The Game of Life

Chapter 775: Chapter 774 Escape (Part 1)

“I can’t run anymore, I really can’t.” Jiang Feng had just entered the memory that was still shrouded in fog when he heard a strange and hoarse male voice gasping and whispering. Whispering might seem like a strange adjective, but Jiang Feng felt that this guy’s tone and the state he was in as he said those words truly amounted to a shout, though the volume was pitifully quiet.

It was clear the man was very close by and indeed completely exhausted.

Beyond his words, Jiang Feng also heard the sound of clothing rubbing against leaves and grass, as well as something akin to a heavy object hitting the ground – it seemed this guy had plopped down onto the ground.

“Run, if you don’t want to die, keep running deeper into the forest.”

The fog dissipated.

It was a forest.

An extremely dense forest, surrounded by trees, tall and short, with underbrush and shrubs almost completely blocking any gap where sunlight could pass through, making the light inside the forest very dim.

Jiang Feng stood right behind Xia Mushi, who looked just like his younger self, but he appeared incredibly haggard, even more so than the first time Jiang Feng had seen him in the memory, bloodied all over.

The first time Jiang Feng saw Xia Mushi in his memory, although he was covered in blood, none of it was his own. Xia Mushi looked like he was the one robbing others, so it wasn’t considered haggard. But now, Xia Mushi wasn’t covered in blood, and he was wearing a tattered thick cotton coat, giving off an entirely different impression.

He looked as if he was being hunted down.

The cotton coat was slashed with many cuts; the small cuts clearly were from branches, while others resembled knife wounds that were very sharp. Some looked like burns, and others like scorch marks, and Jiang Feng couldn’t fathom what Xia Mushi had been through to make his coat suffer such a fate.

Xia Mushi had frostbite, cuts, and scratches on his ankles and wrists, and it seemed he also had injuries on his calves with blood seeping out. Although he was wearing a coat, it was ill-fitting, much too small for him.

There were only two people beside Jiang Feng, one was Xia Mushi, and the other must be the owner of the memory, Chen Shi.

Chen Shi lay on the ground, utterly exhausted, with an old cloth bag in his arms, looking so forlorn as if saying he really couldn’t walk anymore, and might die of exhaustion. His cotton coat, clearly a size too small and tattered, clung to him, with stiff cotton batting poking out, unsure if it could still keep him warm. His face was also marred with several wounds that needed immediate treatment lest he be disfigured.

Jiang Feng looked around, assuring there was no one else, just a stretch of forest with not even a small animal in sight. Yet, these two behaved as if in a life-or-death escape, as though Yama himself were about to catch up and claim their lives.

“Nobody has been chasing us for a while now. With so many people fleeing, they won’t bother to chase and drag us back,” Chen Shi, lying on the ground, struggled to get up to prove the truth of his own words, pointing to the desolate woodland behind them, “Look, not a soul in sight. Why are we running so desperately?”

“In less than three hours, it’ll be dark. This forest is full of creatures – wolves, foxes, tigers, there might even be bears. Once it’s dark, you can’t see anything. Even if you climb a tree, those beasts could still pluck you off and eat you. If you don’t get out of this forest before nightfall, you’re as good as dead,” Xia Mushi said expressionlessly. “We’ve killed the one surnamed Qian. If we go back, we’ll surely be shot. If you want to sit here and wait for death or go back to find it, please feel free. I’m leaving.”

Chen Shi was so frightened by Xia Mushi’s words that he jumped to his feet, struggling to move forward despite his weak legs.

“Let’s take it slow, can we walk slower? It’s still three hours until nightfall, and even if it gets dark, you can see the way as long as it’s not too dark. If worst comes to worst, we light a fire and climb higher. I’ve heard people from my village say that if you can’t make it out of the woods at night, find a tall tree and climb it. As long as you climb high enough, those beasts won’t pull you down,” Chen Shi tried to reason with Xia Mushi.

Xia Mushi didn’t respond, clearly not wanting to waste breath or energy, and continued forward with a pace that was not quick, apparently agreeing.

Xia Mushi led the way while Chen Shi followed behind.

Both were walking, yet their movements and states were completely different. Xia Mushi was only about 1.7 meters tall, not considered particularly tall, but he seemed much taller than Chen Shi, who appeared barely over 1.6 meters.

The mountain trail was tough, and the uneven paths in the forest, filled with grass, mud, rocks, and holes, were even tougher. A single misstep could result in a sprained ankle or a fall that knocks out a tooth. Both wore old cloth shoes with holes in the soles, wearing them was as good as barefoot, protecting their feet from cuts by pebbles at best.

Under such harsh conditions, Xia Mushi moved as if on level ground, while Chen Shi, whose steps were hesitant, stumbled and was cautious.

Jiang Feng simply followed the two, perhaps because those involved were too anxious to notice, but from his detached perspective, it seemed like they were getting lost.

The light was dim in the forest, where looking up revealed hardly any sky, just trees and weeds, with some weeds growing as tall as a person’s waist, making it hard to distinguish directions. The weeds were of a particularly fierce variety, sharp enough to slash at one’s legs. If it weren’t winter and they weren’t wearing cotton coats and pants, their legs would have been bleeding profusely.

It was precisely because of the numerous layers of clothing worn in winter that moving slowly and with difficulty became inevitable.

As expected, Chen Shi and Xia Mushi got lost.

Xia Mushi was the first to realize they might be lost. He stopped walking, looked around, and then raised his head to the sky, clearly trying to discern their direction, but to no avail.

Chen Shi had long since been too exhausted to differentiate between up and down, left and right, northeast and southwest. When he saw Xia Mushi unexpectedly stop, he felt as if the taut string in his mind suddenly snapped, collapsing onto the ground without minding that he was sitting right on a sharp, large rock that uncomfortably dug into him.

Xia Mushi looked down at Chen Shi, who was seemingly rendered useless, then tiptoed and stretched his neck to peer ahead, seemingly trying to discern the terrain.

“Get up. Let’s walk a bit further to that flat area ahead and rest there. You gather some firewood and I’ll find water,” said Xia Mushi.

“Ah? Oh.” Chen Shi had completely lost the ability to think independently and mechanically stood up to walk forward a few steps before belatedly realizing, “Rest?”

Chen Shi looked up at the sky and felt the daylight beginning to fade: “Isn’t it about to be dark soon? Why are we resting? Aren’t we supposed to get out of the woods today?”

Xia Mushi, already walking ahead, conveyed the tragic news with the tone of discussing what to eat for dinner that night: “We can’t get out. We’re lost.”

“Oh, we’re lost…”

“We’re lost?!” Finally, a wealth of expression returned to Chen Shi’s face, a mix of horror and despair, tinged with an internal message of ‘I’m definitely doomed today,’ yet also revealing he didn’t actually want to die that strongly.

Xia Mushi had already advanced at least eight meters ahead. Chen Shi hurriedly quickened his pace to catch up. This was probably the fastest Jiang Feng had seen Chen Shi run since he entered memory.

“How could we have gotten lost? Weren’t we walking around the edge of the woods? We couldn’t have wandered into the interior, could we? We’re doomed, we’re so doomed. I heard this forest is really vast, and there’s everything in here. If we really went deep inside, we’ll never be able to get out. We have nothing, no guns, just a knife. We don’t even have food or water; we’re definitely done for this time. I would have rather taken that small path; at least there we wouldn’t die of starvation or thirst. Being caught and shot would be better than starving to death, dying of thirst, or being eaten by wolves!”

Xia Mushi frowned, obviously annoyed by Chen Shi’s rants.

“Give me the water bottle,” Xia Mushi said, reaching out his hand.

“Oh.” Chen Shi obediently opened his cloth bag and passed the water bottle to Xia Mushi.

Jiang Feng noted that inside Chen Shi’s cloth bag, there was not only a water bottle but also a knife wrapped in thick cloth, two strings of beads, a little money, and two boxes of matches.

“See that flat spot ahead? You go gather firewood and start a fire. We’ll rest here tonight, so there’s no need to climb up the trees,” instructed Xia Mushi, pointing to a spot ahead. He called it flat, but it was actually just a small area devoid of trees, with grass and stones on the ground, not flat at all.

“What if we’re taken away by wolves in the night if we don’t climb up the trees?” Chen Shi, for some reason, was particularly afraid of being carried away by wolves. “Wolves rip people open when they eat them, and when that happens, our intestines will spill out and we’ll die in an ugly way.”

“There shouldn’t be any wolves. I was paying attention earlier. We did go the wrong way into the woods, but not deep. Along the way, not even a rabbit, let alone wolves. Even if there are any, as long as it’s not a pack, with a fire lit those animals won’t dare come close. If you go sleep up in the trees, you’ll fall head-first onto the ground because you didn’t sleep well. You don’t need the wolves; you’ll have killed yourself,” said Xia Mushi.

“Then what do we do at night? We can’t just keep watch and not sleep,” Chen Shi retorted.

“We’ll take turns sleeping. One person sleeps while the other keeps watch. Besides, we’ve got a knife—what is there to fear? We’ve killed people before; a few beasts shouldn’t scare us,” Xia Mushi, eager to find a water source and not wanting to waste words with Chen Shi, took the water bottle and went to look for water while leaving Chen Shi behind to gather wood.

After Xia Mushi left, Jiang Feng expected Chen Shi to be afraid given his earlier display of cowardice, but that was not the case. Chen Shi calmly began picking up firewood, tucking the bundle under his arm and skillfully building a campfire and getting it started. Once everything was ready, he even ran around looking for some wild fruits to eat, but ultimately, after having no luck, he returned to wait for Xia Mushi to come back with water.

It dawned on Jiang Feng that Chen Shi wasn’t a coward at all; on the contrary, he was quite brave. It was evident from the conversation he had just had with Xia Mushi. The fact that they fled into the woods in such a disheveled manner and didn’t dare to look back meant they were very likely deserters. Moreover, their method of desertion was quite rebellious—they had killed their superiors before fleeing.

A person who had seen battle and then deserted in a time of war couldn’t possibly be a coward. Cowards would have died the first time they were sent into battle.

Chen Shi simply feared death.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co