?

  After the sauce beef was thrown out, a raccoon dog quickly ran over, sniffed its nose a few times, and then picked up the beef and ran away without a trace. The remaining raccoon dogs remained motionless.

  In an instant, I was stunned. According to my thinking, the aroma of braised beef should have at least temporarily distracted them. Who knew these carnivores were so disciplined? They didn't fight or scramble, and suddenly, cold sweat poured down my face. I took another look at my backpack and couldn't help but want to slap myself in the mouth. It was full of food and drink. I thought I had fully implemented my habit of carrying a bottle opener with me whenever I went out, but it turned out that at the critical moment, I still made a mistake.

  It's all over, fatty. Don't play hide and seek again, I won't be able to find you this time. Stupid jar, just stay in the bronze door and stay there for 10 or 20 years. I'm about to kick the bucket and can't take your place anymore.

  No way, I'm not going to die at the hands of some unknown person. Wang Canghai designed so many traps and puzzles but couldn't kill me, now I'm going to die here? How will I have the face to meet Panzi and the others in the afterlife? It's likely that even Wang Canghai would be resurrected by my anger. Dammit, I won't lose this fight, I'll go all out.

  I grabbed a rock from beside me and stood up abruptly. Who the hell dares to come, I'll smash it to death first, one by one.

  It seemed unexpected that I would resist, the originally approaching hyenas suddenly stopped in unison and retreated a step, actually automatically giving way to a road.

  What's going on? I subconsciously looked towards the end of the road, and suddenly my whole body felt icy cold, my scalp tingling. Under a distant charred ancient tree, a black figure stood out, its thin shape, slumped shoulders, as if it would be blown away by the wind at any moment.

  Suddenly, my throat went dry, it was him!

  Why is he still here, his organization has been destroyed, why is he still hiding in the mountains? Ah, or maybe he doesn't even know about the news outside the mountain, no wonder these carnivores are so disciplined, it turns out they were raised by him.

  I stood by the lake, my limbs stiff, and a person in the distance was walking towards me with an unsteady gait, as if they might fall over at any moment. The air was thick with the smell of blood, very heavy, and it didn't seem to be coming from the blood on my face.

  As he walked closer, I was almost startled by the scene in front of me. The person walking towards me wasn't quite a person, not because his face had melted, but because his body was riddled with bullet holes. His wounds were clogged with congealed blood, reminding me of the rice balls that had been shot by Fatty.

  His melted cheek only showed his eyes, those eyes stared at me straightly and walked towards me, one of his hands was still pinching the sauce beef I threw away, and that lynx followed behind him.

  At the same time, he opened his mouth to speak, his vocal cords seemingly torn apart, producing a sound like ripped fabric. He only said one sentence: "They're back..." His eyes were fixed on me, and finally, the braised beef in his hand fell to the ground, and he collapsed straight down, his head hitting the stone, with more blood slowly seeping out.

  The next moment, I rushed up and helped him sit up. The expression on that eerie face was stiff, staring at the sky with his eyes wide open, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying. My hand trembled as I touched his neck, his body was already cold, icy cold.

  At that moment, I couldn't help but fall to the ground either.

  My legs are weak and trembling. Another person is dead, the one in front of me is also named Zhang Qiling, who once disguised himself as a bottle to participate in that archaeological team. Now, the only survivor of that archaeological team is dead, with bullet holes all over his body, obviously not done by an ordinary person.

  I thought it was all over, but... someone else died.

  Who is it after all!

  They... they're back. Who are they referring to?

  Is the disappearance of Pàngzi also related to them? Obviously, no answer can be found here. The group of wolverines did not attack me, they surrounded the corpse of 'Zhang Qiling', making low growling sounds in their throats. After a long time, the largest wolverine let out a low roar, and the other wolverines left the corpse, quickly merging into the darkness under the leadership of the leading wolverine.

  Their master died, and they can finally leave.

  The sky had completely darkened, and I lit a bonfire by the lake. After simply treating the wounds on my face, I looked at my reflection and saw three red marks on my face. I couldn't help but think about how Mute Oil Bottle and Fatty would react if they saw me like this. Fatty would definitely mock me, saying "You're so naive, Comrade! You can't even protect your own pale face!" What would Mute Oil Bottle say? I thought for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything. Probably even if I grew a pig's head, he wouldn't react.

  Then, I threw the body into the lake, where an archaeological team was sleeping. The people who killed this archaeological team last year were replaced by him, and now he sank to the bottom of the lake, which is considered a settlement of a debt.

  Apparently, this mountain forest has appeared a group of mysterious people - them.

  They are after 'Zhang Qiling', and Fatso's disappearance must be closely related to them. What if Fatso was also silenced like 'Zhang Qiling'? Is Fatso the kind of person who dies easily? In an instant, a chill ran through my entire body. I took out Fatso's Nokia, determined to find other clues. When I opened the screen, the original antique ceramic wallpaper had changed into a blurry human figure. The figure seemed to be sealed by something, and its face couldn't be seen clearly, only a vague shadow could be made out.

  Staring at the phone screen, I felt my cold sweat instantly drenching my whole body, and all the hairs on my body stood up. It was a Miluo! Had Fatso gone into Zhang's ancient building again?! Looking at the ghostly shadow on my phone, my brain was in complete chaos. I hadn't found this photo when I was searching for files, it had obviously been hidden very secretly. And then the phone suddenly changed the photo to a screensaver, clearly it had been set up beforehand.

  I stared at the bonfire in front of me and began to make some guesses. Fatso had gone to Zhangjiajie Ancient Building again, took this photo for encryption, set up his mobile phone so that it would display the encrypted photo on the screen at a specific time, making it easy for people to notice at a glance.

  The location where the mobile phone appeared was by this lake, which means that after Fatso came out of Zhang's ancient building, he left his mobile phone here, so he himself is likely no longer here. Leaving this mobile phone as a message, it is clear that he wanted to convey something to me.

  A piece of cloth, two photos, what does fatty want to tell me? Why did he go to Zhangjia ancient building?

  My heart skipped a beat, and a vague guess suddenly popped into my mind. Maybe it wasn't the fat man who went... but someone forced him to go. Who was this person? Was it 'them'? I lay on the stone beach thinking for half the night without getting anywhere, and only fell asleep vaguely around dawn.

  The next morning, I packed my bags and headed back. Since Fatso was no longer in the mountains, there was no need to continue searching. When I arrived at Ah Kui's house, the interrupted mobile signal became full bars again. I was just about to call Wang Meng to ask about the situation at the shop when the phone rang.

  The caller was unexpectedly my second uncle. My second uncle is usually out of sight after a brief appearance, and only calls during the New Year's holidays. Most of the time it's me, his junior, making courtesy calls to him. Why did he suddenly call this time? Did something happen?

  I picked up the phone and said, "Hello, Uncle Two."

  The voice on the other end of the phone was somewhat low, and Second Uncle's voice came through the phone: "Old Three taught you how to manage the business, but you're letting him see that you can't even take care of it?" Second Uncle had never interfered with Third Uncle's business before. Although I took over and thought about drifting away, which made the business worse, it wasn't to the point of being ruined. Why was he calling now? Had I done something wrong? After thinking carefully, I smiled and said: "Second Uncle, I'm busy with something right now. Where did I go wrong? Please just tell me, and I'll definitely follow your advice."

  "Your uncle's laughter stopped abruptly, and after a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice, 'I've been trying to call you but the line keeps getting cut off. Where have you run off to?'"

  I didn't dare to tell him that I had arrived in Banai again, so I casually made up a lie and said that Fatso had been in a bad mood for a year. I asked him to go on vacation with me in the mountains of Guangxi, where the signal might be poor, and as soon as we got back, he received your call.

  "After finishing speaking, I asked again: 'Second Uncle, what exactly happened?'"

  "There's an urgent message for you."

  "I said: 'Who sent it? Is it business-related?'"

  "Anyway, you come back immediately, this matter... I need to discuss it with you." As soon as I heard his tone, I felt that something was off. If it were a business matter, there would be no need for such secrecy. My uncle is known for being steady and composed among my grandfather's sons, so whatever could make him behave like this must be out of the ordinary.