The Nine Tragic Souls Who Wandered
The left fork in the road was safe, but the right one was very short and a dead end with nothing there.
After coming out, the group sat around an open space, ate, picked up some branches, and took off their coats, shirts, and shoes to dry.
They have confirmed that there are no insects on the Dead Spirit Island, or even any living creatures that move, so the insect-repelling function of this camouflage uniform is actually superfluous.
Insects are the easiest creatures to survive and have a very keen sense of danger. The fact that there are no insects on the Dead Spirit Island speaks volumes.
Either there's something on the island that the insects fear, or there's something on the island that makes it impossible for the insects to survive.
While warming themselves by the fire, Yan reported the casualties to Wu Runhao via walkie-talkie, repeatedly assuring Fang Xiaoyu was alright. Towards the end, her gaze towards Fang Xiaoyu became somewhat dangerous. The muscular man (not really) irritably tossed the walkie-talkie to Yu Xing: "Tell your brother-in-law yourself! He doesn't believe me!"
Yu Xing, this walkie-talkie from the simulation world was of good quality and waterproof; it was soaked in water for a while and was completely unharmed.
"Brother-in-law, I'm really fine, not hurt at all, you don't need to be like this. Okay, okay, okay, I know, I'll be careful, okay." He responded helplessly to Wu Runhao's instructions. Finally, sensing his impatience, Wu Runhao cursed—
"If I weren't afraid your sister would beat me up, I wouldn't bother talking nonsense with a heartless little brat like you!"
The walkie-talkie call was interrupted.
A Bai laughed, "Boss Wu really cares about you, and your sister too, uh, Boss Fang, right? So Boss Wu is henpecked!"
After a brief distraction, the atmosphere within the team became less heavy, and they continued on their way.
Yu Xing also took this opportunity to recover his strength. He felt that he was about to run out of energy and was about to collapse.
After resting, I could barely walk a little further.
As mentioned before, the Dead Spirit Island is neither too big nor too small; it only takes a day and a half to walk to the center of the island.
Because they set off early today, Group Two explored much deeper than yesterday. Around 2 PM, they arrived at a very strange place.
This is a fault, or ravine, that is more than two meters wide.
On this side of the ravine was a relatively normal jungle, and the group did not encounter any major dangers along the way, unless they went into places like the cave and risked their lives.
On the other side of the ravine, the terrifying atmosphere befitting the Dead Spirit Island finally materialized.
The vegetation was withered, and what wasn't withered was pitch black. The tall trees were of indistinguishable species, with only branches and no leaves. The trunks were covered in wrinkles, making it easy to mistake them for real people and create the illusion that there were faces growing on the trees.
Yu Xing immediately and enthusiastically filmed everything with his camera, saying as he filmed, "Even if the necromancy experiment doesn't yield any significant results in the end, just these new plant species that don't exist outside the world are already a huge gain!"
"You're really in high spirits," Song Quan said calmly from the side.
"Look, there seems to be something on that tree trunk over there!" A Bai interrupted the two, pointing to a spot on the other side of the ditch.
Yu Xing used the camera to look, but could only see something hanging from the trees in a distant grove, vague and indistinct in the lens, no matter how he adjusted the focus.
Nightmare said, "We have to go over there. This place is too valuable; we must cross over and explore it carefully."
She stood at the edge of the ravine and looked down. The ravine was also awe-inspiring, with no bottom in sight. The cliff face had many rocks that could kill someone who crashed into them, making it seem like an abyss.
Yu Xing noticed that Long Zhou had become more cautious after being pushed into the water by the little devil.
Although he appeared to be standing casually on the edge of the ravine, Long Zhou's body was taut, in a posture of exertion. Even if the little devils pushed him, he would not be easily moved.
The little devils in the cave had all run away when they crept ashore in the dark, but those things weren't very well hidden, and almost any strategist could see them, so Yu Xing was certain that Long Zhou had seen them.
A Bai asked, "How do we get across? Do we jump over?"
Nightmare nodded.
Two meters is nothing to the Armed Unit; there's no height difference between the two sides of the ditch, so it's not difficult to jump.
Yu Xing, A Bai, and Song Quan all changed their expressions at the same time.
Yu Xing: "My camera is too heavy..."
A Bai: "Actually, I'm just a frail Doctor. I haven't exercised for years since I started this profession..."
Song Quan: "I'm in poor health."
Nightmare wanted to curse, but remembering her identity, she actually did. "Are you even men? What are you babbling about at such a short distance? I'm the only woman here, and I haven't even protested!"
Yu Xing: "Big brother, don't be so fierce, I'm already exhausted..."
A Bai: "I'm afraid of falling; it's too easy to die."
Song Quan: "I'm in poor health."
Nightmare had no choice but to jump over with his teammates and cameras first, thus solving Fang Xiaoyu's camera problem.
Yu Xing followed closely behind, leaped over, and landed steadily.
Then Yan secured the rope on the other side and threw it over here, allowing the other two weak and useless men to carefully climb over using the rope.
The sky seemed even more overcast, but experts said it wouldn't rain here today.
Leaving the terrifying ravine behind, Yu Xing felt that the temperature here was significantly lower than over there, and the air was also more humid and sticky.
A Bai rubbed his pants. "It's so cold."
Their pants were all wet and hadn't dried, and the cold wind made them feel chilly to the bone.
After everyone had rested and adjusted to the temperature, they proceeded with extreme caution towards their surroundings to the grove of trees where they had seen the object hanging earlier.
The closer you get, the clearer the figure hanging from the tree becomes.
Not all the trees had anything hanging from them; several large trees were densely packed together, with what looked like white rags hanging from them... corpses.
The corpses were suspended by thin ropes around their necks, covered with long white robes that swayed in the wind. Their bare feet were slashed with deep cuts, and blood dripped from their toes into the grass below and seeped into the soil.
Even more bizarrely, the faces of the corpses were all turned upwards, the opposite of those who hang themselves, as if they were looking up at the sky, at the dense, dark clouds.
"One, two, three... nine." Yu Xing walked at the end, counting the number of corpses. After finding that there were nine, she chuckled to herself.
He seemed to know who the corpses were.
The others found out too, though a little later than him.
Because it wasn't until they carefully avoided the bloodstains on the ground and walked to the foot of the tree that the faces of these corpses were fully exposed to everyone's view.
Fang Xiaoyu, A Bai, Long Zhou, Song Quan, and the five surviving members of Group Two... not one is missing.
Their bodies had their eyes wide open and their mouths agape, as if crying out to the heavens for help.
At that moment, a fragmented memory flashed through Yu Xing's mind, like a sharp blade slicing through the swirling mist.
As far as I can remember, they didn't arrive on the island the next day; they had already been there for half a month.
One day, they came to this place, and it happened to start raining, so they looked up.
Then—ropes with knots hung down from the trees, and as if bewitched, they stepped forward and willingly put the ropes around their necks.
After that, every day they would forget that their bodies were still hanging from the tree, their souls wandering the island, repeating every step of that day, until they came to the tree and saw the corpse, and only then would they remember.
Just like what Yu Xing is remembering now.