Before everything goes out

Five hundred, one thousand, or more.

Along the way, Li Fei encountered countless tree people in these mountains.

The only certainty is that Snake Seven was right; even if they managed to stall for time by the campfire, they could not possibly survive until dawn.

They ran south for an unknown amount of time.

Until they never encountered another tree-man, until the sky turned a pale white.

Far away.

The first ray of light pierced through the edge outlined by the mountains, followed by more.

Its daybreak.

The long night has finally come to an end.

On a relatively flat hillside, the three staggered and fell.

No one spoke; only heavy breathing could be heard, rising and falling.

Li Fei lay on his back, gazing at the sky gradually illuminated by the light. He knew that he had come back to life this time.

Immediately afterwards, he felt a sweet taste in his throat and his stomach cramped.

This is a physiological response to vigorous running.

"vomit..."

He turned to his side and began to vomit until he had vomited everything he had eaten the day before. Then he lay on the ground like a dead man, resting motionless.

A full 10 minutes later.

His blurry vision cleared slightly, and he finally managed to catch his breath.

"Damn tree grandpa..."

Niu San recovered the fastest and was the first to speak.

Because his back was covered in cuts, he didn't lie down, but knelt on the ground, panting heavily.

Having recovered from the lingering fear of narrowly escaping death, he wiped the sweat from his brow and, after a thought, turned to Niu Wenbing beside him and said:

"Brother, did you see that just now? Grandpa Tree didn't have Second Brother on him, which means Second Brother is still alive..."

"Yes, not only is Zhiyuan missing, but none of the people who were kidnapped this time are either."

Niu Wenbing got up, his face contorted in pain.

During the chaotic battle, his left hand struck the treant, rendering him unable to move.

"Snake Uncle..."

Niu Wenbing turned around, his eyes trembling slightly.

He was led by Snake Seven on his first two trips into the mountains, so he was closest to Snake Seven among the group.

"Take care of yourself."

Niu Wenbing used his remaining right hand to extinguish the burning torch.

"Can you still move?"

He looked at Li Fei, who was still lying on the ground.

It's already a miracle that they survived; searching for them is definitely out of the question now.

What we need to do now is find a way to go back to the village, discuss it with Liu Yongxiao, and then make a plan.

"Take another rest."

Li Fei sat up, his face deathly pale.

After running all the way, the back of his head, which had just healed, started to throb violently again.

When I touched it, there was bruising and blood seeping out; the wound may have reopened.

"Then let's rest a bit more. We should be fine by dawn... Is there any water left?"

"That's all."

"That's all."

Several people shook their heads.

They fled in panic, barely managing to grab a torch, let alone take any dry food or water.

After running all the way, the three of them were parched and felt a burning sensation in their throats.

"Then you guys rest first, I'll go look around, maybe there's a mountain spring or something."

As Niu San spoke, he walked around.

Regardless, they still had to go back to the village.

We still have at least a whole day of hiking ahead. We can skip food, but we can't skip water.

"Seven people came out, but only the three of us went back..."

After Niu San left, Niu Wenbing sat down cross-legged and looked back at the way he had come.

His lips were pale; he was still shaken.

"No, something feels off..."

Li Fei was still in pain when he looked at the woods and suddenly thought of something.

"What did you say?"

Niu Wenbing turned his head, his emotions interrupted.

"It seems like Grandpa Tree led us down this road..."

"What do you mean?"

"Look."

Following the direction Li Fei pointed, Niu Wenbing looked back at the path he had come from.

It was a path that appeared in the woods.

The surrounding area is densely wooded, but this road is sparsely wooded, making it suitable for running.

"We didn't look for directions the whole way, did we?"

"no."

Niu Wenbing shook his head.

In a life-or-death situation, the group ran for their lives, knowing only that they were roughly heading south; they had no time to think about finding their way.

Besides, the only guide here who knew the way, Snake Seven, had already died in the camp.

"Grandpa Tree can control the movement of trees, and even know what we're thinking, so it could easily create a 'ghost wall' effect a few more times, preventing us from ever leaving the forest..."

Li Fei looked at the bracelet.

After a frantic run, they had already put a considerable distance between themselves and the rings.

"You mean, all of this was arranged by Grandpa Tree?"

Niu Wenbing stood there, stunned.

Do mutated organisms have this kind of thinking?

He wasn't sure.

"Hmm, I guess Grandpa Tree was controlling us all along. He wouldn't let us go north during the day, but he forced us to run south at night, and we ended up in this open space."

Li Fei voiced his guess.

That's not impossible.

After all, even Grandpa Tree knows the "Mom" in his mind, so controlling the escape route isn't too difficult compared to that.

"So what exactly is this open space...?"

Before Niu Wenbing could finish speaking, they heard Niu San shouting from not far away.

"Brother! Li Fei! Come here quickly!"

The two exchanged a glance and realized something was wrong.

Judging from the panic in Niu San's tone, it was clear that finding a water source was not a good thing.

"Walk!"

Niu Wenbing got up and rushed off, with Li Fei grabbing his weapon and following closely behind.

When the two arrived one after the other, they were completely stunned.

There are no monsters, no threats.

Following Niu San's trembling gaze, in the pile of rubble at the edge of the open space, lay a mass of deformed corpses.

They lay sprawled out, haphazardly.

Although these corpses had long since mutated and were no longer human, Li Fei could tell from their attire that they were all villagers from Shuanghe Village.

"That's Lao Nian, Ma Gan, and Jiang Liuwa..."

"No wonder I didn't see it on Grandpa Tree, it was all here..."

Niu Wenbing quickly went up and searched through the pile of rocks.

After confirming that his second brother, Niu Zhiyuan, was not inside, his tense expression relaxed slightly.

"These are all people kidnapped by Huanzi. They were beaten to death and dumped here, then turned into zombies, and were beaten to death again..."

"Damn it! Those bastards!"

"If you're going to kill them all, just do it on the spot. Why go through the trouble of taking them away?"

Niu Wenbing gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot.

Although his brother wasn't among them, they were all familiar villagers, or even friends.

They were all comrades who had helped each other and weathered the disaster together.

They died here in droves, all looking neither human nor ghost; it would be unbearable for anyone to see.

"Brother, at least that's good news that Second Brother isn't here..."

Niu San, with a mournful face, stepped forward to comfort him.

After scanning the area, Li Fei jumped into the pile of rocks.

He didn't actually have much affection for these villagers he didn't know.

not to mention.

In just two days, four people died before his eyes, and now, looking at the corpses, he was even somewhat numb.

"I wonder if the person I'm looking for is here..."

Li Fei walked among the pile of rocks, his gaze sweeping over the corpses.

The corpse had no smell and was not rotting; it had simply mutated.

Some had more than a dozen fingers, some were over three or four meters long like sticks, and some had faces covered in needles...

The variations are diverse and all different.

The only thing they had in common was that each body had two or three bullet holes in its head, clearly fatal wounds.

"one two three..."

"Five, six, seven..."

Li Fei counted them one by one.

There were a total of 7 corpses, and 9 villagers were abducted.

In other words, two people may still be alive for the time being.

Or rather, there are only two people left.

"Is Snake Seven's daughter here? And Bai Xiaowu's mother too?"

Not knowing anyone, Li Fei had no choice but to ask the Niu brothers for help.

The two brothers exchanged a glance, their brows furrowing slightly.

"Snake Seven's daughter isn't here. Only she and Zhiyuan are absent. As for Bai Xiaowu's mother..."

Following Niu Wenbing's gaze, Li Fei looked at a highly mutated female corpse.

Four elbows grew crookedly on one arm.

The knee joint bends backward, like a bird.

Where ears should be, eyes are growing, and where eyes should be, ears are growing.

Compared to this corpse, the mutations of the other corpses are child's play, plain and unremarkable.

Standing a few meters away, Li Fei felt a chill run down his spine just from a single glance.

"So her mother was already dead, and she looked so terrible..."

Li Fei's eyes trembled, and he couldn't bear to look away.

The person was found, but he was already a corpse.

Although he hadn't held out much hope, the thought of having to tell Bai Xiaowu this cruel truth when he returned to the village made his heart ache.

"but..."

Niu Wenbing stood next to Li Fei, grabbed a handful of grass leaves, and covered the woman's face.

This made him feel much better.

"You're wrong, this woman isn't Bai Xiaowu's mother."