Chapter 14: The Returner on a Snowy Night (8)
Half an hour later, the six-person team halted in the woods. By this point, they had only covered about a thousand meters since leaving the lodge.
The bitter cold slowed their pace, and searching for the glowing powder had led them down many wrong turns. Fortunately, towering trees reached into the sky, their thick canopies blocking much of the blizzard, preventing the snow from completely burying all traces of the powder.
Even so, straining their eyes like this was nearly blinding everyone.
Taking a brief rest, Peng Mingfan looked back the way they came and said, “Zhang Zhiqiu didn’t follow us.”
Qian Wei: “Did his conscience catch up to him?”
An Ning: “What conscience? Would someone like him ever feel guilty? Since he dared to kill Li Yingjun outright, it means he was certain he could clear the game. If he can already clear it, why run out into these miserable woods? He’d be sleeping comfortably in the lodge.”
Qian Wei scratched his head. “True.”
An Ning: “Of course it is!”
After three days together, the bickering between Qian Wei and An Ning had become a daily routine. Zhao Ping was still anxious about the missing Li Shuangshuang, his face dark, but witnessing this scene eased his tension a bit.
He didn’t really buy into Qian Wei’s theory on clearing the instance. The fact that Zhang Zhiqiu was so certain puzzled him greatly. With this in mind, he walked up to Peng Mingfan and asked, “Do you think there’s something wrong with Zhang Zhiqiu?”
Peng Mingfan shook his head. “I’m not sure anymore. At first, I suspected he was an NPC. But why would an NPC scramble to kill Li Yingjun? Yet if he isn’t an NPC, his actions are far too suspicious.”
Qian Wei chimed in: “Bottom line is, the guy is weird.”
An Ning: “That’s just because you haven’t seen enough of the world.”
Just as the two were about to start arguing again, Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng found another trace of powder up ahead and continued forward in that direction.
Tang Cuo was still wearing the military overcoat. Yesterday, he had casually left it in the kitchen, and today, he had just as casually put it back on before leaving. It was freezing outside; walking just this short distance had already cost him 1% of his Health.
“What do you think we’ll find in the end?” Jin Cheng asked.
“A corpse,” Tang Cuo replied succinctly.
“You don’t seem to believe that theory about clearing the game at all?”
“Because it was impossible for Qu Li to clear it.”
Jin Cheng’s interest was piqued, and he pressed on, “Yet Qu Li killing Li Yingjun and disappearing was identical to Li Shuangshuang. Doesn’t that indirectly support the existence of this pattern? Whoever kills Li Yingjun disappears, frightening the remaining players into not acting, while in reality, everyone who acted cleared the game. That fits Yong Ye City’s twisted sense of humor quite well.”
“Haven’t you noticed?” Tang Cuo turned to look at him, his dark and clear eyes sharp. “Both Li Shuangshuang and Zhang Zhiqiu were alone before they made their move.”
Two killers, both with bizarre trajectories.
One was timid and cowardly, the other selfish and shrewd, with nothing in common. Yet both went mad and killed Li Yingjun immediately after being alone.
Tang Cuo asked again, “How strong is Li Yingjun in combat?”
Jin Cheng considered it and said, “Very strong.”
“Both times he was killed, he was poisoned first and then stabbed to death. Poisoning can weaken his combat strength, and when Li Shuangshuang killed him, he was even tied up. But did he really lack even the slightest ability to resist?”
It was very strange.
From the first time he witnessed Li Yingjun’s death, this odd sensation had lingered in Tang Cuo’s mind, refusing to fade, especially after watching Zhang Zhiqiu stab him to death once more.
Why did Li Yingjun’s combat strength fluctuate between strong and weak?
Tang Cuo didn’t believe Jin Cheng hadn’t noticed. Throughout it all, Jin Cheng had acted completely at ease, keeping one foot outside the board. Jin Cheng shrugged and said, “What you said makes a lot of sense too.”
Saying that is the same as saying nothing.
Tang Cuo wrapped his coat tighter and continued walking.
Jin Cheng leisurely followed along. “Actually, I care more about Li Yingjun himself.”
Tang Cuo didn’t reply; he was a man with a temper.
Jin Cheng’s mood, on the other hand, only improved. He continued, “The woodcutter, the fragrant firewood, the cedar emblem of the lodge, even Li Yingjun’s metal-counters-wood attribute: everything relates to wood. The final truth might be hidden in these woods as well.”
Hearing this, Tang Cuo looked up into the endless black forest.
Jin Cheng’s voice still echoed beside his ear, “Our ultimate goal isn’t solving puzzles, but killing him. Only by finding the right direction can we survive.”
The right direction…
Tang Cuo chewed on those words, but a blurry figure inexplicably surfaced in his mind. Ancient memories surged like a tide. He turned to look at Jin Cheng, but only saw a silver mask.
He decided that from this moment on, he disliked Jin Cheng.
No reason needed.
“Why do I feel like the way you’re looking at me is a bit off?” Jin Cheng asked.
“You’re seeing things,” Tang Cuo replied, his face instantly blank.
With that, Tang Cuo picked up his pace. Jin Cheng accelerated as well, leaving Qian Wei and the others behind to hurry up in utter bewilderment. “Wait up, Big Bosses!”
Walking for another half hour and correcting their direction twice along the way, the six discovered a cave. By the time they reached this spot, the glowing powder on the ground was virtually gone. Deciding which way to head next became a real problem.
The cave was small and unremarkable, but it was dry. Qian Wei dashed inside first, stamping his feet to shake snow off his shoulders, breathing warm air onto his freezing hands.
“Why are you so sensitive to the cold?” An Ning followed right behind him.
“This is a normal physiological reaction! You guys are all non-human… huh?” While speaking, Qian Wei suddenly scampered back to the entrance, brushing aside weeds and snow on the ground. “There are bear tracks here!”
The rest gathered around to look.
Peng Mingfan had never seen a real black bear. Staring at such massive paw prints and recalling Qian Wei’s words from yesterday, he couldn’t help drawing a sharp breath.
Jin Cheng, however, examined them with great amusement. He asked Tang Cuo, “Was yesterday’s bear this big?”
Tang Cuo gave a cool, distant nod.
“I just thought of an idea,” Jin Cheng smiled. “The black bear is a native inhabitant of these woods and knows the place best. We can let it lead the way.”
Everyone exchanged baffled glances. What kind of bizarre plan was this now?
Tang Cuo asked, “Are you sure it will listen to you?”
Jin Cheng spread his hands. “We’ll know after beating it up a bit.”
“You’re going to fight it?”
“Aren’t you helping?”
“Can’t you see I’m on the verge of dying?”
Jin Cheng shook his head. Truly, one couldn’t tell. This supposedly dying man had just slaughtered a bear yesterday.
In any case, the plan was settled.
Qian Wei and the others had zero opportunity to voice an opinion. Even Peng Mingfan, the group’s brain, was relegated to cutting down trees. An Ning, the sole woman, couldn’t escape it either. Along with Zhao Ping, the four were driven outside the cave with strict orders to chop trees until the black bear showed up.
An abrupt start to their careers as forced laborers.
Wrapped in his military coat, Tang Cuo sat on a rock at the cave entrance supervising, arms tucked into his sleeves. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Jin Cheng taking out his bow again. It was a silver-gray mechanical bow with hollowed-out limbs, where countless intricate gears and components were faintly visible. Its sleek lines exuded high-tech elegance from every angle.
A bow like this surely had more functions than just shooting arrows.
Tang Cuo found it intriguing, but didn’t ask. He simply considered that he ought to find a handy weapon for himself too.
Right at that moment, the first tree fell.
Tang Cuo glanced up, then looked at the dead-silent woods, saying, “Keep going.”
The four laborers had no choice but to continue chopping, their hearts pounding in their chests. Yesterday, the bear had appeared within minutes of felling trees, and today would likely be no different. With that in mind, their chopping speed increased.
Crack. A clear snapping sound echoed once more.
The furious roar of a black bear followed immediately.
“Run!” An Ning shouted, and the four bolted. While fleeing, they couldn’t help glancing back, only to see something unexpected:
The black bear was running too!
It was running away!
It turned tail and fled!
The four skidded to a halt. Peng Mingfan stared in disbelief at the retreating bear, asking, “What on earth did you guys do to it yesterday?”
An Ning, Qian Wei, and Zhao Ping: “…”
“Look over there!” Qian Wei suddenly pointed to a large tree ahead and cried out.
The three looked closely. A lithe figure holding a bow leaped down from a tree over ten meters high, moving as if stepping on the wind, landing on another treetop in an instant. With a few agile bounds, he closed in on the bear.
Whoosh! Moving just as fast as him was his arrow. Drawing his bow and nocking an arrow mid-jump, the shot was released before his feet even touched the ground.
Dressed in military-green overalls, who else could it be but Jin Cheng?
The metal shaft pierced the bear’s right ear, pinning itself into the snow with a spray of blood. The bear was halted, howling in pain as it tried to flee in another direction. But Jin Cheng was already perched in the tree behind it. This time, he used no arrow, drawing the bowstring empty and releasing it toward the ground.
Zheng. The sound was like the plucked chord of a zither.
Sound waves vibrated, setting the leaves buzzing in unison.
The snow shook violently, knocked from the branches by an unseen force. The bear gave an agonizing howl, thrashing blindly in all directions, snapping nearby trunks as it slammed into them.
Zheng. Another resonant chord rang out. The black bear crashed to the ground, clutching its head and rolling in agony.
Jin Cheng dropped lightly like a sparrow from the tree, landing steadily upon its back. Conjuring a syringe out of thin air, he drove it forcefully into the back of the bear’s neck.
The black bear fell quiet instantly.
The four who had rushed over were dumbfounded.
The only person who remained calm was Tang Cuo. “What drug?”
Jin Cheng tossed the syringe into the snow. “Heavy sedative.”
Hearing this, Tang Cuo circled around to face the bear. Sure enough, it was still struggling, though feebly now, its roars reduced to whimpers.
Next, Jin Cheng produced a red collar and strapped it around the bear’s neck. A leash trailed from the collar, looking remarkably like something meant for walking a dog.
Qian Wei gathered the courage to ask, “Big Bosses, what do we do now?”
Tang Cuo: “Ask him.”
Jin Cheng raised an eyebrow. “Just wander around. It’s not like I speak bear. Anyway, this creature roams here every day and forbids anyone from felling trees. It has definitely visited the spot where Li Yingjun chops wood. Who knows, we might just stumble upon it.”
Whether the bear understood or not was unclear. It whimpered, trying to reach the collar around its neck with its paws, but couldn’t quite grasp it.
Over the next hour, Qian Wei and the others witnessed the most unhinged spectacle of their lives: trudging through wind and snow in an eerie black forest, walking a bear.
Perhaps because the beast was so massive, the heavy sedative couldn’t knock it out completely. Within minutes, it regained mobility, which marked the true beginning of its tragedy.
The bear refused to yield. It tried to run, sprinting at full tilt. Yet no matter how fast or where it ran, Jin Cheng gripped the leash firmly, riding a broken wooden board beneath his feet like a sled behind it.
Roar! The bear bellowed in fury, crashing into trees in an effort to throw Jin Cheng off. But Jin Cheng bounced off a tree trunk with a backflip, landing right back atop its head in an instant to deliver a heavy blow.
The bear let out a miserable shriek and yielded once again.
Equally submissive was the laborer quartet, panting heavily as they trailed behind, burning every ounce of stamina just to keep up. Especially Qian Wei, who was carrying Tang Cuo on his back.
It wasn’t that Tang Cuo didn’t want to run, but he couldn’t run fast. As a newcomer, he lacked items and was saddled with debuffs. Without the bear even needing to turn around and hit him, he would run himself to death in this freezing cold.
Another half hour passed, and the person carrying Tang Cuo had switched to Zhao Ping.
“Big Boss!” Qian Wei yelled ahead, so exhausted his tongue was nearly hanging out. “Where are you running off to? Even a marathon wouldn’t… holy shit!”
Qian Wei plunged headfirst into a snowdrift, causing a pileup behind him.
Jin Cheng had no choice but to steer the bear back around. By now, the bear was nearly a dead beast, so exhausted it was banging its head against trees in an attempt at suicide. Though Tang Cuo hadn’t been running, the jostling ride had been rough, leaving him sitting on the ground unable to get up for quite a while.
The first to scramble up was the ever-energetic Qian Wei. Feeling he had lost immense face, he immediately rummaged through the snow to find the culprit. “What the hell tripped me?”
After searching for a bit, he found a knee-high sapling. Without hesitation, he yanked on it. Yet the sapling was anchored with bizarre tenacity. Straining with all his might, Qian Wei pulled it free just as he tumbled backward hard onto his rear.
He rubbed his bruised buttocks with a groan and tossed the sapling aside.
The sapling happened to land right in front of Tang Cuo. Looking down, his expression shifted abruptly.
“What is that?!” An Ning saw it too, shuddering in fright.
With everyone’s eyes focused on it, Tang Cuo picked up the sapling. They clearly saw the sapling’s roots: dense, hair-thin black tendrils dragging along a mangled piece of bloody skin.
Tang Cuo identified them in a low voice: “Human skin, and hair.”
In an instant, an electric shock seemed to run through everyone, raising goosebumps all over their bodies. Qian Wei even touched his own scalp instinctively, wearing a look of pure terror.
Jin Cheng frowned slightly as well, but his gaze quickly shifted to the spot where Qian Wei had pulled the sapling. Brushing away the dirt and snow, he found a human head.
A head with its scalp torn off.
“D-Did I rip that off?” Qian Wei nearly fainted, but the truth was plain to see.
“Relax, this person died long ago,” Jin Cheng said, taking a step back. “Find a way to dig it out. Perhaps we’ll soon learn the whereabouts of Li Shuangshuang and Qu Li.”
