Wild man killing people?
Everyone's mouths hung open, disbelieving. Only Lü Qingqing and Guan Jinsong knew that Cao Yang wasn't lying.
It seemed the person who attacked them with the sharp wooden stakes was this wild man.
Cao Yang said he followed the wild man, intending to retrieve the body. However, he discovered that the person from the training center wasn't dead; their chest was still rising and falling, clearly breathing.
So, he decided to save the person first.
But who knew that the wild man, carrying the male officer, twisted and turned, and then disappeared. He searched the vicinity for a long time but couldn't find him.
"Xiao Juan, Feng Jiu, you three go back and get reinforcements. I'll go search for him," Lü Qingqing was the first to step forward. The reason she sent the others back was naturally for their protection.
"I'll go too!" Guan Jinsong and Ye Fengyi stepped forward simultaneously.
Lü Qingqing looked at the two of them, one with good stamina and the other with extensive jungle experience. "Good, let's go together."
"That..." Zhan Ruoxuan naturally worried about Lü Qingqing going and was about to volunteer when Lü Qingqing refused, "You go back and find Hu Jia."
At this moment, the only name that flashed through Lü Qingqing's mind was Hu Jia. Unconsciously, she had already begun to rely on Hu Jia as her fallback.
Zhan Ruoxuan's eyes dimmed; he acknowledged the instruction.
After a few words of instruction, everyone separated. Cao Yang led a few people forward. They arrived at a mountainside. The mountain looked as if a piece had been scooped out, connected all around, but with a deep pit in the center.
"That person disappeared right here," Cao Yang said.
"Here?" Everyone exchanged glances. How could someone disappear here? Did they jump into the pit?
They peered down. It was bottomless, dark, and terrifying. Perhaps anyone who went down would become a pulp of flesh.
"Fengyi, see if you can find any mechanisms," After circling the large hole, they still found nothing. Lü Qingqing could only place her hope on Ye Fengyi.
Ye Fengyi didn't decline and began to circle the rim of the pit again. Finally, he found a clue on a tree trunk.
There was a section of vine, which from the break appeared to have been forcefully torn. Ye Fengyi thought for a moment and came to his own conclusion: "This person must have descended into the pit using the vine, but now the vine is broken. It's likely the wild man is also trapped below."
Upon hearing this, everyone's faces grew even more somber.
If the wild man was trapped below, it meant their person from the training center was also trapped below.
"What should we do?" Cao Yang asked, not out of hesitation to go rescue, but to consider when to go.
It was estimated that only two hours remained until sunset. In such wilderness, camping out was dangerous, and sleeping in a deep pit was suicidal.
"Let's go back first. We're unfamiliar with this area. Not to mention wild beasts, we haven't even figured out the wild man," Guan Jinsong said.
Ye Fengyi said nothing, turning instead to look at Lü Qingqing.
Lü Qingqing struggled internally for only a few seconds. "I've decided to go down now." After speaking, she glanced at everyone. Cao Yang and Guan Jinsong looked surprised, while Ye Fengyi remained quite calm.
"Are you sure?"
"Saving someone is like putting out a fire. The longer we delay, the less chance our companion has of survival."
Guan Jinsong and Cao Yang exchanged a look. "Alright. If you, a woman, aren't afraid, what are we two men afraid of!"
Lü Qingqing's lips curved slightly upward. These were the kind of teammates she wanted.
The group quickly rummaged through their backpacks, which contained items like ropes and daggers.
Although the competition rules prohibited bloodshed, self-defense items were still issued.
They tied all the ropes together. To prevent insufficient length, they also cut some vines to connect them. After a brief rest, Lü Qingqing, Guan Jinsong, and Ye Fengyi replenished some energy and prepared to descend into the pit.
Yes, only three would go down. They asked Cao Yang to return to the base camp for reinforcements, as he was the only one who knew the exact location of this pit.
To prevent the rope from bearing too much weight for multiple people, they decided to descend in stages.
Guan Jinsong first, Lü Qingqing second, and Ye Fengyi third.
The cliff walls of the pit were covered with shrubs. A person would disappear into the green foliage within a few meters of descent. If not for the rope remaining taut, Cao Yang would have suspected Guan Jinsong had fallen.
So hidden, it was no wonder he hadn't found any traces of the wild man earlier.
The pit was about seventy to eighty meters deep. Soon, it was Ye Fengyi's turn. Lü Qingqing and Guan Jinsong stood at the bottom, looking up. Ye Fengyi's figure swung back and forth, descending noticeably faster than they had.
But at this moment, the rope suddenly shook as if a gust of air passed through, causing the rope to sway back and forth.
This startled Lü Qingqing and Guan Jinsong. Ye Fengyi was still seven or eight meters from the ground. If he fell, there would be no hope for survival.
Ye Fengyi also understood his predicament and sped up. To help Ye Fengyi reach the ground quickly, Guan Jinsong straightened the lower end of the rope, minimizing its sway.
The rope was still swaying, and Lü Qingqing also stepped forward to pull. But as soon as they applied force, they both sat back, and the rope snapped!
The two were greatly shocked. Ye Fengyi fell from the air. Fortunately, the ground was made of soil, and Ye Fengyi was only about four or five meters from the ground.
Although uninjured, he was badly shaken.
"Damn it! These vines are too brittle," Guan Jinsong grumbled as he got up.
"It's fortunate I was third. If our only female companion had fallen, we would have been too pathetic," Ye Fengyi quipped.
The two men brushed the dirt off their clothes. "Be careful!" Lü Qingqing was still reminding Ye Fengyi.
Lü Qingqing remained standing still, not responding. Ye Fengyi was about to call out to her when his expression suddenly froze.
Because Lü Qingqing was holding the broken vine in her hand. Looking at the break, it was clear it wasn't torn by external force, but rather cut by a sharp blade.
Ye Fengyi's anger flared instantly. "Damn it! Cao Yang, I'll use your surname to play with your mother!"
All three of them had grim expressions. Cao Yang was the only one left on the mountain. If he didn't break the rope, who else could it be?
"Why would he do that?" For a moment, the three of them stood at the bottom of the pit, not daring to move.
At this point, they began to doubt the authenticity of the wild man story, as it was a killer's tale, perhaps a lure all along.
"We all met him for the first time. He has no reason to harm us," they calmed down and began to analyze Cao Yang's motive for harm.
"Could it not be him? Could it be that wild man?" Guan Jinsong proposed another possibility.
"Would a wild man use a knife?" Ye Fengyi was skeptical.
Lü Qingqing glanced at Guan Jinsong. "Yes, not only could he use one, he's probably quite adept with it."
She hadn't forgotten the sharp wooden stakes.
As she spoke, Lü Qingqing recounted the suspicion about the skinny man's stabbing to Ye Fengyi, which completely shattered his understanding.
"So, I suspect this isn't a wild man at all. Perhaps it's someone living in seclusion here," Lü Qingqing said.
"Huh? Who would choose to live in seclusion here?" Ye Fengyi disagreed with this speculation.
"A fugitive!" Lü Qingqing said.