He only showed it to me for a moment before Sean Wu put the dagger away in his pocket. My heart skipped a beat—wasn't that the dagger Harvey Zhou gave me? I reached into my own pocket to check; the dagger was still there.
"Harvey Zhou is already dead!"
The next moment, I was completely stunned, frozen in place.
"I killed him, you know? Heh." Sean Wu wore a deadly serious expression. I knew he was telling the truth.
"Don't make a sound. Just keep walking." I was getting scared, especially by the chill in Sean Wu's eyes.
After walking for quite a while, I glanced back and saw Louis Liu and Stanley Zhang always keeping their distance from us, following at a steady pace. Stanley Zhang was muttering something, his face dark, while Louis Liu was laughing loudly.
"Louis Liu is such a jerk. Heh, he even stole my girlfriend once, you know? Joanne Lu used to be my girlfriend—a year ago. That guy is ruthless. He set me up so Joanne Lu would see me lying in bed with another woman..."
My heart skipped again as Sean Wu's eyes flashed with murderous intent. He spoke viciously.
"I've heard all about you and Harvey Zhou. It was Louis Liu who taught you guys to cook the books and make all that money, right? He’s got all your dirt in his hands. And I've got mine too!"
I stared at Sean Wu in shock as he continued, his voice low and haunting.
"All of us are just puppets in Louis Liu’s hands. Heh, just now, Harvey Zhou wanted to kill Louis Liu. But that guy, as soon as he got in your car, planted a bug. Just as he expected, Harvey Zhou wanted to use this trip to kill him!"
Suddenly, I remembered—Louis Liu’s girlfriend Joanne Lu had said she needed to pee halfway through the trip. She left for a bit, and when Louis Liu came back, he said those things.
But thinking about how Harvey Zhou was just alive moments ago, I was confused. I clearly went down with Harvey Zhou—he was still there at the time.
I asked.
"When did you kill Harvey Zhou?"
Sean Wu looked at me strangely.
"Weren't you there at the time? Did you forget?"
My head buzzed. I had no idea what was really happening.
Sean Wu said nothing more, because Louis Liu and Stanley Zhang had walked over.
But I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. We’d been walking for a long time, but the scenery hadn’t changed at all.
I picked up my watch and glanced at the time. Instantly, I froze—the watch still said three o’clock.
I stopped walking.
"What’s going on? We’ve been walking so long, but it’s still three o’clock." I asked, but Sean Wu kept walking ahead. Louis Liu and Stanley Zhang passed by me as if nothing was wrong. A chill ran through my body.
The feeling of strangeness grew stronger. Just then, a hand grabbed mine.
"Ethan, wake up. Wake up..."
I screamed, feeling myself being dragged outside. My whole body was icy cold, as if I was about to freeze to death. In the beam of the flashlight, I saw Harvey Zhou. How could he be here? It was night now.
Behind me, I saw the shadows of several others. Except for Louis Liu, everyone was there. I was at the bottom of that snowy slope. Looking around, I suddenly noticed a pine tree—at the top. The snow had already piled up all the way here?
"It’s an avalanche, Ethan. Ha, already dead. Louis Liu, ha!"
Harvey Zhou laughed maniacally. I looked at his face, bruised and battered. My memory was getting fuzzy.
"Let’s hurry back to camp, Ethan. Remember, when we get back, our statements have to match." Harvey Zhou kept laughing crazily. I shook my head—wasn’t he dead? What was going on?
While I was still confused, everyone looked happy. We climbed up the snowy slope toward camp. It seemed like we’d all survived the avalanche. We were freezing, so we made a temporary fire and tried to warm ourselves.
It was impossible for everyone to be unharmed.
I looked at everyone—their faces showed relief, but I felt something was very wrong.
Suddenly, I saw something in the woods across from us. I stood up and walked over. In the moonlight, someone was there. My heart leapt—could it be Ken Wang?
But as soon as I got closer, I saw Louis Liu, covered in wounds and blood, gasping for breath as he sat under a tree, looking completely panicked.
I cried out in shock, but Louis Liu seemed unable to see me. He searched around, then staggered off toward the camp.
I didn’t dare call out. Under the cold moonlight, I watched the trail of footprints Louis Liu left behind.
Suddenly, I looked down and saw my own footprints. Looking back, I saw everyone else’s too—a messy trail of our tracks. But nobody else seemed to notice Louis Liu, and I didn’t mention him to them.
All of us sat around the fire. Everyone’s faces looked pale and sickly.
"My younger brother used to get bullied badly by Louis Liu."
Edward Lee spoke in a low voice. Then we all looked at Mason Lee, who was still playing his PSP. Suddenly, everyone’s expression changed.
"Louis Liu used to come over to my house a lot. Once, he even brought a woman and did things in my room. My brother came home from school and saw it, so he gave Louis Liu a good beating. After that, Louis Liu threatened my brother—said if he ever told anyone, he’d kill him."
Edward Lee continued. I saw anger written on everyone’s faces, but Mason Lee just kept smiling and playing his PSP.
"I only found out recently. Louis Liu has been threatening my brother all along. I used to think he just didn’t like my brother, but his heart is pure evil."
(This part of the chapter isn’t finished yet~.~ Please click next page to continue reading!)
"Heh, maybe it’s time to be honest with each other. Back in college, I got drunk and accidentally killed a classmate. When I sobered up, Louis Liu told me what to do. The police investigated, but I got away. The evidence, though, is in Louis Liu’s hands."
Sean Wu spoke, and immediately Harvey Zhou revealed how he and I embezzled company funds and cooked the books.
Edward Lee began to cry, sobbing uncontrollably as he looked at Mason Lee, who sat beside him, numb and unresponsive.
"Ever since that day, my brother’s been bullied by Louis Liu all the time. Even when I found out, I couldn’t do anything. The life we have now is thanks to Louis Liu giving us money every month. Our father’s been in the hospital for years—the medical bills are huge. Louis Liu promised to pay for them, but my brother and I have to work like slaves for him."
"Aren’t you civil servants?"
I asked, while Edward Lee kept crying, snot and tears running down his face.
"We’re not civil servants. Louis Liu always arranged fake identities for us to get money from engineering projects. My brother and I could only stay home and do whatever he ordered."
Eventually, everyone fell silent. Then we all looked at the taxi driver, Stanley Zhang. He smoked quietly, smiling.
"What did you do that gave Louis Liu leverage over you?"
I was growing more and more confused. Was what I experienced during the day just a dream? Sean Wu had clearly said he killed Harvey Zhou, but now, what was this?
"Let’s go. We need to get back to camp first—there’s still one more person to deal with. Once that’s done, I’ll tell you my story. After all, we’re all in this together now. Let’s cooperate."
In an instant, everyone stood up and headed toward the camp, but my body wouldn’t obey me at all.
I still couldn’t figure out who was human and who was a ghost. If they were all human, then they were just a bunch of weaklings controlled by the evil ghost named Louis Liu.
We were getting closer to camp. We could already see the faint glow of the fire. As we approached, we found Joanne Lu wrapped in a blanket, sitting by the fire. She looked much better.
Sean Wu explained to Joanne Lu that we’d encountered an avalanche and that Louis Liu was missing, possibly dead. Joanne Lu started crying, sobbing uncontrollably.
The seven of us sat around the fire. Suddenly, the taxi driver spoke up.
"Maybe Louis Liu’s ghost will come back. Let’s pray for him here. Miss, at least you’ll get to see him one last time."
Sean Wu kept comforting Joanne Lu. The rest of us watched her in silence. I saw Harvey Zhou and Stanley Zhang, eyes flashing with malice as they stared at Joanne Lu, ready to make a move.
"I saw him, you know—Louis Liu’s ghost. He died horribly."
"Where?" Edward Lee asked, speaking for his brother Mason Lee.
With a clatter, Mason Lee’s PSP fell to the ground.
"Didn’t you all notice? He’s right there."
Suddenly, Mason Lee pointed behind Joanne Lu.
"Run, Joanne!"
With a bang, we saw Louis Liu, covered in blood and with deep gashes on his face, appear behind Joanne Lu. He kicked Sean Wu aside, grabbed Joanne Lu’s hand, and ran for his life.
"Don’t just stand there—chase them! We can’t let them get away!" Stanley Zhang was the first to jump up and run after them, and then we all followed.
"What are you doing, Louis Liu?" Joanne Lu shouted.
"They’re not people—they’re ghosts! They want to kill me. When the avalanche happened, I barely escaped with my life. All six of them died."
Louis Liu shouted as he picked up Joanne Lu and ran. We all chased after him, but suddenly I realized—I was the only one running. Everyone else had vanished.