The man stared at Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning, looking them up and down for a long time especially when he noticed that Yu Ning’s pupils were different from those of ordinary people. He finally asked warily, “Who are you …… people?”
Yu Ning looked at the other party coldly and did not speak.
Yu Ning’s appearance was different from normal people. Everyone was a bit scared of him even under normal circumstances, let alone at times like this, in the middle of a secluded forest, where strangers met each other and were full of caution. The atmosphere was very tense.
Seeing this, Ji Mingxia hastily took the initiative to speak up, “We are students from Furnan County, here to camp.”
“Students? Camp?” The man frowned and took another close look at Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning.
Yu Ning was already taller than most southern males. Not only did he look outstanding in appearance, his tall body and long bones were a sign of strength.
Ji Mingxia, although a little shorter than Yu Ning, was about the same height as this man.
They were two men who had suddenly appeared. There was no way this man could be a match for them just by judging with the naked eye, which was why he was so vigilant after his initial surprise.
On hearing Ji Mingxia’s words, the man then noticed that Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning did look like young teenagers although they were tall and thin.
Funan County was just a small county with no university, which meant that they could not be more than twenty years old at most.
After realising this, the man relaxed slightly, the expression on his face subtly shifting as a look of delight surfaced.
After removing his fierce expression from earlier, the man smiled at Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning, “So you’re high school students from the neighbourhood, how are you? My name is Song Yuelin, I’m also here on a camping trip.”
As he said that, he picked up a cloth in his hand and continued to wipe his face carefully. He said to Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning as he wiped it, “What are you still doing, hurry up and come over here.”
Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning looked at each other and did not move immediately.
Their reaction seemed to be completely within Song Yuelin’s expectation.
Song Yuelin slowly wiped his face until his face was clean and completely free of dirt. Then he slowly folded the cloth and turned to them, “Meeting each other is fate. It’s really quite hard for three living people to meet each other in this huge forest.”
“Take a look around, there are two of you and I’m alone. I can’t defeat you even if I wanted to hurt you.”
What he said was true, and more importantly, Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning now had two mysterious items. There was no way this man could be their opponent under normal circumstances.
Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning had originally come here for the Blood red Ring, and there was no need to run away now that they had easily met someone in this huge forest.
With their equipment on their backs, the duo slowly walked forward and stopped when they reached the front of the commercial car.
From a distance, the car was already in a state of disrepair, but up close, it was even more disastrous.
Not only were there numerous marks on the car that seemed to have come from cuts by a sharp object, but there were also many dents where it looked like it had been hit.
Although the glass on the side of the car was still intact, it was cracked like a spider’s web, and one more hit would completely shatter it.
The front door of the car was open but the interior was so dark that it was impossible to see clearly. The only thing that could be determined was that the interior had been modified.
Yu Ning said that Li Youzi and her friends had entered the primeval forest in a seven-passenger commercial vehicle.
Logically, there should be seven seats inside the car, but at this moment, only the front four seats could be seen inside the car.
The back half of the car was blocked and the back row had been converted into a trunk.
The interior of the car was dimly lit, and the glass on the side was cracked, so it was impossible to see what was inside from the outside unless one went inside the car.
While Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning were looking around, Song Yuelin bent down and threw the cloth in his hand in a basin of water.
The cloth was so dirty that the original colour could not be seen at all, and the water in the basin also turned dark, giving off a faint fishy smell.
Song Yuelin washed it while looking at Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning. His gaze lingered on the equipment on their backs for a few seconds as he said, “Looking at your appearance …… you should have just come in not long ago? Did you come in yesterday?”
Yu Ning ignored him.
His appearance was different from normal people, and his face was cold. He looked unapproachable and hard to deal with at first glance.
Ji Mingxia was the opposite of him.
He had come from another world and completely adapted to the new environment in just a few hours. Although his social skills were not very good, they were certainly much better than Yu Ning’s.
On hearing Song Yuelin’s inquiry and seeing that Yu Ning did not say anything, Ji Mingxia hurriedly answered, “We just came in today and we plan to spend two nights here before leaving.”
Ji Mingxia looked at Song Yuelin and then at the battered commercial vehicle, seemingly a little curiously, “This car …… are you one of those wilderness survival experts who intend to stay in the forest for a full month?”
Song Yuelin couldn’t help sneering at his words and said to Ji Mingxia, “I came in not long ago too, and I’ve spent a total of four nights here. Today is the fifth day.”
“Four nights?” Ji Mingxia looked at Song Yuelin in mock surprise and said, “Your car became like this in just four or five days?”
“More than that.” Song Yuelin said, poured out the dirty water from the basin.
The cloth was not clean even after washing it for a long time, but Song Yuelin looked like he had no intentions to continue washing it as he casually hung the cloth on the rearview mirror of the car to dry.
After finishing all this, Song Yuelin turned around and looked at Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning with a strange expression, “You two must find it strange that my car and I are stuck here, right?”
There was no expression on Yu Ning’s face.
Ji Mingxia, as the spokesperson between the two, did not hide his emotions and nodded straight away.
Song Yuelin stretched out his hand and pulled up the sleeves on his wrists.
The temperature inside the forest was considerably cooler than outside, and Song Yuelin, like Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning, was also wearing long sleeves and trousers.
His skin looked white and clean, no different from that of an ordinary person, but after pulling up his sleeves, bruises and cut wounds from his wrists to his arm were exposed.
After pulling his sleeves up, Song Yuelin lifted the hem of his shirt, exposing his chest and stomach which had several scratches on them, making them look hideous.
Ji Mingxia stared at Song Yuelin’s body in disbelief.
As an ordinary person born and raised in the peaceful era, the only time he saw someone get injured was on TV shows when the protagonist suffered in various ways.
But in real life, Ji Mingxia had never seen anyone with so many wounds on their bodies apart from the ghost.
These wounds were not bone-deep, but the skin was cut through and it oozed blood. It could be seen that the wounds were recent and should have been received within the past two days.
A while ago, Ji Mingxia fell and hit the side of his waist into a desk when helping Yu Ning to drive away a ghost. He bruised a large area of skin, causing a burning pain.
Ji Mingxia was in so much pain from just that injured area.
Even though the bruises were not on his body, Ji Mingxia felt pain just seeing the ones on Song Yuelin’s body.
Song Yuelin was showing off the wounds on his body, and Yu Ning, who had been expressionless, glanced at them and then moved his eyes away calmly.
After noticing that Ji Mingxia was looking at Song Yuelin’s body with an uncomfortable expression, Yu Ning immediately reached out his hand and quietly pulled Ji Mingxia to his back.
He stood between Ji Mingxia and Song Yuelin, and asked the latter, “What are you trying to say?”
Song Yuelin took in both of their reactions, and seeing that neither wanted to see more, Song Yuelin modestly pulled back the hem and sleeves of his shirt to cover the injuries.
He said to Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning, “My car, and the injuries on my body, are all the result of what happened in the past four days. This forest is not ordinary, all those who enter this area will be drawn into a terrifying game.”
“Congratulations, you are now part of this game.”
Yu Ning was silent and did not say anything. After a momentary daze, Ji Mingxia quickly believed what Song Yuelin had said.
It turned out that Li Youzi entered the primeval forest to form an enclosed space in this uninhabited area to launch some sort of escape game?
Originally, Ji Mingxia couldn’t imagine how a soft and weak girl like Li Youzi could kill people.
But it would make sense if she used the power of the blood red ring to create such a supernatural event.
But he certainly wouldn’t trust the other party so quickly, otherwise he and Yu Ning would look very suspicious.
Yu Ning was motionless and unresponsive. Ji Mingxia saw the situation and hurriedly poked his head out from behind Yu Ning’s back, his face showing a very appropriate expression of disbelief.
He looked at Song Yuelin as if he was looking at a joke and said, “Big brother, what are you talking about, are you joking?”
After speaking, he hurriedly looked around, as if he was looking for a camera.
The surrounding area was empty, except for dense branches of the trees.
Ji Mingxia’s eyes circled around to make sure no one was nearby before his gaze returned to Song Yuelin: “You guys aren’t recording some kind of show, are you? My friend and I are just ordinary people on a tour. We don’t want to get involved at all.”
Yu Ning’s reaction made Song Yuelin a little unhappy.
But luckily, there was a more normal Ji Mingxia next to him.
Ji Mingxia’s reaction was perfectly in line with Song Yuelin’s expectation.
He helplessly spread his hands and said, “I knew that you guys wouldn’t believe me, so I showed you the injuries on my body. I’m sure you can tell if there’s anyone around here and if a show is being recorded or not. It is also your choice to believe or not, but as I said, meeting each other is fate. I am just kindly telling you the truth.”
Song Yuelin then lowered his voice, “Young man, you should have watched those gory movies like Battle Royale and Escape Game so you must know how the cannon fodders die. If you don’t believe me, you can walk back a bit. If you can find your way back, I will kneel down on the spot to apologize and make amends. I’m even willing to transfer 200,000 yuan to express my gratitude.”
Of course, Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning should show that they were completely clueless.
The two pretended to be students on a tour, and after treating the other party’s words as nonsense, they turned and walked back the way they had come.
Seeing this, Song Yuelin also followed behind them as if he were taking a stroll.
Ji Mingxia originally wanted to discuss with Yu Ning on how to deal with this Song Yuelin next, but unexpectedly, the man followed them.
With Song Yuelin following, Yu Ning secretly took the ring off to avoid the red light from reappearing and knocking the barrier out.
They returned to the location of the boundary. Yu Ning deliberately didn’t control the mysterious item and the two walked back and forth around the boundary like ordinary people.
The truth was indeed as Song Yuelin had said. The area was surrounded by the boundary, and without the use of the mysterious item, they could not find the way they had come no matter how long they searched.
All those who entered within the boundary were trapped within this unique area and could not leave.
Yu Ning was not a talker, and Ji Mingxia was once again forced to continue being the spokesperson.
He walked back and forth several times in disbelief, and finally looked at Song Yuelin with a “shocked” expression and said, “How could this happen, why can’t we find our way back?”
Song Yuelin reminded, “Look at your phone.”
Ji Mingxia reached into his pocket and pulled out a bunch of dried fruit and melon seeds.
Seeing that Song Yuelin was staring at him expectantly, Ji Mingxia smiled dryly and hurriedly changed his pockets. He continued digging, resulting in several bars of chocolate and dried spicy beans.
Song Yuelin stared at the snacks in Ji Mingxia’s hand, his face almost tense with a smile.
He swallowed quietly and looked at Ji Mingxia with a slightly gloomy look in his eyes.
Ji Mingxia was still keeping his head down, fumbling in his pockets for his mobile phone.
Just then, Yu Ning, who was standing beside him, reached and helped Ji Mingxia unzip the side of his backpack, taking out Ji Mingxia’s mobile phone and handing it to him.
“So I put it here, I forgot.” Ji Mingxia said, whispering a “thank you” to Yu Ning, and then extending his hand to take it.
Under Song Yuelin’s watchful eyes, Ji Mingxia opened the screen of his phone and studied it carefully. Only then did he realize that the phone was out of signal.
When he and Yu Ning had gotten out of the car, Ji Mingxia clearly remembered that the driver was still connected to the internet and was playing the latest music using his phone. So there was definitely signal at that time.
It was only a ten-minute walk away from where they got off the car and the signal couldn’t have disappeared just like that.
The only possibility was that the mysterious item had caused a magnetic field that caused the signal to disappear. Not only could people not get out, but even their mobile phones couldn’t contact the outside world.
“What the hell is all this about ……” Ji Mingxia muttered as he looked at Song Yuelin with his hands trembling.
Song Yuelin looked at Ji Mingxia’s “broken” look with satisfaction. He sighed and led Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning towards the commercial vehicle. As they walked, Song Yuelin patiently explained to Ji Mingxia and Yu Ning.
“A few days ago, I entered the primeval forest with my companions just like you. Unexpectedly, strange things happened one after another as soon as we entered…..”
