17 Shi Men Guan Qian Xia

  By her ear, Lu Xing continuously asked in a low voice: "Are you afraid that once we enter the Stone Gate Pass, there will be no return? Is it as evil inside as the rumors say?"

  I turned my gaze to him, with a hint of sarcasm in my tone: "Are you afraid?" He shook his head, "If I was afraid, I wouldn't be here." I gave him the same line: "If I was afraid, why would I bother sitting here talking nonsense with you? It's better to wait for the police search results at the hotel." After a pause, he slightly raised his eyes towards the sky, "Young man, as long as you're alive in this world, there are always some things you have to do, even if you know the road ahead is treacherous. You'll still step forward without hesitation. That's called responsibility."

  In the gaze fixed on my face, there was a hint of deep thought. He didn't respond, so I changed my approach: "There are friends of mine in there, it's a fact, just like you'd go to great lengths to find your spring water. So you don't need to come and test me, let's hope we can find the people we're looking for smoothly." The complexity of human thought lies in its tendency to add one's own conjectures and speculations, making simple matters seem as if they've been locked away with multiple layers of complexity.

  "Actually I didn't..."

  "Wait a minute," I interrupted him, "don't rush to deny it, sometimes being seen through is inevitable, you have to learn to be calm about it."

  He fell silent, and the gaze on my face was also withdrawn. After a pause, he muttered: "What's with this young man, you're only in your early twenties, but your tone is as old as a middle-aged person in their fifties."

  I couldn't help but laugh at that, and my mood shifted quickly. He was embarrassed by my laughter, glared at me, "What's so funny? I'm telling the truth." There's no need to dwell on this topic, so I nodded kindly and automatically moved over, following Big Brother Old Iron to walk towards the ground.

  There are some things I haven't said. A person's psychological age and physical age are usually not directly proportional, as the former depends on how much experience they have had. Therefore, someone may still be very immature at thirty years old, while others may already be mature in their early teens.

  Old Iron was rummaging through his bundle, and when I approached, he visibly tensed up. After seeing it was me, he let out a sigh of relief. He pulled me back, turned around, and mysteriously opened a slit in the bundle. When I saw what it was, I was slightly startled. He lowered his voice and said, "Sister, don't make a sound. You think about what's behind this stone gate - I need to be fully prepared. This thing has been stored at home for many years, but there's nowhere to test it. What if it doesn't work when it counts? That would be terrible."

  I finally understand why Old Iron had to carry such a big and long bag, it turned out that he had packed a hunting rifle inside. Although it is clearly stipulated that private individuals are not allowed to have this type of firearm, in this mountain town, many local Han people and Yi people used to make a living by hunting, so there were still some leftover firearms that hadn't been confiscated. Old Iron was worried that the two civil police officers wouldn't dare take it out here, but he was also afraid that going deep into the mountains would be dangerous, so he was very conflicted.

  Just then, a successive call came from behind: "It's almost time, let's set off."

  Lowered my head to look at the watch on my wrist, and it was indeed accurate, exactly three thirty. Old Iron immediately panicked and pulled up the zipper of his bag, then gave me a glance, asking me not to say anything. I nodded almost imperceptibly, after all, this trip inside had unknown dangers, not to mention that in the deep mountains and old forests, the most likely and common ones were ferocious beasts, relying on just two civilian police officers was probably not enough, having one more of these kinds of weapons would only be beneficial for us.

  Set out again, the team made some adjustments, and Lao Tie officially led the way in front, we followed closely behind, entering Shimen Pass.