The umbrella formation

"Go!"

Elder Uncle hurriedly pushed Ye Qianfan's head down.

Ye Qianfan quickly lowered his head, but for some reason, he kept feeling that the woman was staring at him!

Or rather...

She was staring at the baby on his back!

Elder Uncle hurriedly led Ye Qianfan onward, pretending he had noticed nothing amiss.

When they caught up with the group again...

"Take these!"

The porter ahead of Ye Qianfan handed them two yellow paper umbrellas. "You two will cover the rear."

"Us?"

Ye Qianfan took the umbrella, momentarily stunned.

But the man ahead apparently had no intention of explaining. He simply thrust the umbrellas into their hands, then turned and left.

Elder Uncle frowned at the order as well, but said nothing more about it. He merely instructed, "Open it, quick. Then point the canopy behind us. We'll walk backward."

"All right."

Only then did Ye Qianfan snap out of his daze.

At a time like this, he couldn't go wrong listening to an experienced elder!

Snap!

The yellow paper umbrella opened before Ye Qianfan.

It was a flimsy umbrella, its canopy pasted together from the yellow paper Taoists used to draw talismans. The paper hadn't even been oiled. Never mind keeping off rain—a strong gust could probably tear it apart!

Its ribs were also made from very thin bamboo.

No matter how he looked at it, it hardly seemed capable of keeping anything out.

"Everyone, open your umbrellas!"

Just as Ye Qianfan was examining this lousy umbrella, a scout's voice came from up ahead. "Point every canopy outward! Those at the very back, point yours behind you!"

"Answer if you heard the order!"

"Understood!"

"Got it!"

Replies rang out one after another from the group ahead.

Those answering calls, rising and falling around him, finally gave Ye Qianfan a small sense of security.

"Activate the umbrella formation!"

Then...

Something miraculous happened.

Blood-red patterns suddenly appeared across the yellow canopies, which had joined together like a surrounding wall!

The patterns looked as though they had been written in cinnabar, complete with talisman heads, tails, and bodies—classic Taoist talismans. Though Ye Qianfan couldn't decipher them, he figured they must have something to do with warding off evil!

When he looked up at the tree trunk again after opening his umbrella, the woman in red was gone.

It seemed she had left out of fear of these yellow paper umbrellas!

"Maintain the umbrella formation! Keep moving!"

The scout's voice from up ahead interrupted Ye Qianfan's thoughts once more.

The group slowly began moving again!

With everyone carrying a corpse and now having to hold an umbrella as well, it was clearly both exhausting and cumbersome. Yet no one dared lower the paper-thin umbrella in their hands!

Like a long train, the group slowly made its way forward...

The deeper they went into the forest, the harder the path became.

Ye Qianfan was forcing himself onward on sheer grit now. He was afraid that if he stopped, he would never get moving again!

"Those crooked Patrol Army!"

"They clearly said that if everything went smoothly, we could be back in town by evening. And now?"

"It's almost evening, and we haven't even caught a glimpse of the Mass Burial Ground! We still have to burn the corpses, too! They're just cheating honest people!"

"That's nothing unusual. They're just duping more people into joining!" Elder Uncle smiled at Ye Qianfan's muttering. "If we really could get back by evening, why would they pay this much? Even twenty copper coins would be generous!"

Pitter-patter!

Pitter-patter!!

Whoosh!!!

A sudden downpour came pouring from the sky.

After all, this was the fog zone. Rain was commonplace somewhere this humid!

But this rain was unnaturally heavy!

Normally, rain should start light and gradually grow heavier.

Yet this rain was as though an immortal in the heavens had suddenly taken a whim to pour water down below. It was absurdly heavy from the very beginning!

The porters were drenched in sweat from walking. When the rain poured over them, they instantly felt chilled to the core!

"Achoo!"

Quite a few people couldn't help sneezing!

Ye Qianfan quickly raised his yellow paper umbrella over his head. After all, he had carried it all this way without getting any use out of it. Surely now he could put it to work!

But just as everyone else had the same idea as Ye Qianfan...

"Close your umbrellas! All of you, close them!"

The scout's furious roar came from up ahead again. "No one is to use these umbrellas against the rain! Anyone who disobeys will be killed without mercy!"

The Patrol Soldiers' warning came a moment too late. Most people had already instinctively raised their umbrellas to keep the icy rain off!

But the instant the bright-red, bizarre talisman scrawls on the canopies touched the rain...

Those vivid patterns began dissolving rapidly.

Just like paint meeting water!

Red and yellow immediately streamed down the canopies with the rain.

Ye Qianfan held out his hand and watched the red water drip into his palm. Yet after meeting the water, that vivid color had acquired a faint smell of blood!

Blood rain?!

Ye Qianfan's pupils contracted.

While walking earlier, he had heard that voice telling him over and over, "Keep walking. Walk until it rains blood..." He had thought he was hearing things!

He hadn't expected blood rain to actually fall. Though it wasn't the kind of blood rain he had imagined, at this moment Ye Qianfan was certain that the voice wasn't an auditory hallucination. It truly existed.

"Walk until it rains blood, then take the child..."

Just as Ye Qianfan was wondering what he should do once it rained blood...

That voice appeared again, just as he expected!

"Run!"

"Xiaofan, run with me!"

But before Ye Qianfan could hear the rest of the sentence, Elder Uncle had already thrown away his umbrella and dragged him into a mad sprint!

Ye Qianfan strained his ears, desperate to hear what came next, but the voice vanished once more!

With the situation so urgent, however, he had no time to think. He simply followed Uncle, forcing his way through the narrow gaps along either side of the crowd!

Thud, thud, thud!

"What are you shoving for? You'll be the next one grabbed, you bastard!"

"Damn it, why are you running around blindly? Don't you know that makes it more dangerous?"

The crowd's furious curses rang out behind Ye Qianfan, but he didn't argue. He merely stayed close to Elder Uncle, running forward and forward!

They didn't stop until they had nearly reached the front of the group, close enough to see the mounted Patrol Soldiers!

"Elder Uncle..."

Just as Ye Qianfan was about to tell Elder Uncle about the voice he had heard...

"Aah—!"

"It's Wang Er! Wang Er!"

"Wang Er's killing people! Wang Er's gone mad!"

"Help! Help, don't kill me! I don't want to die!!"

All manner of screams erupted from the part of the group where Ye Qianfan had been.

The umbrella formation had broken!

Wang Er had become a vicious corpse—or rather, a vicious corpse had invaded Wang Er's body, turning him into a Corpse Demon!

Luckily, Elder Uncle had experience. Otherwise, the one being snatched away now...

Would probably have been him!

"Keep up!"

"Stop looking! Run, all of you!"

The Patrol Soldiers heard the porters' screams, yet had no intention of even taking a look!

He merely led the porters ahead in a frantic run. Apparently, he had already decided to shed his tail like a gecko, leaving those behind as bait for the vicious corpse to slaughter while they covered the retreat!

"The cave entrance is just up ahead! Hurry, all of you!"

"We'll be safe once we reach the cave!"

The Patrol Soldiers shouted while swinging their whips, lashing their horses' rumps furiously.

The tall warhorses neighed as they charged forward. Hearing the screams that rose behind them from time to time, the porters also followed in a crazed sprint!

Compared with those young, strong men...

Ye Qianfan and Elder Uncle, one young and one old, naturally couldn't run as fast.

The two soon fell behind. Apart from a few people too frightened to run or too injured to move, there was no one left behind Ye Qianfan.

Ye Qianfan kept glancing back, only to find that the people behind him were disappearing one by one as well!

Though he hadn't seen the vicious corpse, Ye Qianfan knew perfectly well...

Those people had been taken away by it!

"Leave... the child behind!"

And just then...

A woman's furious roar abruptly rang out beside Ye Qianfan's ear!

His whole body shuddered. Without even asking, he could already imagine exactly who was saying those words to him...