Chapter 24#
If You See SnowCh24.1 - Picked Up a Little Kitten#
How could that guy write something so important on a note? Su Ruhui was at a loss for words. Looking around, the night had steeped the snowy mountains in darkness, save for the faint glow of lamps in the valley. Even that light flickered, like a star teetering on the brink of extinction, ready to be swallowed by the darkness at any moment. Su Ruhui gazed up the slope. Ever since reading that note, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was lurking in the shadows, watching them.
This place wasn’t safe to linger in. They’d better get out of here as soon as possible. Su Ruhui planned to make up an excuse to get Han Ye to leave quickly. As he supported himself on his knees to stand, he suddenly heard a low gasp of surprise from the thugs’ side. Su Ruhui walked over and stuck his head out to get a closer look. They had already slit the corpse open lengthwise across its chest and abdomen. The bright red chest cavity and internal organs lay exposed under the lamps’ glow. The internal organs were jumbled together in a chaotic mess—the heart on the left side of the abdomen, intestines crammed into the chest cavity, the stomach nestled next to the gallbladder—a spectacle too horrible to endure.
Su Ruhui frowned and asked: “You’re supposed to be performing an autopsy, why are you messing with this guy’s internal organs?”
“We’re not,” the thug grumbled. “He was already like this.”
Su Ruhui startled, suddenly remembering that when he first saw these corpses, the system’s description was “frozen meat with messed up internal organs.” At the time, he dismissed it as the system saying some nonsense bullshit and didn’t pay attention. He leaned closer to examine the corpse’s chest cavity and found a walnut-sized spherical core inside.
The thug behind him asked: “Hey, look—isn’t that a sacred relic?”
Su Ruhui took out the spherical core, examining it closely. This thing was quite interesting. It looked very similar to the heart core he had in his previous life, practically identical even.
“This guy got hit in the back with a gun. The bullet lodged right between his vertebrae.” The thug performing the autopsy said, “One shot like that was enough to take his life, but not enough to scramble his insides. And look—” the thug reached into the corpse, pulling two hearts from the bloody cavity—“He actually has two hearts.”
Han Ye poked the corpse with his dagger. “Interesting. You think if I cut open the other bodies here, their insides would be just as jumbled? Could it be that all the people buried here are freaks?”
“Boss, this isn’t just a freak,” someone gasped. “It’s a monster! Who could possibly have two hearts, and inside their stomach at that?”
He was right. Su Ruhui recalled when the Secret Sect’s medical officer examined him and Su Yu during the day. What checking for STDs? That was just an excuse. The medical officer was actually examining their twelve meridians and major acupoints. These meridians and acupoints correspond to the body’s bones, internal organs, and blood vessels—he was checking the location of Su Ruhui and Su Yu’s internal organs.
In other words, he was checking whether the two of them were human.
“House Head,” Su Ruhui whispered, “there are so many corpses in this ravine. It seems the Secret Sect planned to eliminate these strange creatures. It’s possible the Secret Sect didn’t finish the job, and they might be lurking in the shadows watching us. I think we shouldn’t stay here. It’s best if we leave as soon as possible.”
“A-Qi, you sure weren’t this scared when you planted explosives to blow me up.” Han Ye squinted a look at him, a hint of teasing in his voice.
Although Han Ye didn’t seem bothered, he still chose to proceed cautiously. After all, this was at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains in the territory of the Secret Sect, and it was best not to beat the grass and startle the snake. He waved his hand and ordered: “Clear the scene. Withdraw.”
Everyone prepared to ascend the slope to leave when A-Pan’s expression suddenly changed. He cried out: “There’s a bunch of footsteps above!”
The system sounded:【High-level danger warning: Life-threatening entity detected. Host, please immediately take evasive action.】
This was the first alert since the system’s danger warning function had been activated, and unexpectedly, it was a high-level alert. Su Ruhui’s expression turned solemn.
“How many?” Han Ye reacted quickly, asking in a low voice.
A-Pan cocked his ear to listen, “Can’t tell, there’s too many. House Head, our movements must have been exposed. The Secret Sect is here!”
This was a secret operation Han Ye had decided on a whim. Few knew about it even inside the Paradise Pavilion. Everyone instinctively looked toward Su Ruhui, as he had a history of betraying Han Ye. If there was a traitor within the organization, eight to nine times out of ten it was Su Ruhui.
Su Ruhui didn’t wait for Han Ye to suspect him. He grabbed Han Ye’s hand and placed it on his own neck, speaking rapidly: “House Head, my little life is in your hands. This should be enough to prove my innocence! Everyone, quickly put out the lights and lie down in the corpse pile. It’s freezing cold and pitch black, they won’t be able to see clearly.”
Su Ruhui’s actions pleased Han Ye, who pressed his fingers against his cold neck and chuckled: “You’re quite sensible.” Then he decisively ordered, “Everyone extinguish the lights and hide!”
The lights abruptly went out, plunging everything into darkness. Everyone scattered to hide, and Han Ye pressed Su Ruhui down into the pile of corpses. Han Ye this bastard was quite prudent, still not placing complete trust in Su Ruhui. His hand rested on the back of Su Ruhui’s neck. Should Su Ruhui show even the slightest hint of escape, he would snap his neck without hesitation. Su Ruhui rolled his eyes inwardly, pressing his cheek against the cold snow. He slowed his breathing, focusing solely on minimizing his presence to the lowest level.
The sound of footsteps drew closer. Even without keen hearing, Su Ruhui could hear the rustling sounds approaching from a distance. It sounded like many people were walking through the snow, slowly entering the ravine filled with corpses. But strangely, these people weren’t carrying any lamps, and Su Ruhui still couldn’t see anything.
There were many people, their various footsteps shuffling past. Someone stepped on Su Ruhui’s back, but Su Ruhui gritted his teeth in endurance and didn’t call out. They gradually moved away, footsteps slowly fading into the distance. Only when Su Ruhui felt like he was about to freeze into an ice cube did he dare to stand up.
If they could walk in the dark without carrying lamps, then those things probably aren’t human at all.
“They left. Boss, let’s withdraw.” Someone said.
Han Ye commanded: “Withdraw.”
Su Ruhui took two steps forward and then bumped into a sturdy birch tree. The birch tree’s withered branches twisted towards the sky, and Su Ruhui could see some indistinct, strange shadows. It was difficult to move around in the darkness, but since the monsters had gone away, there was no need to worry. Several thugs behind him lit their lamps, and Su Ruhui also lit his. A faint yellow light softly lit up, rippling out like waves.
As soon as he lit the lamp, he saw Han Ye and a bunch of thugs staring dumbstruck at him. Many of them had expressions of fear on their faces, as if they had seen a ghost.
Su Ruhui understood something in his heart, and he very slowly turned his head. What he had bumped into wasn’t a birch tree at all, but rather a person—An incredibly tall and lanky person. He thought it was just a birch’s withered branches, but it was actually this guy’s eight whole arms, pale and shriveled, just like withered old branches.
What kind of thing can grow out eight arms?
【Eight-Armed Spider, in a state of hunger and urgently needs to feed. The host has well-distributed muscles and high protein content, an optimal prey for the giant spider.】
Su Ruhui lifted his face inch by inch. He saw He Sheng’s deathly pale face.
Su Ruhui forced out a smile, “Good evening ah, dage.”
He Sheng’s eyeballs rolled around. As if he recognized him, he said: “Erge, what a coincidence.”
“Yeah for sure! Well you must be busy, so I’ll go back first to sleep.” Su Ruhui awkwardly laughed.
“Since you’re here, then don’t leave.”
He Sheng started straight at him and opened up his gaping maw.
“A-Qi, get down!” Han Ye roared.
Su Ruhui reacted quickly, crouching down like a cat and slipping out from under He Sheng’s legs. At the same time, Han Ye’s black fire arrived in an instant, the scorching black flames engulfing the monster’s entire body. He Sheng’s face shattered, and he let out a piercing shriek. On the slope in the direction where the other monsters had left, similar screams rang out one after another.
Su Ruhui shouted: “Run!”