“Looks like we have to walk again.” Qi Xiaokui came over to find Xin Meng, worried, “But everyone is injured. Li Wenjun just woke up, but he lost too much blood and is staggering. Should we rest a bit longer?”
Xin Meng pulled You Yi to stand up, glanced over at Li Wenjun, saw his pale face but that he seemed to be in good spirits, and walked over to ask, “Are you okay?”
Li Wenjun glanced at him, forcing a smile, “I’m fine, I can hold on. Thank you for helping me with the bandaging.”
“I actually wanted you to rest here a bit longer,” Xin Meng said, “but the situation isn’t optimistic. There’s no food or water here. Even if we lie down, it will only make our strength deplete faster, so I wanted to see if you could still hold on.”
“Let’s wait a bit longer. Wenjun just woke up, and he’s still in pain!” Luo Yingying supported Li Wenjun’s arm, tears welling up in her eyes.
Li Wenjun forced a smile, “Stop crying, Yingying. Xin Meng is right… I’m not just in pain, I’m also really hungry. I haven’t felt this hungry in a long time, and I’m starting to feel dizzy. If we wait any longer, I might faint from hunger.”
Dou Dou leaned over and said, “How about we go to the city and grab a couple of hamburgers to eat? That should be okay…”
“Sure.” You Yi glanced at him and said lightly, “But there’s no water, we can only keep moving forward.”
“Let’s go!” Li Wenjun made up his mind, “For the food, I can still hold on!”
Luo Yingying supported him, running slowly behind, while the other four rushed ahead with the little black people to the pile of hamburgers. This time, Xin Meng not only slowly fed the little black people but also occasionally tossed a few hamburgers to his teammates.
Li Wenjun held a hamburger and took a couple of bites. The feeling of food filling his empty stomach was incredibly wonderful. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Yingying always talked about wanting to eat this, but she could never have it, so she made me eat it for her. I never thought it was that great, but now it feels just like the peaches of immortality!”
Luo Yingying, who had been frowning, couldn’t help but laugh at him, “What peaches of immortality? It sounds like you’ve eaten them before.” Then she looked a bit confused, “By the way, when did I ask you to eat for me? I don’t remember that. And why couldn’t I eat? It’s just a hamburger!”
Li Wenjun seemed to realize what he had said, glanced at Luo Yingying, and suddenly stiffened, changing the subject, “Maybe I remembered it wrong… Aren’t you going to eat?”
Luo Yingying was also so hungry that her stomach was pressed against her back. The hamburger in her hand emitted a very tempting aroma, and she couldn’t help but lower her head and take a bite, but she still glanced sideways at Li Wenjun, muttering, “I always feel like you’re hiding something from me.”
Li Wenjun couldn’t help but smile bitterly. He looked up and saw Xin Meng and the others watching him, tugging at the corners of his mouth, as if explaining to them, but also to himself, “I… remembered it wrong.”
Xin Meng respected their story and didn’t pry, busy feeding the little black person that had died. The six of them followed him and once again walked onto that precarious path.
To be honest, after experiencing such a scene, most of them had a bit of a shadow in their hearts, so they walked cautiously, constantly looking into the darkness, feeling like every rustle was a threat. When the first crow appeared, Dou Dou shouted, almost scaring Qi Xiaokui into stepping into thin air, but he was quickly caught by Dou Dou, who saved him from falling.
The swift action made one suspect it was intentional.
“Throw the hamburgers!”
Xin Meng was prepared, taking out the hamburgers and throwing them as far as possible. The crows were distracted, and the six of them made it through safely, finally rushing to the land where the little black people were. Fortunately, as soon as they stepped onto this land, the crows disappeared and did not follow them.
At this moment, nine little black people were lying on the ground, drowsy.
“We can’t let them sleep!” Dou Dou shouted, taking a few steps forward and tentatively kicked one of the little black people who was about to fall asleep.
“Be careful, don’t kick too hard or you’ll kill it, or we’ll have to go back!” Xin Meng quickly reminded, but perhaps Dou Dou’s kick was too light and well-controlled, the little black person not only didn’t die but immediately grew long teeth and nails, roaring and lunging at Dou Dou!
Dou Dou didn’t dare to fight back, fearing he might kill it, so he could only keep dodging. The little black person chased him for less than a minute, but then suddenly stopped as if someone had pressed the pause button, then fell backward with a thud, lying on the ground, its eyes slowly closing, ready to fall asleep again.
“Hey, don’t sleep!” Dou Dou kicked it with his toes, and it got up and chased again, but soon fell to the ground wanting to sleep.
“Should we learn from it too?” Qi Xiaokui asked, a bit conflicted. She wasn’t as agile as Dou Dou; what if she got caught by a little black person!
Xin Meng thought for a moment and took out the remaining twenty or so hamburgers from his backpack.
Since this time he was prepared and didn’t throw them around in a panic like last time, there were still some hamburgers left. He remembered that the little black people seemed to really like this food and wondered if he could successfully tempt them.
He held a hamburger in front of one little black person’s nose, shook it a bit, and the little black person immediately opened its eyes, staring intently at the hamburger, reaching out to grab it. Xin Meng loosened his grip, letting it take it and eat.
You Yi cooperated with him, taking seven hamburgers and tossing them to the remaining seven little black people.
“Hey! What about mine?” Dou Dou dodged the little black person’s sharp claws and called out. Xin Meng tossed him one, and he caught it with one hand, directly stuffing it into the little black person’s mouth. The little black person immediately stopped, still in a threatening posture, but blinked, then withdrew its hand and began to eat the hamburger seriously.
Of the nine little black people, eight were tempted by the food and gave up sleep, but only one wouldn’t wake up no matter what.
“Should we call it?” Qi Xiaokui stretched her head to look at the sleeping little black monster, watching its rising and falling belly as she asked.
“No need, it should be the one that dies this round.” Xin Meng said.
Sure enough, when the belly stopped rising and falling, the other eight little black people sang in unison: “Nine little black people, sleepless in the deep night; one fell asleep and died, nine left with eight…”
The sound waves vibrated, penetrating their eardrums, and the six of them covered their ears but couldn’t block it.
“Eight little black people, going to hunt in Deven City; leaving one life behind, eight left with seven…”
The eight little black monsters sang and ran, darting away behind the circular land. Xin Meng and the others quickly followed, discovering that a precarious path had appeared there again, though they didn’t know when.
“Why is it again!” Luo Yingying said anxiously, “If there are still crows, the hamburgers won’t be enough!”
But there was no choice; they had to move forward. There were at least eight more checkpoints behind them, and constantly going back would only deplete their strength faster, making it even harder to reach the end.
Originally, You Yi was supposed to take the lead, but Xin Meng firmly stopped him and ran to the front himself.
You Yi looked at his frail yet gradually upright figure and suddenly chuckled softly, “You want to protect me…?”
The two who were already married were fine, but the remaining two single dogs who were forced to eat dog food expressed: I really want to burn this pair of dog men to death!
They stepped onto the precarious path again, but this time it went very smoothly, with no crows appearing again, and they walked all the way to the end, following the little black people through a black door.
Outside the door, it opened up, but it was still very dim. On the barren, cracked land stood a gloomy, dilapidated castle. The grayish-blue bricks were dirty, covered with many dead, withered vines. The windows were broken, the glass shattered, and inside was pitch black, with tattered curtains blowing out in the wind, stained with dark brown wet marks.
The sky was also gloomy, with deep gray clouds rolling and shifting, as if a storm was about to arrive. Occasionally, lightning would split the night sky, creating a very oppressive atmosphere.
“Just looking at it, it’s clearly not a good place,” Dou Dou said, staring up at the entire castle, muttering to himself, “It’s like a must-have scene in a horror novel. I really don’t want to go in.”
However, the castle’s main door was already open, and the little black people fearlessly sang as they rushed inside.
Dou Dou: “… Damn.”
Xin Meng patted his shoulder, “You’ll get used to it.”
Dou Dou felt this sounded a bit familiar, then suddenly remembered that when the little black people had pushed him to explode into a mass of flesh and blood, Qi Xiaokui had also said this to him. He suddenly felt like crying without tears, “Who is supposed to get used to this?!”
Even if he was unwilling, he had no choice but to go in. The six of them followed the little black people into the castle, which was completely dark, with no light at all, but they wouldn’t get lost because the little black people were singing loudly, clearly indicating their location. However, their speed was very fast, and Xin Meng and the others had to run quickly to keep up.
“Bang! Crash!”
While running, Xin Meng stepped on a certain floorboard, but suddenly his foot felt empty; the floorboard actually broke!
He fell down completely, but fortunately, he reacted quickly, grabbing the edge of the ground with one hand to stop himself, while You Yi immediately squatted down and pulled him up.
Xin Meng looked back in fear and saw that the one-square-meter stone slab had completely shattered, revealing a bottomless pit beneath it.
“There’s actually a trap!” Qi Xiaokui was also startled, “We can’t run anymore; we should walk slowly!”
But once they slowed down, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the little black people, and if something went wrong, they would have to go back.
None of them could have imagined that what had once been a fortunate infinite rewind had now become their most dreaded thing.
“Everyone hold hands,” Li Wenjun said, “Even if someone steps into thin air, the person next to them can hold on.”
The others had no objections, so the six of them held hands and ran forward, with You Yi leading and Li Wenjun bringing up the rear.
Since they had already distanced themselves from the little black people, they ran a bit faster. Turning a corner, they found a long corridor, with the little black people running ahead in pairs.
The windows on one side of the corridor were wide open, and weak light shone in, clearly outlining a huge pit not far in front of the little black people, which came into the eyes of the six.
The little black people continued to sing as they ran forward, seemingly unaware of the deadly threat.
“We have to stop them!” Dou Dou shouted.
Everyone knew they had to stop them from falling to their deaths, but they were too far away to reach them. What should they do?!
