Friends Taste Good

There were no other messages in the restroom. Lin Wan might have found the Cellar and escaped, or she might have died. No one knew the Cellar's exact location.

Zhang Ze could only search for it himself.

The forest was vast.

Like a labyrinth steeped in blood, every tree stood crooked and twisted, as though corpses lay buried beneath them. An unnatural scarlet hue saturated the air, and the silence was deeply unsettling.

After leaving the cabin,

Zhang Ze and Li Yang led Little Zhou along the path they had taken before, but they soon became lost in the forest.

When they came upon a fork in the road, Zhang Ze chose the path with denser undergrowth.

A while later,

the trees and shrubs along the way grew even thicker.

Before Zhang Ze stood a century-old Korean Pine with luxuriant branches and leaves.

Its trunk was so thick that it would take three or four people to encircle it. Its tangled roots embedded themselves deep in the ground, and the soil showed signs of having been turned over.

"Before you came in, there were Old Zhou, me, a little girl, and a woman."

"After Little Zhou arrived, that little girl was bitten to death by the Crow that suddenly appeared."

"We buried her beneath this tree."

Li Yang spoke.

"If no newcomers enter, people usually revive at a fixed location after death. Death only becomes permanent when a newcomer enters the World in the Painting."

"After you came in, that middle-aged woman was also bitten to death by the Crow."

"The next time a newcomer arrives, I'll be the one who dies. After that, it'll be Old Zhou."

Zhang Ze glanced at the mound of dirt beneath his feet.

"What was the point of Lingling doing this?"

"If she had already become a complete Red-Clothed, she should have been able to take revenge on her parents easily. Yet even after getting revenge, she was still killing people."

"If she was killing indiscriminately, this was far too inefficient."

Li Yang shook his head. "If I were still who I used to be, and still had my memories, I might have been happy to discuss this with you."

"But I lost those memories. I only remember what happened after entering this damned place, along with my guesses about my former personality. I must have been a paranormal enthusiast before, and I must have bought that damned painting too."

Another fork appeared ahead.

As usual, Zhang Ze chose the path with denser undergrowth.

They had already gone deep into the forest. Going any farther would severely hinder their progress.

"You're sure we should go this way?"

"We can't even see the ground. Leaves are one thing, but what if a snake or something suddenly comes out?"

Li Yang was a little nervous.

He and Old Zhou had always avoided getting close to places like these.

After all, staying too long might attract the Crow, and then they would die once again.

Zhang Ze replied, "If the news about the Cellar is true, this may be the only way out. If you were Lingling, you would definitely find a way to hide the Cellar."

"Rather than letting it remain exposed in the most obvious place."

"The World in the Painting is the manifestation of Lingling's will. The denser the place, the closer it is to the core."

As Zhang Ze spoke, he snapped off a branch over a meter long.

Blood flowed from the broken end of the branch. On closer inspection, vein-like patterns could even be seen crawling across the bark.

Zhang Ze used the branch to poke at the ground covered in a layer of leaves.

If the Cellar had been buried beneath the leaves,

he should be able to poke a hard metal entrance.

"Ding!"

The branch really did hit something hard.

Zhang Ze was instantly delighted.

He pushed aside the bushes.

Before him was... the Crow.

More precisely, countless Crows. A pitch-black mass gathered together. Stimulated by Zhang Ze's movement, innumerable ink-black eyes instantly turned.

At nearly the same moment, every Crow locked its gaze onto Zhang Ze.

"Caw caw!"

An astonishing number of Crows took flight at once.

Among those Crows, a familiar figure soon appeared.

Its limbs had stretched out unnaturally, thin as branches. Its neck in particular was two or three times longer than normal, leaving it able to stand only in a hunched posture.

"Take Little Zhou and find the Cellar!"

Zhang Ze made his decision immediately.

He shoved Li Yang away.

Li Yang looked completely bewildered. He did not understand how Zhang Ze could sound so certain, as though Lingling would definitely chase after him.

Then the sight before him left him dumbfounded.

Countless Crows circled around the Red-Clothed woman. Blackish-red ink—or perhaps blood—flowed from her severed wrist, dripping onto the ground and turning into new Crows.

They really did chase in the direction Zhang Ze had fled.

They completely ignored Li Yang and Little Zhou.

"How... did he do that?"

Li Yang could not make sense of it.

But he quickly realized something. Those Crows had gathered there earlier because they must have been guarding something extremely important.

With all the Crows chasing Zhang Ze,

this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to escape.

Maybe the Cellar... was hidden inside!

Zhang Ze looked back.

All the Crows were behind him, less than a few meters away.

But in his vision, Lingling was only a red shadow. He could not see her walking at all, as if she were floating in midair.

His priority had to be higher than Li Yang's and Little Zhou's.

After all, he was the man the system had awarded the title "Nightmare New Star."

Under equal conditions, he was more likely than others to become the target of a vicious ghost's attacks. There was no doubt about that.

"Caw caw!"

The Crows called mockingly.

They seemed to be waiting for Zhang Ze to exhaust himself.

Branches scraped Zhang Ze's skin and cut into his flesh, but the wounds quickly healed.

Every now and then, he stepped on something brittle beneath his feet with a crack. Zhang Ze had no time to determine whether it was bone or a branch.

In the end, when Lingling's shadow appeared directly in front of him, Zhang Ze knew she had grown tired of playing.

After toying with prey,

it was time to enjoy it.

Zhang Ze stopped running.

"Lingling, I know you can hear me."

"Don't be nervous. I'm here to help you."

Zhang Ze spoke, trying to make his voice sound as gentle as possible. It was truly difficult for him. Before transmigrating, he had been an ordinary college student who had never dealt with girls in his life, much less ghosts—let alone female ghosts.

Still, even if he had been forced into it, he had to do it.

Like a Crow, the Red-Clothed woman tilted her head slightly, seemingly unable to understand what Zhang Ze was saying.

Zhang Ze continued:

"The pain you went through is already over. You made your enemies pay the price too. Yet you trapped yourself in this cruel world you painted, repeating that despair over and over again."

"You don't have to do this at all. We have a better path. As long as you're willing to take this step, I'll help you. I'll help you face this world again, as an artist."

"I'm Zhang Ze. I understand you. Let me be your friend, Lingling."

Zhang Ze had poured out every word he could think of.

Though some of it sounded awkward, Zhang Ze was certain that he had conveyed everything he meant.

According to the usual script, Lingling should have felt a faint stir deep within her heart, thinking that as a cruel hunter, she had long grown accustomed to carrying out one bloody pursuit after another in this Game Field.

And now, someone actually understood her pain, comforted her, and wanted to help her.

The next second, she should show that she was moved, let go of everything, and head toward a happy ending.

Wasn't that Chen Ge's standard routine?

Zhang Ze waited expectantly.

But the Red-Clothed woman's dark pupils shifted, and several hoarse words squeezed from her throat:

"...Friends taste good..."

The next second, Zhang Ze's abdomen writhed.

He heard the sound of Crows.