“Practicing gu, what kind of gu?” Zhong Li pressed.
Qiao’er shook her head. “I don’t know the name of the gu, only that in its early stages, the gu worm is harmless to the body. The infected person will only feel tired. Over time, their body and mind will be controlled by the gu worm, and eventually, they will become a living dead person without emotions.”
This was exactly the symptom Lu Wuxie was experiencing.
After hearing Qiao’er’s explanation, Zhong Li thought of the man still lying unconscious in bed and felt a surge of worry.
“Do you know if there is an antidote for this kind of gu worm?” she asked again.
Qiao’er glanced at Zhong Li, thought for a while, and shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve been here for a month, and this is all I know.”
“Alright, then let’s keep moving forward.”
Zhong Li stood up, pulled Qiao’er along, and continued running in the direction she pointed.
It was pitch black inside the hills. After staying for a long time, it was inevitable for one to lose track of time.
Zhong Li felt hungry and thirsty after running for a long time, but ahead, she could still only see a faint candlelight and a dark cave.
She turned to Qiao’er beside her and asked, “How much longer?”
Qiao’er took two steps forward, also leaning against the cave wall, exhausted. She looked ahead and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Officer Zhong… I’m lost.”
Upon hearing this, Zhong Li leaned against the cave wall and waved her hand. “It’s alright. You are also a victim. How could you be familiar with this place?”
Qiao’er hesitated to speak.
“Since we are lost, we certainly won’t find our way back. Now, there are two options: either we leave markers along the way and explore different paths one by one, or we take the most foolish approach: keep walking along the wall. I observed the mountain body when I came in; it’s not large, so we will definitely get out,” Zhong Li looked up at Qiao’er.
Qiao’er pursed her lips, about to say something, when suddenly the faint candlelight ahead brightened, and a mournful voice shrieked in the cave, “They are there! Don’t let them escape.”
“Hurry!” Zhong Li narrowed her eyes, seeing several cult members holding torches chasing them. She grabbed Qiao’er and ran back the way they came.
But for fear of being discovered, they had not lit any lamps and had wandered around in the dark. In less than fifteen minutes, they had circled back and run into the very cult members who were chasing them.
“You go first!” Zhong Li shielded Qiao’er behind her, pulled out a waist token from her belt, and stuffed it into her hand. “If you get out, use this to find help!”
“Officer Zhong, I…” Qiao’er trembled with fear, her legs starting to shake.
Zhong Li cupped Qiao’er’s face, looking earnestly into her eyes. “Qiao’er, remember to believe in yourself. You can get out. Follow my second method and run out. Haven’t you always been unlucky? This time, I’ll give you all my luck!”
After speaking, she pushed Qiao’er into the darkness, concealing her figure. Her fingertips slipped out a dissection knife, and she threw down a sentence, “Don’t look back, keep moving forward!” before lunging straight at the cult members.
***
“Adult, adult!” Hua Yao rushed out of the adobe house, holding an old scroll. She looked around the street, and seeing only a few men picking their noses with vacant stares and no one else, she inexplicably felt a surge of worry.
“Adult, adult!”
She frowned and walked down the street under the scorching sun. Most of the doors were shut, and many houses were abandoned or inhabited by beggars.
“Granny. Hello!” Hua Yao walked up to an old woman carrying a basket and, glancing at the basin of silkworm silk placed before her, asked, “Have you seen a man walk by here?”
The granny was old and her eyesight was failing. She looked at Hua Yao for a long time before saying, “Why, it’s a young lady. What did you say?”
“A man…”
“A man? Haven’t seen one!” The granny waved her hand.
Hua Yao frowned and asked, “Granny, I haven’t finished speaking yet. How did you know what I was going to ask?”
The granny chuckled. “A woman wearing a silk shirt. You wouldn’t be asking about beggars or bandits. You must be asking about someone dressed similarly to you, so I haven’t seen anyone.”
Hua Yao hadn’t expected the granny to be so sharp. She smiled at her and prepared to continue searching ahead.
After walking a few steps, she suddenly remembered something and turned back, opening the scroll in her hand. Pointing to the servant beside Ning Qing, she asked, “Have you seen this person?”
The granny looked at it. “I think I have, but it doesn’t seem like it. She’s younger.”
“Then what about this?” Hua Yao, realizing something, picked up a fallen leaf from the ground and quickly drew the servant’s appearance ten years later in the dirt.
“Hey… I have seen her!” The granny’s jaundiced eyes widened, her wrinkled face creasing together.
“You’ve seen her? Where is she?” Hua Yao asked excitedly.
The granny thought for a moment. “Ten years ago, she came here with a good-looking woman. After that, for some reason, that woman disappeared…”
“Then what about her?” Hua Yao knew that old people liked to babble, so she suppressed her anxiety and asked.
The granny pointed to a small hill not far away. “She seems to be over there…”
Before she could finish speaking, Hua Yao had already rushed towards the direction the granny pointed.
At the same time, Lan Heng, swaying, got up from the ground. He clutched his aching back of the head, momentarily disoriented.
“Ugh…” He held onto the cave wall with one hand, trying to open his eyes to see the path ahead, but the blood gushing from his forehead obscured his vision.
He vaguely remembered following the hunchbacked person into the cave and getting lost. When he was about to go out to find Hua Yao, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head and fell to the ground. Now, surrounded by darkness, he truly couldn’t distinguish where he was or what time it was.
“Adult, adult!” The sound of a woman’s calls reached his ears.
Lan Heng turned his head in the direction of the sound and saw a flickering firelight not far away. A slender female figure slowly appeared before him.
“Yao’er?” he murmured.
“Adult!” Hua Yao responded.
Lan Heng’s brows furrowed. Just as he was about to ask, “Why are you here?” a peculiar pungent odor wafted into his nostrils. He quickly wiped his hand on the cave wall and sniffed his fingertips again.
“Don’t come any closer!” He realized something and hastily stopped Hua Yao’s next move with a panicked expression.
“What’s wrong?” Hua Yao was quite bewildered by his reprimand.
“Put out the fire!” Lan Heng’s throat bobbed as he commanded.
“What? What did you say, adult?” Hua Yao thought she had misheard and leaned closer to hear clearly.
“I said, don’t come any closer, put out the fire… no…”
“Ah!”
Before Lan Heng could finish speaking, a black shadow suddenly appeared behind Hua Yao. The shadow forcefully pushed Hua Yao. Off balance, Hua Yao stumbled forward, and the torch in her hand was flung forward.
Lan Heng’s eyes widened as he watched the torch fly directly towards him. He turned and fled into the deeper part of the cave at his fastest speed.
Simultaneously, a thunderous explosion erupted from where he had been standing.
“Boom!”
The mountain began to shake. Hua Yao stared with disbelieving watery eyes as the mountain body exploded, sending large rocks crashing to the ground.
“No, no!”
Hua Yao could no longer care about anything else. She madly rushed towards the area where the rocks were falling.