Chapter 8: The Man Who Crossed the Mother River

  Only a stone ditch about two meters wide, seemingly man-made, appeared before everyone.

  This stone ditch is like a extended track, along the top of the steep slope straight down to the bottom of the valley.

  At the very top of Shigou, there is a stone car, carved entirely out of stone, standing upright, resembling a natural convertible.

  Liu Yi curiously borrowed the moonlight, looking up and down at the stone car, only to see that the body of the car was one meter high and five meters long, with two rows of stone wheels at the bottom, which fit perfectly into the grooves on both sides of the ditch. Strictly speaking, this stone car was just a giant stone trough.

  Surprisingly, the car was not tied to a fixed place with ropes or anything else. According to the principles of mechanics, even if the car is not subject to any force, relying solely on its own weight, it should naturally slide down such a steep slope. But for some reason, this stone car stood quietly there, as if waiting for the child to return home.

  Professor Zhou Tao, despite being knowledgeable and experienced, was also staring at the stone car in amazement, pointing to the steep slope and asking Da Hu Zi: "Could it be that this is an anti-gravity slope?"

  Big Beard shook his head: "Not very clear, anti-gravity slope I know, is that when going downhill it feels like uphill, and uphill feels like downhill, no need to work hard, you can run up by yourself. But this strange slope is different, the feeling of going downhill is still the feeling of going downhill!"

  Professor Zhou Tao was perplexed by what Big Beard said. If it were just a single gravitational anomaly, the phenomenon that Big Beard described wouldn't occur.

  "How strange, how strange!" He shook his head in confusion and muttered to himself: "Could this be a steep slope that has caused us visual error?" As he thought so, under the influence of curiosity, he unconsciously took a step forward. Fortunately, Liu Yi was quick-witted and promptly pulled him back, otherwise, at his advanced age, he would have stepped into thin air and fallen to the bottom of the valley, losing his life.

  Professor Zhou Tao explained his life-risking behavior to everyone and awkwardly chuckled twice.

  The big beard stood up with a thumbs up and praised him: "Professor, you really have the spirit of dedicating yourself to science!"

  Everyone got on the bus amidst continuous speculation about the strange slope. Inside, the space was spacious, and there were even artificially carved stone seats, three rows of six seats, with protruding stone blocks near the seats, similar to car handles.

  Malacca was the last to get on, and as soon as he climbed onto the stone cart, he was pushed down by Big Beard, who said while pushing him: "I think you're quite strong, so use your strength to push the stone cart from behind!"

  Malacca was shouting that it was unfair, while pushing the stone cart with his feet on the ground and his hands, standing diagonally there, forming a natural "human" character with the stone cart.

  That stone car weighs at least a thousand catties, plus the weight of four adults, the total weight has reached 1,450 catties, it's not easy to push this car.

  "One two three, hooray..."

  Ma Liuji continued to push with all his might, but the cart didn't budge. Liu Yi saw this and jumped down from the cart to help.

  With Liu Yi's addition, the two of them worked together to push the stone car, which slowly started moving and slid downwards. Seeing this, they quickly grabbed onto the edge of the stone car and jumped into the stone trough inside.

  As they climbed higher, the gravitational potential energy increased, and the car actually accelerated, with everyone sitting in their seats, their entire body leaning back, using their feet to push against the stone chair backs in front of them, and grasping the stone armrests with their hands, fearing that if they weren't careful, they would be flung out. They didn't dare look at the scenery on either side, but under the twinkling starlight, the slope revealed a clear and cool atmosphere.

  The stone car is getting faster and faster, with a whistling sound in their ears, they have a thrilling feeling of riding a roller coaster.

  Within 300 meters, it rained more than half in less than half a minute.

  At this time, the stone wheel at the bottom of the car and the rail groove emitted a fierce friction sound. The speed of the entire carriage slowed down, slowly sliding to the bottom of the rail groove, stopping in front of a patch of yellow sand.

  "Amazing!" After everyone jumped off the carriage, they stared with wide eyes as the stone carriage slowly slid upwards without any force, and they all praised it endlessly.

  Everyone present was not a mechanics expert, and there was no conclusion about this phenomenon. They could only sigh in their hearts: "The power of nature is really wonderful!"

  Down the steep slope, there is a sandy area, with fine sand that is extremely soft. Not far away, there is a small waterfall formed by the drop in elevation. The falling water splashes up water droplets, blending with the clear and cold moonlight, giving off an icy desolate feeling. By the riverbank, a few crabs are occasionally seen waving their claws and scurrying about.

  The river above the waterfall is stored in a reservoir shaped like an "L", and on top of the "L" is a stone bridge that is roughly level with the surface of the river, which can hold two people walking side by side. The water flows over it tirelessly, rushing towards the distance.

  The big-bearded man silently took off his shoes, tied them together with shoelaces and hung them around his neck. Then he pulled out a climbing rope from his backpack and pointed to the stone bridge, saying: "We'll cross over the stone bridge. The bridge is very slippery as it's been eroded by water all year round. Everyone hold onto the rope and we should be able to get across easily!"

  Look at that stone bridge and the riverbed below, with a drop of over 50-60 meters. If you're not careful, you'll fall off and it's all over. So everyone learned from the big bearded man, took off their shoes and hung them around their necks, rolled up their pant legs, walked barefoot on the sandy beach, grasped the rope tightly with both hands, and carefully stepped onto the stone bridge.

  Looking far away, the five of them were like a string of cicadas on a rope, crossing the river that the villagers of Keke Village called the Mother River. Although there was a small episode in which Professor Zhou Tao accidentally slipped and fell, nothing major happened, and no man-eating fish appeared as Liu Yi had imagined.

  After crossing the river that was over a hundred meters long, everyone arrived at the edge of the forest, sat down on the ground, took a short rest and replenished their energy, preparing to enter the boundless dark woods.

  Before entering the jungle, Big Beard warned: "This is the best time for wild beasts to go crazy, everyone must be careful not to get too far away, follow me closely!"

  Liu Yi, who was walking in the front with Da Hu Zi, suddenly stopped and sniffed, as if he had sensed something. Everyone else also stopped and looked at him.

  Liu Yi's sense of smell was keen, and he faintly detected a whiff of blood that had been blown in by the wind: "Have you guys smelled a bloody smell?" The others heard this and also sniffed around, especially Malacca, who shook his head and sniffed around with an air of searching for food, looking like a small dog searching for food, making people can't help but smile.

  "No! Your nose is so keen?" Lin Xueyan said softly.

  "You don't know, Liu Yi's nose is very spiritual, ten miles away he knows what delicious food you made at home for lunch today!" Ma Liuka boasted.

  Big Beard said: "There is a bloody smell, it's normal, maybe there are wolves that have killed small animals and are drinking blood and eating fur!"

  Lin Xuewan, as the only woman in this group, was the most timid. Normally, she would take a detour when seeing a dog. Hearing what Big Beard said, she felt a bit scared and unconsciously leaned towards Liu Yi's side.

  This time, she thought that following Liu Yi and others to arrive at the Sonam Dajie protection station would be just a casual chat, but she didn't expect that along the way they encountered poachers, blowouts and other mishaps. Although this was the case, driven by curiosity, she didn't retreat.

  After all, it was daytime and there were so many big men around her, not feeling any fear at all. However, humans have an inexplicable fear of darkness, and Lin Xueyan couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation when she thought about entering the dark and dense forest where ferocious beasts appeared, even with someone by her side, she still couldn't control her inner cowardice, worrying excessively in her heart.

  A gust of cold wind blew over, causing her body to involuntarily break out in goosebumps and shudder uncontrollably.

  Liu Yi noticed her abnormality and gently patted her, encouraging: "Don't be afraid, there are so many of us!"

  Lin Xuewan looked at him with a hint of embarrassment, "Hmm" and quietly pulled out the pistol she had put in her pocket before crossing the river, tightly grasping it in her hand, and the feeling of panic in her heart slightly subsided.

  Everyone was careful to move forward, and the big beard had already taken out the backpack and opened the mountain knife to cut off the "Lala Tong" hanging between the trees. This thing is full of reverse hooks, and if you're not careful, you'll be scratched and bleeding. It's said that when Lu Ban, the ancestor of carpentry, invented the saw, he was inspired by this plant.

  At night, the light is most likely to attract the attention of animals, they dare not turn on the lights, and can only rely on the faint starlight to move forward in the dense forest. Ma Liya and Liu Yi protected Zhou Tao and Lin Xueyan in the middle, relying on the occasional scattered starlight, staring tightly at both sides, in case any fierce beast suddenly rushes out.

  In the process of advancing, they occasionally hear the sound of snakes, wolves and monkeys howling. The uninhabited forest they yearn for is an animal paradise.

  For humans, advancing in such a place, if not careful, will suddenly be bitten by unknown animals and even die. This is a forbidden land for humans, and it's unknown how the villagers of Keke Village can multiply here.

  After walking for about half a watch, the big bearded man in front suddenly shouted "Ah!" and with the shout, a black shadow swooped down towards his face, and the big bearded man instinctively swung his knife to chop it down.

  It was cut into two pieces under the swift slash and fell to the ground with a "thud".

  The big-bearded man bent down to take a look, and saw that it was a long-armed flower snake, writhing on the ground. It seemed that it hadn't died yet, as its severed head still had its mouth wide open, sticking out its tongue and crawling towards the big-bearded man's leg. The strange appearance scared the battle-hardened big-bearded man so much that he broke out in a cold sweat, and hastily swung his knife to chop at it wildly, instantly turning it into minced meat.

  After this, the crowd's advancing speed became even faster, and they walked for about another quarter of an hour before exiting the dense forest. The moonlight suddenly became much brighter, and in front of them appeared a huge mountain slope.

  "Over the hill and we're there!" said Big Beard.

  Everyone let out a long breath and walked up the mountain slope.

  The hillside except for a few low and unknown trees was as lifeless as the steep slope when I first came down.

  The slope was relatively easy to climb, and the crowd made a concerted effort to ascend it. Then, suddenly, they all stopped in their tracks at the same time, looked at each other, and their faces showed shock.