ID No. 019 - Chapter 7.2

Lin Yue’s mental state was in shambles. It was risky to sound out Old Madam Qi at the time, not to mention impulsive, but no one berated her for it.

They did gain something from the situation, anyway— Old Madam Qi’s reaction was as they had anticipated. The key now was to uncover what the evil entity was.

Every household on the island had their lights on. No one was outside wandering, nor did anyone dare extinguish their lamps, fearing something might slip into their homes in the dark.

As they walked, Chen Yang said, “The fog must be caused by the curse. Just like Madam Li said before she died—none of us can leave.”

Zhao Yuan’s face turned pale, then he comforted himself with, “It’s okay. Even if the fog doesn’t dissipate, it’s the islanders who are trapped, not us. Our mission is to stay for two days. We just have to endure one more day. And once time’s up, we won’t even need a boat — we’ll be back the moment we open our eyes.”

From behind, Zhang Yan spoke up, “It’s probably not that simple.”

The group stopped to look at him.

Only the young man continued hobbling forward with his cane. Chen Yang grabbed the back of his shirt to stop him.

Zhang Yan said to Chen Yang, “Back on the boat, when you told us that Li Dafu said we had to stay on the island for two days, I thought that was the task. We’d complete it as long as we survived that long.”

Zhao Yuan couldn’t help but interject, “It’s not?”

“It seems that I was misled by the information.” Zhang Ya’s tone was grave. “The task should be to get to the bottom of the curse. It’s wholly unrelated to the duration.”

Zhao Yuan shuddered. “So you’re saying, we’ll be stuck on the island until we figure out what the curse is? If we can’t stop the curse, we’ll face the full force of it when it erupts? We’re doomed then!”

Just as Zhang Yan was about to speak, Lin Yue interrupted him. “What’s there to discuss? We’ll know by tomorrow morning if the task is just to survive two days on the island, won’t we?” Lin Yue’s mental state had further descended into disarray. Her face was contorted, while her voice was sharp and cold.

Zhang Yan frowned as he looked at her figure from behind. He sighed and said, “Her emotions are becoming increasingly unstable.”

Hearing the concern in his tone, Zhao Yuan sincerely remarked, “You two truly have a bond forged by fire.”

Chen Yang, who was a few steps behind them, remained silent.

Lin Yue was the first to arrive at Li Dafu’s house, but she didn’t go in immediately. She just stood at the door without glancing around and waited for the others to arrive before entering.

Zhang Yan and Zhao Yuan didn’t look around either. They hurriedly stepped over the threshold, ignoring the tree root scorched by fire at the door.

Chen Yang, however, took a look. The soil around the tree roots had been dug up, but the blackened roots were firmly embedded into the ground, impossible to remove. The islanders dared not dig any further and left it as it was.

The charred tree roots stood firm at the doorway.

Chen Yang turned to the young man behind him and asked, “What do you make of this?”

The man’s voice was tinged with exhaustion as he replied, “Nothing much.”

Chen Yang noticed that the man had walked a lot on his crutches tonight without a word of complaint, which evoked a bit of sympathy in him. When he thought of how the man was likely dragged into this mess because of him and became an ‘illegal resident’, Chen Yang’s feelings became even more complicated.

“Do you still have the milk candy I gave you?” Chen Yang asked.

The man paused, staring at him for a moment, then silently pointed his crutch at the tree root. “Death and rebirth.”

Something flickered through Chen Yang’s mind, but he couldn’t grasp it. “What do you mean?”

The man remained silent.

Seeing that the man had nothing more to say, Chen Yang rubbed his nose and said, “Two died tonight. The curse is spreading fast. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.”

The man opened the wooden door wider, placing his crutch inside, then his right foot. “Come in and close the door.”

Chen Yang couldn’t help but notice that the man’s speech had become unexpectedly fluent, without a trace of its initial awkwardness. He trotted over and asked, “Do you have a plan?”

The man replied, “At dawn, we head into the mountains.” Then he turned around and added, “Just you and me, no one else.”

“Alright, we’ll sneak away,” Chen Yang agreed as he whirled around to close the door. Right then, he saw something that made his breath catch.

A slender, green shoot had sprouted from the blackened tree root. It energetically swayed under the light of night, as if Madam Li was beckoning him to come over.

Chen Yang, seemingly entranced, took a step towards it. A strong force pulled him back, but he was still out of it. “Granny wants to tell me something.”

The man held onto him, tightening his grip. He asked, “What did she say?”

Chen Yang snapped out of it from the pain. A chill ran down his spine as he stared at the shoot that was still swaying. “… She wants me to fertilise her?”

The man released his arm.

Chen Yang felt as if the charred tree root was coming back to life, his heart pounding. “There’s fertiliser in the utility room. Should I get some and try it out?”

“You can’t use that fertilizer.”

“Why not?”

“You’ll understand tomorrow.” The man pulled him inside and used his crutch to shut the door.

When the door closed with a bang, the tender shoot drooped.