I didn't mean to scare you

Chapter 10

Night fell, quickly and completely. The temperature plummeted, leaping from early summer to the depths of winter in less than an hour. The north wind howled, and dark clouds piled high in the sky, obscuring the stars and moon.

They gathered some dry branches and lit a campfire. Du Xiaojia woke up feeling dizzy and lightheaded, her cracked lips throbbing with pain. The others huddled around the fire, heads drooping listlessly, dozing off.

She struggled to sit up, her stomach growling with hunger. Du Xiaojia pulled out the lipstick box, opened it, and by the firelight, saw her own haggard face in the mirror. Her skin was wrinkled and a frightening grayish-white. She licked her chapped lips with her dry tongue, tasting a slightly sweet and sour flavor. She smacked her lips and greedily licked them again.

Suddenly, Du Xiaojia realized that something was strange about her reflection in the mirror. She couldn't quite put her finger on it. Her brow furrowed, and she tilted her head to examine her reflection closely. Suddenly, she gasped, her face filled with utter fear. The reflection, though identical in appearance and movements to hers, was completely expressionless, wooden and blank, like a mask.

Du Xiaojia slowly opened her mouth wide and inhaled deeply. The cold air stung her throat. The face in the mirror also opened its mouth, and a stream of white, transparent gas shot out from its dark opening, rapidly passing through the lens and into her mouth. She instinctively closed her mouth, but felt a hot stream of air rolling down her esophagus and into her stomach.

"Ah Xiao, I'm hungry." Qian Xiao was half asleep when she was woken up by a pair of hands. In her hazy state, she recognized Du Xiaojia's voice.

"Xiaojia, go to sleep first, I'm really tired." Qian Xiao didn't open her eyes, but opened her mouth and yawned. "Sleep a little longer, I'll go pick some apples for you to eat."

"I don't want to eat apples, I want to...eat meat."

"Damn! I still want to eat meat." Qian Xiao squinted, his voice getting lower and lower. "There are only apples, no meat. How about... you eat me, hehe..." The last part of his laughter was completely carried away by his drowsy thoughts and he drifted into a dream.

"Hiss," "Crackling," "Slapping"—a series of strange sounds continued to disturb everyone's dreams. Some people tossed and turned impatiently, letting out dissatisfied "humphs" from deep in their throats. The strange noises not only continued but grew louder, and some people gradually drifted out of their dreams, frowning as they prepared to wake up.

Wu Yongbin was the first to open his eyes. Then, everyone else gradually sat up. The campfire was now just glowing red ashes. Wu Yongbin grabbed a handful of dry branches and threw them in; with a crackling sound, flames quickly leaped up. By the firelight, everyone looked in the direction from which the sound came.

"My God!" Jia Ru exclaimed, and Jia She immediately followed, "She's eating...eating..."

In the flickering firelight, Du Xiaojia, her hair disheveled, sat leaning against a large tree, chewing something with relish. Her face was completely stained red with blood, her hair tangled and dripping with blood. From her constantly moving mouth, copious amounts of blood and bits of flesh gushed out. Her right arm, from the shoulder down, was completely devoid of flesh; the bloody skeleton hung limply beside her, the first joint of each of her five fingers missing, still slowly clawing at itself. The grass around her was also soaked with blood.

"Delicious, so delicious!" Du Xiaojia mumbled, a satisfied smile spreading across her blood-smeared face, eerily chilling.

"Xiaojia, she's gone mad, she's gone mad!" Qian Xiao shouted tremblingly, her legs went weak, and she sat back down on the ground.

"So...good..." Before she could utter the word "eat," Du Xiaojia's head lolled to the side, her eyes wide open with that almost blissful smile, and she breathed her last. No one dared approach her mutilated body, no one even dared to look directly at her corpse, including the usually audacious Wu Yongbin. In the end, Lin Han and Wu Yongbin together dismantled a tent and used it to cover Du Xiaojia's gruesome body. But the pervasive stench of blood couldn't be concealed.

The cold night is long, and no one is asleep.

The weariness had long since vanished. Everyone remained silent, huddled together, far away from Du Xiaojia's body. The Jia siblings hugged each other, trying to ward off the cold. Qian Xiao sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, burying her face between her legs, sobbing softly. Wu Yongbin chain-smoked, the flickering light of the cigarettes making his face appear grotesque. Lin Han sat on the ground, head bowed, drawing circles with a twig. Only Chen Yan remained indifferent, her melancholy seeming to freeze the night.

"Damn it, another one's dead." Wu Yongbin crushed the empty cigarette pack, slammed it to the ground, and jumped up, walking over to Chen Yan. "You have to explain tonight what kind of crazy game that was. And what was written on that piece of paper?"

"That was just a ghost-summoning game I saw online." Chen Yan didn't even look at Wu Yongbin, her cold gaze still fixed on the unknown distance. "According to the game rules, the answers on the paper cannot be disclosed."

"What the hell are you talking about with those stupid rules? Two people are already dead!" Wu Yongbin's face turned a deep purplish-red, and the veins on his neck bulged as he roared.

“You absolutely must know, and it’s not impossible, but…” Chen Yan paused for a moment, “Everyone who hears the answer will bear the consequences themselves.”

"You'll bear the consequences." These four words were spoken with a resounding force, even the furious Wu Yongbin froze in place. Everyone else nervously raised their heads, staring intently at Chen Yan, their faces pale, not daring to utter a sound.

10

The fear was so heavy it was about to exceed its limits.

Wu Yongbin finally let out a heavy sigh, retreating to his previous seat and collapsing onto his backside as if utterly exhausted. The tense nerves of the others relaxed simultaneously. They were genuinely afraid that under Wu Yongbin's continued questioning, Chen Yan would reveal the answer. That could have far more serious consequences. It's often the case that people prefer to maintain the status quo until the greatest danger befalls them, even though the status quo is just as worrisome.

Before they knew it, dawn had broken. Soon, they were back in the heat. The sunlight was blindingly white, stinging their skin like needles.

The clearing in the woods with tents was no place to linger, given the presence of a gruesome corpse. The remaining six continued their long journey. Qian Xiao, having lost her girlfriend, was in a daze.

As noon approached, the six of them discovered another pool of water. This time, unlike the last one, the pool was a perfect rectangle, as if it had been dug out by hand. Learning from their previous experience, this time, no one dared to rashly draw water from the pool. Lin Han, once again, took a branch and dipped it into the water. When he pulled it out, the branch was perfectly intact. They then carefully experimented with wild grass, stones, clothes, and the apples they had picked, proving that the clear liquid in the pool was indeed water.

Having emptied their bellies of water, the boys went down first for a thorough bath. When it was the girls' turn, Chen Yan walked away coldly, leaving Jia Ru with no choice but to bathe alone. The others waited outside the woods, eating apples as they went.

The water is mountain spring water, clear and sweet. Under the blazing sun, it feels warm and comforting on the skin.

Jia Ru swam naked in the water, reluctant to leave. Only when she felt tired did she reluctantly climb out, dry herself, and begin to dress with her back to the pool.

After a soft splash, a string of silvery laughter drifted from behind, captivating yet fleeting. Jia Ru ran her fingers through her wet, short hair and turned around in surprise. In the shimmering blue water, a long-haired woman swam gracefully into the distance, her smooth, white shoulders emerging from the water.

Was it Chen Yan? Jia Ru wondered. The woman swam to the other side, her arms bracing against the shore, most of her body above water, the water droplets on her head and body reflecting iridescent light in the sunlight. Judging from the woman's figure, Jia Ru determined that it wasn't Chen Yan; Chen Yan's figure appeared much thinner in comparison.

"Hello? Who... are you?" Jia Ru asked softly, only to be met with a pleasant laugh. The woman dove into the water, and Jia Ru was astonished to see a large, golden-red fish tail rising behind her.

My God! A mermaid?! Jia Ru stared in disbelief, her eyes glued to the pool. In the crystal-clear water, a mermaid was swimming towards her at incredible speed. This beautiful scene reminded her of the Grimm's fairy tale, "The Little Mermaid." Mermaids were the beautiful creatures she had dreamed of seeing since childhood. She walked to the edge of the pool without thinking, squatted down, and felt a surge of longing excitement within her.

The mermaid swam closer, her slender fingers gently touching the shore. With a burst of strength, she leaped out of the water, the water droplets from her long hair blurring Jia Ru's vision. She closed her eyes, rubbed them with her hands, and then eagerly opened them again. The mermaid's face was only inches away from hers, a smile playing on her lips.

The mermaid's smiling face brought Jia Ru no pleasure, but fear—pure fear. Her golden eyes had only a tiny black pupil the size of a pinhead in the center. Her slightly parted mouth revealed rotten, sharp teeth that gleamed with a metallic sheen. That smile was permeated with an evil devoid of any other emotion. Her outstretched fingers, one and a half times the length of a human's, had sharp, curved, black nails like bear claws. At that moment, they were viciously clawing towards Jia Ru's throat.

"Sister, sister, something's happened!" Jia She, who was sitting with everyone by the woods, biting into an apple, suddenly jumped up and ran into the woods, startling everyone else.

"Telepathy between twins." Lin Han reacted the fastest and was the first to chase after them. Of course, he didn't forget to bring Chen Yan along; in this critical moment, he wouldn't let Chen Yan out of his sight.

Before Lin Han and the other three even entered the woods, they heard Jia She's painful cries. They immediately became extremely anxious and ran towards the direction of the sound. The cries were so loud they made their eardrums ache. They saw Jia She. He was lying on the grass, tossing and turning, scratching and clawing at his body, his voice hoarse from howling.

"Jia She, what's wrong with you?" Lin Han rushed forward and picked up Jia She from the ground. But when he saw Jia She's exposed skin, he groaned, suddenly let go, and leaped far away, his face full of undisguised terror.

"What happened?" Wu Yongbin asked in surprise.

"His face, and his hands...it was terrifying! Terrifying!" Lin Han gasped for breath, backing away repeatedly.

In that short time, Jia She's screams grew weaker and weaker, and his movements gradually slowed down. Wu Yongbin, Qian Xiao, and Chen Yan all saw clearly that if they hadn't known it was Jia She, they wouldn't have recognized him at all. The skin on his face and hands turned crimson and began to swell with translucent blisters. Soon, the blisters merged into a large patch and burst open with a "pop," splattering blood and flesh everywhere. It was an indescribable feeling, like roasting a piece of raw meat in a microwave oven.

Immediately afterward, Jia She completely stopped howling and rolling, his muscles only twitching in their final moments before death. During this time, his wide-open eyes slowly turned the white of a dead fish's eye, then burst like bubbles, gushing out ripe fluid. His body continued to swell, and before it exploded, the four living people realized what was happening and quickly hid behind tree trunks.

A deafening explosion followed, and then everything returned to silence.

11

After a long, long time, the four of them finally peeked out from behind the tree, their faces ashen, peering around. The forest was littered with bits of bone and flesh, the green leaves were stained in various colors, and a nauseating stench filled every molecule of air.

Despite their immense discomfort, the four of them ran as fast as they could, reaching the edge of a pool in the woods. The scene at the pool was hardly better than in the forest; the once clear spring water was now stained a nauseating pink. It seemed the Jia siblings had died in exactly the same way. Lin Han and the others dared not linger any longer and hastily left these two hellish places.

The journey became aimless; the only thought in their minds was to escape. To escape the cruelty, the fear, and all the unknown dangers. Deep within them, only despair swelled.

They walked until they were exhausted, until they could walk no more, and then darkness fell. The night was still bitterly cold, and a thin layer of frost covered their sweat-soaked hair. Everyone was shivering, and not just from the cold.

The slowly burning campfire brought a little warmth to everyone. Qian Xiao sat by the fire, arms wrapped around his shoulders, swaying rhythmically back and forth, muttering like a chant: "Dead, all dead. Dead, dead..."

Without the calming effect of the cigarette, Wu Yongbin felt extremely agitated. He angrily threw the tree branch out of his hand and roared, "Stop reading!"

"Dead, dead..." Qian Xiao seemed to be deaf to any sound around him, showing no reaction whatsoever. "We'll die too, hahahaha..." Clearly, he had gone mad.

"Chen Yan." Wu Yongbin was also at a loss with Qian Xiao. His face contorted as he approached Chen Yan step by step. "Tell me, what's written on the paper? You fucking tell me now."

"Wu Yongbin, you're not allowed to talk to her like that." Lin Han's eyes widened, he clenched his fists and stood up, blocking Chen Yan's way like an angry lion.

"I'm telling you now, but don't regret it." Chen Yan remained calm.

"Speak." Wu Yongbin waved his hand and pushed Lin Han aside, glaring fiercely at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan slowly raised her eyelids: "Die!"

Wu Yongbin's body trembled, and the tough expression on his face instantly crumbled with fear. After a long while, he managed to stammer out, "Only...this...one word?"

Chen Yan nodded slightly, looked away, and added a few dry branches to the fire. Wu Yongbin stepped back, sat down abruptly, lowered his head, and buried his hands deep in his hair, like a clay sculpture. Qian Xiao's burst of wild laughter seemed to have exhausted all his strength; he listlessly rested his head on his knees, tears rolling down his red eyes.

"Chen Yan, you must be hungry after traveling for so long. I'll go find some wild apples." Seeing that Wu Yongbin was no longer a threat to Chen Yan, Lin Han said softly to her.

“I’ll go with you.” Chen Yan stood up, her cold voice tinged with a hint of tenderness. Lin Han nodded hastily, his right foot stepping on a small pebble, almost causing him to slip and fall. As their figures disappeared into the dark woods, a slight ripple seemed to stir in the air around the campfire, and a faint laugh startled the two people sitting motionless by the fire.

"Who?" Wu Yongbin stood up in a panic, looked around, and went into a state of high alert.

"Xiaojia." Qian Xiao's eyes lit up, and she turned to look at the dense darkness behind her. A fleeting white shadow flashed by among the trees. Qian Xiao laughed maniacally, opened her arms, and took off after her, shouting, "Xiaojia, wait for me, wait for me..."

"Qian Xiao, Qian Xiao, what are you doing?" Wu Yongbin turned around in shock. "Come back here right now, come back here!"

At this moment, Qian Xiao was no longer listening to his boss, Wu Yongbin. He ran faster and faster as if possessed, his shouts fading into the distance with his footsteps, his figure instantly swallowed by the dark woods. Wu Yongbin stood there, stunned, not giving chase, his face, illuminated by the firelight, showing a growing sense of fear.

The woods were dark and gloomy. Ahead, the fleeting white shadow played hide-and-seek, appearing and disappearing before Qian Xiao's eyes, as if luring him deeper into the forest. He stumbled and fell, tripping and falling countless times, his cheeks scratched by horizontal branches. He was panting heavily, yet he still called out.

With a thud, Qian Xiao fell again. This time, the fall was severe, and his gums bled. He mumbled Du Xiaojia's name as he slowly pushed himself up. Before him, a white skirt fluttered in the wind. Around the skirt, a faint, pale fluorescent light illuminated a patch of grass about a meter in diameter.

Qian Xiao knelt up and looked up blankly. A slender woman was looking down at him. Her face was ashen, her pale eyes were bleeding, and her pale lips were slightly parted, revealing two rows of sharp, snake-like teeth.

“It’s not Xiaojia.” Qian Xiao tilted her head, her expression still blank.

The woman's pale eyes darted from left to right, revealing two shockingly red pupils that shot out two fierce beams of light. She moved slightly, making a cracking sound as her knuckles ground together. "Crack, crack," she approached Qian Xiao with bizarre movements, slowly and deliberately raising her arms. Her wide white sleeves slid down, revealing two skeletal arms, sharp finger bones touching Qian Xiao's shoulders.

12

"Wu Yongbin, what are you daydreaming about?" Lin Han, carrying a bunch of wild apples, walked out of the woods side by side with Chen Yan and saw Wu Yongbin standing there with his back to them. "Hey, where's Qian Xiao?"

"Qian Xiao went into the woods." Wu Yongbin pointed in the direction Qian Xiao disappeared, then turned back wearily.

"Go into the woods?" Lin Han asked, puzzled.

“He went after Du Xiaojia.” Wu Yongbin walked to Lin Han’s side, picked up an apple, and without wiping it, stuffed it into his mouth and took a big bite.

"Damn! Are you kidding me? Wasn't Du Xiaojia dead?" Lin Han exclaimed in surprise, completely bewildered.

Wu Yongbin swallowed a bite of apple, still looking uninterested in anything: "I don't know, anyway, he ran off calling 'Xiaojia' and disappeared."

“But…” Lin Han put down the apple, about to say something, but his gaze was drawn to something behind Wu Yongbin.

"What are you looking at?" Wu Yongbin looked up and saw Lin Han's expression, then turned his gaze to what was behind him. A figure staggered out of the shadows of the woods, carrying something in its hand, which looked like a piece of clothing. He frowned and called out, "Is that Qian Xiao?"

The figure didn't answer, only letting out increasingly clear breathing. It continued to sway and move forward, its footsteps unwavering. Suddenly, the north wind picked up, and the campfire flickered painfully, howling loudly.

"Hey! Are you Qian Xiao?" Lin Han suddenly sensed an eerie atmosphere slowly spreading in the cold air.

"Boss..." the figure spoke. Although the voice was slightly distorted, it was still clearly identifiable as Qian Xiao.

"Qian Xiao? What's wrong? You." Wu Yongbin went to greet her, but Qian Xiao stopped in her tracks, right at the edge of the firelight. Lin Han only felt that the color of Qian Xiao's clothes seemed to have changed, but he couldn't really see it clearly.

"Perhaps it's the effect of the firelight?" Lin Han wondered. Wu Yongbin had already walked up to Qian Xiao and raised his arm to support the other's shoulder. Suddenly, his back stiffened, his hands trembled as he withdrew them, and he made a "ya ya" sound in his throat. This time, Lin Han saw it clearly: Wu Yongbin's raised hands were covered in bright red liquid.