?
Cautiously emerging from beneath the roof, he glanced at the empty left path. Considering that the scythe-wielding man might not find him on the left and would continue searching on the right, he ultimately decided to take a gamble and retrace his steps.
The so-called most dangerous place is often the safest, which usually holds true. However, Li Yougen overlooked the fact that there was not just the scythe-wielding man in this garden.
As he walked halfway, he saw a large tree. Although its leaves had withered and its branches were bare, many random items hung from it—tattered clothes, wooden boards, chairs, junk, and even torture devices. From a distance, it looked like a strange crown of the tree.
If he could hide up there, these items could temporarily conceal his presence. Li Yougen hesitated for a moment, bit the iron pipe, and climbed up using the tree-climbing skills he had honed in his childhood village, albeit clumsily.
When his head finally poked into the mass of branches, what awaited him was not a hiding space but a man-eater squatting in the tree, quietly waiting for him to come within reach.
The man’s blue eyes were like an endless ocean, shimmering with light, but they were not warm or friendly; they were filled with greedy hunger, like a venomous snake fixating on Li Yougen. In his hand, he held a pair of scissors the size of a human head, the sharp edge glinting dangerously, piercing the eyes.
Seeing Li Yougen staring blankly at him, the man widened his eyes and grinned, exposing his blackened, rotten teeth, revealing a twisted smile. The scissors silently pressed against Li Yougen’s neck, and with a forceful squeeze of his hands…
“Snip!”
A terrifying crisp sound rang out just above his head. In a moment of peril, Li Yougen’s legs went weak, and he lost his grip, falling directly from the tree. However, fortune favored him; his head slipped beneath the closing weapon, and the scissors only caught his hair, effortlessly trimming his medium-length hair into a buzz cut. The flying hair was blown into the man’s eyes, and he rubbed them, momentarily distracted.
Li Yougen, who fell to the ground, felt as if his whole body was falling apart, every inch of his skin ached. Fortunately, the tree was not very high, and he had not broken any bones. Seeing that the man with the scissors was momentarily delayed, he gritted his teeth, endured the pain, and crawled away as fast as he could.
Behind him, a loud thud was heard, followed by hurried footsteps chasing after him. He did not look back; he just ran faster!
It seemed that physical strength was the weakness of all those driven mad by hunger, like a lifeline left for players in a game. Even someone like Li Yougen, who had never been to a gym, could gradually increase the distance between himself and his pursuer as long as he was not caught at the start. He rounded a corner of a half-collapsed house, the wall temporarily blocking the view of the person behind him. Just like before, he crouched low and slipped into a gap between some stones, lying on the ground, watching warily ahead. Soon, a pair of bony, bare feet ran past him, carrying a pungent, sour smell.
He nearly sneezed from the stench but managed to hold it back.
This was terrifying; at this rate, he would become a fat sheep toyed with by a pack of wolves. Let alone fighting back, even surviving was a problem.
He silently took a couple of breaths, and when his breathing calmed down a bit, he saw that the person had not returned. He wanted to crawl out, but just as he moved his foot, he suddenly heard footsteps again. He thought it was the man with the scissors returning and quickly lay still again. However, as the footsteps grew closer, Li Yougen frowned.
Unlike the light footsteps of the scythe man, and even different from the first man with the scythe, this one was heavier and slower, accompanied by a mechanical buzzing sound. He did not understand, and his body sank lower, staring intently ahead.
Soon, a pair of similarly bare feet appeared in front of him, but with just one glance, Li Yougen was certain this was not anyone he had seen before. The ankles of this person were thicker, not as emaciated as the previous two, and although they were not as muscular as a normal person, they were clearly in better shape. More importantly, the person was holding a chainsaw!
The sharp teeth of the chainsaw glinted white under the motor’s drive, almost blinding Li Yougen. His heart raced, and his body tensed up, wishing he could shrink back even further. But he was also afraid that any noise would attract attention, so he could only endure silently, praying that this terrifying murderer would leave quickly.
However, if he could abandon his own mother, who would protect him?
The chainsaw murderer stood firmly in front of him, showing no intention of moving away.
Li Yougen’s heart nearly stopped beating with the chainsaw’s roar right next to him, and his body went rigid. Fortunately, the person had not yet noticed him, as those feet were facing outward.
The running chainsaw was very close to the ground, kicking up fine dust that entered the nearby space. Li Yougen was choked and could not help but cough, desperately trying to hold it back, tears of discomfort streaming down his face. He did not know how long he could endure this. He thought he could not just sit and wait for death; it was safer to have a weapon in hand.
When he fell under the tree earlier, the iron pipe he had been holding in his mouth must have been thrown somewhere, and he had lost it before he could use it. He could only continue to feel around with his hands to see if he could find something else.
However, iron pipes were not something one could find everywhere. He did not touch anything that could serve as a weapon. Just as he was feeling frustrated and about to withdraw his hand, he accidentally brushed against a stone, and a burning sensation shot through his mind. His arm instinctively recoiled quickly, making a larger movement.
What was that? A hot stone?
Since the murderer outside was not leaving, he might as well move closer to see what that strange stone was. To his surprise, the stone, which almost blended into the environment, turned out to be a large black gem, faintly radiating strange waves. As he dug it out with one hand and held it, three big words popped into his mind: magic stone.
Li Yougen was overjoyed. Was this the magic stone?!
He held the black, murky stone as if it were his lifeline, his eyes shining with excitement, wanting to shout out loud. But thinking of the chainsaw murderer outside, he immediately swallowed his voice back, unable to resist turning his head to check those feet, ensuring that the person had not heard him.
But he found himself staring directly into a pair of bloodshot, greedy eyes.
