Chapter 30: Big Biscuit Face

  Zhou Huan left the injured person behind, seemingly having no other choice. He had Old Man Cui follow him back to take care of everyone, possibly because there were many things he didn't want him to know, or perhaps for the safety of the injured team members.

  Four team members were injured and two more followed, leaving only me, Liangzi, Zhou Huan and Heilian, plus five team members who followed, with less people but no reduction in equipment, so our load also increased.

  Those who continued to move forward began to gather their belongings, and then saw Liangzi carrying a cross made of branches and tree bark walking back, picking up a stone, and smashing the cross into the riverbank in the direction where the team member had died.

  Then he muttered to himself: "Thirteen, thirteen... I don't know if you Chinese people who grew up in the US like this stuff too. I've made one for you, just stay here and take a bath, we'll take care of the rest of the way. I swear to heaven, from now on, no matter what fish I see, as long as it's alive, I'll kill one..."

  I saw him go on and on, so I quickly went up and kicked him, Liangzi probably felt he had said too much, looked gloomy and bowed to the cross, shouldered his backpack and we continued on our way.

  According to Old Man Cui's words, as long as we follow the riverbank and head upstream, I estimate that by this time the day after tomorrow, we should be able to reach the foot of Lao Ye Mountain.

  Zhou Huan's face had been extremely unsightly since the unexpected event, and she sternly warned us that everyone must obey orders and absolutely not allow anyone to act arbitrarily.

  I understand that this was actually said for Liangzi and me to hear, and I didn't refute it. With my head down, I just followed him all the way, not even daring to say how hot it was.

  As the scorching sun finally set around dusk, the river in front of me narrowed, but the surrounding trees became more lush. Almost everyone had not rested for an entire afternoon, and my physical strength was now severely overdrawn.

  Liang Zi saw that I was exhausted to the point of death, and was just about to take over my equipment. At this time, Zhou Huan, who was leading the way, looked up at the sky and said to everyone: "Let's spend the night here tonight, keep a distance from the river water, and make good use of the remaining daylight to check our surroundings."

  As soon as I heard that I could finally rest, I immediately sat on the ground and didn't want to move anymore. My two legs were already numb and weak, and my hands were feebly pounding against them.

  The five team members dispersed to check the surroundings, and soon chose a place to spend the night. I got up and followed them over, and saw that it was an open space with slightly less weeds, estimated to be around 100-200 square meters, just right for us to set up camp.

  Liangzi followed everyone to set up the tent, collect firewood, and I was too lazy to move, just sitting on a mound of earth looking around.

  The surrounding trees are not very sturdy, but extremely dense and nameless. There are many earth mounds on the ground that are similar to the ones under my butt, and I don't know how they were formed. Sitting on them is soft and comfortable.

  After the tent was set up, the sky slowly began to darken, so everyone cleaned up the weeds on the ground, lit a bonfire on the exposed land, and started having dinner.

  The food we brought was either compressed biscuits or dried beef, which wasn't bad to eat occasionally. The team members didn't speak and sat there silently chewing, my friend Liang and I looked at each other, not knowing what to say, the atmosphere suddenly became very awkward.

  After finishing this depressing dinner, the sky was completely dark, and there was no visibility around. All kinds of strange trees and shadows were everywhere, making people feel panicked at a glance.

  There were five two-person tents set up in the camp, Zhou Huan slept alone in one of them, and the other four people shared the remaining four tents, with two people per tent. Naturally, I was paired with Liang Zi to share a tent. Then, it was time to assign night watch duties. As usual, Zhou Huan didn't count himself as part of any group, probably because he wasn't sure if he could trust me and Liang Zi together. So, he assigned me and Hei Lian (Black Face) to the same night watch team.

  After the arrangement, everyone returned to the tent one after another to rest. Liang Zi and a team member were on duty for the first shift, I and Hei Lian were on duty for the second shift. Taking advantage of Liang Zi's absence, I thought I'd hurry up and sleep for a while, otherwise his snoring would be so loud that I wouldn't be able to sleep even after coming back from my night watch.

  When I was kicked awake by Liangzi, I turned on my flashlight to see that it was already half past one in the middle of the night. As soon as I got out of the tent, I saw Hei Lian Dui Zhang had come out at some point and was adding firewood to the bonfire all alone. I walked over to help him too. Originally, I wanted to greet him, but seeing his expression that seemed to be from another world, for a moment, I didn't know what to say either.

  After adding, I lit a cigarette and just sat there, I don't know why, but when I saw the dark surroundings, I felt myself becoming inexplicably tense. I thought this wasn't going to work either, so I was thinking of finding something to talk about with Hei Lian's captain when Zhou Huan's tent opened and she walked out wearing a tight-fitting camouflage vest.

  I thought to myself, "Is it going to be convenient?" and hurriedly turned my head away, not wanting to look. However, the footsteps were coming in my direction, so I turned back to see that Zhou Huan had also ignored Hei Lian and came over to sit down beside me.

  I was puzzled and thought to myself: what's going on, are they trying to play some trick again? But then I felt that wasn't right, this black-faced person is still here. Thinking about it, I actually felt a bit depressed and regretful.

  "How come you rarely spend the night in the mountains?" Zhou Huan spoke up first.

  "Ah, yes, who doesn't have anything better to do and comes to the mountains to sleep after eating their fill." After saying that, he felt a bit off and quickly changed his tone: "But this mountain isn't bad either, it's got clear water, lush scenery, and pleasant air."

  Zhou Huan seemed to be indifferent too, kicking his legs casually as he continued to ask: "What did you do before? Is your family okay?"

  She asked me like that, and I was even more surprised. I didn't expect a woman like her to chat about family matters. So I quickly replied: "Uh, ah...I used to be a journalist, now...now I'm a tomb raider..."

  Zhou Huan surprisingly smiled softly after hearing me, probably didn't expect me to answer like that. She turned her head and looked at me for a while before saying: "You haven't finished answering yet, are your family members all doing well?"

  "My family? They should be fine, haha I don't know, I'm an orphan, I've never seen my family." His question made me feel a little sad.

  Zhou Huan might have also felt a bit resentful and sad, suddenly changing the subject: "Qiu Ye, hmm... do you know where we're going this time? That is to say, whose tomb are we going to rob?"

  I never thought she would bring up this topic, afraid that she would change the subject again, I quickly asked: "Whose is it? Whose?"

  "Have you heard of Takashi?"

  "Who is Tu Ke? Is he very rich?" There was no impression of this name in my memory.

  Under the faint light of the fire, I saw Zhou Huan looking at me just as I was about to continue speaking, when suddenly a low voice came from beside him, saying: "Don't make a sound... something doesn't feel right..."

  I was startled by him, and both Zhou Huan and I quickly stood up. Just as I was about to turn on the flashlight, Hei Lian pressed it down with one hand. Seeing his serious expression, I didn't know what had happened either. Looking around, it was still the dark forest and the messy shadows, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

  "What's wrong? What did you find?" Zhou Huan asked in a low voice.

  "Don't you think it's a bit too quiet in this forest?"

  After Hei Lian finished speaking, Zhou Huan and I both fell silent, carefully listening to the surrounding movements. Under this atmosphere, I also felt that except for our breathing sounds, I really couldn't hear any other movements.

  This is absolutely not normal, on such a summer evening, in such a dense forest, it's impossible that there isn't any sound at all. The more I think about it, the more I feel a sense of unease, and I tense up, moving closer to Zhou Huan's side.

  Three people stood quietly for a long time, and vaguely I felt that there was not no sound at all. From the direction in front of me, faintly came the sound of "puff, puff, puff", although the sound was very light and slow, but it had a rhythm, and seemed to be getting clearer and clearer.

  About half a minute later, I had completely made out what was being said. It was as if someone in the darkness opposite us was slowly walking towards us.

  Damn it's scary, who could it be? I took a look at those tents, except for Zhou Huan's tent, everyone else's doors are intact, this definitely isn't one of our people.

  Hei Lian's face also seemed to tense up, for someone like him, probably only this invisible thing is the most terrifying. I saw him slowly put his hand into his pocket and gently pull out a handgun, grasping it in his hand.

  At this time I really want to say: Big brother can you give me one?

  Three people almost held their breath, staring at the sound with wide eyes, getting closer and closer... Finally, with the help of the firelight, I vaguely saw a shadow appear in front of me. At first, I didn't understand what it was, but I felt that its pair of eyes seemed to be attracted by the firelight, completely motionless, without even noticing us.

  When that thing finally appeared in its entirety, I let out a loud shout: "Holy crap, it's it! Quick, quick, shoot..."

  Hei Lian and Zhou Huan were startled by my sudden shout, and immediately Hei Lian's gun fired, but it didn't hit the thing, instead shooting into the darkness behind it.

  That thing was also frightened by the gunshot, and it should have seen us. Immediately after, we heard its "wa wa wu..." cry, and then it jumped into the darkness beside it. Soon afterwards, a rustling sound came from the weeds as it scurried away.

  "Who is it? Do you know him?" Zhou Huan hastily asked me.

  I was completely scared out of my wits and stuttered: "Ah, familiar... no, not familiar... what the f**k am I doing?!"

  Zhou Huan saw me and said that I was talking nonsense, then she pushed me with a "huff" and said "You're really useless" before turning around and running towards her own tent.

  Hei Lian also asked me: "What is it, after all?"

  "I quickly explained: 'I don't know him, I just saw this thing.'"

  At this time, people in other tents were awakened by the sound of gunfire and ran out. The five team members all held guns in their hands. They were indeed well-trained and did not ask anything, warning them from all sides.

  Liang Zi rubbed his eyes and asked in a daze: "What's going on? Are those damn wild boars coming again?"

  As soon as I saw Liangzi coming, I quickly said to him: "It's not a wild boar, but that thing we saw in the attic of my house."

  "What? Did you see it clearly?" Liang Zi immediately woke up and asked anxiously.

  "Nonsense! I'd recognize that big round face even if you killed me. How did it end up here?" The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed, and I quickly looked in the direction it had left.