Chapter 43: Mad Corpse

Feng Biao called out to the Marked who made it up the mountain.

They waved to Feng Biao with a smile and seemed to wander back into their own thoughts.

'I recognize this person...'

Feng Biao had seen this female Marked much earlier in the exam. Opening up his duffel bag he pulled out the spear which had been put placed inside.

"Here, this is yours, right?"

"Wow, thanks!"

The Marked grabbed it from Feng Biao's hand before continuing.

"I dropped this days ago, how did you know it was mine?"

"Sorry, but I don't think we've met. My name is Chen Lan."

"Feng Biao, I saw you throw it at an Oni and run away."

"Haha, yeah didn't have the luxury to stand there and risk drawing the attention of a whole horde of Oni."

"I've got bad news," Feng Biao said ending the casual exchange.

"A Black Oni is on the mountain. There is no guarantee it will come up here, but if it does we're dead if we don't band together to fight it."

"That's...pretty bad," Chen Lan said concern in a voice.

"I can already tell you, there's a serious problem," Chen Len said looking around.

"What do you mean?"

"You've got no light sources here."

"If I put any won't that draw attention up to the top of the mountain at night?"

"Yes, but if you don't then if that thing does come up here we're dead. Its Monstrous Ability is perfectly suited for killing us at night, even if we're in a group."

"At least with a light source we have a chance of seeing it. We won't be totally blind and defenseless."

Feng Biao hadn't thought of that. He had spent a week on the mountain-top alone in the dark feeling safe as he slept in a hiding spot.

What Chen Lan said made sense. With more people, they needed to anticipate the possibility of the Black Oni taking advantage of its Monstrous Ability, even if it drew attention to them.

"We'll have to deal with regular Oni too..." Feng Biao remarked.

"Yes, but it would mostly be Blue and Red Oni showing up to see what the lights at night are."

"In large numbers?" Feng Biao asked.

"Can't say, probably up to our luck."

"Haaaaaah this sucks," Chen Lan said stretching her arms.

"What Rank are you?" Feng Biao asked.

"Oh just Divine Mortal, you?"

"Divine Mortal."

"Yeah, just the two of us won't be able to do this properly, we need at least- 8 more people?"

"By the way has anybody else come up here?"

"One guy," Feng Biao responded without much thought.

"Oh, where is he?"

"He's not really a fighter. He declined my offer to join up to fight the Black Oni."

"Ok, where is he?"

"Uhh, why do you need to know?" Feng Biao said confused.

"Feng Biao, you seem like a nice guy."

"Thanks-"

"I'm not as nice as you. I'm not gonna risk my life while I know full well someone who could help me protect it is lazing about."

Feng Biao frowned.

"Feng Biao we need all hands for this. I understand you respect the guy's decision to be a coward, but can you respect my decision to risk my life joining you?"

"If he's a Marked he can at least deal with Blue Oni at minimum. Any little bit is going to help."

Feng Biao internally sighed. He really would have preferred to have to just let the guy hide. That was what his Divine Ability allowed him to do, so forcing him to fight seemed cruel.

'She has a point though.'

Allowing him to hide so snugly while they fought for their lives was just too nice.

'Asking her to fight with her life on the line while I let him hide in comfort...'

"I'll go get him."

"Thank you," Chen Lan said politely.

Feng Biao went over to the hose behind the rock. He took a small piece of paper out of a notebook from his duffle bag and a pen. He wrote the following message.

"Get out or no air"

Crumpling the paper he dropped it into the hose. After 10 minutes Feng Biao put his thumb over the hose. After 45 seconds he uncapped it.

Putting his ear to the hose he heard the man at the bottom screaming

"I CAN'T!"

Feng Biao looked at Chen Lan and said, "I think we have to dig him up ourselves."

"Do you have a shovel?" Chen Lan questioned.

Feng Biao shook his head.

Without much enthusiasm, Chen Lan grabbed her spear and began using it as a makeshift shovel.

Feng Biao looked around and found a particularly nicely shaped rock. Using that he assisted Chen Lan in digging.

It took more than a few hours, but by following the hose they were able to remain sure of where to dig.

Eventually they finally reached a piece of metal. Digging around it Feng Biao and Chen Lan realized the boy was inside a coffin.

Feng Biao looked to see where the hose entered the coffin and saw it slipped in through a hole in the corner. Feng Biao slipped his fingers in and gripped then heaved, but his physical strength alone was not enough. Giving it another go using Divinity he was able to tear open a small piece of metal, and from it and saw a face looking directly at him.

"Come on, get out," Chen Lan said.

"Hey man I thought we were cool you said I didn't need to fight if I couldn't?" the man said ignoring Chen Lan.

Feng Biao stood silent for a moment. His mind told him to simply pass the blame to Chen Lan and move on, but that wasn't right.

'I'm the one who chose not to defend him.'

"It's not fair she has to risk her life while you sit back hiding," Feng Biao replied, "furthermore it's not fair to me either."

"I already told you my Divine Power sucks you see what it does. That can't be used for combat..."

"You're selling yourself short," Feng Biao said as he took out a crossbow from his duffelbag.

"I brought this, it's enough to take out Blue Oni at the very least."

"Fuck you I'm not trying to die ok? I only joined the exam because passing it is the minimum required to join the HCF Urban Taskforce."