I sat quietly beneath a tree for a while, still feeling nauseous and ready to vomit. Mr. Blackmask was right beside me, repeatedly patting my back. My head was spinning, dazed for a good long moment before I finally came to. During that time, Mr. Blackmask kept lightly slapping my back.
"Next time, when you drink, go to the riverside. Best not to follow along, you hear?"
I grunted in response, my cheeks burning. All I wanted was sleep. Suddenly, Mr. Blackmask grabbed my face with one strong hand.
"Don’t fall asleep. If you do, something bad might happen. Get up, let’s go back. You’d better find yourself a proper place to sleep."
I grunted again and got up, following Mr. Blackmask.
"Just now, you said there’s a way to gain immortality here? What’s the real story?"
I asked, and Mr. Blackmask stopped, turned his head, looked up at me, and spoke.
"This place has no boundaries. No matter how far you go, you’ll never reach the edge. Years ago, someone tried—took food, followed the river, walked for nearly a year, and still couldn’t get out. Came back half-starved."
I swallowed hard, eyes wide with shock. Walked along the river for a whole year—and still came back?
"The only places to get food are on either side of this river—each side has one spot. We’ve searched everywhere else, found nothing."
I grunted, remembering this morning, moving the stones.
"Why were we moving stones this morning, anyway?"
"That—wait until the drinker comes back, then ask him yourself."
Mr. Blackmask and I kept walking. He seemed easy to approach, but he was a member of the Immortality Society. I kept warning myself—these people, in the Society, kill without blinking. For immortality, they’ll do anything.
Just thinking about the Immortality Society, images of their horrors flashed through my mind. I clenched my teeth.
"You seem to have a grudge against me, Ethan Zhang. But you’d better keep that grudge to yourself, or else..."
Mr. Blackmask hadn’t finished his sentence when I cut in, raising my voice.
"Or else what? What are you going to do?"
As soon as I spoke, a sudden, piercing sound tore through the air from all directions. I glanced over—at that moment, someone screamed in terror. Blades—dozens of them—flashed cold light, flying straight toward me.
"Hurry up—get rid of that grudge, or you’ll die..."