translator: honeydew
editor: Milkbiscuit
In the end, the weasel who won firmly refused Shen Yiqiong’s nighttime invitation. The coldness of its attitude and the disgust on its face made one wonder how an animal could make such a vivid expression.
Lin Zhushui didn’t come over for dinner that day. Zhou Jiayu told Shen Yiqiong about the things he had encountered at the Lin family home, as if they were engaged in light conversation.
Shen Yiqiong was eating the garlic white pork that Zhou Jiayu had prepared. It went without saying that Zhou Jiayu’s knife skills were quite good. The pork was three parts fat and seven parts lean, cut into paper-thin slices. Beneath the pork lay shreds of cucumber, all bathed in sauce. The dish was extremely delicious and not greasy at all, truly a gourmet taste. Shen Yiqiong muttered: “I haven’t even been there before.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “You haven’t been there before?”
Shen Yiqiong said, “My strength is still far from enough. Sir only takes people when he thinks it’s time. Among the four of us, only my first and second senior brothers have had the opportunity.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Oh…”
They began to chat about the finals again, and Shen Musi told Zhou Jiayu about what happened in the year he had participated.
“Back then, I stayed deep in the mountains for half a month,” Shen Musi said. “I honestly thought I might not make it out alive.”
“You were looking for a dragon vein, right?” Zhou Jiayu vaguely remembered what Shen Yiqiong had once said.
“En,” Shen Musi said. “There were no people on that mountain, but there were wolves.”
Zhou Jiayu sighed. “You guys are really impressive. Do you mind if I ask what the prize was for that year?”
Shen Musi said, “A piece of ink.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Ink?”
Shen Musi nodded: “A very precious piece of ink from ancient times. Nowadays, the method to create it has been lost, and that ink is the last of its kind.”
Though the words he spoke were concise, Zhou Jiayu roughly understood its preciousness.
Shen Musi said, “Every time, the competition prize is always very tempting. There’s only one prize, and only the best competitor can claim it.”
Zhou Jiayu nodded, thinking of what Lin Zhushui had mentioned earlier in the day. He felt a bit uneasy, wondering if he would really see walking corpses or something.
Shen Musi seemed to see through his thoughts and said, “I watched the video of your semifinals, and noticed that Tang Yingxue was the bravest one?” She stepped forward to inspect the dead body without flinching or screaming. On the contrary, the men had all been terrified.
“She is indeed very brave,” Zhou Jiayu said.
Shen Musi said, “She should’ve gone through specialized training and seen many dead bodies before. Her master’s an expert in Gu, despite her gentle-as-water appearance.”
Indeed, for someone to become a competition judge, Chen Xiaoru must have possessed her own outstanding abilities.
“Be careful during the final.” Shen Musi gave one last line, “Sometimes, people can be much scarier than those things.”
For the next few days, Zhou Jiayu diligently locked himself up in his room to draw talismans.
Shen Yiqiong expressed surprise at his diligence. Zhou Jiayu’s face was full of sorrow as he said, “Sir helped me calculate. He said that I have an omen of great evil, and that talismans will save my life.”
Shen Yiqiong didn’t say anything, shifting his gaze to Zhou Jiayu’s chest, and said, “It can’t be that big, right…”
Zhou Jiayu: “…” Sometimes, he really wanted to give Shen Yiqiong a few smacks on the head.
But after such an interruption, he didn’t seem to feel as afraid anymore.
As the day of the competition approached, Zhou Jiayu grew increasingly nervous and became addicted to petting the weasel. At first, the weasel was happy to just lay there and be petted, but after a few days, it began to hide, forcing Zhou Jiayu to search everywhere for it. He said unhappily, “Why won’t it let me pet it anymore?”
Shen Yiqiong’s mouth seemed to always be eating something. Right now, he was gnawing on the chicken feet that Zhou Jiayu had marinated yesterday, saying, “Stop petting it. Can’t you see its head is about to go bald from your petting?”
Zhou Jiayu: “It can’t be that serious, right…”
Shen Yiqiong took out his phone: “I took a photo yesterday. See for yourself.”
Zhou Jiayu looked at his photo album and compared before and after photos of the weasel. After a careful inspection, he was stunned: “Fuck, it really is going bald!”
Shen Yiqiong nodded.
Zhou Jiayu said dejectedly, “I let it down.” Without the ability to pet the weasel, he was just a salted fish that had lost its dreams.
He returned to his room, depressed. Once the weasel saw him leave, it rushed out of a corner of the living room.
Shen Yiqiong spat out a bone and said irresponsibly, “Look, look at how low your ice cream’s mood is. He’s about to compete, and it’s not even certain if he’ll come back alive. Yet you can’t even bear to part with the fur on your head.”
The weasel used its beady black eyes to cast an extremely bitter gaze at Shen Yiqiong. It seemed to be saying, if you were fucking going bald at a young age, wouldn’t you be nervous too?
However, Shen Yiqiong’s words still had some impact. The next day, Zhou Jiayu pet the weasel again, but he limited the time to strictly thirty minutes, not a minute more.
The final was scheduled just after the beginning of autumn, when the weather cooled and the season of harvest began.
As for why they chose this date for the final, although the competition organization never officially admitted it, all the contestants held a unanimous belief: they were afraid the contestants would lose their way during the competition and starve to death. At least during this season, things like wild fruits had just ripened, and one could just manage to hold on.
Zhou Jiayu brought with him all the talismans he had drawn, and bid a tearful farewell to Shen Musi and the weasel.
After that, he hurried off with Lin Zhushui and Shen Yiqiong to the airport.
The general location of the competition had already been determined— a small town in the north. After Zhou Jiayu looked into it, he found that the town was located on the border, surrounded by primitive forests. Many people often went missing.
Zhou Jiayu said anxiously on the plane, “Sir, where exactly will the competition be?”
Lin Zhushui said lightly: “I don’t know.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Will it be very dangerous?”
Next to him, Shen Yiqiong said, “Great evil! Great evil!”
Zhou Jiayu: “…You shut up.”
Lin Zhushui said in a warm voice, “Actually, losing the competition might be more dangerous than the actual competition itself.”
Zhou Jiayu decided not to ask anything anymore and quietly huddled in his seat, pretending to be a salted fish drifting in the wind.
After a few hours on the plane, they arrived at their destination, got in the car of the person sent to receive them, and headed straight to the hotel.
The person who received them was as enthusiastic as ever, introducing the sights of the city and telling them that the mutton here was particularly delicious, and that they had to try it if they had the opportunity.
Lin Zhushui had never been one for conversation, and Zhou Jiayu wasn’t in the mood for chatting, so the only person left was Shen Yiqiong, the chatterbox. He went back and forth enthusiastically, and by the time they arrived at the hotel, he and the person sent to receive them had already begun to refer to each other as brothers.
In the end, Shen Yiqiong was even a little reluctant to part, and made an agreement to eat mutton with the man.
Zhou Jiayu dragged his luggage to his hotel room. The competition was scheduled a week later. It was unknown why they had to gather so far in advance.
In the evening, Zhou Jiayu stumbled upon Xu Ruwang, whom he hadn’t seen for a long time. He was already anxious enough, but when he saw Xu Ruwang, he was completely stunned. He said, “Xu Ruwang, where’s your hair?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
We Eekjcu rjlv, “Xbcf, la’r jii ubcf.”
Itbe Aljse: “…” We Eekjcu’r yijmx tjlg tjv mbwqifafis vlrjqqfjgfv, ifjnlcu tlr tfjv mbwqifafis yjiv, ibbxlcu ilxf j wbcx ktb tjv pera frmjqfv ogbw j afwqif.
Itbe Aljse rjlv, “Tbe tjnf rfjrbcji tjlg ibrr?”
We Eekjcu: “…” Llr fzqgfrrlbc aklrafv obg j rqila rfmbcv yfobgf tf rjlv jcuglis, “Ojbhl rtjnfv la wsrfio!” Qtb atf tfii tjr rfjrbcji tjlg ibrr atja rtfvr rb mifjcis!
Zhou Jiayu said, “….So, why?”
Xu Ruwang lied blatantly: “It was too hot. I craved coolness.”
Zhou Jiay didn’t believe him at all. With a pitying expression on his face, he said, “I understand.”
Xu Ruwang: “…” What the hell do you understand?
Shen Yiqiong’s reaction was even more dramatic. He pointed at Xu Ruwang’s head and laughed loudly, even attempting to give it a feel. His hands were angrily slapped away by Xu Ruwang.
“If you fucking dare to touch my head up there, I’ll fucking touch your head down there!” Xu Ruwang declared.
Shen Yiqiong muttered that Xu Ruwang was being stingy.
Then Xu Ruwang looked at Zhou Jiayu and said that although Shen Yiqiong couldn’t touch him, if Zhou Jiayu wanted to, he was willing to make an exception…
Zhou Jiayu mercilessly refused, saying that he was not at all interested in smooth things. Furriness was what humanity sought to attain.
Shen Yiqiong said, “Although that sentence is fine at first, upon further consideration, it sounds like you’re making a dirty joke.”
Zhou Jiayu: “…” Shen Yiqiong, I beg you to please shut up.
The remaining contestants gradually arrived one by one. Zhou Jiayu had originally thought he was the most nervous among them, but it was obvious he had overestimated the psychological strengths of the others.
The entire restaurant was filled with an inexplicably strange atmosphere. The contestants sat in their seats, staring blankly at their plates. Outsiders wouldn’t think they were going to participate in a competition, but to serve some sort of sentence.
Of course, not everyone was like that. Apart from the three of them, there were also two boys who had made it to the finals. One of them looked about the same age as Shen Yiqiong, though his skin was definitely paler than Shen Yiqiong’s chocolate tone; he was a tender and watery-looking boy. He was on the phone, looking quite emotional.
Zhou Jiayu thought the boy was feeling the thrill of the upcoming competition, until he heard his words.
“Fuck, there’s not even internet here. Laozi wants to go back, Laozi wants to go back—”
Zhou Jiayu: “…” Forget it, he was better off eating alone.
The next morning, the behavior of the contestants made the competition’s atmosphere even more stagnant.
Because they were handed a disclaimer agreement that clearly stated the possible accidents that could occur during the competition, Zhou Jiayu skimmed through it and found that it basically listed every conceivable way one could die.
Xu Ruwang didn’t even glance at it. He swiftly signed his name with a swipe of his pen.
Zhou Jiayu said, “You’re not even going to take a look?”
Xu Ruwang touched his hard-boiled-egg head and said, “If I’m going anyway, I might as well stay ignorant.”
Zhou Jiayu felt he had a point and signed his name, too.
Previously, they had only arrived a day before the competition, but this time they arrived a week earlier. As expected, the circumstances were special. The competition organization directly invited professional wilderness survival coaches to instruct them about how to deal with sudden situations, as well as various dangers that could be encountered out in the wilderness. For example, being bitten by a snake, stung by a poisonous insect, chased by bees, or even what to do when encountering a bear.
Zhou Jiayu was already a little confused about whether he was participating in a feng shui competition or a wilderness survival competition.
Like this, a week of training passed. After the course ended, Zhou Jiayu asked the instructor, “Instructor, will this training really be useful?”
The instructor was packing up his things and preparing to leave. When he heard this, he turned around and said kindly, “Of course it will be. After such training, if you encounter any wild beasts during the competition, you can…”
Zhou Jiayu’s face was about to reveal a smile, until he heard the instructor finish his sentence: “Die with a little more dignity.”
Zhou Jiayu: “…”
Beside him, Xu Ruwang held back his laughter.
Zhou Jiayu didn’t ask anything anymore, didn’t think about anything anymore, and decided to completely accept his fate.
In the morning, the five contestants got ready and boarded buses prepared by the competition organizers to make their way to the competition grounds.
As the bus advanced, the surrounding scenery became increasingly desolate. After two hours, there were almost no signs of civilization, with dense trees and vines lining the road.
The staff member on the bus was a young woman, who was even more excited than the contestants. Shyly, she took out a slip of paper and begged Xu Ruwang for his autograph.
Xu Ruwang said, “You like me?”
The young woman said, “Yes, yes, I really like you, I like you even if you’re bald!”
Xu Ruwang: “…” Could you please not mention that?
Zhou Jiayu was feeling drowsy beside Xu Ruwang. He thought he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep, but ended up dozing off. When they arrived at their destination, Xu Ruwang woke him up.
Zhou Jiayu said, “We’ve arrived?”
Xu Ruwang said, “Quickly get up, everyone’s already left.”
Zhou Jiayu nodded and followed Xu Ruwang off the bus.
As soon as he stepped out, he was startled to see a small wooden house not far from the bus. This house should’ve been built long ago, and its outer walls were full of the traces of time.
Apart from this house, there were hardly any traces of human activity around them. Everything was lush with vegetation, shrouded in a dense canopy of trees.
The contestants filed out of the bus, observing their surroundings.
Xu Ruwang said, “Sometimes, I really admire the competition organization for being able to find such remote places.”
Zhou Jiayu nodded his head in heartfelt emotion.
Under the ushering of the staff members, everyone entered the small wooden house in front of them, only to see that the judges were already waiting inside.
On the floor of the wooden house were five backpacks with the names of the contestants written on them.
The staff members began distributing information about this competition to the contestants. Zhou Jiayu took his information book and briefly flipped through it, finding that the finals were, indeed, really too exciting.
According to the description in the information, there was a small village deep in this jungle, where the people in the village were isolated from the rest of the world. The men plowed and the women wove, believing their village to be a utopia. The village had a rather strange custom, which was that after someone died, they had to be buried on the highest hillside in the village before the sun rose the next day.
If that was all, it would only seem a little strange, but recently, some scary things had been happening in the village. The villagers discovered that the bodies they’d buried had actually gone missing. At first, the villagers thought that it was a deliberate act of malice, and sent a few strong young men to guard the graves. But within a few days, the young men guarding the graves died one after another. The graves were dug up again, and another body went missing.
After this happened, the entire village was in a state of panic. As a last resort, the village chief had to ask for help from the outside world to try to resolve the matter.
There were also some photos of the graves and the village in the information. No matter how Zhou Jiayu looked at it, he felt that it was simply a shooting location for a horror movie.
After reading everything, no one’s expression looked too good. In order to lighten the mood, a staff member asked with a smile on his face, “What’s everyone thinking?”
Zhou Jiayu said: “…thinking about the necessity of mandatory cremation?”
Xu Ruwang said, “Cremation is useless, what if their ashes are stolen away too? It’s better to just be eaten by vultures.”
All the contestants agreed.
The staff member’s expression grew even more awkward, and he probably regretted his earlier question. He said, “This time, everyone’s goal is very simple: to find the location of that village in this jungle, and to help them find the missing body.”
Zhou Jiayu felt the staff member’s words were equivalent to: this time, everyone’s academic goal is very simple. Getting into Qinghua is just about good enough.
The staff member said, “In order to avoid accidents, we’ll distribute communicators to everyone. Of course, sometimes they don’t work.” He smiled and added, “If you can’t persist, you can give up. After all, safety comes first and the competition comes second.”
Then the staff members started handing out backpacks and installing cameras on the chests of the contestants.
Zhou Jiau looked down at his camera and said, “What’s the point of this?”
The person who installed the camera for him was a shy little brother. He smiled awkwardly and said, “In case the contestant dies under unclear circumstances…”
Zhou Jiayu: “…” He hated his curiosity.
As the cameras were being installed, the staff members were still announcing the competition rules. Your camera couldn’t leave your body and you could choose to form a team, but there would only be one champion. The meaning behind this was that you could grab someone’s thigh to survive, but just surviving wouldn’t be much use. If you couldn’t get first place, you might as well have not participated.
As Zhou Jiayu bent over to examine the contents of his backpack, Xu Ruwang approached and said, “Little urn, why don’t we search together? We can split up when we find the village.”
Zhou Jiayu thought that he had a point. After all, the ultimate goal was to find the missing body. If they couldn’t even find the village, then everything they did would be futile. Thus, he agreed to Xu Ruwang’s proposal.
Xu Ruwang glanced outside and said, “Then let’s just leave now, even though the competition only officially starts tomorrow.”
Zhou Jiayu put on his backpack and said, “Okay.” The competition would last fifteen days. If no one found the answer within fifteen days, this year’s competition would be annulled, and according to the official statement, “No contestant will be worthy of our prize.” Zhou Jiayu thought to himself it was a miracle that the person in charge hadn’t been beaten by a sack so far.
After this brief discussion, the two of them walked out.
Before Zhou Jiayu left, he noticed that Tan Yingxue seemed to be in a good mood, humming a song as she organized her things.
Zhou Jiayu curiously asked Xu Ruwang, saying that if Tan Yingxue had no intention of teaming up with others, wouldn’t she be scared to be alone?
Xu Ruwang sighed: “What would she be scared of? For those who practice Gu, their favorite pastime is finding things.” People weren’t as agile as insects. If they were unlucky, Tang Yingxue might even find the body before they found the village.
So it was like this, Zhou Jiayu realized.
The two of them carried their backpacks and entered the jungle.
Though it was autumn now, the weather was still a little hot. Fortunately, the trees were lush and blocked all direct sunlight. The dots of light filtering through the leaves left mottled marks on the ground, like shattered stars. At first glance, it looked somewhat romantic.
As soon as Xu Ruwang entered the jungle, he pressed the three fingers of his right hand together and began to use the Nine Stars Flying Palaces technique taught by Lin Zhushui to Zhou Jiayu. Since Zhou Jiayu was by his side, he couldn’t use a hexagram compass.
Zhou Jiayu consulted an electronic map to determine their current range.
Xu Ruwang said, “Since it’s a village, there will definitely be people. People make crowds, and crowds belong to fire. Since the surroundings all belong to wood, the village should be easy to find.”
Zhou Jiayu gazed at Xu Ruwang in admiration.
Xu Ruwang said, “What about you, what discoveries have you made?”
Zhou Jiayu shook his head. He had made no discoveries at all. Finding people seemed to be his weakness.
It was difficult to walk in the jungle, with no shortcuts and weeds half a meter tall everywhere. Zhou Jiayu was responsible for clearing the way, while Xu Ruwang was responsible for determining the direction. The two of them cooperated quite well.
The first day passed like this. As dusk approached, the two set up camp rather than push further.
Finding a place that was fairly flat, Zhou Jiayu lit a fire and ate some canned food from his backpack. The jungle darkened quickly, and before eight o’clock, it was nearly pitch-black.
Xu Ruwang said, “You keep watch for the first half of the night, and I’ll take the second half.”
Zhou Jiayu nodded in agreement.
Xu Ruwang said, “Jiayu, have you heard any ghost stories about camping…”
Zhou Jiayu raised his head to glance at Xu Ruwang, saying, “I haven’t.”
Xu Ruwang said, “Then do you want to hear some?” His tone was solemn.
Zhou Jiayu said, “I… hey, wait, what’s behind you?”
Xu Ruwang said, “Hahaha, don’t try to deceive me, I’m not afraid at all.” As he laughed he turned his head, and sure enough, he didn’t see anything. He said, “See?”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Can’t, can’t you see that?” Through the layers of trees, he caught a glimpse of a pillar of black smoke that stood out in the deep blue night sky, like a beacon of light, only its color was a murky black.
Xu Ruwang saw that Zhou Jiayu’s expression didn’t seem like he was lying. Following his gaze, he said, “…I can’t.” After carefully concentrating for a second, his brow furrowed. “But I can sense something.” Although he felt very uncomfortable, in his vision, there was nothing resembling what Zhou Jiayu had seen in the night sky.
Zhou Jiayu looked at the thick black smoke, then at his compass and electronic map, saying, “The smoke seems to be coming from the southwest.”
Xu Ruwang said, “Could it be…”
Zhou Jiayu: “It probably has something to do with the village.”
Xu Ruwang fell into deep thought.
But discussing it wouldn’t yield results. It would be better for them to hurry tomorrow and try to make their way over earlier.
Because Zhou Jiayu was keeping watch for the first half of the night, Xu Ruwang went to sleep in the tent.
The firewood crackled softly, and the deserted sound of insects chirping filled the air. Zhou Jiayu felt a little sleepy, but reached out to pinch his legs to force himself awake.
Time crawled by, and soon it was midnight. After twelve o’clock, the nocturnal animals became livelier instead. Zhou Jiayu applied insect repellent, but was still bitten a few times. The black smoke he had seen earlier hung silently in the night sky. Zhou Jiayu had been gazing into the fire when he glanced up at the night sky and was startled by the sight in front of him.
The originally motionless black smoke began to writhe crazily, like lively snakes and insects, drawing strange curves in the night sky.
The faint sound of singing rang in Zhou Jiayu’s ear, a melody reminiscent of a mountain song in a language that Zhou Jiayu couldn’t understand. It was unusually penetrating. He stood up immediately, scanning his pitch-black surroundings with a flashlight in hand, but didn’t see anything.
Zhou Jiayu forced himself to calm down and said to Jiba, “Jiba, can you determine where the singing is coming from?”
Jiba said, “Of course I can, it’s coming from the direction of the black smoke.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Is it from a human or…”
Jiba said, “En, that I don’t know. Why don’t you ask Xu Ruwang?”
Zhou Jiayu hesitated for a moment. He went over to the tent to check on the still-sleeping Xu Ruwang, but in the end, chose not to wake him up. Tomorrow they had to hurry on their way, and a poor night’s sleep could seriously affect their physical strength. Besides, he hadn’t seen anything strange. Hearing a song was just hearing a song. He could just pretend like he had just turned on the radio.
Zhou Jiayu comforted himself and sat down by the fire. Fortunately, the song did not last for too long, and the surrounding area quickly regained its stillness. When Xu Ruwang came to exchange places with Zhou Jiayu, the black smoke in the sky no longer moved, and it returned to its previously calm appearance.
“Did you hear anything while you were sleeping?” Zhou Jiayu asked Xu Ruwang.
Xu Ruwang shook his head and said, “I didn’t.” He had slept quite well.
“Aright…” Zhou Jiayu didn’t say what he had encountered.
Xu Ruwang asked, “Did you hear something?”
Zhou Jiayu said, “I didn’t.” He didn’t tell Xu Ruwang what he heard. It would only add to the tense atmosphere.
Xu Ruwang began to say something, but in the end was quick-witted enough not to pursue the matter.
After everything, Zhou Jiayu was tired. As he lay in his sleeping bag, he quickly fell into a deep sleep. Perhaps he was influenced by the song, but he seemed to dream of many strange and fragmented scenes, which felt terrifying at the time, but after awakening, he didn’t remember much.
On the second day, at 6 in the morning, they continued their journey in the direction where Zhou Jiayu had seen the black smoke the day before.
Fortunately, the competition organizers didn’t intend to completely force the contestants to their deaths. They arranged some guiding objects along the sides of the road. Of course, whether the contestants were lucky enough to spot them was not their concern.
Zhou Jiayu was indeed fortunate enough to find a small sign next to a large tree. The sign said ten kilometers, which was probably the distance from the village.
If they were anywhere else right now, they could grit their teeth and finish those ten kilometers. However, in this jungle full of poisonous insects and wildlife, it wasn’t so easy. But at least this proved they were going in the right direction.
The two of them conserved their energy to rush towards the village and didn’t speak much along the way.
Xu Ruwang held a cigarette in his mouth and muttered, “We’ll probably arrive the day after tomorrow.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “We shouldn’t encounter any problems.”
“That’s great, that’s great,” Xu Ruwang said. “Otherwise, losing the competition on this road would be quite shameful.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “You’re right.”
After walking for a day, the two of them came across a small stream in the evening and decided to camp by the stream.
Xu Ruwang was collecting firewood when he suddenly discovered something and said, “Zhou Jiayu, why does this thing look so familiar?”
Zhou Jiayu said, “What?”
Xu Jinrong walked over and handed over what he had accidentally discovered to Zhou Jiayu. Zhou Jiayu picked it up and realized that it was actually a jade bead. The appearance of the jade bead seemed a little familiar to him. After thinking about it, Zhou Jiayu was stunned: “It’s Tang Yingxue’s?”
Xu Ruwang said, “En.”
They both remembered that during the semi-finals, Tan Yingxue wore a string of beads in her hand. Those beads were far from ordinary, and Zhou Jiayu remembered seeing a sliver of auspicious qi on them at the time. However, at this moment, the bead in Xu Ruwang’s hand was completely devoid of auspicious qi, and the string had somehow broken, leaving them with a single jade bead.
“She passed through here?” Zhou Jiayu said, “Her speed’s so fast.”
Xu Ruwang said, “She definitely used some technique…” His expression didn’t look too good. “Hopefully, nothing happened to her.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “En.”
Tan Yingxue had walked through here and broken her valuable bracelet. It was clear she had encountered some sort of accident. The two of them weren’t in the mood to talk, so after arranging who would keep watch, they retired for the night.
This time, Zhou Jiayu was keeping watch for the second half of the night. When Xu Ruwang woke him up, he noticed Xu Ruwang’s expression was extremely ugly.
“What is it? What happened?” Zhou Jiayu asked him.
“Nothing,” Xu Ruwang said. “I saw something dirty.”
Zhou Jiayu remembered the eerie song he heard last night and thought to himself that this creature would go to bed early and wake up early, specifically to scare those who stayed up late at night.
Zhou Jiayu said, “What thing?”
Xu Jinwei refused to elaborate and said, “Don’t ask. If I say it, you’ll be afraid. Just pay attention to your safety, in case I saw wrong.”
Zhou Jiayu didn’t ask after hearing this. After all, knowing what it was would only make him even more afraid in his heart.
He got up and told Xu Ruwang to get some rest.
Truthfully, Zhou Jiayu didn’t think the situation was so bad. At least when he was afraid, he could chat with Jiba. Though, when they really encountered situations, this bird was even more terrified than him…
Fortunately, nothing strange happened during the second half of the night, and that smoke dissipated when the sun rose. Zhou Jiayu and Xu Ruwang both had traces of fatigue on their faces. After breakfast, they continued their journey.
This time, their luck wasn’t as good as before and they didn’t find any road signs prepared by the competition organizers. However, according to Xu Ruwang’s calculations, they would only need to stay in the wilderness for one more night before reaching their destination.
“Do you think the others have arrived yet?” Xu Ruwang asked curiously as they hurried on.
“Probably not,” Zhou Jiayu said. “We’re going quite quickly and haven’t taken many detours.”
“That’s true,” Xu Ruwang said. “Ah, other feng shui masters are all soft and weak, and rely on sedan chairs to get around. But why is our generation so strong and healthy? If we were in a wilderness survival competition, we could probably make it to the second or third round.”
Zhou Jiayu said, “Yes, the times are changing…”
The two of them sighed deeply, lamenting that they weren’t born in the best of times. After all, if they were feng shui masters in ancient times, their skills would probably be good enough to secure a position in court or something.
For their last night of camping, Xu Ruwang and Zhou Jiayu decided to stay up the entire night without sleep. After all, they were about to arrive at their destination, and the black smoke that Zhou Jiayu saw was very close by. If they weren’t afraid of potential accidents at night, they might have been able to reach the village by continuing through the darkness.
“Let’s not sleep. We can sleep when we reach the village,” Xu Ruwang suggested.
Zhou Jiayu agreed. He and Xu Ruwang both had the same thought. If only one person saw those things, they would be afraid, but if there were two people strengthening each other’s courage, they would feel better.
However, it was evident that under some circumstances, having more people wouldn’t help much at all.
After twelve o’clock, Zhou Jiayu clearly felt a significant change in the atmosphere around them. The black smoke not far from them began to writhe again as if it were alive, and their surroundings became terrifyingly quiet. Even the chirping of insects had disappeared.
Xu Ruwang sat opposite Zhou Jiayu, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. He had been smoking very diligently these past few days. Of course, his cigarette butts had been properly handled and buried in the soil. After all, in this era, burning down a mountain would result in a long prison sentence.
Zhou Jiayu had no appetite at all. In the evening, he had only eaten half a can of food, but he now felt a little hungry. He lowered his head and took out a piece of chocolate in his backpack to replenish his energy. However, when he looked up again, his entire body froze.
Xu Ruwang, seeing his expression, didn’t dare turn around. Trembling, he asked, “What do you see?”
Zhou Jiayu said hoarsely, “If you turn your head, you can see for yourself.”
Xu Ruwang said, “Fuck, I’m also scared.”
In the end, he gritted his teeth, trembling, and cautiously turned around to see what Zhou Jiayu had seen. A “fuck” flew out of his mouth.
On the opposite hill, a stream of white shadows slowly moved towards the hillside. The moonlight was so bright that they could even count the number of white shadows.
The song he heard before echoed in Zhou Jiayu’s ears again, much clearer this time. Even the accompanying suona could be heard clearly.
Xu Ruwang’s expression changed. He had evidently heard it too, and said, “Isn’t this funeral music?”
Zhou Jiayu: “…what should we do?”
Xu Ruwang twisted his body stiffly and looked into the fire, sighing, “Forget it. Don’t bother with them, let’s just ignore them.”
Zhou Jiayu: “…” It was the first time he had seen Xu Ruwang so considerate, even though it didn’t seem directed towards a human being.
The author has something to say:
Lin Zhushui: I heard you’re used to smooth things?
Zhou Jiayu: Wuwuwu Sir, please take the razor away, wu… I was wrong…
This work is definitely HE, I don’t have BEs for any of my long works. Everyone, please don’t keep shouting that it will be abusive, that gives me the illusion of “your mouth says no but your body says yes,” and then I can’t control myself… _(:з」∠)_
It’s insane how difficult final competition
Thank you for your translation ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Thank you so much for your beautiful translation!!! I hope lack of comments doesn’t deter you bc I’m certain many ppl actually read this book but don’t comment.
Will you perhaps open donations someday?
Thank you very much for your lovely comment! ^^
Ko-fi has an age restriction for creator accounts (which I don’t pass 😭) but I do plan to make an account and open donations… eventually… someday…
You definitely should! I would love to donate a bit (as much as a broke person can hahaha). I’m pretty sure others would like to donate too, since you’re doing amazing job at translating!
Well, if you’re that good at surviving in the wilderness, in case you don’t win the competition just stay in the woods …
Things just got way creepier.. Last time it was to appease a sealed dragon. Now i have a feeling something’s worse is going on with all those missing bodies 😰