Day Eighty-Five: The Mystery of the Rabbit Pelt, Part Two

"Holy crap!" I yelled out as well!

The ax that was about to hack down stopped abruptly in mid-air! "Good god! It's actually a person!" Forget about him, even I was stunned! There was no way to describe how I felt at that moment! Just a second ago, I was still guessing whether it might be an ape. To me, the chances of it being an ape seemed far higher than a human. But I never expected it to actually be a person!

He was crying right now, one hand clutching his waist—he must have been jabbed by the branch I thrust out—while the other hand gripped a stone, which could barely be called a stone knife! The stone looked like it had been polished... The hand holding the stone was now shielding his head, and he was curled up into a ball, shaking like a sieve, with tears and snot smeared all over his face.

"Enough! Stop crying! Who are you? Why are you here? Why did you run? What were you hiding here for? How many of you are there..." Even I was astonished as a rapid stream of questions tumbled out of my mouth without hesitation.

The word "enough" had been roared out, and those two syllables startled him into stopping his crying. Perhaps he had been paralyzed by the descending ax, thinking he was going to die. But he hadn't died, and maybe the shock of it had been too immense. Fortunately, my shout, sounding like a clap of thunder, jolted him back from his terror.

Clearly, though, he hadn't heard my subsequent questions clearly... Instead, he just kept staring at me with a gaze full of terror and despair.

"What's your name?" I asked again, though this time I didn't fire off a whole string of questions, having regained my composure.

"Ye... Qing... Qing... Chen..." He opened his mouth several times before finally getting his name out.

Ye Qingchen? I frowned. With a face like that, how was he a "city-toppling beauty" (*Qingcheng*)? There were several bloody scratches on his face, which was filthy, and his protruding cheekbones made him look severely malnourished...

While I was still puzzled, he seemed to notice, so he started speaking again: "Ye... Ye... like the leaf (*Ye*)... Qing... like the clear water (*Qing*)... Chen... like the morning (*Chen*)..."

Before he could finish, I couldn't help but interrupt him. He was far too nervous; I needed to let him calm down first before I could get the information I wanted. Of course, I still maintained my guard against others, so I didn't step closer, fearing this might be a ruse since he was still clutching that stone knife in his hand. However, as long as I didn't get too close, I wasn't afraid of him, especially since the ax in my hand was ready to swing at a moment's notice. Even if he suddenly lashed out, he wouldn't be faster than the sharp edge of the ax.

"Why are you here? Why did you run when you saw me?" After tossing out these two questions, I specifically jutted my chin toward the hand he was using to hold the stone knife, signaling him to throw the stone over. The kid was quite sensible; normally, he must be a rather sharp person. Yet his spine was even more cowardly than mine—how on earth had he managed to survive until now?

"I, I was looking for foo, food at, at the ti, time..."

"Slow down a bit, and then speak properly!" I didn't want to terrify him further. Listening to him stutter like that was excruciating. Sharing a common language at least indicated that he likely came from the same place as me and Xiao Hei's former owner. So, had he come here together with Xiao Hei's former owner, or how had he arrived?

After a few minutes, he spoke again, "O, okay, it's like this. Today it was my turn to go out and look for food, but halfway there, I ran into a wild boar and bolted straight into the woods in a panic. I almost got run down by them, but fortunately, the woods over there were denser, and the boars finally gave up... But I got lost because of that, and ended up wandering over to your place, Big Brother! I really didn't mean to disturb you!"

"Hmph? Your turn? You mean there's more than one of you?" Perhaps having recovered somewhat, as soon as I asked this question, I clearly saw his eyeballs dart around a few times as he thought it over.

"Yes... There are five of us in total..." He probably hadn't weighed everything yet, but after glancing at the ax in my hand, he still answered with a stutter.

Judging by his demeanor, he was very likely telling the truth. Seeing him deep in thought, I deliberately moved the ax a few times to apply pressure, preventing him from deceiving me. "Then why did you run?" I asked, toying with the ax as I looked at him.

"Big Brother, it's like this. You know how it is, I was scared. Without knowing who lived inside, I was afraid that if, by any chance, it was a murde..." At this point, Ye Qingchen stopped. He knew very well he seemed to have said the wrong thing; what he probably wanted to say was something like a ruthless killer...

"Oh?" I said. "Does that mean this is your first time coming to my place? And judging by how experienced you sound, have you encountered others... before?"

"No, no, Big Brother, it really is my first time here. Are you asking if I've encountered anyone else? No, we haven't encountered anyone at all, except for you. We always thought there were only the five of us on this island!"

"By the way, Big Brother, how come you're here?" he asked right after.

I wasn't sure if he was trying to fish for information or what, but I could sense that this guy was quite astute. I even began to suspect more and more that his initial terror might have been an act. This fellow was no simpleton! Of course, I certainly wasn't going to answer his question directly.

"Let's talk about you guys first! Where do you live? Is it far from here?" I looked at him and asked.

"Big Brother, look..." He extended a finger to point toward the rear right and said, "After going through here, you walk for about forty minutes, then cross another patch of woods, and you'll reach the beach. Then you just follow the shoreline to the right until you reach the next small patch of woods, and that's it. Big Brother, why don't you come back with me? The other brothers should be pretty glad to see you. By the way, Big Brother, do you live alone?"

Actually, I was quite curious about their side—where they lived, what kind of people they were, and why they had come to spy on my territory. Of course, I didn't entirely believe his explanation about stumbling upon it by accident. Unfortunately, though, the bullets in my handgun were running low.

When I first got this handgun, there were six bullets in total. One of them had been used to start a fire, and two more had been used last time when dealing with the giant wild boar. That meant there were only three bullets left in the gun. This was my ultimate safeguard for preserving my life if a conflict broke out. To me, although they had more people, as long as I had this handgun, at least no one would dare to recklessly disregard the threat of a firearm and throw their lives away.

Therefore, I decided to go and check out their place first. Even if I didn't go, whatever was coming would come anyway; my dwelling had already been discovered by them. Even if I killed this short guy Ye Qingchen right now, I couldn't guarantee that no one else knew where I lived...

"Let's go then. Let's go take a look at your place first..."

"Great! Big Brother, let's go..." Ye Qingchen seemed thrilled, not even picking up the stone knife he had just dropped...