Chapter 19: Chapter 19: Death?
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
“This body… feels so terrible.
Considering I’ve rested for such a long time, and I’ve been sleeping well… how long have I been walking for? But I can tell my body is already giving in.”
Countdown: 8 hours.
Walking on the mountain road, Han Dong needs to rest every five steps… his lungs aren’t getting enough oxygen, and his legs are trembling slightly due to lack of regular exercise and essential vitamins.
As for Arkman, his fellow believer, he surprisingly seems to have better stamina than Han Dong.
She, who holds on to the cross throughout the whole journey, has dark circles under her eyes, and ‘Hope of Fire’ can hardly be seen in her gaze, she sticks to Han Dong every second.
Although Han Dong’s body doesn’t seem to be of much support.
Han Dong spots a building mark on the map, “There should be a farmhouse up ahead, should we seek shelter inside?”
Soon, the flashlight shines on a stone-brick house built halfway up the mountain.
It’s a single-story building, with many cracks on the walls, clearly abandoned for a long time.
Han Dong can’t walk anymore, if he keeps pushing forth like this, his body might completely collapse… no matter how dilapidated the building is, they would have to rest inside.
As soon as they step into the abandoned building.
Boom!
Lightning cuts across the sky, followed by the loud sound of thunder.
Splash, splash.
Heavy rain pours down.
Luckily, the roof tiles are tightly arranged, there’s no leak… otherwise, if Han Dong’s body gets wet in the rain, he might catch cold or become sick in his last few hours and that would be the end of everything.
Both of them sit by the wall in the hall area.
Han Dong hurriedly takes out some high-calorie food from his backpack, as well as a bottle of previoulsy prepared Banlangen drink, to replenish energy while preventing illness…
Compared to Han Dong, Arkman on the opposite side is a bit calmer.
She doesn’t eat anything or express any feelings, she just clutches the cross, looking ahead blankly.
The two sit in silence, listening to the sound of the rain showering the bricks, for about five minutes.
Suddenly, Arkman speaks.
“Do you know? The basement of the church is very similar to this place, dark and damp… Every day after volunteering, the priest would require me to stay there for a while.”
“Hmm…” Han Dong senses a strange aura.
“Although I am not willing… I have no choice.
If I don’t bring money home, my father will beat me, even harder than the priest does. I must obey, if I obey, I could bring money home.”
Arkman gets more and more agitated, she even starts scratching the dirt floor with her nails.
“Do you know… If I had persevered for a few more months, I could have become a formal employee in the church, with a fixed monthly salary! I would be able to interact with more and more people, my life was about to get back on track.
But at this very moment!
My father actually forbade me from working at the church, he owed so many debts, he needed to sell me off to pay them off.
No… I was not happy about it! I ‘handled’ my father, then I, who had no home, could only turn to the priest at the church for help.
But the priest, who had always been ‘good’ to me, changed his face, he was unwilling to let me work at the church, he even wanted to get me arrested!
I really didn’t want it to be like this, I truly… just wished for a simple life.
Can you understand my feelings!?”
For a moment.
Click, click, click!
A strange and crunching noise emanates from Arkman’s body as she shifts from a sitting to a ‘creeping’ stance.
Han Dong immediately uses ‘The Prison’ to establish contact with Chen Li, passing her a piece of extremely important information… Whether he can survive or not will depend on whether this will work.
Whoosh!
Arkman, in a crawling posture, her black hair floating in the air.
Han Dong’s guess was completely correct, the real evil spirit was hiding among the six of them.
Her speed was so fast that Han Dong could barely see it, her fingers were already touching both sides of Han Dong’s face.
A familiar sense of death.
Similar to the moment of respiratory failure as I lay on the sickbed… only this time, death may come even faster.
“Wait… Can I do it myself? My body wouldn’t have held out much longer, anyway.”
As Han Dong spoke, he pulled out a short knife he had prepared in advance, holding it against his own neck.
This speech and action made the evil spirit ‘Arkman’ halt.
Han Dong’s reaction was entirely different from the past two people’s… Han Dong’s eyes do not betray the sense of fear others have before death.
She had seen the deteriorating condition of Han Dong’s body all along.
Such a frail man could neither escape nor survive.
Arkman found this young man named ‘Nicholas’ suddenly interesting.
“…I’ll give you a minute.”
Han Dong offered a wistful smile, “Thank you, but I have one question before my death.
Why haven’t you killed most of us outright the first night?
Wouldn’t the memories of the dead be erased from the minds of the other participants? It wouldn’t harm you at all, right?”
As Han Dong asked, he slid the knife into his flesh.
Arkman, not on guard and finding Han Dong ‘interesting’, as well as certain that Han Dong could not survive, answered his last question.
“In the initial days, I could only kill one person a day, and only strike in the night.
It was only in the last twelve hours of this game that such a requirement gradually receded… Do you understand now? I’ll kill all of you within the next few hours.
Don’t worry. Someone will join you soon.”
Han Dong’s suspicions were once again confirmed.
The ‘limit’ did indeed exist.
“Thank you.”
Han Dong did not hesitate further.
The blade sliced across his throat, deep enough to be lethal…
Such a frail body could not withstand such a severe injury, his eyes gradually lost their luster and he died, leaning against the wall.
After not so long.
Arkman received a system message exclusive to him.
“Due to the death of the survivor, the cooldown period has been reset to 4 hours… Number of survivors: 2.”
With that, Arkman rode out, climbing out of the abandoned building like a spider and quickly chasing after Edward and another in the direction of the mountain foot.
…….
At the foot of the mountain.
In the abandoned courtyard of the farmhouse.
Blonde Monica stared wide-eyed, full of resentment as she looked at Edward, leader of her team with an icy face.
A steam arm had pierced through her abdomen.
“Why…” Monica hadn’t anticipated that she would be killed not by an evil spirit, but by the man she had banked on as her ‘last straw’.
“Because of ‘her’!”
Edward cast a sidelong glance at the woman in red, standing still just outside the farm, amongst the trees.
“You humble commoners, from the start of entering the Fate Space, you were destined to become ‘bait’.
Your existence is solely to buy me time.”
Edward’s perceived image as a good man shattered then.
When Monica fell, the lady in red who had been lurking amongst the trees also left…
Upon witnessing this, Edward heaved a sigh of relief.
“Who would’ve thought I’d be this unlucky, to be chased by the evil spirit first… I must immediately rendezvous with the weakest pair, and continue to make use of their ‘time’.”
After a short rest, Edward immediately began to climb back up the mountain!