Chapter 17
Chapter 17: The Shattered Dial, He Comes Riding the Wind
"Ugh…"
Yang Wei's pupils dilated instantly.
Immediately after, in Guo Shuai's gaze—shocked to the point of near blankness—Yang Wei's upper body slid away from his waist.
Thud.
The upper half crashed heavily into the dust, while those legs, still twitching, remained standing in place.
Intestines, organs, along with scalding fresh blood, dyed the wheat field beneath their feet red in an instant.
"Lao… Lao Guo…"
Yang Wei, left with only his lower half, lay prone in the pool of blood and struggled to lift his head.
His gaze began to dim, yet the corners of his mouth forced themselves open.
"Run… fast…"
"Don't look back… run…"
After those words, his head dropped heavily to the ground, and his eyes lost their light forever.
"Ahhhhhhh!!"
Guo Shuai felt as though the top of his skull was about to explode.
Looking at the good brother who, just a second ago, had still been joking with him—
Saying he wanted to find a doctor to do a skin graft—who had now become a mess of shredded flesh on the ground.
Devastated.
Despairing.
And a towering, all-consuming hatred!
'Why… why didn't I find him sooner!!'
Guo Shuai roared madly in his heart and slapped himself hard across the face.
'Am I useless?! Ahhh!!'
If he hadn't rushed off, if he had stayed by his side every moment… Lao Yang might not have died!
"Hehehehe… run… run fast…"
That monster wearing Bai Lianhua's tattered human skin stepped on Yang Wei's corpse and let out a giggling laugh.
It was in no hurry to eat. It seemed to enjoy the despair of its prey far more.
"I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!!"
Guo Shuai's eyes burned crimson. He wanted nothing more than to charge at it and fight to the death.
But he knew—he couldn't die.
Lao Yang had bought him this time with his life!
"Run!!"
The will to survive overcame his impulse. Guo Shuai spun around sharply and sprinted with every ounce of his strength into the depths of the Wheat Field!
He had to live!
He had to escape this damned Wheat Field!
He had to become stronger, then come back and tear this monster to pieces!
To avenge Lao Yang—to avenge every person slaughtered here!
"Huff… huff…"
His lungs felt like they were burning. His legs felt like they were filled with lead.
From the Wheat Field behind him came the rapid rustle-rustle-rustle of something crawling at speed.
Bai Lianhua moved like a spider, closing in fast!
"I can hear you… hehehe… you're running so fast…"
The monster's voice shifted left and right, dripping with mockery.
Guo Shuai glanced at the mechanical watch on his wrist.
【23:58】
2 minutes left!
As long as he held on for 2 more minutes, the Time Overlap would occur, and the exit would open!
"Calm down! Guo Shuai, calm the hell down!"
Guo Shuai bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the sharp pain to force himself out of his rage and terror.
If he kept blindly running like this, he'd be caught in under 30 seconds!
He had to find a way!
'Weakness… what's its weakness?'
Guo Shuai's mind raced, replaying every detail of the battle just now.
Those little Scarecrows earlier were drawn by the stone…
They had no eyes!
'Sound! It's sound!'
'They can't see! They hunt by hearing!'
With that thought, he glanced at himself—still sprinting wildly.
His footsteps in the dead silence of the night were the best navigation signal imaginable!
'Bet on it!'
Guo Shuai gritted his teeth. While running, he swiftly undid the mechanical watch from his wrist—the one that had accompanied him for years.
This old-fashioned mechanical watch had an aging movement; when the second hand ticked, it produced a crisp click-click sound.
In this dead-silent Wheat Field, it was the perfect bait!
Guo Shuai mustered every ounce of strength and hurled the watch at a 45-degree angle to his right!
Whoosh!
The watch landed in a wheat furrow dozens of meters away.
Thud.
The instant the watch hit the ground—
Guo Shuai lunged forward sharply, diving like a swimmer, and plunged directly into the dense wheat stalks on his left!
He pressed both hands over his mouth and nose and flattened his body against the ground, not daring to breathe a single breath.
1 second.
2 seconds.
The crawling sound from behind… stopped.
That terrifying monster halted in the middle of the path. The head stuffed full of straw rotated in an eerie manner, as though trying to distinguish something.
Click-click…click-click…
From the distance, the faint ticking of the mechanical watch drifted over on the night breeze.
"Over there…"
The monster let out an excited shriek, and its enormous body leapt into the air!
Whoosh!
A gust of putrid wind swept past just above Guo Shuai's head!
It didn't spare a single glance at Guo Shuai lying flat on the ground, charging straight toward the watch!
'I guessed right!'
Guo Shuai's heart surged with joy.
A few seconds later, a sharp crack rang out from the distance—the sound of the mechanical watch being crushed underfoot.
Immediately after came the monster's bewildered howl.
"Not… not this…"
Guo Shuai lay on the ground, motionless, his eyes fixed through the gaps between wheat stalks on that direction.
By the moonlight, he witnessed a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
The monster's body began to convulse violently. Bai Lianhua's human skin was torn apart and discarded like rags.
Rrrip!
A massive Scarecrow—over 2 meters tall, bearing 3 gnarled wooden arms—
burst out from the spine of that discarded husk!
This was its true form!
The Scarecrow!
"Can't find… where…"
The Scarecrow swung its 3 arms in fury, seemingly driven into a frenzy by the loss of its target.
Guo Shuai held his breath, repeating silently in his heart: 'Can't find me, can't find me…'
However.
The next second.
The Scarecrow suddenly went still.
It raised all 3 arms high and, facing the open expanse of the Wheat Field, began making that bizarre "waving" motion.
Whooo~
The previously calm night sky suddenly whipped up a cold, unnatural wind.
The wind swept across the Wheat Field. Countless wheat stalks began swaying, colliding, producing a rustle-rustle sound.
Pat.
A wheat stalk was bent by the wind and lightly struck Guo Shuai's back.
The sound was barely audible.
But in that moment, Guo Shuai felt as though it were the gunshot of a death sentence!
The distant Scarecrow jerked its head around.
That gaping, split-wide mouth, aimed at the direction where Guo Shuai was hiding, stretched into a grin.
"Found! You!"
Boom!
It dropped to all fours and erupted with terrifying speed, lunging straight at Guo Shuai!
Guo Shuai's pupils contracted sharply. His entire body turned ice cold.
'So that's it…'
'It wasn't waving hello at all—it was generating wind!'
'It uses the wind for echolocation! Even if I stay completely still, as long as the wind passes over me, it can find me!'
This was an unsolvable death trap!
Watching that terrifying gaping maw draw closer and closer, watching the scythe of death swing toward him—
Guo Shuai closed his eyes in despair.
'Lao Yang… I'm sorry. I still couldn't make it out…'
'I'll keep you company.'
He silently counted down to death in his heart.
……
The anticipated agony never came.
Nor was there the sound of blood spraying.
The surroundings suddenly fell very quiet. Even that cold, unnatural wind seemed to have stopped.
"What's going on?"
Guo Shuai trembled all over and tentatively opened 1 eye.
The next moment, he froze.
That terrifying Scarecrow was now stopped less than 5 meters in front of him.
It had not attacked Guo Shuai.
Where its eyes had once been—nothing but 2 black hollows—2 blazing red lights now burned!
That was a state of extreme wariness!
It was staring fixedly at… what was behind Guo Shuai.
'It… what is it looking at?'
Guo Shuai stiffly turned his head, following the Scarecrow's line of sight.
There, in the Wheat Field behind him—
Without knowing when, a man was standing there.
He wore a black dress shirt, collar slightly open, revealing solid collarbones.
The night wind howled, lifting the hem of his shirt.
He was not looking at Guo Shuai, nor at the corpse on the ground.
Those pitch-black eyes simply gazed at the Scarecrow with calm composure.
That gaze was neither fear nor anger.
It was a kind of…
Appreciation and appraisal—the look of someone surveying something that belonged to them.
That innate, overwhelming aura was even more terrifying than the 3-armed monster standing right there!
Guo Shuai's lips trembled. Tears burst from his eyes.
He recognized this face.
The one who had always been silent on the bus—the mute.
"Jiang… Jiang Nan…"