Lover's Embrace

The Blood Red Setting Sun shone on the horizon, dyeing the entire Wheat Field crimson.

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai sat back-to-back in a hollow between the rows of wheat, their palms already slick with sweat.

The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet. Only the wind rustling through the wheat broke the silence.

"Haah... haah..."

Guo Shuai wiped the cold sweat from his face.

To ease the oppressive feeling that threatened to drive him mad, he forced a faint smile and nudged Yang Wei behind him.

"Hey, Old Yang, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Go ahead."

Yang Wei kept a wary eye on what lay ahead.

"You always seem like a pretty easygoing guy. Why do you hate the Student Union and Li Xin's crowd so much? Just because they like acting all high and mighty?"

Yang Wei's body stiffened slightly. He shook his head. "What's the point of asking about that now?"

"Come on, tell me."

Guo Shuai looked at the setting sun and smiled bitterly. "Maybe today will be our last."

"Old Yang, you've got Strength Amplification and you're in good shape. You've got a better chance of surviving than I do."

"If I kick the bucket, just think of it as granting my dying wish."

"Cut it out! Don't say things like that!"

Yang Wei cursed, but after a few seconds of silence, he lowered his head, his expression unreadable.

"Fine. I'll tell you, okay?"

He drew a deep breath, as if he were trying to expel years of pent-up bitterness.

"This... goes back to before I was even born."

"My parents and my grandpa were all arrested a month before I was born."

Guo Shuai blinked. "Huh?"

Yang Wei gave a self-mocking smile, his gaze drifting. "My dad used to be an official, not a big shot, but not a nobody either."

"But he was corrupt. For money and status, he colluded with the local Mafia and did plenty of dirty work."

"Eventually, the truth came out, and the police came to arrest them."

"My 'Good Father' was going to abandon his pregnant wife and run off on his own."

"And my mom... to buy my dad time, she actually tried to poison her good friend, who was a police officer, by slipping poison into his tea."

"My grandpa had taken plenty of bribes, too."

"In the end, all three of them went down together, each sentenced to a long prison term."

Yang Wei plucked a stalk of wheat and snapped it in half.

"My mom gave birth to me first, then went right back to serving her sentence."

"I grew up in an orphanage. The very police officer they'd tried to poison was the one who supported me."

"For twenty whole years, wherever I went, the whispers and pointing fingers followed."

"Corrupt Official's brat. Descendant of the Poison Master..."

Yang Wei's voice trembled slightly.

"I was actually a good student when I was a kid. I really was."

"But I didn't dare come first in class. I was afraid people would notice me, dig into my family background, and talk behind my back."

"So I chose sports and pretended to be a muscle-bound fool."

"I know it wasn't being an official that caused all this. It was my parents losing their way for the sake of money and status."

Yang Wei turned to look at Guo Shuai, his gaze unusually earnest.

"That's why I hate Li Xin, Wu Hao, and anyone from the Student Union who treats a little authority like a license to throw their weight around."

"I'm not jealous of them. I hate that desperate, ladder-climbing ambition they have—the kind that makes them stop at nothing to rise."

"People like that can't possibly become good officials once they gain power. They'll only turn into the same kind of scourge my parents were."

"I don't want people like that getting ahead and hurting everyone."

After hearing him out, Guo Shuai fell silent for a long while.

He reached out and gave Yang Wei a firm pat on the shoulder.

"Old Yang, none of this is your fault."

"You never enjoyed the spoils of their crimes. You shouldn't have to carry their sins, either."

"You're a lot cleaner than they ever were."

After hearing that, the tension around Yang Wei's mouth eased a little.

"All right, enough with the sentimental stuff. It's gross."

Just then,

the last glimmer of sunlight sank beneath the horizon.

Night fell.

It was 7 p.m. on the Mechanical Watch, five hours until "the door" opened.

Darkness swallowed the Wheat Field.

Time had flown by as they talked, but the fear hadn't faded. If anything, it had grown heavier with the deepening night.

"Rustle... rustle..."

Along with the wind,

a dense scraping sound suddenly came from the distance.

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai sprang to their feet, back-to-back, staring hard in the direction of the sound.

In the faint starlight, they saw several swaying figures in the Wheat Field two hundred meters away.

Their movements were stiff, yet they advanced toward the two of them in perfect unison.

As they walked, they raised their hands and waved, as if greeting someone.

"Is that..."

Yang Wei narrowed his eyes.

"Is that Wu Hao and the others? They're still alive?"

If they were human, at least they'd have more help.

Yang Wei was just about to call out when Guo Shuai suddenly grabbed his clothes and yanked him back.

"Don't call out! Run!"

Guo Shuai's voice trembled, his face white as paper.

"Old Yang! Run!"

"My Danger Sense hasn't gone off yet, but I'm terrified! That waving..."

"It's too creepy! No living person could move like that! They're so stiff!"

Guo Shuai grabbed Yang Wei and sprinted in the opposite direction.

"That's a dead person's wave! Run!"

The two of them dashed off, crushing two long trails through the Wheat Field.

But the footsteps behind them grew faster and closer.

"Roar!!"

The silent waving stopped. Behind them came rustling, along with the crackle and pop of electricity!

Yang Wei glanced back, his pupils shrinking.

The figures were no longer pretending.

They ran on all fours or charged forward in horribly twisted postures.

By the purple lightning crackling from one of them, Yang Wei could make out their faces.

Wu Hao, Liang Rui, Wang Jinsheng...

But their skin hung loose, their eyes were stuffed with straw, and withered yellow stalks poked out at their joints.

"Damn it! It's Wu Hao and the others! They've turned into monsters!"

Yang Wei roared.

Even worse, a fireball and a bolt of lightning came howling at them from behind!

"They can still use Supernatural Abilities?!"

Boom!

The fireball exploded beside them, setting the dry Wheat Stalks alight. Flames surged into the sky.

"We can't get away!"

Guo Shuai panted hard. His stamina was nowhere near Yang Wei's. "They don't get tired. If we keep running, they'll wear us down!"

Yang Wei skidded to a stop and spun around, his eyes bloodshot.

"Then we stop running!"

"We smash them to pieces!"

"Old Guo, back me up!"

Yang Wei roared and activated his C-class Supernatural Ability, Strength Amplification.

Though its name was Strength Amplification,

it was actually an All Attribute Buff!

His Overall Physical Fitness would skyrocket for a short time.

Strength was just the most prominent part of it!

"Here they come!"

Guo Shuai shut his eyes and activated Danger Sense.

"Two on the left! The one using lightning is charging up! Watch out!"

Like a human Tank, Yang Wei charged straight at the Human Skin Scarecrows instead of retreating!

Thump!

He smashed the two monsters at the front to pieces!

Straw flew everywhere!

But the monsters felt no pain. The rest still lunged at him without a shred of fear.

The battle instantly reached a fever pitch.

"Zzt!"

The lightning in Wu Hao's hand struck toward Yang Wei.

"Roll right!"

Guo Shuai shouted.

Yang Wei rolled across the ground. He avoided a fatal hit, but an Electric Arc still swept across his left arm, tearing open his skin and charring it black.

"Argh!!"

Yang Wei cried out in pain, his ferocity flaring. He grabbed a Scarecrow lunging at him with one hand and swung it like a weapon, smashing it hard into "Wu Hao."

In the heat of battle, Guo Shuai noticed something important.

"Old Yang! They can't see!"

Guo Shuai pointed at the monsters. Though they moved quickly, they kept stopping to listen for sounds.

"Their eyes are made of straw! They locate us by sound! Use noise to draw them in!"

"Got it!"

Yang Wei picked up a stone and hurled it hard toward an empty patch of ground in the distance.

Sure enough, "Wu Hao" and "Liang Rui" both turned toward where the stone landed.

"Now!"

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai exchanged a glance.

These monsters had kept their Supernatural Abilities from when they were alive, but lost the brains that went with them!

"Old Guo!"

"Let's do it!"

Guo Shuai darted out from cover and shouted, "You little bastards! Your grandpa's right here!"

"Roar!"

The fireball in Liang Rui's hand formed instantly and flew toward Guo Shuai.

Guo Shuai dodged for all he was worth, but the blast of heat still scorched half his face.

"Argh!!"

His scream drew the attention of every monster.

At that moment, Yang Wei, who'd been hiding on the other side, made his move.

He didn't attack. Instead, he suddenly kicked "Wu Hao," who was crackling with lightning, with all his might.

He sent him flying straight toward "Liang Rui," who was about to fire a second fireball!

"Zzt! Boom!"

Lightning and fire collided between the two monsters!

The violent Energy Conflict triggered a tremendous explosion.

In an instant, the two Elite Monsters were blown apart, scattering burning straw through the air!

"Nice work!"

With the two Ranged Output monsters gone, the remaining melee Scarecrows were just a pile of rotten straw against Yang Wei, who'd entered a berserk state.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Yang Wei threw every ounce of strength into each punch, and didn't stop until he'd smashed the last Scarecrow's head into its chest.

The Mechanical Watch read 23:55, five minutes until the "door opened."

The battle was over.

The golden Wheat Field had been burned black. Severed limbs and scattered stalks of wheat littered the ground.

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai sat back-to-back on the ground, too exhausted to even lift a finger.

Yang Wei's left hand was still trembling from the nerve damage caused by the electric shock.

Guo Shuai was in even worse shape.

He covered half his face. Blood seeped between his fingers, the marks of a fireball's burn.

One eye was blind, and half his face was disfigured.

"Haah... haah..."

Yang Wei panted heavily. He glanced at the motionless corpses around them and asked in a hoarse voice,

"Did we... win?"

Guo Shuai opened his one good eye and glanced at the watch on his wrist, then replied with a tremble,

"I think so..."

"23:55... five minutes left..."

"In five minutes, time in the two worlds will line up... We'll be able to get out."

Guo Shuai gave a bitter laugh. It pulled at his wounds, making him bare his teeth in pain.

"Too bad... my face is done for."

"Forget finding a partner. I'll be lucky if I don't make kids cry."

This time, it was Yang Wei's turn to comfort him.

He patted Guo Shuai on the thigh.

"It's fine. This is the apocalypse; strength is what matters. There'll always be girls who like what's on the inside."

"Of course... they might not like your face."

Yang Wei cracked a terrible joke, then glanced at the few "human skins" on the ground.

"If all else fails, we can peel these people's faces off."

"Take them back and see. Maybe we'll meet a doctor someday who can give you a skin graft."

Guo Shuai cursed him. "Get lost! I'm not sticking dead people's faces on mine! That's bad luck!"

The two looked at each other, wanting to laugh, but the movement tugged at their injuries and made them gasp in pain.

However,

as Guo Shuai laughed, his smile suddenly froze.

His one remaining eye fixed on the corpses on the ground, and his lips began to quiver uncontrollably.

"What's wrong, Old Guo? Pain got you delirious?"

Yang Wei sensed something was off.

"No... something's wrong..."

Guo Shuai's voice brimmed with a terror beyond words.

The numbers don't add up!!

"Old Yang, think about it... There were twelve of us when we came from the woods into the Wheat Field!"

"Yu Shishi left back then, so that made eleven."

"We two left, so that made nine!"

"Wu Hao's group should've had nine people left!"

Guo Shuai pointed at the messy pile of corpses on the ground, his voice shrill.

"But we only killed eight just now!!"

"I counted Wu Hao, Liang Rui, and all the extras... There were only eight bodies!"

"Where did the last person go?!"

At his words, the hair on Yang Wei's body stood on end. The heat of battle drained away, turning to ice.

Nine people.

Only eight bodies here.

One was missing!

"Who? Who did we miss?!"

Yang Wei sprang to his feet and anxiously scanned their surroundings.

"I don't know... It was too chaotic... I couldn't see clearly..."

Guo Shuai panicked too, looking around. "Did they run? Or are they hiding somewhere?"

Just then,

Yang Wei suddenly felt a chill brush the back of his neck.

"Old Guo... why aren't you saying anything?"

Yang Wei asked instinctively.

Guo Shuai was right across from him, staring at the space behind him in horror.

A woman's voice, gentle and sweet yet hoarse, sounded right behind Yang Wei's ear.

"Of course not~"

"I've been watching you the whole time~"

Yang Wei's pupils shrank to pinpricks.

That voice...

It was Bai Lianhua!!

Before he could react,

a prickly thing gently wrapped around his waist from behind.

Like the embrace of a lover.

Yang Wei stiffly raised his eyelids and, in the last of the moonlight,

saw a face peering over his shoulder.

Its skin was torn and its features were twisted.

The bright, flirtatious peach-blossom eyes that once turned heads were now stuffed with two clumps of blackened wheat stalks.

"Brother Yang Wei... take me... with you..."

"Take me with you!"

Bai Lianhua's hands transformed into scythes.

Old Yang!!!

Amid Guo Shuai's horrified roar, Yang Wei was cut clean in half!

His upper body fell to the ground...