Chapter 15: The Voice. All You Must Do Is Remember Them—and Live On.

Su Ze turned it over for a while, gained no insight, and gave up, turning instead toward the two still-unconscious people.

One was gravely injured; the other had fainted for unknown reasons. Standing here waiting for them to wake was clearly unrealistic—besides, Lin Xiuzhu was waiting back there.

Although Su Ze was certain no large predators roamed nearby, and Lin Xiuzhu knew that stretch of forest well, one had to hope for the best and prepare for the worst—he needed to get back quickly.

Su Ze scanned the area, pulled a fairly sturdy vine from the fallen trees, walked to the young woman, took her arm, and hoisted her onto his back—her back was covered edge to edge in grown branches; carrying her in his arms was impossible. The piggyback was the only way.

With the woman secured and lashed in place with vine, Su Ze carried her to the old man, bent down, and gathered him into his arms—then headed back the way he had come.

The return trip was anything but peaceful. As night thickened, animals stirred all around, and inevitably some of them crossed paths with Su Ze.

Some blundered into him by accident and attacked out of pure stress response; others were already hunting—and having met, Su Ze wasn’t about to let them go.

Add in the woman’s branches constantly snagging and tripping him, and the journey was grueling. The rescue run had taken mere minutes; nearly an hour into the return trip, he still hadn’t arrived.

At least breakfast is sorted.

Su Ze glanced at the Mutated Golden Pheasant and Badger in his hand and suddenly felt the road wasn’t so bad after all—shame that wild boar had run too fast…

He was still mourning it when a soft whimper sounded by his ear. The woman on his back had woken.

Freshly conscious, she was dazed for a while, looking around before it all came back to her.

“We’re… safe?”

“Yes.”

The woman looked at the vine trussing her body, then at the old man in Su Ze’s arms, and bit her lip. “Actually… you didn’t have to bother with me…”

Seeing Su Ze say nothing, she stirred, trying to climb down off his back. “Maybe I should walk on my own—”

“Don’t move.” Su Ze shifted the old man up a little, his tone perfectly calm. “You’re too slow on your own.”

“…Oh.” The woman settled down and lay obediently still.

After a while, she spoke again. “Oh, right—I still don’t know your name. I-I’m Qin Yu. Qin as in the Qin Dynasty, Yu as in yoga.”

Su Ze was silent for a moment. “…My name is Su Ze.”

“Su Ze…” Qin Yu murmured the name. “Why were you in Changling Mountain? And you happened to save us?”

Su Ze paused, answering only the second question. “I heard the sound that bear was making.”

“The sound…” Qin Yu’s eyes drifted half-open, and the Giant Bear’s roar came rushing back to her.

One drop.

Two drops.

Clear liquid dripped onto Su Ze’s neck, followed by low, broken sobbing.

“That was… Captain Zhou’s voice… Little Lu… Little Wang… several more… I don’t even know some of their full names… They were so young… Why did it turn out like this… Why…”

Su Ze said nothing and did not slow his steps, letting Qin Yu vent emotions long bottled up. Only when she had gradually quieted did he speak.

“It was their mission. Even at the edge of life and death, they didn’t take a single step back. All you must do is remember them—and live on.”

“Mm… Mm!”

Once her emotions had fully settled, Qin Yu finally noticed that Su Ze wasn’t wandering aimlessly—he had a destination, and had been heading in one direction this whole time.

She shifted her branches aside of her own accord to keep them from snagging on anything, and asked, curious, “Where are we going now? Out of the mountains?”

“No. Someone I know is just ahead—he has a safe place to stay.” Su Ze paused before continuing, “We’ll rest once we get there. When your teacher wakes, if you want to leave the mountains, I can take you out.”

“Okay… thank you.”

A few more minutes of walking. Qin Yu, who had appointed herself sentry and kept scanning their surroundings, suddenly saw something dancing in the air in the deep darkness of the forest ahead.

Branches? A Mutated Plant? She narrowed her eyes to make it out—and the moment she understood what it was, cold swept up her spine—

Tentacles! Tentacles like a cephalopod’s!!!

“S-Su Ze… Mutated Creature ahead!” Qin Yu’s trembling voice whispered in his ear. Her tone was drenched in fear, yet she described what she saw with perfect clarity. “It has… cephalopod tentacles… estimated over three meters… highly aggressive…”

“…!”

Su Ze looked at Lin Xiuzhu—crouched on the ground, eight tentacles curled upward, waving through the air, methodically swatting away mosquitoes—and for a moment had no idea what to say. Meanwhile Qin Yu kept up her dutiful, terrified-but-brave whispered briefing.

“I don’t know why a Mutated Creature like this would appear this far inland… but cephalopods are highly intelligent… their tentacles are extremely agile, and their Regeneration Ability is very strong… Y-you be careful!”

She had been awake only a short while, but the fact that Su Ze had carried her and her teacher this far in safety proved he was no ordinary man—the prey in his hands proved it too.

But knowing Su Ze was formidable and watching him work were two different things. The brutal days behind her had taught her that against an enemy you didn’t understand, even the strongest weapons had weak points, and even the fiercest man had limits.

Su Ze stayed silent for a good while. Only when Lin Xiuzhu had already lifted his head to look over did he force out, with some difficulty, “He’s the person I mentioned to you earlier—”

“HOLY FUCK! D-don’t come over here!!!”

Before Su Ze could even finish, Lin Xiuzhu sprang off the ground, hands raised in a defensive posture, tentacles sweeping wildly across the dirt—and in seconds he’d hefted a rock the size of a human head.

Su Ze: “…”

Qin Yu finally caught up with reality and cried out in a strangled voice, “He’s the person you mentioned?! He’s a Mutant?!”

The shout carried, and Lin Xiuzhu froze. “Why is there a woman’s voice… Don’t tell me… S-Su Ze? Is that you?”

“…It’s me.”

“Holy shit! You’re finally fucking back! What’s with this ghostly getup? Did you carry a whole tree back with you? Nearly scared me to death!” Lin Xiuzhu let out his breath, dropped the rock, and hurried over. “You pull this wandering-off stunt one more time, I swear I’m never looking out for you again… Who’s this?”

Su Ze looked down at the old man in his arms, then simply raised him up and held him out to Lin Xiuzhu. “Picked him up on the way.”

Lin Xiuzhu took the man on reflex, still finding room to snipe. “I know. If you didn’t save him, what, did you find him lying around? I’m asking who he is!”

Before Su Ze could answer, Qin Yu’s voice drifted faintly from behind him. “He’s my teacher. Academician Wei Fengtang…”

“Holy shit!” Lin Xiuzhu jolted. “What the hell did you carry back here? Wasn’t it a tree?!”

“Not a tree. A person. Also picked up on the way.” As he spoke, Su Ze began undoing the vines.

This spot wasn’t far from the cave where Lin Xiuzhu was staying, and there was no real danger here. Qin Yu looked to have recovered decently as well—she could surely walk the rest of the way herself.

Most importantly, he was a little hungry. Carrying people burned far too much energy.

The moment the vines came loose, Qin Yu hopped down—but she stayed hidden behind Su Ze, not daring to come out.

Seeing this, Su Ze, for once, put in a good word for Lin Xiuzhu. “He only looks scary.”

Lin Xiuzhu: “…” Gee, thanks!

Qin Yu still hid, her face caught between words she wanted to say and couldn’t.

Su Ze, with his back to her, couldn’t see; Lin Xiuzhu, on the other hand, saw everything. Unable to help himself, he defended his honor. “Look, one of us has octopus legs growing out of him and the other has branches. We’re six of one and half a dozen of the other. Nobody here gets to look down on anybody. Is all this fear really necessary?”

“…They’re called tentacles,” Qin Yu couldn’t help correcting. “And that’s not why I—”

Then because of what? The only two conscious men present both sank into contemplation. After a moment, comprehension dawned on Su Ze’s face—

The branches growing out of Qin Yu’s body had shredded her clothes almost entirely; right now she wore nothing but her underwear. While her mind was scrambled and she was running for her life, modesty had been a luxury. But the moment she was safe and sound, human dignity came creeping back.

Su Ze glanced at Lin Xiuzhu in his single black tank top, then down at himself—T-shirt under a button-up—and resignedly stripped off his blood-spattered shirt and held it out behind him.

“Here. Put this on.”

Qin Yu blinked, then accepted the shirt, blushing. “…Thank you.”

The branches still trailing from her back were about a meter long; wearing a shirt the normal way was simply impossible. But girls always had their clever little workarounds.

She wrapped the shirt around her front, wound the two sleeves behind her back to knot them, and in seconds converted it into a tube-top dress. It covered nothing at the back—but at least her front was decent.

Only after donning her “tube-top dress” did Qin Yu work up the courage to step out from behind Su Ze and face Lin Xiuzhu. “Hello. I’m Qin Yu.”

“…Lin Xiuzhu.” Finally understanding why Qin Yu had been hiding, Lin Xiuzhu coughed awkwardly a couple of times, gathered up Wei Fengtang, and turned back toward the cave. “Let’s go. We’ll talk back at camp.”

The three returned in silence to the cave where Lin Xiuzhu had been staying. Qin Yu looked at the interior—with its arrangements for a long-term resident—and shot Su Ze a puzzled glance.

Su Ze offered no explanation. Once Lin Xiuzhu had settled Wei Fengtang onto the single bed, he held out the pheasant and badger in his hands.

Lin Xiuzhu took a moment to process it. “What’s this for?”

“I’m hungry.” Su Ze declared, with total justification.

“Holy shit! Didn’t you just eat a whole wild rabbit tonight?! How long has it been?!”

“Are you cooking or not?”

“…Cooking, cooking, I’m cooking. God, I must owe you from a past life! Fair warning—I’ve never cooked badger before. No promises on taste!”

“Mm.” Su Ze acknowledged, then turned to Qin Yu. “You two talk. I’m stepping out.”

Before Qin Yu could open her mouth, Lin Xiuzhu panicked. “Where are you going NOW? Weren’t you just complaining you were hungry?”

Su Ze said, in the tone of a salesman hawking a once-in-a-lifetime deal, “I ran into a wild boar on the way back.”

“A boar? Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“No. Academician Wei needs nutrition.”

“…If you fucking want to eat it, don’t pin it on other people! Academician Wei is still unconscious—where’s he gonna order pork from?!”