The so-called rest amounted to lighting a fire, warming themselves, drinking water, and eating.

In truth, less than half an hour had passed since their morning meal, yet they were ravenously hungry for no rational reason.

Du Lai ate half a cracker, then put away the food and water. He pulled out a towel and bound his own mouth tightly shut — the look of him resembling a masked bandit.

But no one laughed at him.

Bai Youwei understood perfectly: Du Lai was taking precautions. His willpower was surprisingly steadfast. Without a word, he had tied his own mouth shut to prevent himself from biting someone if he lost control.

Leonid hadn’t brought a towel, so he tore a strip of cloth from his sleeve and, following Du Lai’s example, bound his own mouth as well.

Chen Hui was a little frightened. She had originally thought it was nothing serious, but now, seeing Du Lai and Leonid go so far as to cover their mouths with cloth — and seeing Shen Mo, who normally stayed close to Bai Youwei’s side, deliberately move to sit farther away — she finally grasped the gravity of the situation.

“Weiwei-jie…” Chen Hui sat down beside Bai Youwei, opened her mouth, but couldn’t think of what to say.

“It’s fine,” Bai Youwei said, her voice calm. “As long as we get out of here, they’ll recover…”

Chen Hui bit her lower lip and nodded. “…Mm.”

After a moment, she asked Bai Youwei again in an uneasy whisper: “Will we… will we end up like this too?”

“I don’t know…” Bai Youwei slowly shook her head. “From what I can see, it’s affecting the men far more severely. As for whether it will eventually affect women after a longer period of time — I’m not certain of that either…”

Chen Hui whispered to her: “Weiwei-jie, if I turn out like this… I’d rather die.”

“You’re still young. Don’t keep talking about death so casually,” Bai Youwei said. “Everything will be fine, don’t worry…”

The two of them were still talking when a sudden, overwhelming smell of blood hit them!

The smell made Bai Youwei’s heart seize.

In the sealed, enclosed space, the thick scent had nowhere to dissipate. Everyone turned to look.

Marc was there, holding the unconscious Dylan’s body — and gnawing at him without stopping.

Bright red blood trickled down from where he had bitten, and Marc cupped his hands beneath it and lapped it up greedily, sucking and drinking as though he couldn’t bear to waste a single drop of warm broth.

Marc ate with complete absorption. His face, his neck, his collar — all were soaked in blood.

Bai Youwei finally understood why their clothes always bore those dark, blackened patches: it was layer upon layer of dried blood, each coat congealing over the last until it hardened solid.

Half of Dylan’s arm had been gnawed down to bare bone. It was impossible to tell if he was still alive — and even if he was, he likely had no strength left to resist.

Bai Youwei could feel Chen Hui trembling violently beside her, but she had no energy to spare for comfort right now. She turned to look at the others.

A’Shalina sat in a daze.

Du Lai sat in a daze.

Leonid was in a daze too.

Bai Youwei stood and walked over to Shen Mo. “Don’t look,” she said.

Shen Mo seemed not to hear her. His dark eyes were locked straight on Marc and Dylan.

“Don’t look!” Bai Youwei grabbed his arm, trying to turn him away so he wouldn’t have to see anymore.

But she couldn’t move him.

Shen Mo kept staring, transfixed.

Bai Youwei couldn’t rouse him. She bit her lip and looked again at the others. The saliva Leonid was producing had soaked through the cloth over his mouth — even his beard had turned wet and dripping.

If this kept up…

If this kept up, everyone would lose their minds!

She had endured enough. She strode to the fire, picked up a burning stick from the front end, and in a few steps stood before Marc.

Marc was eating with total concentration, completely unaware of her.

Bai Youwei gritted her teeth, gripped the stick tightly, and rammed it savagely into his mouth!

“AAAAAAAAH!!!”

Marc collapsed to the ground in agony, shrieking and writhing! Bai Youwei showed no mercy — she beat his legs with the stick, beat his spine, beat his mouth!

She roared furiously: “ALL OF YOU — WAKE UP! STOP LOOKING!!!”

Shen Mo snapped out of his trance, standing in place in a daze.

Bai Youwei flung the stick away and ran to him, throwing her arms around him. “Don’t look at them. Look at me — Shen Mo, look at me, okay?”

—