Chapter 186: The Returnee Is Not Human
Night had fallen deeply.
The mist in the mountain forest had also become increasingly thick.
Desolate wilderness—this description of this mountain forest was even more fitting.
After nightfall, everything around seemed to have been muted.
Bird calls and insect chirps simply did not exist.
What they could hear was only each other’s breathing and the sound of not fully dry firewood burning.
The injured girl had already fallen into a deep sleep.
The boy taking care of the girl rested her head on his shoulder.
And fell into a deep sleep as well.
The rough man did not approach the fire pile. He sat alone against a tree under the low droop of his head, his face unclear, and it was unknown whether he was asleep or not.
After Xiao Liu finished cleaning the dishes, he lit a cigarette.
And asked Old Li if he wanted one.
Old Li just shook his head without speaking.
Sister Liu, the leader among the five, was still able to hold out at first.
But as the night grew deeper.
They all gradually fell asleep.
But throughout, Old Li showed no sign of drowsiness.
Instead, his heart was icy cold.
He only felt that tonight’s darkness was so long.
Time passed just like this.
The moment the mist began to dissipate.
Old Li stood up and walked towards Sister Liu.
The sound of footsteps made Sister Liu instantly open her eyes.
She looked at Old Li vigilantly.
Seeing that she was awake, Old Li did not approach further.
“The mist is dissipating. We can go.”
Old Li pointed around and said.
Hearing this, Sister Liu came back to her senses and quickly looked around.
Then she realized that it was already bright.
Sunlight was even refracting down through the mist.
“Good.”
Sister Liu fully came back to her senses.
After wiping her face, she hurriedly went to wake the others.
One by one, they were all woken up.
Old Li stared at that rough man.
Noticing that the rough man seemed to sense something, he calmly withdrew his line of sight.
Everyone packed up their things. Old Li filled in the fire pile to prevent a mountain fire after the sun came out and with no mist.
After doing all this, the mist had become extremely thin.
The roads were clearly visible.
After Old Li identified the route, he quickly led the group towards outside the mountain.
However, this pace seemed a bit fast.
The group clearly felt that Old Li was eager to leave the big mountain.
Sister Liu thought it was probably because of the injured person.
The injured girl was being carried on the back of the rough man.
At this moment, she felt something was very wrong.
Why was it so cold?
Cold like a corpse.
This body temperature could not possibly belong to a living person.
The girl did not dare make a fuss. At least for now, she could not say anything.
Even though it was piercingly cold, she could only endure it.
Old Li focused on leading the way, completely ignoring whether the people behind could keep up.
Now he had only one thought: hurry and leave the big mountain.
Under Old Li’s firm determination, the group left the big mountain in less than forty minutes.
The moment they left the big mountain and saw daylight again, Old Li felt like he had come back to life.
Then he turned back to look at the panting group—well, that rough man was fine, no issue at all.
Face not red, heart not racing.
Old Li panted for a bit and let out a sigh of relief.
“I’ve done what I could. Your companion getting injured is her own problem. That’s not on me.”
“I took you into the mountain and brought you out. There’s no issue between us anymore.”
“You know the way to the village yourselves. I won’t go with you.”
Old Li said to Sister Liu.
Hearing this, they—who had not even caught their breath—had no mood to talk to him.
But out of politeness, Sister Liu hurriedly took out several hundred yuan from her bag and moved to stuff it into Old Li’s hand.
“Thanks so much this time. Without you, we might still be in the big mountain. A small token of appreciation…”
But before she finished speaking.
Old Li hurriedly interrupted Sister Liu and stepped back several steps.
“I dare not take this money. I’ve taken what I should, and I absolutely won’t take what I shouldn’t.”
As he spoke, Old Li glanced at the several hundred yuan, hesitated for a moment, and then said:
“I won’t take the money, but since you’ve gone this far in being polite, I can’t not respond.”
Saying this, Old Li approached Sister Liu and said in a voice only they two could hear.
“The one who went out last night to find firewood—pay more attention to him. It…”
Sister Liu frowned. “What’s wrong with him?”
Old Li shook his head, said no more, turned, and walked away.
Sister Liu looked at Old Li oddly, then turned back to glance at the rough man.
The man was very calm. Seeing Sister Liu look over, he showed a puzzled expression.
Sister Liu stared at the man for a while, unclear what Old Li meant.
“Sister Liu, what did Old Li say?”
Xiao Liu walked over and asked, somewhat puzzled.
Looking at Old Li’s hurried appearance, it seemed he had something important to do.
“Nothing much. He just said the mushrooms we brought back should be eaten soon, or they’ll spoil.” Sister Liu hesitated for a moment and chose to conceal it.
“That’s it? I thought Old Li wanted more money.”
Xiao Liu smiled, not minding it.
“…”
“Wife, has Old Hong come back?”
The moment Old Li got home, he anxiously asked his wife if Old Hong had come back.
“What’s wrong?”
“Why ask about Old Hong right after coming back?”
Old Li’s wife instantly felt something was off and hurriedly asked.
“Something happened.”
Old Li’s mouth was parched. He hurriedly asked his wife to pour him a glass of water.
After downing the glass of water, he felt much better.
He swallowed.
“Didn’t I take those outsiders into the mountain yesterday?”
“Yeah, I know. What happened?”
Old Li’s wife sat down, looking nervously at Old Li.
“Yeah, something happened. At first they listened to me, no issue. Later a young girl went off in one direction by herself and stepped into a trap.”
“Couldn’t walk. The mist was already rising then. I didn’t dare take them too far, so when the mist came up, I found a place to start a temporary fire.”
Hearing this, Old Li’s wife frowned slightly. “Was there a problem with starting the fire?”
Old Li shook his head. “If the problem was with starting the fire, that’d be easy to handle.”
“The fire was no problem, went smoothly. The problem was that one of them went to find firewood.”
Old Li’s wife’s expression changed slightly. “The one who came back wasn’t human?”
Old Li nodded gravely. “Right, I can confirm it wasn’t human.”
“I knew just from one glance that it wasn’t human.”
“They were cooking, but I didn’t eat any. Stayed far away. If it weren’t nighttime and I was afraid of getting lost in the mountain, I would’ve run then.”
Hearing this, Old Li’s wife said, “You wait. I’ll go check if Old Hong is back. This is serious!”
Old Li nodded. “You know how to explain what we encountered, right?”
“Now go boil water and take a bath. Wash off the aura on you!”
After instructing him, Old Li’s wife hurriedly went out.
Old Li took a deep breath, watching his wife leave.
Then he sat for a bit, just about to get up to boil water, but his gaze glanced at the doorway. Not knowing what he saw, Old Li’s eyes widened, and his whole body stiffened in place.
