This glass had to be domestically made—unbreakably "quality." Three hammer blows left my hands numb without a single crack! *Infuriating!*
Gritting my teeth, I swung again... *still nothing.* If Shu Tong weren't trapped, I'd have pulled my gun. *Let's see your "quality" stop bullets!*
Finally, I clawed through a crushed section of the windshield. Tumbling onto the grass, I gulped night air—*alive.* The moon hung like a pearl in a star-strewn sky, breeze cooling my sweat-drenched shirt.
Lost in euphoria, a cry snapped me back: "Hello?! Help me! I can't hold it—!"
*Shit.* Shu Tong. What "can't she hold"? Her voice trembled with... urgency.
Steeling myself, I crawled back into the metal tomb. Pitch black. Again.
"Prez, guide me—I'm blind!" Moonlight couldn't penetrate the overturned bus. *If only I had night vision...*
"Du... Du Miao... here... *pant*... here!"
Her breathing sounded ragged—*injured?* No medicine in this wilderness.
"Hands might... slip in the dark. Sorry in advance." No reply but gasps. I took it as consent. Grateful for her past kindness, I moved with surgical care. When freed, she bolted into the woods. *Ah. That kind of emergency.*
Others gradually woke. Miraculously, only fractures for those without seatbelts. Bruises and scrapes for the rest. Me? Unscathed.
Celebration died as horror set in.
Forty-three people had boarded. Nineteen remained. The others—*vanished.* Their luggage? Gone. Only nineteen bags remained. *Premeditated.*
But why? If targeting me, why not just kill me? If not... what game was this?
My backpack survived—gun, folding knife, food inside. Enough for Wu Yanxin and me for days. Her love letters? Kindling. Burning their perfumed paper soothed my nerves.
No cell signal. No rescuers.
Day six in "Lost Valley." Dawn broke without hope.
Spring water boiled sustained us, but food dwindled. Packed for three days, rationed for five... now crumbs. After three boys poisoned themselves foraging, wild greens were taboo.
Hunger birthed monsters among us.
"Food should go to the men," declared Liu Yang—Big Li's deskmate, long at odds with Wu Yanxin. "We do heavy labor. Girls and invalids eat without working. Wasteful."
"Yang's right!" Wang Pangzi (Fat Wang) leered. "I've starved since day one! Invalids are dead weight. Girls wanna lose weight? Here's your chance!"
"Shouldn't we support each other?" a girl protested weakly. "The injured need care! Girls can't—"
Liu Yang kicked over a boiling pot. "*Rescue?* They'd have found us by now! Face it—*no one's coming!*"
He slammed a twenty-centimeter folding knife into a log. "New rules. Obey me? Eat. Refuse? Starve. Want a fight?" His eyes taunted Wu Yanxin beside me. "Bring it. But if you get hurt... too bad."
Silence. Wu Yanxin tensed—I held her back. Normally, she'd crush two Liu Yangs. But food poisoning had left her weak—vomiting until last night. Now? Fragile.
Wang Pangzi smirked behind Liu Yang. "Eat up, boys! Fun later!" His oily gaze crawled over the girls. *Animals.*
One by one, men joined Liu Yang. Twelve males total. Only me and two others refusing. The girls—Shu Tong, Chu Yuan—shielded Wu Yanxin, defiance in their eyes.
*Time.* Ignoring Wu Yanxin's confusion, Shu Tong's shock, Chu Yuan's scorn, I walked toward Liu Yang.
"Smart man, Du Miao!" Liu Yang gloated. "Fill your belly first. Tell your *pretty boy* friend to behave... or die. You pick a girl first later!"
"*You* poisoned me?" Wu Yanxin rasped, leaning on Shu Tong.
My suspicion crystallized. Why only Wu Yanxin and the two "invalids" (who'd clashed with Liu Yang) got sick?
"Poison? Just... natural seasoning." Liu Yang flicked a red-flowered plant. "Lantana. Lovely stuff."
*So that's it.* Shu Tong had disciplined Liu Yang for disrupting class—logged it, got him punished by Liu Yifeng. Wu Yanxin, close to Shu Tong, despised him. To target Shu Tong, he had to neutralize Wu Yanxin first.
"You coward!" Wu Yanxin spat. "Fight me properly!"
"First order—" Liu Yang flicked his blade. "—beat the pretty boy's face in. Then we feast!" *Jealous of her looks too, huh?*
Wang Pangzi stepped forward, two thugs behind him. "Move, girls. Or we might... *accidentally* touch something." His greasy smirk turned my stomach.
*Cue the hero.*
I stepped between them and the girls, hand sliding into my backpack.
**"Not one step closer."**
The cold *click* of a safety switch echoed louder than any shout.
My semi-auto pistol gleamed in the firelight, aimed at Wang Pangzi's forehead.
**"Who dares touch her?"**