Chapter 39: Palan Village

  The always silent Hui'er suddenly burst out with such a sentence, making me involuntarily tremble all over, turned my head to look at her, and was still worried that she would grow fangs like in the dream, fortunately she still had a lovely appearance.

  "How did you know him? What nationality is he?" Yu Gang asked as soon as he opened his mouth.

  At this time, I noticed that the girl's gaze at the man suddenly became very solemn. She said word by word: "What are you doing here? Why is he like this too? What did your friend do?"

  Her sudden questioning left me at a loss for words, and looking at her face, combined with the nightmare I had just had, suddenly made me agree with what Yu Gang had said earlier.

  Has the child changed?

  I and Yu Gang can both clearly feel the change in Xiang Er's entire person, or has she always been like this? We just didn't know, after all, we haven't known her for a long time, and the environment she lives in may have been a mysterious representative from the start.

  What kind of person is she?

  At this moment, what I am thinking of is this question?

  At this moment, he jumped up, his face full of incredulity, as if he had been punched in the face. His eyes stared at Hui'er, asking word by word: "Do you mean to say that the person was killed by our people?"

  However, when Chui'er saw Yu Gang like this, she didn't speak to him in her usual coquettish tone, but instead spoke in a cold voice: "If you hadn't walked in here, he wouldn't have died. I never knew you were those people until now. You said you went to the desert for archaeological exploration, not Niya or Loulan. Besides that place, where else could it be? I can tell you clearly, if your people went there, they won't come back, and you'll never see them again..."

  At this moment, Xiang'er is like another person, and the whole person gives me a feeling that she seems to be clear about some things from head to toe, that is, about where we are going.

  It's just that nobody told her where she was going was near Tieban River, but now she knows.

  She knew that scouting party, did she know where Iron Plate River was?

  The story of the scouting party I already knew some of it, that was the version the old professor told, which is the most specific one.

  Those who went did not come back alive.

  And those who died were inexplicably dead, and then, what about the ones that reappeared, were they disguised as enemies?

  But Huang Daxian was clearly one of the people killed by the enemy at that time, so why is he so obsessed with coming back to this place again? Is there something else he's hiding?

  She looked at us two people with a bewildered expression, she let out a sigh of relief, then helplessly said: "Forget it, looks like you don't know either, go back first and talk later."

  Yu Gang was about to ask something else, but was interrupted by Ju Er, who said with a dark face: "Whatever it is, let's talk about it when we get back."

  I saw her so hard-mouthed, didn't say anything, and the three of us drove that off-road vehicle away from the bushes. Not far away, there was a sky highway, which wasn't really a highway, at most it was just a country road. Along the way, it was almost all relatively large sand grains. We probably drove for about half an hour, passing through some villages. Originally wanted to stop and eat something, but Xiaohua's attitude was tough, she demanded to rush back home immediately.

  I think she has a kind of unimaginable anger in her life, which is a kind of innate oppressive feeling that makes people have to listen to her.

  All along the way, I was observing Xiao Cong, thinking that she seemed to be in a hurry, and it started from when she saw that naked person.

  Does she know how he died?

  But what she said seems to have determined the direction of Tang Guangze and others. I don't know what she based her judgment on either.

  No matter what, she gave us a feeling that was just too weird. Something happened and it seemed like only she knew why.

  But didn't plan on telling us.

  Just as I was about to speak, I heard Yu'er shout: "It's okay to stop over there."

  After getting off the bus, I looked around the village. Then a man walked over, bare-chested and with dark muscles all over his body. When he saw us, he looked surprised, then walked up to Lian'er and said worriedly: "Sister, your grandfather has been crying and looking for you..."

  "Alright," said Xiao Er, nodding her head, "You go ahead and arrange for the two of them first, I'll come over later."

  After saying that, she didn't discuss with us and left directly. She walked very fast and disappeared in the village alley in a moment.

  The more she was like this, the more I suspected her. My face didn't look very good, and I turned my head to glance at Yu Gang, who looked as gloomy as shit. He lowered his voice and said, "What do we do now?"

  I spread out my hands and said helplessly: "It's already been arranged by her."

  As soon as I finished speaking, the dark-skinned man looked at us with a smile on his face, revealing his white teeth. I don't know what kind of toothpaste he used, but they were so white it was almost ridiculous. He smiled and spoke in a very polite tone, with a strong accent: "My name is Tiebuli, you two are friends of my sister's, let me take you to rest for a bit first, follow me."

  I exchanged a glance with Yu Gang, and he nodded and said, "That's troublesome."

  The two of us followed Tiebu Li, and he talked even more than Yuanguo on the way. He was very curious about us along the way.

  "You two are here for tourism, right? During the peak season, there are many tourists coming to play here. This is a very important and special passage in southern Xinjiang. No matter if it's from Hetian or Minfeng, or **, people who want to go to Urumqi must stop at our village. There's only our village around these four weeks."

  I smiled and pulled the corner of my mouth, accommodating: "We are here to cross the desert, thinking of taking advantage of the off-season to cross the Death Sea and experience the thrill brought by the desert."

  Having mixed with Yu Gang for a long time, nothing has been learned, only knowing how to lie without blushing. At this moment, Yu Gang suffered a setback. If it were in the past, I wouldn't have had a chance to speak up. That guy would definitely have nagged for half a day. Sometimes I suspect that he must be doing sales work.

  Tiebu Li raised an eyebrow and nodded, saying: "Understood. Who comes here isn't looking to experience the grandeur of the desert? Rich people are just being willful."

  I smiled and became somewhat impatient, hastily asking him: "Is something wrong with Xiaoyu's family? What did you just say about her grandfather?"

  Upon hearing this, Tiebu was taken aback for a moment. He hadn't expected me to ask so directly. He smiled awkwardly and said, "Nothing's wrong, Grandpa hasn't been sleeping well lately, thinking that Sister had... But now Sister is back..."

  I understand what he said, they all thought Xiaoyu was dead, but now that it's confirmed she's not dead, that's naturally the best. But why is her grandfather crying and looking for her?

  "That day, my sister suddenly disappeared with the sheep, and we all thought she would die like others. But for someone as experienced as my sister, how could that desert possibly kill her? I'm not bragging, but my sister was the second person from our village to enter that place."

  The face in the iron cloth had a hint of infatuation, like the look of worshipping an idol, and that look on his face was one I often saw. Suddenly, I became interested in what he was saying.

  "Tiě gē, where is that place you mentioned? It sounds kind of scary?" "It's not scary, it just sounds like the version of the story I've heard before, about the scouting team."

  There are some places that aren't for the faint of heart, and if someone hadn't spread enough scary rumors about them, how would anyone know not to go in?

  From the words of Tiebu, I almost recognized the place he said was the same as where we went for reconnaissance last year. Otherwise, today when Hui'er saw that person who wasn't wearing any clothes, her reaction wouldn't have been so big.

  Tiebu shook his head, and with a hint of horror in his eyes, he said: "That place is not just scary, people who go in won't come out. During the war, an entire company went in and all died. At that time, my grandfather warned them, but unfortunately, the company commander didn't listen. Even planes dare not fly over that area. If I had to say it, that place is as mysterious and terrifying as the Bermuda Triangle."

  When I heard this, my heart suddenly jumped, and it was undoubtedly a coincidence.

  "Is everyone in the village dead? Weren't they killed by the enemy?" I couldn't hide my astonishment, it seemed that as long as we followed this road, we would be able to find Tang Guangze and the others, as well as the mysterious Iron Plate River, and the feeling in my heart suddenly overflowed.

  That place, those people, what happened there, I believe, has my father's footprints.

  Yu Gang looked at me, coughed hard, and I realized my mistake. I quickly changed my tone and said, "It sounds pretty scary, aren't you curious to go take a look?"

  Tiebu shook his head and said with a terrified expression, "Whoever doesn't want to live can go there, it's guaranteed to be more terrifying than hell, who would want to go?"

  "Where is that place? How far is it from here?" At this point, I couldn't care less.

  "It's almost close, our village is the closest to that place." Tiebu didn't notice my expression, he just smiled lightly.

  Upon hearing this answer, I was somewhat astonished and couldn't tell whether I felt unexpected or surprised. I knew that some secrets would soon be revealed, such as why Huang Daxian would risk his life to plan multiple activities after so many years. Looking back now, it's clear that the reconnaissance team's disaster at the time must have left behind some unhandled secrets, which are likely related to what was in the wooden box. Therefore, they finally dared to pursue the answers and rushed over to wipe clean everything from back then.

  Then, the next thing will be much simpler. As long as we find the place they said, Tieban River, where the reconnaissance team was active back then, we can find Father. Thinking of this, I'm filled with determination again. I asked Tiebu Li: "Tiege, did someone come here a few days ago? Did they go to that place? 50 years ago, did a reconnaissance team come here?"