Chapter 4: Lost

  The mountain was really too big, and the map wasn't very clear either. It was indeed difficult to find the flag, but she wasn't someone who would easily give up. How could she just abandon halfway? However, thinking about the strange phenomenon they encountered earlier and what that woman said made her feel a chill run down her spine. Was there really something eerie about this mountain? She was startled by her own thoughts - as an atheist, how could she possibly believe in curses? She shook her head with a wry smile, dismissing her own thoughts, but the feeling of unease lingered on.

  "Jin'er, do you have any ideas?" Chu Feifan walked to Jin'er's side and replaced her to block the grass in the middle of the road.

  Su Jiner shook her head and said: "No, just a little uneasy in my heart."

  Chu Fei looked at the pretty girl in front of him, her calmness just now was admirable, he thought that a girl like her should be the kind who would scream when seeing animal bones, but her calmness completely exceeded his imagination.

  Su Jin'er, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped in her tracks. She stood quietly, the wind blowing through her soft black hair, emitting a faint scent of shampoo.

  "What's wrong?"

  Everyone looked at her serious expression and began to feel uneasy in their hearts.

  The air in the forest was heavy with moisture, and the leaves on the ground emitted a damp smell. Everyone had a solemn expression.

  Su Jiner put her index finger on her lips and made a silencing gesture.

  After a while, she looked in a certain direction and said: "I seem to hear someone crying."

  Her words were like throwing a bomb into the crowd, everyone's heart began to tense up, thinking of the woman and what she had burned made their scalp feel numb.

  "It sounds like a woman's voice." Zuo Yi said as he walked up to Su Jiner.

  "Could it be that woman from just now?" Lin Yuan said.

  The chair shook its head.

  "No, the woman's voice just now sounded sad and desperate, while this one sounds resentful."

  Chu Fei Fan continued.

  "Uh-huh, and it should be a young woman."

  Su Jin'er still gazed ahead, saying seriously.

  "The three of you can start a detective agency together." Du Xiaonan said with a smile, and because of her joke, everyone's mood improved a lot.

  "Never mind the crying sounds, let's just find the flag and get out of this ghostly place!" Zhang Junsheng suddenly said, he was an ordinary-looking boy who seemed to have a slightly introverted personality, not very willing to talk to everyone, just holding a stick alone, walking at the back.

  Everyone stopped talking and unanimously agreed to find the flag and leave. Although Su Jin'er always felt that the voice made her uneasy, she didn't forget why she came here in the first place.

  Nothing strange happened along the way, and everyone walked with their own thoughts. Lin Yuan held Su Jin'er's hand and kept talking nonstop, using her words to ease the atmosphere. Everyone was silent, making the air even more oppressive. Xu Lingling still followed closely behind Chu Feifan, occasionally pulling on his sleeve and acting coquettishly.

  At this time, the humid smell in the air became more obvious, and the temperature around seemed to drop by several degrees instantly. Xu Lingling, who was wearing a skirt, shivered with cold.

  After she had sneezed several times in a row, Chu Fei Fan had no choice but to give her his clothes.

  "The flag should be around here somewhere! Everyone look for it." Chu Feifan said, holding up the map.

  The position of the flag is already marked where they are now, it's just that nobody has seen it yet.

  To the left of where they were standing was a slope, which seemed to be very deep because there were many trees and some unknown grasses, so it couldn't be seen to the bottom. At this time, Su Jin'er stood at the edge of the slope, looking down, as if something was attracting her over there.

  Her gaze suddenly swept across a red object, she leaned forward, and then she saw the corner of the flag that was red.

  "The flag is over there." Her voice was soft, but loud enough for everyone to hear. In the forest, apart from the rustling of the wind and the crunching of leaves underfoot, there was no other sound. So far, they hadn't even heard a bird chirp. How could it be that in such a large forest, not a single bird could be found?

  Hearing her words, Chu Fei Fan walked over to her side, took a look and said: "I'll go down to get it, you all wait."

  "I'll go down!" Zuo Yi said suddenly.

  Zuo Yi is also a very handsome boy, he and Chu Fei Fan are the kind of quiet boys that make people like them at first sight. He seems to be good friends with Chu Fei Fan, although they haven't said much on the way, their eyes when looking at each other are enough to explain their relationship.

  Chu Fei Fan thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay, be careful."

  Because the flag was inserted at the middle of the slope, it had to be taken down, and since the coach said that ropes might be used on the way here, each group brought some with them. They tied the rope around Liao Yi's waist, then several boys grabbed onto the rope to prevent him from accidentally falling off.

  "I really don't understand why the school has to put the flag in such a dangerous place." Du Xiaonan said discontentedly, looking at Zuo Yi's eyes full of concern.

  "A doctor's profession is not a one-man show, it requires everyone's effort, so what the school is doing should be testing our team spirit."

  Su Jin'er remembered what her mother had said.

  Everyone stopped talking, watching Left Yi's figure getting lower and lower with bated breath. They knew they could only see the top of his black hair, and everyone held their breath anxiously waiting until Left Yi's voice came from below saying "I got it", and when he was pulled up, everyone finally exhaled.

  But the left yi who was pulled up made their hearts tight again, because left yi's face was pale and bloodless.

  "What did you see?"

  "Bare bones, many." He replied simply, seemingly still not out of fear.

  Everyone gasped at his words, relieved that it wasn't them who went down.

  As expected, it's really not easy here.

  "Damn it! Now that we've got the flag, let's get down the mountain quickly!" Zhang Junsheng said discontentedly. He seemed to have a lot of opinions about this military training, and his eyebrows were tightly furrowed all the way.

  "We went back along the same road."

  After knowing there are white bones at the bottom of the slope, no one is willing to stand by the edge anymore, and they all hide far away.

  Su Jiner deliberately walked at the back, she had something to ask Zhang Junsheng, this boy seemed to know something about this mountain. She herself was not clear why she had to investigate this mountain, according to reason, this place should be where she had never been before, and shouldn't have such a strong feeling, but she always felt that there was a mysterious power attracting her, and this mountain seemed to have some connection with her.

  When everyone was at a distance from them, Su Jin'er asked: "Zhang Junsheng, you seem to know something about this place."

  Upon hearing her words, Zhang Junsheng was stunned for a moment. He looked at Su Jiner's beautiful face and then lowered his head to say: "How is that possible? I'm here for the first time."

  "You're lying!" she said sternly. "You've been consumed by fear since we entered this mountain, and although you've hidden it well, your eyes don't deceive me."

  Zhang Junsheng looked at her again, his long eyelashes like a veil, his eyes like a clear lake, no, not a lake, but rather a black hole shining with bright light, an abyss that drew him in infinitely, and for an instant, he felt as if she had sucked away his soul.

  He hastily turned his head and stopped looking at her: "Even if so what? I have the right to remain silent."

  His words were like a nail stuck in her heart, what he said was right, she didn't have the power to ask others to tell her anything, maybe it's because she watched Sherlock Holmes too much that made her so sensitive.

  "Sorry, I'm just too nervous."

  Upon hearing her apology, Zhang Junsheng also felt that he had spoken too bluntly and said with a red face: "Never mind, let's hurry up and catch up with them!"

  Having said that, he strode forward with big steps.

  The sky is getting darker and darker, everyone is exhausted, but they still can't find the way down the mountain, it seems like they are lost.

  "How did you lead the way? Didn't we say to return by the original route? Where is the original route?" Xu Mengguang became more and more anxious, earlier he saw a fleeting white shadow that had been lingering in his mind, now it was even more frightening, making his legs tremble with fear.

  "It seems like we've been walking in circles." Su Jiner pointed to a tree and said, "An hour ago I placed a stone under this very tree. Look! It's still here!"

  She pointed at the stone under the tree and said.

  This stone is very special, round and without any corners.

  "Are you mistaken?" Du Xiaonan asked, holding her arm.

  "We've indeed been going around in circles, but I was following the map!"

  "Perhaps we've hit a dead end." Li Yiqian finally spoke up after remaining silent for so long.

  Hit the wall?

  This phrase is like a heavy hammer, heavily pounding on everyone's heart.

  "Please! Don't talk nonsense, okay?" Xu Lingling said discontentedly, shrinking her neck.

  Everyone is getting more and more fearful, looking at the darker sky in a state of confusion.

  I don't know if other students have returned to their cars, anxiously waiting for them to come back.

  "Don't worry everyone, let's go through it again and try to see." Chu Fei Fan and Zuo Yi were carefully identifying the map, but due to the darkness, they could hardly see anything.

  Su Jiner took out a flashlight from her bag to light the way for them, it was a habit she had developed since childhood. She still remembered that when she was ten years old, she was at her grandmother's house one evening and went home late because of playing too much, so Qiangzi sent her home. On the way, she accidentally stepped on something soft, and only under the moonlight did she realize it was a flattened dead snake. From then on, carrying a flashlight with her became her habit.

  With Su Jiner's flashlight, they walked through the map again and an hour later, they still returned to that place with stone markers.

  Xu Lingling could no longer hold back her emotions and burst into loud sobs on the ground.

  "Shut up, do you want to invite ghosts? Are we not unlucky enough?" Zhang Junsheng said loudly.

  Xu Lingling's cry was abruptly cut off in mid-air.

  "Damn it, why did I run into you again? You shouldn't have come here in the first place."

  Zhang Junsheng sat down under a tree as he spoke, his mood had reached an all-time low.

  Xu Lingling's face was covered with tears, she raised her head and looked at Chu Feifan innocently: "What should we do? I don't want to sleep here."

  "Aren't you going to sleep here? Don't cry anymore, okay? We're already worried enough, don't make more trouble." Lin Yuan finally couldn't take it anymore.