Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 779: Dead things

“We’re not all going to die here, are we?” Liu Liqun sat in the hollow, watching worriedly as the snow outside Yamaguchi gathered.

Everyone could see that outside Yamaguchi, more than twenty robust wild wolves had not left. Instead, they nestled in the snow, cautiously watching them.

Gradually, even as the Great Snow buried their bodies, they still did not move.

Qing Li saw this scene and pretended to charge out of the hollow.

The next moment, the twenty-odd wolves simultaneously stood up, shaking off the snow on their bodies, coldly staring at him.

Qing Li thought for a moment; he raised his automatic rifle and tried to fire at the wolves.

However, the wolf pack instantly increased their distance, not stopping until they were 300 meters away before lying down again.

Qing Li fired a few shots, but the pack didn’t budge.

This made Qing Li sense something was off. He whispered to Qing Yi, “Young master, this pack of wolves… it’s a bit against common sense. They seem to know the effective range of an automatic rifle, and they’re not that afraid of the gunfire. In the past, the pack would have run off at the sound of gunfire.”

Qing Yi frowned, “Are you saying, this pack of wolves… might actually be controlled by someone?”

Qing Li whispered, “In Federation history, it’s not rare for Transcendents to be close to beasts. Although there’s no clear evidence yet, we can’t be careless.”

“Then we’re done for,” Qing Yi sighed. “Real beasts fear death, but beasts controlled by humans don’t. A pack of wolves that has overcome their instincts is enough to wear us out here.”

They still had plenty of ammunition, but what if there were further dangers after they finished off the wolf pack?

“Let’s wait a bit longer,” Qing Yi said. “Perhaps there will be a turnaround.”

The hollow was relatively spacious, about three or four hundred square meters.

But there was only one bonfire, and only a few people could gather around it.

Qing Yi and his group were the first to arrive here. The firewood they chopped was only enough to last them until dawn, so they couldn’t share it with anyone else.

As a result, everyone else could only watch from afar, shivering with cold.

Qing Li roughly estimated and said to Qing Yi, “Young master, the wolves might be trying to trap us here until we die. The firewood will run out by morning. If we can’t leave by tomorrow night, it will be very tough.”

“We can’t look after others; let’s just get through tonight,” Qing Yi said.

At that moment.

The hollow became noisy.

An assistant of Li Yu said to his companion beside him, “This coat you’re wearing is actually mine, give it to me!”

“At a place like this, you’re still saying which clothes are yours? If you call it, will it respond?” the companion replied.

Everyone had rushed when leaving the camp, so it was normal for someone to wear the wrong clothes.

But it was so cold now, and everyone was so cold and hungry that they couldn’t bear it anymore.

Suddenly, the two started fighting, tearing each other’s clothes.

Qing Yi only glanced at the situation but didn’t intervene. Everyone else watched indifferently, except for one female actress who kept trying to persuade, “We need to be like a family here, please don’t fight anymore! Listen to me, in such a harsh environment, we have to work together like brothers and sisters if we want to survive…”

Qing Chen remained silently speechless.

The style of the Parent Association really differed from others.

He and Liu Liqun and other stage workers leaned against the stone wall of the hollow. Although Qing Yi took care of them, there was only that one fire, and just Qing Yi, Sun Chu Ci, Song Niannian, and their group had to squeeze close.

So, naturally, it wasn’t the stage workers’ turn.

Liu Liqun looked at those people, “Fighting and wasting energy now is definitely a dead end… Speaking of family, I heard that there’s a new organization in City Number 10 called the Parent Association, apparently from City Number 18.”

“Oh?” Qing Chen turned to look, “What kind of organization is it?”

“I’m not sure,” Liu Liqun shook his head. “I’ve only heard about it. This organization seems different from typical clubs. They like to do good deeds, don’t bully others, don’t collect protection money, just internal mutual aid. It sounds quite interesting. I heard that when a member fell ill, a group of the hard-up Parent Association members gathered money for his treatment. Many people were planning to inquire about joining it after hearing about it.”

In a maliciously rampant Federation, the emergence of an organization truly founded on mutual aid was like a refreshing breeze, attracting extra attention…

Liu Liqun said, “Enough of that for now. Let’s all try to sleep; we still have to stand guard later.”

Qing Li assigned tasks to everyone, taking turns guarding Yamaguchi, to ensure that if the wolves approached, someone would be aware.

The stage workers spread out the tents they had dragged along the snowy ground. Lacking poles, they wrapped them around themselves as sleeping bags, at least providing some wind, water, and warmth protection.

This action made quite a few people in the hollow envious.

Li Yu’s manager even approached Liu Liqun’s side and whispered, “Your tent seems to have plenty of space, can I squeeze in too…?”

The stage workers were stunned; the tents they dragged could indeed accommodate two people together.

But that would mean very close contact, wouldn’t it?

Li Yu’s manager, a minor eighteen-tier artist who had maintained herself quite well, looked like she was in her early thirties despite being nearly forty.

Under other circumstances, perhaps someone would have been tempted.

In this wilderness, who could say they would be alive tomorrow? Why not enjoy what one could?

But peculiarly, Liu Liqun did not like women, “Get lost…”

The manager then looked towards the other stage workers, with Li Yu sneering behind, “Aren’t you ashamed, you used to sleep with directors, screenwriters, and now you’re down to sleeping with stage workers?”

The manager glared back, no longer hiding her feelings, “Wasn’t I doing that to pull resources for you before?! And, how did you survive? I had tied the rope tight, how could you possibly have survived? There must be something strange!”

Qing Yi looked over.

Li Yu sneered, “You must have wished me dead, but luckily I encountered a cinematographer lost in the Great Snow, and he helped me untie the rope.”

“Then where is he?” the manager asked.

“Killed by wolves,” Li Yu replied.

“You got lucky!” the agent snarled, “But I believe you absolutely can’t make it back to the Federation alive.”

At that moment, another of Li Yu’s female assistants approached Qing Chen, “Can I share a tent with you?”

Qing Chen glanced at her but threw the tent he had dragged over to the female Parent Association member, then leaned against the rock wall with his gun and closed his eyes to rest.

Liu Liqun sighed beside him, “Zhou Cang, why be such a good Samaritan now? Without something to keep you warm, you’ll quickly lose body heat.”

Qing Chen smiled, “It’s fine, you all go to sleep. It would be very inconvenient for us all to cram into the tent; it’s easy to be ambushed.”

Liu Liqun was taken aback, “That’s true, you keep watch for now, and when it’s my turn to stand guard, you can use my tent.”

Qing Chen nonchalantly squinted toward the basin.

There were a total of 87 people.

But he only heard 86 heartbeats.

It wasn’t that someone had frozen to death; instead, a dead thing had mixed into the basin.

…

…

It was already 4 o’clock in the morning.

All the people in the basin were ravenous, but ultimately succumbed to exhaustion and lay in the snow, drifting to sleep.

They had trekked almost twenty kilometers through the snow, which had seeped into their shoes and then melted into water.

At this moment, they only felt their feet were like frozen clumps of ice.

It was foreseeable that when they awoke, most would fall ill.

Just before dawn, the darkest moment, it was Li Yu’s turn alongside the film crew’s cameramen and others like Sun Chu Ci to stand guard.

Li Yu, unwillingly trailing behind everyone, suddenly pulled a dagger from his sleeve and savagely cut the carotid artery of a cameraman from behind.

Immediately after, he lunged at Sun Chu Ci, who was unaware that he was about to be slashed at the throat.

With a bang, Qing Li emotionlessly opened fire, shooting a burst that shattered Li Yu’s thigh bone.

This also woke everyone in the basin.

Yet, Li Yu did not fall and wail. He merely swayed slightly and continued swinging his knife towards Sun Chu Ci’s neck.

Bang, another shot.

Li Yu’s arm also broke, and the dagger flew out of his hand.

Qing Li wanted to keep him alive, but Li Yu seemed insane, not stopping despite the pain.

Bang.

Qing Li was forced to shoot through his skull.

Before Sun Chu Ci could check behind him, he roared, “The wolves are coming!”

The wolf pack outside the basin suddenly approached, as if coordinated with Li Yu’s actions, charging swiftly.

As the wolves attacked, their robust limbs kicked up massive waves of snow, their presence immensely fearsome.

It seemed they knew in advance that there would be chaos at the basin mouth at that moment.

The resting Qing Li immediately stood up and sprayed automatic rifle fire at the basin mouth, joining Sun Chu Ci in repelling the wolves with dense firepower.

In the basin, everyone watched the scene in unsettled shock until the gunfire ceased.

They saw the bodies of Li Yu and the cameraman, unsure of what had happened.

Qing Li turned over Li Yu’s body, only to see his complexion instantly turn purplish and his face show signs of livor mortis.

Qing Li gasped, “Livor mortis? That only occurs over 2 hours after death.”

Qing Yi looked at the others and calmly explained, “I felt something was off with this man as soon as he entered the basin; if what the agent said is true, he indeed should have been dead in the snow.”

Qing Yi had logically deduced that there was something wrong with Li Yu, so he had instructed Qing Li to keep a close watch.

But only Qing Chen knew, from the moment Li Yu entered the basin, he hadn’t had a heartbeat.

Li Yu was already dead.

The reason Qing Chen initially ignored him was to see what the person controlling Li Yu intended to do; it turned out they planned to use Li Yu as an insider to breach the basin’s defenses and create chaos significant enough to destroy it.

So who was controlling Li Yu and the wolf pack?

Was it targeted at Qing Yi, since among all present, only Qing Yi held value worth the action of such skilled Transcendents?

Was it Qing Yuan?

Or was it the work of Jindai or Deer Island?

Qing Chen furrowed his brows, if Qing Yuan was able to turn the wolf pack into puppets, then his threat was too great.

The wind and snow continued to intensify.

They couldn’t last long in this basin; the food wasn’t enough.

Qing Chen looked towards the basin, if everyone went hungry for three days, there might not even be a need for the wolf pack to invade, as internal strife would likely break out first in the basin.

…

Another chapter at 11 PM.