Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 780: 465, The Path of Life

Qing Chen leaned quietly against the stone wall.

He pushed his hearing to the limit and continuously calculated something in his mind.

What to do?

This time, it seemed that even Qing Chen had no good solution to get out of this predicament.

Actually, Qing Yi and Qing Li underestimated the number of wolves. They estimated there were over a hundred, but Qing Chen’s estimate… was over four hundred.

When Li Yu burst out in violence, Qing Li and Sun Chu Ci used a barrage of gunfire to block the wolves, consuming quite a bit of ammunition.

The ammunition left in this mountain hollow, even if every shot hit, would just barely be enough to wipe out the wolf pack.

But the threat outside isn’t just the wolves; there are also those who control the wolves and Li Yu.

This could be an organized group with a plan and a target.

Qing Chen now had three conjectures.

First, the person executing the plan shouldn’t be Qing Yuan, as creating puppets isn’t that quick or easy; otherwise, in Zheng City, the other party could have used many more methods.

Secondly, after Li Yu turned into an undead, he arrived at the hollow and still played his role very accurately.

This suggests…

The person who turned him into the undead must be someone inside the camp who knew about his conflict with the agent.

Lastly, judging by the logic of behavior, Li Yu was an ordinary person. Even with a surprise attack from behind, it was impossible for him to kill all nine refugees on watch.

Even if he successfully ambushed Sun Chu Ci, it would at most create an opportunity for a probe.

Qing Chen felt that if he were the person controlling Li Yu and could gain Li Yu’s perspective from outside,

then leaving Li Yu in the hollow to observe the situation would be far more useful than sending him to his death.

Keeping Li Yu alive would allow the enemy to know if there was internal conflict within the hollow, if there was any food left, if there was any ammunition. Isn’t that more useful than sending him to die?

But Qing Chen thought the reverse, could he definitely be smarter than the opponent? What he could think of, perhaps the opponent could also consider.

So what made the opponent think that Li Yu’s perspective as an insider wasn’t important?

Unless, the person who turned Li Yu into an undead was right there in the hollow.

Qing Chen pondered.

This person must have witnessed the agent murdering Li Yu, so the clues were locked on the group of people around Li Yu at that time.

Qing Chen observed everyone without showing any emotion; he still couldn’t judge who that someone was, or perhaps he had made a wrong judgment.

The campfire in the hollow extinguished in the early morning.

The firewood had burnt out, and no one could leave the hollow to find new fuel as the wolves hadn’t gone far.

Without food, some were so hungry their eyes saw stars, but they could only watch Qing Yi and others eat.

The early morning change caused by Li Yu’s murder left everyone unsettled.

“So hot!” a crew member from the film crew stood up and astonishingly took off his parka in the freezing temperatures.

This scene baffled everyone.

But then, the person hazily stripped down to his underwear, collapsed to the ground, and died.

Someone approached to check and found that after dying, he strangely maintained a smiling expression, which was particularly creepy.

“What’s going on?!”

“Why is he smiling?”

First was the undead Li Yu’s murder incident.

Now someone suddenly shouted hot and then died smiling.

All at once, everyone in the hollow panicked, feeling as though there was an unknown and mysterious horror beyond Yamaguchi.

However, Qing Li and Qing Chen knew that this was the sign of freezing to death.

Before freezing to death, the central nervous system gets suppressed, emitting a “paradoxical heat sensation” error, causing those dying of cold not to feel it but instead to feel very hot.

Soon after, people would die in the haze of this perceived warmth.

This also explains why many frozen to death maintain a strange smile on their faces after dying.

Qing Li said coldly, “This is a normal phenomenon of freezing to death, don’t panic. If you freeze to death, you’ll probably look the same.”

His words only made everyone more anxious.

Qing Chen was sitting against the stone wall; he was also hungry but had no solution.

He looked across and saw Yan Chunmi huddled in a corner, secretly stuffing something into her mouth and then bowing her head to hide the chewing action from others…

In the hollow, there were still people who had secretly brought some food.

Only, this was just the first day; the real crisis had yet to come.

When everyone realized they were going to be trapped here till death, there probably wouldn’t be any order left in the hollow.

Even the followers of Qing Yi might not continue to be loyal.

The second day.

Eleven people froze to death.

Their clothes were stripped off by others, and a few strong men wore up to three layers, inside and out, to finally warm up a bit.

Qing Yi disdained to strip clothes off the dead and didn’t care.

As long as these people didn’t bother him, they could do whatever they wanted.

During this time, Qing Chen found that Qing Yi was actually always meditating with his eyes closed, not even sleeping.

When there was a bonfire in the hollow, although people were far away, just a glance at the bonfire gave them some comfort.

But now, that little bit of comfort was gone.

The wolves outside of Yamaguchi were still on guard, showing no signs of leaving.

Among the refugees, apart from Qing Yi, only a very few still had food hidden away.

That night, someone was smothered to death in their sleep, and no one knew who stole the biscuits the victim had hidden for several days.

The order within the hollow was crumbling bit by bit.

At first, people were just probing, but after they found that Qing Yi and Qing Li did nothing about it, they started to act recklessly.

Some stole clothes from the dead to sell them at a high price, and they even targeted female supporting actors from the film crew, asking if they were willing to trade the warm clothing.

Qing Chen began to weaken, even appearing unsteady when walking.

No one knew whether he was starving or sick.

Someone quietly approached him in the middle of the night, attempting to strip him of his clothes while he was disoriented, but they were promptly discovered by Liu Liqun who, along with the stage crew, chased the offender away.

The third day.

Another 21 people died.

Qing Chen became even weaker, and Liu Liqun went to steal clothes with the stage crew, but after they succeeded, they wrapped Qing Chen in them first.

And Qing Chen… was still pretending to be ill while calmly observing everyone’s reactions in the hollow.

He hoped to root out any insiders, ensuring no one would stab them in the back when they made their breakout.

However, it was unclear whether Qing Chen had made a mistake or the other party’s acting skills were too good.

Qing Chen never found a clue.

Today, even the food on Qing Yi’s side was running low.

According to Qing Li’s estimation, they could last at most one more day.

Qing Li whispered to Qing Yi, “Young Master, we must break out. They don’t have to actually fight their way in to kill us; just keeping us surrounded will do. In another two days, we will die on our own. We must break out, it’s our only way to survive.”

Qing Yi nodded, “Wait a little longer, wait two more days and I might have a chance to break through to C-Class. Then, my chances of survival will be even greater.”

Qing Li’s eyes lit up, “You’re breaking through to C-Class, Young Master? So soon?”

Qing Yi said, “Back at the lakeside, the master performed Empowerment on me. I’ve been trying hard to digest the True Qi he infused me with these past few days.”

Now Qing Chen’s Knight Vital Energy had evolved from a mist into a stream.

For him, it was certainly good news. But for someone like Qing Yi who had undergone Empowerment, it was troublesome; the ‘stream’ that poured from the divine platform into the body couldn’t be transformed into strength instantly. It required constant cultivation of the meridians to absorb it bit by bit.

In these two days, Qing Yi hadn’t done anything else; he was wholly focused on his cultivation.

He had never given up hope of life, wishing only to reach C-Class as soon as possible to leave alive.

The Protectors were somewhat envious. He was a Genetic Warrior, and Qing Yi’s father had promised that if Qing Yi successfully passed the third round of the Shadow competition, he would give him the next Genetic Potion.

Once promoted to a B-Class Expert, his status in the Clan would soar.

Qing Chen felt somewhat reassured when he overheard the conversation between the two; he had been worried that Qing Yi would get discouraged in the face of adversity, but it seemed he was not.

However, if Qing Yi planned to make the breakout at dawn tomorrow, there wasn’t much time left to catch the Insider.

A large number of people had already fallen ill in the hollow.

The order here was gradually crumbling.

At this time, no one dared to mess with Qing Yi and his group. Sun Chu Ci and her group of seven took up a corner to take turns keeping watch. Due to their possession of weapons, no one dared to provoke them.

Liu Liqun was managing to keep the stage crew controlled and united.

As for the rest, fighting and struggling for clothing was an everyday occurrence.

Poor Yan Chunmi, the Kite Falcon, ended up unlucky, with three or four people groping their way towards her every night.

Many others eyed her greedily.

Qing Chen knew that of the 21 people who died today, at least four had been killed by Yan Chunmi’s hand…

Suddenly, a male supporting actor from the film crew came to Song Niannian, holding a thick coat, and said, “Song Niannian, I’ve liked you for a long time. If you’ll be my girlfriend, this coat is yours.”

Qing Yi paused, then turned to Qing Li.

The supporting actor, dead.

Qing Yi muttered to himself, “Even lusting after the master’s… Have they got a death wish?”

He turned to Qing Li, “Distribute our food to our people, and to Sun Chu Ci and her group. Make it clear to them that we’re going to make the breakout when it gets light, and if they can keep up with us, good; if not, there’s nothing we can do. I haven’t struck through to C-Class yet, but we can’t wait any longer.”

Qing Li asked in a low voice, “What about Song Niannian? I don’t think she and her agent will be able to keep up with us.”

Qing Yi thought for a moment and said, “First we need to ensure we survive.”

But just then, Qing Li suddenly took action, chopping a hand onto Qing Yi’s neck and knocking him unconscious on the spot.

With a professional strike, he rendered Qing Yi unconscious immediately.

Qing Chen frowned.

However, before anyone else could react, Qing Li had already whispered to Qing Yi’s other followers, “Take off the Young Master’s clothes and put me in them. Half of you stay here to protect him, and the other half come with me to draw off the wolves. Once we have led the wolves away, you carry the Young Master out from another direction. Understand?”

The followers looked at each other in confusion but responded with difficulty, “Understood.”

Qing Chen was stunned. Qing Li had decided that they couldn’t possibly break through the encirclement, so he was using his own life to create a chance for Qing Yi to live.