Xin Meng was puzzled by this card; it contained only a simple sentence, yet he couldn’t grasp its meaning no matter how hard he tried.
As dusk approached, You Yi jumped down from the window, snatching the card from Xin Meng’s hand. “It’s useless to daydream; you’ll know in due time.”
Xin Meng stretched wearily. “You’re right. Let’s focus on how to get through the level. We should take Xiong Jiabao with us and head to the valley first.”
He returned to Xiong Jiabao’s room, only to find Wu Xuehua sitting by the bed. Upon seeing them enter, she smiled at them.
“Have you finished talking? Why did it take so long? You even missed dinner! Are you hungry? There’s still food in the kitchen; should I heat it up for you?”
Wu Xuehua was very warm and welcoming. Xin Meng thought of the meat dishes and quickly shook his head. “No, no, no, it’s too much trouble. We’re not hungry.”
Wu Xuehua playfully twirled a strand of hair around her finger and said, “What trouble? You saved my cousin and the lives of other villagers. My dad said you are benefactors of Xiuse Village, and we are all very grateful!”
The girl’s expression was sincere, but Xin Meng really had no appetite. He looked at You Yi, who shook his head, prompting Xin Meng to say, “Really, it’s fine. We don’t want to eat.”
“Alright then,” Wu Xuehua pouted, pointing to several cups of water on the table. “You have to drink water, right?”
Xin Meng felt embarrassed to refuse again and quickly nodded in agreement. Wu Xuehua then pointed at Xiong Jiabao, saying, “I’ve already given him the herbal medicine that’s a specialty of this mountain. We all drink it when we’re sick, and it works wonders. Look, his fever has subsided a bit; he should be fine by tomorrow.”
Following her finger, Xin Meng looked at Xiong Jiabao and noticed that his face was indeed less flushed, though his cheeks still had a bit of color. His gaze was fixed on Wu Xuehua’s lips, his eyes brimming with desire.
Xin Meng: “…”
He had a pretty good idea of how the medicine was administered…
Even without legs, he still had the heart to think about such things?
What a big heart he had!
Xin Meng’s remaining sympathy for him vanished.
The saying “Those who are pitiful must have something hateful about them” was perfectly suited to describe Xiong Jiabao.
As Wu Xuehua was leaving, she reminded them to drink water quickly, or it would get cold. She was very considerate and was indeed a good girl, but because of what she had done to someone before, Xin Meng still couldn’t bring himself to like her…
Looking at the cup of water, Xin Meng walked over to pick it up. This time, the cup was very clean, filled with clear water that was still steaming slightly. The temperature felt just right for drinking. Xin Meng was indeed thirsty and really wanted to drink, but just as the cup was about to reach his lips, he suddenly remembered that the village’s water came from the reservoir, which had just been soaked with many corpses…
His stomach churned, and Xin Meng quickly put the cup back on the table, keeping his distance. However, his lips were still a bit dry. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore it, when he saw a bottle of unopened mineral water being brought in front of him. He looked up to see it was You Yi.
Actually, this man was probably the most considerate…
Xin Meng took the mineral water and smiled, his eyes crinkling.
Xiong Jiabao struggled to sit up but couldn’t support his upper body at all. He waved his hands and shouted, “Quick, bring me that cup of water, the yellow one!”
Xin Meng looked and indeed saw a yellow teacup. “Why that one?”
“Because that’s the cup of Hua Hua, no, Xuehua!” Xiong Jiabao’s face turned red. Xin Meng rolled his eyes and handed the cup to Xiong Jiabao, saying impatiently, “Drink! After you finish, we need to hurry out of the valley; then we can get through!”
Xiong Jiabao was taken aback. “Did you find a way to get through?”
“Not certain yet, but the possibility is high,” Xin Meng briefly explained his analysis to him, then said, “We’ll follow the mountain path and see if we can get out.”
Xiong Jiabao’s expression changed slightly. He said with a pained face, “Little brother, with my legs like this, I can’t take any more strain…”
“What should we do then?” Xin Meng asked. “Don’t you want to get out? That’s fine; as long as we get out, you should also count as having passed.”
“No, no, no, that’s not what I mean,” Xiong Jiabao said pitifully. “I mean, how about… how about you go up first to take a look? If you can really get out, then please come back to get me. After all, that ghost is gone, so it won’t take much time…”
Xin Meng’s face darkened, and he remained silent.
“I know this isn’t very loyal, but I have no choice. Every time I move my leg, it bleeds. If I see that I can’t get out, I have to come back. There’s no hospital here, no way to get a blood transfusion. If I lose too much blood, I could die again…” Xiong Jiabao set the teacup aside, clasped his hands together, and pleaded with a pitiful smile, “And even if you go out first, it doesn’t mean I can get through immediately. What if I end up dying from an infection? You know, if you die three times, you die for good, and there’s no way to return to reality. My mom is still waiting for me at home…”
Xiong Jiabao mentioned several “what ifs,” growing more sentimental as he spoke, which made Xin Meng feel a bit of pity.
“I can’t take that risk, Xin little brother. I’ve already died once in a game, and I only have two chances left…” As Xiong Jiabao spoke, tears genuinely welled up in his eyes. He wiped them with his arm, looking utterly pitiful.
Xin Meng pressed his lips together. “Then don’t sleep. We’ll be back soon.”
Xiong Jiabao quickly nodded.
Once Xin Meng and You Yi left the room, he happily picked up the teacup again, drinking the water in small sips, trying to lick every possible spot on the rim that Wu Xuehua might have touched, his mind filled with the soft sensation of being fed medicine, not even tasting the bitterness of the herbal soup…
Revisiting that wonderful feeling, Xiong Jiabao smiled and closed his eyes.
Xin Meng and You Yi ran up the mountain path and soon reached the end. The wall that had previously blocked their way had indeed vanished, replaced by a dark, chaotic void, identical to the small door they had passed through before.
“Just as I thought!” Xin Meng was overjoyed, almost wanting to rush over, but thinking of Xiong Jiabao, he forced himself to hold back and turned back to fetch him.
As they approached the village chief’s house, You Yi suddenly grabbed his wrist. “Wait, something’s not right!”
“What is it?” Xin Meng looked around but saw nothing unusual. He glanced at the tightly shut window of Xiong Jiabao’s room, which seemed to have been open just a moment ago. But closing a window wasn’t strange, was it?
You Yi looked at him. “This village is very primitive. Have you ever seen a candle?”
Xin Meng was taken aback. “No,” then he suddenly realized and turned sharply to look at the village chief’s bedroom window!
There was candlelight inside!
“Did the village have candles?” Xin Meng murmured. “That makes sense; they did say that sometimes people would leave the valley…”
The reasoning was sound, but perhaps because of You Yi’s cautious demeanor, Xin Meng felt a sense of unease. The two stopped talking and quietly crept toward the window. When they reached the side, Xin Meng carefully raised his head, peeking through the window, and his eyes widened in disbelief as he covered his mouth, nearly crying out!
Blood, everywhere blood!
Xiong Jiabao, with his calf bones exposed, was laid out on a long table. His neck had a deep cut, and his head and body were only connected by a thin layer of skin, having lost his heart as a source of life; even the fresh blood no longer gushed out. He was already dead!
The ground had turned into a pool of blood.
Their familiar, warm-hearted village chief Wu Dacheng, the girl they had thought was pure and kind, Wu Xuehua, and Wu Deli, who had almost cried out of gratitude for saving them that afternoon, were all wearing blood-stained aprons, wielding knives, cutting strips of flesh from Xiong Jiabao’s corpse…
Xin Meng was truly terrified, his legs going weak, nearly collapsing to the ground. His fingers trembled, and his eyes moistened. Fortunately, You Yi caught him in time, preventing him from making too much noise. His expression was also grim.
Voices from inside drifted out.
“Recently, we’ve been lucky, always having fresh meat. This time everyone can have a good feast again,” said Wu Dacheng.
“Yeah, and I heard they’ve dealt with those ghosts. What happened last time won’t happen again, and we can eat meat well,” Wu Deli said. “Last time, when we cooked that woman’s meat, several villagers who ate it died, and even those outsiders couldn’t escape; it was terrifying. Everyone has been eating vegetables lately, their faces have turned green. Xuehua and I were just saying, if we can’t eat that meat in the future, it would be better to die.”
“You’re just worrying too much. No matter how powerful those ghosts are, can they really kill everyone in the village?” Wu Xuehua scoffed. “They couldn’t even escape our stomachs when they were alive; how could they turn the tables after death?”
“Don’t say that; this time is a bit serious,” Wu Dacheng said solemnly. “For so many years, the villagers have been luring outsiders in to share the meat. Now that these people are dead and turned into ghosts, it’s really frightening. The Jianwei family has been wiped out!”
Wu Deli quickly asked, “What about Uncle Jianwei’s body… and Xiao Mei’s…”
Wu Dacheng teased, “I knew you were thinking about Xiao Mei. I’ve already distributed Jianwei and Dongzi’s meat to everyone. I saved Xiao Mei’s for you; after all, you two are still engaged and will get married sooner or later. I’ll keep it all for you; no one else can say anything.”
Wu Deli was overjoyed. “All of it is saved for me?! That’s great! Thank you, Uncle!”
Laughter erupted inside, while outside, Xin Meng nearly vomited his stomach out. You Yi simply covered his ears, but Xin Meng shook his head. Even though he was holding back his nausea, he still wanted to know the whole truth.
The conversation inside continued.
“Unfortunately, those outsiders have already been buried by their companions. The meat is spoiled and can’t be eaten,” Wu Deli lamented.
“The one we kept at home was gnawed on and disgusting; there was hardly any meat left on the bones. I took out the intestines and put them in the kitchen, and just returned the skeleton to them as a sign of trust. The other one… is in the reservoir. The villagers all went to grab Jianwei’s meat and didn’t pay attention to that person. Plus, it wouldn’t be good to make it too obvious in front of outsiders, so it was a mistake,” Wu Dacheng said. “But it’s fine; the remaining three people are enough for our village to share two pounds of meat each.”
“Speaking of which, where did the other two go?” Wu Deli asked curiously. “They didn’t run away, did they?”
“They won’t,” Wu Xuehua quickly replied. “I added medicine to the water. As long as they drink it, they’ll collapse. But it seems they drank it and immediately went out to the mountains. The medicine should have taken effect by now; I don’t know where they are rolling on which mountain path. Once we handle this, we can go up the mountain to find them; we will definitely be able to find them.”
