Fortunately, the car wasn’t far from us, and those villagers weren’t moving very fast. I pulled open the car door, plopped down in the driver’s seat, and called for Big Lee to get in. When he shut the passenger door, I breathed a sigh of relief, my whole body seeming to go limp.

But in the next instant, my body tensed up again, and I froze.

No keys! I suddenly remembered—I’d left the keys by the village chief’s corpse.

Big Lee saw me frozen there and clearly realized what had happened. By now, quite a few people had surrounded us, and the nearest villagers were only about ten meters from the car. Big Lee hesitated for a moment, then a look of determination appeared on his face. He tossed the camera into the back seat, opened the passenger door, and jumped out. Before I could stop him, he slammed the door shut behind him.

The villagers were immediately drawn to Big Lee. I watched as he quickly disappeared into the village chief’s house, my heart pounding, furious at myself for my carelessness.

Villagers kept pouring into that house. Only a few seconds passed, but it felt like hours. Watching the doorway jammed with people, I felt a wave of despair—there was no way Big Lee could squeeze out of that crowd.

I wanted to close my eyes, but the situation left me helpless. I stared anxiously, when suddenly I heard Big Lee shout loudly. I jumped in fright, my heart nearly leaping out of my chest. Before I could guess what had happened, I saw the window of the village chief’s house burst open with a bang, and then Big Lee appeared before me once again.

I was overwhelmed with excitement, rolled down the window, and shouted, “Hurry!” My voice was so hoarse I barely recognized it.

Big Lee didn’t have time to speak, because the house was already surrounded by people. Though he’d managed to escape the house for the moment, he was clearly still in danger, as the villagers outside lunged at him.

Surrounded by villagers, Big Lee dodged quickly and nimbly, but could be tackled at any moment—it looked incredibly dangerous. He tried to run toward the car, but the way was blocked by people. Though he weaved left and right, he only managed to get a few meters closer. At this rate, it would be nearly impossible for him to cover the dozens of meters between us.

Just then, Big Lee let out another loud shout, stopped dodging, and sprinted at full speed, knocking over several people in a row as he charged straight toward me. My palms were sweating as I watched him get closer and closer, but when he was still about ten meters from the car, his momentum finally stalled, and two people grabbed him around the waist.

My mind went blank. I flung open the car door and jumped out, wanting to help him. Big Lee shouted, “Get in the car! We can’t both die here!” As he spoke, he raised his hand and threw the keys in a strong arc, landing them right in front of me. Though I was trembling all over, my hand was steady as I caught the keys in one smooth motion, quickly got back in my seat, shoved the key into the ignition, and started the car.

I’d already made up my mind: I would drive straight through these things—dead or alive—to save Big Lee. But when I looked up again, I was shocked to find that Big Lee was gone. The spot where he’d just been was now swarmed with villagers.

A buzzing filled my head. I immediately pushed open the car door, ready to go save him, but the door seemed to be blocked by something and wouldn’t budge. I stuck my head out the window and saw the little girl in red. She was hunched over, pushing hard against the car door, her face anxious as she said, “Uncle, you have to go now. There’s no time.”

I was about to say something when I saw the villagers part, and Big Lee, my good friend, was now just like the other villagers, staggering toward me. When I looked into his eyes, I saw they had turned completely white.

I instinctively said to the little girl, “Didn’t you really want to go outside? Uncle will take you. This place is too scary.” As soon as I said it, I suddenly realized that this little girl had lived here all along—she must have been taken over by the bugs too. I immediately regretted it. But then I thought, this little girl seemed different from the other villagers—maybe she was okay?

A flurry of conflicting thoughts flashed through my mind, but the little girl didn’t notice. She kept bracing herself against my car door and shook her head, saying, “Uncle, if you see my brother, tell him I miss him very much. And you don’t have to be afraid, Uncle. You won’t be alone.”

I took one last look at Big Lee, fought back the urge to cry, and stepped on the gas, starting the car before the others could surround me.

Chapter 15: Eye (7)

Back in the city, the first thing I did was report to the police. I didn’t mention a single word about those unbelievable events, because I knew that unless you’d experienced it yourself, no one would ever believe it.

I only told them that we’d gone to do an interview, but some frenzied mountain villagers had detained my colleague, and I was asking them to rescue him.

Two days later, the police found me and told me that a fire had broken out in that mountain area. All the old houses in the village had been reduced to ashes in the blaze. The police found 187 charred corpses there, including Big Lee.

To prevent an epidemic, the bodies were quickly buried.

As the sole survivor, I became the focus of attention from all sides.