Is it hard to know your name?

  Three days have passed, and no one has returned. The sky is starting to drizzle with fine rain, and my heart feels heavy with a growing sense of foreboding. I plan to wait another day, and if no one returns, I will go to the police station to report the case. On the fourth morning, Jiahe and Old Wu returned in a flustered and disheveled state, covered in mud from head to toe, with even their faces smeared with it, and their eyes bloodshot. As soon as Jiahe saw me, she burst into tears.

  Needless to say, the other three people lost contact.

  We immediately found the local police station, and after reporting the case, the small policeman who registered us sneered: "It's strange, why do you all not fear death and insist on running in there?"

  We were speechless. It wasn't until after asking that we knew Old Wu started this trip just to explore the depths of Hei Zhu Gou (Black Bamboo Gorge). They thought the outside world had exaggerated its dangers and didn't believe it, so they ventured deep into Shi Men Guan (Stone Gate Pass). That place is the heartland of Black Bamboo Gorge, where many exploration teams have suffered greatly but ultimately failed to penetrate deeply. There's a legend that says "hunting dogs enter without leaving any tracks, brave warriors go in and never come back."

  The other three people lost contact in the arrow bamboo forest after entering Shimen Pass. Jiahe and Lao Wu walked ahead together to build a relationship, but when they turned around, the other three were nowhere to be seen. After searching for a long time in the forest, they still couldn't find anyone, and only then did they feel scared. They immediately returned along the original route according to GPS navigation, and tried to contact each other by phone many times during the journey, but couldn't get through.

  The case was soon reported, and batches of people went into the ditch to search, but the police force was limited, the terrain was special, and it had been three days, without any news. Instead, from time to time, we were asked to go to the police station for questioning, repeating the specific situation, and the police handled the two missing cases together.

  That evening, I was summoned again for questioning. As I was communicating with the police officer, a group of people walked in from outside the police station door. My subconscious gaze swept over them, and among the many uniformed police officers, one young man in casual clothes caught my eye. Upon closer inspection, wow, what a coincidence - I could run into him anywhere. This person was none other than that handsome guy with whom I had a lot of "fate".

  He seemed to have sensed my gaze, turned his eyes over and our lines of sight intersected in mid-air. This person had a pair of very good-looking eyes, especially the black pupils, which made his gaze look very bright. Moreover, standing among a group of uniformed police officers, he gave off a unique feeling.

  It wasn't until now that I remembered, since the day I heard from Brother Da's place that Jiahe and others went to Heizhugou, it seemed that I hadn't seen him again. Even though I was busy running around, it seemed that the door of room 206 next door was always closed.

  The police officer beside me called out a few times, pulling back my attention, and I immediately composed myself to respond. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that man walking with the police officer towards the back of the police station, wondering if he had committed a crime or had a good relationship with the police officers inside.

  As I walked out of the police station with Lao Wu and Jiahe, I heard a voice behind me calling: "Wait a minute."

  I thought it was the police again, so I stopped and turned my head back, but saw that person walking out, his eyes falling on me. "Xu Jiu, let's talk." I hesitated for a moment, smiling ambiguously at him: "Handsome guy, you're quite resourceful, actually finding out my name. But we don't seem to know each other, do we?"

  "Is it hard to know your name?" He retorted with a not-so-good tone, and then added: "Don't you really recognize me?" Obviously, there was a hint. I raised an eyebrow, actually, it's not that hard, just ask the hotel front desk and you'll know, mainly because it's rare for him to be so "thoughtful".

  "And his next sentence was: 'I am Luchu, we met half a month ago, don't tell me you've forgotten to such an extent.'"