Daomu Biji

Chapter 16: Dawn: Bloody Disaster

The grass ticks are bloodthirsty and must have been attracted by the snake blood here. The number of grass ticks in the forest was too terrifying, and they were obviously starved, so they all gathered here.

I lowered the torch and burned the grass ticks on the surrounding shrubs. I was bitten several times on my feet. I had no time to deal with them at this time, so I had to let them go and find a way to break out.

The fat man made a temporary torch with a gun that blew up the barrel. We used fire to force them away and lifted Pan Zi up. At first glance, Pan Zi's back was covered with blood tumors. He must have been bitten just now, and his back was compressed. Not found under the grass.

The fat man immediately used a torch to burn it, and a large piece fell off. Then we dragged Pan Zi's backpack and left urgently.

Fortunately, Pan Zi's bleeding had stopped and no more grass ticks were attracted. When he looked back, he saw that the body of the giant python was completely covered with black spots. Soon this thing would be the same as the one seen in the canyon. Like the skeleton of a snake, it was sucked until only a layer of skin remained.

"This thing was not included in the evaluation of the four evils. I really wronged it." The fat man exclaimed as he looked at it.

We carried Pan Zi all the way to a swamp. We were afraid that the blood on our bodies would attract those grass ticks again, so we washed all the blood on our bodies and Pan Zi's backpack with water. As I washed, the sky began to lighten up, and dawn finally came. I looked at the white light coming out of the sky and felt like crying without tears. This was the second dark night I had spent here. If possible, I really didn’t want a third one.

The fat man asked me which way to go, so I took out my compass. Climbing up the tree, I wanted to learn what Pan Zi did.

The light of the morning sun was dim, almost half-light. After I climbed up the tree, I suddenly smelled a breath of extremely fresh air, which lifted my spirits. If there is anything good about this damn place, morning is probably the only thing that can make me feel better. This is probably because the night here is so terrible.

I took a deep breath and just wanted to look around. Suddenly I was shocked. I suddenly found that the vastness in front of me was extremely wide. In front of me, only fifty or sixty meters away, there was a huge temple-like black ruins.

I don't know how to describe this feeling. I originally thought I would see a large canopy of trees, just like what I had seen before, but the sudden appearance of this huge thing made me unable to think for a moment. It took me a long time to realize that if I had not climbed a tree in this place, I might have kept moving forward and passed by this temple so close.

Different from the ruins seen before, this temple is completely a whole. It is a huge and complete multi-story building, and the full picture cannot be seen under the current light. But it feels like the scale may be much larger than what we see, and judging from the outline, it is much better preserved than the ruins in the rain forest. There were only a few places with weeds and trees in the entire ruins that I could see, and I saw large areas of dry boulders that I hadn't seen in a long time. From this distance, the ancient reliefs from the Western Regions on the temple columns and walls look like tiny patterns on boulders.

It feels extremely mysterious.

I took Fatty there. In less than two minutes we emerged from the woods. As we walked into the ruins, the trees gradually became sparse.

View from under the tree. The ruins are even more amazing. At first glance, they really look like Angkor Wat. There were stone corridors and unknown towers everywhere, and finally we came to a high place and saw the huge temple behind the canopy of trees. The fat man was shocked when he saw it. I said to him in admiration while watching: "If this place is developed, it will be the ninth wonder of the world. Do you believe it?"

"I believe it." The fat man suddenly saw something and pointed me in a direction, "It's not one of the nine wonders of the world, it's also one of our wonders. Look over there."

I looked in the direction of his finger. On the flat land in front of the temple, there were more than a dozen large tents in a row. It turned out to be a wild camp.

The tent is made of canvas. It is very big and very old. It is scattered in large and small sizes. The color is the gray of stone, so I didn’t notice it when I looked at it from a distance. This is not Aning’s tent, but it is not so old that it has been erected here for ten years. A few years to the point. A hope flashed through my heart, and at this time the fat man had already shouted: "This is your third uncle's tent, I recognize it!"

When I heard this, I was so ecstatic that I almost shouted out. This is really a difficult situation, and there is no way out. It seems that God has played with me enough and wants me to take a rest.

Fatty and I immediately rushed to the camp, not knowing where the strength came from. All I could think about was resting.

We ran through the open space in front of the ruins. It was a square made of huge rocks. There were many huge pools in the middle. The water was living water and very clear. We could see a corridor under the pool. It was dark deep in the corridor and we didn’t know where it led. Obviously, these parts were originally above and below the water, but are now submerged. The huge temple we saw may only be the roof or top floor of the temple at that time. It is impossible to estimate how grand this building is.

Before he even got close to the camp, the fat man started yelling. He kept yelling for a long time but got no response. As he ran, he realized something was wrong with the camp.

----The whole camp was so quiet that it was so quiet, no one was moving, no silhouette, no sound of conversation or activity, it was dead silent, as if it was deserted.

We ran to the edge of the camp and stopped, exhausted, the excitement gone, and I realized that rest might be far away. The fat man gasped for breath, calmed down, and listened carefully. There was no sound at all in the camp in the morning light. It was as quiet as a rain forest, and he couldn't feel any life.

The fat man murmured: "It's not good, we may have come at the wrong time."

Chapter 17 Dawn: Silent Camp

Our excitement was instantly extinguished by the strange camp in front of us. The two of us looked at each other. I wanted to hug my head and cry. I was too tired and could no longer cope with any emergencies. I suddenly felt like I was going crazy. This forest was trying to drive me crazy.

Fatty's nerves were much stronger than mine, and he put down Pan Zi. Let him lean against a rock while I follow him in to explore. There was no more fog around us, so he picked up a stone and hit his head. The two of us carefully watched the tents and walked into the camp.

As soon as I walked in, I felt how well prepared my third uncle was this time. I saw the generator, stove, and even a huge awning. Under the awning is a large flat stone with a lot of documents pressed on it. I saw a few teeth-brushing cups placed on the ruins of the stone aside. The pull rod between the two tents on the other side was tied with vines, and clothes were hung on it. This is almost like a simple residential area.

Nothing was strange, there were no signs of a fight, no blood, but there was no one there either. It seemed like the people in the camp were just hiking.

We found a huge bonfire in the middle of the camp, which had completely turned into ashes. In the bonfire we found the remaining smoke balls. It was obviously correct, this is where the signal smoke was sent. This is where the smoke rose from yesterday.

The curtains of the tent were open, and we could see that no one was inside. We could even smell the smell of athlete's foot inside.

Tiptoeing around in a circle. Nothing was found, and the fat man and I looked at each other.

I remembered seeing the color of the traffic signal smoke. Pan Zi said that the red signal smoke means "don't get close", and it is obviously certain that something happened here. I couldn't help but become nervous again, feeling like there were thorns all over my body. Where have these people gone? What happened here?

The feeling of unease is overwhelming. If we are well equipped and energetic. I might even decide to leave immediately and find a safe place nearby to take a closer look. But we now have almost half a life left. I really don’t want to leave here and trek again. In Panzi's case, it was impossible to do this. He had to get immediate care.

On the boulder under the awning, the fat man found a pack of cigarettes. He felt itchy and immediately lit one. However, he was too tired and couldn't stand it after two puffs. I also took a few puffs. Tobacco exerted its medicinal value at this time, and I slowly relaxed.

Then, we immediately carried Pan Zi to one of the tents. I saw two backpacks inside. This kind of tent was very big. One tent could sleep at least four people. There were a lot of debris on the tarpaulin in the tent. , I didn’t take away the flashlight or watch. I even saw an MP3 player, but I didn’t see any lights. I thought to myself: Is the small generator outside for this charging place? This is too wasteful.

We could finally really relax inside. We took off all the clothes on Pan Zi and got rid of the remaining grass ticks. The fat man rummaged through his backpack and found a small medicine box inside. He used the alcohol inside to disinfect Pan Zi's wounds again. Then he rummaged through the tents in the camp one by one and found a box of needles and thread. He used the alcohol inside to disinfect Pan Zi's wounds. Deep wounds were stitched up.

Pan Zi has woken up, feeling dazed, not sure if he is conscious yet. When the fat man took the injection, his face was obviously distorted, but there was no excessive struggle reaction.

Seeing the neatness with which the fat man sewed the wound, I was surprised: "What did you do before and you know this skill?"

"I told you that you always forget that people who go to the mountains and go to the countryside can't do needlework. They don't have a father to beat them and a mother to hurt them, so they have to take care of themselves." He said, "But this is the first time this human skin has been stitched. Do you think it would be too monotonous for this guy if I didn't sew some patterns on it?"

I knew he was joking, so I laughed a few times to show that it wasn't funny at all.

Looking at Pan Zi, I sighed. Fortunately, although this giant python is powerful, it has short teeth. Even with such a serious injury, Pan Zi's vital parts were not hurt. It was just that he lost too much blood, so it may not be easy to recover. Looking at the naked Pan Zi and the scars all over his body, I suddenly realized the origin of his scars. I am afraid that every time he goes to the ground, he narrowly escapes death. No wonder the third uncle relies on him so much. This guy is really good at what he does. Totally desperate.

However, maybe because of this style of doing things, although he was seriously injured every time, he survived every time, I thought to myself.

The fat man said to me: "This is called self-destructive tendency. I know it very well. I have a best friend who has been on the battlefield before. Everyone in his class died, and died miserably. He couldn't recover after he retired. I always wondered why he wasn't the one who died at that time, as if he survived because someone else fired him. When he was fighting with me, he did things desperately seeking death, no matter how dangerous it was. In fact, he just wanted to find an opportunity to kill himself. Get rid of him. This kind of person must have something to worry about, otherwise he can do anything, so I feel that your third uncle is like a life-saving straw to Da Pan."

I didn't have such a profound experience and couldn't understand what the fat man said, but seeing that his hands were shaking a little, I told him to stop talking and concentrate on sewing.

The two men sewed for nearly an hour. After sewing up the wound, his hands were covered with blood, and after disinfecting Pan Zi's wound, the fat man breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, Pan Zi fell asleep again.

We walked out of the tent. They all had to sit down and rest. The fat man did not relax completely. He immediately looked around and said: "Something is wrong here. I think we can clean up now and we can't stay here for long."

I nodded and wanted to stand up, but as soon as I moved, I found that I couldn't walk. There was no muscle in my body that could obey my orders. The fat man moved twice. It was obvious that we couldn't walk either, so we looked at each other and smiled bitterly, sighing together.

To be honest, we are running out of gas, even if there are pressing matters now. I'm afraid I can't stand up either. Both mentally and physically. It has exceeded the limit of fatigue and is completely useless.

Look at me not moving. The fat man smiled bitterly and said: "But I'm afraid it's not safe to go back to the jungle now. Rather than being killed in a damp and cold place, I would rather die here. Listening to the mp3 and being bitten by a snake is worthy of a world like me. A celebrity.”

This was a bit of Ah Q's spirit, but I nodded, and nodded sincerely. Although I had experienced this kind of exhausting situation several times before, this time it was particularly severe. The main reason is that before entering here, we have spent too much energy and physical strength crossing the Great Gobi. We were already very tired before entering the canyon, but we were able to hold on after that. This feeling of discovering after a long journey that the journey has just begun makes people extremely desperate, but what is even more terrifying is that I know that if I can survive, the journey back will be the real test. Now if Aning's walkie-talkie really existed, we wouldn't be able to get it. Then what happens next will be a complete nightmare.

Thinking about these things gives me a splitting headache, and I really don’t want to think about them.

We rested for a while, made tea, ate some dry food, and then took off all the clothes on our bodies. After taking off the clothes, we couldn't put them on. The holes we found were bigger than the trouser legs, so we had no choice but to leave them. We quickly found a few Put them on the drying ground. Looking at his legs, they were all covered in blood marks from thorns. Fortunately, they were all skin injuries. Although they stung when exposed to water, there was no danger of infection.

What was disgusting was those grass ticks. There were no grass ticks on the front of the legs. They were all concentrated in the sockets behind the knees. They were full of blood. The fat man found a spray specially designed to kill grass ticks. He sprayed it and all the grass ticks fell off. down. I wanted to pat them flat, but the fat man said that patting them might attract more ones, so he swept them all into the stove and made a crackling sound.

The tea I brewed was particularly fragrant. I drank some and washed my feet and wounds. The muscles that had been completely numb finally started to feel. I felt soreness, weakness, numbness and itching. I couldn't even stand up, so I could only use my butt as my feet to move.

Last night, I was the only one who slept for a while, so even though I was unbearably sleepy, I let the fat man sleep for a while while I leaned on the stone to the side to be alert.

At this time, the sun was shining brightly, and the entire ruins were clearly displayed in front of us. There was no wind and silence around, and the entire valley was as quiet as still. I expected that the fat man must not be able to sleep, but I didn't expect that he would utter a sound in less than a second while leaning on the stone. There was a thunderous snoring, and I didn't even put out the cigarette. I fell asleep with it in my mouth.

I took his cigarette and smoked it myself, shaking my head with a wry smile. At this time, I felt that I was almost falling asleep. I immediately cheered up and tried my best not to let myself fall asleep, but it didn't work. As long as I sat still, my eyelids It's as heavy as lead.

The morning light receded and the sun became poisonous. I took a few deep breaths and hid in the awning while forcing myself to start packing my backpack. At this time, I saw Wen Jin’s notebook tucked deep inside.

Afraid that this precious note would be damaged during such a rigorous trek, I wrapped it in a pair of my own socks. After entering the canyon, my plans couldn’t keep up with the changes, and I didn’t have the chance to look at it carefully. Looking back at this time, I felt like this note The content in is basically not of much help.

Maybe it was a few years ago when Wen Jin came, although for the history of this ancient city, more than ten or twenty years is really too short a time. But for the environment here, it has been long enough, more than twenty years. The trees here probably grow in a completely different way.

Wen Jin did not lie to us when he wrote "there are many snakes here", but I think Wen Jin's writing was too brief. There were so many things to write about about these snakes, but she only noticed a lot of them. Could it be that she was short-sighted?

The notes contain a lot of information about their journey through the rainforest. I would like to take a closer look and see if there is anything that can help us. After this. My mind went blank and I was thinking about how to get out of here, so I turned to the last part of my notes.

However, I was so tired that my words were blurry, so I had to water my eyes with water. Keep your spirits up. After turning a few pages, I couldn't stand it anymore. I felt like reading was hypnotic, so I put down the notes and tried my best to keep my mind blank, but my consciousness became irreversibly hazy bit by bit.

Just when I was about to fall asleep, I heard a faint voice in a trance, which seemed to be Pan Zi calling me: "Little Third Master."

I was suddenly awakened. Thinking that Pan Zi needed something, he immediately rubbed his eyes and stood up painfully, only to find that the surroundings were quiet and there was no sound.

My heart says bad. So tired that I started hearing hallucinations. He immediately rubbed his temples, but heard a very soft voice again. He seemed to be laughing, but also seemed to be complaining about something. It came from deep inside the camp.

I was agitated and thought: Could it be that they are back?

I ran out immediately, but saw no one inside. I called out "Hey" and walked among several large tents. After walking around, I didn't see anything.

strangeness? I patted my head, and it was so quiet that it made my heart palpitate.

After standing there for a while, nothing happened. I walked back inexplicably, sat back to my original position, took a few deep breaths, and lit a cigarette. I felt that I might have lost my mind.

But I knew immediately that I didn't. I saw several mud footprints on the stone in front of me, extending all the way from the distance to where I was sitting. This didn't happen just now.

I became alert and looked around. I saw a lot of mud on the big stone where the documents were placed. It was obvious that something was supporting it. Then I discovered that the position of the Wenjin note I placed on it had changed, and it was stained with mud.

In an instant, my sleepiness disappeared and I stood up immediately.

Who does the work? With so many muddy footprints, could it be that Wen Jin? This guy saw his notes and flipped through them? Or is it the monster that seems to be Aning?

I looked around, but no one was there, so I looked for footprints. The footprints extended all the way into Pan Zi's tent. I suddenly became nervous and immediately picked up a stone and went to the fat man to wake him up.

It was not that easy to wake up the fat man. I shook it a few times and there was no response. I didn't dare to make too much noise, so I gritted my teeth and walked towards the tent by myself.

The tent was half-hidden, and when I walked up to it, I saw a muddy handprint on the nylon door curtain of the tent, and I immediately swallowed my saliva.

Taking a deep breath, I imagined the process. I opened the door curtain and rushed in. I screamed first. If that person rushed towards me, I would hit him with a stone.

At this time, I suddenly felt that the stone was not very suitable, but I didn't have time to find another one. I took another deep breath, gritted my teeth and got into the tent. Sure enough, he saw a man covered in mud squatting in front of Pan Zi.

I yelled and was about to pounce when I saw the man turn his head. I was stunned. I saw a pair of very familiar eyes on a face covered with mud.

It turned out to be a stuffy oil bottle.

Chapter 18 The Second Night: Reunion Again

I thought it was Wen Jin who followed us into the camp. I went in with rocks to block her, but I found that the person who entered the camp was actually covered in mud and stuffed with oil bottles. His appearance shocked me: he was covered in mud, almost covering his whole body including his hair. The wounds on his shoulders were all covered in mud. I didn't know if they would be infected, but I didn't see anything on him. With the new injury, he must have been more comfortable than us last night.

I couldn't describe the feeling at that time, I just froze there. When he turned around, I realized what I was doing, put the stone down, and explained: "I thought you were... that..."

He ignored me and just asked me: "Is there anything to eat?"

I suddenly remembered when he rushed into the swamp. He didn't bring anything with him. Judging from his appearance, he probably hadn't eaten for more than 20 hours.

I took him out. After pouring tea and water for him, he ate the dry food without saying anything, his face as cold as ice.

After he finished eating, I gave him a cloth to wipe his hands, and then I quickly asked him how he was doing. What happened after he chased us out? How did he catch up with us?

His face was solemn. While wiping the mud off his face, he said it intermittently. He spoke very briefly, but I still understood.

It turned out that he chased Na Wenjin out for six hours the night before, but it was too difficult to track him in the jungle. In the end, he didn't know whether the woman was hiding or running away, so he lost her. When he stopped, he no longer knew where she was.

Without any lighting equipment, he lost his target and couldn't even see his surroundings. He calculated the time it took to get here and his speed. Knowing that it was not too far away from us, but if we continued deeper into the rainforest, it would be more difficult to come back, so he huddled in the roots of the trees and waited for dawn to return.

This is the same as what we were thinking at the time. Fatty speculated that he might come back after dawn in the morning. But after dawn, things changed. After daybreak he saw our signal smoke. At the same time, he also saw the cigarettes lit by his third uncle and the others.

He judged the direction of our smoke by distance. When we returned to the place where we left him the note, we found that it was flooded. He had no choice but to return immediately and chase us, but just like us, he chased the smoke, and the route was not straight, so he never ran into us. Later, when he heard gunshots at night, he came over and followed us all the way here. Found the campground.

After hearing this, I thought it was a coincidence. If there hadn't been that big battle last night, I'm afraid he wouldn't have been able to find us. Thanks to him for being able to maintain such clear judgment in such a harsh environment. But he can come back, and I feel relieved. Originally, I didn't have any hope.

At this time, I saw him wiping off the mud on his body, and I asked him, "We are also running away. Although we are also very embarrassed, we have not behaved like you. What happened to you that made you like this?"

"It wasn't done by someone else. I put the mud on it myself," he said.

I was even more surprised and thought to myself: Are you rolling like a hippopotamus? Or do you have fleas on your body? With your physique, even if you are lying in a pile of fleas, the fleas will only dare to do your best to kill the chicken.

He looked at the mud on his arm and explained: "It's because of those snakes..."

"snake?"

"Wen Jin has been here for a long time. There are so many venomous snakes here. There must be a reason why a woman can live for such a long time, and her appearance is really unusual. I feel that there must be a relationship between these two points. After thinking about it for a while , I realized that the mud was the key." Menyouping said, "I smeared mud on my body, and sure enough, the snakes seemed not to be able to see me."

When I thought about it, I suddenly realized that it was like this. I asked why Wen Jin looked like that. Snakes rely on heat to find prey. Covering their bodies with mud can not only cover up the heat, but also cover up the smell. It may indeed be useful. .

I couldn't help but feel ecstatic, this was really good news. In this way, our ability to survive in the rainforest will be much higher, at least we will no longer be slaughtered by snakes.

After roughly wiping the mud off his body, Menyouping looked around at the camp and asked me, "Is this all you're doing here?"

I nodded and told him our experience.

I started talking about it after we separated from him, trying to be as simple but clear as possible, until we arrived here not much earlier than him. There was no one here anymore, and the situation here was a bit strange. All personal belongings were not covered. There was no trace of violence when they were taken away, as if these people gave up the camp calmly and left without taking anything.

He listened silently and glanced at the tents around him. He didn't say anything. He just pinched his brows and seemed confused.

I said to him: "It's good if you come back. Because of Pan Zi, we can't leave here for the time being, and we are too tired and need to rest, otherwise we will die. Now there is one more person and one more person to take care of."

He looked at me noncommittally and said, "In a place like this, one more person and one less person are the same."

I was a little surprised that he would say such a thing, but after he finished speaking, he stood up and picked up a bucket. He went to the pool outside the camp to get a bucket of water, then he took off his clothes and turned his back to me and started scrubbing himself to wash away the mud on his body. I knew from the look on his face that he had nothing to say to me. I felt a little depressed, but it would be a joy to have him back.

After he finished bathing, he came back and closed his eyes to rest. I didn't bother him, but I couldn't sleep anymore, so I took a bath. After the bath, I felt a little better, so I went back with some water. I also wiped Pan Zi’s body. His body was a little hot and his sleep was a little uneasy. He fell asleep again after I finished wiping him.

When I came out and saw the fat man, I thought he didn't need me to serve him anymore, so I sat down and massaged his calves. He didn't want to read Wen Jin's notes again and turned to look at Menyou Ping. He also fell asleep. Thinking about it, he must be more tired than us. Even an iron-clad man cannot withstand such a torment. I kept watch like this until around three or four o'clock in the afternoon, when the fat man woke up. He saw the stuffy oil bottle and said "hmm". It took a long time to react and said: "Damn it, I must be dreaming."

Menyouping woke up immediately, obviously not sleeping deeply, and looked at him. He looked at the sky again. He also sat up. The fat man rubbed his eyes and said, "It seems this is not a dream. Comrade workers, peasants and soldiers, you have finally defected to the Red Army."

Menyouping is truly a magical person. Although he was taciturn, his presence was like a stimulant. I could see that the fat man was also happy from the bottom of his heart. I said, "Why are you so happy? Didn't you say you wanted to be alone?"

He stood up and sat next to me, vomited a few mouthfuls of bloody phlegm, and said: "That was before, when the little brother came back, then you must follow the little brother, and follow the little brother to have meat to eat, right?"

I saw blood in his phlegm and knew he had suffered internal injuries, but he didn't care. It probably wasn't too serious, so I told him to be careful.

Menyoupin didn't answer. The fat man handed me a cigarette, poured some water from the kettle, washed his eyes, and asked Menyoupin about the situation before. I relayed to Fatty what Menyoupin told me just now.

The fat man nodded while listening. When he heard the part about mud being able to prevent snakes, he also said happily: "This is a good recipe. With this recipe, we can spend less energy in the swamp. Damn it, I was still sleeping just now." I dreamed that a snake was crawling on my body and it was stuck in my crotch and refused to come out. It scared me to death."

I laughed, feeling that the fat man's jokes only sounded funny when the oil bottle was around, and said, "I guess I'm attracted to the chick in your crotch. Speaking of which, have you hatched it yet?"

The fat man said: "Not yet. After being soaked in water all day, they have turned into fish eggs. I have to take them out to dry in the sun later to prevent them from getting moldy."

I laughed, and the fat man laughed too, and slapped me a few times: "You're so ridiculous, I don't believe you're still doing it, why don't we take it out and screw it?"

I shook my head and said "no need", and the fat man asked me to rest. Although I was a little excited, my body's fatigue was irreversible, and I fell asleep soon after lying down. Probably because of Mengyou Ping's presence, I fell into a deep sleep this time and felt particularly at ease. I didn't wake up until the evening.

The sunset turned red, and I smelled the fragrance when I got up. It was the fat man cooking something, and I didn’t know what he was cooking. I moved a few times, and it felt like a zombie lying in the grave had been resurrected. The muscles in my body were sore. I feel so "bitter" that I can't describe this feeling.

With no strength in both hands and feet, he almost crawled to the edge of the campfire and leaned on the rocks, his hands shaking. He heard the fat man talking to Menyou Ping, and he was asking Men You Ping what his plans were.

I thought to myself that this guy is starting to engage in separatism again. Pan Zi is dead and no one will force him to find my third uncle. He has started to recruit Menyou Ping to carry out his conspiracy. I immediately leaned over and heard what he was saying. Said to Menyou Ping: "I said Wu Xie must not know about this matter, otherwise he will go crazy..."

Chapter 19 The Second Night: The Secret

I cursed secretly in my heart. When the fat man heard my movement, he turned around suddenly, with an embarrassed look on his face, and immediately said: "Are you awake? Come on, come on, I've left some food for you, eat it while it's hot."

I glared angrily: "What did you just say? What can't you let me know?"

I just woke up, and I probably don’t look good. And I hate people hiding things from me. Although I know that what the fat man said he couldn’t tell me may be unreliable, I still feel very unhappy.

The fat man shocked me and pretended to be confused: "Why don't I let you know? I said I can't let you get tired. Did you misunderstand me?"

I took a sip, sat next to him and said, "Come on, don't think you are my third uncle. You can't fool me. What's going on? Tell me quickly! Otherwise I'll never be done with you."

The fat man looked at my expression, and I looked at him without giving in at all, urging: "Tell me. You still want to hide it after everything has been revealed. Am I so unable to tell you? If you don't tell me, then we can Just part ways, you know I hate people hiding things from me the most. I will do what I say, or you will watch me die here."

The fat man scratched his head: "Damn it, how can you imitate women's behavior and do it to your death? I won't tell you, but it's for your own good."

I scolded, "Don't do this. I've heard this a lot. I'll be able to judge for myself. What's going on?"

Of course, I'm just talking, but I know that Fatty is not like Uncle San. He usually won't persist in situations like this, otherwise he won't be able to stand the atmosphere. Fatty is not a particularly persistent person, which I particularly appreciate.

Sure enough, the fat man looked at the oil bottle. Menyouping didn't say anything, he just sighed and said, "Come with me to see something."

I couldn't walk, so the fat man helped me and came under the awning. The above files have been sorted out. Apparently they had just seen it. The fat man stacked all the documents together, revealing the stone platform underneath. I just saw the flat surface of the boulder underneath the document. Several large characters were written in black charcoal.

It was dark at night, and it was far away from the bonfire, so I couldn't see clearly, so the fat man turned on a miner's lamp to illuminate me. I took a few steps further to identify it, and then I was stunned.

That is a sentence:

We have found the entrance to the Queen Mother's Palace, there is no way back, we will never see you again, our wish will be fulfilled, and we will have no regrets.

This place is dangerous, please leave quickly and stay.

I was stunned, and the fat man said behind me: "I saw it when I was packing up the documents. I originally covered it up to prevent you from seeing it, so that you would not get into trouble... Your third uncle seemed to be determined to die this time. And, damn, he chose to leave you behind forever.”

This is indeed the handwriting of Uncle San. Although the writing is not very regular, I can still recognize the stroke habits in it after making rubbings for so many years. The writing is quite cursory. It is obvious that he was in a very urgent or excited situation at the time. .

I was a little unable to react, but my mind was surprisingly still, without any emotion, and my mind was completely blank. I thought I would always have some emotion, such as worry or anger, but I didn't feel anything.

The fat man thought I was depressed, so he patted me and said nothing. I took a few steps closer and looked at those words, but still couldn't stir up any waves.

My worries about my third uncle's safety have been exhausted in this long process. Although I still don't want anything to happen to him, under such an environment, it is not surprising that something happened. I all have the awareness that I will die, so death is no longer a problem we need to worry about here.

This is just like war. When everyone is likely to die, people only care about the outcome of the matter, not the safety of an individual person.

I suddenly felt that I could understand my third uncle. When these words appeared here, it was already my greatest care for me. If we exchange identities, and the secret I am pursuing that cannot be told to my nephew is right in front of me, and the road ahead is extremely dangerous, he neither wants me to take risks with the past, nor can he tell me the truth, then this method is the best way. OK

Moreover, if it were me in the past, I might burst into tears. From then on, my third uncle would no longer appear, and I would always harbor regrets until time erases it.

The problem is that I am no longer the same person as before. What I am pursuing is the huge mystery behind these things, and is no longer the third uncle himself. Therefore, these words have only one meaning to me, that is, the third uncle is still alive, and he has died. Found the way. The situation was completely the same as before, which may be why I felt so calm.

I don’t know if this is an improvement on my part or just because I’m tired. Maybe these are all excuses. My third uncle is already far, far away from me.

I looked at it silently for a while, then turned around. The fat man came up and put his arms around my shoulders, comforting me and saying: "I told you not to let you see it. If you don't listen to my words, you, fat man, will only cause trouble. There is nothing you can do about this matter. Don't Overthinking it.”

I didn't want to explain my state of mind to him, so I didn't answer. He helped me back to the campfire. He gave me a bowl of food and asked me to eat first.

The food was still boiled compressed biscuit batter, and I had no appetite. As I ate very slowly, the fat man continued to comfort me and said, "Your third uncle is not a mortal. Extraordinary people must have extraordinary endings. It is destined. And since he has so much experience, he may not be able to come back."

I sighed. Said: "I'm fine. I'm used to this. Now I'm just wondering where the entrance is."

When I was in the rain forest, I foresaw that I might not see my third uncle, because the red smoke represented danger. Then the smoker will definitely not stay where the smoke is. At that time, I thought in my mind that the third uncle might have left here after smoking.

Now it was obvious that most of the predictions were correct, but they did not expect that the third uncle would find the entrance, which meant that their location was completely unknown.

Uncle San camped here and discovered the entrance. Then, they should start to pack up their equipment and leave here calmly, leaving this deserted camp behind. In order to prevent me from following him, he lit red cigarettes and left a message here. Then he entered the entrance and never returned.

He said that there was no way back, and his third uncle was not the kind of person who would accept his fate. The entrance must be extremely dangerous, so that he made a judgment that he would die. or it could be. There are some reasons that make it absolutely impossible to return to this place once you enter it.

That's what it looks like.

According to this judgment. The entrance should be nearby, perhaps within the temple. I don't know how much Uncle San has in his hands. But he probably wasn't looking blindly. He must have followed some kind of clue or trace. We don't understand this at all, but it may not be impossible to deduce.

The fat man said: "Then let's look around for any clues later, and maybe we can find them. Right, little brother?"

He asked Menyouping and gave him a wink. Apparently he wanted Menyouping to comfort me, but Menyouping shook his head. I looked at him and he said: "Since Wu Sansheng wrote it like this, we are sure that we can't find that place."

"Why?" Fatty was unconvinced.

Menyouping looked at the bonfire and said calmly: "Wu Sansheng is very thoughtful and knows that when we see the message, we will know that the entrance is nearby. He doesn't want Wu Xie to be in danger, so if the entrance is easy to find, he will definitely not stay." Text. The reason why he left it shows that this entrance must be extremely difficult to find, or even if it is found, we will not be able to enter."

What he said made sense, and I sighed, thinking that even if there were clues, my third uncle might destroy them just to be on the safe side.

The fat man said depressedly: "Then our trip was in vain, wasn't it?"

Menyouping shook his head: "For you, this may be a good thing."

"You fat man, I have run for thousands of fucking kilometers, crossed the Gobi, crossed the desert, entered the rainforest and came here, and then went back after sunbathing. Is this a good thing?" The fat man leaned against the stone and scratched his head, "Here There’s no rags, and this time it’s a shame that Grandpa doesn’t even recognize it.”

Menyouping raised his head and said: "However, there may not be any way to find the entrance." He looked at the surrounding camps, "Moreover, the situation in this camp is very wrong. It doesn't look like a simple evacuation. Wu Sansheng's words may not Believable.”

Chapter 20, Night Two: Counterreflection

Menyouping looked at the bonfire and quietly explained the doubts to us. He said that the biggest problem here is that there are a lot of backpacks. Sanshu has a large number of people. Even if they streamline their equipment, they will not have so many backpacks filled with stuff. Moreover, because the conditions of the entire camp are very natural, these backpacks are randomly placed in each tent, with various details added, and it does not look like the equipment has been organized at all.

The people here did leave calmly, but this calmness was not calm in the usual sense. The situation when they left was definitely very unusual.

In fact, I have probably noticed the doubt mentioned by Menyou Ping, but this doubt can be explained by some more complicated reasons, so I didn't pay attention to it. When he mentioned it, I nodded, but I said, "Maybe they didn't all go. That place is so dangerous, maybe some of them stayed."

Menyouping shook his head: "If someone stays, there is no need to leave a message. This kind of message will only be left if everyone will leave, and Wu Sansheng will not tell his subordinates that he will die. This is a big taboo. He must have written it at the last moment when all his men left. Will those people die with him?"

But this cannot explain the current situation in the camp, unless those people discovered the entrance and entered the entrance happily without bringing anything, but this was impossible.

The fat man said "Yeah", obviously he thought it made sense. He frowned after taking a sip of water, thought for a while and said: "This matter is quite weird and a bit confusing. I'm afraid I won't understand it if I think about it from the beginning. We have to work backwards. ."

Fat people always have tricks up their sleeves, especially at times like this. I asked him how to deduce it, and he said: "We know a lot about the results of this matter, but we don't know the process, so we have to think from the results. Let's start with that word. According to what the little brother said, leave a message here to explain them. Everyone has left, and it’s impossible for anyone to stay. So there are so many backpacks here, which means there are fewer people than backpacks. This..."

The fat man got stuck mid-sentence, as if what he pushed out was a bit hard to explain, but I already knew what it meant. There were fewer people than backpacks, and there were a lot less.

That means, a lot of people died.

And the death occurred after they had set up camp here.

After a moment of silence, the fat man continued: "There must have been a huge mutation here, or nearby. There is no sign of violence here, so the mutation should have happened around. There should have been something that made them leave the camp, and then nothing happened again." Come back. But your third uncle survived, found the entrance with the remaining people, and then left. This should be the process."

I was enlightened after hearing this, but I also heard the flaw, shook my head and said: "No, usually in this case, the survivors will definitely leave here, and they will not be in the mood to look for the entrance again, and then come back and leave a mark."

"Then, they should have discovered the entrance before the accident." Fatty corrected.

I nodded, and Menyou Ping also nodded, and murmured: "Perhaps, it was because of that mutation that they discovered the person who entered the world.

"It's possible, but it can't be confirmed, and it doesn't make sense." Fatty said, "Anyway, this damn thing can be established." So, what is a mutation? I asked, feeling a little nervous, "Is it that kind of snake?" "

The fat man looked at the darkness around him and the rainforest sinking into nothingness, and said: "Don't worry, while you were sleeping, my brother and I had already got a few buckets of silt. We will smear it on the tent and the night watchman later." If you put it on, you don’t need to be taboo about those pheasant necks. However, this place is filled with evil spirits, and there may be other evil things, and accidents will definitely happen at night. We must be more vigilant. And remember, if there is any movement, we must not Leave the camp.”

I nodded and said, "Then I'll guard the first shift."

Menyouping shook his head: "Your vigilance is too low. If our judgment is correct, then this kind of change will be extremely dangerous. I'm afraid you won't be able to cope with it. I'll stay on guard all night tonight, so you can have a good rest."