ID No. 019 - Chapter 4.2

The odour of fertiliser was persistent to the point Chen Yang could taste it in his mouth. He felt nauseous. He was about to grab a drink from his bag when his stomach churned and he vomited.

Zhao Yuan sprung up from the chair and bounded for the door. He stuttered as he pointed at Chen Yang with a shaky hand, “Y-y-you…”

Chen Yang wiped his mouth, “I just have a weak stomach.”

Zhao Yuan gasped for breath and turned away, terrified to look at Chen Yang. He stammered, “Then rest up. I- I’ll go look for clues!” He dashed off before the words fully left his mouth as if a ghost was hot on his tail, almost tripping over in the process.

“What’s with that reaction? I’m just telling the truth. Why didn’t he believe me?” Chen Yang rubbed his stomach and vomited a few more times. Tears welled up in his eyes as he gagged again. He turned to the young man, who hadn’t left, and asked, “I’m not really mutating, am I?”

The man did not respond.

Chen Yang cleaned up his vomit and went to the courtyard to rinse his mouth, “I only spoke with the kid a little.”

“No, wait.” Chen Yang was unsteady on his feet, “I also patted his head.”

The man seemed to find him annoying as he picked up his crutches and headed towards the utility room at Li Dafu’s house. He placed the granular substance he had in his fist onto the table.

The expression on Chen Yang’s face hardened at the sight of the fertiliser.

The man glanced at him and asked, “Want some?”

Chen Yang hastily shook his head, resembling a rattle drum. Was his lack of desire for fertiliser proof that he was fine?

He belatedly realised the young man’s intention and felt grateful, “You also live in Sanlian Bridge, right? Let’s go out sometime. I’ll treat you to a meal.”

The man played around with the fertiliser. He had pale lips and a pallid complexion that barely saw any sun, “You want to hang out?”

Chen Yang hesitated for a moment and a strange conjecture popped into his head. He blurted out, “You don’t want to?”

The man did not continue. He rolled a grain of fertiliser between his fingers before putting it into his mouth. He bit down on it, as if he was carefully savouring the taste.

Chen Yang: “…” Perhaps he’s actually sick.

.

Night had fallen, but Zhou Xiaoxiao and Huang Qing had yet to turn up. Nobody in the group could find any trace of them, not even their corpses. There hadn’t been any unusual activity on the island and the islanders did not seem to be acting; they were genuinely unaware that two tourists had experienced misfortune.

There was also no news from Mrs. Liu’s house.

Zhang Yan nor Lin Yue questioned Chen Yang about the vomiting incident at noon. It appeared that Zhao Yuan had not told them about it yet.

Chen Yang had no idea what Zhao Yuan was planning, but he noticed that Zhao Yuan was keeping his distance from him and speaking from afar.

The time on Lin Yue’s phone had just hit 7pm. The highly-respected Old Madam Qi had called for a meeting, so the islanders gathered at the back of the mountain. Zhang Yan followed after them.

Everyone went to the meeting regardless of their gender. The ones who remained at home were the elderly who had limited mobility and young children.

Lin Yue and Zhao Yuan took the opportunity to search the islanders’ houses.

There was something Chen Yang had to do tonight. Mrs. Liu’s son would be home alone since she had gone to the meeting. There was a chance something would happen tonight, so he wanted to check on that boy.

Chen Yang was terrified, but luckily he had someone to keep him company.

“Should we go over now?” Chen Yang stood under the eaves, “We don’t know how long this meeting will go on for. If Mrs. Liu returns midway, Zhang Yan might not have enough time to tip us off. We need to be on our toes.”

The young man took out a stone from his coat pocket and threw it at Old Lady Li’s window. The crisp sound of the collision resonated loud and clear in the quiet night.

Chen Yang stared at the window in apprehension, but Old Lady Li’s window showed no sign of movement. She slept like a log.

“Why’re you still standing there?” The man tapped Chen Yang’s leg with his crutch.

Chen Yang jumped in surprise before he could process the pain. He cautiously entered Mrs. Liu’s house, quiet as a mouse.

However, his expression soon turned sullen. The young man’s footsteps were loud and clunky as he leaned on his crutches, rendering his vigilance useless.

“Stay here. I’ll…” Chen Yang’s words were cut short as another stone flew past him and hit the window of Mrs. Liu’s son.

“…”

Despite his fears, the courtyard remained still. That kid was not home.

Chen Yang gasped. He inched closer to the young man beside him and whispered, “Where did he go?”

The tall young man leaned on his crutches while he lowered his head in thought.

Chen Yang was on high alert and his eyes constantly darted around the room, “He probably ate all the fertiliser he had. Did he go to someone else’s house?”

The man suddenly spoke up, “Let’s go back.”

Chen Yang did not ask him why. His legs felt weak as he made his way back to Li Dafu’s house.

He had thoroughly searched Li Dafu’s house during the day and knew where the fertiliser was stored. He made a beeline for the utility room the moment he returned.

The utility room was situated on the west side of the courtyard, diagonally across from the kitchen. When they got there, the door to the utility room was open. Inside, several empty bags lay crumpled on the floor, save for the innermost bag.

Chen Yang stood rooted at the door, hesitant to enter.

The young man stepped over the broken wooden threshold and walked in. Chen Yang hurried after the young man, worried that something would sneak up on him from behind.

Li Dafu had put out the kerosene lamp before he left, so the room was darker than the outside.

Moonlight trickled in through the doorway as Chen Yang and the young man approached the innermost sack of fertiliser. He watched as the man nudged the mouth of the sack open.

Mrs. Liu’s son was crouched inside motionless!

Chen Yang gasped, a chill running down his spine. Something seemed to lodge itself in his throat, but he forced it down. Coldness enveloped his body as he stared at the boy and instinctively tried to run.

A hand clamped down on his arm and was given an order that made him choke.

“Get him out,” the young man said.

Chen Yang struggled and shook his head. Since he’s dead, his ghost must be lingering around, he thought. His sanity was about to reach its breaking point.

The man stood on one leg and his balance was mainly maintained by the crutches. Despite his situation, he still overwhelmed Chen Yang in strength and did not budge no matter how much Chen Yang struggled. His towering figure was cloaked in darkness, only revealing half his face. The blurry sight was devoid of any beauty and simply sent shivers down the spine of those who gazed upon it.

“Hurry up,” the young man pushed Chen Yang, his deep voice coldly issuing an order, “Get him out. I want to see the body.”

Cold sweat dripped from Chen Yang’s forehead as he gasped for breath. Colour drained from his face at the young man’s insistence and he staggered over to the sack. He closed his eyes and grabbed both sides of the bag, trembling the entire time, and violently shook it.

The body spilled out with a thud.

It still preserved the same crouching posture it had in the sack.