Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Just after midnight, I felt a gust of cold wind. The next instant, Shi Yuhan screamed.

By the time Zuo Hao switched on the light, Shi Yuhan’s face was already covered in blood.

Ren Meng’s pupils bulged as if someone had him by the throat. His arms and legs began bending outward, like they were about to be snapped apart by force.

“Brother Long, it’s a woman!”

Ba Wuyue pointed at Ren Meng, her face full of terror.

I drew the Soul-Whip and lashed it through the air.

To my surprise, that strike actually whipped out the shape of a woman.

She wore a school uniform soaked in blood. All four of her limbs were twisted, and even her head was broken at the neck.

“Holy shit!” Zuo Hao was so frightened he nearly threw the camping lantern.

I struck again. The woman’s body vanished, but she still hadn’t left.

Then came the third strike. With a sharp crack in the air, a faint flash of lightning flickered past.

A gust of yin wind rose from the ground, shot straight through everyone, and fled out the door.

Ren Meng gasped for breath in great heaving gulps. His neck was bruised dark blue, and one of his wrists was already dislocated.

Shi Yuhan was still screaming. A large, bloody red X had been carved across her face.

“I remember a female student jumped off a building last year because of school bullying,” Yi Jingchen said coldly. “Someone had cut an X across her face too.”

I remembered that news story as well. On camera, all anyone saw was the girl’s family wailing in agony. The ones who had started it all never showed their faces from beginning to end.

Shi Yuhan hugged her knees tightly and covered her face. In a tiny voice, she muttered, “I won’t do it again. I won’t do it again…”

It seemed these two had come to this so-called ritual not to cure an illness, but for true “atonement.”

We somehow endured until dawn. Outside, the sky was overcast again, and the light was very dim.

I couldn’t stop feeling nauseated. I walked out of the wooden cabin and poured cold water over my head before I finally felt a little better.

Xu Da had gotten up early too. He planned to leave today.

Whether the ritual had succeeded or not, after what had happened last night, he didn’t want to stay here another second.

Yi Jingchen wrote a phone number down for Xu Da. “If Xu Er still isn’t better after you go back, you can take him to see her. Her family has specialized in treating deficiency illnesses for generations. Maybe she’ll have a way.”

Xu Da thanked Yi Jingchen and went back inside to call Xu Er.

But the moment he stepped through the door, he suddenly let out a roar.

We hurried in after him and saw Xu Er huddled in the corner. Somehow, he had dragged over a handful of straw and was stuffing it into his mouth.

The way his mouth kept chewing was exactly like a sheep chewing grass.

Xu Da was about to lose his mind. He shouted at Xu Er in fury.

But Xu Er only stared wide-eyed and kept eating the straw.

His eyes were dull and vacant, without the slightest trace of human emotion.

Xu Da began trembling all over. “It’s over. I killed the wrong one. I killed the wrong one!”

We tried to support Xu Da, but he kept shaking his head, shoving everyone’s hands away as he ran outside like a madman.

“We have to bring him back, or something’s going to happen!”

Yi Jingchen and I chased after him, with Wuyue and Zuo Hao right behind us.

Xu Da had a background in manual labor. He was in good shape and very fast.

We were one step too slow. He had already charged into the woods.

“Xu Da, come back! Your brother is just sick!” Yi Jingchen kept shouting from behind him.

Xu Da’s mind had already collapsed. He couldn’t hear a word. “I killed the wrong one! I killed my brother!”

“No, your brother is in the cabin. If you don’t believe us, go back and look!” Zuo Hao shouted while running, panting for breath.

“I killed the wrong one! You don’t understand. You don’t know!”

I was about to catch up to Xu Da when he suddenly stopped, pulled out his short knife, and turned to face all of us.

“Stay away from me! Stop following me! I’m going to keep my brother company. I’m going to find him-”

We didn’t dare move any closer. All we could do was try to calm him down.

“Your brother is fine. Come back with us. He’s only sick.”

“No. No!”

Xu Da’s eyes were red from crying. “When I killed it yesterday, it kept calling out to me! It called me brother. Brother, I don’t want to die-”

“I didn’t listen. I didn’t believe it. It had already swapped my brother out. It swapped my brother…”

With that, Xu Da turned the knife around. None of us had time to stop him.

The short knife plunged hard into Xu Da’s throat.

When blood sprayed out, Wuyue screamed, and I felt as if the whole world had changed color.