Chapter 74

Chapter 74

Chu Ya tightened his grip with all his might, the veins on his neck and the back of his hands bulging. At the same time, he used his knees to pin the sentry's body, preventing him from drawing his gun.

The sentry struggled desperately, his eyes quickly turning bloodshot, as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. He launched two consecutive mental attacks, causing Chu Ya to spit out a mouthful of blood, but he still did not release his hold on the sentry's neck.

Liu Zhen had been hit hard and took a while to catch her breath. She endured the pain, climbed out of the snow pile, and staggered towards the rock that had fallen to the ground.

But just as she bent down, a cold, hard object was pressed against her forehead. She froze, her gaze following the barrel of the gun to see the guide she had just knocked unconscious.

With the gun pressed against her head, fear of death quickly spread through Liu Zhen's body. She forgot to breathe for a moment, even her heart seemed to have stopped beating.

The guide, holding the gun, panted as he climbed to his feet, his eyes and the gun barrel equally cold. Just then, a figure suddenly darted out from behind a tree, the raised right hand reflecting the glaring light of the snow.

Liu Zhen closed her eyes momentarily due to the glare, and at the same time, heard a dull thud, clean and sharp, without any echo.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw the gun barrel on her forehead slowly lowering. The guide continued to stare at her but gradually fell forward. She quickly stepped back, and the guide collapsed at her feet, a dagger embedded in his back, the entire blade having penetrated his body.

Wang Chengcai, who had been separated from Liu Zhen earlier, stood behind the guide, staring blankly at him, his body trembling uncontrollably. On the other side, Chu Ya finally collapsed onto the sentry, both of them motionless.

Liu Zhen stumbled over and pulled Chu Ya off the sentry. He lay on his back, his chin and chest covered in blood. The sentry stared straight up at the sky, his eyes bulging, his mouth slightly open, showing no signs of life.

Wang Chengcai slumped into the snow, and Liu Zhen also sat down dejectedly.

The wind howled, and the two bodies on the snow quickly stiffened and grew cold. In the depths of the forest, the rustling sound of Mutants stepping on the snow could be heard. But none of the three made a sound or moved, as if they had all frozen in place.

Chu Ya was the first to regain his senses. He opened his eyes, slowly sat up, and turned his head to look at the dead sentry beside him.

When he had choked the sentry, he had only thought about preventing him from drawing his gun or alerting the outpost. He hadn't expected to actually strangle him to death.

He and his mother had once fired shots behind them while fleeing through a cornfield, unsure if they had hit anyone. But this was the first time he clearly realized he had just killed someone. His mind buzzed, and his hands shook uncontrollably.

He grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed it repeatedly over his hands, including each finger and under the nails, quickly turning his hands red.

Midway, he looked up and saw Liu Zhen and Wang Chengcai still in shock, suddenly realizing they were more afraid and panicked than he was, and that he needed to remain calm.

Chu Ya closed his eyes and took two deep breaths, then threw away the snow, trying to keep his voice steady: "Don't be afraid, we had to kill them, or everyone at the orphanage would have been discovered."

"Yes, yes, we had to kill them, or we would have been caught and taken back," Liu Zhen stammered, her teeth chattering.

"We acted in self-defense, out of necessity. We protected over a hundred people at the orphanage. If we let them go, all of us would eventually die," Chu Ya said, as if speaking to them and to himself.

Liu Zhen nodded, "Right, if we didn't kill them, all of us would die."

"I did it for my brother," Wang Chengcai, who had been looking at the ground, slowly raised his head, his eyes full of hatred, "My brother was harmed by them, I want revenge for him."

"Let's go back, the three kids are still there," seeing the two calm down, Chu Ya tried to stand up but failed twice. Liu Zhen helped him to his feet.

"The bodies will likely be eaten by Mutants soon. Even if the outpost discovers they entered the mountains, they'll assume they got lost and died of hypothermia or something else," Chu Ya paused after taking a few steps, "We should search their bodies for trackers and communication devices, and destroy them so the outpost can't find us."

Wang Chengcai searched the pockets of the two bodies, following Chu Ya's instructions, smashing the two communication devices and trackers to pieces, and picking up the two guns, pulling the dagger from the guide's back.

Wang Chengcai handed the guns and dagger to Chu Ya, but Chu Ya only took the dagger: "Keep the guns for now, give them to Chief Administrator Chen when we meet him."

Wang Chengcai put away the guns, his expression hesitant, and Chu Ya said, "You don't need to tell him the truth, just say you found them." His gaze swept over Wang Chengcai and Liu Zhen, "If neither of you wants to tell anyone, this will be our secret."

The three supported each other as they walked out of the forest, silent. Until the sound of snow being trodden upon came from ahead, and Black Wolf appeared in the forest, carrying three children.

"Shen Miaomiao!"

"Sis!"

Shen Juanjuan and Liu Sijin called out in surprise and delight. Shen Juanjuan slid off Black Wolf's back, landing with a thud in the snow before scrambling to his feet.

"Shen Miaomiao," Shen Juanjuan ran to Chu Ya, hugging his waist and looking up at him with a smile.

Liu Sijin, still on Black Wolf's back, kept calling out to her sister, saying she was riding an invisible quantum beast. Liu Zhen, still somewhat dazed, saw Liu Sijin clinging to Chu Ya's coat and came forward to take her: "You can ride it, don't get down, we're going out again soon."

Shen Juanjuan looked at Chu Ya and noticed something was wrong, his smile fading.

"What happened? Is that blood on your clothes? Is that blood around your mouth?" he asked anxiously.

Chu Ya knew he couldn't fool him and said, "I fell and had a nosebleed."

"Did you stuff your nose? Did you stop the bleeding?"

"I did, see, there's no more blood now."

Chu Ya took the coat Liu Zhen offered and put it on, covering the bloodstains on his jacket, then grabbed a handful of snow from a nearby tree trunk and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"See, it's fine now."

"Let me check," Shen Juanjuan said.

Chu Ya bent down, allowing Shen Juanjuan to examine him closely and sniff near his face.

"How is it?" Chu Ya asked.

"Um, it smells fine," Shen Juanjuan nodded.

Black Wolf, with the three children on its back, started walking back the way they came, and the three followed slowly.

"There were two black things, just like Shen Wangwang," Shen Juanjuan said, then frowned, "No, uglier than Shen Wangwang. Shen Wangwang is a big table, they were just two small chairs." He leaned down to ask Black Wolf, "Isn't that right?"

Black Wolf paused, as if trying to shake Shen Juanjuan off, but held back and continued walking as if it hadn't heard.

"I couldn't see what they were fighting, they were like madmen," Liu Sijin also told Liu Zhen.

"Why couldn't you see? They were quantum beasts too, shaped like tables and chairs. Lin Duozhi could see them, right?"

"Uh, I can see it, black and blurry." Lin Duozhi said.

Shen Juanjuan patted the Black Wolf's head: "Can't you see it either? It's such a big table, how can you not see it?"

Liu Sijin pouted in disappointment, and the Black Wolf couldn't help but bare its teeth in the dark.

Now that it was evening, everything around them had turned dim, and the mutants were becoming restless. The mountain forest occasionally echoed with the howls of wild beasts. In such heavy snow, they couldn't travel at night, so they decided to find a place to stay for the night and catch up with the group ahead tomorrow.

The wind and snow on the mountain were fierce, and the temperature dropped sharply at night. Chu Ya looked at the shivering group and felt they needed to find a sheltered spot. He knew there were many caves on this part of the mountain, so he turned his head to look around. With the last bit of daylight, he saw what seemed to be a cave entrance on the left side of the mountain wall.

"See that? There's a cave over there." He pointed to the spot and said to Liu Zhen and Wang Chengcai.

Snowflakes obscured their view, and it took Liu Zhen and the others a while to confirm that there indeed was a cave on the mountain wall.

"Let's go, let's go."

The night wind in the mountains grew even stronger, piercing through their cotton coats, seeping into their skin, and clinging to every bone and muscle, as if even their blood would freeze. The biting cold made it difficult to move, and the three of them had to hunch over to make slow progress, to avoid being blown backward by the wind.

The three children riding on the Black Wolf's back were almost blown off, and they all fell to the ground with cries of alarm. Chu Ya and the others then carried them on their backs, letting the Black Wolf lead the way to block the wind, slowly approaching the location of the cave.

After walking for a while, a blizzard began to fall from the sky. Snowflakes were whipped by the wind, blocking the sky and the ground, and reducing visibility to just one meter around them.

"Be careful..." Chu Ya's voice became intermittent in the sharp howling of the wind.

Wang Chengcai, carrying Lin Duozhi, walked at the back. Suddenly, he stepped into thin air, his body tilting to the side, and Lin Duozhi was thrown off his back.

As Wang Chengcai fell, he reached out and grabbed Lin Duozhi's wrist, and his foot hooked onto a tree stump in the snow.

It turned out they were at the edge of a cliff, with darkness below. Wang Chengcai hung upside down at the edge of the cliff, holding Lin Duozhi tightly by the wrist.

Wang Chengcai felt around with his other hand but found nothing to support himself, so he called out, "Help! Someone, come quick!"

The wind was too strong, and he wasn't sure if the people in front could hear him, so he tried to pull Lin Duozhi up. But as soon as he moved, the snow around him started to fall, and his foot slipped a little from the tree stump.

Wang Chengcai didn't dare move again, and he held onto Lin Duozhi in this hanging position, waiting for Chu Ya and the others to turn back.

Lin Duozhi looked up at Wang Chengcai, filled with fear.

He could see that Wang Chengcai was using all his strength and was afraid he might drop him.

Wang Chengcai's hands quickly became numb from the cold, his face flushed red, and his teeth clenched. Lin Duozhi sank a bit, and his desire to survive made him try to appeal to Wang Chengcai, softly pleading, "Brother, don't let go, brother."

Lin Duozhi wasn't sure if Wang Chengcai heard him, but he suddenly saw his eyes turn fierce and dared not speak again.

After half a minute, Wang Chengcai's legs were suddenly grabbed, and the voices of Liu Zhen and Chu Ya sounded beside him.

"Hold on, don't let go, we're pulling you up."

"Just hold on a bit longer, you must keep a tight grip."

Lin Duozhi was pulled up bit by bit and then lifted onto the snow by Liu Zhen. He staggered a few steps, his hand still extended, until Liu Zhen pressed him down and quickly rubbed his frozen, pale hand.

Shen Juanjuan came forward and hugged his shoulder: "You scared me, we searched for a while before finding you here."

Lin Duozhi was shaking all over: "I, I'm fine now."

Shen Juanjuan brushed the snowflakes off his face, pressed her face against his, and asked softly, "Did he throw you down?"

Lin Duozhi shook his head quickly: "No, we fell ourselves." He looked at Shen Juanjuan, his eyes shining brightly even in the dim light, and added, "He kept holding me, he did."

When they resumed heading toward the cave, they no longer dared to spread out. The Black Wolf led the way, blocking the wind, while Chu Ya and the others each carried a child, holding hands and struggling forward.

Although injured, Chu Ya, a B+ Sentinel, had a powerful self-healing ability and had recovered significantly in a short time. He was the steadiest of the three, often supporting Wang Chengcai and Liu Zhen when they were about to fall.

However, when they reached the base of the mountain wall, they found that the cave entrance was not as low as it appeared from a distance; it was nearly four stories high from the ground. Chu Ya saw that the mountain wall was covered with thick, wrist-sized vines. He grabbed one and tested it, finding it very sturdy, and asked the two beside him, "Can you climb?"

"I think so," Wang Chengcai nodded.

Liu Zhen blinked her eyes, which were red from the wind and snow: "I've never climbed before, but let's give it a try."

Chu Ya said, "This mountain isn't hard to climb. There are many protruding rocks on the wall that can be used as footholds."

Shen Juanjuan slid down from Chu Ya's back: "I can, I can climb."

Chu Ya quickly supported him: "You don't have to."

"But I'm really good at climbing mountains, and I can carry you while climbing."

Chu Ya cut a thin vine from the mountain wall with his dagger and said, "I'll ask you to carry me when I run out of strength."

"Then you must tell me when you're out of strength."

"Okay."

The Black Wolf climbed up the mountain wall first to check the situation inside the cave. The three of them tied the children on their backs with the thin vines and each grabbed a thick vine to start climbing.

As Chu Ya had said, the mountain wall was dotted with protruding rocks that could be used as footholds. However, after climbing a short distance, he found that it was more difficult than expected. The wind was much stronger on the mountain wall, and the strong airflow greatly increased the difficulty of climbing.

He looked at Liu Zhen and Wang Chengcai, who were swaying back and forth on the mountain wall due to the wind, like pendulums about to fall. They constantly used their feet to hook onto the protruding rocks to stabilize themselves.

Roars of wild beasts came from inside the cave, indicating that the Black Wolf was clearing out the mutants. From the sounds, there were only a few mutants, and the Black Wolf could handle them.

"What's making noise above us? What is it?" Shen Juanjuan asked nervously.

"Mutants."

"Is Shen Wangwang fighting them?"

"Yes."

Shen Juanjuan grew anxious. "Then hurry up and go up. I want to help Shen Wangwang fight and blind those Mutants!"

"Alright, I'll do my best."

The cold wind was biting. Wang Chengcai stood on a rock for a brief rest, looking up at the other two people on the vines above.

Chu Ya carried Shen Juanjuan on his back, occasionally turning his head to chat with him. Liu Sijin also clung tightly to Liu Zhen's neck, burying her face in Liu Zhen’s shoulder.

Since learning of Wang Zhusheng's trouble until today, Wang Chengcai felt he had already endured the most painful period. But when Lin Duozhi suddenly called out to him just now, that familiar pain struck again, as if a small knife had pierced his chest, stirring his internal organs.

Tears welled up in Wang Chengcai’s eyes, warming them before they quickly turned icy, freezing on his cheeks. He took deep breaths, hoping the throbbing in his heart would pass soon, but the pain seemed to seep into his veins like mercury, spreading throughout his body, making him feel as though he might not survive it.

Wang Chengcai hunched over, his legs trembling uncontrollably, while Lin Duozhi remained motionless on his back.

"Brother."

When this word echoed in his ear again, Wang Chengcai's body stiffened, neither turning his head nor making a sound.

"Brother." The voice came again, cautious and timid.

Wang Chengcai still did not move, but tears streamed down his face uncontrollably, and he panted with his mouth open.

In his blurred vision, a bandaged hand slowly reached out to him, tentatively inching closer. Seeing no resistance from him, it gently landed on his face, carefully wiping away his tears.

"Brother, brother." As if receiving some form of permission, Lin Duozhi called out twice more, his voice becoming clearer and more distinct.

Wang Chengcai finally could not hold back. He lifted his head, closed his eyes, and stood on the mountain wall, weeping loudly. Lin Duozhi cried along on his back, sobbing and calling out "brother," wiping the tears from Wang Chengcai’s face and rubbing his own tears on Wang Chengcai’s shoulder.

Leaning against the cold mountain wall, the blockage in Wang Chengcai’s heart finally cracked, allowing the pain to slowly dissipate, carried away by the snow and wind into the distant forest.

Chu Ya and Liu Zhen both heard his sobs but did not ask or urge; they only stood quietly on the rocks, waiting.

"They're all crying," Shen Juanjuan whispered to Chu Ya this time, not shouting to Lin Duozhi.

Chu Ya softly responded with a nod.

"Wang Zhusheng’s brother didn’t hit Lin Duozhi, right?"

"No."

Shen Juanjuan looked up. "After we go into that cave, will we live with Wang Zhusheng’s brother too?"

"Of course, only that place is habitable, just like how we used to live in one tent." Chu Ya tilted his head to look at him. "If you don’t like it, we can stay farther away from him. We won’t need you to watch him; he won’t hit Lin Duozhi."

Shen Juanjuan only hugged Chu Ya’s neck, resting his face on Chu Ya’s shoulder. After a moment, he said, "I don’t like him, but I think Lin Duozhi likes him. Lin Duozhi is my best friend, so... I guess I won’t stay far from him."

Chu Ya fell silent for a moment, then freed one hand to brush the snow off Shen Juanjuan’s head, softly saying, "Fool."

"What?"

"I said you remember the food but forget the beating."

"What? Are you going to give me something to eat?"

"Yes, I’ll find you something to eat once we get to the cave."