Chapter 16
Chapter 16: A Lover's Embrace
The blood-red remnants of the setting sun blazed across the horizon, dyeing the entire Wheat Field crimson.
Yang Wei and Guo Shuai sat back-to-back in a furrow dug into the soil between the wheat rows, their palms soaked through with sweat.
The surroundings were terrifyingly quiet, broken only by the soft rustle of wind sweeping through the wheat.
"Huff… huff…"
Guo Shuai wiped the cold sweat from his face.
To ease that suffocating pressure threatening to drive him mad, he forced a thin smile and nudged the person behind him.
"Hey, Old Yang, there's something I've always wanted to ask you."
"Go ahead."
Yang Wei kept his gaze fixed warily ahead.
"You come across as a pretty easygoing guy normally—so why do you hate the student council and Li Xin's crowd so much? Just because they like showing off?"
Yang Wei's body stiffened slightly. He shook his head. "Of all the times to bring this up."
"Just tell me."
Guo Shuai stared at the sun sinking toward the horizon, a bitter smile on his lips. "Tonight might be our last night anyway."
"You've got Strength Amplification—your physical condition is better than mine. Your odds of surviving are higher."
"If I don't make it out, consider it my dying wish."
"Bullshit! Stop saying things like that!"
Yang Wei cursed under his breath, but after a few seconds of silence, he lowered his head, his expression murky and unreadable.
"Fine, I'll talk."
He drew a long breath, as though expelling years of stale air from his chest.
"This goes back… to before I was even born."
"My dad, my mum—and my grandfather—were all arrested one month before I came into the world."
Guo Shuai blinked. "What?"
Yang Wei laughed at himself, his gaze drifting. "My dad used to be an 'official'—nothing too big, nothing too small."
"But he had rotten intentions. For money and status, he colluded with local gangs and got his hands dirty in all sorts of ways."
"Eventually it all came out. The police came to make the arrest."
"My wonderful 'father' was ready to abandon his pregnant wife and run."
"And my mum… to buy him time, she actually tried to poison a police officer who happened to be her close friend—slipped something into his tea."
"My grandfather had embezzled plenty too."
"In the end, all 3 of them—neat and tidy—all handed heavy sentences."
Yang Wei yanked a stalk of wheat from the ground and snapped it hard.
"My mum gave birth to me first, then went back to serve her sentence."
"I was raised in a Welfare Home—kept alive by the charity of the very police officer she'd tried to poison."
"For 20 whole years, wherever I went, the pointing fingers and whispers followed."
'Corrupt official's spawn.' 'Descendant of a poisoner.'…
Yang Wei's voice wavered slightly.
"I was actually a good student when I was little. Really."
"But I didn't dare be number 1. I was afraid of attention—afraid people would dig into my background and talk."
"So I went into sports. Played the role of a thick-necked meathead with brawn and no brains."
"I understand clearly—it wasn't the profession of being an official that caused all this. It was them losing their way chasing money and status."
Yang Wei turned his head and looked at Guo Shuai, his eyes unusually serious.
"That's why I despise Li Xin. I despise Wu Hao. I despise everyone in the student council—that whole breed who treat a chicken feather like a royal decree."
"I'm not jealous of them. I despise that drive they have—that stop-at-nothing, climb-at-any-cost obsession with power."
"People like that, the moment they get a foothold, won't govern well. They'll just turn into the same kind of rot as my parents."
"I don't want to see that kind of person rise up and ruin everyone's lives."
After hearing all of that, Guo Shuai was silent for a long time.
He reached out and clapped Yang Wei firmly on the shoulder.
"Old Yang. This isn't your fault."
"You never benefited from what they did. You shouldn't have to carry their sins."
"You're a hell of a lot cleaner than they ever were."
Yang Wei listened, and the rigid line of his lips eased just slightly.
"Alright, stop being sentimental. It's making me sick."
Right at that moment.
The last sliver of twilight was swallowed by the horizon.
The sky went dark.
……
Mechanical stopwatch reading: 19:00. 5 hours until the "door opens."
Darkness smothered the Wheat Field.
The conversation had made the time pass quickly, but the fear had not faded—if anything, it deepened with the thickening night.
Shff… shff…
Carried on the wind.
From somewhere in the distance came a sudden burst of dense, scraping friction.
Yang Wei and Guo Shuai snapped to their feet instantly, standing back-to-back, eyes locked onto the direction of the sound.
By the faint light of distant stars, they could make out several swaying silhouettes emerging from the Wheat Field roughly 200 meters away.
Their movements were stiff—yet they marched in perfect unison toward Yang Wei and Guo Shuai's position.
As they walked, they raised their arms and waved.
Like a greeting.
"Is that…?"
Yang Wei narrowed his eyes.
"Is that Wu Hao's group? They're actually still alive?"
If they were human, at least that meant more strength in numbers.
Yang Wei was about to call out to them—but Guo Shuai grabbed a fistful of his clothes and yanked him back.
"Don't shout! Run!! "
Guo Shuai's voice was trembling, his face drained white as paper.
"Old Yang! Run!! "
"My 【Danger Perception】 hasn't triggered yet—but my gut is screaming! That waving motion…"
"It's wrong! No living person moves like that! It's too stiff!"
Guo Shuai hauled Yang Wei and bolted in the opposite direction.
"That's a dead man's wave! RUN!! "
The 2 of them sprinted at full tilt, pressing 2 long trails through the wheat.
But the footsteps behind them grew faster. And closer.
"ROARR!!"
No more silent waving. From behind came the sound of rustling—and the sharp, crackling snap of electrical discharge!
Yang Wei glanced back. His pupils contracted to pinpoints.
The silhouettes had stopped pretending.
They were moving on all fours, or in grotesquely contorted postures, charging forward at a dead sprint.
By the violet lightning flickering off one of the figures, Yang Wei saw their faces.
Wu Hao. Liang Rui. Wang Jinsheng…
But their skin hung loose and slack. Their eyes were packed with straw. At every joint, withered yellow stalks pushed through the flesh.
"Damn it! It's Wu Hao's group! They've turned into monsters!"
Yang Wei bellowed.
And then, worse—a fireball and a bolt of lightning screamed through the air from behind and slammed down around them!
"They can still use their Abilities?!"
Boom!
The fireball detonated at their flank, igniting the dry wheat stalks—fire roared skyward.
"We can't outrun them!"
Guo Shuai was already gasping, his endurance nothing close to Yang Wei's. "They don't tire. If we keep running like this, they'll grind us down to nothing!"
Yang Wei slammed to a halt, spun around, eyes blazing red.
"Then we stop running!"
"We tear them apart!"
"Old Guo—back me up!"
Yang Wei let out a battle cry and activated his Grade C Ability: Strength Amplification.
The name said strength—but in practice, it was a full-stat enhancement buff!
All physical capabilities surged dramatically for a short duration.
Strength was simply the most pronounced effect!
"Here they come!"
Guo Shuai snapped his eyes shut and instantly activated 【Danger Perception】.
"2 on the left! The lightning one is charging up! Watch out!"
Yang Wei moved like a living tank—not retreating but charging forward, straight into the oncoming wave of Human Skin Scarecrows!
Bang!
He slammed headlong into the 2 at the front, reducing them to shattered wreckage!
Straw exploded in all directions!
But these monsters felt no pain. The rest hurled themselves forward without flinching.
The fight erupted into full intensity.
Zzzt!
The lightning in Wu Hao's hands cracked toward Yang Wei.
"Roll right!"
Guo Shuai shouted.
Yang Wei hit the ground in a rolling dive—avoided the worst of it, but the arc still caught his left arm. The flesh split and blackened instantly.
"Aghh!!"
Yang Wei screamed in pain, then the fury took over. With one hand, he seized the nearest Scarecrow charging at him and swung it like a club directly into Wu Hao.
In the heat of the brawl, the sharp-eyed Guo Shuai caught a critical detail.
"Old Yang! They have no vision!"
Guo Shuai pointed at the monsters—fast, but always pausing to listen before moving.
"Their eyeballs are straw! They're using sound to locate targets! Use sound to bait them!"
"Got it!"
Yang Wei snatched a rock off the ground and hurled it hard toward a patch of open ground in the distance.
Sure enough—Wu Hao and Liang Rui both snapped their heads toward where the rock landed.
"Now!"
Yang Wei and Guo Shuai locked eyes.
These monsters had kept their Abilities from when they were alive—but they'd lost their minds entirely.
"Old Guo!"
"Let's go!"
Guo Shuai burst out of cover, screaming at the top of his lungs: "Over here, you pieces of trash! Come get me!!"
"ROARR!!"
A fireball condensed instantly in Liang Rui's hands and came crashing toward Guo Shuai.
Guo Shuai threw himself sideways with everything he had—but the blast wave from the detonating fireball scorched half his face in an instant.
"Aghhhh!!"
The scream of agony snapped every monster's attention toward him.
At that exact moment, Yang Wei—lurking on the opposite flank—made his move.
No attack. Instead, he planted a brutal kick directly into the lightning-wreathed Wu Hao.
Aimed squarely at Liang Rui, who was already winding up her second fireball.
Zzzt—BOOM!
Lightning and fire detonated between the 2 monsters!
The violent collision of energies triggered an explosive reaction.
In an instant, both elite creatures were blasted into a storm of burning straw raining down across the field!
"Beautiful!"
Stripped of their 2 long-range attackers, the remaining close-combat Scarecrows meant nothing to Yang Wei, who had gone fully berserk.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Yang Wei threw every ounce of strength into each punch—until he drove the skull of the last Scarecrow straight down through its own chest cavity.
……
Mechanical stopwatch reading: 23:55. 5 minutes until the "door opens."
The battle was over.
The wheat that had once glowed gold was now scorched black across the entire field. The ground was littered with dismembered remains and scattered straw.
Yang Wei and Guo Shuai sat back-to-back on the ground, too exhausted to lift a single finger.
Yang Wei's left hand was still trembling—nerve damage from the electric shock.
Guo Shuai had it worse.
He pressed his hand over half his face, blood seeping through his fingers—burns from the fireball.
One eye gone. Half his face destroyed beyond recognition.
"Huff… huff…"
Yang Wei sucked in ragged breaths and scanned the motionless bodies around them, his voice hoarse.
"Did we… win?"
Guo Shuai's one remaining intact eye opened. He glanced at the watch on his wrist and responded, trembling.
"I think so…"
"23:55… 5 more minutes…"
"5 more minutes until the 2 worlds' Time Overlap. We can get out."
Guo Shuai laughed bitterly, which tugged at the wounds across his face and made him grimace through gritted teeth.
"Only shame is… this face of mine is finished."
"Forget finding someone to be with—I'd be lucky not to make children cry."
This time, it was Yang Wei's turn to offer some comfort.
He patted Guo Shuai on the leg.
"Doesn't matter. This is the apocalypse. Strength is all that counts. Some girl will fall for your inner self eventually."
"Though… it probably won't be your face she falls for."
Yang Wei cracked a clumsy joke, then glanced at the few human skins lying on the ground.
"If all else fails—peel the faces off these ones."
"Take them back. Maybe someday we'll run into someone with a medical Ability who can do a skin graft for you."
Guo Shuai cursed back without missing a beat. "Get lost! I'm not sticking dead people's faces on my head! That's disgusting!"
The 2 of them looked at each other, ready to laugh—but every laugh pulled at their wounds and made them hiss in pain instead.
But then.
Mid-laugh, Guo Shuai's expression froze solid.
His one remaining eye locked onto the bodies on the ground. His lips began to tremble, beyond his control.
"What's wrong, Old Guo? Pain getting to your head?"
Yang Wei sensed something was off.
"No… something's wrong…"
Guo Shuai's voice was filled with a dread that had no words.
"The count is wrong!!"
"Old Yang—think back. When we crossed from the tree line into the Wheat Field, there were 12 of us total!"
"When Yu Shishi left, that made 11."
"When the 2 of us split off, that left 9!"
"Wu Hao's group should have had exactly 9 people left!"
Guo Shuai pointed at the tangled heap of bodies on the ground, his voice going sharp.
"But just now—we only killed 8!!"
"Wu Hao, Liang Rui, and all the others—I counted them all. There are only 8 bodies!"
"Where did the 9th one go?!"
At those words, every hair on Yang Wei's body stood on end. The heat of battle drained out of him in an instant, replaced by ice.
9 people.
Only 8 bodies here.
1 was missing.
"Who? Who's missing?!"
Yang Wei lurched to his feet, scanning frantically in every direction.
"I don't know… it was too chaotic… I didn't see clearly…"
Guo Shuai was panicking too, looking all around. "Could they have run? Or are they hiding somewhere?"
Right at that moment.
Yang Wei suddenly felt a cold breath against the back of his neck.
"Old Guo… why'd you go quiet?"
Yang Wei asked on reflex.
Guo Shuai was directly in front of him—staring past Yang Wei's shoulder with an expression of pure, frozen horror.
A soft, sweet, and raspy female voice breathed against the back of Yang Wei's ear.
"Of course I didn't~"
"I've been… watching you the whole time~"
Yang Wei's pupils shrank to the size of needlepoints.
That voice…
It was Bai Lianhua!!
Before he could react.
Something bristly and coarse wrapped around him from behind in a gentle embrace.
Just like a lover's embrace.
Yang Wei's eyelids lifted slowly, in the last light of the moon.
He saw a face leaning around from behind him.
It was a face with tattered, ruined skin and twisted, distorted features.
The pair of peach-blossom eyes that had once sparkled with life were now filled—packed solid—with clumps of black straw.
"Yang Wei-gege… take me… with you…"
"Take me… with you!"
Bai Lianhua's hands transformed into scythes.
"OLD YANG!!!"
In Guo Shuai's thunderstruck scream of horror, Yang Wei was cleaved clean in half at the waist!
His upper half collapsed to the ground…