Chapter Thirty-Eight: Something in the Water

  At that time, I realized the situation, but suddenly a hand grasped my bare foot tightly. My heart skipped a beat, and my first reaction was to think of Yu Gang, but hadn't he already climbed up to the shore?

  So, whose is the hand that caught my 'naked' foot in the water?

  At that moment, my whole body sank down, and the hand pulled me down. I struggled, and a sharp pain shot up from my bare feet. The hand gripped me tightly, and I held my breath, using all my strength to push back, but it didn't budge at all.

  In the river water, a blurry patch, I saw something, it was that hand, unexpectedly a huge thing, resembling a human shadow. At that moment, my heart's fear grew bigger and bigger, I sensed that the shadow wanted to drag me underwater, dealing with me?

  I exerted my strength to kick the uncaught foot, aiming at that hand before applying force. I felt like I had used up all my energy, but everyone knows there's buoyancy in water, so no matter how much strength was applied, it seemed to have no effect at all.

  People who are out of breath all know that the first breath is held for the longest time, and subsequent breaths will only gradually decrease, just for a short while.

  If I could see my own words, I'd definitely find that my eyes had burst with countless blood vessels, as if there were some signs of collapse. No matter how hard I struggled, I was dragged further and further away by the figure.

  At that moment, I only felt my thoughts gradually becoming blurred, and the river water had unknowingly entered my mouth a few times. Faintly, I only heard the sound of "splash" jumping down, then I only felt my body being pulled up. At that moment, I only felt that I had lost consciousness in an instant, and the feeling of cerebral hypoxia was really unbearable.

  All I feel is a blur in front of my eyes, I want to open them, but it feels like Mount Everest is pressing down on my eyelids, no matter how hard I try, I just can't pry them open.

  Time had lost all meaning, and when I woke up, it felt as if a century had passed. As I opened my eyes, things were clear again, unlike the blurry vision I had while in the river. Beside me, Hui'er was facing away from me, and I couldn't tell what she was doing either.

  "Xiao Yu, where did Yu Gang go?" I looked around and didn't see Yu Gang's figure, so I slowly got up with my own strength, although it was a bit difficult, after all, the pain from my bare feet was throbbing.

  Yu Gang, he went to a very far away place and will never come back... Huier suddenly turned her head around, with no expression on her face at all.

  "No way."

  My heart suddenly sank, and I really felt a bit suffocated. How could that coward possibly die?

  In the water, I knew someone saved me, and that person was Yu Gang.

  Did he drown?

  The person who talked nonsense all the way suddenly died?

  Although he is unreliable, after all, in the team, his relationship with him is still the best.

  Those team members who died before, I watched them die one by one, but how did Yu Gang die?

  Did he die saving me?

  Thinking of this, my heart felt a sour taste, and I didn't dare think about it anymore.

  I slowly stood up and looked at Lian'er, only to find that his clothes were stained with blood all over, a shocking sight.

  "Xiao Er, how are you covered in blood?" I cried out in extreme fright.

  "I killed Yu Gang, his blood all flowed onto my body..." Xiang Er turned her head around, smiling eerily, completely losing the mischievousness of before.

  At this moment, Yuriko's face was also covered in bloodstains, her facial muscles twisted into a grotesque grin directed at me. Her smile looked extremely eerie and I was startled by such a sight of Yuriko that for a while, I couldn't recover from the shock of what she had just said.

  Did she kill Yu Gang?

  I recall what you just told me, and it's as if Xiao Cong has become a completely different person, like I don't even recognize him anymore.

  Yu Gang was just discovered by her, and then she took action to silence Yu Gang.

  My face was as pale as paper, filled with a bewildered and terrified expression.

  Right after that, I looked at the corpse on the ground and it was indeed Yu Gang's.

  At that moment, I only felt dizzy and saw that Yu Gang was actually killed by Huier?

  She flashed a smile at me, but it wasn't cute at all. In fact, I found it terrifying. Suddenly, she revealed a huge, long mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. She pounced on Yu Gang's body and her sharp teeth tore through his belly in an instant. Her entire head was buried inside Yu Gang's ripped open stomach, the sound of chewing that came out was enough to drive me crazy.

  At that moment, I was icy all over, and an extreme fear spread uncontrollably to every cell in my body. My hands and feet were busy trying to retreat, and my body was trembling with fear.

  Jiang Er heard the sound, her face stained with blood emerged from Yu Gang's newly opened belly, lifting her head, still holding half a intestine in her mouth. Her blurry face covered in blood and flesh made me feel like vomiting.

  She suddenly smiled and drew a knife from beside her, then pounced on me.

  My whole body stiffened, my eyes widened in a daze, until a pungent smell drilled into my nostrils, and I slowly came to.

  At this time, I only felt that my ears seemed to be crackling, and when I looked closely, Yu Gang's mother was actually "slapping" my face, slapping it with a loud crackle, while Yu Gang also had an expression of wanting more.

  "What the hell is this damn dead rabbit doing?"

  I just realized that I had a nightmare, and Yu Gang was still hitting me in the face with his palm, and I couldn't help but get furious.

  "Ah, you finally woke up, I've been fanning you for half a day, even a pig would have woken up by now." Yu Gang heard my tone and immediately became unhappy, muttering and scolding.

  "Alright, stop arguing. Mr. Chen, you were completely stiff and had a muscle spasm earlier, fortunately, nothing serious happened." Xiang Er shook her head and said with a relieved expression.

  "Where is this place? Why aren't we in the desert?"

  For a moment, my head became a mess and I didn't react at all, so I quickly spoke up to ask.

  I remember being dragged into the water by a figure, no matter how hard I struggled to break free, and then nothing.

  "This is the way to your home, you cramped up in the water, if I hadn't pulled you up, you'd probably be dead by now. If you can't swim, don't go swimming, and it got me swallowing a few mouthfuls of water." Yu Gang said loudly, but his voice was filled with barely concealed excitement.

  I lifted my head to look at Xiang'er, still with some worry in my heart. The dream just now was so real that it was terrifying, as if it were true. However, I saw Yu Gang was still alive, which means it's a nightmare.

  "This is great, we can all go home now." I exclaimed with some excitement. In the desert, it was something that didn't even dare to think about, but now, I am free and unbound, no one can threaten me anymore.

  However, Yu Gang furrowed his brow and said, "There's some bad news."

  "What's wrong?" I asked in surprise.

  He only saw the off-road vehicle next to him, and his face turned extremely ugly when he mentioned it, just like when he returned home to find his wife rolling in bed with another man.

  I crawled up from the ground and was surprised to find that it was Tang Guangze's off-road vehicle.

  How did their car get here? I thought about it and it makes sense, their car is much faster than ours, probably arrived two days earlier than us.

  "There was no one in the car, just...". Yu Gang's face turned pale and he swallowed his words.

  I got impatient, and before he finished speaking, I thought it would be better to go see for myself. I immediately ran over, and before I even reached the car, what I saw in front of me almost scared the pee out of me.

  A figure lies on its back on the ground, with its right hand raised high and its right leg bent, in a certain pose.

  Who is he?

  From my angle, I couldn't see the person's face clearly, but Yu Gang suddenly said: "We don't know that person, and they're all gone, we don't know what happened, not even taking their belongings, just disappeared, no one knows where they went. Why did they abandon the car?"

  I looked at that person who was completely naked, his entire posture seemed to be performing some sort of ritual, just like Huang Daxian, looking very eerie.

  I checked the car and everything inside was intact, with no signs of a struggle. I found several bottles of water in the trunk that were still perfectly fine on top, while the rest of the stuff wasn't very important, just some clothes.

  Nothing is missing, what's missing is people.

  They all disappeared.

  What exactly happened that made them leave in such a hurry? If nothing had happened, why would they do something so irrational? Any ordinary person wouldn't abandon the most important thing in this vast desert.

  However, Tang Guangze, a 'sharp' person like an old fox, would choose the most advantageous one in these two situations.

  Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel very curious about what happened to them.

  "Where did you say they were going? And who is this person?" Yu Gang said in confusion.

  "I didn't know that there were no signs of fighting here, which means they left voluntarily. And this person, I always feel very strange about him. Look, his hand is raised, as if..."

  "He shouted out the words 'worship ceremony'... He was a bit incoherent, pointing at the person and explaining: 'It's like those people on TV, posing in all sorts of weird positions, it seems like they're doing some kind of worship thing. I once saw a movie where people used something to worship, I've seen people use chickens, ducks, pigs and whatnot for worship, but never humans. Anyway, the pose is almost the same as this one."

  "That's just a movie, don't make it sound so real..." I couldn't help but stare at Gang, feeling that what he said was a bit too eerie. After all, using people as sacrifices wasn't exactly a good omen.

  "That's true... I know this person."