"Mr. Chen, did any of you hear something?"
I asked, but neither Mr. Chen nor the other three heard anything. Yet I definitely did—still do, in fact. A cold, chilling laughter, clear as day, echoing straight into my mind, sending shivers down my spine.
Unease churned inside me. We didn't climb down; instead, we kept moving along the branches, heading toward the mountain glowing with light.
"Wait..."
Just then, I distinctly heard a woman's cold voice echo in my mind. I turned around—nothing there, only the endless, pitch-black forest.
"Wait. I told you to wait."
I braced myself. Nathan Li beside me shot me a puzzled look. I told them again—someone was telling me to wait. But none of them heard it.
Just as I passed over a branch, lifting Lily Wu and handing her to Nathan Li on the other side, I suddenly felt something beneath me—a surge of black, icy coldness wrapping around my body, growing thicker and thicker.
"Qingyuan!"
Lily Wu shouted. I raised my hand, and Nathan Li grabbed me, but a tremendous force yanked me down from the tree. I couldn't breathe—it was like drowning. My whole body went numb with cold, my head frozen stiff, even thinking became impossible. I lost consciousness.