Horror mailman

I change my mind

Zhao Ke turned his head to look at Qi Liang beside him, only to find that Qi Liang had actually fainted. It seemed that the kick he had delivered was a bit too strong, catching Qi Liang off guard and causing him to hit a tree.

Seeing the steady rise and fall of his chest, Zhao Ke couldn't help but let out a long breath, knowing that Qi Liang was at least still alive.

"You have completed the main mission. Please return to the real world and claim the rewards for this mission."

"You have completed the main mission. You can choose to stay in this horror space for ten days, and you can return to reality at any time."

At this moment, Zhao Ke heard a cold, icy sound in his ear, as if someone were speaking right next to him. However, Zhao Ke realized that the source of this sound was not actually next to his ear, but in his own mind.

To test this theory, Zhao Ke quickly covered his ears, but the sound continued.

"You have completed the internship task. Upon returning to reality, please open the package to obtain the official mailman stamp and stamp collection album."

After a series of prompts, Zhao Ke's gaze fell on the two people at the bottom of the pit. One old, one young, one of them being the female white-collar worker whom Zhao Ke had unexpectedly killed.

She was curled up, lying in the corner of the pit, not dead, but close to it. Her left arm had been directly chopped off, with only a simple bandage applied to the wound. Even if it healed, she would be permanently disabled.

The female white-collar worker stared blankly at the bear corpse in front of her, her mouth opening as if to scream, only to remember that she had no tongue.

Then, lifting her head, when she saw the familiar figure standing at the edge of the pit, the woman's eyes widened, a chill running down her spine uncontrollably, causing her to shiver.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

Pointing at Zhao Ke, she let out a series of strange screams. Then, her figure began to gradually disappear in front of Zhao Ke. By the time Zhao Ke realized something was wrong, the woman's figure had completely vanished.

"Is she returning?"

Seeing this, Zhao Ke's mind stirred. He thought to himself, "Indeed, since Xiong Er is dead, she also counts as completing the main mission and can return to reality. But... how did she get the mission?"

The task of hunting down Xiong Er was obtained after they killed Xiong Er's mother. The female white-collar worker shouldn't have received such a task. However, she was able to return to reality, indicating that she received a similar task.

"It seems that there is more than one way to receive tasks."

Zhao Ke speculated inwardly. If that was the case, it could only mean that the female white-collar worker was incredibly lucky. Despite being disabled by himself, she managed to leave alive.

In comparison, the fate of Dr. Chen Jing, the psychiatrist, was much more tragic. His head was smashed by Xiong Er, leaving Zhao Ke feeling a sense of pity.

Zhao Ke's gaze focused on the other person at the bottom of the pit, a middle-aged man who appeared to be around fifty years old. Judging from his clothing, he didn't seem like someone from reality either.

Like the female white-collar worker, this middle-aged man's left hand had also been chopped off. Zhao Ke remembered the big man they killed earlier, who had two hands on him. At that time, Zhao Ke had been puzzled as to why there was a man's hand.

Now, it seemed that the situation was explained. However, Zhao Ke was still puzzled about the identity of that big man and why he had set up such traps here.

Seeing that the middle-aged man at the bottom of the pit was already in a semi-conscious state, Zhao Ke simply found several thick vines around and twisted them together to make a rope. He slowly climbed down along the edge of the trap.

"Save... save me..."

It seemed that the middle-aged man sensed someone approaching, as he struggled to lift his head.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

Zhao Ke helped him up and carefully examined the injuries on the middle-aged man's body. They were disabling but not fatal. Judging from the severity of the wounds, Zhao Ke could deduce that this person had been trapped here for at least two days.

"I... I'm a farmer from the village below the mountain. Please, save me and help me down the mountain."

"A farmer!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ke couldn't help but give the man a sideways glance, a glint of cunning flashing in his eyes. He smirked, "Alright, but why should I help you?"

If it were someone else claiming to be a farmer, Zhao Ke might have believed it. But he didn't trust the middle-aged man in front of him.

Before, when he saw the severed hand on the table, he examined it closely. There were irregular scars on the thick knuckles, especially on the fingertips, with calluses in a hook shape. Zhao Ke was very familiar with this type of callus; people who often climbed would have such marks on their fingers.

Just based on this, it was enough to prove that the man was lying. Moreover, Zhao Ke couldn't see how the middle-aged man's attire and his prominent temples were related to being a farmer.

"You take me down the mountain, and I'll give you money."

"Money? Forget it. How much money can a farmer like you give me? You're so badly injured. If you die halfway, I won't be able to explain it. Let's just forget about it."

After Zhao Ke finished speaking, he stood up, intending to leave. At this moment, the expression of the middle-aged man changed, and he suddenly grabbed Zhao Ke's wrist with his other hand, urgently saying, "Wait, don't go. You can trust me. The person who harmed me has nothing to do with you. If you take me down the mountain, I'll tell you a secret."

As soon as the middle-aged man finished speaking, Zhao Ke heard another series of prompts in his ear.

【You have obtained an extended mission: Escort the injured person down the mountain.】

【Hint: Extended missions do not conflict with main missions. You can interrupt and return at any time.】

Unexpectedly, this middle-aged man also had an extended mission on him, which surprised Zhao Ke. He looked at the middle-aged man and nodded, saying, "Alright, I'll escort you down the mountain. But first, you tell me why that hunter Wang wanted to harm you, and also tell me what secret you have."

"Well..."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man hesitated. Seeing this, Zhao Ke's expression turned cold, and he waved his arm to shake off the man's grip, standing up and saying, "If you don't trust me, then stay here and wait for death."

With that, Zhao Ke, with an angry look on his face, was about to leave. Seeing this, the middle-aged man's face changed, and he couldn't care much anymore, hurriedly saying, "Don't go, I'll tell you!"

"That's right, there must be trust between people."

Zhao Ke paused his steps and walked back, staring at the middle-aged man, saying, "Go ahead, but don't lie. If I detect you're lying, I'll leave immediately."

Nodding, the middle-aged man said to Zhao Ke, "The one who injured me is named Wang Xiaochang, he is a hunter..."

After hearing this, Zhao Ke suddenly realized many things, and many doubts were cleared up.

As it turned out, the middle-aged man in front of him was named Zhou Shun, and the big man they killed before was named Wang Xiaochang.

They were actually both local hunters. It was a year of disaster, with severe drought in the village, and the crops were failing, even the game in the mountains was scarce.

Later, Wang Xiaochang heard some news from somewhere, saying that there was a family on the mountain who had ancestors in official positions and had made a fortune. They had hidden a lot of treasures in their house.

Wang Xiaochang became interested and took his son, as well as two other hunters, including Zhou Shun, planning to borrow these treasures from the family.

Of course, Zhou Shun's words were euphemistic. What did he mean by "borrow"? It was clearly a plan to kill for wealth.

Later, they did see the box hidden under the old lady's bed, but they never expected that the old lady and the bear were not human at all.

Two of the hunters were bitten to death by the bear, and Wang Xiaochang's son had his throat bitten off by the old lady. Only two of them managed to escape.

After Zhou Shun narrowly escaped death, he expressed his intention to go down the mountain. But Wang Xiaochang was unwilling; he wanted revenge. After the two disagreed, Wang Xiaochang, seeing the situation, simply chopped off Zhou Shun's arm with an axe, set up this trap, and threw him in, planning to use him as bait.

It's fortunate that Wang Xiaochang thought this way, knowing that bears don't like to eat corpses, which allowed Zhou Shun to survive until now.

"Young man, I promise that everything I say is true, there's absolutely no deception. Please take me with you."

"Hey... Where are you?"

At this moment, Qi Liang's shout came from above. Zhao Ke raised his eyebrows; he didn't expect this guy to wake up so quickly. He turned to Zhou Shun and pointed upwards, saying, "Good, I have another brother up there. I'll pull you up in a moment."

"Okay, okay!"

Zhou Shun's eyes lit up, nodding repeatedly in agreement. He couldn't help but feel overjoyed. Zhao Ke walked up to him, hooked his arm around Zhou Shun's shoulder, and shouted upwards, "I'm here!"

"I'll ask you one more time, you really didn't lie to me?" Zhao Ke suddenly turned back, confirming with Zhou Shun again.

Zhou Shun, feeling a bit impatient, nodded repeatedly, saying, "Really, really, if I lied to you, I... uh!"

Before he could finish his words, Zhao Ke suddenly covered Zhou Shun's mouth and nose with his hand, pulled him into his arms, and whispered in his ear, "Sorry, I changed my mind."

As he spoke, Zhao Ke's right hand reached out a black dagger and stabbed it into Zhou Shun's heart.