Chapter 17: What, Exactly, Are You?

Perhaps it was because of the singing, but the roars of exotic beasts never appeared within this stretch of the jungle, as if the source of that singing were the master of this forbidden zone.

Once it appeared, all things had to fall silent.

Captain Lei sat there silently, still gazing into the distance, where it was pitch black and there was nothing at all.

Xu Qing’s expression was somewhat complex; after a long moment, his gaze swept across the surroundings and finally landed on the Savage Ghost’s spiked club and the shattered fragments of his shield.

The Savage Ghost’s corpse, like all the other corpses here, had turned to dust when the mist of the singing departed, as if it had never existed in the world.

Scavengers often have no family, so perhaps there are not many who care about their disappearance.

Even if there are, they will eventually be forgotten as time passes, until years later, no one knows, no one remembers.

Xu Qing suddenly thought of the schoolteacher in the slums who had been quite kind to him, and a sentence he had said to their group of children before he died of illness in his twilight years.

"To have someone in your heart you cannot forget is a form of pain, but to be kept in someone else's heart is a form of happiness."

At the time, Xu Qing did not quite understand this, but now, as he looked at Captain Lei, he understood the meaning of these words to some extent, so he did not disturb him, but instead walked silently to the place where the Savage Ghost’s body had once been, took out his dagger, and began to dig into the ground.

Although his acquaintance with the Savage Ghost was not deep—to be precise, it was only a few days, and there hadn't been many words exchanged—the other party had imparted jungle experience to him, they had survived the wolf tribulation together, and in the end, he had used the other party's belongings to block the black blood.

Therefore, Xu Qing felt he should do something.

Just as when he left the city and cremated all the corpses, he dug hard into the soil, gradually excavating a pit.

He buried the Savage Ghost’s spiked club and the shield fragments.

During this process, Xu Qing was very focused and did not notice Captain Lei behind him, who had long since withdrawn his gaze from the jungle and was watching him.

In his expression was a trace of the same curiosity he had felt when he first looked at Xu Qing in the ruins of the city; seeing Xu Qing bury the Savage Ghost’s weapon and seemingly wanting to make a tombstone, Captain Lei spoke softly.

"Scavengers do not need tombstones."

"Dust to dust, earth to earth. This is the life of a scavenger; struggling in the world while alive, and after death... there is no need for offerings, silence is enough."

As he said this, Captain Lei’s aura grew increasingly weak; the severity of his injuries, the accumulation of foreign substances, and the exhaustion of his spirit meant he could no longer hold on, and as the world slowly blurred, he closed his eyes and fell into a coma.

Xu Qing walked over, took some seven-leaf grass from his pocket, and stuffed it into Captain Lei’s mouth.

He did not know if it would be useful, but he figured that since this item was a necessity for making White Elixirs, it should at least have some effect in alleviating the foreign substances.

After doing this, he carried Captain Lei on his back and tied him firmly with his clothes, then took a deep breath and sped through the jungle in the dead of night.

Passing the place where the Blood Shadow Captain had turned to dust, Xu Qing saw a leather pouch; he picked it up and opened it, but there were no elixirs inside, only some miscellaneous items.

He put it away and flashed off into the distance.

When Captain Lei’s consciousness weakly recovered, half an hour had already passed.

He felt vaguely that he was being carried by a small, thin body, rising and falling with its movements; he slowly opened his eyes and saw the side of the youth’s face before him.

He fell silent.

Xu Qing also noticed that Captain Lei had awakened and spoke in a low voice.

"Are you feeling a bit better? You can continue to sleep for a while; in a few more hours, before dawn, we should be able to walk out of the forbidden zone."

Captain Lei did not speak; his weak body could no longer hide his old age. He struggled to lift his head to look at the pitch-black sky, his vision slowly blurring, and as his consciousness was about to fall into a coma once more, he murmured softly.

"Kid, do you know why I asked to take you with me twice in the ruined city?"

Xu Qing’s figure did not pause, and he shook his head.

"Then do you remember the scene when we first met?" Captain Lei’s voice was weak.

"I remember." Xu Qing’s body moved, leaping onto a large tree; he raised his right hand to grab at the side, caught a mutated lizard that had been hiding there and charging rapidly, and threw it toward the ground in front of him.

With a bang, as the lizard fell, a large number of vines on the ground twisted and rushed over to entangle it, piercing its skin and devouring its flesh as it struggled.

Xu Qing took advantage of this opportunity to jump up, avoiding the danger and continuing on his way.

At this moment, Captain Lei’s powerless murmurs came from behind, the voice so sickly that it would have been hard to hear if they were not so close.

"I saw you cremating the corpses; at that time, you were beside the flames, illuminated by the firelight, as if you had merged with the fire, making me feel as if I had seen... a glimmer of warmth in this cruel world."

Xu Qing’s footsteps paused, and he fell silent; the Captain Lei behind him had also fallen back into a coma.

After a few breaths, Xu Qing silently lifted his feet and continued to speed through the jungle, weaving through the trees and flying off into the distance.

Time passed, and soon an hour went by.

Xu Qing avoided dangers, his figure getting closer and closer to the edge of the jungle.

At this moment, the sky was at its darkest; the chill of the night from the forbidden zone invaded the surroundings, but fortunately, Xu Qing had been moving at high speed, and the heat naturally generated by his body resisted the cold slightly.

However... as he moved forward, this chill grew increasingly intense; after the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Xu Qing’s figure stopped abruptly, and he looked ahead with a gloomy expression.

In front of him, a thick fog had appeared in the jungle.

This mist was extremely dense and spread out from afar, but unlike the singing blood mist Xu Qing had seen before, it seemed to lack a strong sense of oppression.

It was just that wherever his gaze fell, the places shrouded by the mist were all blurred, making it impossible to see anything around him.

Especially in the dead of night, the concealment of the mist was even more intense; Xu Qing wanted to avoid it, but he had been running for a long time, and everywhere he looked, the mist was still encroaching.

He knew what this was.

When they had just entered the forbidden zone, Shizi and Luan Ya had said that among the dangers in the forbidden zone, there was something called the Fog of Confusion.

If one were shrouded by this mist, people inside would lose their sense of direction and eventually get lost.

And once this mist formed, it often took a long time to dissipate naturally.

Xu Qing felt that although he could hold out until the mist dissipated and the foreign substances in his body would not surge, the weak Captain Lei could not; if they were trapped inside, he would surely mutate and die before long.

This forced Xu Qing to retreat, attempting to circle around the mist over a larger area.

But... the mist was too vast; no matter how fast he was, he still fell into a situation where there was mist in front, behind, and on both sides. With nowhere to hide, he was submerged within it.

Yet soon, the mist that had submerged Xu Qing’s location gradually became thin, and finally, it revealed Xu Qing’s startled figure once again.

He lowered his head and looked at his own feet.

There was no shadow in the dark night, but Xu Qing could feel the mist around him currently rushing rapidly into the soles of his feet.

It was as if that invisible shadow had formed a vortex, devouring the surroundings.

The speed of this devouring was not fast, and after a short while, it seemed to be full and stopped absorbing, causing the mist to submerge Xu Qing’s figure once again.

But... as the shadow finished devouring, a feedback force surged into Xu Qing’s body and gathered in his eyes; as far as his eyes could see, the dense mist had actually become transparent.

Or perhaps it could not be described as seeing, but rather sensing!

Even though the mist still existed and was incomparably dense, in his perception, it was only slightly blurred, far from the point of blocking his vision and causing him to lose his way.

This made Xu Qing’s breathing quicken, and he looked down at the invisible shadow at his feet.

"What exactly... are you?" Xu Qing whispered.

After a long moment, he looked up to sense his surroundings, remained silent for a short while, and then his body moved immediately; his speed undiminished, he sped through the dense fog like a ghost.

Not long after, Xu Qing, flying through the dense fog, saw living people.

They were two scavengers.

Xu Qing vaguely remembered seeing them in the camp; the two were currently holding hands, exploring and moving forward slowly in the dense fog like blind men.

But in Xu Qing’s perception, their movement was actually just going in circles; clearly, they had already realized this, and the sweat on their foreheads and their heavy breathing revealed their nervousness and despair for the future.

After glancing at the two, Xu Qing withdrew his gaze, his body flickered, and he was about to leave.

He did not have overflowing compassion; living in this cruel world, he had seen too many examples in the slums of people saving others without purpose only to be backlashed themselves.

But for those whose vision is obscured, their hearing becomes extremely keen at such times, so the sound of Xu Qing’s footsteps as he left was still detected by them.

The two immediately showed nervousness; they could not tell if the sound came from a human or a beast, so one of them let out a low growl to show ferocity, seemingly wanting to use this to intimidate.

The other one shouted for help, and even, to show sincerity, took out White Elixirs and spirit coins from a leather pouch, promising in his words to give them away, just for a chance at survival.

Xu Qing’s footsteps paused; he looked back at the White Elixirs in the man’s hand and then felt the weakness of Captain Lei behind him.

After some thought, he rummaged through his leather pouch, found a candle, and lit it, giving the place some firelight; however, this firelight was weak, and the mist suppressed it, causing it to slowly dim.

Taking advantage of the remaining firelight, Xu Qing retreated some distance, looked at the two not far away, and spoke slowly.

"Go straight for seven steps to the right, then ten steps to the left..."

As Xu Qing’s voice entered their ears, both scavengers trembled, their faces filled with ecstasy, and they immediately followed Xu Qing’s instructions with quickened breathing.

Soon, under Xu Qing’s successive instructions, they circled left and right, avoiding dangerous spots, and the mist before them gradually thinned as they approached the location of the candlelight.

Until they walked into the range of the candle that was about to go out, illuminated by the firelight, like blind men regaining their sight, they instantly threw themselves beside the candle, their emotions excited and intensely boiling.

As for Xu Qing, he was currently hiding in the dark at the edge; even if the firelight shone slightly, his figure remained blurred. He looked at the excited appearance of the two with an expressionless face and spoke indifferently.

"Give me the White Elixirs."

One of them trembled; having survived the ordeal, he did not hesitate and immediately threw the leather pouch containing the spirit coins and White Elixirs to Xu Qing, thanking him repeatedly.

The other one was just about to take the elixirs from his body, but after his gaze swept over Xu Qing’s figure, his excitement subsided somewhat.

Because Xu Qing was in the dark where the mist was thin and swirling, the man could not see Xu Qing’s face clearly, only the smallness of his body and the fact that he seemed to be carrying a comatose person on his back.

A glint of cold light flashed in his eyes, but he put on a smile and acted sincere as he spoke.

"Little brother, I’ve finished all my White Elixirs, but don't worry, once the mist clears, or if you have a way to take me out, I will definitely repay you double."

After speaking, his eyes flickered slightly, looking toward where Xu Qing was, with a hint of eagerness to try something.

His companion beside him also felt regret in his heart, feeling that he had given his away too quickly before.

Xu Qing looked deeply at the scavenger who hadn't given him the White Elixirs and said nothing.

He simply raised his right hand and waved it; a wind blew, and the candle flame extinguished instantly, plunging the surroundings back into darkness and mist.

As an exclamation came from the man’s mouth, Xu Qing flashed over, snatched the leather pouch from him, and then his calm voice echoed in the surroundings.

"No need, you can just stay inside."

"Wait, I was wrong, I was really wrong, I’ll give you the White Elixirs, I..."

The man was suddenly anxious, wanting to grab something, but his body was blocked by the trees at his feet and he fell directly.

As he climbed up, his calls became more anxious, and a strong sense of regret filled his body and mind.

"Little brother, listen to my explanation, I..."

Xu Qing did not pay attention to the other party’s calls and walked toward the other person who had given him the White Elixirs.

This person’s face was now filled with horror, and as he fell back into the fog, he was overcome with panic; without him noticing in the slightest, Xu Qing passed by his side and spoke indifferently.

"Follow the sound of my footsteps."

After saying this, Xu Qing did not look back and continued forward, while the person, upon hearing Xu Qing’s words, breathed rapidly and immediately followed the sound, feeling an unprecedented sense of relief in his heart for how quickly he had paid the reward just moments ago.

Especially when he heard the anxious wails behind him quickly turn into frantic curses after the pleas for help went unanswered, the despair in that tone made his heart tremble, and he felt an even stronger sense of awe toward the owner of the footsteps in front of him.

Woke up late... It’s too hot today, I want to go stay in the forbidden zone forest for a while...