After our group of six arrived in the east of the city, we went into the woods on the hillside.
This grove of trees is clearly a popular spot for camping, and it's littered with mineral water bottles, plastic bags, and other trash.
Song Laosan followed behind me, his stomach rumbling a few times: "I'm so hungry I'm sweating all over. When we see Xu Le and the others, are we going to go straight into the mountains to catch zombies?"
“I did some research beforehand. The area we’re going to is about 70 or 80 kilometers northeast of Arxan National Forest Park. So we’re definitely not here to catch zombies.”
By the dim moonlight, I scanned the woods for anything suspicious: "I had prepared food and other necessities for going into the mountains, but Xu Le won't let me contact outsiders, so I can't take those things! Let's meet with them first. They must have brought food and other things. I feel that as long as we meet with Xu Le, we won't have to hide like this anymore."
"That's easier said than done. This mountain is so big, where are we supposed to find them?"
Looking at the deep forest, the monkey suddenly had an idea and asked me, "Young Master Duan, Xu Le only said we can't be in the light, but he didn't say we can't talk, right? Why don't we shout a few times to call them out?"
I was amused by the monkey's antics: "Xu Le doesn't want us to be in the open because he's afraid our identities will be exposed. Are you looking for some trivial loophole?"
Just as we were talking, a member of the Wei family suddenly pointed down the mountain and said, "Mr. Duan, do you see someone over there?"
I looked in the direction the Wei family members were pointing and sure enough, I saw a blurry figure on a large rock at the foot of the mountain.
"That really was just one person."
Song Laosan stared at that spot for a moment, then said to me, "It's already dark. Logically, no one should be heading into the mountains. Do you think this person might be someone Xu Le arranged to wait for us here?"
I thought Song Laosan's words made a lot of sense. Clutching the talisman, I walked down the mountain: "Let's go take a look. If they're not the person we're looking for, and they ask, just say we're out camping."
The rock where that person was was not far from the highway on the very edge of the city.
The light from the streetlights was broken up by the roadside trees and evenly scattered along the roadside, greatly improving visibility.
When Song Laosan recognized the figure, his eyes lit up immediately: "Hey, isn't that Xu Le's team member? I think his name is something like Xiao Zhou, is that him?"
The monkey chimed in, "That's right, it's him. His clothes and hairstyle are very similar."
"After a whole day of trouble, I finally met them."
Song Laosan recognized Xiao Zhou and raised his voice slightly: "Buddy, we're here!"
Xiao Zhou squatted on the rock, turned around to look at us, and waved: "Come on, I'll take you away!"
I recognized Xiao Zhou's voice and quickened my pace to walk over: "Why are you the only one here? Where are Xu Le and the others?"
"Don't ask anymore, I'll take you on your way!"
After saying this, Xiao Zhou jumped off the rock and walked towards the street ahead.
When I heard Xiao Zhou say that, I suddenly felt very awkward.
In our line of tomb raiding, there are many taboos, one of which is that we can't say "taking someone on the road," because that's a phrase only used by the dead.
However, seeing Xiao Zhou leading us towards the city center, I didn't think much of it and continued to ask, "By the way, the people we were monitoring from the Huang family have all run into trouble. More than a dozen of them have all fallen into a coma. Can you handle this situation?"
Xiao Zhou walked two or three meters ahead of us and said without turning his head, "Hurry up, we have to get going!"
As Xiao Zhou said those words, I suddenly stopped in my tracks.
He had now walked into the lamplight shining from the other side of the street.
Because he had his back to me, I couldn't see his face clearly, but his clothes looked like they had just been pulled out of the water; although they weren't dripping wet, they were wrinkled and clung to his body.
Not only were his clothes wet, but his hands also looked like they had been soaked in water; his palms were wrinkled and frighteningly white.
At this moment, Song Laosan also noticed something was wrong: "Xiao Duan, did you see that?"
"He is not Xiao Zhou."
I took a deep breath: "This thing's tone is off. It doesn't sound like it's leading the way; it sounds more like it's bewitching people."
"We're on the same page; this thing is definitely not normal."
Song Laosan muttered, "We're already entangled with this thing. What are we going to do next?"
"Xu Le told us not to go to places with lights, but when this thing saw us, it didn't do anything. Instead, it was luring us towards the light. I don't know why it wants us to be in the light, but it seems that as long as we don't go to places with light, it can't do anything to us."
After I finished speaking, I slowly backed away and whispered, "Everyone, walk back slowly and go back to the woods behind."
As soon as we stopped, "Little Zhou" in front also stopped: "Hurry up, I'll take you on your way."
When I heard Xiao Zhou speak, I put my hands on my waist, remained silent, and continued to back away.
Xiao Zhou, who was in front, seemed to have noticed something was wrong and slowly turned his head around.
The streetlights shone on his profile, making him look eerie and menacing.
This guy looks exactly like Xiao Zhou, but his face is severely swollen, as if it has been soaked in water.
Especially those eyes, which were devoid of any life, clearly resembling the eyes of a dead person lying in a coffin.
It stood there quietly, motionless, facing our direction, but its dead fish eyes didn't seem to be looking at us.
Song Laosan stared at it for a moment, then muttered to himself, "Xiao Duan, why do I feel like this thing can't see us?"
"So that's what Xu Le meant by giving me the talisman! As long as we stay out of the light, these dirty things won't be able to find us."
I saw the fake Xiao Zhou standing there like a tree stump, and I quickened my retreat: "Everyone, retreat to the woods behind us, make less noise, and shake him off."
"brush!"
Just as I finished speaking, a car suddenly made a U-turn on the street not far away, its headlights shining through the roadside trees and onto us.
Immediately afterwards, I clearly saw the fake Xiao Zhou's eyes move and his face turn towards us.
"Damn it, run!"
When I saw that the fake Xiao Zhou had spotted us, I turned around and ran towards the woods behind us.
"We should get going now, you all come back here!"
Fake Xiao Zhou let out a roar and charged towards us at incredible speed.
I turned my head and saw that this fake Xiao Zhou was running incredibly fast. In a flash, he had caught up to me, pulled out his military dagger from his waist, and stabbed me in the back.
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