Daomu Biji

After it was completely dark, the moon rose gradually. I found a tree to lean on, and for the first time, my heart wavered a little. I was thinking, am I totally going in the wrong direction? Did I follow the wrong route when I walked all the way here? I also forgot whether I learned it from TV or if Fatty taught me how to look for traces according to the damage of the foliage. Was it all a bluff?

"It's only the first day." I immediately told myself and began to think about what Fatty would have done last night. If he found out that I wasn't there, he couldn't go back alone and proceed with the team as if nothing had happened. Because both fake Wu Xie and I were gone, he would definitely guess that I must have been taken away by him, in which case Fatty would definitely go back and inform the others.

No, Fatty wouldn't notify anyone else. Judging from his performance recently, he doesn't trust anyone now. Moreover, how would he say such a thing when he went back?

If Pan Zi were there, he might inform him, but now he would definitely try to find me out here alone.

I continued to speculate on what I would think first if I were in his shoes. He would feel that I was taken away by fake Wu Xie, who would either take me back to the foreigners' team or kill me. He would judge which one was more likely according to the situation at that time and take corresponding measures. In short, it was very likely that he went out to find me by himself.

Of course, I wouldn't ignore another possibility, that is, the guy would go back to ambush Fatty after finis.h.i.+ng me off. But I believe Fatty isn't so easy to sneak up on and since the guy dragged me so far down the steep slope, he was definitely trying to make it so that Fatty wouldn't be able to find me. Based on this, this possibility is unlikely. It's more reliable to think that Fatty was looking for me.

However, although Fatty had good eyes, under the circ.u.mstances at that time, he could only shout my name, but I was in a deep coma at that time. What would I do if I looked for someone and cried all night and that person didn't respond? Wait for the morning, and then look for any traces left by him.

Obviously Fatty didn't find me, but the area was very large, and unlikely to be canva.s.sed in one day. He was probably resting somewhere in this area now, and with Fatty's character, he wouldn't give up so soon.

Thinking this, I looked up at the moon in the sky. There was silence all around, with only a slight chirping of insects, much quieter than in the summer when we first arrived. I realized that this was a good time to rest.

I looked for a tree to climb up, but found it very difficult, so I continued to climb the gentle slope until I could clearly see the whole valley. In fact, I didn't reach any high position, but stood at the corner of the crown of a tree. After standing still for a moment, I yelled at the top of my voice, "Fatty!"

With this single sound, almost all the insects stopped chirping. This angle seemed to be very opportune, and as the sound traveled down, unexpectedly the opposite mountain echoed it back, and a flock of birds was startled into flight

I was a little surprised, but didn't immediately give up. I immediately raised my voice and continued to yell. I called a few times, stopped, and listened carefully for Fatty's reply.

There was no reply no matter how I called, just the sound of the wind in the valley.

I thought that maybe I couldn't hear Fatty's voice because he didn't have a natural loudspeaker like me. I was wondering if I should make a torch so that he could see my location and coordinate with my voice calling him and maybe find me here, but at this time, I suddenly heard the sound of a bush rustling coming from the gentle slope below me.

I didn't have a flashlight, and looking down only showed the area was mottled by moonlight and I couldn't see anything.

"Fatty?" I called immediately. I heard the rustling in the bushes quickly rus.h.i.+ng from one side to the other, very fast.

I immediately shut up and thought that if Fatty could move through the bushes at such a fast speed, then he must be a ninja. There must be an animal down there, and there was a lot of noise.

I thought of the lynx in this mountain and touched the ground at my feet. I was really lucky that there were so many stones around me. I grabbed one and threw it at the place where the noise came from.

The stone hit the bushes and bounced several times. I threw out another two, certain I wouldn't miss, but the thing left quickly and the bushes continued to shake until it slowly disappeared.

Was it a wild boar or something? I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that I must find a tree to climb up, otherwise the possibility of encountering wild animals was very big. I must rest well tonight, or I'll be ruined tomorrow. The further I delay, the lower my chances of survival are, and if I can't find any clues by noon tomorrow, I have to go back to the place where there was a stream to drink water and find a way to follow it out.

The stream should lead to the ca.n.a.l beside Banai, or at least I hope so.

I held the trunk and walked down the gentle slope again. At this time, I was already struggling to walk and just wanted to find the bush-covered area quickly and go to bed after shouting a few more times. After only a few steps, I suddenly felt something was wrong. In the mottled moonlight, I saw a short tree in the dark looking a little strange.

I felt a jolt and stood and looked carefully, suddenly finding that it wasn't a tree, but a person.

The figure's shoulders were completely collapsed like a ghost, and he stood motionless in the darkness. I couldn't even tell if he had been there the entire time.

I froze in place, not knowing whether I should rush to catch him, or turn my head and run. Then I realized that I couldn't do either now, and the choice was in his hands.

I simply stopped moving and stood there looking at him. He didn't move either, and in the dark, I didn't even know if he was facing me or had his back turned.

If the latter, he would now be motionless with his face against a tree, which was really creepy. Was this thing human or not?

My hands began to sweat, and after a long stalemate, I suddenly saw him standing with a very strange posture. It was probably because of his body structure, which didn't seem like something a human being could manage.

I thought for a while and realized that it was an invitation to let me come over. I felt my head buzzing and before I could react, the shadow moved toward the bottom of the gentle slope.

This is—telling me to follow him?

Confused, I saw the shadow take a few steps, stop, and make a movement. Still the same meaning—follow me.

I thought for a moment and realized that if it was bad for me, it wouldn't be necessary to do this. He didn't kill me in the wilderness, and if I didn't go, he might think I'm not worth it and be happy enough to kill me here.

I held the trunk and walked with him.

The entire way, I didn't know how long it took, but every time I couldn't hold on, he would stop and wait for me. After a while, he stopped suddenly, and I stopped immediately, too. I didn't dare get too close to him, because I had a genuine fear of his real appearance.

I looked up and found that in front of me was a huge rock, too big to see the top of. In the moonlight, a huge cave appeared on the rock wall, with a faint light in it.

He walked into the cave without looking back, but I hesitated for a moment. I told myself "nothing ventured, nothing gained," and followed him in. A few meters after entering the cave, the fire started to flare up and I finally saw him sitting there, the original black shadow clearly illuminated.

He motioned me to sit down in front of him and my heart beat faster. I looked at his face and body, and trembled slightly.

It was indeed a person, or at least he should have been. But now, no one doubted that he came from another world.

His whole body was like a ma.s.s of wax, first melted quickly, and all the skin was mottled with holes, but the melting process seemed to have stopped abruptly. He had almost no shoulders, his hands hung on both sides of his body, and all the flesh and skin on his shoulders was wrapped around his body. Through the thin skin covering his shoulder bones, you could see the joints inside.

His whole face was melted and his hair was very long and unkempt, almost knotted together.

But I found that he didn't have a beard, and if the hair was so long, then the beard should be very long, too. But I couldn't see a beard on this man's face at all.

I felt a little scared and thought of a possibility that made me uncomfortable: was this a woman?

He was bare to the waist, but it was completely impossible to tell whether he was a man or a woman from his upper body. His physical appearance had been damaged to such an extent that it was pointless to wonder whether he was a man or a woman. However, if a man becomes like this, I could accept it. After all, if I put myself into this life, as long as my heart was steeled, I wouldn't be unable to cope with it. If she was a woman, however, she was awfully pitiful.

Maybe it's just that the hair follicles on the face had been damaged, I thought. I can't take his pants off just to see if he's a man or a woman.

He didn't speak, just grabbed the dead branches and leaves on the side with his hand and threw them into the bonfire. As the fire slowly flared up, I saw that there were other amazing things in the cave.