Chapter 14: Qin Jiagui's Inner Conflict

Everyone fell silent. Suddenly, a man in his twenties said, "I'll take him back to the school."

This man was also a teacher at the school, but he had only been teaching there for a year. Most of the group consisted of students, and as the teachers and professors at the school were generally older, there were hardly any teachers in the team. Among the survivors, there were only two teachers left, and he was one of them.

"Take him back to the school?" the others asked in unison, slightly startled by his statement.

The teacher nodded and said, "Fortunately, we're not too far from the school. He's seriously injured and can no longer go on, but we can't just leave him here alone. I'll take him back."

Ma Ziye suddenly said, "Teacher, you're scared, aren't you? After you take him back to the school, you won't be coming back, will you?"

Ma Ziye's question was too direct, causing the teacher's face to redden slightly with an embarrassed expression. It was clear that Ma Ziye had struck a nerve.

Su Yu twisted her hair and nodded in agreement.

Ma Ziye snorted and said, "Is there anyone else who wants to go back? I think you might as well go back together. If you're really scared, there's no point in staying with the group. You'd only drag us down."

People looked at each other, and eventually, in addition to the teacher, two more people stood up, though with their heads hung in shame.

The teacher picked up the seriously injured student, and together with the other two, the group of four left the team and headed back in the direction of the distant school.

Suddenly, the group had lost four more people, leaving only fourteen behind.

Among these fourteen, there were thirteen students and one teacher. The last teacher was named Lin Shi, a foreign languages instructor whom Su Yu and the others didn't know.

Lin Shi looked to be around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, wearing glasses and appearing quite scholarly. He was also not fond of talking, but he had already killed three Goblin Beasts. Because he was quiet and unobtrusive, even though he was a teacher, he didn't attract much attention.

The fourteen left were all Black Iron Warriors who had killed Goblin Beasts and acquired special powers. They sat on the ground, eating lunch and taking the opportunity to rest a bit more.

Their time was running out.

Among the fourteen, aside from Su Yu, Zhang Zhongmou, Qin Jiagui, Zhao Shichang, Ning Yan, Ma Ziye, and Lin Shi, the remaining members were Hu Ge, Zhang Runsheng, Wei Zhangming, Zhuang Xiaohua, Li Dong, Zhou Huakang, and Wen Rui.

Taking advantage of the break, everyone chatted casually, getting to know each other better and diluting some of the bloodshed and gloom of the scene.

After quickly eating two pieces of bread and taking a drink of water, Qin Jiagui regained some strength, put down his backpack, and started moving the bodies on the ground.

The others all suddenly turned their attention to Qin Jiagui.

Qin Jiagui had an extraordinary respect for the dead. Without asking for help from the others, he took advantage of the rest period to move the bodies of their deceased companions onto the surrounding trees, to prevent them from being desecrated or eaten by other creatures.

Su Yu rubbed his hair and, without overthinking, stood up to help as well.

Seeing Su Yu take action, Zhang Zhongmou, Zhao Shichang, and even Ma Ziye and the usually reticent Professor Lin Shi joined in to assist.

Of course, in the eyes of many, an odd expression emerged; they thought Qin Jiagui was making an unnecessary fuss. With danger lurking at every turn, even their own lives were uncertain—spending precious time resting and regaining strength made sense; wasting it on the corpses did not seem worthwhile.

Qin Jiagui lifted the body of the school security guard, remembering the guard's final scenes as he looked at his remaining hand clutching a bunch of weeds; Qin Jiagui suddenly said, "He has a three-year-old child."

Su Yu, standing beside him, nodded in agreement, "Yes, I think his name is Hao'er."

Everyone had heard the security guard's desperate screams before he died, but no one had the power to save his life.

As Su Yu watched Qin Jiagui carry the security guard's body, he reflected on the earlier conflict between Qin Jiagui and the security guard regarding the disposal of the bodies. The security guard had been vehemently against wasting time on the corpses, yet now, his own body was carefully placed on the thick branches by Qin Jiagui, which aroused a peculiar feeling in Su Yu's heart.

Observing Qin Jiagui's reverent treatment of the bodies and the serious expression on his face, Su Yu felt a flicker of unease and scratched the back of his head, sensing something strange.

Qin Jiagui glanced at Su Yu, as if he understood what he was thinking, and suddenly said softly, "Su Yu, do you also think I am making a mountain out of a molehill?"

Su Yu shook his head, pondered a bit, and then said, "What you're doing is not wrong, it's just that right now… it's an exceptional circumstance…"

"I understand what you mean," Qin Jiagui sighed softly, then said indifferently, "You probably know that my dad died when I was very young."

Su Yu was taken aback, then hummed affirmatively. Although they weren't very close at school, Su Yu had a general idea that Qin Jiagui grew up in a single-parent family and heard that his father had died when he was very young.

A sorrowful expression crossed Qin Jiagui's face as he spoke in a low voice, "When I was a child, I lived in the countryside. My dad was a farmer. Although we were poor… he was very good to me. During the day, he would work in the fields and at night, he would secretly chop wood in the forest to sell, even though it was illegal… but many in our village did the same."

At this, Qin Jiagui's face revealed a bitter smile, "One day, an accident happened, and by the time my mom and I got the news and rushed there… my dad… my dad's body was badly mutilated…"

As he spoke, Qin Jiagui clenched his fists tightly, with metallic speckles appearing on the back of his right hand.

Su Yu, taken aback, said, "Your father…"

"He was attacked by a pack of wolves. By the time he was found, there was not much left of his body after those wolves had feasted... I couldn't believe… that… that mass of torn flesh could be my dad, the one who was always so kind to me!"

Qin Jiagui's teeth ground together as he growled, "Su Yu, do you understand? These bodies… if we don't deal with them properly, perhaps... perhaps they will be devoured and left in tatters by those green-skinned monsters. Have you ever thought about how the dead feel? Even though they are dead… they still have souls that watch over us from heaven."

Su Yu was stunned, never having imagined that Qin Jiagui had such a past. It turned out that his unexpectedly high respect for the bodies, his fear of them being eaten or desecrated by other creatures, all stemmed from his father's tragic fate.

"Maybe… I can't do anything… even for myself, I can't know when it might be…" Qin Jiagui looked up at the bodies draped over the treetops, his face showing a trace of desolation.

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