Chapter 2: Stranded in the Wilderness

  I let the two of them into the house, and Liangzi made a brief introduction between us. In fact, I didn't need him to say anything; I could have guessed that this person was the so-called Old Luo.

  This man is probably around sixty years old, with a gold chain hanging outside his collar. With this face of his, I knew at a glance that he was exactly the same as what Liangzi said, absolutely the kind of person who can't live without taking advantage of others.

  After exchanging a few pleasantries, Lao Lu spoke up and said: "Brother Qiu looks like he's full of good fortune, it seems that this time we will definitely gain something."

  Li Zai burst out laughing: "That's right, my brothers are all good guys. Lao Lu, you can rest assured, this time just lead the way and introduce us to people, when we get our hands on something good, we won't leave you out of your share. We're all friends, let's make a fortune together!"

  I pushed Liang Zi a bit, if he continued to drag on, there would be no end to it. I turned to Lao Lu and said: "Old fellow, I've heard what Liang Zi had to say, and I've decided to go with you this time too. What's the old man like? He wouldn't be playing a trick on you, would he?"

  Lao Lu patted his chest and said, "Don't worry about this little brother, I've seen a lot of people in my life. That old man is obviously inexperienced, if he couldn't sell that treasure to me for 100 yuan, it's probably because his address is too remote, I checked it out but there's no clue!"

  I took a napkin from Lao Lu's hand, on which was written 'Houwanzi Village, Group 1, Shuangchengbao Town, Gongzhuling City'. Although I had never been to any of these places before, as long as there is a name, you can ask around when you get there, so this wasn't too worrisome.

  We were chatting when there was another knock at the door. I opened it to find Liubao, so apparently he had called him too when he came over.

  Liubao walked into the house and took a look at Lao Lu, possibly feeling quite uncomfortable. After they got to know each other, he whispered in my ear: "Qiu Ye, I always feel that something is off about him, this old Lu looks like someone who can't get things done, could it be that Liangzi has been fooled by him?"

  I also think that things are a bit suspicious, but thinking about it, the old man who sells ashtrays doesn't have to cheat Lao Lu either. Although Lao Lu is a greedy person, if there's no benefit, he definitely won't drag Liangzi to go treasure hunting.

  Then he said to Liu Bao, don't worry about it, whatever happens, we'll just go and take a look, four of us can handle anything, if something goes wrong later, we can still settle the account with him.

  A few people discussed the specific matters and finally decided to go shopping for some essentials today, and set off tomorrow afternoon. Actually, we also didn't know what things to bring, in the afternoon, Liubao went to fetch 40,000 yuan, this might be the largest amount he could take out.

  We each bought a set of camouflage uniforms, mountaineering shoes, ropes, flashlights and whatnot, thinking that in case we had to go into the mountains, they might come in handy.

  That night, we had a few people drinking at Liu Bao's restaurant. After a long time, I felt that Lao Lu was still a pretty good person, except for his appearance which made people feel uncomfortable and the feeling of taking advantage of others, he was still quite talkative.

  Lao Lu didn't put on airs, laughing and chatting with us as we drank, everyone seemed very happy, just like the treasure was right there waiting for us to pick it up. Liu Bao said he'd drink less tomorrow since he's driving, but we didn't care, drinking till almost midnight before heading home to sleep.

  The next day I got up very early, first called the unit to ask for leave, and the leader replied that it was not allowed. I said to him, you can do whatever you want, anyway, I won't be able to go to work recently, and then hung up the phone.

  I arrived at Liu Bao's house and saw Liang Zi and Lao Lu had already arrived. Lao Lu smiled and greeted me, then I saw Liang Zi putting something in the trunk, taking out the tools that were previously inside, and placing a newspaper-wrapped object at the bottom.

  I asked him what it was, he whispered to me that it's a 'knife', I said what are you bringing this thing for? Aren't you afraid of being checked by the police halfway? He said don't worry, be prepared for anything, who knows what kind of place Houpo Village is, in case the villagers are fierce and beat us up, having a knife can scare them off.

  I thought I'd just bring it along, who would have thought we'd run into the police so coincidentally. At this time, Liubao also came out, and a group of people got on the car and started departing.

  The car slowly left the urban area and got on the highway. This section of road was still familiar to Liubao, and it took us about three hours to arrive at Gongzhuling City. Then we asked everyone we met how to get to Shuangchengbao Town, but the responses were either "I don't know" or unclear directions. In the end, it was Liangzi who came up with a solution - he found a black car driver and gave him 50 yuan, which finally led us to continue on our way.

  After driving for about two hours, we arrived at Shuangchengbao Town. There was no way to ask further, but this time, regardless of who I asked, including the local taxi driver, surprisingly, no one knew where Houwanzi Village was.

  I took out the napkin and looked at it, no mistake, it was indeed the three characters "Hou Biao Zi", but why didn't anyone know? So I walked to the old man by the road and asked him: "Old man, when you were drinking with that old fellow back then, did he say anything else?"

  Lao Lu touched his temples and thought for a moment, saying: "That old man seemed to say that their home is in Houwanzi Village south of Shuangcheng Castle, yes, it's the south side he mentioned."

  I thought this was also an inevitable measure, so I'll ask around while walking, and everyone got back on the car and continued to head south towards Shuangcheng Castle. As we walked, I felt that the road was getting narrower and narrower, and finally, we ended up on a dirt road, not knowing if the direction was correct or not, and could only keep driving with a hard heart.

  I started to have misgivings in my heart, feeling that something was off. Although the place we were heading to might be very remote and we had already taken a dirt road, there wasn't even a single person in sight along the way, let alone cars.

  I turned around in the passenger seat and saw that Liangzi and Lao Lu were already asleep. On such a bumpy road, they were still snoring away, as if everything had nothing to do with them. I looked back through the rear window and felt that the dust was flying everywhere, basically with no visibility at all.

  Liubao didn't say a word and focused on driving, I lit a cigarette for him and one for myself, saying: "Let's drive for another 10 to 20 minutes, if we still can't see anyone or any village, let's head back today. I have a feeling that we might have taken the wrong road."

  Liu Bao murmured in agreement, and as usual, when the three of us were together, most things were decided by me.

  I had just turned around to wake them up when I heard a sudden screeching of brakes and the car stopped. I asked Liubao what was wrong, he put his head on the steering wheel and looked forward for a while, saying: "This is really weird, there's no road."

  I was puzzled why this road suddenly disappeared, and immediately got off the bus with Liu Bao to check.

  As I walked to the front of the car, I saw a strange scene. The place where we stopped was still a dirt road, but in front of the car, there was no sign of the road at all. Except for some trees that were similar to those on both sides, it was just weeds everywhere, as if this road had already reached its end. It was really too strange.

  I and Liu Bao are both inexplicable, obviously neither of us has ever encountered such a thing, this is simply illogical, who repairs roads like this?

  At that time, Liangzi and Lao Lu woke up and got off the car. Liangzi stood by the side of the car, unbuttoned his pants and started urinating. Without looking back, he asked: "Why aren't you walking? Have we arrived?" "Arrived your ass! Come over and see for yourself." Liu Bao replied with a speechless face.

  Liang Zi and Lao Lu walked over, saw the situation in front of us, and our expressions were all the same. For a long time, they couldn't say anything to make sense of it. I asked Lao Lu if he had ever seen such a thing before, but he was even more at a loss than me, without any ideas, just standing there stupidly.

  This thing is too strange, all the way I feel that something is wrong, and I don't know what kind of place Houyuanzi Village is. So I called everyone to get on the car and hurry back along the original road before it gets dark.

  After everyone got on the car, they found that the car couldn't move at all. No matter how Liu Bao reversed and stepped on the accelerator, it didn't work. I went down to take a look and found that both rear wheels were stuck in the ground, although they were still rotating, but the mud had already covered more than half of them.

  What kind of soil is this? It was fine just now, today I really saw a ghost.

  No choice, I called down Liangzi and Lao Lu to push the cart together. Several people used all their strength, but the cart not only didn't move, it sank even deeper instead.

  "Alright, stop pushing! We're stuck here for today. We don't even have an iron shovel, there's no way we can do it. Let's think of another solution!"

  Liang Zi sneered at Liu Bao with a look of disdain: "See, I told you this thing is useless. If it were a Land Rover..."

  He hadn't finished speaking when I kicked him in the butt, thinking to myself, "You really are something big", what kind of timing is this, still bringing up Land Rover stuff?!

  Liubao was also used to his way of speaking, and he glared at Liangzi but didn't bother with him. I looked at my watch and saw that it was already past four o'clock, so I said to everyone: "Alright, it seems like today is going to end up like this. Let's get something out to eat first. If we still haven't met anyone by nightfall, we'll have no choice but to spend the night in the car."

  Liang Zi took out chicken feet, bread and beer from the car. I looked at him and thought he had really brought a lot of food. A few people sat on the grass by the side of the road drinking beer and eating chicken feet, it was indeed a unique outdoor picnic experience. But for us who were on a mission, facing this vast wilderness was a completely different story.

  Chatting and eating at the same time, before we knew it, the sky had started to darken. Everyone understood that tonight was going to be spent in the car. Anyway, four big men, there's nothing to be afraid of. In this society, even if you want to encounter wild animals, it's very difficult.

  We ate for a while and slowly couldn't see things in front of us, had no choice but to pack up and get on the car, but who can sleep so early? Looked at my phone and there was no signal, a few people chatted all afternoon and still had nothing to talk about, just staring at each other.

  Li Zai couldn't help but speak up first, and said to Lao Lu: "I say, old buddy, you're older and have experienced more things, it's too boring just sitting here like this, why don't you tell us a story or something?"

  "This old road seems to still be very interested in telling stories, first smiled humbly and then said: "Alright, after eating and drinking enough, we're stuck in this ghost place again, I'll tell you guys a strange thing that happened to me when I was young, it's really fitting for tonight's scene."