Chapter 7: Double Pupils

Gu Xianwang was roused by Ye Chan patting her awake.

When she opened her eyes, her mind was still foggy. The dim surroundings made her think it was still the middle of the night. Propping herself up tugged at her muscles, sending a sharp, tingling ache through the back of her neck.

“Hiss—what happened?”

Ye Chan seemed utterly flustered, her hands fumbling helplessly around Gu Xianwang’s arm. Gu Xianwang dodged on instinct, only realizing moments later that something was wrong. She gently grasped Ye Chan’s wrist. “Ye Chan, what’s the matter?”

“My eyes… I can’t see clearly.” Ye Chan gripped her hand in return, pinching the slightly cool palm as if drawing comfort from it. “Sister, why are you sleeping here? Where is everyone else?”

Only then did Gu Xianwang register how unfamiliar the room was—the cabinets, the tables and chairs, the wooden plank bed beneath her. Her memories felt jumbled, like the lingering haze of a mild concussion.

She sat up and pinched the bridge of her nose. A rush of eerie images flashed through her mind, leaving her momentarily stunned. She rubbed her face vigorously—

It wasn’t a dream.

Those scenes had really happened.

“I…” Gu Xianwang rose and pushed open the door. Sunlight flooded in, searing her eyes. “Ye Chan, do you remember what happened last night?”

Ye Chan trailed close behind, wobbling like a fluffy yellow duckling. “Of course. We had midnight snacks together, didn’t we? Pork belly, beef, large intestine, cured meat. I even washed the dishes and borrowed your charger before passing out.”

“Oh no, did we oversleep? They wouldn’t have left without us, would they?” Ye Chan pouted, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. “Sister, take a look at my eyes first. Is there something stuck in them? I’ve been seeing double since I woke up.”

She pried her eyelids open and leaned in close. Gu Xianwang had just adjusted to the bright light and was still squinting. In that instant, her eyes flew wide in disbelief.

Gu Xianwang fell silent for a good ten seconds. Ye Chan fidgeted, her eyelids fluttering involuntarily as tears welled up.

“Well? Is there? An eyelash maybe?”

No, it wasn’t that.

Gu Xianwang hesitated, unsure how to break it. There was nothing foreign in Ye Chan’s eyes. But beneath her pupils, a second set had emerged.

To be precise, it wasn’t a full pupil—just a faint pink shadow, like a mild bruise. Nothing too severe, but at first glance, its size and shape mirrored the normal pupil perfectly. It looked just like double pupils.

Gu Xianwang chose her words with care. “Your eyes… they’ve got a bit of—”

“Good lord almighty, there you are! You scared the daylights outta me.” Hei Bro, the tour guide, burst into the hallway, drenched in sweat. “Miss Gu, Miss Ye, you two alright?”

“Huh?” Ye Chan blinked in confusion. “Little Hei, you didn’t leave? Where’s everyone else? I thought you’d ditched us.”

“No way in hell! Whoa, what’s up with your eye? Looks all bruised.”

“Bruised? No wonder I can’t see straight. Must’ve bumped into somethin’ last night when I got up.”

Hei Bro looked them over from head to toe, pacing like an ant on a hot griddle. “This is a disaster. How am I supposed to explain this to the company? And where the heck is everybody else!”

Gu Xianwang reined in her composure. “Where did you wake up?”

Hei Bro looked ready to cry. “Darn it all, I came to right outside that privy door.”

“Ew…” Ye Chan wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Gu Xianwang showed no reaction, merely stepping back half a pace. “You don’t remember last night either?”

The two of them exchanged bewildered glances and shook their heads.

“First, check if your things are still here.”

Hei Bro patted his pockets. “Hey, my phone! Must’ve dropped it outside.”

“Ah?” Ye Chan’s belongings were still on the bed, but without her phone, she was sunk. She bolted back to the room.

Moments later, an enraged shout echoed from inside: “I’m done for, done for, done for! My phone’s gone too! Who the hell does that? Steal the wallet but leave the phone—you blind or what!”

Just as she’d feared.

Gu Xianwang’s heart sank. They’d likely been robbed by a gang, exactly as she’d suspected.

But why were her knife and phone still with her? Had the driver knocked her out without bothering to search her?

Wait—no, it couldn’t have been the driver. He’d been standing right in front of her, but the pain had come from the back of her neck.

Who, then?

Her first suspect was Sara. The Gu Witch was too old for a blow like that, but Sara—half a head shorter—could she have struck so swiftly and precisely?

They had no grudge, but Gu Xianwang couldn’t help placing the prime suspicion on her.

What now? Gu Xianwang clutched her phone, hesitating. “Should we call the police?”

The tour guide’s face was ashen. He didn’t want to escalate things. “Hold on a sec, Miss Gu. There might be some misunderstanding here, you know? Your phone’s still with you. Maybe they’re on the bus.”

His words rang increasingly hollow, but Gu Xianwang didn’t rush to contradict him. Of course she didn’t want to call the police.

Time—time was her most precious commodity. She couldn’t waste it at a police station.

“Alright. Let’s check the bus first.”

~~~

The bus was, of course, empty.

And not only that—the group had left them a parting gift. All four tires were flat.

Gu Xianwang stepped down from the bus and glanced back toward the stone bridge and the slope. In the daylight, the village looked even more rundown and forsaken, as if it had been abandoned for years. It was hard to believe they’d had the nerve to spend the night there.

The village path had been swept clean. No zombies, no numbing needles, not even a single footprint remained. It was as if everything from the night before had been nothing more than her nightmare.

What on earth was going on? Were those two young men and that couple all in on it together?

Such an elaborate scheme—what could the goal be?

It wasn’t robbery. It wasn’t kidnapping. They were all still standing there, safe and sound.

Hold on—the Gu Witch. Where was she?

A chill gripped Gu Xianwang’s heart. An ominous suspicion surfaced: they’d gotten the clue.

They’d beaten her to it.

Before the tour guide could say a word, she pulled out her phone and swiftly dialed a number. There was a long silence in the earpiece, followed by the dialing tone. Moments later, the call connected.

“Senior Brother, something’s happened.”

~~~

An hour and a half later, following the map coordinates Gu Xianwang had provided, a modified matte-black Wrangler pulled up beside the bus.

Ye Chan peered out the bus window. A man climbed out—built like an athlete, his hiking pants stretched taut over the powerful muscles of his thighs, broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist, short hair neatly cropped, a pair of wide-rimmed sunglasses perched on his face.

Her vision hadn’t fully cleared yet; everything swam in a hazy blur, like a soft filter over the world. Gu Xianwang had gotten off to meet him, and the two stood face-to-face. Ye Chan touched her nose, thinking they looked for all the world like models shooting on location—pure style.

They talked for five or six minutes. The man removed his sunglasses and rubbed his brow, looking troubled. The conversation stalled for a moment, then he nodded reluctantly. Only then did Gu Xianwang wave toward the bus.

Ye Chan and the tour guide climbed down. Gu Xianwang made the introductions. “This is my senior brother, Yao Cuo. Over here is Ye Chan, and our tour guide Hei Wa.”

Yao Cuo’s features were gentler than his physique suggested, giving him a youthful, vibrant air. He’d seemed worried at first, but when he spoke, his voice was steady and polite. “Hello. I’m Yao Cuo.”

Ye Chan was a sucker for a handsome face; she had zero defenses against good looks. She shook his hand with enthusiasm. “Hi, Senior Brother Yao! I’m Sister Gu’s travel companion—you can just call me Xiao Ye. It’s lucky you were self-driving nearby, or we really wouldn’t have known what to do.”

Yao Cuo shot a glance at Gu Xianwang. “Quite the coincidence.”

Gu Xianwang turned to the tour guide. “Right now, the priority is getting to the bottom of whatever’s going on with our tour group. The driver attacked me, and now the other members have vanished. If we press this, your agency won’t be able to handle the fallout.”

The tour guide had just come from the air-conditioned bus, but sweat beaded on his forehead again. He hunched over obsequiously. “Aiya, Miss Gu, I swear I had no idea, you know? Like I said earlier, this is a brand-new route. The company brought in a fresh driver who knows the area for this deep-dive tour. Hei Wa here and Zhao Chuan—we’re teaming up for the first time. No clue how things went sideways.”

Yao Cuo frowned, his tone firm. “Come on, man. That’s not how it works. We paid your agency, and the driver was your contractor. Now that he’s screwed up, you can’t just shrug it off like that. Not cool.”

“Aiya, he’s still on probation—a temp worker, total temp!” The tour guide mopped his brow. “Brother, you gotta understand, I’ve got aging parents and little ones at home. Life’s tough enough as it is. This…”

“The tour guide has looked after us well along the way,” Gu Xianwang said, softening her voice to calm both sides. Then she pivoted sharply. “I believe you’re in the dark about it. But Long Li and Sara acted awfully suspicious, and you won’t tell us anything about them. That leaves us no choice but to come to you.”

The tour guide’s eyes darted as realization dawned—they were playing good cop, bad cop. He let out a wry chuckle. “It’s not that I, Little Black, won’t tell you. It’s just… sigh. To be honest, Miss Sara slipped me some cash on the side, called it a tip. She said they were researchers, hunting for specific patterns and undecipherable writing.”

He scratched at his back. “I couldn’t make much sense of it, but she showed me a photo and asked me to scout for remote ethnic villages around here that matched. They wanted to study the local culture.”

“A photo? Do you still have it?” Gu Xianwang asked.

The tour guide shook his head and dug into his shirt for another scratch. “Nah, I don’t. Nothing special about it—just some weird wall painting of a hunting scene or something.”

The more he scratched, the deeper his brows furrowed, his face scrunching up like a dried plum. He turned his back to Yao Cuo with an awkward grin. “Brother, feels like something’s growing on my back. I didn’t want to show off in front of the ladies earlier—mind taking a peek?”

Yao Cuo lifted the hem of the tour guide’s T-shirt where he pointed. His expression shifted abruptly, a mix of horror and disbelief. “Did some bug bite you?”

“Huh? No way—we’re real careful about that stuff in the mountains. What’s wrong with my back?”

Yao Cuo shot Gu Xianwang a complicated glance and beckoned her over. Ye Chan, curiosity piqued, leaned in first. One look, and she leaped back with a yelp.

“What the hell is that!”

Gu Xianwang broke out in goosebumps. She’d never seen a skin condition like it. Across the tour guide’s dark spine, from the nape of his neck down to his waist, clustered a dense field of blisters. Their edges glowed blackish-red, the taut skin nearly translucent, each one cradling a white core like an oversized grain of millet.

That white core looked disturbingly familiar. Gu Xianwang swallowed her revulsion and peered closer. She gasped—it was identical to the bean worms she’d vomited up last night!

The itch was driving the tour guide mad. He twisted over his shoulder to claw at it. Before Gu Xianwang could stop him, his ragged nail plunged into a blister. He squeezed, and the skin split, oozing clear fluid over his fingertip.

“Hiss—what the hell?”

He rubbed at it, fishing out the bean worm nestled inside. Cupping it in his palm, he jolted in terror and flung it to the dirt.

Unlike the ones from last night, this worm survived the slam. It looked bloated, engorged, and kept crawling.

The tour guide shrieked. “That’s—that’s a Fly Ghost Head!”