“It should be morning now… The air in the woods is more humid… So heading toward the sun is the right call…” Su Lin snapped a dead branch in front of him and let out a helpless sigh as he looked at the endless green ahead.
“...We’ve been walking for about an hour, right...?” Wang Tong glanced around and said helplessly. He was a boy with slightly yellowish skin and a somewhat pointed face that still carried a masculine air. He’d been good friends with Yueye in the past, but for some reason, he’d barely said a word all along the way. Yueye had also been silent throughout the journey, for reasons of her own.
“It’s definitely been an hour. It’d be hard for us to find our way back now...” Du Shengjie looked up at the sky, barely able to make out the sun through gaps in the leaves.
“By the way, Yueye, are you holding up?” Su Lin looked at Yueye and saw that the little girl in front of him wasn’t nearly as tired as he’d expected… even though she looked so small.
“Hm?… I’m fine…” Yueye, lost in thought, gave him a grateful smile. Her slightly spaced-out voice warmed everyone’s heart.
“...Come on, everyone, stay alert… We don’t know what we might run into in these woods…” Su Lin steadied himself and called out to the group. He looked around and saw that no one seemed to be in very good shape…
“Man, what are we supposed to do?” Su Lin was determined to lift the team’s spirits. He knew they couldn’t go on like this.
“...Hey… We’ve got something up ahead…” The sudden voice made everyone’s heart tighten. Liu Menglong, who was at the front of the group, gave a warning.
“...?!” Su Lin’s train of thought was interrupted. He hurried toward the front of the group...
A wave of blood and gore hit them… They stepped forward and pushed aside the last clump of bushes. The trees before them were riddled with bullet holes… A huge pool of blood remained on the ground…
“What… happened here?” Zhu Yue stared in confusion… A truth she didn’t want to accept had already begun to take shape in her mind.
“Looks like another group came through here… And…”
Wang Tong pointed to a set of claw marks on a tree trunk…
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Liu Haimeng murmured… They rounded a few broken tree trunks, and a scene from hell came into view. The soil had turned dark brown where it mixed with blood. Chunks of flesh, impossible to identify as belonging to any particular part of a body, hung from a nearby branch… A bloodstained school uniform lay over the pool of blood, as if it had been torn apart. A strange, foul stench rose from it.
“Ugh—” Her stomach lurched. No matter how many war movies she’d watched or war games she’d played, nothing had ever been as bloody and real as what lay before her… Liu Haimeng couldn’t hold it in. She ran out from behind a tree, signaled to the teammates behind her not to come any closer, then bent over nearby and threw up until her stomach was empty...
“Are you okay?” A few minutes later, Su Lin asked Liu Haimeng with concern.
Su Lin wasn’t doing too well himself. After Liu Haimeng had signaled them, they still couldn’t resist their curiosity and went to look… They’d managed to fight back the nausea, but the sight had still shaken them deeply.
“Stay alert… This place isn’t safe!” Su Lin steadied his emotions and gave the group an order.
“Okay,” the team members replied quietly. No one wanted to stick their neck out right now… They obediently formed the diamond formation they’d agreed on from the start, keeping a close watch on their surroundings.
………The sudden tension left only the sound of footsteps rubbing against the dirt and the quick, nervous breaths filling the air… The group fell silent in an instant. A chill rose from the ground beneath their feet and crept into their minds,,, making them shiver despite themselves.
In that moment, everyone realized just how fragile their lives really were… And in that moment, the instinct and desire to survive took hold of them all…
The fourteen of them moved quietly through the vast forest, like thieves sneaking around, afraid of drawing the attention of its native inhabitants. It was nothing like the monster-hunting adventure they’d imagined. The forest seemed to have countless eyes fixed on their little group of fourteen, watching for a chance to strike a fatal blow… Ever since they’d entered the woods, they’d become prey… and the predators were already ravenous. The scene they’d witnessed earlier had driven itself into their minds like a steel needle… The unknown high school student and the unfamiliar bloodstains were proof enough.
“Yueye, are you okay? You don’t look too good.” Su Lin knew this kind of atmosphere could eventually tear the group apart. When he could no longer stand the oppressive silence, he turned to Yueye and asked.
As the weakest member of the group, Yueye had become Su Lin’s obvious way of breaking the tension. Even though this was already the second time he’d used the same question to start a conversation, he never seemed to tire of it…
“I’m fine.” Yueye looked at Su Lin, puzzled. The feeling was complicated. On one hand, she could feel the team’s concern… and feel that she wasn’t alone anymore, unlike before. On the other, she felt like she was dragging the team down… Once was fine, but asking a second time, or even a third… It was practically stamping the label of “weak link” on her forehead. But with Yueye’s personality, she simply took his words as a sign of concern.
“Of course I’m fine. I was a man in my previous life, after all!” Her blue hair swayed as her petite body trembled slightly. She raised a small, adorable fist to her chest to show how displeased she was…
“Sure, sure. Our little princess, hahaha.” Su Lin teased her with a laugh. For a moment, the oppressive atmosphere around the team seemed to lift… The stiffness in everyone’s faces eased a little.
“Yueye, seriously, I think you could totally take Liu Huiying’s place as the school beauty now,” Wang Tong chimed in with a tease… He’d always been pretty outgoing, and once he got caught up in the mood, he had plenty to say.
“Wang Tong, you’re joining in too?” Yueye glared at him, looking as if she wanted to bite his head off.
“No, I’m complimenting you. Really.” Wang Tong had an utterly punchable look on his face, and he stared at Yueye as if he couldn’t wait for her to bite him.
“Y-you jerk!” Yueye stamped her little foot in anger and stopped paying attention to the two of them teasing her.
“Hey, you two can’t hog our team mascot like that! The team mascot belongs to all of us! No one gets to keep her to themselves!” Liu Menglong shouted from the front of the group toward the middle.
“You’re shouting so loud! Aren’t you afraid you’ll attract some beasts?” Yueye glared at him, her little mouth puffing up with indignation..
“Exactly! You’re shouting so loud—aren’t you afraid you’ll attract some beasts? Don’t bully Yueye! I’ve got her back! From now on, she’s my little sister. Anyone who messes with her will have to answer to me!” Zhu Yue declared with the air of a righteous big sister, glaring at Liu Menglong near the front of the group.
After that, the mood among the group improved noticeably. Yueye had become the center of everyone’s attention. She seemed furious, but deep down, she felt a little warmth… At least, everyone accepted the person she was in this body now… They didn’t treat her like a freak or a burden. At the very least, that was true of everyone who’d joined in the conversation today.
