Chapter 30 We are all human
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Struck by Jiang Guan’s blow, Lin Zhaohe silently regained his transformation and returned to the appearance of an old man, leaning on a cane to lead the others.
Without any further mishaps, Lin Zhaohe, accompanied by a few people, successfully reached the morgue.
It seemed that only he and Zhou Ze had been here before, and the bodies were still arranged as they had left them.
Upon reaching the entrance, Lin Zhaohe initially expected Jiang Guan to charge straight in. However, to his surprise, she stood at the doorway, catching her breath for a moment. After mentally preparing herself, she continued to walk inside.
“Which one?” Jiang Guan’s voice was hoarse.
“The one on the far right,” Lin Zhaohe replied.
Jiang Guan bypassed the other corpses and approached the one Lin Zhaohe had mentioned. She half-squatted, gazing at the face of the body. After a moment, she whispered, “Yes, it’s her.”
Lin Zhaohe asked, “So now we need to find the Scale of Anubis? And a question suddenly occurred to me: can the dead in this game be revived? There should have been six bodies here, but when Zhou Ze and I arrived, there were only four. Later, we encountered two more outside… and they were alive.”
“What?” Yun Yuzi exclaimed. “You encountered two living bodies?”
“Yes,” Lin Zhaohe replied. “I’m not particularly familiar with this game, and Zhou Ze doesn’t know how they came to life either…” Among their group, only Jiang Guan was an experienced player. He had wanted to hear her thoughts, but when he looked over, he was surprised to see her crying.
She carefully cradled the body in her arms, weeping sorrowfully like a wounded kitten. This stark contrast to her earlier indifference left Lin Zhaohe bewildered, unsure whether he should disturb her.
“Nannan must have suffered so much,” Jiang Guan sobbed. “It’s all that bastard’s fault, it’s all that bastard…” She paused mid-cry, lifting her tear-streaked face with hatred. “I will make him regret living in this world!”
Lin Zhaohe remained silent. He didn’t dare to speak.
“We don’t have much time left,” Zhuang Lao interjected, not particularly afraid of Jiang Guan. “We should leave.”
“Okay.” Jiang Guan gently placed the body down and stood up. “You stay here to guard the bodies and don’t let anyone disturb Nannan. We’ll go search for the scale… Lin Zhaohe, right? You just mentioned that you saw living dead people?”
Lin Zhaohe nodded, recounting the encounter with the two individuals he and Zhou Ze had come across. “They seemed to be luring people over… There must be a purpose behind it.”
“No matter what their purpose is,” Jiang Guan said calmly, “we’ll find out by going over there.”
Indeed, Lin Zhaohe nodded in agreement.
If he remembered correctly, not long after he and Zhou Ze left the morgue, they encountered those two individuals.
This time, Lin Zhaohe led the group in the same direction. Sure enough, they soon spotted the figures standing in the middle of the corridor. It was the same two people Lin Zhaohe had encountered before.
“What are you guys doing?” The two individuals noticed them and approached with the same warmth they had shown towards Lin Zhaohe.
Lin Zhaohe had no worries about being recognized by them because, at the time of their encounter, he was still the unpopular soon-to-be-killed-off Yellow Banana Girl. So he asked, “Did you see two guys? One is a young man and the other is a younger boy. The boy was wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans.”
The woman, however, responded, “Was the young man wearing a yellow skirt?”
Lin Zhaohe: Can’t you fcking listen to my description? Do you always have your own ideas?
The woman continued, “Did he have two bananas hanging on his head and hold a…”
“Alright, alright, that’s him!” Lin Zhaohe’s face turned red with frustration. He almost wanted to shove the flashlight into the woman’s mouth to make her shut up. “Did you see where they went?”
Yun Yuzi, standing nearby, struggled to suppress her laughter, contorting her face in the process.
“We saw them,” the woman shrugged, not understanding why Lin Zhaohe reacted so strongly. She gestured to the man next to her. “We crossed paths with them. They said they were looking for someone and went that way…” She exchanged a glance with the man.
“Yeah,” the man chimed in, picking up the conversation. “They just went over there, looking for you guys. Do you want us to take you there?”
“That would be helpful. Please lead the way,” Lin Zhaohe went along with the flow.
“Sure thing,” the woman smiled contentedly.
She glanced at the group, assessing the elderly man who seemed to be in poor health, the two women lacking combat prowess, and the two men, with only the one in black appearing somewhat capable. All in all, it seemed like an easy situation to handle.
The woman licked her lips and took a step forward.
Lin Zhaohe had no idea how these two individuals had been revived, but he figured they must have some method.
Nobody spoke as they followed the two of them, walking for a considerable distance. The surroundings consisted of identical rooms, and someone unfamiliar with the area could easily get lost.
“How much longer until we find them?” Jiang Guan glanced at her watch, displaying a hint of impatience.
“We’re getting close, don’t worry,” the woman reassured with a smile. “They were heading this way, and at our pace… we should be able to catch up to them soon. Oh, look, the door up ahead is open. Did they go inside?”
These lines sounded somewhat scripted, but nobody exposed the act as they watched the woman perform.
As she spoke, the woman naturally extended her hand and pushed open a partially concealed door in the corner.
Under normal circumstances, Lin Zhaohe would never enter a room like this, but they had come precisely for this purpose. So, no one raised any doubts and, with silent agreement, followed the woman into the room.
The room lacked the crimson lighting, leaving everything pitch black and indiscernible. Upon entering, Lin Zhaohe caught a peculiar scent. How could it be described? It was like the aroma of fresh flesh, still emanating warmth…
“What’s that smell?” Yun Yuzi turned on her flashlight.
“I’ve found your friend!” the woman exclaimed.
“Where?” Yun Yuzi aimed the flashlight beam, and only then did Lin Zhaohe notice the room was incredibly large, with no apparent ceiling. The light from the flashlight couldn’t even reach the top, giving them an inexplicable sensation of being remarkably small in this space.
“Look, they’re over there,” the woman said with a smile. “Didn’t you see them?” She pointed towards the depths of the room.
Not far away, two humanoid figures stood.
Before Lin Zhaohe could speak, he heard Yun Yuzi, that mischievous woman, stifling her laughter as she said, “No, wait, those aren’t our friends. He’s not wearing a skirt!”
Lin Zhaohe: “…” That’s enough already.
The woman, taken aback by the remark, seemed momentarily stunned. Perhaps she hadn’t anticipated being exposed in this place. She responded, “Maybe he found the skirt too bothersome and changed out of it? I think you should go over and take a look.”
The reason sounded utterly flimsy, but her words seemed to possess a magical power that shook Lin Zhaohe’s mind. He actually felt a genuine desire to go and see for himself. However, as soon as the thought arose, his hand was firmly grasped by someone. Lowering his head, Lin Zhaohe discovered it was Zhuang Lao.
“Don’t go over there,” Zhuang Lao said. “Yun Yuzi.” He also held onto Yun Yuzi’s shoulder.
Yun Yuzi trembled slightly, breaking free from a certain state as she abruptly snapped back to reality. She said, “Boss…”
“Stay put,” Zhuang Lao commanded.
“Alright, what about Jiang Guan…” Yun Yuzi noticed that Jiang Guan had already been steadily approaching the figures. Zhuang Lao seemed entirely uninterested in obstructing her, silently observing.
“Boss, should we stop her?” Lin Zhaohe whispered.
“Leave her be,” Zhuang Lao calmly replied, tightening his grip on Lin Zhaohe’s hand.
Jiang Guan’s bodyguard didn’t follow her either. She ventured alone, holding a flashlight, stepping slowly into the darkness of the room.
In the distance, the two figures were like mirages in a desert, silently luring passersby.
The room was even larger than imagined. Jiang Guan walked for quite a while without reaching the end. Just as Lin Zhaohe wondered how much longer she would continue, Jiang Guan finally halted her steps.
“Aren’t you going over?” the woman’s voice came softly from beside them. She said, “Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t…”
Lin Zhaohe looked at her and noticed that both she and the man had tilted heads. It wasn’t the kind of angle at which normal people tilt their heads. It was more like their necks had snapped, unable to support their heavy heads, which now twisted grotesquely and unnaturally.
“So many people,” the woman said. “Should be enough.”
“Enough, enough,” the man eagerly agreed.
“Aaaaaah!!!” Jiang Guan, in the distance, seemed to encounter something. She let out a piercing scream, took two steps back, and fell to the ground.
Rumbling, the ground began to shake as if something extremely heavy was crashing down. Lin Zhaohe held the flashlight and shone it into the distance, seeing numerous lines slowly emerging from the floor of the room.
No, those weren’t lines. They were tentacles shaped like dark shadows. They spread out from the depths of the darkness, about to engulf the entire room.
Jiang Guan, standing closest to it in the room, became the first victim.
“Jiang Guan—” Lin Zhaohe startled, calling out Jiang Guan’s name.
Jiang Guan remained seated in place, seemingly completely terrified.
Yun Yuzi reacted faster. She rushed to the back, attempting to open the room’s door, but the door that should have been behind them had disappeared without a trace.
“You can’t escape,” the woman giggled, “You can’t escape…”
“What the hell!” Yun Yuzi, with a hot temper, cursed loudly and swiftly brought out a dagger she had prepared in advance. She swung it backhanded, fiercely striking the woman’s head, causing it to cave in. But even so, the woman didn’t die. She continued to laugh hysterically in agony.
In an instant, Jiang Guan had been completely engulfed by the shadows. Lin Zhaohe heard chilling chewing sounds emanating from the depths of the darkness. He faintly saw rows of human-like white teeth exposed in the shadows, continuously gnashing and squirming. Then something was regurgitated, resembling human bones and hair…
Jiang Guan, devoured by that thing, was incompletely digested, and the indigestible parts were spat out in disgust.
After swallowing Jiang Guan, the creature began to move toward them. Clearly, one body couldn’t fully satisfy its greedy appetite. It wanted to eat more, more…
They would all be devoured alive by this creature. Lin Zhaohe realized this fact clearly. He looked at Zhuang Lao, only to see an expressionless face. His boss showed no fear, let alone any intention to escape. Zhuang Lao held Lin Zhaohe’s hand steadily, without a single tremor, as if he feared nothing, including the impending death.
Suddenly, Lin Zhaohe felt that he wasn’t as afraid anymore. He glanced at the side profile of Zhuang Lao and whispered, “Boss, will we die?”
Zhuang Lao: “All living beings die.”
Lin Zhaohe: “Oh…”
Zhuang Lao: “But the premise is that you must be a living being.”
Lin Zhaohe: “Huh?”
Before he could grasp the meaning of Zhuang Lao’s words, he heard a loud explosion. The shadow that had engulfed Jiang Guan in front of his eyes had actually burst.
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