Chapter 018: At the Critical Moment

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“Take me there. I’ll put you down.”

Eagle Eye pointed toward an opening on the right.

The opening led to a branching path. Once they reached it, the two of them would have to separate, and neither knew what choice the Black Entity would make.

Qian Cangyi could feel Eagle Eye slowing down. Their mad dash could not last much longer.

“I understand.” After saying this, Qian Cangyi drew a deep breath and began to prepare himself.

Before reaching the opening, Eagle Eye widened the distance between them once more. When they arrived, he bent down and lowered Qian Cangyi to the ground.

Qian Cangyi descended a short way, then leaped lightly down and landed among the weeds.

He immediately ran toward the branch on the right, then turned his head to look back at Eagle Eye.

Several successive bolts of red lightning illuminated the sky.

The Black Entity was right behind Eagle Eye, reaching out to seize him. At the very last moment, Eagle Eye twisted aside and narrowly evaded its grasp.

Afterward, Eagle Eye continued to maintain a certain distance from the Black Entity.

Qian Cangyi understood. Eagle Eye was drawing its aggro.

If the Black Entity chose its prey according to distance, then after they separated, Qian Cangyi—who was slower than Eagle Eye—would instead become its preferred target.

Even after dodging the Black Entity’s attack, Eagle Eye continued to keep his distance for the same reason.

Qian Cangyi clenched both fists and broke into a run.

The soreness in his muscles grew ever more intense. His legs felt like two blocks of wood.

Under the darkness that enveloped Feather Creek Village, Qian Cangyi could only find his way by the occasional flashes of lightning that streaked across the sky. At the same time, he had to worry about the Black Entity appearing behind him at any moment.

Hunger and exhaustion made him want to collapse onto the ground and rest.

The only force compelling him onward was his will to survive.

“Faster…”

Qian Cangyi braced his right hand against a nearby tree trunk and gasped for breath.

By now, he felt as though every last ounce of strength had been wrung from his body. Each step demanded all the power he had left.

Every flash of lightning made his heart tremble with fear. He was terrified that the Black Entity would suddenly appear ahead of him and block his path.

Only when the wooden sign at the entrance to Feather Creek Village appeared did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

About a hundred meters ahead, a pitch-black bus stood motionless in the road.

“That is…” Qian Cangyi’s eyes lit up, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his face.

If he had still harbored even the slightest doubt about surviving, that final doubt vanished completely at this moment.

Qian Cangyi braced both hands against the wooden sign and ran toward the bus.

Though it was called running, he was in fact barely moving faster than a walk. His body began to sway, as if he might collapse at any moment.

The distance gradually narrowed.

One hundred meters.

Ninety meters.

…

With every meter he covered, Qian Cangyi felt his chances of survival increase.

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“Almost there.”

With about twenty meters remaining, Qian Cangyi had already stretched both hands forward.

Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the entrance to the village.

A bone-chilling presence came from behind. Qian Cangyi turned his head and saw the terrifying Black Entity standing beside the wooden sign.

Its red eyes and crescent-shaped smile made it resemble a demon returned from the depths of hell.

“Why is it behind me?”

Qian Cangyi immediately realized that something was wrong.

If he had run faster than Eagle Eye, then Eagle Eye should have appeared before the Black Entity. If he had run more slowly, then the Black Entity should have appeared ahead of him.

Yet now, the Black Entity was behind him.

That meant Eagle Eye had probably been caught by the Black Entity—and had died somewhere within Feather Creek Village.

Qian Cangyi would be next.

The Black Entity ran toward him. It was not moving particularly fast, but compared with Qian Cangyi’s current pace, it was impossibly quick.

Qian Cangyi swallowed hard, his heart pounding violently.

Though his body was utterly exhausted, he still squeezed out the final scrap of strength hidden within it.

“Ahhhhh!”

Qian Cangyi forced his legs to move again. Even when pain stabbed through the soles of his feet like needles, he paid it no heed.

There was only one thought in his mind now: reach the bus and get inside before the Black Entity caught him.

The Black Entity seemed to realize this as well, and its running speed grew faster and faster.

Ten meters remained.

The distance between the Black Entity and Qian Cangyi had already been cut in half.

The problem was that the Black Entity was accelerating, while Qian Cangyi was slowing down.

The gap between them continued to shrink.

A faint breeze brushed past his ears. All Qian Cangyi could hear was his own breathing and the sound of the wind. He knew the Black Entity had reached him, but he did not dare look back.

Five meters.

Qian Cangyi calculated the distance in his mind. At his current speed, covering five meters would take nearly three seconds.

Suddenly, a hand seized his right ankle.

After closing the distance, the Black Entity had launched itself at him, extinguishing his hopes in an instant.

Qian Cangyi fell to the ground, splashing water everywhere, and felt his strength drain away through his right leg.

The bus door was just ahead. He needed only to crawl another two meters to reach it, yet those two meters now seemed like an insurmountable chasm.

Qian Cangyi propped himself up on both elbows, but the moment he managed to lift his body slightly, the strength he had gathered was torn away again.

“Why?”

“Why am I only this close?”

“I refuse to accept this!”

He raised his head and stared at the bus door, his eyes bloodshot.

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In an instant, all the emotions he had kept suppressed burst forth. Tears mixed with rainwater and streamed down his face.

Qian Cangyi clenched his teeth. His gaze hardened. He stretched both hands forward and drove his fingers into the mud, using his arms to drag himself ahead.

Each movement carried him only a few inches, yet each one rekindled the torch of hope.

Mud filled the gaps beneath his fingernails. His elbows and knees were rubbed raw with pain, but he continued to crawl.

“If I can crawl these two meters, I can make it back alive!”

“I don’t need grand principles. I don’t need dreams.”

“I just don’t want to die!”

“I just want to live!”

Even with blood seeping from his elbows, even with mud packed between his fingers, Qian Cangyi persisted.

He had always believed that being alive required no reason.

But the Black Entity had noticed this as well. It would not let its prey, already within its grasp, escape.

The Black Entity began to climb upward.

Qian Cangyi dragged himself forward once more, but the strength in his arms was rapidly fading. His fingers could only sink into the mud; they could no longer pull his body any farther.

He was one meter from the bus door.

Yet that single meter had become a threshold he could not cross, no matter what he did.

Qian Cangyi clenched his fists and pounded them against the ground, sending water splashing into the air.

“Why? Why didn’t you stop a little closer?”

“If you had stopped just a little closer, I would already be on the bus!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!”

Amid his roar, he lifted his head and stared at the bus. His eyes were filled with pleading, and he stretched out his right hand with all the strength he could muster.

In the end, every human being had a limit.

The desperate surge of strength he had experienced moments ago had consumed the last of his vitality. The only reason he had not yet passed out was that he could not accept defeat.

Tears burst from his eyes. He closed them, and memories of the past began to play through his mind like slides in a projector.

Happiness? Pain?

Qian Cangyi no longer cared. He was simply savoring the sensation of being alive, cherishing these final moments.

Suddenly, the right hand that had been slowly falling was grasped by a warm hand.

Qian Cangyi’s eyes flew open, astonishment filling his gaze.

From within the black mist ahead, a strong right arm reached out and seized his hand.

Eagle Eye’s face emerged from the black mist, his calm features utterly unruffled.

“Congratulations. You survived!”

With that, he tightened his grip and yanked Qian Cangyi into the black mist.

Volume Two: The Scarlet Blood Moon of He Fang Island

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