Chapter 54: Ghost Valley Marsh

  The old man felt a chill run down his spine, the snake's head was less than ten centimeters away from his nose. Occasionally, the hissing sound it made seemed to lick his nose. He didn't know what to do for a moment.

  One man and one snake were stuck in a stalemate like this for a while, before the snake slowly crawled towards Lao Da.

  The boss secretly called out that something was wrong, and it seemed that the snake was going to make a move on him. Running was definitely not an option, as he knew he couldn't outrun the snake. At this point, the snake had already started slowly crawling onto the boss's body, and the boss stiffened his back, not daring to move at all.

  The snake started from his foot and slowly crawled up, passing over Lao Da's back, finally stopping in front of him.

  The old man swallowed a mouthful of saliva, staring at it. The snake rushed to the old man with its big mouth open, and the old man saw a green smoke spouting from its throat before he lost consciousness in front of his eyes.

  By the time he woke up on the second day, he was already in the camp. Lu Huan said that he was found by his teammates at the foot of the mountain and was carried back after fainting.

  However, although the old man fainted, his memory of yesterday was still very clear. He clearly remembered that stone monument and that snake. As for why he fainted, it was unknown.

  "It's because of that wisp of smoke," I said. Thinking back to the experience in the tomb, I suspected it was likely due to the smoke spat out from the snake's mouth.

  I also suspect that, because I really can't think of any other possibilities. That smoke may be a kind of venom from the poisonous snake, or it should be called toxic gas.

  'Just because of that puff of smoke and that unclear inscription on the monument, you feel a bit uneasy?'

  "Of course not"

  After waking up, Lao Da still felt uneasy. He called the police at the foot of the mountain and asked them to be responsible for finding Zhang Yaoyang, and he himself went back to where he fell yesterday.

  The old man followed the route from the night before and found that slope. Looking at the height of the slope, the old man felt a little heartache about how he had rolled down yesterday. But in the end, curiosity overcame everything, the old man gritted his teeth and slowly slid down along the edge of the slope.

  In the end, Lao Da didn't see any snake, and even the stone tablet was gone. Had he remembered the place wrong? Lao Da refused to give up, and searched every similar location on the mountain, but still found nothing.

  Is it a stone monument flying without wings or is there a deviation in one's own memory? The boss returned to the camp with a heart full of doubts. Just happened to meet the police who had also searched around and came back.

  The boss hastily came forward and asked, "How is it? Is there any news?"

  The police officer took off his hat, touched his hair and said: "What letter can be found in this forest? Whoever gets lost here will never be found. I advise you not to waste your energy, hurry up and pack up your things and go back. At that time, just report to the superior that the person died on duty, and we can still get some consolation money. If we continue to search like this, it's endless."

  The boss got angrier the more he listened, and just as his temper was about to erupt, Lu Huan pulled on one of his sleeves and whispered "it's their territory, it's their territory"

  The boss took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart. 'So you mean you're not going to look for it anymore?'

  The police officer blew his hat brim, repositioned it and said, "Comrade, it's not that we didn't look for him. Do you know what this forest is called locally? It's called the Ghost Valley Swamp! Do you know what that means? It means this forest is like a swamp, anything that gets swallowed up in it can't be spat out again."

  The old man was stubborn and refused to listen to what the police had to say. He even helped the policeman adjust his hat.

  "The missing person is Zhang Yaoyang from our archaeological team, a national public servant. When the time comes, even if others don't investigate, I reckon the media will still want an explanation." The boss suddenly asked, "What's your surname?"

  Xu is his surname and he is generous

  "Officer Xu, so it's still better to find the person before things get out of hand. Whether it's a living person or a corpse, you bring me one and everyone will have an explanation. You just standing by and doing nothing, what kind of reasoning is that?"

  The police chief said nothing could be done about Lao Da, so there was no use wasting his breath. "I'm just making a suggestion. Since you have a plan, we will of course cooperate fully."

  "I also hope Officer Xu can keep his word," said Lao Da with a determined look in his eyes.

  For the next week, Lao Da's daily task was to call the police station every morning after getting up, tirelessly reminding them to search for people in the mountains. Then he took two people to wander around the mountain, searching for that stele. His intuition told him that there must be something fishy about that stele.

  A week later, neither the police nor he had gained anything.

  Zhang Yaoyang and the tombstone seemed to have vanished into thin air.

  Afterwards, Boss's call to the police station was not connected. The police's intention was very clear: the person in your team is already dead. It's useless for us to look for him.

  It's actually the same, after searching for so long without any news, not even a corpse was found. My explanation can only be that it was eaten by something, otherwise how could we not find even a body? If it's really this situation, continuing to search would just be a waste of effort.

  The boss saw no other way out and could only wait for instructions from above.

  The above means that we have already consulted with the family members and understood what Zhang Yaoyang's family meant. And orders were given to let Lao Da lead the team, after cleaning up, they can withdraw.

  The boss let the troops retreat and said he still had some unfinished business, leaving Lu Huan and Cao Kerui behind. They stayed until now.

  What happened after I left is roughly like this. 'So what's the hurry about calling me back for?' I asked, knowing full well.

  The big brother put his arm around my shoulder and said, "To be honest, how's your relationship with me?"

  "It doesn't matter"

  "Now it's time for you to repay kindness with enmity"

  "What's wrong with me?" I shook his hand down.

  "I'm telling you, I've been working for almost twenty years, do you know what that means?"

  I thought 'you're about to retire'

  The old man snorted, "This represents my rich experience. My intuition has never gone wrong. Now, at this moment, my intuition tells me..." The old man stomped his foot, "There's more down here than what we dug up before."

  I still trust Lao Da. He's really passionate about this business, he has a crazy obsession with antiques and artifacts. Dynasty, material, story. He can rattle them off like someone who's been alive for thousands of years.

  Usually I also collect some small toys, but when I encounter something that is truly a rare treasure, I will never keep it for myself and must hand it over. That's how I got divorced from my sister-in-law...

  This is also the reason why I didn't contact him when I was at Maoer Mountain. If I had called him, he would have definitely advised me to report to the police with all good intentions, and things would have gone in a direction opposite to what I had hoped for.

  The boss continued, 'I let the team withdraw first because there is always a one in ten thousand chance that my intuition might be wrong and delay several dozen people. It's better to wait until we've figured things out before revealing them to the outside world. Moreover, not all of us are from our department this time.'

  I was just about to speak when the boss said 'Don't worry, I've already finished writing the report'

  I smiled and said 'You're so well-prepared, what can I say?'

  The big brother smiled and nodded at Lu Huan and Cao Ke Rui, making an OK gesture. Cao Ke Rui suddenly jumped onto me: "I'll make you some delicious food tonight to help you recover from the wind."

  Lu Huan walked over with his luggage "Forget it, what you're doing isn't just a greeting, it's taking someone's life"

  Cao Kerui was furious and chased after Lu Huan, beating him as he ran.

  We walked back to the campsite chatting and laughing. Lu Huan put my luggage in the tent and said, "Take a rest, let's see what Cao Kerui can come up with tonight."

  I grunted and crawled into the tent. After putting away my luggage, I lay down. My neck still ached, and no matter how I lay, it wasn't comfortable. I thought about what the boss had told me, and I felt uneasy too. But I couldn't figure out why.

  Decided to let Lao Da take me to the slope he mentioned this afternoon to take a look.

  Lying for a while, still can't sleep, so I turned over and got up, unzipped the tent zipper "Who recharged the universal charger at the foot of the mountain?"

  Cao Ke Rui patted his hands and said "I have" then quickly ran to the tent to fetch a portable charger.

  After plugging in the phone, I habitually gave Ma Si Zhe a call. Still no one answered.

  It's strange, Ma Si Zhe's phone has been on all the time but always has electricity. It means he didn't bring it with him, but someone else is holding it. Or maybe he can't answer the phone right now. No matter how I think about it, I just can't figure it out. Looks like I'll have to go to Hangzhou in a few days, or else I'll always feel weird.