Chapter 24 The Array of the Military

  The village head told us that this legend is not very long ago, about half a century ago. At that time, he was only 21 or 22 years old. In those days, it was not like now, young people all went out to study or work. They just stayed in the village and farmed.

  It started with the sound of blasting a mountain, he asked the elderly at that time, no one could explain why they had to blast the mountain. Moreover, it was something that several people wearing military uniforms were busy doing, and even fewer people dared to ask why. After the blasting, a lake appeared in the mountains over there.

  "Was it after the mountain exploded that the lake was formed?"

  "That's right, the lake was blasted out. There is a spring on the mountain over there, they found a place to blast and the underground water gushed up to form that lake."

  Su Haicheng looked at me, and he should have felt that my guess was correct. But my eyebrows furrowed instead. This matter seemed to be more complicated than I had expected.

  The old man continued, at that time they didn't know what happened specifically, just received the entrustment of the village head at that time, saying that everyone was not allowed to go out at night. After the army left, it's unknown where the rumor came from, saying that there was a key in the other village, opening the seal could bring back even the dead people.

  At first, no one took it seriously, but gradually, some people saw the dead at night by the lake, and everyone passed on the rumor as a legend. And there is a way to scare children locally, which is to abandon the child by the lake and let him follow the dead. Use this to warn everyone not to approach the lake.

  "Isn't there a mobile signal tower on your side? How can no one be approaching the lake?" Su Haicheng asked. His face was slightly flushed, probably due to drinking. When I turned my head to look at him, I couldn't help but think wildly, isn't he a dead person? How can a dead person's face turn red from drinking?

  "That signal tower was where the technicians and materials from Mobile were, our village provided the labor. The villagers thought they could make some money, 180 yuan a day, many people fought to go, so ten people went. As a result, all ten people died within a year. What's even stranger is that their bodies all disappeared on their own. No one knows where they went." said the village head.

  The teacher beside him smiled and said, "These are just coincidences. We have to believe in science, I think there must be something that we can't explain now."

  Su Haicheng asked: "Those who died, has anyone seen them again?"

  For a moment, everyone fell silent. After a while, the village chief said: "I've heard that someone has seen it by the lake. But I haven't seen it myself. Come on, have some wine, this is our own homemade glutinous rice wine, you can't get it outside."

  After three rounds of wine, everyone was slightly drunk. The old man shouted that he would arrange a place for us to stay, and the old lady hurriedly cleaned up the room. I still felt a bit restrained, but the boss told me it was okay, people in the village were very welcoming to have us stay at their home, just leave some money tomorrow.

  Atian was originally a bartender, with an amazing capacity for liquor. He could drink the most without getting drunk. Kakashi was another story altogether, completely disoriented and unable to tell east from west. The boss remained sober but started talking excessively. Su Haicheng hadn't had much to drink and excused himself to go downstairs.

  I watched those men get drunk, so I went downstairs to get some fresh air. It was already past 4 pm, the sun was setting in the west, and from here you could clearly see the distant mountains and the signal tower on top of them.

  Su Haicheng sat on a large stone beside him, staring in that direction, his face as cold as ice.

  I walked over and sat down beside him, saying in a low voice: "Let's go back tomorrow. This thing is strange. In your current situation, I might as well ask the people from my hometown to help find Master."

  "I don't want those brothers of mine to die in vain."

  "The army blew up the mountain, that lake, it's all artificial to change the feng shui and lay out the formation. I think in these five villages, maybe some of them have been relocated here. With such a big setup, who knows what kind of national secret is being suppressed underneath? If we really mess things up, will we be caught? Ah Tian didn't say that there might be people monitoring us around here?"

  "What's with the army? Hmph! General Q? I'm also from the military, what am I afraid of him for?" He said gruffly, completely showing off his Military Third Generation syndrome.

  I was left speechless. I'm just a commoner, and I couldn't understand his train of thought at all. After a while, he looked at me: "Why aren't you saying anything?"

  "There's nothing much to say. The old lady said I can sleep in her daughter's room tonight, since her daughter has long been married and moved out. As for Kakashi and the others, they'll be sleeping on that bamboo bed in the living room. It gets quite chilly in the mountains in the morning."

  Another awkward silence, really don't know what to say at this time. Just as we were feeling embarrassed, Kakashi came down from the second floor and directly spat in the pigpen of someone's house, pointing at the pigs and scolding: "What are you called? I'll take pictures of all of you and put them online to find buyers for you. In three days, you'll all be cut into pieces and placed on the meat rack."

  I walked up to him: "You're drunk, just go to sleep. What's the point of talking so much nonsense?"

  "He looked up at me, then at Su Haicheng on the other side: 'Fourth sister, I've already told the boss's wife. Tonight's arrangement is for you to sleep in that room with that stinky dead man. Anyway, you two have been cohabiting for several days now. We're left with three bamboo beds. Their bamboo bed is only that wide, it's hard for two people to lie down, let alone arrange four? I'll kick out that dead man first, and the three of us can sleep horizontally, it's still doable.'"

  He said something after that, I don't know what it was, all I heard was him saying tonight's arrangement is for me and Su Haicheng to be together. This... this... is too much, right? We had been living together for several days before, but we slept separately. And the kiss from that day still hadn't been explained clearly, things were pretty awkward between us. Now we're going to sleep together, this...

  I kicked Kaka Xi's butt and shouted: "Go sleep with the pigs! Save space!" After finishing, I ran upstairs. That damned Su Haicheng just sat there without saying a word.

  Kakaxi didn't really fall into the pigpen, but instead hugged the wooden stake and wailed loudly.

  The night in the mountain is quiet and cold, and since there's a lack of water here and the weather isn't very hot either, men don't need to arrange for bathing. The old lady gave me half a bucket of warm water, which was used for wiping my body. After dark, I went into the bathroom made of wooden planks with gaps all around next to the pigsty, and came out after rinsing myself with that half bucket of water.

  The men all drank and fell asleep one by one. On the bamboo bed in the living room, the boss was still murmuring in his sleep: "Yingxue, Yingxue, Yingxue, don't go!"

  Ah Tian was very alert, sitting on a bamboo bed with his back against the wooden wall, hugging his bundle to his chest. His bundle should have had a gun in it.

  Kakaxi is already completely ruined anyway.

  Su Haicheng? Is he really in the room? As I realized this, my heart started racing. Could it be that tonight we'll be sharing a bed? He's a dead man who could still kiss me that day, I wonder if he still has any desires left? Standing in front of the door, I took a few deep breaths before pushing it open. The room was dimly lit, with only a sliver of moonlight coming through the window. But it was still barely possible to make out what was inside.

  In the room, there was only a bed and a bamboo pole. On the bamboo pole were hung many clothes. This is how people in the village hang their clothes; the bamboo pole serves as a closet. There was nothing else in the room. I stood at the door for a while without moving my feet, feeling very confused. From tomorrow on, some things will be really hard to explain.

  Su Haicheng's voice came from the bed on that side: "It's very late, it's cold in the mountains at night. Do you plan to stand until dawn?"

  "Oh." I responded, shifting my footsteps to move over. It was indeed very cold, which I had known for a long time. Especially when the frost started falling around 3 or 4 o'clock, my fingers could get so cold that they would freeze and fall off without feeling any pain.

  My footsteps stopped in front of the bed, and I mustered up the courage to ask: "Then you tell me first, what did it mean when you kissed me that night?"