Chapter 14: The Knot within Qin Jia Gui’s Heart

The group was solemn as a male in his twenties suddenly chimed: “I’ll send him back to the school.”

This person was a teacher in the school but had only taught there for one year. The group consisted mostly of students and most of the teachers in the school were much older. Currently there were only two teachers surviving in the group and he was one of them.

“Send him back to school?” The people who heard his words stared blankly at him.

The teacher nodded: “It’s good that this area isn’t too far from the school. He has suffered heavy injuries and can no longer carry on, however, we can’t throw him here alone, so I’ll do the job of sending him back.”

Ma Zi Ye suddenly spoke: “Teacher, I think you’re actually scared. Sending him back is but an excuse so you can go back.”

Ma Zi Ye’s question was very direct and this teacher’s face turned red as he had an embarrassed expression. It was clear that Ma Zi Ye had hit the mark with her words.

Su Yu twirled his hair and nodded, showing his approval.

Ma Zi Ye lightly harrumphed as she said: “Who else wants to leave, I think you should all go together. If you are really afraid, staying within the group would do more harm than good.”

The group looked at each other and finally, besides the teacher, another two people stood up as they embarrassingly walked away with their heads down.

The teacher carried the injured student as the four of them left the group and headed back in the direction of the school

In only a short period of time, the remaining people in the group were only fourteen.

Amongst these fourteen people, thirteen were students while one teacher remained. This last teacher was called Lin Shi and taught foreign language, Su Yu and the others had not come into contact with him previously.

Lin Shi looked to be around twenty seven years of age, he wore glasses and appeared cultured. He did not like to talk much but the number of Lesser Goblins that had died to his hands were three, it was only that he did not talk much and was often silent, thus even though he was a teacher no one paid much attention to him.

The fourteen people that had remained were all dark iron warriors who had killed Lesser Goblins before, the group sat down eating and took the chance to rest.

Their time was currently ticking down.

In the group, besides Su Yu, Zhang Zhong Mou, Qin Jia Gui, Zhao Shi Chang, Ning Yan, Ma Zi Ye and Lin Shi, the others were Hu Ge, Zhang Run Sheng, Wei Zhang Ming, Zhuang Xiao Hua, Li Dong, Zhou Hua Kang and Wen Rui.

Sitting down and resting, everyone shared idle gossip as they got to know one another and also tried to forget the earlier events of goriness and oppressiveness.

Qin Jia Gui ate a simple meal of two pieces of bread, after drinking a mouthful of water and recovering some of his strength, he put down his backpack as he began to carry the corpses on the ground.

The gazes of the group all rested on Qin Jia Gui.

Qin Jia Gui seemed to have an extreme respect for bodies, he did not request for anyone to help and using the time where everyone was resting, he wanted to carry the corpses of his comrades atop the trees in the surrounding area to prevent them from being eaten or desecrated by monsters.

Su Yu tousled his hair and did not think further as he stood up to help.

Seeing that Su Yu had moved, Zhang Zhong Mou, Zhao Shi Chang and even Ma Zi Ye as well as Lin Shi the teacher who did not talk much all stood up to help.

Many of the people had eyes filled with curiosity as they felt that Qin Jia Gui’s actions were superfluous, the road ahead was filled with danger and they themselves did not know when they would die. Under such circumstances, if one had time it would be best spent resting to recover the body’s energy. Using this precious time to take care of these bodies was simply not worth it.

Qin Jia Gui lifted the corpse of the school guard, seeing the wild grass firmly clasped within his only hand, the scene just before he died floated through Qin Jia Gui’s mind as he suddenly said: “He has a three year old kid.”

Su Yu who was by his side heard this and nodded: “That’s right, I think he’s called Hao Er.”

Everyone had heard the mad shouting of the school guard before he died but no one had the ability to save him in time.

Su Yu was watching when Qin Jia Gui lifted the corpse of the school guard, thinking back to when Qin Jia Gui had gotten into an argument with the school guard over the burying of bodies due to his vehement objections. Now it was actually the school guard’s turn to have his body carried onto the treetops by Qin Jia Gui, this made Su Yu feel a weird feeling swell in his heart.

Seeing the respectful and solemn attitude with which Qin Jia Gui handled the corpses, Su Yu was curious as he scratched his head, feeling that something was unnatural.

Qin Jia Gui looked Su Yu in the eye as though he knew what Su Yu was thinking as he softly said: “Su Yu, do you feel that I’m making mountain out of a molehill?”

Su Yu shook his head as he thought for a moment before replying: “Your methods aren’t wrong, it’s just that right now.... it’s a very critical juncture....”

“I understand your meaning.” Qin Jia Gui softly sighed before faintly continuing: “You should know that my dad died very early right.”

Su Yu was stunned before he grunted in response. Although they were not very close back in university days, he had known that Qin Jia Gui lived with a single parent and had heard that his father had passed away very young.historical

Qin Jia Gui’s face became darker as he slowly said in a low voice: “When I was young and living in the village, my father was a farmer and although the family was very poor, he treated me very well. During that period, my father would plant crops in the day and go out secretly at night into the forest to fell trees for money. Although this was against the law.... many people in our village also did this sort of thing.”

Having said this, there was a bitter smile that appeared on Qin Jia Gui’s face as he continued: “Finally one day something happened. When my mother and I received the news and rushed over, my father.... my father’s corpses had already been desecrated....”

Qin Jia Gui’s fists were tightly clenched and on the back of his right hand the metal speckles emerged.

Su Yu stared blankly as he said: “Your father....”

“He met with a wolf pack, by the time we realised, his body was already mostly eaten by the wolves.... I simply couldn’t believe.... That.... That pile of messed up meat.... was actually my father who had always treated me with such kindness!”

Qin Jia Gui grit his teeth as he gave a low howl: “Su Yu do you understand, these corpses.... if we do not handle them properly, they may.... they may end up being desecrated to the point of being unrecognisable. Have you thought of the heart of the dead? Although they are already dead, but.... but once people die, they will still have their spirits and will watch what we do from up above.”

Su Yu was stunned, he had never expected that Qin Jia Gui would have experienced something so traumatic. So that was the reason why Qin Jia Gui had such a solemn respect for corpses, he was afraid that the monsters would eat or desecrate them and all this stemmed from the experience of his father meeting such an outcome.

“Maybe.... Maybe I can’t do anything.... even myself, I don’t know when I will....” Qin Jia Gui lifted his head to look at the tops of the trees that currently had corpses as a distressed expression appeared on his face.