Ji Mingxia walked up to Yu Ning, he looked Yu Ning up and down to make sure he was alright before looking in the distance.

“Is it over?” Ji Mingxia asked with some uncertainty.

Although he had been standing in place, he was separated from the commercial car by some distance.

It was not yet dark, but the dim light greatly affected his vision. He looked carefully for a while but could only make out the shapes of the two men, and he couldn't hear what they were saying.

"It's over." Yu Ning said, and led Ji Mingxia back to the vicinity of the commercial car.

As he got closer to the commercial vehicle, a stench of rotting flesh hit him, and Ji Mingxia was so dizzy from the smell that he almost couldn't move forward.

Ji Mingxia was full of admiration for Yu Ning who was standing aside as if he could not smell it.

Sure enough, not everyone can be the protagonist. The stench was so terrible that he wanted to cover nose.

Although the smell was overwhelming, Ji Mingxia really wanted to know what had just happened, so he finally covered his nose and walked forward.

Although the forest was dense with foliage, there was still a faint wind blowing from afar.

The direction they came from was against the wind, so the stench was particularly strong as they walked. When they stood next to the commercial vehicle, the smell was still there, but it was not as strong and suffocating.

It was dark by now, so Ji Mingxia got a torch from his backpack and shone it around.

Both the monster and Song Yuelin had disappeared, and only him and Yu Ning were currently left in the huge forest.

In addition, the items near the commercial vehicle had also changed compared to before.

The first and most conspicuous thing was the trunk that Song Yuelin had opened.

Song Yuelin used the contents of the trunk to attract the monster's attention and flee, so he didn't have time to close it.

At this moment, the trunk was open and the contents were visible. 

Ji Mingxia lifted his torch to check out the contents, but Yu Ning pressed his torch down: "Don't look."

Ji Mingxia saw the scene inside the trunk the moment the torch was raised.

He saw a female body inside the trunk.

Although it hadn't been long since her death, the corpse had already changed because it was the middle of summer.

Her skin was covered in brown and green corpse spots, her limbs were swollen, and dark red blood was dripping from her eyes, ears, mouth and nose.

The flesh on her thighs had disappeared, and the wounds were covered with white maggots that were squirming wildly on the rotting flesh.

The corpse was so swollen and her appearance had undergone such big changes that it would have been impossible to tell her gender had it not been for the dress she was wearing.

Just one look at her and Ji Mingxia’s face went white.

He had guessed that there was a corpse when he smelled the stench.

But guessing and seeing with his own eyes were entirely two different things.

He had never seen a corpse in his whole life, let alone one that had been slaughtered like this and had squirming maggots that seemed to grow from it. 

Ji Mingxia's entire body took a step back, and he only came back to his senses when Yu Ning held him.

"This ......" Ji Mingxia looked at Yu Ning, barely able to speak.

"She must have been dead for two days, her mouth and nose are bleeding due to hemorrhage. She was a normal person so she did not turn into a ghost after death, don't be afraid." Yu Ning said to Ji Mingxia.

Ji Mingxia reluctantly pulled the corner of his mouth. This feeling was completely different from facing a ghost.

But seeing Yu Ning's indifferent look, it was probably the same in his opinion.

To avoid throwing up, Ji Mingxia hurriedly left the back of the commercial car and walked to the side.

Near the business car was a box.

When he was hiding in the shadows earlier, he vaguely saw Song Yuelin fiddling with something in this position. The lid of the box was facing Yu Ning's direction, which also blocked Ji Mingxia's line of sight. He was also some distance away, so it was even more impossible for him to guess what Song Yuelin was doing in the box.

Thinking of this, Ji Mingxia raised his torch in curiosity.

He saw a row of knives in the box.

The knives were of different shapes, from big to small, short to long, and were polished to the point that it shined brightly. When the torch shone on them, the light reflected instantly and stung Ji Mingxia's eyes.

Thinking of Song Yuelin's previous actions, Ji Mingxia firmly believed that Song Yuelin already had the intention to kill although his mouth was talking to Yu Ning.

Fortunately, Yu Ning was resourceful and prepared early on.

Not long ago, Yu Ning, Ji Mingxia and Song Yuelin, hid deep into the forest, and the monster appeared a few moments later.

Ji Mingxia was targeted on the spot and was scared out of his wits. It was then that Yu Ning wrote two words on Ji Mingxia's hand: don't move.

The fingers slid over the skin of his hand, gently writing out the words clearly. Ji Mingxia only felt a tingle in his hand, and his attention was diverted at that moment.

He was scared stiff by the monster, but his attention was all on Yu Ning's writing fingers.

Yu Ning asked Ji Mingxia to hold still.

If this were someone else, Ji Mingxia would have cursed. A monster was staring at him, and he was being told to stay still?!

But it was Yu Ning who was writing, and while Ji Mingxia was nervous, he was affected by the tingling in his hand, and his heart was beating faster and faster with an inexplicable stirring on top of the fear.

He and Yu Ning had gone through many dangers together, and he trusted Yu Ning 100%.

Ji Mingxia overcame his inner fear and his instinct to run away. He watched the monster step towards him, and he gritted his teeth, stayed in place and didn’t move a muscle.

A few seconds seemed as long as a year. The monster was about to cross the forest and arrive in front of him when a red light appeared, and in the next instant, the monster disappeared.

Ji Mingxia was so frightened that his legs went weak. Although the monster had disappeared, Ji Mingxia was still so nervous that he was dazed.

At that moment, Song Yuelin opened his eyes and looked at Ji Mingxia.

Before Ji Mingxia could react, Song Yuelin's gaze crossed over him and fell on Yu Ning.

Ji Mingxia instinctively felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere. Thinking of the two words that Yu Ning had written, Ji Mingxia continued to maintain his posture, even holding his breath.

Sure enough, Song Yuelin ignored him and started talking to Yu Ning.

Song Yuelin's attention was on Yu Ning, and when he made small moves, he only guarded against Yu Ning. So Ji Mingxia could see the things that Yu Ning might not necessarily see.

He clearly saw Song Yuelin hide a small mirror into his pocket as he spoke.

This caused Ji Mingxia to instantly recall the moments before. He was aware of the law of attraction and advised Yu Ning not to stare at the monster, but then a bright light suddenly fell on his face, ultimately causing the monster to discover him.

So on seeing the small mirror in Song Yuelin's hand, Ji Mingxia instantly understood.

Through the principle of mirror reflection, the light was focused on his face, attracting the monster's attention.

In this way, Song Yuelin did not have to touch him at all, would not leave any evidence, and would successfully sacrifice him to the monster.

The monster only killed one person every night, and after his death, Song Yuelin would be safe.

Ji Mingxia was still thinking of this when Yu Ning got up to leave.

Song Yuelin had wanted to search where he was, but the latter had no choice but to follow Yu Ning.

By this time, he was certain that Yu Ning had confused Song Yuelin's perception through the bronze mirror, making Song Yuelin believe that the monster had killed him and then disappeared at the same time.

As for why he did this, the purpose was simple.

While Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning currently knew very little about this forest, Song Yuelin had a great deal of information in his hands, but was a scheming murderer. 

Only when they let him achieve his goal would he relax and reveal more useful content.

From the very beginning, Ji Mingxia was the bait that hoodwinked Song Yuelin, while Yu Ning was responsible for consolidating the information.

Yu Ning lured Song Yuelin back to the commercial car in order to avoid Ji Mingxia from being revealed, but unfortunately, Ji Mingxia was some distance away from them and had no idea how Yu Ning was progressing.

Thinking of this, Ji Mingxia closed the box. He turned around with the box and saw Yu Ning come out from behind the back of the car, holding a card-like object in his hand. He took out a bottle of clean water from inside the commercial car and rinsed the blood from his hands and the card.

When the card was rinsed clean, Yu Ning held up it and said to Ji Mingxia, "The deceased is Zhou Li."

Only then did Ji Mingxia realise that the card was actually an identity card Yu Ning had taken from the deceased.

Ji Mingxia shrank back in fright.

As expected of Yu Ning, Ji Mingxia once again felt how lucky that he was following the protagonist in these scenarios.

"Li Youzi's group had a total of seven people. Every time the ghost kills someone, it adds a face. Without counting tonight, the ghost had killed a total of three people, and there are only four people left. Zhou Li didn't die at the hands of the ghost, and the time of death was around two days ago. What Song Yuelin said was half true." Yu Ning concluded.

Ji Mingxia listened in a cloud of confusion, but he understood some, "Then what things did he lie about?"

"They created that thing and it only wants to kill them, it has no interest in us. Song Yuelin didn't know this and wanted to use us as test subjects.  That’s why he was ecstatic and overjoyed when he found that you had disappeared." Yu Ning said, and followed up by telling Ji Mingxia what had just happened.Ji Mingxia listened with some difficulty, only understanding that there was a stupid human being who had been crushed by the intelligence of the academic tyrant. Not only had Yu Ning managed to dig out useful information about Song Yuelin with the help of the monster, but he had also used Song Yuelin to test the monster's way of slaughter.

There were just two more points that Ji Mingxia didn't quite understand.

"This box of knives was his killing tool, right? He was fiddling with them earlier, so was he planning to attack you? If the ghost is not interested in us, why would he want to kill you? Isn’t it good to have one more partner." Ji Mingxia couldn't help but say.

After all, in this crisis-ridden forest, staying alive was the most fundamental need for people.

Yu Ning said, "Since you had disappeared, it proved that your life could be exchanged for one day, which is equivalent to more lives and more life saving charms. The fact that Song Yuelin killed his companion shows that he doesn't believe in humanity and believes in himself more. In that situation, only my death would benefit him."

Yu Ning glanced at the trunk, "Moreover, the corpse has been stored for two days and has already decomposed. Song Yuelin is a food expert, he treated the meat from Zhou Li's thigh area and he could continue to be eat it up to now, but based on the condition of the corpse, he didn't cut off much meat, and after two days of eating, he must have been running out of stock."

Ji Mingxia shuddered involuntarily, "Not only did he want to kill you, but he also wanted to eat you?!"

Ji Mingxia thought for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "Then did he use Zhou Li's corpse to attract the ghost’s attention and then managed to escape?" 

"Mm." Yu Ning nodded.

The monster's target was only those seven people, so even though Zhou Li had turned into a corpse, the monster still stopped in its tracks in the face of its near prey, giving Song Yuelin the chance to escape.

Song Yuelin had been in this area for four or five days and was already very familiar with the terrain. It was only a matter of minutes before he was completely out of sight.

After this incident, Song Yuelin would take Yu Ning as a difficult person to deal with, and he would definitely avoid Yu Ning as long as he was sane.

Ji Mingxia said, "I still have one last question that I can't figure out. Today is the fifth day, plus Zhou Li, a total of four people have died. That means that the ghost mass hunted on one night. What then, will this game of hide-and-seek end on the seventh day, or will it go on until it has finished killing them?"

Yu Ning said, "All this can be known only when we find the two remaining people."

The monster hunts people every night.

If Song Yuelin didn't dare to look for Yu Ning, he could only find those two remaining people if he wanted to live, and use them as scapegoats or reserve food.

Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning, on the other hand, were not targets of the monster and would not be actively sought out by the monster. But with Song Yuelin's disappearance, they had completely lost their clues.

Therefore, Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning also had to find the remaining two.

Yu Ning told Yu Ning what he had concluded from looking inside the commercial car: "There are two more people, Meng Xinyi, the beauty blogger, and Bao Guangyuan, a pet blogger. The boundary starts from the edge of the forest and covers several famous spots around here. There are several places that are suitable for people to hide so we can look in that direction."

Ji Mingxia was a little uncertain, "Yu Ning, can you find your way?"

Ji Mingxia's ability to recognize directions was at the level of an ordinary person, and he had to check the map and road signs to find his way.

The scenery in the forest was similar and it was easy to get lost in it. Ji Mingxia would be lucky if he didn't get lost, not to mention finding someone.

Yu Ning said, "I know the geological structure, the natural landscape and the general direction of the area, so I'll try my best."

Ji Mingxia looked at him in surprise, "You even know that, huh?"

"The attractions near the forest and the resort are the same promotional selling point, it’s all in the hotel's promotional brochures." Yu Ning said. Something seemed to occur to him, and looked away from Ji Mingxia.

"The promotional brochure for the Quanzhuang Hotel?" Ji Mingxia froze for a moment, then suddenly remembered and said, "It's the book you always read when I’m sleeping, ah. So you were ready then, waiting for it to be put to use now ......"

Ji Mingxia once again shouted in his heart, worthy of being an academic tyrant! Worthy of being the protagonist!

Look at how he goes through the scenario! So well-prepared, how can someone not praise such a meticulous and attentive person ah.

Ji Mingxia’s adoring gaze caused the expression on Yu Ning's face to become more and more unnatural: “I couldn’t sleep, so I just read casually…”

“Huh?” Ji Mingxia was even more surprised.

Thinking back on the past few days at the resort, he had slept well, not to mention how sweet it was.

After all, although the resort was weird, the environment was really nice, they had just come out of the high school dormitory and even got a couple’s room. It was impossible to be uncomfortable with such a luxurious treatment.

He thought Yu Ning was just like him, but now Yu Ning was telling him that he couldn’t sleep well?

“Why couldn’t you sleep, was it because of the bronze mirror? Or was it…… sleeping with me and I disturbed you?” Ji Mingxia couldn’t help but suddenly get a little worried, “I slept so well those days, did I sleep too heavily and did something?”

He thought that since he and Yu Ning had shared a dormitory, they had long since gotten used to each other’s sleeping habits, so he had never worried about this issue.

But on second thought, he had slept so comfortably those few days that he might have moved a bit more and affected Yu Ning.

“We’ll have to stay at the hotel for one more night after leaving the forest. Perhaps we should change to two single rooms.” Ji Mingxia suggested.

“No, you’re a very good sleeper.” Yu Ning suddenly spoke loudly.

Ji Mingxia looked at Yu Ning, and found that Yu Ning was looking at him, “I like to see you sleeping, I feel at ease when I’m with you.”

They looked at each other, and the redness of Yu Ning’s ears spread all the way to the roots of his ears. Even in this dark night, through the not-so-bright light of the torch, one could see that his face looked much better than usual because of the slight flush.

The faint light reflected on his face and back into his pupils. When Yu Ning looked at Ji Mingxia, his eyes were extraordinarily clear, like a stream in the forest.

“I’ll go and set up the tent for you.” Yu Ning said, and without waiting for Ji Mingxia’s response, immediately turned around and walked to the side.

Ji Mingxia watched in a daze as Yu Ning walked away for several seconds before gradually coming back to his senses, 'Strange, why did I just wander off and stare at Yu Ning’s face for a long time ……'

He touched his cheek and found that it was also a little hot. Other than that, there was no other abnormality. Perhaps it was because he had mistakenly thought that he had slept badly and had annoyed Yu Ning by making noise.

Because he had inexplicably fallen into some kind of emotion and was staring at Yu Ning’s face lost in thought, it led to Ji Mingxia not even hearing what Yu Ning had said.

Yu Ning had already set up his tent, so Ji Mingxia couldn’t go up to him and ask him about it. He took his things and sorted them out, preparing for his first camp tonight.

During this period, Ji Mingxia was a little distracted and, without noticing, accidentally walked to the trunk of the car and saw Zhou Li’s corpse once again.

He was caught off guard and was so scared that he almost had a heart attack.

The embarrassment and confusion in his heart was all gone.

Although he wondered why he had suddenly been compelled by Yu Ning’s face, he was now in danger and there was a dead woman not far away. Ji Mingxia’s mind instantly cleared up and he forgot all those issues.

The tent they brought was from the hotel and it was also a couple’s model. Not only was it simple and lightweight, the two tents could either be combined into one two-person tent or separated into two single tents.

Although Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning had stayed in the same room, they each slept in their own beds and were not used to sleeping together, so they ended up with two simple single tents.

For security reasons, the two single tents were placed next to each other, so that if one of them moved, the other could quickly sense it.

Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning had planned to bury Zhou Li in the ground before they went to bed but after trying for a while, they found that it was very difficult.

Zhou Li had been dead for a long time, and as her body had been cut up, the corpse was so decomposed that any slight movement made the flesh fall off, and blood and pus flowed out, making it difficult to move.

Song Yuelin had previously made the trunk completely closed to store Zhou Li’s remains and to block out that corpse odour.

But in a way, the trunk, which had been modified to be completely closed, could also be used as Zhou Li’s coffin.

Yu Ning covered Zhou Li with a black cloth and closed the trunk, leaving Zhou Li to rest in peace inside.

By the time the tent had been pitched, it was already around 9pm.

The night had only just begun in the city, but it was pitch black in the forest, and completely dark at the moment.

Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning were at the edge of a deep forest, so they didn’t have to worry about wild animals, but they were in the middle of an empty, dark forest, with a monster that appeared regularly, a food blogger who was a cannibal, and the body of a woman not far away ……

Such an environment was much more frightening than Ji Mingxia had initially anticipated.

He even felt that if he could fall asleep in such an environment, nothing would ever be too difficult for him again.

He thought that he would lose sleep for the rest of the night, but when he closed his eyes and thought that Yu Ning was less than half a metre away, Ji Mingxia, who was tired from what happened during the day, quickly fell into a deep sleep.

By the time he opened his eyes again, it was already dawn and the night had passed.

After eating breakfast together, the two packed their gear and headed deeper into the forest.

On the way, the two of them got along as usual. Perhaps it was an aftermath of yesterday’s incident, Ji Mingxia couldn’t help but look at Yu Ning’s face as they walked.

Yu Ning was still the same, but compared to last night, he felt that something was missing.

He didn’t look as good as last night, and his eyes didn’t look as bright as last night. So what exactly had Yu Ning said last night……?

“Mingxia.” Ji Mingxia suddenly heard Yu Ning call his name.

Ji Mingxia jerked back to his senses, “Huh?”

“Are you tired?” Yu Ning asked.

“I …… am a little tired.” Seeing Yu Ning looking at him, Ji Mingxia was afraid that Yu Ning would notice his distraction, so he nodded obediently.

“If you’re tired, there’s a place to rest in front of us that we can go and sit at.” Yu Ning said. He lowered his eyes and averted his gaze, hiding his good mood under his eyes.

“Okay.” Ji Mingxia didn’t think much of it and nodded in agreement.

They walked forward for another half an hour or so and reached the border of the primeval forest. It was also one of the natural landscapes, and somewhere in an inconspicuous corner was a stone monument. It looked very plain and had vicissitudes of life as it had not been repaired for some years.

“Love Mountain Spring?” Ji Mingxia saw a stone monument and slowly read out the three words on it.

No sooner had he said the words than an abnormal crashing sound suddenly rang out from above.