Chapter 4: Falling Raindrops

As soon as He Shanyue finished speaking, He Shuiguang reacted instantly, turning her head and running.

Qiu Erniang, dazed and lost in her own thoughts, was jolted back to reality only when He Shanyue gave her a fierce tug.

While the others were scurrying about like headless flies, the mother and her two daughters retreated with decisive courage, silently and swiftly vanishing into the pitch-black cave in the southeast corner.

The cave was actually formed by a cluster of large, scattered boulders. It wasn't deep, but the entrance was tiny, hidden behind waist-high bushes; unless one searched carefully, it was difficult to spot.

He Shuiguang followed closely, clutching the hem of her sister’s clothes. Qiu Erniang, trembling, opened her mouth to speak, but He Shanyue made a gesture for silence.

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing scream erupted from outside.

It was immediately followed by the sound of chaotic, panicked footsteps and the gradually spreading scent of blood.

Qiu Erniang’s body shook like a sieve; her knees knocked together, unable to stay still. She opened her mouth, her voice as faint as a mosquito’s, laced with sobs: "They... they really dare to... kill people..."

He Shanyue lowered her voice to avoid an echo: "That arrow—didn't it already kill the first person?"

The arrow had been fired, the first life had fallen, clearly telling everyone that tonight, they had to play for real.

Playing for real meant it was either you or me.

If I don't want to die, then others must.

In this situation, everyone—regardless of age or gender—would stop at nothing to survive.

Killing? It was simply the only way to stay alive.

How were she, her mother, and her sister to survive?

He Shanyue’s gaze swept over her terrified, bewildered mother and her younger sister, who was trembling yet calm, frail and thin. In total, there were thirty-four people: four teenage boys of sixteen or seventeen, eighteen women between twenty and thirty, five young girls the same age as her and Shuiguang, and the rest were gaunt matrons.

If it came down to raw strength, the women, young girls, and matrons could never overpower the boys.

He Shanyue pressed her back tightly against the cave wall and reached her right hand into her bodice.

Thank goodness, they were still there.

"How... what do we do...?" Qiu Erniang clung to the cave wall; without support, she would have collapsed to the ground. "Why are we so unlucky!"

"Being dead is what you call unlucky," He Shuiguang said in a childish voice. "We aren't dead yet."

He Shanyue nodded, her voice steady: "Stay quiet for now. Squat down and keep your eyes closed in the cave. They’re still blinded by the killing outside; it’s not time for them to search thoroughly yet." If they didn't search carefully, they naturally wouldn't find this small hole.

Outside, waves of chaotic noise rose and fell: running, screaming, the sound of branches being snapped.

The silences that followed, abrupt and sudden, were the most chilling.

Every sudden silence meant that a slaughter had taken place somewhere around the cave entrance—repeating over and over, forming a cruel, bloody rhythm.

The intervals between the killings gradually grew longer.

The noisy sounds outside began to fade.

It meant there weren't many people left.

The time had come.

He Shanyue gave a restrained nod, lowered her eyes, and beckoned with a light, slow motion.

He Shuiguang listened intently, stepping gingerly.

Qiu Erniang gripped her eldest daughter’s hem tightly, her expression fearful and anxious.

I don't know how much more time passed—under intense tension, it is impossible to accurately judge the passage of time.

The sound of wooden sticks tapping against the bushes outside became increasingly crisp and bold.

There were very few survivors left, so the sound of them searching for prey was no longer concealed.

At the cave entrance, there was a narrow clearing partially covered by low shrubs.

A teenage boy, covered in blood, was vigilantly holding a thick wooden stick as he searched. He had just killed five people: two old women, two young girls, and another girl his own age. He had never killed anyone before, rarely even killing a chicken, but after killing the first person, he suddenly stopped fearing the spraying blood and the dying eyes—he had even begun to dream of returning to the village with so much silver.

He had no home, no parents; he had grown up eating scraps from a hundred families. Even the stray dogs in the village with owners could bite him twice.

When he went back with the silver, the first thing he would do was buy a knife and slit the throat of that big black dog! Then he’d buy a large amount of arsenic and poison everyone in the village!

That would be satisfying!

Truly satisfying!

Suddenly, his peripheral vision caught a weak, thin figure in the clearing, carefully hiding in the bushes, sobbing in a low voice.

And on the ground lay a corpse whose face was obscured.

A lone little girl.

Joy welled up in the boy’s heart.

Based on his experience from the slaughter, little girls were the easiest to kill—soft and light. He wouldn't even need the stick; he could just wrap his hands around her neck, count to ten, and she’d be gone. It wouldn't take any effort and there was no danger.

The boy placed his stick gently on the ground, stepped on his tiptoes, and walked forward lightly, lowering his voice as he went: "Little sister, what’s wrong—"

He Shuiguang, who was crouching on the ground, stiffened. She was kneeling with her back to him. After a moment, she sobbed softly: "My mother, my mother is dead!"

The boy crept closer and closer. Just as his fingertips were about to touch the little girl’s neck, Qiu Erniang, who had been playing dead on the ground, stiffly and tremblingly sprang up. Her hands, hidden behind her back, pulled a vine taut and wrapped it around the boy’s neck!

It is said that after killing someone, a person gains a surge of strength and agility they have never known before.

The boy instinctively dodged, narrowly avoiding the vine Qiu Erniang had looped around his neck, and in his panic, he backhanded his grip onto He Shuiguang’s neck, which was as thin as a chick’s!

In the quiet forest, just as a loud noise was about to erupt, a black shadow lunged out from the bushes!

One hand clamped onto the boy’s sternum, while the other locked his elbow around the boy’s throat.

Qiu Erniang finally snapped out of it, trembling as she pulled the vine she had torn from inside the cave and wrapped it around the boy’s neck.

The boy was caught off guard and struggled desperately.

In the silent night, He Shanyue gritted her teeth, hearing nothing but her own thundering heartbeat.

One, two, three...

The boy gradually stopped struggling.

He Shanyue leaned in to listen for his breath.

A flicker of life remained.

"It's done..." He Shanyue collapsed onto the ground, feeling drained.

Qiu Erniang was shivering, her face covered in tears.

He Shanyue dared not make another sound, breathing only with her abdomen and nasal cavity.

After about ten breaths, He Shanyue dared not delay. She gently signaled for her mother and sister to hide the unconscious boy behind a large tree.

Everything seemed to have ended before they could even react. Qiu Erniang was shaking so hard she could barely stand, and He Shuiguang’s legs wouldn't stop trembling, but she was still standing.

There were still others, but there shouldn't be many left.

If she tried the same trick again, she was afraid her mother would give them away.

Those remaining were either boys with an absolute advantage in strength or sturdy, robust women.

He Shanyue’s thoughts raced.

"Snap—"

The sound of a tree branch being stepped on.

A pair of scissors slid from He Shanyue’s sleeve. She turned around abruptly, her eyes full of murderous intent.

But she saw a boy, half a head taller than her and looking about fourteen or fifteen, hunched over behind a large tree to the southeast. He raised his hands and cried, "I... I don't kill people... I don't want the silver either! Please don't kill me, please don't kill me!"

The boy’s face was deathly pale, his speech stuttering. His round eyes were wide open, red from crying, like a terrified little rabbit.

He Shanyue’s gaze traveled from the boy’s hempen hem to his cuffs, and then to his eyes.

He Shanyue spun the scissors and hid them behind her back, narrowing her eyes: "You came from the southeast corner?"

The boy nodded in panic.

"How many people are left over there?" He Shanyue asked.

The boy hurriedly said: "They're all dead! I can climb trees, so I’ve been hiding! Two people just came from the west to search the forest, so I ran this way!"