"Be саrеful!" Diао Zhuo warned еvеryonе. "Da Qin wasn't mistаkеn еаrliеr—thеre arе others here!"
The fоur оf them immеdiatеlу huddlеd tоgethеr, swеерing thеir flashlight bеams in all direсtiоns. Thе surrounding terrain wаs uneven, with dеnse treе shаdоws еvеrуwhеre; onlу thе arеа whеre thе streаm flоwed was slightlу mоre lеvel. Amid the fоul stench of dесаy еmanating from thе соrpsе, thеrе wаs аlsо a hint оf dаmp, fishу odоr, nauseаting to thе sеnsеs. Unknown hоrrоrs might bе lurking in sоme foul-smelling, fliсkering corner.
A fаint rustling sound camе from somеwherе, аnd evеryone's nerves were stretched taut, like bowstrings drawn to their limit.
Diao Zhuo gripped his high-powered flashlight tightly. "We are the Beidou Rescue Team! Our mission is to search for Renlong Duoji and rescue other related personnel! Please set aside your concerns! You can choose to leave on your own or accept rescue!"
"Aaoo—" A howl resembling that of a wild beast suddenly erupted, sounding nothing like a normal human voice.
Everyone shone their lights toward the direction of the sound but found nothing.
"A wild man?" Bayunye muttered under her breath. "There are legends of wild men in Shennongjia, but could they exist here in Yunnan too?"
"Impossible. Da Qin said that person was wearing clothes," Xiang An said.
"Stay alert," Diao Zhuo reminded them.
The group shone their flashlights everywhere, but all they saw were the shadows of trees and rocks. Suddenly, there was a sound like small stones rolling from above. Diao Zhuo raised his flashlight, and a pale, bloodstained face twisted into a grotesque grin suddenly appeared in the beam, like a ghost leaping out from nowhere. The person wore thin, filthy clothes, as if he had crawled out of a mud pit. His features were indistinguishable, but he appeared to be male, with large, bulging eyes staring fixedly, lips parted, and dark red stains between his teeth—like the mutated humans in classic zombie films. It was unclear whether he was still breathing.
The others also looked up and saw the person crouched like a dog on a protruding rock above them. No one knew when he had climbed up there, but he had likely been sitting there observing them while they examined the corpse below after landing.
"Are you human or a ghost, damn it!" Bayunye roared. "Come down here if you dare!"
The person did not respond but clearly recognized Bayunye as the one speaking. He stared at her with intense interest, swallowing saliva as if craving something, then lunged down with wild excitement.
"How are they doing? Do they need help?" Da Qin, having regained his composure, stood up and asked.
As soon as he finished speaking, the ear-piercing howl echoed through the sky. The others were also startled and stepped forward, repeatedly asking about the situation below via walkie-talkie, but Diao Zhuo and the others did not respond.
"What should we do? Should one or two more go down?" Da Qin found an unused safety rope. "Maybe I should go down again!"
Kong Gan trembled like a sieve from the howl, quickly prostrating himself in worship once more.
Qi Zi sneered and pulled Kong Gan up. "Ha, there aren't that many supernatural beings or Corpse Transformations after death. I think the disappearances in the mountains ahead are just people scaring themselves. Maybe there's a tiger or a thunderstorm zone—nothing to be afraid of."
Kong Gan shook his head, his face filled with the pained expression of "ignoring the advice of elders will lead to regret.""If there really are tigers, that's pretty terrifying too," Da Qin said with a sweat. "If you actually run into a tiger chasing you down to eat you, do you fight back? If you fight, you're harming a rare animal, and you might not even win. If you don't fight—well, we’d be done for anyway."
Qi Zi disagreed, arguing with him, "Wishful thinking. Without paying for a ticket, you think you’d even get to see a tiger?"
"Hey! Where are you going? You..." Liu Ming's voice rang out. The two bickering quickly turned around and saw someone shaking off Liu Ming's hand. Several members of the mountaineering association hurried to give chase, but the person turned left and right, quickly losing them all.
"Kong Gan ran away?" Qi Zi asked belatedly.
"Ran faster than a rabbit!" A moment later, Fat Monkey and the others dragged Kong Gan back. Usually quiet, they seemed too agitated inside and began berating him:
"Saying we’ll definitely die if we keep going, that he doesn’t want to go to his death or turn into a monster—so we’re supposed to go die instead?"
"The guide fee was for leading us into the mountains and back out, not just bringing us here!"
"Completely irresponsible! All he cares about is money!"
"Alright, alright. If someone’s made up their mind to run, you can’t keep them anyway," Liu Ming waved his hand. "Let him go if he wants."
Da Qin said worriedly, "Once he leaves, we won’t have a guide for the rest of the way."
Ah Shui, who had never spoken in front of the group before, suddenly said, "Since none of us have been to the mountains ahead, having this guide or not makes no difference. We might as well rely on ourselves."
The young men from Beidou Rescue thought this made sense and wanted to agree, but they couldn’t tell who had just spoken. They just felt the mountaineering association members were too quiet, and it was rare to hear them all complaining at once.
"We still need a guide," Liu Ming said. "We came together, and it’s best we go back together."
The four of them scattered with practiced rapportXiang An kept running, perhaps catching sight of Bayunye out of the corner of his eye and feeling embarrassed by his own panicked escape. A sudden idea struck him, and he abruptly changed direction, lowering his head to charge toward the strange man behind him. With a loud "thud," the strange man was knocked to the ground. But before Xiang An could catch his breath, the man suddenly reached out with both hands, grabbed his leg, and bit down.
"Ah!!" Xiang An cried out in pain from the bite. Instinctively, he kicked out, sending the strange man sprawling onto his back. Clutching the bitten spot on his calf, Xiang An felt a surge of dread, convinced he was about to turn into something like the strange man.
Sure enough, the strange man quickly scrambled to his feet again and lunged at Xiang An, who was now the closest target. But Diao Zhuo, arriving just in time, punched him down, sending him sprawling sideways onto the ground. Xiang An hurriedly backed away, pulling up his pant leg with trembling hands to check the wound. Fortunately, human teeth were no match for those of a true beast—his skin hadn’t been broken.
After hitting the ground, the strange man twitched twice like a shrimp before immediately getting up again. Just as Diao Zhuo grabbed his hands, the man reflexively opened his mouth to bite, forcing Diao Zhuo to let go. Seizing the opportunity, the man charged forward. Diao Zhuo met him with another collision, knocking him down once more. This time, the fall wasn’t hard enough, and the man performed a kip-up, lunging at Diao Zhuo again. His bloodied mouth opened and closed incessantly as his head swung from side to side. Perhaps disgusted, Diao Zhuo finally swung a slap at him, causing the man to stagger and collapse beside the corpse. Just as everyone thought he would get up again, he wrapped his arms around the corpse and began tearing into it frantically, as if savoring a delicious meal. The bloated, foul-smelling corpse and the strange man devouring it together formed one of the most terrifying scenes any of those present would ever witness.
"Pull him away!" Diao Zhuo called out. Tan Lin stepped forward with him, reaching out to grab the strange man’s clothes.
"Ah—" The strange man let out another horrifying howl, displaying immense strength as he suddenly seized Tan Lin’s wrist and bit down.
Bayunye arrived just in time, thrusting her small flashlight into the man’s gaping mouth. His teeth clashed against the flashlight with a sharp "clack." Without hesitation, her eyes once again took on a cold, resolute glint. While the strange man struggled to spit out the flashlight, she wrapped her right arm around his neck, tightening her grip, her right hand clasping her left elbow as she pressed her left hand firmly against the back of his head. This was a lethal move—once caught in this hold, the strange man had no chance of escape and no strength left to bite.
Earlier, unsure of the strange man’s origins, she had hesitated to act. But now, seeing him bite anyone within reach, devoid of reason and remarkably resilient, much like a zombie from a movie, she recognized the extreme danger. Her initial curiosity vanished, replaced by the intent to kill.
"Do it or not?!" she shouted to Diao Zhuo. If he gave the word, a single forceful squeeze would crush the man’s throat and suffocate him.
Diao Zhuo recognized the look in her eyes all too well. Back in Qiangtang, when she had raised her gun to shoot, this same cold, confident, and composed gaze had etched itself deeply into his heart.
"Keep him alive," he said.
Bayunye took a deep breath and swiftly adjusted her grip, seemingly switching to a different method of restraint. The strange man struggled painfully for a few moments before going limp, collapsing halfway to the ground as if half-dead. Bayunye brushed the dirt off her arms. "Just knocked out, not dead."
Xiang An trembled as he gave her a thumbs-up. "Master Ba, you’re really…"
Just as Bayunye was about to ask about his injury, her eyes suddenly widened, and she shouted—"Watch out!!"Before the words had fully left his mouth, Xiang An was knocked to the ground by a dark figure that had lunged from nowhere. A twisted, ferocious face suddenly loomed above him, opening a bloody maw just like the earlier freak, aiming straight for his neck.
The other three rushed over instantly, lifting their feet to kick, but before the newly appeared freak could sink its teeth in, it suddenly passed out on its own, collapsing on top of Xiang An as if it had exhausted its last ounce of strength and died.
"What's going on?" Tan Lin blinked in confusion.
Xiang An's heart was still pounding wildly as he struggled to kick the person off him, crying out in agony to the heavens, "Why are they all coming after me…"
"Pretty boy's meat smells good," Bayunye laughed, reaching out to pull him up. Without warning, the freak lying unconscious beside him opened its mouth and bit down. Xiang An instinctively blocked for her, and the back of his hand was instantly clamped in the freak's vicious bite—this time, blood was truly drawn.
Everyone’s scalps prickled with dread. Diao Zhuo swung a hook punch, and with a muffled groan, the freak was knocked unconscious again by the heavy blow. Before anyone could catch their breath, the freak that Bayunye had choked into unconsciousness earlier had somehow crawled over and latched onto her leg, biting down hard.
She cried out in pain as Diao Zhuo and Tan Lin worked together to drag the freak away. Just as it tried to leap up and bite them again, they pinned it to the ground together. Tan Lin straddled its back, pressing down to keep its head from lifting, while Diao Zhuo pulled rope and bandages from his bag, gagging its mouth and trussing it up tightly—finally subduing it.
"Tied up like a zongzi," Bayunye remarked disdainfully, raising an eyebrow. "You should learn how to tie people up neatly."
Diao Zhuo dragged the rope toward the other freak. "I don’t have that kind of hobby."
"You could develop it."
Diao Zhuo paused mid-step, giving Bayunye a meaningful look, the corner of his mouth quirking up. "You really have a lot of kinks. Just wait."
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