Chapter 9: The Team

Seeing the body submerged in the water, I felt a strange sense of distress. In my view, no matter the objective, one should not just kill at will.

Perhaps it was the empathy one feels for a fallen comrade, a sense of "the rabbit dying and the fox grieving," that filled me with melancholy. I noticed that Qu Xiang and Lan Fang were also silent, watching the person in the water, offering a moment of mourning as an expression of apology. After all, there was no one else around, and as the saying goes, the dead deserve the utmost respect.

Though I did not know what would happen next, there was no signal here, and we had not yet left this area. I still did not know how many of us had been together initially or how many would ultimately survive. If we were truly trapped here for the time being, having an extra surviving companion would surely mean an extra sliver of hope. Yet, I understood one truth: not everyone would think the way I did.

Even as I realized this, I wasn't particularly surprised by the situation Qu Xiang, Lan Fang, and I found ourselves in. After all, the person in the river was the first unexpected thing we had encountered since waking up, and for us, it was the best kind of warning.

Suddenly, I noticed that the weeds along the path near the small stream were stained with blood; it looked jarring against the green leaves. My heart tightened instantly. It seemed something had happened here, and it was barely two or three miles from where we had started taking shelter.

I suddenly realized the danger. Before I could even head back toward Qu Xiang and Lan Fang, I couldn't help but raise my voice to warn them: "There really are others here. You must not wander off, or something might happen!"

"Xiangxiang, what... what is going on? Could it be..." Lan Fang looked at Qu Xiang with a face full of terror. Even though she vaguely understood, she pointed toward me with unease upon hearing what I said from the water. "Is someone really dead over there?"

"Don't be afraid..." Hearing Lan Fang's anxiety, I didn't think much of it, as Qu Xiang, for some reason, hadn't replied to her.

I didn't dwell on it then, and when I heard no further response from Lan Fang, I prepared to return to their side. But just as I moved in the water, before I could even turn around, the hair on my body stood on end.

Because my gaze suddenly caught shadows in the clear river water. Before I could process this, a chill struck me from behind. Instinctively sensing danger, I dodged to one side.

"Who... who are you?" A voice rang out, shocked, clear, and surprised.

At the same time, before I had any room to maneuver, I felt something sharp pressing tightly against the skin of my back. A slight stinging sensation followed. Unable to dodge any further in the water, I raised my hands to show I was not resisting.

"Don't be impulsive. We... we aren't bad people!" Fearing that the sharp object might pierce my back and lead me to the same fate as the person in the water, I instinctively spoke up.

Though I remained calm, I was deeply worried. I could vaguely hear low gasps from Qu Xiang and Lan Fang not far away on the bank. I felt as if I had fallen into an ice cellar; we were being surrounded and attacked. It was clear the opposition was not just one person. I felt a sense of despair. I was terrified that if they were even slightly careless, that sharp point would thrust forward, and my life would be over.

"Luo Wei!"

Suddenly, another woman's voice rang out. I saw a girl wearing a red Apple quick-dry jacket rush into the river, holding a steel rebar rod over two feet long, and break into tears before the corpse.

Once I confirmed the sharp spike would not pierce me, I turned to look behind me. It was another girl, also in her twenties, wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and a denim skort. She was holding a sharp iron spike, glaring at me viciously.

"Little sister, don't be impulsive! We... we were just passing by, and when we saw..."

"Luo Wei! Luo Wei is dead!" the girl in the red jacket suddenly shrieked. Before I could think of how to console her, a series of rapid footsteps approached. Four more people appeared, escorting Qu Xiang and Lan Fang.

"Please, you must not hurt them!" I saw both women being held tightly by their necks, their faces twisted in pain. Lan Fang, already injured, was struggling to stand while being controlled by a man with a receding hairline.

I also saw a tall man in camouflage, clearly the leader of the group. He walked angrily into the river to the girl in red, bending down to examine the body. There were six of them in total—three men and three women—and each seemed to be armed. I noticed one of the men had a bulging backpack.

"Bastard, did you kill this person?"

The man in camouflage glared at me. Only then did I notice a scar under his right eyelid that looked like a puffy eye bag, adding to his fierce appearance.

"No, certainly not! We were just passing through. My friend is injured, and while resting, I saw bloodstains here, so I came down to check and found the body. It has nothing to do with us, absolutely nothing!" I spoke as fast as I could, not daring to gamble on whether the girl behind me would strike.

"Don't believe them! There's no one else in this area besides us and them. If they didn't do it, then who did?" Unexpectedly, the girl in the red jacket seemed to snap out of her stupor, whipping her head around to glare at me with immense hatred in her eyes.