Just as Captain Zhang finished marking the map and turned to tell everyone to move, he caught a flash in the trees behind the team. A pair of eyes glinted in the gloom, fixed on them.
Captain Zhang startled and shouted, "Careful, there is something behind us."
Everyone snapped their heads around, alert.
Captain Zhang's shout drew the watcher's attention too. The shining eyes slipped behind a thick trunk. After a rustle, whatever it was had already vanished.
Seeing Captain Zhang's grim face, Shen Zhiyu asked, "Captain Zhang, did you see what it was?"
"No. I only saw a pair of glowing eyes. Not human." Captain Zhang added, "Did any of you see anything when you turned?"
Shen Zhiyu said, "No. It moved too fast. Gone in the time it took to turn around. But I heard it when it left."
So Captain Zhang had not imagined it. Something had been watching them. He frowned. "Was it only watching us here, or has it been following us the whole time and we just didn't know?"
If it was the latter, that was terrifying.
Ling Jiang said, "It should not be the latter. Lao Gao has been walking at the rear with two people on his shoulders. I was worried something would happen to him, so I kept glancing back. You said the eyes were bright. If it had been tailing us, I would have seen it at least once. I looked back again and again, and never saw anything. So it has not been on us all along."
Lan Jin agreed. "I didn't look as often as Ling Jiang, but I also checked now and then. I never saw glowing eyes on the way."
Hearing the two of them, everyone relaxed a little. Better than being stalked the whole time.
But think about it and there was hardly a difference. This forest was dangerous regardless. What kind of danger hardly mattered.
Captain Zhang said, "Either way, be careful."
Maybe the brief rest helped, because Xi Yu, who was slung over Lao Gao's shoulder, stirred and woke. Xi Yu blinked. "What happened to me?"
Seeing Xi Yu awake, Lao Gao hurried to set Xi Yu down and explained, "You fainted. We could not stay where we were, so I carried you here."
"Thank you," Xi Yu said at once.
Lao Gao asked, "Do you feel steady now? Can you walk on your own?"
Xi Yu nodded. "I can."
Xi Yu glanced at the colleague still across Lao Gao's other shoulder, then at Pei Xin on Lao Shi's shoulder. "They have not woken yet?"
"No. You are the first." Captain Zhang said, "If Lao Gao does not need to carry you, we move."
…
On the road, the other two who were being carried woke one after another. The team staggered forward again.
The deeper they went, the heavier their bodies felt. When the fatigue crested, they finally sensed something was wrong.
Shen Zhiyu said, "Do you feel something off in your bodies?"
Lan Jin frowned. "Off how?"
Zhou Zhiye answered, "We have all had special training. Before the apocalypse we hiked through wild forests. Even two days and nights straight would not leave me this drained. Now I am exhausted, and it feels wrong."
Shen Zhiyu said, "Right. Even though we ran into many mutant creatures, we didn't handle most of the fighting. We mostly walked. With our stamina, it should not be like this."
Shen Zhiyan said, "My legs feel like countless hands are grabbing them. Lifting each step is hard." Shen Zhiyan looked at Lan Jin. "Do you not feel this?"
Lan Jin truly didn't. "No. My steps are heavy, yes. We have never been this tired before, but I think it is just not enough rest. I can still walk. Just tired."
That was with Lan Jin and the other three having sipped a great deal of spirit spring water on the way. Without that, the four of them would never have kept pace with these near superhuman marchers.
After hearing Lan Jin's description, a bad thought took root in many minds.
Captain Zhang said, "How many of you feel this way?"
Strangely, the ones without abilities felt it. Those with abilities didn't. Thinking back, since entering this stretch, they had not met any mutant creatures at all.
Lan Jin asked sharply, "How long has it been since the last attack from mutant creatures?"
Captain Zhang checked his watch. "Since I made the mark on the map, we have only walked thirty minutes. Did this start within those thirty minutes?"
Shen Zhiyan answered at once, "Yes. In this half hour."
Huang Jinghe offered a sudden thought. "What if something here can turn invisible and is dragging at your legs from below?"
Gooseflesh prickled up arms, though the idea sounded wild.
Captain Zhang said, "If I could turn invisible and people trespassed in my place, I would just take them out quietly. Who would waste time with tricks like this, dragging everyone's legs? Is it not too much trouble. Do they want to be discovered and killed faster?"
Lan Jin asked, "Captain Zhang, do you not feel your legs being pulled. You don't have an ability, right?"
Captain Zhang explained, "I do have an ability. I just can't use it here. That is probably why I am not in the same group as them."
Captain Zhang glanced at the teammate who had lost the use of an ability as well. That teammate said, "My plant ability does not work here either, but my legs are fine. My stamina is good. I can keep going."
Captain Zhang and that teammate felt the same, so there was no way for them to truly grasp what Lan Jin and the non ability users were experiencing.
Captain Zhang's head began to ache.
"I am about to go mad," Captain Zhang muttered, raking a hand through his hair. "What do we do now?"