The strange heh-heh sound came again. This time, they heard it more clearly. It really was coming from the woods. Huo Ang and Yilale exchanged a look, dropped their shovels, and quickly rolled into the grass beside them, hiding themselves.
Jiang Ye heard the two of them fall silent, while the strange heh-heh cries drew closer and closer.
It was Xiao He. That strange sound was exactly the same as the one he had heard through the listening device.
He held his breath, stayed completely still, and pretended he was nothing but a roadside stone, hoping Xiao He, now turned into a monster, would not be interested in a trussed-up sleeping bag.
The sound came closer and closer. Goose bumps rose all over Jiang Ye.
A pair of feet walked past him. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the footsteps came back.
For an instant, everything around him went silent.
Then the heh-heh sound abruptly rang out beside his ear. The zipper of the sleeping bag in front of Jiang Ye was pulled open, and he found himself eye-to-eye with Xiao He’s bluish-purple face.
Jiang Ye: “…”
Xiao He roared in front of him, opening his huge mouth. Murky black threadlike things stretched out from inside, trembling like tentacles as they tried to burrow into Jiang Ye’s mouth and nose. Jiang Ye did not even think. He twisted his head and rolled, tumbling sideways like a rolling pin.
Huo Ang, lying in the grass, was shocked. “Isn’t that Little Jiang?”
Yilale quickly raised his gun and was just about to shoot Xiao He when someone suddenly tugged at his pant leg.
Yilale asked, “What are you pulling me for?”
Huo Ang was baffled. “I didn’t pull you!”
Yilale frowned again. “What smells so damn bad?”
Both men froze. At the same time, they lowered their heads and looked behind them, only to see Xiao Liu crouched behind them with a bloody maw gaping wide.
Both muzzles aimed at that strange face at once. Gunshots rang out together. Xiao Liu’s face was blasted into a pulpy mess, half a torn sheet of facial skin hanging from the chin, yet Xiao Liu was still clinging to Yilale’s foot and climbing up his body.
Huo Ang fired several more shots. Xiao Liu’s body was riddled with bloody holes, but the thing could still move.
Huo Ang’s face turned green. “Fuck, what the hell is this? Aren’t zombies supposed to die if you blow their heads off?”
The monster’s strength was astonishing. If not for his hardshell jacket, Yilale felt Xiao Liu would have gouged countless holes in him. Xiao Liu’s headless corpse desperately pushed forward, the stench hitting Yilale full in the face until he nearly vomited. Seeing that shooting did nothing, Huo Ang put away his gun and used all his strength to drag the thing backward. Yilale held his breath, fired twice to break Xiao Liu’s hands, then kicked the thing away.
Jiang Ye rolled madly toward the direction of the gunfire. The heh-heh-heh sound followed him, impossible to shake no matter what he did.
Huo Ang fired a shot toward him and blasted away the upper half of Xiao He’s head.
Xiao He could no longer see. The strange heh-heh sound paused for several seconds. Jiang Ye hurriedly stopped rolling and stayed still. Xiao He lost the target and began groping around in search of him. He walked to a spot one meter in front of Jiang Ye. Cold sweat streamed down Jiang Ye, but he forced himself not to move.
Xiao He lifted a leg and happened to step right over Jiang Ye.
Jiang Ye tried to break free of the sleeping bag, but Huo Ang and Yilale had tied it far too tightly. Not only did he fail to struggle free, he even made a little noise. The thin threads extending from the lower half of Xiao He’s face trembled and turned toward Jiang Ye’s position.
That thing abruptly turned around and faced Jiang Ye again.
It bent down and groped inch by inch toward Jiang Ye’s feet. Jiang Ye quietly pulled his legs back and pointed his toes tight. Xiao He grasped nothing, then walked past again.
Huo Ang and Yilale were lying in another patch of grass, motionless just like Jiang Ye. Xiao Liu was wandering through the woods, dragging two dangling arms. Huo Ang made a gesture for Jiang Ye to stay quiet. Jiang Ye nodded, and the two men carefully crawled toward him.
Just then, Jin Feize’s voice sounded from the other side of the grass.
“Jiang Ye, are you still alive?”
Xiao Liu and Xiao He abruptly shuddered, then ran toward Jin Feize as if they had gone mad. Huo Ang and Yilale only had time to grab Xiao Liu’s legs and bring the thing down halfway. Xiao He, however, charged straight over.
Jin Feize dropped what he was carrying, turned his body slightly, and in the instant he brushed past Xiao He, hooked Xiao He’s foot with his own. Xiao He fell headfirst. Jin Feize raised one knee, brought an elbow down at the same time, and smashed Xiao He’s spine against his knee.
Huo Ang and Yilale were still struggling to hold Xiao Liu down. Jin Feize picked up the thing he had just thrown to the ground and walked over expressionlessly.
The closer he came, the more clearly Jiang Ye could see. In one hand, he held the nail gun. In the other, he held a bloody human head.
Jin Feize aimed at Xiao Liu’s spine and fired a long nail.
Xiao Liu convulsed once and stopped moving.
Huo Ang and Yilale let out breaths of relief and collapsed beside the thing, utterly exhausted. Heaven knew how this monster had such terrifying strength. Two grown men had almost failed to hold it down.
But the nail gun in Jin Feize’s hand did not lower. He aimed it at Huo Ang’s head instead.
“Hey, kid.” Huo Ang raised both hands. “I’m alive.”
Jin Feize narrowed his eyes and was just about to pull the trigger when he suddenly saw Jiang Ye lying in the grass. He lowered the nail gun and smiled. “Ah. There you are.”
“Were you just trying to kill us?” Yilale backed up several steps and stared at him warily.
“No,” Jin Feize said, maintaining his gentle smile. “I just wasn’t sure whether you were alive or ghosts.” He tossed the human head to Yilale. Yilale looked down and froze. It was the old hunter’s head. Jin Feize said, “For example, this old man was crouching outside my tent, trying to attack me while I was asleep.”
Huo Ang thought he was talking bullshit. Just now, he had clearly wanted to kill someone.
Jin Feize crouched down to untie Jiang Ye, a teasing smile in his eyes. “I told you. Sooner or later, you’d come to me on your own. Why didn’t you answer me just now?”
Jiang Ye’s hands were finally freed. He pointed at his own throat, meaning he could not speak. Jin Feize pinched his chin, forcing him to open his mouth, and shone the flashlight inside.
“Not a big problem. I have a way to make you speak. But first, answer me. Are you still throwing a tantrum?”
Jiang Ye: “…”
He stared coldly at him.
Jin Feize sighed. “You’re harder to tame than a kitten. Forget it. Who told me to like you? Open your mouth.”
Jiang Ye opened his mouth. Jin Feize put on gloves and reached two fingers into his mouth. Jin Feize’s hand reached farther and farther inside, and saliva unconsciously spilled from the corners of Jiang Ye’s mouth. Jin Feize scraped around near his throat and pulled out a clump of black, flocculent stuff.
The clump seemed alive, trembling constantly between Jin Feize’s fingers as if trying to escape. Jiang Ye was so disgusted he retched and spat out a great deal of saliva.
Jin Feize burned the thing and said, “Try speaking.”
“Cough, cough—” Jiang Ye’s voice was hoarse. “Jin Feize.”
Jin Feize smiled and answered him, “Mm.”
“What was that thing?” Yilale asked.
He still seemed wary of Jin Feize and stood far away.
Jin Feize answered carelessly, “I don’t know.”
Huo Ang discovered that Xiao Liu’s hands were covered in black hair. He took out a dagger and cut open Xiao Liu’s back. Beneath the skin, it was all black fuzz.
“It seems to be a kind of fungus,” Yilale said. He knew a little biology. “This thing is contagious.”
Huo Ang cursed. “Then didn’t Little Jiang get hit?” He told Jiang Ye to open his mouth and checked his throat and mouth. “I don’t see any wounds.”
Yilale stared at the old hunter’s head and suddenly said, “Professor Bai is still at camp!”
The group quickly rushed back to camp and opened Bai Nianci’s tent. He was snoring inside his sleeping bag, utterly unaware of everything that had happened tonight. The old hunter’s bundle and canteen were gone. They found footprints and the bundle in the grass at the edge of the camp. The old hunter must have tried to escape in the night, only to run into Xiao Liu, and had then also been converted into that heh-heh-calling monster.
Jiang Ye returned to the tent and checked his own canteen. He discovered that all the water had turned black, with the same black fuzz from Xiao Liu’s body floating inside.
Jiang Ye inwardly cursed himself for being careless. Xiao Liu had taken advantage of his inattention and put black fuzz into his canteen—maybe even spat into it. That must have been why he was affected.
The moment he thought of that possibility, Jiang Ye was so disgusted he wanted to vomit.
Jin Feize unzipped the tent and crawled in. Jiang Ye instinctively avoided him.
“Fungus can infect through direct contact,” Jiang Ye said. “Maybe I’m already infected.”
“It’s fine.” Jin Feize’s tone was calm. “You won’t be infected.”
Jiang Ye frowned. “How do you know?”
Jin Feize smiled faintly. “Do you remember ayahuasca? It isn’t only a hallucinogen. It also contains components that inhibit this mold.”
So that was it. No wonder his mother had made everyone drink that black liquid before taking people into the village. That must have been ayahuasca.
“Where did you get it?” Jiang Ye asked.
“If I said your mother gave it to me, would you believe me?” Jin Feize asked with a smile.
“My mother?” Jiang Ye froze.
“That’s right. She gave you to me. Otherwise, how would I know your game ID? She knew you would definitely come looking for her, so she gave me ayahuasca and told me to watch you. But I’d advise you to give up. She doesn’t intend to be found by you.”
“You know my mother. You know what she’s doing. You’ve been hiding it from me all along.” Jiang Ye’s eyes turned cold.
Jin Feize looked completely innocent. “I don’t know. What your mother is doing has nothing to do with me. I only care about you.”
Jiang Ye stared at him. He smiled calmly. Even if he was lying, there was no way to tell.
Could he be telling the truth? Jiang Ye did not understand why his mother would have Jin Feize approach him. In any case, it definitely was not the reason Jin Feize had claimed. Was it to protect him? But how could she choose such a mad, deranged person? Did she know what he had done?
“Since you had ayahuasca, why didn’t you give it to Shen Duo and the others?”
Jin Feize said carelessly, “What do their lives have to do with me?”
“You…” A thin layer of anger rose in Jiang Ye’s eyes.
Seeing that he was angry, Jin Feize explained, “Your mother only gave me one dose of ayahuasca.” He said pitifully, “I didn’t even keep any for myself. I used it all on you. Little Ye, in my heart, you’re the most important.”
“Stop pretending.” Jiang Ye closed his eyes briefly and said, “I understand now. My mother used some method to force you to protect me, didn’t she? No wonder you said before that you hated my mother. She threatened you.”
Jin Feize smiled and shook his head. “You’re wrong. No one can threaten me. It’s true she did me a huge favor, and I happened to have time, so I came to see her lonely, pitiful little baby. But Little Ye, the one who made me stay by your side wasn’t your mother. It was you.”
He said gently, “Ever since that night in Mojiang Village, I changed my mind. I don’t just want to keep your head. I want your limbs too, your internal organs… I want your whole body. Once your mother dies, I’ll make you into a specimen, lock you in a glass coffin, place you beside my bed, and look at you every day and every night. So, baby, stay obediently by my side. You are not allowed to lose even a single hair. That is mine.”
“…” Jiang Ye was silent for a moment, then said coldly, “Jin Feize, before I die, I’ll blow myself to pieces. I won’t leave you so much as a handful of ashes.”
Huo Ang knocked on Jiang Ye’s tent. Jiang Ye and Jin Feize walked out and saw Yilale and Bai Nianci standing beside the campfire. On the ground lay the old hunter’s headless corpse. His bones had already been smashed apart section by section. Jiang Ye did not need to think to know that Jin Feize must have done it.
Yilale crouched and cut open the old hunter’s back little by little. It was likewise full of terrifying black fuzz.
Bai Nianci adjusted his glasses and said, “Little Ye, I heard about what happened tonight. This seems to be a kind of mold disease. In plain terms, this mold makes the human body go moldy. Look. Jijival’s skin and internal organs have already been completely infected.”
Jiang Ye roughly knew what they were going to say, but he could not explain the matter of the antidote, so he nodded.
Bai Nianci patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry too much. You’re still perfectly fine even now, while Jijival became like this in less than one night. That means even if you are infected, it isn’t serious. Let’s observe a little longer. I believe you’ll definitely be all right.”
Yilale shook his head. “Student Jiang Ye, I think you should stop the trip and go to a hospital.”
Bai Nianci asked, “Little Ye, do you want to withdraw?”
He stared at Jiang Ye, the lenses of his glasses reflecting the leaping firelight.
For some reason, Jiang Ye felt that Bai Nianci did not want him to leave.
“I don’t want to.” Jiang Ye shook his head. “I want to go to Taisui Village. Maybe if I arrive even one step too late, there will be no hope of my mother coming back.”
“All right…” Bai Nianci revealed a troubled expression. He kept wiping his glasses, then put them back on. “But Little Ye, I’m afraid I have to take some extreme measures. We need to bind your hands and have someone watch you twenty-four hours a day. Can you accept that?”
Jin Feize smiled. “Let me do it. I’m good at tying him up.”
Bai Nianci did not hear anything wrong in Jin Feize’s words and nodded. “Sorry to trouble you, Student Jin.”
Jiang Ye: “…”
Could he refuse?