Chapter 8: Attempting to Leave

The five of them stood in the clearing. They had just finished inspecting the tents, which contained nothing but sleeping bags, food pouches, and backpacks. Inside the backpacks, there were no notebooks or items that could provide clues—only half-filled bags of food.

"It’s only been half an hour, and I’m hungry again," Ning Jing said, pressing her left hand firmly against her stomach.

Qian Cangyi thought of the contents of the notebook. Their current situation was unfolding almost exactly as described in the entries.

"We cannot wait. If we go on like this, the bleached bones we saw earlier will be our fate," Rou Guang said, her expression tense.

"Exactly," Xiao Tian agreed.

Zhiduoxing walked a full circle around the five tents and said, "We must leave this place, but we need to consider the possibility of ending up back where we started."

"Didn't we encounter this on the beach before? Therefore, we need to mark the tents. Since there are five tents facing five exits, and each is a different color, it saves us the trouble of finding new markers."

"Furthermore, we should place a secondary mark beside each tent as a precaution, in case something moves them while we are away."

"Alright, let's head out. We’ll start by exiting through the same entrance we came in."

With that, he took the lead and headed toward the path facing the red tent. Rou Guang and the others followed, with Qian Cangyi bringing up the rear.

Back on the dense forest path, Qian Cangyi’s mindset had shifted completely. Before finding the diary, he had been moving with the curiosity of an explorer; now, he was moving with the desperation of a fugitive.

No one spoke on the way, each person filled with anxiety about what lay ahead.

Less than five minutes later, the growling of stomachs echoed one after another; it was impossible to control. What was more alarming was that this hunger wasn't just a sensation—it was sapping their physical strength. The actors were already beginning to drag their feet.

"This won't do. At this rate, we’ll run out of food in less than a day," Rou Guang said, recalling the entries in the diary.

"There is one piece of good news," Zhiduoxing said, turning to look at the four of them.

"Don't tell me you’re going to say we don't need to use the restroom?" Qian Cangyi asked, tilting his head.

"Bingo!" Zhiduoxing replied, giving a thumbs-up.

"That is... indeed... good news," Ning Jing whispered, her voice growing increasingly faint.

***

The view ahead opened up suddenly. However, the sight of the familiar tents and the scattered food pouches made the excitement on their faces vanish instantly.

They had returned to the clearing, but it was no longer the red tent—it was the blue one. If the tents hadn't been moved, it meant they had walked from one path into another.

"Strange. I remember walking in a straight line the whole time, never making a single turn," Xiao Tian said, deeply confused.

Even if the path had a slight curve, the red and blue tents were in almost opposite directions. To end up here, they would have needed to traverse a massive arc, yet they hadn't been walking for long.

"Well, I’m thinking, should we keep going?" Zhiduoxing asked, looking at the remaining paths.

"Isn't that... too slow?" Rou Guang asked, her brow furrowed.

"But if we split up, wouldn't it be easy to get ambushed?" Ning Jing asked, her fingers interlaced.

Qian Cangyi lowered his head in thought before speaking: "I don't think we can keep investigating together; we have to consider other methods."

"The situation described in the notebook is exactly what we are experiencing now. The result was that they ran out of food. If we all continue to search for an exit together, I fear the outcome will be no different."

"I am in favor of splitting up. While it is true that we risk danger by being alone, it will shorten the time needed to verify the routes. Furthermore, if all five of us depart from the five different paths simultaneously, we can prevent the routes from shifting halfway through."

That was his theory.

"Fortune favors the bold? Hmph. Let’s rest for a moment, shall we? We need to plan this carefully," Zhiduoxing said with a grave expression.

After resting for a few minutes, Qian Cangyi ate another meal. At this frequency, their food supply, which should have lasted half a month, would be exhausted in a single day. The sightseeing boat wouldn't return for seven days; there was no way they could hold out that long.

"Everyone, come over here," Zhiduoxing shouted.

Qian Cangyi walked over to see Zhiduoxing squatting on the ground, holding a sharpened branch. In front of him was a rough diagram of the clearing and the tents, showing their positions, colors, and corresponding exits.

Below the diagram was a 5x5 grid, labeled with numbers 1 through 5 across the top and letters A through E down the side.

"What is this?" Xiao Tian asked, glancing at the chart and then at the exits.

Zhiduoxing chuckled and said, "We left through the red tent and returned through the blue one. There are five exits here, which implies we might return through any of them."

"So, is it possible that if we test all five exits, the results won't correspond one-to-one? If one exit is never traveled, perhaps that is the unique, correct one?"

"We only need to take that specific exit three to five times, and perhaps we will be able to leave this forest."

He gestured to the grid with his branch and continued, "This chart is for recording our findings. I will also note it in the notebook to prevent anything from altering it, as we cannot rule out that possibility."

"We will match the tent colors to the five numbers and place an 'X' for every exit we have successfully tested."

"This way, after we split up, we can determine the correct path in one, or perhaps two, attempts."

"What do you think?" He stood up, raised his arms, and stretched.

Qian Cangyi took out his notebook, copied the diagram and the grid, and said, "I have a question. Since you suspect something is hiding here and might tamper with your chart, isn't it possible it could move the tents as well?"

"The clearing is circular, and the tents are not fixed in place. It wouldn't be difficult to spend a little time moving them around." He looked at Zhiduoxing, waiting for an answer.

"You mean... leave a mark?" Zhiduoxing looked around. "That works." He nodded.

"The marks must be unique and tamper-proof. Also, the passage of time shouldn't affect them, at least not in the short term," Qian Cangyi added.

Xiao Tian sighed and said in a low voice, "I think whatever we decide to do, we must hurry, because I'm hungry again."

His words were echoed by the others.

"Me too," Ning Jing said, clutching her stomach.

"Same here," Rou Guang added, crouching on the ground.