Trembling At A High Altitude

"My phone is dead, whose phone still has battery?" Yang Shunli's voice in the darkness.

"Mine is dead too," Aila's voice in the darkness.

Li Teng's phone lit up.

On the ground, there was another corpse.

Just like Zeka from yesterday, the neck had a horrifying wound crossing the throat and arterial blood vessels, with blood spurting out from the arteries.

Yang Shunli, Mindo, and Aila all cried out in alarm.

Li Teng remained calm.

He used his phone to light up the area, found a candle, and lit it.

Just like last night, he moved the body outside the stone house, then closed the door and sat back down.

"The ghost has killed again, now only four of us are left, who is the ghost?"

Yang Shunli looked around at the other three.

"Right, let's speak up, and then we can discuss together how to solve this situation," Aila also spoke.

"It's not me," Mindo quickly denied.

Yang Shunli looked at Li Teng, fear showing in his eyes.

"A ghost is bound by rules, it won't admit that it's the ghost, once it admits, it will probably be out," Li Teng reminded Yang Shunli.

"You mean the ghost has to kill one of us each day, and it only wins by killing all of us?" Yang Shunli tried to gauge Li Teng's tone.

"That's probably true, it's a do-or-die situation between the ghost and us," Li Teng nodded.

"Who could it be? I don't want to die..." Mindo was very afraid.

"In two more days, everything will be clear," Aila analyzed.

"That's true, in two days, with only two people left alive, the remaining two will certainly know the outcome," Yang Shunli said with a bitter smile.

The four people, no one admitted being the ghost.

After a few supremely fearful minutes, snoring sounds began.

Li Teng had fallen asleep again.

"He must be the ghost, right? Should we try searching him? As long as we get the pass, we'll be safe," Mindo whispered to Yang Shunli.

"He's not, and if you try to hurt him, I will wake him up," Aila warned Mindo.

"I didn't say I wanted to harm him, I dare not! And the rules don't allow it either, I just said try searching him..." Mindo explained to Aila.

"Yes, just trying to search, if he is not, he wouldn't have a pass on him," Yang Shunli supported Mindo's approach.

"I can let you search me, to show fairness," Mindo offered Aila.

"I can let you search me too," Yang Shunli also spoke.

"Go ahead and search," Aila answered after a silent moment.

Mindo quietly moved over, hearing Li Teng's continuing snoring, confirmed that Li Teng was still sound asleep, then reached out to search his pockets.

But as soon as her hand moved over, a hand as firm as a vise grabbed hers, causing her to cry out in pain instantly.

"Don't touch me."

Li Teng said quietly, then the snoring resumed.

Mindo quickly withdrew her hand and sat back against the wall where she had been originally, her expression full of terror.

"He's pretending to be asleep..."

Mindo whispered to Yang Shunli.

Yang Shunli said nothing, his expression both fearful and embarrassed.

...

It started raining again today.

A thunderstorm.

Relentless downpour.

After Richard also passed away, today the four didn't even go to the dock.

Because they knew it would be pointless.

It was impossible to leave the deserted island anyway.

The rain was too heavy, so the four of them did not go to the vegetable garden.

Actually, the various vegetables picked from the garden a few days ago and stored in the kitchen were enough to feed everyone for two or three days, so it did not matter that they did not pick vegetables today.

Moreover, most people had little appetite.

Apart from the composed Li Teng, the other three seemed somewhat panicky and uneasy.

It was as if they were condemned prisoners, not sure if their execution would be in the next two or three days, but knowing they were undoubtedly doomed.

Very helpless, very desperate.

"Senior, if it's really you, when the time comes, please make it quick like Zeka and Richard. Thank you." During the meal, Yang Shunli brought it up to Li Teng.

"The ghost surely heard what you said, and if it holds no grudge against you, it should grant you a quick end," Li Teng nodded.

"Thank you." Yang Shunli had already concluded that Li Teng was the ghost.

...

"Yesterday you said Richard was the ghost, but then he was gone too. Now, who do you think is the ghost?" Aila asked Li Teng quietly when they were alone.

"Either Yang Shunli or Mindo," Li Teng answered Aila.

"Why did you exclude me?" Aila was a bit perplexed by this.

"If it were you, you probably wouldn't have let Richard die that easily," Li Teng smiled.

"Indeed." Aila sighed.

...

During the daytime, the four of them took turns sleeping.

As darkness fell, they sat in the stone house.

Outside, the rain poured down and thunder rumbled intermittently.

Yet the stone house offered little sense of safety.

Because they knew that tonight, another person would be murdered.

The odds of being killed were one in four... no, with one ghost among them, the actual odds were one in three.

That probability was quite high indeed.

"I really can't take it anymore! It's too horrifying! Who is the ghost?" Mindo's emotions almost collapsed at one point.

The other three remained silent.

Li Teng was naturally calm, and Aila, having avenged her great enemy, felt no regret even in death.

Yang Shunli felt that even if he survived this time, given the tough nature of the task, it was very unlikely he would survive another time.

He might as well accept his fate; if he was going to be killed, he could go to another world to find his girlfriend sooner.

Although Yang Shunli accepted his fate, when the time slowly approached 11:50 at night, his body began to tense up inexplicably.

After all, taking that hit to the neck, he didn't know whether it would hurt.

Although this wasn't the first time he faced death, he had no memory of his previous death, so he didn't have any experience to draw from.

In any case, fear and tension were inevitable.

Mindo had already started crying.

"Can I borrow a hug to feel some warmth and safety?" Aila actually asked Li Teng who was beside her.

"No, I'm a married man, I can't just hug another woman. I already regret helping you last time, I can't make another mistake," Li Teng firmly shook his head.

"Cough…" Aila was slightly embarrassed.

Across from them, Yang Shunli was staring intently this way.

It went without saying, the ghost must be Li Teng; otherwise, why would he refuse Aila?

Because if he hugged Aila now, he wouldn't be able to free his hands to kill someone later!

11:54 P.M.

The tension in the stone house reached its peak.

The flames of the candles began to flicker.

Mindo stopped crying.

She and Yang Shunli took out their phones and turned on the flashlights.

Although their mobile phones had run out of power, they had picked up Zeka's and Richard's phones, which still had some charge left. At this critical moment, even if the candles were extinguished, they would light up the stone house, preventing the ghost from having a chance to kill anyone.

This was also the strategy they had discussed earlier.

11:55 p.m.

A gust of cold wind blew, and, as expected, the candles were blown out.

A chill rose up on everyone.

Yang Shunli and Mindo looked at Aila and Li Teng with immense horror. Yang Shunli shone his flashlight on Li Teng while Mindo shone hers on Aila.

Although Li Teng was the main suspect, they couldn't rule out the possibility of Aila, could they?

Another gust of cold wind blew.

The flashlights in Yang Shunli's and Mindo's phones went out in an instant.

Just like the flames of the candles, extinguished!

Clearly, the ghost's ability before killing far exceeded their imaginations.

If it could blow out candles from a distance, it could also extinguish the flashlights in their hands.

The fear in Yang Shunli's heart reached its peak in an instant.

He closed his eyes, feeling as though something was choking his throat, making breathing difficult.

Was it over?

Then let it be over quickly!

In the darkness, a scream from Mindo pierced the air.

Then it abruptly stopped.

The flashlight in Yang Shunli's phone lit up again.

There was an additional corpse on the ground.

It was Mindo's corpse.

"Ah!" Yang Shunli gasped for air, as if a drowning person had surged to the surface.

At the end of his gasps, he clutched his head, seeming to cry out loud.

On the other side, Li Teng looked indifferent.

Aila appeared emotionless.

After a while, Li Teng moved Mindo's corpse outside the stone house, placing it in the rainy ground, then turned back to close the door of the stone house.

"Senior, it's my turn next, isn't it?" Yang Shunli calmed down and asked Li Teng with a deathly pale face.

"This… It's hard to say. We won't know until the next midnight," Li Teng answered Yang Shunli.

A few minutes later, snoring sounds came from Li Teng.

...

Li Teng woke up in the morning to find only Aila beside him.

Yang Shunli was nowhere to be seen.

Outside, the thunderstorm raged on, even more intense than the day before.

Fortunately, the yard was located on higher ground; otherwise, the stone house might have been submerged in water.

Li Teng did not find Yang Shunli in any of the two side rooms.

He went around to the kitchen and the bathroom looking for him but didn't find him there either.

"Either he is the ghost, so he's hiding, trying to ambush us.

"Or he thinks one of us must be the ghost, so he's hiding, hoping that we won't find him," Aila analyzed.

"Your analysis makes a lot of sense," Li Teng nodded.

"I think, one way or another, we need to say our goodbyes today," Aila suggested to Li Teng.

"Why?"

"If he is the ghost, one of us will be killed tonight.

"If he isn't the ghost, then you are the ghost, you can't find him, you can't kill him, so you will definitely kill me.

"So, regardless, after midnight today, only one of us will continue to live.

"For the sake of our friendship during these days, while we are both still alive, isn't it fitting to say goodbye?"

Aila analyzed in detail.

"You make a lot of sense, it seems that no matter what, we have to say goodbye," Li Teng nodded.

"Thank you for everything you've done for me. You are the only person who made me feel warmth amidst my despair.

"I had already lost hope in men, but your arrival made me realize that not all men are scum.

"I don't know how to thank you, but I really want to give you a hug, a warm hug from a friend, without any intention of crossing your boundaries,"

Aila brought it up to Li Teng.

"Okay," Li Teng hesitated for a long time before he finally agreed.

Aila gently leaned on Li Teng's chest and closed her eyes. Tears welled up, but a warm smile appeared on her face.

"Thank you for making me feel the warmth of the human world again at this time, easing my despair and hatred for the world," Aila continued murmuring.

Li Teng said nothing, just quietly listening to her.

...

The sky gradually darkened.

Time ticked away until it was eleven fifty at night.

"The moment of our final parting is coming, can I lean on your shoulder?"

Aila, sitting beside Li Teng against the wall, brought it up to him.

"Yes," Li Teng agreed.

"Could you tell me about your family? That woman you deeply love, the happiest woman in the world," Aila found a topic while leaning on Li Teng's shoulder.

"She..."

Li Teng's mind was somewhat fuzzy.

Was there such a person?

In that instant, many faces flashed through his mind.

Anna, Yao Xue, Little Bunny, Liu Yin, Chu Yunli, Bo Wen, Zhang Mengdi, Shen Mengying...

And many more, whose names he could barely recall.

"Never mind, don't talk about it if you don't want to,"

Aila, seeing Li Teng's reaction and worried she might have touched a nerve, quickly dropped the subject.

"I'm always busy with various things outside, and I rarely have time to spend with them at home. Honestly, I feel very sorry for them..." Li Teng sighed.

"I understand, a responsible man like you fights in the outside world for his career, but it's also for them to have a better life. Regardless, they are fortunate," Aila nodded.

As they spoke, the time unknowingly reached eleven fifty-four.

The candlelights flickered.

Aila began to shiver involuntarily, squeezing closer to Li Teng.

"Could you hug me? Just a friendly hug," Aila asked Li Teng once more.

Li Teng hesitated for a moment, then reached out and hugged her.

A cold breeze blew by.

Both of their bodies felt a chill.

Aila's body even began to tremble as she nestled closer to Li Teng.

Perhaps it was because she was too close to Li Teng's body; she couldn't help but lift her head and look at him.

After seeing that Li Teng was also looking at her, she gently closed her eyes.

Her mouth lifted slightly.

It was unclear how much time had passed.

When she opened her eyes again, Aila found Li Teng staring intently at the top of the stone house.

Truly a good man who could maintain his composure!

Another cold wind blew.

The gaps in the doors and windows produced a whistling sound, like the wailing of ghosts.

In that moment, the candles in the stone house were blown out.

The stone house was plunged into pitch darkness.

Suddenly, a thunderclap erupted outside the stone house, deafening.