Chapter 41 Change of Route

  The slightly taller man asked in a dialect with a strong accent: "Are you going to the lake? That lake is haunted."

  "If you don't go, it's fine. We can split the luggage and the remaining two will get 300 yuan each per day." Su Haicheng didn't even give an explanation before cutting him off. With that, the three of them didn't dare say a word about quitting.

  The shortest one said in a hoarse voice: "I know the way, I know the way. Go to Chongyu, cross over that mountain, and you'll reach the lake."

  "Alright, let's head towards that mountain and reach the riverbank at the fastest speed. Let's set off." It turned out that Su Haicheng stopped just to say this and change their route.

  At that time I was following the main force, and I didn't think much about it. It wasn't until we walked from a dusty little road to another little road that I knew what it meant to charge into battle.

  That was a straight up and down road, the road surface was lower than both sides, and there were protruding stones on the road that could be stepped on. In some places where you couldn't climb up, you also needed to pull the shrubs beside you to climb up. At first it was still quite fun, but after more than 20 minutes, I shouted: "Hey, is this a road?"

  A man in front shouted: "We all take this road, it's closer here."

  "The problem is this isn't a road." I said as I crawled up onto a large boulder one level higher.

  Su Haicheng stopped in his tracks, pulled me over and said: "This road is called Chonggou, originally it was a forest where woodcutters would fell trees and then slide the logs down from here, creating a gully. Later on, when it rains, water from the mountain will also rush down to this place."

  "Flush toilet? The water tank that flushes out?"

  "Guess so, can't move anymore?"

  I shook my head, it's not that I couldn't walk at all, just that I felt very tired from walking.

  The man in front said: "Taking the shortcut is much closer than taking the mountain road. We'll be at the foot of the mountain soon."

  I looked up at the mountain top, it's still quite high. Then I turned my head to look down below, uh, this... there's a problem. "Hey, hey, hey," I shouted, but there was no response from below. At this height, I don't dare to conclude anything yet, but if I can go even higher, I should be able to confirm whether the idea in my mind is correct or not.

  After making up my mind, I walked quickly forward. Isn't it just climbing a ditch? It feels almost the same as climbing the Great Wall. I really don't know how those men can climb up and down on such roads with ease, while carrying our luggage. Those huge rocks, I need to use both hands and feet to climb up, but they carry things up without even looking tired.

  Because I had an idea in my mind, I walked very quickly. No, I crawled very quickly. Kakashi was just behind me shouting: "Hey, Shiho-neechan, did you drink a Red Bull or a Lipovitan? I remember we didn't buy any."

  Ah Tian laughed and said: "That's love nourishment, little brother, you still don't understand."

  I quickened my pace, and as I passed by those three men, one of them said, "Don't walk so fast, or you'll have no energy left for later."

  Actually, we've been walking together with them for over an hour now, and I'm a bit face-blind, can't tell who's who. It feels like I only recognized one of them who is slightly taller. The man who said this was the slightly taller one.

  Su Haicheng also quickened his pace, following in my footsteps and protecting me from time to time. Sometimes when I was unstable climbing up, he would support my butt, or if he was in front of me, he would pull me up. Or using his long arms, he would press down the shrubs on the side, letting me grab onto them to climb up.

  Although he did small things for me, I also know that without him, in this turmoil, I would have been hurt long ago. An hour later, we finally climbed to the middle of the mountain. And the time was already close to noon. I stood on a slightly flat big stone, panting and looking at the scenery in front of me, my heart sank.

  After a few minutes, they all came up. The boss took out the camera and took a few shots. Ah Tian took out his professional camera, adjusting it while saying: "The scenery here is so beautiful. If we spend the night here, taking pictures of the sunrise tomorrow will be great. Think about it, in October, the mountains will definitely have frost, white earth, golden sunlight..."

  "We'll freeze to death!" Kakashi exclaimed. Indeed, the last time we came here, the temperature difference between morning and evening wasn't that big, but even then it was already unbearable at dawn. The frost on the mountain would give us a chill to the bone in the early morning, to the point where even if our fingers were broken off, we wouldn't feel any pain.

  A man said: "No need to spend the night here, in two hours we can cross the mountain, tonight you can go to our village to stay."

  "I'm going to that mountain!" I said, pointing to the one beside us. My words made them all look over, and it was clear they didn't agree with my suggestion. I continued, "Do you remember that formation I told you about? Eight mountains, five stockades, surrounding a lake in the middle. But it's a deadly trap, even if the water is underground, the feng shui isn't good either. But this place is different. The Xuanwu and Zhuque, Qinglong and Baihu are all very clear. Looking at it now, the position is still a bit off, that mountain should be the best feng shui spot."

  The mountain I pointed to is not the highest one among the eight mountains, but the second highest. On the left side of that mountain is the highest mountain, and that highest mountain became its Qinglong position.

  That tall man said: "You can't go up that mountain. It's all snakes up there."

  "Are they all snakes? That's right, snakes like to be in places with spiritual energy. There must be something special over there. Let's go take a look."

  "You can't go!" The tall and sturdy man shouted again.

  At this time, another man said in a bad tone: "Go if you go, what are you afraid of? Even if there are many snakes up there, it's not like no one has ever gone. You're afraid that if you don't go, we two will go and can earn 300 yuan a day." They thought that if we went the other way, it would take more time, and the more time they spent, the more money they would get.

  Su Haicheng glanced at his watch: "Take a break, have something to eat, and then head over to that mountain."

  The boss and Ah Tian had no opinion, so Kaka Xi shouted: "Ah? Going around in such a big circle? Fourth Sister, is there really gold over there? The price of gold has dropped drastically recently."

  "I drank water and replied to him: 'There are diamonds!'"

  I sat down under a tree shade and started eating dry rations. Fortunately, I also participated in the purchase of dry rations this time, and I chose many large moth-like breads. This kind is not expensive, and when flattened, it doesn't take up space. Many can be stored. Now I'm eating moth-like bread and drinking water, looking at the surrounding scenery, and muttering to myself: "It would be great if there was a compass."

  That tall man somehow sat down beside me. However, he wasn't sitting on the same rock as me, but rather quietly sat on a small stone under the big rock beside me, which was obviously much lower than me. He said in a low voice: "Sister, you can't go over there, there are many snakes over there, so many that they dare to attack people even during the day. And it's also haunted over there, if we can't get out before dark, we'll be in trouble on this mountain."

  I don't know if it's my illusion or what, but his tone of speaking seems different from just now. I smiled at him: "We've already made up our minds. And don't you think that this way we can earn more? Besides, there are so many of us, and the other side isn't some uninhabited place, it won't be dangerous."

  He hesitated for a moment and ultimately didn't say anything else.

  Su Haicheng walked up behind me and handed me a military compressed biscuit, but I gave him a big fluffy worm bread instead, smiling at him. He said, "Eating that won't fill you up, you'll be hungry again soon."

  "After a while, I got hungry and ate dinner. Don't you think this compressed biscuit doesn't taste good?"

  "Tangerine flavor."

  "That doesn't taste good either."

  A Tian was still fiddling with his camera, facing the distant mountains, and said in a sarcastic tone: "It's really having a different sex but no humanity. I'm starving too, and nobody even brought me something to eat."

  The boss rarely made a joke: "You deserved it, you wanted to take a photo, and it's not like you didn't have hands to hold food." He finally relaxed after learning that Sakura was still alive and even said some joking words.