Ich bin von Natur aus schön und unübertroffen

Kapitel 9

This time, Ade heard it clearly; the voice... seemed different from others, somewhat hollow...

“There’s something down there,” Xi Yuan said confidently. He squatted down without fear, gently moved his hand through the grass, revealing a round lid.

"Isn't it a sewer?" Ade asked timidly.

"Idiot! How could there be a sewer here? I think it's a secret passage! This person disguised the entrance with a sewer cover just to fool people like you!" Xi Yuan said, finding a pebble and throwing it down through the small hole in the cover, then listening intently.

“It’s definitely not a sewer. There’s no sound of water. It landed and rolled for a long time, it seems like a long way… I need to go down and take a look!” Xi Yuan suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Ade trembled.

"Don't follow me. Leave quickly and call the police. The school is just a few hundred meters ahead. I remember it's very close to the principal's office. Go find someone! Hurry!" Xi Yuan said, moving the cover aside.

The ground, missing a lid, revealed a dark hole, like a gaping mouth waiting for food to be devoured.

Xi Yuan was putting his leg into that "mouth." Thinking about the strange things that had happened today, Ade suddenly shook his head, "No... Boss, I advise you not to go down alone. Let's go find someone together... Or I'll go down with you!"

"Are you an idiot? Wasn't what happened today bizarre enough? Fatty was captured by some unknown person. What are we going to do if we don't chase after him? Besides, what if we all go down and get captured together?" Xi Yuan glared at Ade, and after a long while, Ade nodded.

Xi Yuan then continued his actions, looked into the cave, threw another stone to estimate the height, and after confirming it was safe, jumped down.

Couching at the cave entrance, Ade strained to see inside, finally finding relief when he heard Xi Yuan say, "We're here." However, Xi Yuan's next exclamation of surprise sent Ade's heart leaping into his throat once more!

"What's wrong?" Ade asked in a low voice from the cave entrance.

“…This…Fatty…I think I’ve found Fatty…” Xi Yuan’s trembling voice came from inside the cave.

Something's wrong! After three years of dating, Ade was certain something terrible had happened! Xi Yuan's voice trembled! This had never happened before!

"Fatty's here..." Xi Yuan said, his voice slightly calmer than before, but Ade knew it was an act! Xi Yuan was nervous, he was afraid! Why was he nervous and afraid?

Ade suddenly had a terrifying thought: could it be that the fat man...? Thinking this, Ade suddenly remembered that he had a small flashlight on his phone and hurriedly shone it downwards...

The small, round light frantically searched the cave until it shone on a huge body on the ground. It was a fat man, lying there, only his profile and... visible.

The black stains on his T-shirt, under the light... blood?! Ad was stunned.

"His heart has stopped beating, he... he's dead." Xi Yuan's voice finally began to panic, and in the darkness, he began to crawl towards the cave entrance.

"We need to call the police! We need to call the police!" Whether he was saying it to Ade or simply saying it to himself as a talisman, Xi Yuan began to repeat this phrase over and over.

Ade panicked and hurriedly moved the flashlight towards Xi Yuan. It was too dark, and he was too nervous. It took Ade a long time to finally point the light at Xi Yuan. However, when he saw Xi Yuan clearly, Ade suddenly froze. The phone in his hand fell down uncontrollably and into the hole, seemingly hitting Xi Yuan.

A loud "Ah!" was heard, followed by the sound of something sliding down. From below came Xi Yuan's low curse. "Calm down, you bastard! You hit my head..." Xi Yuan scolded softly from inside the cave. Ade tried to swallow, but no saliva came out. He just swallowed dryly, and his throat became extremely dry.

He knew he had to say something, but his body was trembling uncontrollably, his throat was out of his control… He had to say it… He had to remind the boss that there was someone behind him…

The moon, which had been obscured by clouds, emerged and shone on Ade, and part of it also shone into the cave, onto the fat man lying prone, onto Xi Yuan, and onto the people behind him...

With his hands clenched tightly, Ade found himself unable to speak. Cold sweat dripped down his body, onto Xi Yuan, who was trying to climb back up. As Xi Yuan moved, the thing behind him was also getting closer...

"No—" A roar erupted in his mind, and he could no longer suppress the fear in his heart. Ade slammed the lid shut and then ran away like a madman!

We must escape! Escape from here! Be a coward, be ungrateful, whatever! We absolutely must not get close to that guy! That guy is…

"ghost".

Suddenly, Ade stopped in his tracks. Behind him... there was something...

As if struck by a pressure point, Ade's entire body stiffened.

Prick up his ears and listen. Ade heard footsteps behind him, following him like a shadow ever since he ran away.

No! Perhaps that voice has been following me all along, from the moment I and Xi Yuan entered this forest, from the moment I got into the taxi, and even... from the moment I escaped from the campus yesterday.

Strangely, Ade recalled the woman's call he had heard when the three of them escaped yesterday.

Such a clear and precise call, calling out the names of the three of them, is she really an "old maid" of the school?

Is she really a school teacher? Or... is she really... a human being?

Ad turned his head, trembling, his body shaking uncontrollably, and his eyes began to fill with tears.

Under the moonlight, he saw a pair of feet, and when he saw the other person's face clearly, Ade's eyes widened in horror!

In the moonlight, he saw the other person smile at him, and then raise their hand...

Then……

The pale, waning moon was about to disappear into the clouds; it was the last sight the boy saw before he died.

The figure, hidden in the darkness, stood silently for a long time, then picked up one of the boy's feet and dragged it across the deep grass, the boy's body rubbing against the grass with a soft, rustling sound.

"Still needing..."

The moon hid behind the clouds again, and the woods were pitch black.

Xi Yuan was trying to pry open the lid on his head. Ade had just closed the lid, and he couldn't open it no matter what he did!

"Damn it!" Xi Yuan tried to push upwards, but he couldn't exert his full strength in this position. The fat man's cold corpse was right under his feet. Even Xi Yuan, who was usually fearless, started to feel uneasy.

What's going on? It was just a normal outing, nothing special! Why this time...?

"Damn it!" Xi Yuan frowned, inserting his finger into the gap next to the lid. Great! It seems to be loosening a bit... Sensing the arrival of hope, even though his finger was sore, Xi Yuan's face regained some brightness.

We absolutely have to get out! Otherwise...

He finally managed to pry the lid open a tiny crack, and Xi Yuan was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when suddenly...

Eye!

Through that gap, a pair of eyes were staring at him in surprise!

Xi Yuan froze. It was a young man he didn't recognize, his eyes gazing blankly into the cave…

Help... Help!

The thought flashed through Xi Yuan's mind, and he grabbed the man's hand tightly, causing the man to struggle in a panic.

Help! Hurry! Pull me out!

He desperately tried to call out in his heart, but...

Backlit, a pair of feet came into his view, standing right behind the person Xi Yuan had grabbed. Then one foot lifted up, and before Xi Yuan could figure out what the person was going to do, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his finger! The person had slammed down on the lid!

The lid slammed heavily onto Xi Yuan's head. The impact was so severe that his vision went black, and he finally passed out!

When Xi Yuan woke up again, his fingers were throbbing with pain! Struggling to open his palm... Xi Yuan was surprised to find that the ring on his little finger was gone!

Something was pressing down on him...

He reached out his hand, but recoiled as if electrocuted when he touched that "thing".

It's a human!

Xi Yuan's eyes widened, but he was bold after all. In order to figure it out, he touched the man's face with his trembling hand.

It's Ade!

The face was all too familiar… As Xi Yuan recognized the person, his hand, which had been hovering over the man, clenched into a fist! What was going on?! What had we done?!

Xi Yuan sat there, stunned.

Behind him lay the fat man's corpse, and on top of him, still warm, was... Ade.

These companions were all alive and kicking just before tonight, discussing when to come out next time, but in just a few hours... they all became corpses!

What mistakes did we make?

Suddenly, something vibrated beside his palm, startling him. Xi Yuan reflexively dodged, but the constantly flashing screen reminded him that it was his phone.

Ade's cell phone.

As if suddenly remembering something, Xi Yuan quickly grabbed his phone. Sure enough, it was a text message!

Only ten points remain.

Upon seeing the information displayed on the screen, Xi Yuan's eyes widened in disbelief!

Breathing heavily, Xi Yuan's hands began to tremble. Suddenly, the image of Fatty and Ade, who had repeatedly tried to speak earlier that day, appeared before his eyes!

Xi Yuan suddenly clicked on the text message in front of him—

"The game isn't over yet, there's still one person left..."

"You have thirty minutes to catch me."

Only ten points remain.

Xi Yuan felt his heart pounding so hard it almost shattered his chest.

Let's check the time, it's 3:05 AM.

The end time... 3:15?

This number seems familiar... Xi Yuan racked his brains, trying to remember. Indeed, this number seemed familiar... but where? His mind was a complete mess; Xi Yuan found himself utterly unable to think!

The end... What's ending? Fatty and Ade are both dead. Does death mean the end?

So, does that mean I'll "finish" in ten minutes?

No!

Xi Yuan couldn't help but clutch his head. Suddenly! His phone rang again at his feet!

"If you can't find me in the last five minutes, I'll come looking for you."

This time, the words were the longest and the fear they instilled was the strongest.

No! We have to think of a way, that person...

No! This number belongs to Fatty! Did that person send it to him?

The man who killed Fatty and Ade... Suddenly, something occurred to Xi Yuan, and he abruptly pushed aside Ade's corpse and reached behind him. Behind him lay Fatty's body.

Cell phone... cell phone...

Xi Yuan had no idea what he was doing, and it was impossible for him to find it, wasn't it? If the fat man's phone was here, how could he possibly receive a text message?

However, Xi Yuan didn't know why he was searching. It seemed he couldn't feel at ease without doing something, but he did...

Xi Yuan froze when he felt a hard, rectangular object under the fat man.

The small, square screen emitted a faint light, and one by one, cold electronic words were being typed out—

"one"

"point"