Chapter 17 What Are You, After All

Perhaps it was due to the song, but within this jungle, the roars of the beasts had never appeared, as if the source of that song was the master of this forbidden zone. When it appeared, everything would fall silent. Lei Dui sat there quietly, still gazing into the distance, where there was a pitch-black void, devoid of anything. Xu Qing's expression was somewhat complicated, and after a long while, his gaze swept across the surroundings, eventually landing on the barbarian ghost's wolf fang club and the shattered pieces of the shield. The body of the barbarian ghost, like all the corpses here, turned to dust when the mist of the song dissipated, as if it had never existed in the world. And scavengers often had no relatives, so perhaps not many cared about their disappearance. Even if there were, they would eventually be slowly forgotten with the passage of time, until years later, no one would know, and no one would remember. Xu Qing suddenly thought of the teacher from the slums who had treated him relatively well. Before dying of illness in his old age, he had said something to their group of children. "To have someone in your heart that you cannot forget is a kind of pain, while being remembered by someone is a kind of happiness." At that time, Xu Qing did not understand this sentence very well, but now, looking at Lei Dui, he somewhat understood its meaning. So he did not disturb him, but silently walked to the place where the barbarian ghost's body once lay, took out a dagger, and began to dig into the ground. Although he had little interaction with the barbarian ghost, to be precise, it was only a few days, with only a few words exchanged, the other party had imparted to him the experiences of the jungle, and they had walked out together from the brink of life and death. In the end, he had used the other party's possessions to block the black blood. So Xu Qing felt he should do something. Just as he had done when he left the city, cremating all the corpses, he dug diligently into the dirt, gradually creating a pit. He buried the barbarian ghost's wolf fang club and the pieces of the shield. During this process, Xu Qing was very serious and did not notice that behind him, Lei Dui had withdrawn his gaze from the jungle and was now looking at him. In his expression, there was a hint of the peculiarity he had shown when he first looked at Xu Qing amidst the ruins of the city. After seeing Xu Qing bury the barbarian ghost's weapon, it seemed he wanted to make a tombstone, and Lei Dui spoke softly. "Scavengers do not need tombstones." "Dust to dust, earth to earth. This is the life of a scavenger, struggling in the world while alive, and after death... there is no need for worship, just peace." As he spoke, Lei Dui's breath grew weaker. The severity of his injuries, the accumulation of the alien substance, and the exhaustion of his spirit made it difficult for him to hold on. The world slowly blurred, and he closed his eyes and fainted. Xu Qing approached, took some seven-leaf grass from his pocket, and stuffed it into Lei Dui's mouth. He did not know if it would be useful, but since this item was essential for making white dan, it should at least have some effect in alleviating the alien substance. After doing this, he carried Lei Dui on his back and tightly bound him with his clothes. Then he took a deep breath and rushed into the jungle in the darkness. As he passed by the place where the blood shadow captain turned to dust, Xu Qing saw a leather bag, picked it up and opened it. There were no dan pills inside, only some miscellaneous items. So he put it away and hurried on. When Lei Dui's consciousness weakly recovered, it was already half an hour later. He vaguely felt that he was being carried by a small body, rising and falling with its movements. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw the side profile of the young boy in front of him. He remained silent. Xu Qing also noticed that Lei Dui had awakened and spoke softly. "Are you feeling better? You can sleep a bit more. In a few hours, we should be able to leave the forbidden zone before dawn." Lei Dui said nothing, his weak body could no longer hide his old age. He struggled to lift his head to look at the pitch-black sky, and as his vision slowly blurred again and his consciousness was about to slip into a coma, he murmured. "Child, do you know why I proposed to take you away from the ruins twice?" Xu Qing's figure did not pause, shaking his head. "Then do you remember the scene when we first met?" Lei Dui's voice was weak. "I remember." Xu Qing moved his body, leaped onto a large tree, and raised his right hand to catch a mutated lizard that was hiding there and rushing toward him, then threw it to the ground ahead. With a bang, as the lizard fell, a large number of vines twisted on the ground, rapidly approaching to wrap around it, and as the lizard struggled, it was pierced by the vines and devoured. Xu Qing took this opportunity to jump up, avoid the danger, and continue to flee. At this moment, behind him, Lei Dui's weak murmurs could be heard, his voice frail. If it weren't so close, it would be difficult to hear. "I saw your figure cremating the corpses. At that time, you were illuminated by the flames, merging with the fire, making me feel as if I saw... a thread of warmth in this cruel world." Xu Qing paused, fell silent, and behind him, Lei Dui fell into a coma once more. After a few breaths, Xu Qing silently lifted his foot and continued to race through the jungle, weaving through the trees, speeding away. Time passed, and soon an hour had gone by. Xu Qing avoided dangers, and his figure was getting closer to the edge of the jungle. At this moment, it was the darkest time of the night, and the chill from the forbidden zone attacked the surroundings. Thankfully, Xu Qing had been moving quickly, and the heat generated by his body slightly resisted the cold. However... as he moved forward, the chill grew stronger. After a stick of incense, Xu Qing's figure suddenly stopped, and his expression darkened as he looked ahead. Before him, thick fog appeared within the jungle. This fog was very dense, spreading from afar, but unlike the blood mist from the song he had seen before, it did not seem to have a strong sense of oppression. However, where his gaze fell, the places shrouded in fog were all blurry, and he could not see anything clearly. Especially at this moment, the night made the fog's concealment even stronger. Xu Qing wanted to avoid it, but after running for a long time, he was still met with the oncoming fog. He knew what this was. When he first entered the forbidden zone, the cross and the phoenix tooth had mentioned that one of the dangers inside was called mist. If one is enveloped by this mist, they would lose their sense of direction and ultimately get lost. Moreover, once this mist forms, it often takes a long time to disperse naturally. Xu Qing felt that although he could endure until the mist dissipated without the alien substance surging within him, the weak Lei Dui could not. If he were trapped in it, he would surely die from alienation soon after. This forced Xu Qing to retreat, attempting to circumvent the mist on a larger scale. But... the mist was too thick. Even if he moved faster, he still found himself in a situation where mist surrounded him from all sides, with nowhere to hide, engulfed by the fog. However, soon, the mist that swallowed Xu Qing's location gradually thinned, eventually revealing Xu Qing's astonished figure once again. He lowered his head and looked at his feet. In the darkness, there were no shadows, but Xu Qing could feel the mist around him rapidly surging into his feet. It was as if an invisible shadow formed a whirlpool, devouring the surroundings. This devouring speed was not fast, and soon it seemed to have had its fill, no longer absorbing, causing the mist to once again engulf Xu Qing's figure. But... as the devouring by the shadow ended, a force surged into Xu Qing's body, converging in his eyes. What he saw, the dense fog, actually became transparent. Or rather, it could not be described as seeing but as sensing! Clearly, the fog still existed, clearly it was still thick, but in his perception, it was only slightly blurred, far from the point of obstructing sight and causing one to become lost. This made Xu Qing breathe a little faster, lowering his head to look at the invisible shadow beneath his feet. "What exactly are you..." Xu Qing whispered. After a moment, he raised his head to sense his surroundings, and after a brief silence, he immediately moved, his speed unyielding, darting through the thick mist like a ghost. Not long after, as Xu Qing raced through the dense fog, he saw living people. There were two scavengers. Xu Qing vaguely remembered seeing them in the camp. At this moment, they were holding hands, blindly exploring forward in the fog. But in Xu Qing's perception, their movements were actually just going in circles. It was clear they had already sensed this too, as the sweat on their foreheads and their heavy breathing revealed their tension and despair for the future. After glancing at the two, Xu Qing withdrew his gaze, his body swaying as he was about to leave. He did not have an overflowing sense of sympathy. Living in this cruel world, rescuing people without purpose often led to self-harm, and he had seen too many examples of this in the slums. However, for those whose vision was obscured, their hearing would be extremely keen at this moment, so the sound of Xu Qing's footsteps as he left was still detected by them. The two immediately showed a look of tension. They could not tell whether the sound was from a person or a beast, so one of them roared ferociously, seemingly trying to intimidate. The other cried out for help, and even to show sincerity, took out a white dan and spirit coins from his leather bag, promising to give them just for a chance at survival. Xu Qing paused for a moment, turned back to look at the white dan in the man's hand, and sensed Lei Dui's weakness behind him. After pondering, he rummaged through his leather bag, found a candle, and lit it, illuminating the area, though the light was weak, and the mist suppressed it, gradually dimming. Taking advantage of the remaining light, Xu Qing stepped back a distance, looked at the two not far away, and slowly spoke. "Walk straight seven steps to the right, then ten steps to the left..." As Xu Qing's voice reached them, both scavengers trembled, their faces filled with ecstasy. In their hurried breaths, they immediately followed Xu Qing's instructions. Soon, under Xu Qing's successive directives, they turned left and right, avoiding dangerous areas, and the fog before them gradually thinned as they got closer to the candlelight. Until they entered the range of the candlelight, illuminated by the flames, they fell to the ground beside the candle like blind men regaining their sight, their emotions excited and boiling. As for Xu Qing, at this moment, hidden in the edge's shadow, even though the flickering light barely illuminated him, his figure remained blurred, expressionless as he watched the excited appearance of these two, speaking faintly. "Give me the white dan." One of them trembled, having just survived a disaster, without hesitation, immediately threw the leather bag containing spirit coins and white dan to Xu Qing, repeatedly thanking him. The other was about to take out a dan pill from his body, but after glancing at Xu Qing's figure, his excitement subsided somewhat. Because in the shadow where Xu Qing was, the mist was thin and swirling, so he could not see Xu Qing's face, only his small frame, and the fact that he seemed to be carrying a fainted person on his back. A glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, but he smiled, putting on a sincere demeanor as he spoke. "Little brother, I have run out of white dan, but don’t worry, once the mist clears, or if you have a way to take me out, I will definitely repay you double." After saying this, his gaze flickered slightly, looking toward Xu Qing's location, with a hint of eagerness. The companion beside him also felt a sense of regret rising in his heart, thinking that he had perhaps given too much too quickly. Xu Qing gave the scavenger who did not give the white dan a deep look, but said nothing. He simply raised his right hand and waved, a gust of wind blew past, snuffing out the candle's flame, and the surroundings fell into darkness and mist once more. As a cry escaped from the person's mouth, Xu Qing swiftly approached, snatched the leather bag from him, and then a calm voice echoed around. "No need, you should stay inside." "Wait, I was wrong, I really was wrong, I’ll give you the white dan, I..." This person panicked instantly, trying to grasp something, but his body was blocked by the trees beneath him and he fell directly. As he got up, his calls became more anxious, a strong sense of regret flooding his mind and body. "Little brother, let me explain, I..." Xu Qing paid no attention to his calls, walking toward the other person who had given him the white dan. This person now looked horrified, falling back into the mist filled with panic. Without him noticing at all, Xu Qing passed by him, speaking faintly. "Follow the sound of my footsteps." After saying this, Xu Qing did not look back and continued forward. Upon hearing Xu Qing's words, the man, breathing rapidly, immediately followed the sound, feeling a previously unmatched relief for giving the reward so quickly. Especially after hearing the desperate cries behind him quickly turn into frantic curses for failing to save him, the despair in that tone made his heart tremble, and he felt a stronger sense of awe towards the owner of the footsteps ahead. --- I woke up late... it’s too hot today, I want to stay in the forbidden jungle for a while... (End of this chapter)