Doubt

  But Lao Tie held me back, furrowed his brow and looked at the vast fog: "Sister, usually in this situation, the more panicked you are, the harder it is to find people. We may get lost if we go back and forth. They're following us from behind, I think I heard someone shouting 'wait' just now. Only they know the direction to move forward, so it's best for us two to stand still and wait."

  His words awakened me, they say that when you get separated from your companions, the best thing to do is stay put, otherwise you'll only drift further apart. It turned out that Old Iron was right, after anxiously waiting in place for nearly half an hour, I finally heard some movement coming from behind. When there seemed to be several human figures emerging from the dense fog, Old Iron shouted out: "Who's over there?"

  "We." A brief and clear answer, the voice was unmistakably Lu Xun's.

  He let out a slight sigh of relief, but upon seeing several people approaching, he realized that only Lu Xun, San Kuai Zi, and Liang Ge were present. The two police officers and Old Wu were nowhere to be seen. He took a step forward and asked, "Where are the others?" Lu Xun gave him a sideways glance but didn't respond. Meanwhile, San Kuai Zi suddenly shouted out, "That Old Wu guy is really something else! He tripped and fell, and now he's foaming at the mouth like a soft-shelled shrimp!"

  "What did you say? Old Wu is foaming at the mouth? What's going on?"

  Three crazy guys flipped their eyelids, hands spread out, "I don't know where I am, anyway it looks pretty scary, the whites of his eyes are all rolled back, don't believe me ask Little Lu." The conversation turned to Lu who then chimed in: "He might have eaten something wrong, obviously his legs went soft, suddenly he rolled on the ground foaming at the mouth, two police officers were afraid something would happen so they carried him away to send him to the hospital."

  How could this have happened? Old Wu's endurance and physical strength were still good, and the food and water in this place couldn't be wrong, just dry rations and mineral water. The police would suggest sending people away, which is understandable, as they had a difficult journey themselves and couldn't afford to have anyone else get into trouble. Presumably there was some persuasion beforehand, asking Lu Xun and others to leave the mountain together, but they must not have agreed, so it took some twists and turns before catching up at this point.

  I glanced at several people one by one, why was it old Wu who got into trouble, and not one of them?

  They successively observed my suspicious expression, their faces sank, and they said in a bad tone: "Whether you believe it or not, who let you walk so fast? You don't even take care of your own people."

  This person is in some ways, really no different from a child. I didn't want to argue with him, but the matter of Old Wu was very suspicious. However, since I wasn't present at the time, there's no way to prove it. A sense of crisis came over me for no reason, not just because of the thick fog that shrouded my future prospects, but also due to the feeling the other people gave me.

  I realized that except for Jiahe and Pengye, who are my own people, even the three of Lao Wu are strangers. Currently, Pengye is missing, Jiahe is guarding the town, and Lao Wu, who can barely be considered an ally, has left. The two civil police officers who could speak with me have also left together. As for the remaining people, although Lao Tie can talk to me, we are just acquaintances after all. If something unexpected happens, I won't be able to count on him to help me.

  That's right, I've become suspicious of Lu Xun and others. Because at this time, the remaining five people, they must be on the same line.

  I glanced at Lu Xun, saw him frowning with his eyes downcast, and when he sensed my gaze, he looked up. Before our eyes met, I turned away and asked quietly, "Are you going in to search now?"

  No one spoke, although there was no fear in their eyes, but it seemed as if they were also hesitating about something.