We swallowed hard, and the fat guy groaned, “Damn it, when did she come over?”

I instinctively shifted my body in the opposite direction and whispered, “No, listen to that sound; it’s the same as what we heard earlier. Damn it, we felt like we were getting closer to that sound, but maybe it was an illusion. It’s not that we were approaching the sound, but rather the sound was approaching us.”

At that moment, I realized my calves were trembling uncontrollably. If it were just a zongzi, I might not have been so scared, but this was A-Ning. God knows how someone I knew had turned into this. What had happened to her? I simply couldn’t face it and wanted to run away.

However, it was so dark that we couldn’t see clearly, and it was hard to confirm whether it was really A-Ning. I was genuinely resistant to that thought. The fat guy crouched down, trying to shine his flashlight on the figure, but Panzi held his hand down, saying, “Damn it, don’t act rashly. Listen to the surroundings.”

We focused and listened carefully, realizing that there was a faint rustling sound coming from the treetops all around us.

“There are a lot of snakes in the treetops. That sound we heard earlier was probably made by them, luring us closer.”

We stiffened up. The fat guy turned his head, looking around, and the sounds were coming from all directions. “Damn it, it seems like we’re being wrapped up like dumplings?” He raised his machete.

Panzi shook his head at him, pressed us down to hide, and then pulled out an alcohol stove from his backpack, quickly unscrewing the lid. “What good is your knife? We really have to use your fire tactic now.”

“Aren’t you the one who said that would burn us to death?” I whispered.

“I’d rather be bitten by a snake than burn to death.”

“Of course, it’s not about burning clothes,” Panzi said, urging us to squat down. He quickly pulled out our waterproof cloth from the backpack, draped it over our heads, and drenched it in alcohol.

I immediately understood his intention, thinking that it was indeed a clever tactic; this experience was not for nothing.

“Hold on tight, don’t let go, even if your skin burns off, bear with it. I’ll signal, and then we charge forward,” Panzi instructed.

The sparse sounds around us grew closer. We nodded immediately. Panzi took out a lighter and lit it; the waterproof cloth caught fire instantly. He jumped inside and shouted at us, “Run!”

We charged in one direction with the burning waterproof cloth over us, and the sounds of the snake swarm erupted from the tree trunks around us. We couldn’t care about anything else and ran as fast as we could for twenty or thirty meters. The alcohol burned out, and the waterproof cloth started to catch fire. Panzi shouted for us to throw it away, and we quickly discarded the now-burning cloth and began to sprint.

It was a completely frantic run; we disregarded everything, not looking back. The sharp thorns scratched my skin, but I didn’t feel any pain. Gritting my teeth, we ran for about a mile or two before finally stopping, crouching in the grass, gasping for breath to listen for sounds behind us. To my surprise, there were no sounds of snakes behind us, and even that eerie walkie-talkie noise had vanished.

I find it hard to believe that we managed to escape, but it does bring us some relief, even though the eerily silent forest is anything but normal. My hand was burned, but I didn’t even bother to check it. After rubbing it a bit, I realized it was just a minor burn; at the time, I thought I might lose a finger.

“It seems like they didn’t follow us. Looks like those snakes are scared of us risking our lives,” the fat guy said. “Dapan, you’re something else; you know how to adapt. I’ll remember this trick. How much waterproof cloth do we have left?”

Panzi was panting, his face turning pale. “We have plenty of waterproof cloth, but damn it, we only have one bottle of alcohol left. This trick can’t be used too often. Let’s move; this place is too sinister. I don’t want to play this game again. They might be nearby, just not making any noise.” He glanced at the compass.

I knew Panzi was right, so I gritted my teeth and stood up, even though I was out of breath. Panzi confirmed the direction and immediately pushed us forward.

I glanced back at the darkness behind us, thinking about the shadow that resembled both a human and a snake, sending chills down my spine. We dared not stop again, moving with increased urgency and vigilance. We quickened our pace at the slightest sound, which only doubled our physical exhaustion. The intense exertion we had experienced earlier clearly couldn’t be fully recovered in such a short time. The sense of relief we had after resting had completely collapsed, and walking became extremely arduous. The fat guy was panting like a bellows, and I was almost just following the sound of his breathing.

At this moment, I felt a bit of comfort because, throughout our journey, there had always been something happening after any noise. This time, we managed to avoid trouble, which was a stroke of luck that had never happened before.

However, as we continued walking, I suddenly heard that rustling sound again from the woods ahead, intermittent and whispering like ghosts sharing secrets.

We all froze in place. The fat guy immediately urged us to crouch down and hide. I was so exhausted that I was on the verge of collapse. Panting heavily, the fat guy said, “Damn it, Dapan, how did you lead us? How did we end up back here again?”

Panzi looked around, his face gradually twisting in distress. “We didn’t circle back.”

We scanned our surroundings and truly saw no signs of having been here before. The forest around us felt completely unfamiliar. Panzi then said, “Damn it, they didn’t follow us; they’re encircling us.”