Chapter 47: 47, Sinister woods

Ren Xiaosu ignored everyone else and walked over to check on Xu Xia's injury. He took Xu Xia's hand away from his neck, revealing a long, glinting stinger. Ren recognized it at a glance—it was a hornet's stinger.

He silently plucked the stinger from behind him, not wanting others to know how Xu Xia had truly died. The atmosphere in the group grew increasingly strange, and their fear of the wilderness only made his role as a "guide" more advantageous. Ren never considered himself a good man; he had no obligation to reveal everything, and survival was what mattered most.

Yet Ren felt a flicker of relief—as long as it wasn't some mysterious species attacking humans, he was fine. In truth, he had been startled moments ago.

According to Ren's reasoning, the hornet must have been nesting in the pickup truck bed. Xu Xia's climbing had disturbed it, provoking the attack.

But he hadn't expected the hornet's sting to be so lethal. Was it the swelling in the neck that caused suffocation? No, no, no—if it were suffocation, death wouldn't come within seconds. It had to be the venom.

As a child, Ren had once been stung by hornets, but only his cheek had swollen for days. Nothing like this.

This wilderness was becoming more dangerous.

Sometimes Ren felt conflicted. On one hand, he was drawn to the secrets of this mysterious land; on the other, he knew curiosity could kill.

Humans were multifaceted, and thoughts were never simple—that was what made them human.

Death's shadow loomed over the entire convoy, and the only one at ease was Ren. Xu Xianchu had examined the wound but saw only a red dot on the neck. Ren watched everyone's reactions, while Yang Xiaojin casually glanced at Xu Xia's injury, frowning.

Only Ren knew Xu Xia had merely been stung by an evolved hornet of the wilderness...

"How do we handle Xu Xia's body? We can't just leave it here, can we?" someone asked.

"What else can we do?" Liu Bu furrowed his brow, intending to dump Xu Xia here. Burying him would take time, and he wanted to leave this cursed place as soon as possible.

Lu Xinyu said, "Put him in the pickup truck bed. We'll leave first and find a proper place to bury him later."

As the band's leader, abandoning Xu Xia here would tarnish her reputation. How would others view her?

Liu Bu turned to Xu Xianchu and said, "Maybe we should go back?"

"No," Xu Xianchu shook his head, but didn't explain why.

Liu Bu understood then that he couldn't control the private army. Though they seemed to have hired one, they were merely hitchhiking, having paid protection fees. The private army had let them ride along to conceal the true purpose of the trip, using them as cover.

So this journey to Jing Mountain meant nothing to the band.

Seeing no way back, Liu Bu told Ren, "You ride in the truck bed. Cheng Donghang, you stay in the car." He sneered, "Since you claim you didn't take the wrong path, face the danger yourself."

He no longer cared if Ren ate cookies—who wanted to die? Survival was more important than a few cookies.

Ren didn't object. He hadn't eaten cookies in days and missed them.

Being near the corpse didn't bother him. During the wolf attack on the factory, he had seen countless bodies without fear.

Those inside the walls revered life and death, but Ren only respected them—never feared.

The convoy set off again. Ren sat in the truck bed, eating cookies and drinking bottled water, muttering to Xu Xia, "You had to come out here for no reason, and now you're dead."

"Hey, what's wrong with you people in the walls? We're starving out here, and you're still listening to music and idolizing stars."

"Pig meat was delivered to you, and we can't even get a bite..."

Ren chatted idly with "Xu Xia" just to pass time, but the two men in the driver and passenger seats weren't so calm. They suddenly heard Ren's voice on the road. The driver's scalp went numb. He asked his brother, "Who's he talking to?!"

"I... I don't know. Maybe he's talking to himself..."

"Is he crazy or what?"

That night, the convoy couldn't find a suitable place to camp, so they settled on a small clearing. No one felt like chatting or boasting—only silence remained.

The next morning, Ren stretched lazily. He hadn't eaten the night before, having nearly gorged on cookies.

The chocolate had been in the truck bed, but Liu Bu, ever vigilant, had carried it to his own car. Their vehicle had no space for the box, so Liu Bu held it all afternoon...

Ren had planned well—he wouldn't need breakfast. Once the convoy moved, he could eat whatever he wanted in the truck bed.

Just then, a scream pierced the air. Ren turned sharply toward the pickup's direction. A private army soldier shouted, "Where's Xu Xia's body? Who saw it?!"

Everyone froze: "Wasn't it in the truck?"

"The body is gone!"

This time, Ren's scalp went numb!

What was happening? The body had been placed in the truck bed—how could it vanish?

A normal adult male weighed 140 to 180 pounds. Moving a corpse silently was impossible.

With so many people here, how could no one have heard a sound? Who had taken Xu Xia's body?

Suddenly, Ren remembered the fish bones and meat he had discarded earlier—they had disappeared without a trace, impossible to determine the cause.

At the time, he had guessed ants, but this time, it couldn't be ants. Even evolved ants couldn't move a corpse overnight.

Now, a shadow loomed in Ren's heart. He frowned, pondering what force had done this.

Liu Bu trembled, looking at Xu Xianchu: "Sir, let's go back. This is too eerie."

Xu Xianchu held his gun toward the outside, on guard: "I'm as scared as you, but we must go to Jing Mountain. I have my reasons!"

"But this forest is too strange!" Liu Bu nearly cried.

"Get in the cars and leave this damned place!" Xu Xianchu roared.

From that moment on, Ren kept a bone knife in his hand, his mind sharp, ready for any danger.