8: Chapter 8 Covering the Rear

On the small path leading down the mountain.

Li Feng's back stood frozen at a corner more than ten meters away.

His soaked clothes clung tightly to his skin, outlining inhumanly rigid contours.

His head was tilted to one side at an angle that a normal person's cervical spine could never withstand.

At the neck, an unnatural depression could even be seen.

Rainwater mixed with some kind of dark stain dripped silently into the mud along his pant legs.

This sight was more heart-wrenching than any shrill scream.

Zhao Qiang's previous anger and questioning were like a punctured balloon, deflating completely with a "pfft" sound.

All that remained was a sieve-like trembling and the clicking sound of chattering teeth.

Zhao Xiaoya covered her mouth tightly.

Tears mixed with rainwater blurred her face, and her body was so weak she almost collapsed.

Huang Guohua's eyes were hollow, leaving only a desperate numbness.

The driver, Old Zhang, began neurotically muttering "Amitabha" again.

"Zhao Qiang?" Ding Qing's cold voice broke the dead silence.

Zhao Qiang's lips trembled, unable to produce a single syllable.

Fear had completely seized him, causing him to lose even the strength to move a single step.

Ding Qing let out an extremely soft cold snort from his nose.

There was no mockery in that sound, only an indifference that saw through to the essence of things.

He stopped looking at Zhao Qiang and turned to Wang Yang instead, his voice low but clearly piercing through the whispers of the thick fog.

"The path ahead is blocked. If we keep going like this, we're all finished."

His gaze swept over the shaken group.

It finally fixed on Wang Yang's face with an unquestionable decisiveness.

"I'll lure him away. You take the rest of the people and keep going down."

Wang Yang's pupils constricted, and he blurted out, "Brother Qing! You alone?! How can..."

"Shut up and let me finish!"

Ding Qing interrupted him, his speech fast and forceful.

"You're in the best condition. Take them and get down the mountain as fast as possible. As soon as you reach a place with a signal, call the police immediately!"

"Tell the police exactly what happened here; it's our only chance to survive!"

He paused, his gaze like a torch sweeping over Huang Guohua, Zhao Xiaoya, and Old Zhang.

Finally, it landed on the pale-faced Zhao Qiang, his lips curling into a cold, hard arc.

"As for him..." Ding Qing's hand suddenly pointed at Zhao Qiang, "he's coming with me."

"Wha... what?!"

Zhao Qiang felt as if he'd been struck by lightning, and he screamed, his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

"I'm not going! Ding Qing, you're trying to kill me, aren't you?! I won't go with you, I won't go to my death with you!!!"

"It's not up to you to choose."

Ding Qing's voice had no warmth, like a steel needle quenched in ice.

"Weren't you very principled just now when you accused me of watching someone die without helping?"

"Now the opportunity has come. Prove your courage to me. Or, you can rush over there right now and save Li Feng yourself. Pick one."

Zhao Qiang looked into Ding Qing's eyes, which showed not a hint of emotional fluctuation.

He then glanced at the distant back that radiated a cold Death Qi.

Immense fear instantly overwhelmed him.

He shook his head as if breaking down, tears and snot flowing.

"No... I won't choose... I won't go... please... let me go..."

Wang Yang looked at Ding Qing, then at the collapsing Zhao Qiang. His face first showed bewilderment, then he seemed to suddenly understand something.

His pupils suddenly constricted, and all color drained from his face.

He opened his mouth.

He seemed to want to say something to dissuade him.

But in the end, those words were swallowed back down.

He knew Ding Qing too well.

He instantly understood what that look and that decision meant.

This wasn't a discussion.

It was an order!

It was the most efficient choice Ding Qing believed he could make in a desperate situation.

Wang Yang took a deep breath of the cold, damp air that smelled of decay, feeling his lungs sting.

He took a step forward and firmly grabbed Ding Qing's solid forearm, his knuckles turning white from the force.

His voice was kept extremely low, with an unprecedented solemnity, each word squeezed through his teeth:

"Brother Qing... since... since you've decided... then you must think through the consequences. You must think clearly. Don't be impulsive, don't... don't do something you'll regret!"

He looked at Ding Qing with a complex gaze containing worry, fear, and a near-desperate realization.

He didn't dare say it plainly and could only remind Ding Qing in this way.

Outside the heavy fog wasn't another world; killing someone required paying with one's life!

Ding Qing's gaze met Wang Yang's for a moment.

That gaze was as deep as a cold pool, with no wavering, only a cold, almost cruel determination.

He nodded slightly, the movement so small it was almost invisible.

"Talkative."

Ding Qing gave a low scolding, his voice still cold and hard, but he rarely didn't shake off Wang Yang's hand.

"Take them and go, fast!"

Having said that, Ding Qing stopped looking at Wang Yang and turned abruptly, stepping in front of the slumped Zhao Qiang in one stride.

He leaned down and, like picking up a bag of trash, his large hands gripped Zhao Qiang's back collar and belt like iron pincers, lifting the boy—who was more than a head shorter than him—without any effort.

"No—! Let me go! Ding Qing, you bastard, you'll die a horrible death! Wang Yang, save me! Teacher Huang, save me!!"

Zhao Qiang was like a live fish thrown onto a chopping board, bursting into shrill, desperate wails, his hands and feet kicking and struggling wildly, but he couldn't budge Ding Qing an inch.

"Student Ding Qing..."

"Shut up!"

Huang Guohua had just opened his mouth when he was interrupted.

Ding Qing let out a low growl, his arm muscles bulging, and greenish-black veins instantly crawled up his forearm like coiled poisonous pythons.

He roughly tucked Zhao Qiang under his arm like a sack.

"Everyone must make it down the mountain alive. Heads down! Go!"

Ding Qing roared one last time toward Wang Yang and Huang Guohua, his voice exploding like muffled thunder.

Before his voice had even faded.

Without any further hesitation, clutching the still futilely struggling and wailing Zhao Qiang, he charged boldly toward that rigid and eerie back in the thick fog ahead like an enraged bull!

Heavy footsteps crushed the mud, carrying a resolute and fierce Aura of no return, instantly vanishing into that pale, thick fog that swallowed everything.

Zhao Qiang's shrill cries were also cut off as if strangled, stopping abruptly.

On the spot, only Wang Yang, Huang Guohua, Zhao Xiaoya, and the driver Old Zhang remained, standing like clay sculptures.

The thick white fog swirled around them, startling the four of them back to their senses.

Zhao Xiaoya finally let out a scream that had been suppressed to the extreme.

Wang Yang stared fixedly in the direction where Ding Qing had disappeared, his lips pressed white and his body trembling slightly.

He suddenly gritted his teeth, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes, wiped his face hard, and roared hoarsely at the remaining three:

"Are you still standing there waiting to die?! Heads down! Follow me! Move!!"

He was the first to turn around, forcing himself to stop looking at that thick fog.

He bent his back the whole way, staring fixedly at the muddy and slippery path beneath his feet, rushing down the mountain with all his strength.

Huang Guohua woke up as if from a dream, subconsciously pulling the still-sobbing Zhao Xiaoya and dragging the dazed Old Zhang along as they stumbled and fled down the mountain behind Wang Yang.

The thick fog rolled, completely swallowing this small path once again.