Volume One, Chapter Twenty: The Swamp

Returning from the marsh, Mo De noticed through the mist that more teams had gathered at the edges. Some of the later arrivals were making the most of their time to recover their strength, while the earliest teams had already packed up and were preparing to depart from the marsh’s boundary.

Squad 3’s leader, Liu Shiyun, had just finished dealing with the kitchen waste when, through the thick marsh fog, he saw a dark figure gradually emerge, glancing about in all directions.

“There’s… there’s…” Liu Shiyun was so frightened he could barely get the words out, pointing repeatedly at the shadow as he called for the others.

“A ghost!” The shadow finally showed itself—it was a mass of writhing mud! Liu Shiyun’s panicked cry instantly drew everyone’s attention. All eyes turned warily toward where he was pointing.

“A ghost? Where?” Mo De, startled as well, followed Liu Shiyun’s finger and looked behind him, but all he saw was a dense veil of mist.

Suddenly, Mo De understood. Raising his hands, he shouted at the top of his lungs, drowning out Liu Shiyun’s scream: “Don’t shoot! It’s one of us!”

...

The brief commotion settled, and the teams that had finished their rest and were ready to leave came over to Mo De’s squad from Team 20, eager to hear about what intelligence Mo De had brought back from the marsh.

“The deeper you go, the denser the water vapor and the fog. Where I reached, visibility was only about three meters. Try not to split up when moving as a group. Keep moving—if you stop, you’ll slowly sink. And there may be marsh gas bubbles as well…” Mo De shared his findings while wiping his face with a damp towel Wu Fan handed him.

The vanguard teams set out, passing on the information through the ranks. At last, those crowding around Mo De drifted away, giving him a chance to sit down and eat.

He alternated bites of a protein bar and roasted canned food, his appetite surprisingly good after the exertion in the fog and the ordeal with the black rope’s fire.

“How did you get yourself into such a mess?” Wu Fan squatted beside him with half a compressed biscuit, while Ji Keqing and Su Ziwen also came over to sit.

“The fog was thick and the ground was slippery. I took a solid fall, but it’s nothing serious.”

Even Ji Keqing and Wu Fan wore expressions that said, “You expect us to believe that?” The three of them knew Mo De’s skills well. During their earlier trek, Mo De had obviously been distracted but still kept up with them. For someone who could jump through a ring of fire with his eyes closed and spin twice in the air, how could he possibly slip and get caked in mud just by running?

“It’s really nothing… Well, maybe not nothing.” Mo De hesitated, finally deciding to share Mu Qing’s intuition with the three.

He had earlier called someone from “The Tide.” Every leader of “The Tide” bore the title “Emperor.” Since the last “Black Emperor” disappeared, the current “Empress” had taken over, overseeing all the organization’s affairs under the codename “Tree.”

“The Tianshui Autumn Hunt… So far, the organization hasn’t noticed anything unusual. But if you truly sense something is off, be careful. Right now, everyone is busy preparing for the ‘Lunar Tide’ event—it’s hard for anyone to spare the time,” Tree’s voice was gentle and warm.

...

“Tree, I’m sorry,” Mo De said after a long pause, his voice hoarse.

“It’s all right. Everything will pass. Leaving was his choice—coming back to us is yours.” There was a brief silence on the line, as if she were chewing something. “Boys ought to go out and experience the world. It’s a good thing. But don’t forget, you’ll always have a place in The Tide.”

“Yes!”

...

At headquarters, Tree hung up, chewing her nicotine gum. Hands behind her head, her eyes softened as she gazed at the ceiling, lost in thought. That fierce little child who once stood beside the men, lips pressed tight and eyes fierce, seemed to have grown up now.

“Stop slacking off, the next round of results is out.” A weary voice in white came from behind a mountain of files.

“Coming.” Tree finished her gum, tied her slightly messy hair, and returned to work.

...

“So you think something unexpected will happen during this year’s hunt?” Su Ziwen’s tone was grave as he looked Mo De in the eye.

“It’s just a feeling. No real evidence…” Mo De felt oddly guilty. Before Mu Qing brought it up, he hadn’t sensed any danger himself. Still, he chose to trust Mu Qing—perhaps that trust was his own intuition.

“I’ll go find Xiang Tianshu. He can reach the teachers.” Su Ziwen pushed up his glasses and hurried off, returning soon with the same serious expression.

“Xiang Tianshu said he’ll inform the teachers, but the hunt can’t be canceled without cause. He’ll do his best to persuade the school and military to increase patrols. He’ll also remind all squad leaders to emphasize discipline and vigilance. However, to avoid panic—”

“Aren’t we making a bit too much of this?” Wu Fan finished his canned food and rubbed his stomach.

“Do you remember what I said?” Su Ziwen’s voice grew lower and chillier. “The mortality rate of the autumn hunt each year is not zero.”

...

After eating their fill and taking a brief nap, Mo De and Wu Fan, joined by Ji Keqing and Su Ziwen, packed up, sorted their trash, and finally set off toward the marsh.

Every step was wet and unstable—the ground seemed reluctant to let them go, trying to drag their shoes and even their owners into the depths, to merge with the marsh itself.

...

The four kept moving, but didn’t run as before. In this low-visibility place, slow and steady was wiser.

“Check the direction,” Su Ziwen, in the lead, called out, his brow less tense than before.

Just as Wu Fan had said before they set out, “Accidents? That’s normal, isn’t it? Everyone here was prepared for this day. Signing that pledge means everyone standing here accepts the risks.” The words made Mo De and Ji Keqing glance at him, half-wondering if this chubby fellow had been switched with someone else. Even Su Ziwen seemed a little more relaxed.

“East,” Su Ziwen ordered. The four all pointed in the same direction, confirming their sense of orientation was intact.

“South.” Again, all pointed the same way, ensuring the marsh fog hadn’t confused them.

The mist seemed endless, the mud beneath as persistent as a lingering ghost. As they prepared to adjust course again, a sudden “gurgle” echoed from the quiet around them, followed by a sharp, popping sound.

“Front right. Hold your breath, move fast, watch your step,” Su Ziwen said quickly, covering his nose and mouth and speeding up. The others did likewise.

Leading the way, Su Ziwen suddenly stopped, signaling left. The group changed direction, and just after they’d moved several steps, something burst from the ground along their original route.

They zigzagged through the marsh, dodging every strange sound, until at last they broke free of the mist and the sucking mud. The solid ground beneath their feet felt almost miraculous.

“Marsh bubbles,” Ji Keqing said, still shaken as she looked back at the fog.

“Not too big—limited power when they burst. It’s mostly carbon dioxide, not poisonous gas. Not really dangerous,” Mo De said, sprawled comfortably on a pile of stones.

“Don’t you think being covered in mud is disgusting? Oh, but you’re already coated in mud.” Ji Keqing shot him a withering look before sitting down to clean her boots with Su Ziwen.

“I wasn’t blasted like this…” Mo De started, but the words trailed off. Watching his busy companions and Wu Fan munching a protein bar, he thought of that madwoman, muddy from head to toe yet never caring.

“Trouble never seems to end,” Mo De sighed, pillowing his head on his arm and counting the stars around the sinking moon.