Wild Man Valley

  I pointed at the black dog and said to Old Iron Way: "Let it lead the way and track."

  He nodded and said, "I was thinking the same thing, but wait a minute." He took down the bag from his shoulder, unzipped it, and pulled out his hunting rifle. The three madmen beside him let out a shout of surprise: "Wow, there's even a gun!"

  Old Iron replied, "I used to use it when I made a living by hunting, but it's been a long time since I last used it. I don't know if it still works or not. As for the black shadow from earlier, I'm not sure if you guys saw it clearly, but its body was very tall and seemed human-like. I suspect it might be a wild man from these deep mountains."

  "Wild man?" San Kuai's tone turned sharp, his face was not terrified, but excited, "Is there still a wild man in this mountain?"

  Lao Tie whispered that there were rumors of wild men in this Black Bamboo Gorge, and someone had even seen them with their own eyes. They were about 2 meters tall, with faces just like humans, but covered all over in yellowish-brown fur. The local Yi people's reverence for the wild men surpassed even their reverence for the mountain gods, calling them "Nuogu Lu'apu", meaning "Grandfather of the Mountain Gods". And so Black Bamboo Gorge also had another name: Wild Man Valley.

  I saw Old Iron mention the story of this wild man, and he still seemed to be shaken. Thinking back carefully about that fleeting black shadow, it did seem to be around two meters tall. Then I heard Third Fool ask nervously: "Will this wild man eat people?"

  Lao Tie stared at him in shock, and after a while, he stuttered back: "I... I also... don't know."

  "Stop all the nonsense, let's go find people quickly." He noticed that he glanced at the old iron pipe in his hand, and there was a hint of cold light in his eyes.

  The hunting dog's tracking ability is very strong, Old Iron's black dog is called Black Tiger, it leads the way in front, and we follow behind, jogging slightly, hoping that nothing will happen because of the delay earlier. Not far from running out, I heard San Fenzong whispering: "Little Lu Zi actually made a throwing master, tossing the bag over there, harming me, this poor man carrying two bags."

  "Cut the crap, what's with all the nonsense? He's got you searching for a treasure map or something, and you're still hesitating over carrying his bag?" The three fools immediately shut up, only occasionally letting out silly giggles. It's really unknown where Lian Shang found this kind of friend, he's going into danger alone, but they're still laughing and joking around, not taking it seriously at all, without a care in the world.

  However, after we advanced hundreds of meters, I vaguely saw a figure squatting there, looking at something. When he heard the movement from our side, he turned his head and said, "Come and take a look."

  As he walked closer, he found that in front of him was a muddy ground with several huge footprints on it.

  "Is this the footprint of that wild man?"

  He hadn't been listening to our previous conversation, so he looked up inquiringly and asked: "What savages?"

  We all remained silent, because at this time there was no need for us to explain. The three madmen were already excitedly chattering and gesticulating: "Little Lu Zi, you don't know yet, do you? Old Iron just said that the black shadow you chased earlier is a wild man from this mountain valley, over two meters tall! You say someone over two meters tall, isn't their foot supposed to be as big as that basketball player's?"

  I didn't even have the nerve to chase him, does this footprint look like a human's? Who has an oval-shaped sole? As expected, Old Iron said beside me: "No, this is not a wild man's footprint. It looks a bit like a black bear's paw, but there's no such big black bear either."

  He said that not long after chasing him out, the black shadow disappeared. After searching around, he found these footprints. I asked if the other person was very fast, and he shook his head: "Not so fast, it's just too foggy, otherwise we would have caught up."

  Everyone stared at those footprints and couldn't figure out what they meant, but one thing was certain: danger was approaching us in the depths of the mountain.