Chapter 4: More Deaths

Chapter 4: More Deaths

Lin Qiushi carried Ruan Baijie on his back. As for the remaining people, three of them came over and evenly spread out, lifting that bulky wood on their backs.

The snow made the roads slippery, so everyone took extra precautions when walking.

Up ahead, Xiong Qi was carrying an oil lamp and opening up the path for the others, constantly advising everyone to take it easy.

Originally, the snowflakes were but miniscule specks dotting the skies every once in a while, but on their way back, the snowflakes suddenly became larger, even fiercer, similarly to goose feathers fluttering around, shrouding the entire sky.

Ruan Baijie wasnt heavy at all. Lin Qiushi was easily able to piggyback her. He lowered his head, carefully looking down at the ground under his feet, and steadily made his way forward.

The sound of the wind became louder, more deafening, to the point that its shrill howls pierced his ears. The falling snow obstructed most of Lin Qiushis vision; it was getting rather difficult to see the people in front of him.

A bad feeling overcame him. Lin Qiushi slightly slowed his steps. He had just wanted to stop, but he then heard Ruan Baijies voice near his ear. She urged, Dont stop. Keep going.

Lin Qiushi caught what she said and had to continue moving forward.

However, the further he walked, the more he felt that something was terribly wrong. At first, Lin Qiushi thought that the freezing weather had caused him to be cold and disoriented, but as the journey progressed, he soon discovered the source of this chilling sense of wrongness.

Too light. The person on his back was way too light. It was as if her weight had simply vanished. Lin Qiushi gulped down his thick saliva; he tried to act as natural as possible as he tentatively hoisted the person higher up his back.

It truly wasnt just his imagination. The person on his back was incredibly light, lighter than a piece of paper. Though she had the shape of a human, she had absolutely no weight. Lin Qiushis forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat. He called out, Baijie.

There was no sound.

Baijie. Lin Qiushi called out once again.

Whats up? Ruan Baijie snuggled her face against Lin Qiushis neck. Her face was ice-cold, and her skin was moist and soft; it instantly evoked a feeling of dread within Lin Qiushi and caused him to think of something unpleasant. She asked, Whatd you call me for?

Its nothing really. Lin Qiushi replied, I just wanted to ask whether youre cold.

Im not cold. Ruan Baijie responded. Im not cold at all.

Lin Qiushi didnt dare stop. Before, he had been walking with his head lowered, but as of this moment, he lifted his head and glanced at his surroundings; it wasnt long before he found that he was far away from the people that were walking in front of him.

In this heavy snow, he could barely make out the faint light of the oil lamp and the hazy backs of a few figures walking through this blasted wind and snow. This thing on his back also didnt seem to be Ruan Baijie; rather, it seemed to be something else.

Lin Qiushi slightly clenched his teeth.The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

Youre trembling, remarked the thing on his back. With Ruan Baijies voice, it softly whispered, Are you very cold?

Its fine. Lin Qiushi assured. Its just a little cold.

Do you want to go to a place that isnt cold? She questioned. A place so warm, somewhere that doesnt have any snow and never gets dark?

Lin Qiushi considered whether he should ask her where that place was, but he honestly didnt want to ask this question at all, so he simply fell silent.

What arent you answering? She wondered.

Because Im thinking. Lin Qiushi dryly replied.

She inquired, What are you thinking about?

Lin Qiushi stopped in his tracks for a bit, then he hollered, Im thinking of how I should get rid of you! He immediately dropped the thing on his back after yelling this, and without looking back, he bolted straight ahead, running away as fast as possible.

It was obvious that hed made the right decision; he didnt hear any weighty objects fall to the ground after letting gothat thing definitely wasnt a person.

Lin Qiushi took off like the wind. Once there was a considerable distance between the two, he finally shot a glance behind him. He nearly had a heart attack at this sight. He finally saw that thing hed flung down. Its body was lying lifeless on the snow-covered grounds, but its neck was growing longer and longer by the second. It frantically stretched towards his direction. Black hair draped down, scattering all around, and dragged through the blankets of snow on the ground. It crooked its head and questioned intensely, Why do you wish to abandon me? Dont you love me the most?

Lin Qiushi was pissed. Like hell I fucking love you

The head with the extending neck:

Lin Qiushi didnt dare pause his steps. He just hurried forward to catch up to his comrades. Unfortunately, he was left in despair, for he couldnt draw any nearer to those silhouettes and that faint light ahead no matter how fast he ran; it was as if he was merely chasing the elusive shadows of a dream.

And that thing behind him was getting closer and closer.

Its over. That thing was about to catch him. Misery engulfed Lin Qiushis heart; however, at this moment, he seemed to have tripped on something, and his entire body fell to the ground, hard.

Fuck my life! Lin Qiushi fell flat on his face, and he even swallowed a large mouthful of snow. But this action made him feel as if something pulled away from his body. Soon after, he felt someone pick him up from the snow.

Lin Qiushi, Lin Qiushi. Are you okay, ah? Am I that heavy? It was Ruan Baijies voice.

Lin Qiushi: Then what?

Perhaps. Ruan Baijies expression was ever so tender. They represent rebirth, a new life.

Lin Qiushi frowned.

Only the two of them were sitting in the living room at this time. All the others had retired to their rooms to rest. Everyone was feeling overly exhausted by todays incident, so Xiong Qi decided to allow a one-hour break before discussing what they should do next. In fact, in their hearts, everyone clearly knew what they had to do in order to leave this place as early as possible; regardless whether an even more tragic incident occurred the next time they went to cut some trees, they still had get up and chop those trees down.

Go on. Ruan Baijie said. Im hungry.

Lin Qiushi stood up and went to the kitchen.

Ruan Baijie gazed at his retreating back and revealed a mysterious smile.

The noodles were delicious. By the time the two individuals ate their fill, everyone had also gotten their rest. Once again, they gathered around the living room and began to examine what happened on the road.

They mustve encountered a ghost or had a nightmare or something as they went down the mountain, suggested Zhang Zishuang, one of the calmer members on the team. I saw the two men in front of us stop for a moment.

There are all sorts of strange deaths in this place. Theres absolutely no need to be concerned with how they died in the end. Xiong Qi bluntly interjected. The issue at hand right now is why they died.

Whether it was because they cut down some trees, or perhaps because they carried the log, or maybe even because they travelled in the snow, all of these were possible conditions that triggered the ghosts to kill them.

Lets go by the rule of elimination. Xiao Ke proposed. Everyone here cut the trees, but only three of us carried the wood.

Then why are Xiong Qi and I still fine despite carrying the log? Lin Qiushi questioned.

There are two possibilities to that. One has to do with carrying the tree itself. And the second deals with the fact that there may be other conditions. Xiong Qi speculated, The ghosts can only kill so many people a day; that is to say, since the number of people they can kill is limited, its impossible to kill all of us at once. This was also the exact reason he had to courage to bring the log back with Lin Qiushi.

But how do we verify this? Xiao Ke asked.

Why should we need to inspect and verify this? Ruan Baijie casually played with her own hair. Without giving the other person any face, she rudely continued, Why not just avoid these conditions altogether? None of us can afford the cost of failing to verify those theories.

Oh. Xiao Ke responded indifferently. From the very beginning, her attitude towards Ruan Baijie was unpleasant, and she normally tended to ignore the other. Thats right. Ruan Baijie, this beautiful and occasionally favourable yet troublesome younger sister, was sometimes quite unpopular with people of the same gender.

Then we wont let anyone carry the tree tomorrow. Xiong Qi declared. Well use a tool to drag the log down the mountain.

The others approved.

What about the guy who ran away? Anxious about the teammate who had an emotional breakdown, someone raised this question. Are we just going to ignore him?

What do you want to do? Zhang Zishuang retorted. Look at the sky outside. Its going to be dark very soon. None of us know whats going to happen after dusk, but we all know that its not going to be good, and yet, you want to risk your life to try to find him?

Everyone fell quiet, silently agreeing with him.

In such a world, it was impossible to guarantee the lives of all. It was already a luxury being able to live, let alone saving someone elses life.

Lets go. Well go to bed early and continue tomorrow. After Xiong Qi said this, he stood up and got ready to return to his room.

On the other hand, Ruan Baijie looked at the weather outside and commented, I dont know if the snowfall will stop tomorrow.

In the end, her words were an omen.

It snowed all night, and there were no signs of it stopping in the morning.

Perhaps because people died yesterday, there were no dreadful accidents last night. Everyone managed to survive the night without troubles.

The snow was heavy. It was already difficult passing through the door; there was no need to mention how tough itd be chopping the trees and transporting them back in this raging blizzard. Nevertheless, compared to this violent snowstorm, ghosts were, without a doubt, more fearsome. So even if the weather was bad, no one ever suggested postponing their plans by a day.

The morning was silent, the journey was silent, everyone seemed to have lost the ability to speak after yesterdays incident.

The sole person who stayed the same was Ruan Baijie. She leisurely strolled through the snow and hummed a simple melody. It seemed as though, to her, this journey was merely an ordinary trip not worth mentioning.

Authors comments:

Lin Qiushi: Why do you like to eat noodles so much?

Ruan Baijie: I dont, I only like to eat your boiled noodles.

Lin Qiushi: What?

Ruan Baijie: Oh, Im talking about the one below.

1Original: You have a big chest, so you can speak first. Meaning: Someone with a small chest shouldnt be talking/Only people with big boobs have the right to speak. Something along those lines. Changed it to fit the context.