Chapter 26 Decapitation

Considering that life-saving equipment like backpacks and tents were still in the camp, Jiang Cheng glanced at Huai Yi, who consciously said that he was tired and would stay to guard the camp.

Jiang Cheng and the others walked for a while before finally finding the other team behind a huge rock.

Everyone was gathered together, and their faces were exceptionally pale.

Seeing Jiang Cheng and Gongsun Zhi Ruo approaching, Zi Gui and the others stepped aside, revealing a horrifying scene before their eyes. Fatty's face couldn't help but stiffen.

Pressed against the rock was a gruesome corpse. Judging from the remaining clothing, it was undoubtedly Chan Li.

However...

"Where's her head?" Gongsun Zhi Ruo looked up, her eyes filled with shock and fear. There was little flesh left on the corpse, but the skeleton was relatively complete, except for the missing head.

Hearing this, Zhou Yuxuan, who was staring at the skeleton, shook his head, "I don't know. It was like this when we arrived."

"We searched nearby but couldn't find her head," Zi Gui said, shifting his gaze from the skeleton, his tone tinged with sadness.

"Her head was taken away," Jiang Cheng said.

This was an obvious conclusion, but why, they didn't know yet.

"My son and daughter, they died in a similar way, but even more… more tragic. Not only was their flesh missing, but their bones were also shattered," Shang Mo said tremblingly.

"What about their heads?" Zhou Yuxuan asked.

"Their heads also disappeared. The police said they searched the entire house but couldn't find them." Shang Mo's face was very pale as he recalled the scene. It was clear that he was suppressing immense pain.

It seemed this starving ghost had a habit of taking the heads of those it killed.

The skeleton barely resembled a human form. The exposed spine was twisted, giving the impression of a painful struggle before death. One arm was stretched out, while the other was bent, as if trying to crawl.

And following the direction of the skeleton's arm was their camp.

Everyone's mood was indescribably heavy. It seemed that even in the last second of her life, this poor girl had not given up hope of survival and was still trying to crawl towards the camp, hoping someone could save her.

But a mission was not a movie, and not all efforts were rewarded in the end. For the vast majority of people in the mission, one wrong step meant death.

In the last mission, if Wu hadn't blocked that axe from the killer for him, he would have already died.

"What's this?" Fatty's eyes were sharp, and he noticed that the corpse's right hand was slightly clenched, with a hint of yellow peeking out from the bloody flesh.

Jiang Cheng walked over, squatted next to the skeleton, and unabashedly raised the skeleton's right hand. Before he could use any force, there was a crisp "crack" sound, and the hand broke off at the wrist.

Fatty's heart tightened, and he quickly apologized to Chan Li in his mind on behalf of the doctor.

"Crack."

"Crack."

...

No one could have imagined how much strength Chan Li had used before her death to clench her fist so tightly that Jiang Cheng had to remove several of her fingers to extract the object inside.

Gu Lei was a small piece of yellow cloth with a unique texture, as if it had been torn from a larger piece of cloth, and it was very old.

After examining it for a while, Jiang Cheng slowly brought it to his nose, and a stench immediately choked him.

"Mr. Jiang, what's wrong?" Zi Gui asked with concern.

"I'm fine." Jiang Cheng slowly stood up and showed them the cloth. "This cloth should have been torn from the thing that killed Chan Li before she died. It has a heavy smell of decay."

"Smell of decay..." Zhou Yuxuan approached with a strange expression, sniffed lightly, and the next second, his face changed drastically. He stumbled back three or four steps, almost falling backward into the snow.

Zhou Yuxuan's reaction dispelled the others' desire to get closer and take a sniff.

Gongsun Zhi Ruo stared at the cloth in Jiang Cheng's hand and asked, "So Chan Li was killed by a corpse... no, no, a ghost wearing yellow clothes?"

Jiang Cheng nodded, "Possibly." After saying that, he didn't care about the others' gazes. He found a piece of clothing on the ground, wrapped the foul-smelling cloth in it, and stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

It was impossible and meaningless to take away a teammate's remains, so after everyone buried Chan Li with snow and offered a simple sacrifice, they returned to the camp.

"Mr. Jiang, Mr. Wang." On the way back, Zi Gui found them and said, "Lu Yu and Chan Li were very close. Can you not tell her too much about Chan Li's death? I'm worried that Lu Yu won't be able to accept it."

"Okay," Jiang Cheng said.

But Chan Li's death affected Shang Mo the most, not Lu Yu. When the hunchbacked old man saw Chan Li's tragic state, he seemed to enter a state of confusion and fear, lowering his head and muttering something, unaware that anyone was walking beside him.

Bai Xi walked beside him and heard Shang Mo constantly repeating the four words "Duō zhuō yé qí."

For some unknown reason, he shivered suddenly, then immediately looked around, as if in an instant, he had been locked onto by a cold, stiff gaze that was right around him.

After returning to the camp, everyone packed their bags and continued onward. The blizzard had stopped after dawn.

Honestly, the weather was not bad now, but Chan Li's death was like a shadow looming over everyone's heads, filling the entire team with a sad tone.

Fatty looked at Lu Yu with a slightly compassionate gaze. After learning of her friend's death, this young girl quickly controlled her emotions, then wiped away her tears, picked up her backpack, and continued on.

Looking at that small figure, Fatty seemed to see a familiar shadow again.

Jiang Cheng had taught him a long time ago that only the absolute weak were sentimental, and that men should have hearts of steel.

This was one of the few times he thought the doctor was not entirely right, because the doctor was also a sensitive person at heart, but he was used to wrapping himself in a layer of cold, hard shell.

The scenery of Gauri Shankar (Ga Wu Zhang De) Snow Mountain was beautiful, a vast expanse of white snow, with rugged mountains in the distance, forming a spectacular sight rarely seen in the city.

The cold air inhaled into the lungs gave a thorough and refreshing feeling.

Everyone couldn't help but want to shout at the snow mountain, at the empty snowfield. Human power was as small as dust in the face of the power of nature.

This could not help but make everyone think of their current situation.

To some extent, the power of ghosts and gods was the same as the power of nature, beyond their ability to contend with. The Disciples were an exception. They could use the power of the Gate to have a better chance of survival than ordinary people in dangerous situations, but the price was to bear the curse of the Gate. Once completely eroded, they would become other people's nightmares.