Chapter 32: On the Brink of Collapse

  I walked around the campsite from front to back and saw no difference from when I left, it seems that until now, except for me, nobody else has returned.

  I feel very hungry, went to the tent and found two compressed biscuits, sat there and nibbled, feeling very wronged and desolate, as if the whole world had abandoned me, weakly having some urge to cry.

  After finishing eating, I loudly shouted towards the surroundings several times. The only response was the birds' cries. Again, I searched around the woods surrounding the campsite until noon, but still didn't see a single person.

  Back at the camp, I felt that this couldn't go on like this. Zhou Huan and Liang Zi had many people with them, and they all had advanced weapons. If they encountered any danger, it was unlikely that they would be completely wiped out. The reason they hadn't returned must have been due to some reason. What I should do most is wait here...

  Thinking of this made me feel a bit better, so I quickly gathered firewood everywhere. In case they didn't come back before dark, it was definitely not okay to not have a fire going.

  Every half hour or so, I would shout a few times towards the surroundings of the campsite, comforting myself that if they were lost, hearing my shouts would allow them to find their way back.

  After collecting an estimated amount of firewood that could burn for a night, I went to find a few flashlights and a relatively long dagger, then sat on the mound next to the bonfire and started daydreaming.

  I recalled this time's experience of entering the mountain.

  A group of wild boars, man-eating fish, unexplained attacks, other people's screams, and that big pancake-faced weirdo... the more I think about it, the more I feel like none of it makes any sense.

  It seems that the big pancake face saved me last night, but why did he knock me out? Who is he anyway? And why do I always get help whenever I'm in danger, and who are those miserable cries for?

  This series of question marks has made my head big, so I'll just close my eyes and rest for a while. Thinking that if they don't come back tonight, I have to stay up all night by myself until dawn, I'd better take a nap before it gets dark.

  When I woke up, the sun had already set. I got up and shouted again, but there was no response. My heart began to tense up slowly. Before it even got dark, I lit a bonfire. After eating something, I held a flashlight in one hand and a dagger in the other, looking around cautiously.

  As the sky gradually darkened, my tension also began to intensify. Soon I discovered a strange phenomenon - this deep forest looked normal during the day, with insects chirping and birds singing, all very harmonious.

  But once it gets dark, it's as if all living things have fallen asleep, except for the faint sound of the wind, there is no sign of life, that feeling makes people especially anxious.

  Thinking of the danger I encountered last night, after dark, I didn't dare to shout, looking in any direction felt very terrifying, as if at any time a strange hand would stretch out and grab me.

  As time ticks away second by second, I feel like I'm on the verge of collapse. At this moment, I especially miss the times when there were people around. Even if it was just a small dog, I could feel more at ease. I wonder how Liangzi is doing and whether he's caught up with Zhouhuan and the others. My heart is anxious for him.

  Although I'm really scared now, sitting quietly alone is especially easy to get sleepy, and I feel my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, in the end I still couldn't resist and fell asleep...

  When I woke up with a start, I found that it was already daylight and the bonfire in front of me had gone out. I hadn't encountered any danger, but no one had returned to the campsite yet.

  After shouting loudly like a programmed walk for several times, I started repeating yesterday's work again, and it was repeated back and forth like a zombie. After a long time, it seemed that the fear was not so great anymore.

  Days went by, and there were several times when I almost wanted to give up, thinking that I should just go with the flow and find someone to help me. It's been so many days since they left, what are the chances of them still being alive?

  It wasn't until the fourth night at dinner time that I hadn't encountered any more danger, and I had let my guard down. Following habit, I shouted a few times around me, prepared to eat and then keep watch for the night. But just as I finished shouting and was about to start a fire, I suddenly felt like one of the tents seemed to have moved slightly. After only a brief moment, everything returned to normal. Staring at it for a while longer didn't reveal any other reaction, and I thought to myself that maybe I was starting to hallucinate.

  Just as I was about to add some more firewood, I heard a faint "rustling" sound. Suddenly, I lifted my head and looked over, only to see that one of the tents was actually swaying gently.

  This really scared me, and I immediately became tense, quickly grasping the dagger and flashlight in my hand, slowly approaching that tent, constantly muttering to myself: "It's our own people, it must be our own people coming back."

  After walking halfway, the swaying stopped again. I was already sweating all over my hands and heart, and didn't dare to move forward anymore. I shouted towards the tent: "Hey, who's there? Who's inside?"

  After waiting for a while and still not seeing anyone respond, he walked a few more steps forward and shouted: "Who the hell is it? Is it Liangzi or what? Don't scare me!" Still, there was no one responding.

  This feeling is almost driving me crazy, wanting to go in but not daring to, but just standing there stupidly isn't a solution either, so I gritted my teeth and prepared to go in and take a look.

  I held the dagger and quietly approached the tent, only to find that the door curtain was hanging down. I shone my flashlight inside but couldn't see clearly. As I trembled and was about to lift the curtain, I heard a "whoosh" sound as the curtain was lifted, and a black figure rushed out, knocking me to the ground.

  It was too sudden, I was pressed under my body and shouted loudly, wanting to take a dagger to stab, just saw that the black shadow didn't care about me, directly jumped up from my body, and ran towards the bonfire.

  I quickly got up and went towards the bonfire to take a look. As soon as I took one glance, I was stunned and couldn't believe my eyes...

  What I saw wasn't some kind of monster or ghost, but something that scared me even more than a ghost. I discovered that the black shadow was actually one of Zhou Huan's teammates, nicknamed Xiao Wu. His clothes were tattered like rags, his whole body was disheveled and covered in thick mud and bloodstains.

  What makes me even more worried is that Xiao Wu is now squatting by the bonfire, hugging his knees, holding a compressed biscuit in both hands, and chewing exaggeratedly with his mouth. His eyes are staring straight at the fire heap without moving.

  "Xiao Wu, is it... is it Xiao Wu?" I asked weakly.

  He was still chewing on his cookie, as if he hadn't heard me at all.

  At this time I was a bit anxious and shouted loudly: "Xiao Wu, what the hell are you doing? Where is everyone else?"

  As soon as I finished speaking, he let out a loud whoop and jumped up, throwing away the cookie in his hand and running towards the back of the tent where the woods were.

  "My god, what the hell is going on." I didn't have time to think much, got up and chased after him.

  Since the sky wasn't completely dark yet, and I was holding a flashlight, I vaguely saw Xiao Wu running around like a madman in the woods, without any direction. I didn't dare to slow down either, so while chasing after him, I shouted loudly: "What the hell are you running for? It's Qiu Ye, it's Qiu Ye!"

  He seemed to be completely deaf to my shouts, desperately sprinting forward. I was also desperate, having survived alone for so many days, and finally encountering a teammate - no matter what, I couldn't let him run away.

  I followed Xiao Wu up a small hill, and soon we turned around again. I had never been to this place before, and just as I was wondering if I would get lost if I continued to chase after him, I saw Xiao Wu's figure flash in front of me, and then he disappeared...

  What's going on? I rushed over to take a look, but I didn't expect there to be a pit here. Without any preparation at all, I fell right in.

  The pit was sloping downward, and I slid in for over ten meters before stopping. I didn't have time to see if I was injured, but saw the flashlight lying nearby shining, so I quickly picked it up and shone it around.

  I feel that this hole shouldn't be man-made, it looks like some kind of animal den, there's a foul smell, the walls are very uneven and all sorts of tree roots are exposed.

  The hole wasn't very high, and I couldn't stand up straight, so I squatted down and inched my way inside, the stench getting worse with each step. After moving forward a bit further, the space suddenly seemed more spacious, and I could move forward with my waist bent.

  I plucked up my courage and walked for a while, only to find that in front of me appeared some things like spider webs, entwined on those disordered tree roots everywhere, stretching out my hand to touch them felt sticky, but I didn't know what they were.

  I gripped the dagger and started to get nervous, could this be a spider hole? If so, I reckon the spider would definitely not be small. As I was considering whether to go out or not, I faintly heard a "Woo, woo, wooo" sound coming from deep within the cave, like someone humming in the distance.

  Although I was very scared in my heart, I still decided to go in and take a look. What if it's our team member who got injured and trapped? If I went out now, I would regret it to death.

  As I continued to walk in, the space also became more spacious, and I could already stand up straight. Following that voice, I saw that it was indeed Xiao Wu, who was crouching on the ground, shaking all over, muttering "Wu wu" and saying something incoherent.

  I rushed over to support him and asked: "Xiao Wu, what are you running for? What happened? Where are the others?"

  Xiao Wu still didn't respond to me. I listened carefully and felt that he seemed to be saying: "All... all dead...... Everyone is dead......"

  I felt his eyes were extremely helpless, as if he had received a huge stimulus, but he stared straight in one direction.

  I turned around and shone my flashlight, after seeing it clearly I almost collapsed. In this underground space that looked like about 180 square meters, all sorts of things were hung up with white silk threads, there were round ones, flat ones, and some that were exactly the same shape as a human body, but they were wrapped in net-like things so tightly that you couldn't see what was inside.

  I came to the front of a hanging human figure, trembling with the dagger in my hand to scrape off those silk threads, which were extremely sticky and difficult to handle. As I scraped, I prayed: "Heavenly gods, please don't let it be our people, not Liangzi, not Zhou Huan..."

  Although I had made absolute mental preparation, when that human face appeared, I still couldn't help but take a few steps back.

  That's right, this is really a corpse wrapped in it. With the flashlight shining on it, I saw that the person's face was extremely pale, with his mouth open and his eyes wide open, obviously suffocated to death. And just now I pushed him with my dagger, swaying back and forth under the illumination of the flashlight, as terrifying as can be.