five teeth? I can’t remember clearly…”
Xin Meng stared at the six teeth on his chest, his whole body tensing up, “The other day when I asked you, you were very sure it was six.”
Xiong Jiabao frowned, confused, “Was it? Let me think…”
Xin Meng’s gaze never left those six teeth, and he could feel You Yi’s muscles tensing up beside him, ready to spring into action.
Xiong Jiabao’s expression was strange, muttering in disbelief, “I remember now, there are five in total, but why did I think it was six before…”
Just as he finished speaking, the rightmost of the six fake teeth suddenly vibrated, and with a bang, it expanded. A long-haired, ghastly pale female ghost with a gaping mouth burst out from the teeth, letting out a sharp, eerie laugh as it lunged toward Xin Meng!
“Ah!” Xin Meng was so scared his heart nearly stopped. Fortunately, You Yi reacted quickly and pulled him away. The ghost missed its target and immediately turned around, grinning at them.
The ghost’s smile was extremely terrifying, with pure black eyes curving down like crescent moons, and its gaping, blood-red mouth curving up like a crescent moon as well. The exaggerated arc, combined with its bloodless skin, made it look like it was wearing a fake mask, except that blood was still dripping from the corners of its mouth. Xin Meng immediately recognized that this ghost was the one that had bitten him first in the water!
He even felt a dull pain starting in his arm, where a piece of flesh had been bitten off. That spot had been carefully disinfected, cleaned, and bandaged by You Yi, but now it seemed to be starting to ooze blood again. He tightly gripped You Yi’s hand, wanting to escape as soon as he sensed something was wrong.
But strangely, the ghost only lunged at him once, missed, and didn’t continue to chase them. Instead, it slowly turned its head, its gaze locking onto the still-sitting Xiong Jiabao.
Suddenly, Xin Meng seemed to hear some noise coming from the ghost’s mouth…
“Meat… we… meat… eat…”
Xiong Jiabao, still blindfolded, was completely unaware of what was happening. Feeling that something was off around him, he hurriedly shouted, “Hey! Xin Laodi! What’s going on? Have you confirmed it? Can I take this thing off?”
The ghost slowly approached him, and Xin Meng urged, “Quick, take it off! Then run! It’s coming for you!”
“Who, who is it?” Hearing Xin Meng’s voice nearly breaking, Xiong Jiabao became anxious, disregarding the pain in his legs. He yanked the towel off, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he met the ghost’s malicious black eyes, instantly terrified to the point of losing control, screaming heart-wrenchingly, his legs going weak, unable to stand, let alone run!
The ghost quickly closed in on Xiong Jiabao, grinning as it crouched over his legs, its lips moving as it bit down. Xiong Jiabao kept shouting in pain, frantically kicking his legs, but he couldn’t escape at all. The ghost continued to bite, and Xiong Jiabao rolled on the ground in agony. Xin Meng was also anxious, desperately thinking of a countermeasure.
A strange thing happened. The ghost only bit six or seven times, yet the flesh on Xiong Jiabao’s calves was disappearing piece by piece, as if an illusion had been lifted, revealing bloody, bare bones right in front of everyone!
Xin Meng finally understood why Xiong Jiabao had been shouting that his leg hurt; it turned out the ghost had been gnawing on his flesh all along!
Xiong Jiabao’s face turned pale from the pain, but he could only watch helplessly as the ghost devoured his flesh. He kept screaming for help from Xin Meng and You Yi, who was sweating anxiously. He knew that helping directly would be useless, but he had to save him. After thinking for a moment, he could only shout to Xiong Jiabao, “Quick, call out Qi Xiaokui’s name!”
Xiong Jiabao, in pain and fear, couldn’t comprehend what Xin Meng was saying. After Xin Meng shouted several times, he finally managed to shout, “Qi, Qi Xiao… Qi Xiaokui… Qi Xiaokui!!”
As his voice echoed in the small clearing, the ghost seemed to hit a pause button, stopping its gnawing motion, slowly raising its head, casting a reluctant glance at Xiong Jiabao before disappearing.
Xiong Jiabao escaped death but was in so much pain he couldn’t move, lying on the ground groaning, his legs reduced to mere bones. The temperature around them suddenly dropped. Xin Meng turned his head sharply and indeed saw Qi Xiaokui, looking like a corpse, on the other side.
The girl, who could perfectly cosplay as Sadako, now looked even more fitting. Even knowing she meant no harm, Xin Meng couldn’t help but tremble in fear…
But he still mustered the courage to take a couple of steps forward, his voice trembling as he asked, “Qi Xiaokui, what happened to you?”
Qi Xiaokui didn’t speak, only gazing at him quietly. However, Xin Meng felt the pain emanating from her gaze, “Why aren’t you speaking? Is it part of the game’s setting that doesn’t allow you to talk?”
This time, Qi Xiaokui finally nodded.
“Then…” Xin Meng suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
Qi Xiaokui reached out, pulling a familiar white card from the white robe draped over her, tossing it to the ground before turning and disappearing.
Xin Meng was a bit stunned. He didn’t immediately pick up the card but said to You Yi, “If she turned into a ghost right away, why did she seem so pained earlier? Did she also have to kill someone or eat human flesh?”
Just thinking about it sent chills down his spine!
You Yi shook his head, indicating he didn’t know either, only saying, “The game won’t directly force players to lose their humanity to survive, but it will set traps. If you accidentally step on one, anything could happen.”
His words revealed a certain familiarity with the game, and Xin Meng caught on, surprised, “You… you’re not playing this game for the first time, are you?”
“Yeah.” You Yi admitted, but then fell silent.
Only then did Xin Meng remember that You Yi had never said he was playing this game for the first time. No wonder he was so impressive! The rookie Xin Meng felt somewhat balanced; it wasn’t that he was too stupid, but that his teammate had too much experience…
Although Xin Meng was curious about the dungeons You Yi had played before, seeing that You Yi didn’t seem inclined to share, he didn’t press further.
He stepped forward, picked up the card, and flipped it over.
[The place where it begins is often also the place where it ends.]
