Chapter 45: The Great Snake is Killed

  "So it seems," Ah Tian also said, "You're still as excellent as ever. Why did he take them away?"

  "He's going down the mountain. He refused to let us pass from the very beginning. He must have wanted to take Kakashi and your boss away, as well as all our equipment, so that we would also have no choice but to go down the mountain without any gear."

  "Are we really going down the mountain like this? This doesn't seem like you, Haicheng."

  They were talking, and I didn't have a chance to interrupt. "No, if we go down the mountain like this, aren't we being led by him? We'll wait here until 4 o'clock, and after 4 o'clock, we'll go find them. Now that it's dark, even if he's familiar with this mountain, he wouldn't dare to take so many people down the mountain. If something happens, he'll also be responsible."

  Atian squatted down to start a fire, and Su Haicheng pulled me to sit on a stone slab beside him. Having lost our luggage, without a tent or blankets, even though the fire was lit, it still made people feel chilly in the back.

  I don't know when Su Haicheng sat down behind me and hugged me from behind. It was already three o'clock, I was really tired, it was warm on his body, and I gradually fell asleep.

  I didn't sleep very soundly, and in a daze, I felt him pecking at my lips. And then Tian's voice asked: "Your current situation, do you really want to be with this girl? Have you thought about the future?"

  "Afterwards, I don't know. Maybe we'll part ways later."

  I was woken up by them when I was still drowsy. At that time, there was no energy to get out of bed, and it wouldn't be said that walking in a daze made it impossible to walk. In such an environment, when walking on mountain roads, people's spirits do not allow for drowsiness. At four o'clock, we turned on our flashlights and continued walking down the only road. The direction had changed, from up to down.

  Walking on mountain roads is really nothing to talk about, just be careful, and use your hands and feet to climb down in some places.

  When the sky started to turn white, Ah Tian said, "What a waste of this beautiful view, can't take pictures now."

  I saw a lump of green stuff on the stone road, like snot, and that thing was very slippery, easy to slip if stepped on. If it weren't for Su Haicheng in front of me and Ah Tian behind me, I'd probably have rolled down into a ball by now.

  When I slipped for the fourth time, Ah Tian helped me up and listened to my complaint: "Who's so concerned with hygiene here that they're blowing their nose!"

  "There are only a few of us on this mountain. This isn't just any ordinary thing, it's called stone mushroom and it tastes great. Once I find them, I'll cook some for you."

  "Never mind, I'd rather starve than eat this snot."

  "Tsk, tsk, this is a natural, non-polluting fungus. In the city, it's at least 50 yuan per kilogram, and in restaurants, it's at least 120 yuan per dish! You really don't know how to eat! Wait until you're really starving, then you'll eat it." Just as we were talking, a loud noise suddenly came from the quiet surroundings. It seemed like rocks were rolling down from afar, and there was also the sound of snakes, followed by something tumbling down the mountain.

  We all stopped in our tracks, turned around and looked at the source of the sound, which was accompanied by birds chirping and flying away. Half a minute later, the sounds finally stopped, and Su Haicheng took out his binoculars to look at the foot of the mountain, then said: "That snake has been hit. There's a patch of blood, probably won't survive."

  "Is the snake really dead?" I exclaimed, and at the same time my right eyelid twitched, a very strong sense of unease.

  Atsui took over his telescope: "Well, this sound, not only did the snake die, but also brought out Kakashi and a few others. Take a look, just over there. Hey! Kakashi!" He shouted loudly.

  "Ah, we're over here!" Following the sound, there they were, standing at the foot of the mountain about a basketball court's distance away - Kakashi and his team.

  Atian held the telescope and looked at them, laughing: "Haicheng, you're right. The tall man saw us, with a face like he's eating shit." He put down the telescope, "Do we want to catch him later and torture him? If it's inconvenient for you to interrogate, just slip away for a while, I'll do it."

  "No, let's see what he's trying to hide from us." Su Haicheng put away the binoculars and pulled me towards Kakashi. My heart was still tied up with that snake. For these soldiers, killing a snake really wasn't a big deal, but for me it was a huge thing. When I was young, my grandfather always told me that snakes couldn't be killed. Not to mention whether the snake would bring good luck or not, just the fact that killing it would provoke its revenge was enough.

  Kakaxi saw us and ran towards us. After we met, we saw a small cave behind them. The cave was not big, about the size of my living room, and it seemed to have a deeper part inside, but it was too small for people to enter. This should be a dissolution cave of underground water. Such caves often have spring water.

  Kakaxi rushed over and hugged me: "Sister Forty-one, we thought you'd been eaten by a snake."

  "Open, open, open! You've taken everything away, I don't even have water to wash my face or rinse my mouth!" I said irritably. Now my heart is racing just like it did when I used to see Su Haicheng, and I can only use a bad tone to cover up my current nervousness.

  Kakaxi let me go: "Last night we suddenly encountered many small snakes and hid here. I thought you were with those two soldiers, so you shouldn't have died."

  "So I call you, and you don't even answer me?"

  "Some snakes can learn human names. I'm afraid I've led them here."

  "Do you think there are beautiful snakes here?" I stared at him. Su Haicheng patted his shoulder: "Who told you it's safe here?"

  Kakaxi pointed at the tall man: "He said there's underground water here, and the snakes are afraid of the underground water. If we hide here, we'll be safe for sure."

  Everyone's eyes were on that man. The man lowered his head and Su Haicheng asked, "How did you know there was a cave and spring water here?"

  The man raised his head, that dark face glanced at Su Haicheng for a moment, and quickly lowered his head. He hadn't spoken yet, but Su Haicheng continued to say: "Alright, let's get some food, we'll continue on our way."

  Everyone thought he would scold the man, but instead he changed the subject. Ah Tian and I both knew that he was waiting to see what the man was trying to hide. If things got awkward now, it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing.

  Kakaxi couldn't see the way out and kept asking me what that sound was all about, even our boss asked: "That sound, does it have anything to do with you guys?"

  "I said: 'That snake is dead.' As I spoke, I looked at the tall man hiding in the corner. Since he was familiar with this mountain and this snake, what would his reaction be?"

  "Wow! Can we cut some meat and have a barbecue? That huge snake will be enough for us to eat until our noses bleed!"

  The boss was calm: "How did you guys do it? Such a big snake was also killed by you?"

  The other two men also had a look of expectation, indicating that after this trip was over, they would go to the foot of the mountain and take a look. The weather wasn't very hot today, so maybe tomorrow the snake wouldn't be smelly yet and could still be eaten.

  Only a tall Han man stood up and walked out of the cave after a moment of silence without saying a word.

  Su Haicheng urged everyone to cook and eat, then prepare to set off, but he didn't pay attention to him. I approached Su Haicheng and asked in a low voice, "Did that man leave by himself?"

  "He also lowered his voice and said: 'No way, if he leaves, we can do whatever we want in this mountain, he must be nearby.'"

  When they were soaking compressed biscuits in water and stirring them into a paste to eat, I was the first to rinse my mouth and wash my face with water. My action was said by Kakashi to be wasting water resources. We only have this little drinking water, and it's being used by me to wash my face. I glared at him, knowing that when we were climbing the mountain, I even helped carry two large bottles of water on my back, while he just carried a small bottle of water, and still had the nerve to say that about me.

  After eating something, when we were packing up and getting ready to hit the road, that guy really came back again and even volunteered to carry some stuff and follow me as I continued on my way.

  The death of that snake seemed to have shocked all the animals on the mountain. On the way up the mountain, Kakashi only made a sarcastic comment about the stone mushroom that looked like snot, and said that there was not a single sound here, it felt like even the birds were too afraid to poop.

  It was under such circumstances that we walked to two-thirds of the height of the mountain, where a small platform appeared.

  Announcement of yesterday's activity award list.

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