"Xiao Yuan, Run Sheng, our seats are right here! And look, they're soft sleepers. Brother Liang is generous!" Xue Liangliang said to Tan Wenbin with a smile.
"It's not like it's the Spring Festival travel rush. Getting soft sleeper tickets isn't that hard," Xue Liangliang chuckled.
The four of them were occupying a room with four upper and lower bunks. After the train departed, Li Zhuiyuan climbed to the upper bunk, with Xue Liangliang opposite him and Run Sheng and Tan Wenbin in the lower bunks. At this moment, Tan Wenbin had already taken out his exercise book and began solving problems on the small table.
"Hey, starting your homework as soon as you get on the train?" Xue Liangliang teased. "Studying so hard, why settle for Haihe? You should aim for those two universities in the capital!"
Tan Wenbin replied earnestly, "My foundation is weak, I've wasted too much time. If I can make it into Haihe, I’d consider myself lucky."
"Want some incense?" Run Sheng offered, handing over a stick.
Xue Liangliang reminded him, "Run Sheng, if you want to smoke, go to the junction between carriages."
"Got it, will do."
Run Sheng tucked the incense into an iron box; it was custom-made by Aunt Liu, wrapped in a layer of paper, short but thick. He stood up, pushed the door open, and walked to the junction of the carriages, where two people were standing and smoking. Run Sheng joined them, taking out a match, twisting off the cap, and blowing it lightly.
The match was also made by Aunt Liu because lighting a short thick incense with a match was quite troublesome. Once the incense was lit, Run Sheng took a puff and blew out a ring of smoke, the rich fragrance began to fill the air, most of it blown away through the gap of the carriage door.
Seeing this, the two people nearby were quite curious.
"Hey, what’s that he’s smoking?" one asked.
"You probably wouldn’t know. It’s a type of cigar that was shown in the movies."
After finishing a stick of incense, Run Sheng headed back. On his way, he noticed an elderly woman dressed in black, seated with a little girl in red beside her.
"Grandma, I'm hungry." The little girl complained.
The elderly woman sighed, wiping a tear from her eyes. Run Sheng reached into his pocket, pulled out some candies, and handed them to the girl.
"Thank you, big brother!" The little girl smiled joyfully.
Back in the soft sleeper compartment, Run Sheng lay down and soon fell asleep. After a while, hunger woke him up. He asked the others, and all of them mentioned they were hungry too. He then took out the food he had brought from home.
There were dry rations, salted cured meat, and a bottle of wine. The wine was provided by Li Sanjiang, who said it would be nice to sip on some while looking out at the scenery from the train. However, none of the four young men chose to drink.
After the meal, Tan Wenbin went back to completing his homework without stopping. Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang were looking out the window, discussing the scenery flashing by. Most of the time, Li Zhuiyuan listened while Xue Liangliang spoke, like they were having a late-night chat in a college dorm.
From rural house structures to living standards in various places, even industry development plans—Xue Liangliang mainly studied water conservancy and architecture, but he was knowledgeable about other fields too, though not to the extent of being an expert. In this era when acquiring information was extremely challenging, knowing so much was indeed a rare skill.
As the sky gradually darkened, the outside scenery faded from view, and they could only learn about their location when the train attendants reported the stations at intervals. Xue Liangliang climbed down from the upper bunk, announcing he would go buy boxed meals.
On the way, he encountered the same elderly woman in black and the little girl in red.
"Grandma, I'm so hungry."
Xue Liangliang walked past them and headed to the dining car, buying ten meat-filled boxed meals. As he walked back with a big bag, he took out one meal and handed it to the little girl.
"Thank you, big brother!" The girl beamed at him.
Xue Liangliang smiled and returned to the soft sleeper compartment, distributing the meals to everyone. He and Xiao Yuan each took one, while Tan Wenbin had three, and Run Sheng had four.
Li Zhuiyuan found the rice and vegetables packed in white plastic boxes surprisingly fragrant, especially the stewed meat with gluten; it was delicious. After finishing three meals, Tan Wenbin loosened his belt, exposing his belly. Feeling stuffed, he decided to take out his exercise book again to digest his food by solving problems.
Despite consuming four meals, Run Sheng still felt unsatisfied; luckily, he still had some dry rations and salty sauce left from home to fill up.
The evening chat resumed. During the day, they discussed realistic topics and future development reports; during the night, they relived history. Li Zhuiyuan was able to participate in this discussion, mostly listening while Xue Liangliang spoke. Only when Xue Liangliang asked, "What's that place called again? The one that was attacked?" would Li Zhuiyuan provide an accurate answer. Xue Liangliang found great enjoyment in receiving these prompts from Li Zhuiyuan.
It wasn’t until late at night that they all fell asleep.
The next morning, Run Sheng went to get water for everyone to wash up. Tan Wenbin was the first finished, just as the train stopped. He hopped off to buy breakfast.
On his way, he saw the same elderly woman with her granddaughter; the little girl cried out that she was hungry, and the old woman sorrowfully wiped away her tears.
Upon returning, Tan Wenbin handed them a few buns and a bag of soy milk. The soy milk was packed in a bag, and once he got back, Tan Wenbin tore it open and poured some into cups for everyone.
After breakfast, Xue Liangliang took out some design blueprints from his backpack. Seeing this, Li Zhuiyuan left his bunk to join Xue Liangliang in the other one, and they sat side by side looking at the plans.
Xue Liangliang was surprised to find that Xiao Yuan could understand the notes and data on the blueprints. He took the opportunity to explain some professional matters to the boy.
Approaching lunchtime, a train attendant began loudly announcing roasted sweet potatoes for sale on the train. Li Zhuiyuan headed to the aisle to buy a bag. It wasn’t the attendant selling them; she was merely calling out for the vendor at the platform who came to collect money and provide the goods.
As he walked back with the bag, Li Zhuiyuan noticed an elderly woman sitting there, looking dazed. At her feet was something wrapped in cloth, resembling a jar—possibly an urn for ashes. He didn’t stop and returned to the soft sleeper compartment.
While munching on the roasted sweet potatoes, Run Sheng expressed his pain, "How can they sell them so expensively?"
While eating, Run Sheng even licked the inside of the sweet potato skin, afraid of wasting the smallest bit.
Around one in the afternoon, the train pulled into a county town called Mi Shui. Then the announcements began, stating there was a road collapse ahead, and the train could not proceed for now.
Everyone could either wait on the train or get off and request a refund for the journey. After confirming with the train attendant about the exact location of the collapsed road, Xue Liangliang guessed it might take a day or two to restore service, so he led everyone to disembark.
Once they left the train station, they found a small restaurant to eat since the sweet potatoes they had for lunch digested too quickly, and now everyone was hungry again.
On the outside wall of the little restaurant, there was a slogan that read: "Kill the road bandits! No guilt, rewards offered!"
While eating, a person at a nearby table overheard Run Sheng's accent and approached to chat in Nantong dialect, to everyone’s surprise, they had met a fellow townsman.
The man, surnamed Zhu, introduced himself as Zhu Yang, a truck driver. Upon learning that the four of them had just come out of the train station and were heading to Shancheng, he eagerly invited them to join him in his truck to head there together.
Since he spoke in a familiar accent and drove a truck loaded with steel cables, it felt direct and casual—he didn't need to charge them for the ride, saying it was just for company and safety on the road.
After the meal, Xue Liangliang helped pay for Zhu Yang’s meal and bought some drinks and two packs of cigarettes for him. Shortly after, everyone boarded the truck.
The truck’s front end was modified, with a horizontal plank at the back where the driver could lie down to rest. Although it was still cramped, they all managed to sit in.
Tan Wenbin couldn't do his homework now but took out his English vocab notebook to start memorizing words. Run Sheng envied the truck driver's lifestyle and sighed, "It's great! You can earn money while wandering around."
Zhu Yang smiled wryly and replied, "Even if I wander, I’m stuck in this truck's cab. If it weren't for my wife and kids back home, I wouldn't want to spend half my life in this thing."
Li Zhuiyuan noticed several thick novels packed beneath Zhu Yang's seat, clearly pirated copies, suggesting he would normally pass time reading these. Additionally, he spotted two steel pipes and a knife under the seat. In those days, these items were considered standard equipment for long-haul truck drivers.
As dusk fell, the truck wound through the mountain roads. Suddenly, Zhu Yang sensed something was wrong and stopped the truck, cursing, "Damn it, a nail punctured a tire!"
Tan Wenbin asked curiously, "Was it a nail that fell from another vehicle?"
Zhu Yang scoffed, lighting a cigarette, and pointed ahead, "Let’s head up a bit, there should be a repair shop nearby."
Tan Wenbin, quick-witted, didn't say "what great luck," but immediately retorted, "That's shameless!"
Zhu Yang sighed, "This is already more like a literary brawl."
He then looked at Run Sheng and said, "Come with me to impose a little to dial down the price."
Run Sheng agreed, "Sure!"
As Zhu Yang led Run Sheng forward to search for the repair shop, Tan Wenbin remained in the truck, memorizing vocabulary, while Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang moved to the roadside.
Below was a slope, and at the bottom ran a river, with fallen leaves making for a clear view. Li Zhuiyuan couldn't help but remark, "This place has good feng shui."
In ancient times, a place like this would be ideal for building a village or town. However, with modern transportation so developed, it now seemed somewhat isolated.
Xue Liangliang, ever the architect, nodded, "Indeed, a great place for a small hydropower station."
As expected, not far ahead, they located a repair shop. Soon Zhu Yang and Run Sheng returned with a middle-aged man and a young apprentice.
At first, Li Zhuiyuan thought Zhu Yang was putting on a show because he was so friendly with the mechanic. Gradually, he realized it was genuine; the mechanic’s price was reasonable and quite approachable.
Given that price, even if the mechanic had indeed laid down the nails, Zhu Yang would’ve likely praised him, "Good job!"
After the repairs, Zhu Yang wanted to gift the mechanic some cigarettes, but the mechanic politely refused, only taking the agreed payment. However, the mechanic added, "It's getting dark; there are fewer cars on the road, so don’t drive too far tonight; it’s unsafe ahead."
Curious, Zhu Yang asked, "What do you mean by that?"
The mechanic shook his head, "I can't say."
Zhu Yang gathered his courage, "There are many of us; we’ll be fine."
"They have guns," the mechanic replied coolly.
Zhu Yang fell silent.
The mechanic pointed down the way, "Did you see that small road when you arrived? Turn in there; there's a village where you can spend the night. Tomorrow, when it's light and the traffic returns, you can proceed."
Zhu Yang asked, "Is that where you live?"
"Not my village; I live further ahead."
"This..."
"Believe it or not."
After the mechanic left with his apprentice, Zhu Yang boarded the truck. He rummaged beneath his seat for his "weapons" but hesitated and finally withdrew his head from the window, addressing the group, "For safety’s sake, let’s turn back a bit and wait until dawn."
As they turned back, Tan Wenbin noted, "I’ve heard stories like this from my dad, but I never thought it would be so exaggerated."
Zhu Yang scouted the small road while replying, "It’s not that exaggerated; it just happened to us. I was doing my own job this time and missed traveling with a convoy."
Run Sheng looked quite excited and exclaimed, "This is the great world out there!"
The small road was found, and not long after turning onto it, they came upon a small village, a place with just dozens of households, many with lights still on.
Zhu Yang apologized, "Everyone bear with it; we'll rest a bit, and in the morning, it won’t take long to get to our destination."
He had no intention of going into the village or finding an inn but merely wanted a populated area to park and rest. Stopping somewhere remote would be genuinely dangerous.
Zhu Yang had dry rations, and so did Run Sheng, so they snacked a bit and prepared to rest. Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang slept in the front, while Run Sheng, Tan Wenbin, and Zhu Yang shared the back with the steel cables, covering themselves with clothes and plastic sheets.
Originally, Tan Wenbin could have slept in the front cab, but insisting he was the son of a policeman, he wanted to stay outside on watch.
Li Zhuiyuan fell into a light sleep and woke up quickly, intending to take a leak. He opened the door and stepped out, feeling the chill of the mountains in the late-night hours, instinctively rubbing his arms.
Having had a few experiences of something unusual happening when he went out to pee at night, Li Zhuiyuan became cautious, going over to find Run Sheng immediately.
Run Sheng was wide awake, holding a steel pipe. Seeing Li Zhuiyuan, he jumped down to accompany him.
They didn't venture far, just a few steps away. Run Sheng unfastened his pants while Li Zhuiyuan didn’t need to; he had elastic trousers. After finishing, Run Sheng pulled out a bottle of water to help Li Zhuiyuan wash his hands.
"Ah, this is spring water from a stream."
"Are you tired, Run Sheng?"
"Not tired; it’s fine. I’ll just sleep on the truck during the day."
"I'll keep you company then."
They climbed back into the cabin and returned to the corner where Run Sheng had been sitting earlier.
Tan Wenbin’s snoring was loud, echoing like a solo performance in the quiet night. He had been exerting himself, maintaining the intensity of studying as a high school senior while also enduring travel—it was no wonder he was so exhausted.
"Wait..." Li Zhuiyuan’s ears perked up. He hadn’t heard Zhu Yang making any noise. Even if someone wasn’t snoring, there should at least be some breathing noise, right?
He got up and walked to where Zhu Yang had been sleeping, lifting a plastic sheet, only to find an empty coat instead—no one was there.
"What?" Run Sheng was puzzled. "He didn't go to the bathroom, did he?"
"Run Sheng, did you talk to him last night?"
"No, I thought he was sleeping right there under the blanket with the plastic cover."
"When did you start your watch officially?"
"After Benben fell asleep, no one was talking to me, so I was just watching the surroundings. Could he have slipped out while we were peeing?"
"He might've gotten off a long time ago."
"Could he have gone into the village? Thinking sleeping inside the truck was too uncomfortable?"
"Then why didn’t he invite us?"
"Maybe he didn’t want to trouble us with accommodation costs?" Run Sheng pondered but then shook his head. "He wouldn’t go that far."
Even though Zhu Yang hadn’t known them for long, he was a decent person. Just the other day, he had offered the cab to Li Zhuiyuan and Xue Liangliang to sleep in while he stayed in the back.
The group waited anxiously for a considerable time, yet Zhu Yang still hadn’t returned.
Li Zhuiyuan decided to wake Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang, gathering everyone in the cabin to discuss the situation.
Their actions felt somewhat paranoid, but thankfully, they had all experienced peculiar situations before, and no one thought it was an overreaction.
"Should we go look for him?" Xue Liangliang suggested.
"No," Li Zhuiyuan answered firmly, "Before Zhu Yang gets back, let’s pair up and take turns watching while the others catch some sleep until dawn."
Everyone agreed.
What followed was a slow passage of time, and finally, dawn broke, the sky turning light gray. But deep down, they felt increasingly heavy because Zhu Yang hadn’t returned.
By the time the sun rose at eight in the morning, the group still hadn’t seen Zhu Yang. Even if he had indeed sought a place to stay in the village, he should have returned by now.
How could a truck driver leave his vehicle unattended?
Tan Wenbin munched on dry rations while bewildered. "Is he really missing? Or does he think none of us can drive a truck?"
They continued waiting, but by ten o’clock, everyone finally decided that they had to do something; regardless of the outcome, they needed to find Zhu Yang.
Naturally, the first place to look was undoubtedly the small village ahead.
"Has anyone noticed?" Li Zhuiyuan scanned the group of three, "Since this morning, we haven't seen a single villager pass by our truck."
There was only one road out of the village to the main road, and behind the village was a mountain.
The truck was parked right next to the entrance of the village, clearly visible.
Of course, it could also mean the villagers were entirely self-sufficient, living off the land and not needing to interact with outsiders often.
However, with Zhu Yang's disappearance and this observation piling on, unease simmered within them.
Li Zhuiyuan urged, "Let’s go find him in the village."
"Should we leave someone behind to watch the truck?" Xue Liangliang inquired.
Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. "No need. If the goods and gasoline get stolen, they get stolen. If we find Zhu Yang, we can sort out the details later; it’s not our fault.
Leaving someone to watch the truck? What if that person disappears as well? Or stands there waiting and never sees the others return? That would be far too nerve-racking."
Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin exchanged glances and nodded. They realized this scenario was unsettling to think about.
The four of them disembarked and started walking toward the village.
Li Zhuiyuan found the group quite manageable; they at least shared a united approach.
Perhaps it was due to spending too much time with his grandfather, but now pairing up with normal companions felt somewhat unfamiliar.
The villagers' homes weren’t run down and showed clear signs of occupancy; when the vehicle had entered, they had seen many lights in the village. Yet now that they entered, they saw no one around.
Tan Wenbin remarked, "Does everyone here wake up so late? Even at noon, are they still sleeping in?"
Xue Liangliang surveyed the surroundings. "Shall we continue inward?"
Li Zhuiyuan halted, saying, "No, let’s step back."
The group didn’t question him and followed him back to the village entrance.
Upon reaching the first house, Li Zhuiyuan stopped, "Run Sheng, go knock on the door."
"Okay!"
Run Sheng approached the door and knocked with his left hand while his right sleeve concealed a steel pipe.
Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin also had knives and steel pipes hidden on their persons; they had brought Zhu Yang’s belongings along when they left the truck.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
After knocking for quite some time, no one responded.
Run Sheng turned to call, "Xiao Yuan, it seems no one’s home."
"Knock again harder!"
"All right!"
Run Sheng began banging on the door with force, making it rattle.
Still, no answer came from inside, and the neighbors were silent as well.
"Run Sheng, bust it down!"
"Got it!"
"Boom!"
The door was kicked open by Run Sheng.
Li Zhuiyuan and others stepped inside.
Such actions may not have been right, but among the group, no one criticized Li Zhuiyuan's wariness.
If it turned out to be a misunderstanding, they could always apologize and compensate.
Unlike the sunny exterior with things hanging out to dry, the interior was heavy with dust, giving the impression that it hadn’t been lived in for a long time.
On the bed in the bedroom, there was a large sticky puddle of something.
Run Sheng leaned close to sniff and declared, "Xiao Yuan, this smells like corpse water!"
Li Zhuiyuan trusted Run Sheng's judgment. "Let’s go check another house."
"Boom!"
The door to the second house was also kicked open, revealing heavy dust inside as well, with dishes set on the dining table containing already spoiled food.
It was obvious that the last meal served was noodles.
In the bedroom, the bed did not have any unusual mess, but after Run Sheng sniffed around, he moved to the cabinet, opening the door to reveal layers filled with solidified slime.
"It still smells like corpse water."
At this point, Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang pulled out their weapons; there was no point in holding back now—whoever's home had residual corpse water wasn’t a normal household, after all.
"Xiao Yuan, what do we do next? Keep checking?"
"No."
Li Zhuiyuan stepped out, gesturing for them all to follow and headed straight for the village exit.
Xue Liangliang followed suit, muttering quietly, "Are we leaving?"
"Yes."
"We're not looking for Zhu Yang anymore?"
"Once we’re out, we’ll call the authorities."
"Oh, okay."
Without hesitation, Li Zhuiyuan decided against further exploration of the village because there was simply no need to risk anything unprepared.
However, when the four of them walked out of the village and traveled some distance, they were all stunned.
The truck was nowhere to be found!
Tan Wenbin exclaimed, "What if Zhu Yang came back and drove the truck away? We went looking for him, but he didn’t wait for us?"
"That’s not it." Xue Liangliang crouched down, pointing ahead, "The truck’s not only gone, but the tire tracks are also missing."
Tan Wenbin was puzzled, "What’s going on?!"
Xue Liangliang stood and shook his knife with one hand and his hip with the other, "We’ve stumbled onto something serious now."
If the goods or gasoline from the truck were stolen, that would be normal. Even if one of the thieves could drive, it wouldn’t be strange for them to use wires to hotwire the truck and drive it away without the keys.
But the real question was, who would go through the effort of cleaning up after stealing? How dedicated!
Li Zhuiyuan walked to where he and Run Sheng had urinated last night; he remembered Run Sheng leaving a groove there. Now, it was gone too.
"I think the truck hasn’t been stolen. It’s right where it should be; what’s not in its 'original' place are the four of us."
As he voiced this, the remaining three exchanged looks of disbelief.
Xue Liangliang quickly asked in line with the thought, "So Zhu Yang hasn’t really disappeared?"
Li Zhuiyuan nodded, "He might be looking for us instead."
Xue Liangliang waved his hands dismissively, "That’s too absurd."
"Bright Liang, no matter how absurd, could it be worse than your experiences?"
"This…"
Tan Wenbin scratched at the dirt with his shoe, "Then where are we exactly?"
"Run Sheng, the compass."
Run Sheng quickly pulled out the compass and handed it to Li Zhuiyuan.
Holding the compass, Li Zhuiyuan began examining the surrounding feng shui weather. The result was… very normal.
He checked again, and still found no clues.
"Run Sheng, support me for a minute."
"Understood."
Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes, lightly covered his face with the compass, and after a moment of swaying, leaned against Run Sheng.
Run Sheng caught him, holding onto Li Zhuiyuan's arm and began counting in his heart.
Li Zhuiyuan was in some kind of trance.
The surroundings didn’t change; he simply lost sight of Xue Liangliang and Tan Wenbin.
Suddenly, Li Zhuiyuan heard noise coming from the village.
He turned, looking back toward the village and saw many figures moving about. Many people were congregating at the door of the two houses.
The people were angrily shouting:
"Who smashed the door of my house? Who did it?!"
"My door was smashed too! Who is responsible for this?"
In that instant, a cold breeze swept through, causing Li Zhuiyuan to shiver, and the villagers fell silent all at once.
They were still there, not disappeared. But the very next moment, those figures, like characters in a silent film, collectively turned and began walking toward the road leading out of the village.
Pain surged through Li Zhuiyuan as time raced forward, and Run Sheng was waking him.
Li Zhuiyuan opened his eyes and said without hesitation, "Let’s go!"
The truck was missing, so there was no luggage, and everyone immediately followed Li Zhuiyuan, running.
They dashed out along the small road and reached the main road. Li Zhuiyuan chose a direction leading back and led everyone up the path.
The three of them realized the situation had changed, silently following along without inquiring as they all tightly gripped their weapons.
Fortunately, no vehicles were in sight along the way; otherwise, drivers might mistakenly think they were bandits.
"We need to keep running; don’t stop!"
His words were directed at Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang. Li Zhuiyuan had developed stamina through martial arts training. Meanwhile, Run Sheng already had exceptional physical ability, while Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang leaned more toward the traditional image of an inept college student.
They could burst forth briefly but would quickly find themselves out of breath from long runs.
Li Zhuiyuan urged them on, drawing from past experiences: this kind of supernatural quirk often had a range of effect, just like that time at Zheng Haiyang’s family place. Once they got out of the depression, nothing would be wrong.
This time, they needed to hold on…
Li Zhuiyuan suddenly stopped, and Run Sheng followed suit.
Tan Wenbin and Xue Liangliang bent over, panting.
"Xiao Yuan, did we make it out?"
"Xiao Yuan, are we safe now?"
Before they received a timely response, both lifted their heads to look ahead and saw the small path they had come through.
They had run for quite a while in the direction to go back, yet they found themselves back at the starting point.
Li Zhuiyuan turned around, "Let’s try running in this direction."
While saying this, the boy felt no confidence as if he already foresaw the outcome.
The others felt similarly. As they ran, the air thick with tension fell upon them, so this time they moved somewhat slower, devoid of the previous longing to haste away from danger.
Eventually, they reached the small path’s entrance yet again.
"Down!"
Since the path ahead was blocked, they opted to go downhill.
Descending was precarious but manageable; they all held onto trees, inching down cautiously.
Li Zhuiyuan’s gaze fixed on the river below. The high view from the road made sense earlier, but now as they entered the woods, visibility significantly dropped.
After brushing aside the dead leaves, Li Zhuiyuan discovered he had circle back to the same small path.
Ahead was the open space where they had parked their truck, and walking a bit further would lead them to the village.
Tan Wenbin slumped to the ground.
Xue Liangliang stumbled a bit but kneeled down too, struggling to swallow his saliva as he asked, "Xiao Yuan, is this the legendary 'ghost wall' effect?"
"Pretty much; it’s a kind of phantasm. Let’s take a break."
The four of them sat on the ground.
Soon, the sky grew heavy with clouds as though rain were imminent.
Not wanting to get soaked by an unexpected downpour, they rose and sought shelter under a large tree.
Surprisingly, Tan Wenbin managed to pull out an exercise book and a pen from his pant pocket. Leaning against the tree, he spread the book over his legs, starting to work on the problems.
This scene elicited laughter from everyone—Tan Wenbin himself even chuckled.
In truth, completing homework was a ruse; he genuinely wanted to lighten the somber atmosphere.
Run Sheng remarked helplessly, "I feel like I’ve passed on my bad luck to you all. Xiao Yuan, troubles seem to find you whenever you’re around me."
"Bright Liang, don’t say that; I’ll turn red."
Given past frequencies, determining who brought bad luck to who was truly debatable.
Li Zhuiyuan caught himself pondering if it was his fault. With the concentrated number of deaths near his village, he made a trip out only for misfortune to latch on again.
Tan Wenbin yawned, saying, "Seems like the old folks were right about consulting the lunar calendar before heading out. Should have burned incense and bathed beforehand and thought through the date to set off."
Run Sheng lit a stick of incense and planted it in the soil before him.
Tan Wenbin couldn’t help but roll his eyes. "What use is burning incense now?"
The clouds darkened further, the humidity in the air heightened, and rain could start falling any second.
As Li Zhuiyuan tried to strategize a way to escape, he suddenly looked up and froze.
Because on Xue Liangliang’s face appeared the sort of quality akin to dead wood. Even though Li Zhuiyuan typically did not read facial features, this expression was blatantly reminiscent of a common phrase used by tricksters: "I see your forehead darkening!"
This was a sign of bad luck weighing down, fortunes sunk to the bottom, disasters easily falling upon individuals—such faces were seen on the brink of death, for each small mishap could snuff out their lives.
Li Zhuiyuan glanced at Run Sheng and Tan Wenbin, only to see they were similarly marked.
Wouldn’t he also carry this fate?
Having spent so much time together, they were entwined in fate; if they were bearing bad luck, it would naturally involve all four of them together.
He reached out, grabbing the knife laid in front of him, using the blade as a mirror to glimpse at himself.
Immediately, a wave of nausea washed over him.
Although this wasn’t an assessment of his destiny, it was still a taboo to eye oneself in this manner.
Most importantly, the boy had instinctively transitioned the things he’d learned into a gut reaction; even just wishing to take a quick look provoked fully activated thoughts, similarly to someone seeing a math problem of one plus one and calculating the answer instantaneously.
Dropping the knife, Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes, trying to soothe the dizziness and queasiness.
Once he regained equilibrium and opened his eyes, confusion flooded his gaze.
For he found his expression was entirely normal, contrasting starkly with his three companions, who were "run low on fortune."
"Brothers, I have a serious question to ask you all."
The three looked up, redirecting their attention to the boy, waiting for him to speak.
"On the journey here, did you all carry me along and secretly engage in something?"
(End of Chapter)