Chapter Forty-Four: Three Flesh Tumors Wooden House

  We moved away from the cave and sat down on a flat ground, panting heavily. I said: "A Hao, fortunately we have you, otherwise we would probably have been eaten by these disgusting horse leeches."

  A Hao said calmly: "The Madagascar cockroach won't eat people, but this kind of Madagascar red cockroach is poisonous. If you get bitten by so many, you'll definitely die from poisoning."

  "I'm sorry," I said apologetically. "I shouldn't have been so reckless and almost dragged everyone down."

  Mr. Wu said: "There's no need to apologize. The most important thing now is to find the two-faced baby."

  I took out my phone to continue searching, but still couldn't find any signal from Rouran. Calling her phone also went unanswered. If the twin-faced monster baby hadn't stopped moving, it was terrifying to think where it might have gone by now.

  I have some regrets and self-blame, because I don't want anything to happen to Yueran. If it were an ordinary human who kidnapped Yueran, I wouldn't be too worried, because with her skills, taking down five or six people would be no problem at all. But now the opponent is a freakishly strong infant with two faces who can tear apart tough nylon ropes with his bare hands, and he's cold-blooded and devoid of human emotions - an abnormal creature. For Yueran, every moment, every second, is a situation of extreme danger.

  We turned around the surroundings, and I suddenly discovered a clue: the faint footprints of Kiyora on the ground. Before that, we didn't pay attention to Kiyora's footprints because there was a tracker, and most of the forest was covered with thick fallen leaves, so most of them didn't leave any footprints. But here, I found that some mud in the gaps between the accumulated leaves still had the imprint of Kiyora's boots.

  Although it's very difficult to find, at least there is a way. The four of us took action and continued to track down the Double-Faced Baby and Rouran. We've been out for several hours now, and the sky has started to turn yellow, approaching dusk. Winter days are particularly short, and night will fall soon. I'm getting anxious again; I have a bit of an impatient personality.

  Spending the night in such a deep forest is a very dangerous thing, and previously encountered three strange skeletons on the wooden stakes and mysterious witchcraft symbols on the big trees. This forest is full of too many strange things. Moreover, when we came out, none of us brought a tent. Without a tent, it's hard to spend the night in this deep mountain and old forest.

  As night fell, the forest grew darker. Chen Qiuyang and I discussed whether to continue tracking down Rouran or temporarily retreat from the deep woods.

  "Thirteen Shaochang, you are my superior, I will listen to everything you say. Whatever decision you make, I will follow."

  I said, "After nightfall, the forest will become very dangerous, I don't want us to continue taking risks; but at the same time, I also don't want to give up tracking down Kui Ruo Lan. Now I'm in a dilemma, all because I was too optimistic. I should have followed closely when the Double-Faced Baby snatched away Kui Ruo Lan. Instead, due to my mistake, we missed the best opportunity."

  Chen Qiuyang said, "I understand your intention, Director. You're afraid that if we act rashly when the Double-Faced Baby is still unstable after stepping on Lanlan's shoulder, it might harm Lanlan. I believe Lanlan will also understand this and won't blame you. As for us returning to the hotel, it's to prepare our equipment. Otherwise, we would have been overwhelmed by those horse hooves in the cave just now and wouldn't have been able to save anyone, instead losing our own lives. So, Director Thirteen, you haven't done anything wrong."

  "I said painfully: 'But now we've lost Yu Lan, and can't find her! If something happens to her, how can I be at peace with myself?'"

  Mr. Wu said: "You two are now wasting your time in self-pity and it's useless. It's better to calm down and think about the solution."

  "Now my friend's life or death is uncertain, but I don't know where she went. The footprints have been lost and we are lost."

  "Your friend, although being controlled by the Double-Faced Baby and forced to walk a certain route, I believe her hands are free. Although for some reason she can't speak or answer calls, her hands are still free - in that case, wouldn't your friend leave behind some hidden clues along the way for us to find?"

  Ah Hao's words suddenly came like a flash of insight and reminded me.

  "Right, you're absolutely right, she must have left some clues for us to find her."

  "So if we can find the hidden clues she left along the way here, we must be able to catch up with her before nightfall!"

  I and Chen Qiuyang were circling around the nearby area, observing the ground, trees, and leaves. I carefully examined the tree trunks and leaves. Since Ruo Lan's hands were movable, the symbol she left behind should be at a height that matches her hand movements.

  "Found it! It's lipstick! Yulan left a trail with her lipstick along the way!"

  This exhilarating discovery led us to hasten our pace. After a 20-minute walk, we found a wooden hut in front of us.

  A very low and small wooden hut, with lush green vines crawling all over the roof. A wooden door is open, with flickering flames shining out from inside.

  We cautiously approached the door, and to my surprise, I saw Huier sitting on a wooden chair inside the wooden house, and that two-faced monster baby was not in it.

  I and Chen Qiuyang quickly ran into the house, "Roulan, you, are you okay?!"

  Although Rouran's eyes were open, her mind seemed unclear for some reason. "Lanlan, don't scare me, what's wrong with you?"

  Chen Qiuyang waved his palm in front of Kui Ruo Lan, but Kui Ruo Lan's eyes remained still and unwavering.

  "If we had Feng here, he would definitely know what's going on." I said.

  "Finished, Lanlan might have seen something terrifying and got scared silly!"

  Mr. Wu carefully examined Rouran and thought for a moment, saying: "It's not that she was frightened silly, but it seems like she took an anesthetic or something similar."

  Upon hearing this, Ah Hao opened his backpack and took out a bottle of medicine that looked like wind oil. He opened the cap and gently waved it in front of Qiu Ruo Lan's nostrils a few times. Qiu Ruo Lan slowly regained consciousness and recovered her senses.

  "Thirteen, Yang Baozi, you've all come to save me?" Kui Rulan slowly came to, looking around and asking, "Where is this place?"

  "Lan Lan, don't you know where you are now?"

  "I don't know, I just remember the two-faced baby stuffed a lot of very bitter green leaves into my mouth, and then I don't quite remember what happened afterwards. Where's that baby? Did you see it when you came in?"

  "No. We just came in and saw you sitting here." Ah Hao, who was sharp-eyed, discovered some fresh blood on the ground and said: "Yueran, are you injured?"

  "Aoi Wakana was a bit dazed and said, 'Injured? I didn't feel any discomfort anywhere...' Aoi Wakana stood up and tried to move her limbs, but suddenly realized that there was indeed pain in one place."

  She pointed to her right neck and said: "I, I have a little pain here, San Shi can you help me see if I scratched it here, I can't see."

  Ailian brushed aside her wavy hair with her hand, revealing her snow-white neck.

  I and Chen Qiuyang were both shocked: "Rouran, your neck, there are several cuts on your neck, but I don't know how to describe it to you."

  "Take out your phone and take a picture, I want to see!"

  "Lanlan, the cut on your neck is a bit frightening. You'd better not look at it." Chen Qiuyang gazed at Ruo Lan's snow-white neck and couldn't bear to let her see it.

  "Come on, take it quickly! Don't I have the right to see what's happening to my own body?"

  I could only take a few photos of Yilan's neck with my mobile phone and then handed them to Aoi Yilan.

  Rouran saw the cut on her neck, she cried for the first time. I always thought Rouran was a more manly woman than even the purest of men, with guts bigger than the sky. Didn't expect that now she suddenly burst into tears, with tears flying out.

  "Thirteen, what's this? What are these cuts on my neck? It's too scary." Facing the injuries to her own body, Rouran completely lost her usual rough personality, and at this moment she was just an ordinary little girl who cared a lot about her appearance.

  On the snow-white neck of Kui Ruo Lan, there were three incisions about half a centimeter in length. These incisions were fresh and had been made not long ago. However, they did not split open to reveal flesh and blood, but rather these three incisions were all stitched up, yet it was not like the stitching done with needle and thread after surgery in a hospital.

  The three incisions on the back of Rouran's neck looked as if they had been cut open with a knife and then glued back together, so each incision formed a bulging mass like a small steamed bun's pleat collection point, also very much like three enlarged acne that were about to burst.

  Chen Qiuyang said: "It must be that perverted two-faced freak baby who did it, what is it thinking of doing with the plane?! Could it be, could it be that it's sucking Lanlan's neck, inserting a straw into your neck to suck out your fresh blood?"

  Chen Qiuyang's words were speculative, but also extremely likely. The image of that ferocious and terrifying two-faced baby monster holding a straw inserted into Ruo Lan's neck and sucking her blood with a gurgling sound appeared in my mind, and all the hairs on my body stood up.

  Ailian was still crying and said: "That baby, what did it do to me? I... Waaahhh..."

  Mr. Wu reminded us: "Everyone leave here first! Who knows if that two-faced monster baby will come back!"