?

  "I asked: What kind of people were those who returned to the village? Are they still in the village now?"

  A Gui shook his head: "No, I went back to the city on the day of the mountain fire. Boss, are you suspecting those people?" I saw A Guis tense expression and knew he had been intimidated, not wanting anything to happen in the village. After thinking for a moment, I shook my head at him and said: "Not that, I need to think carefully."

  That night, I rested at Ah Guis house and stayed in Pangzis room. After searching the entire room, I didnt find any suspicious places. On the bedside, I found Pangzis wallet, which contained an ID card, two bank cards, and several red tickets. Apparently, Pangzi left in a hurry, or he wouldnt need these things where he was going.

  After thinking about it for half the night, I felt that I still had to go into the mountain and take a look. The mountain fire had been extinguished, so after the firefighting team left, I went into the mountain. I stayed at Ah Kuis house for two days until the firefighting team withdrew. On the afternoon of that day, I packed my things and entered the mountain alone, with no one following me.

  Along the way, most of the trees were burned to a crisp, and the mountain was exposed in large patches. I passed by without seeing any signs of anything, and two days later, I arrived at the lake. After experiencing a big fire, the lakeside was piled with charred black tree trunks, the water level had dropped, and there was no sign of anything left. When you want to see someone alive, you should be able to see their body when theyre dead, but now even a single hair cant be found - did Fatso just mysteriously disappear after entering the mountain?

  I suddenly thought of a possibility... could he be going back to Zhangs old building again?

  This idea made my heart beat faster, should I go into the ancient building again? But I didnt bring any equipment with me now, going in wouldnt be equal to seeking death? However, if Fatso really went in alone, it would be more likely to end in disaster than safety, could I just ignore it?

  But at present, there is no evidence to prove that the fat man entered the ancient building, everything is just my empty speculation, and naturally I cannot enter rashly. Next, I searched along the way to Zhangs ancient building, unexpectedly, I found something in the stone pile by the lake before walking out a few steps.

  Pangzis Nokia was stuck in the gap between the stones, the screen was black, I tried to turn it on, and it actually worked. After the phone lit up, I saw the message from Pangzi in the sent messages, then I flipped through some files on the phone, and a photo suddenly popped out.

  The pixels of this mobile phone are not high, but the fat mans requirements for mobile phones are just to be durable and have good signal. In his words, even if a mobile phone is good in a fight without signal, its useless. If you drop it, it will break, and Im afraid no one can even contact the undertaker.

  That photo was taken at Ah Guis home, a selfie with the chubby boy sitting on a stool, staring blankly at the camera lens of his phone. The indoor lighting is dim, and the background is a wooden wall with an open window behind which is pitch black. Obviously, this photo was taken at night, unfortunately, although Chubbys phone is durable, its old technology and doesnt display the time the photo was taken.

  This photo is a bit blurry, and with the small screen of the mobile phone, its even harder to distinguish, but finding the mobile phone here proves that Fatso has indeed been to this place. What did he come here for? Its impossible that he was nostalgic for the zongzi in Zhangjia Ancient Building. If he really went back to Zhangjia Ancient Building again, what was the reason?

  Thinking that Fatso might have gone inside, my nerves tensed up instantly, and the scene of Panzis previous appearance floated in my mind. A chill ran from the soles of my feet as I calmed down and continued along the path leading to Zhangjia Ancient Building. The road was lined with charred tree trunks, a dark and eerie sight, and the air reeked of burnt wood, like malevolent spirits lurking everywhere, waiting to pounce at any moment.

  The more I walked forward, the more afraid I became. I thought that in this place, there would always be a few people around me, but now, in this vast mountain forest, there was only one living person - myself.

  At this time, the sky had not yet entered the night, but the sun was covered by thick dark clouds, and no sunlight penetrated through the trees. The surroundings were all charred tree trunks, making it even darker. As I walked further, I couldnt help but feel a chill run down my spine, and I cursed myself in my heart - without the oil bottle and fatty, you still cant survive, how pathetic. Thinking about this, I straightened my back, although I didnt have any firearms on me, at least I had a short knife with me, so I grasped it tightly to boost my courage.

  After walking for about half a time, the road ahead suddenly broke off. At this time, it had already approached the angle of the two mountains, and only a few meters wide gorge could pass through. Just after a mountain fire, the sturdy trees on the two mountains all rolled into the gorge, piling up several meters of charcoal heap.

  These charcoal hadnt been burned through by the fire, and a layer of black ash fell off with just one touch. Inside, however, they were solid tree trunks. Because they had fallen naturally, they were piled up haphazardly. I put down my backpack and kicked them more than ten times, getting covered in sweat from head to toe. The pile of charred tree trunks only slightly shifted position, and the road was still completely blocked. In the end, I could only climb over it, getting blackened from head to foot. Who knew that as soon as I climbed up, I almost got knocked over.

  Dozens of green lights suddenly lit up from the darkness, flickering with a strange cold light, and disappeared in an instant. At a glance, the entire canyon was sealed off by charred wood, and more than a dozen black objects were curled up in the gaps between the wooden planks, which had already blended in with the surrounding charred wood.

  After more than a dozen green lights lit up, I recognized that it was more than a dozen civet cats. They were obviously affected by the mountain fire and their brown spotted coats were burnt to reveal their rough skin underneath. There was a faint smell of charred meat in the air.

  In an instant, my legs went soft and I subconsciously grabbed the machete in my hand. I took a glance and couldnt help but curse. When I came here, I didnt think Id be going into the mountains again, so I hadnt prepared any equipment. So when I entered the mountains, I borrowed a cleaver from Ah Gui. Along the way, I hadnt used it at all. Now that I looked at it, even the blade was curled up. Damn it, this knife couldnt even kill fish, let alone chop them up - at most, it could just stun them.

  Suddenly, a rustling sound came from beside my ear, and more than ten raccoons with burnt fur instantly stood up from the gap in the wood, all the green lights concentrated on me.

  Im standing on a four-meter-high pile of wood, with nothing behind me, and I take a step back in fright. Suddenly, I tumble down, dazed and confused, flailing my limbs wildly on the ground, struggling to get up. Ignoring the dull pain in my chest, I grab the bundle beside me and start running. At the same time, a sharp whistling sound comes from behind me, accompanied by a low howl that sounds like a wolf but isnt quite.

  Leopards are always relying on ambush to hunt, this time the mountain fire drove away a large number of animals, these more than ten obviously starved badly, abandoned their habit of ambushing, and directly chased up. Generally speaking, after a mountain fire occurs, the animals in the mountain will migrate on a large scale until the trees in the mountain grow again before returning. These more than ten leopards would rather be burned to baldness than leave, but instead ran to the mountain ditch closest to the lake, obviously to avoid the mountain fire. As expected, I estimate they have been starving for three days and three nights, and Im sending myself to their doorsteps.

  I hadnt run a few steps when I felt a gust of wind behind me, fortunately the skills Ive practiced over the years are still there, and I subconsciously dodged down, then rolled out with a somersault. As soon as I lifted my head, a black claw came dancing over, I was startled and retreated backwards, but still got hit, my face felt a burning pain, and my mouth was full of bloody taste.

  Damn it, fortunately didnt scratch my eyes, now Im disfigured.

  Right after that, a black mass came pouring over, at this time I fell to the ground, my only weapon was that rolled-edged knife, and I could only instinctively swing the iron knife to strike it. This one hit right in the middle of its eyes, a wave of scorching hot liquid sprayed onto my face, and an ear-piercing wail suddenly sounded beside my ears.

  I scrambled to my feet, still dazed and before I could take in the situation, two more pounced on me. In that moment, I thought I was a goner for sure. One person against over ten civets, this time without the golden finger of the oil bottle or the charging gun of the fatty, I was just an ordinary person, as ordinary as can be. A sense of despair rose up in my heart, but my body reacted before I did. Years of training had made avoiding danger almost second nature to me. Unconsciously, I rolled again, this time rolling all the way to the edge of the lake.

  After a loud thud, more than ten wolves formed a circle and approached step by step. The axe in my hand had already been thrown out. In the brief moment of gasping for breath, the will to survive burst out. I stared tightly at the wolves approaching step by step, while rummaging through my backpack - money, cigarettes, beef jerky... Ah, beef jerky.

  I never found myself opening packaging bags so smoothly, almost in one second I tore open the compressed beef bag and pulled out the sauce beef cubes to throw them far away. The charm of Wang Lao Wus sauce beef is irresistible, every time he turns over his backpack, there is always this inside, I dont believe you bunch of beasts are not moved.