Piranha Tigerfish

  With a questioning tone, Liao Dongfeng boldly asked: "What's going on? How is your leg injury exactly the same as Duan Lao's strange illness? As a friend, I believe I have the right to know all this."

  Hai Chen thought for a moment and asked back: "No problem, then can you first tell me what's going on with your hand?"

  Liao Dongfeng told Hai Chen everything about his arm, and after listening, Hai Chen burst out laughing. Then her expression suddenly froze, and she slowly started talking about memories that were almost the same as Liao Dongfeng's.

  After listening to Hai Chen's account, Liao Dongfeng's face looked even more unsightly. The reason was that Hai Chen's words also mentioned the bronze Lu Ban lock ghost mask lantern. Could it be that there is not only one ghost mask lantern? Moreover, Hai Chen said his father brought the ghost mask lantern back home, but didn't they all say those people were dead? Didn't they die in Pamir? What's going on here?

  Liao Dongfeng was deep in thought, and Hai Chen's mind was also turning upside down. He thought to himself: "This doesn't add up! This isn't right, the more I listen to this kid's story, the more suspicious it sounds. If there's only one ghost mask lantern, then our injuries should have happened at different times. But the time he mentioned earlier is basically consistent with what I remember. That means my father and his grandfather must have brought back the ghost mask lanterns at the same time, but later on, my father's lantern disappeared, which is why I went to find Liao Yang. If that's the case, it's not hard to explain why those people also came looking for Liao Yang."

  Hai Chen's memories suddenly returned to the beginning of the story, and this absurd and strange thing made him speechless for a while. Because even his teacher Duan Lao didn't know that his father had ever come back home, and he was also certain that his father had died in Pamir. Those who came to find Liao Yang probably had similar experiences as his own. If it were really like this, then something big would have happened.

  At this time, both of them were silent, and they both knew what the other was thinking in their heart. Hai Chen knew a bit more than Liao Dongfeng, who seemed to still be unaware that Hai Chen was the mastermind behind the arson that burned down his ancestral home. If he found out, things would never end.

  Hai Chen conducted a chemical test on the water sample, and the result showed that it contained high levels of sulfur and phosphorus elements. He said that as long as they didn't drink it directly, it wouldn't cause too much harm to their bodies, so everyone started preparing their diving suits. At this time, Liao Dongfeng was heading in the direction of the hot spring, when he suddenly caught a whiff of a foul smell. He scanned the water's surface and was shocked to see a large fish over a foot long with blood-red color jump out of the water, swallowing a sparrow that happened to be flying over the water. He couldn't believe his eyes, so he stopped and stared at the water's surface. Feng Le Tian turned around and saw Liao Dongfeng in a daze, and couldn't help but ask: "What are you looking at?"

  "Fish. Fish that can eat birds." Liao Dongfeng replied without turning his head back.

  "Fish?" was almost everyone's simultaneous question.

  "How can there be fish in this water? And still be able to eat birds?" Feng Le Tian did not believe it at all.

  "Take a look yourself."

  A group of people finally gathered around the hot spring to observe carefully, but after half a day, they still didn't see the fish that Liao Dongfeng had mentioned. Disappointed, Hai Chen also stared at Liao Dongfeng's face, but Liao Dongfeng didn't notice. From his facial expression, Hai Chen could tell that he wasn't lying, just that there was no evidence to support his words, and it seemed like a baseless claim.

  At this time, Tudouzi Anyuanmin had already changed into his diving suit. He walked up to the edge of the hot spring in big strides and patted Liao Dongfeng's shoulder, saying: "Brother, are you afraid of water? If you're afraid, just stay on shore."

  Before Liao Dongfeng could speak, Tudouzi jumped into the water and swam a circle, saying as he swam: "This water is really warm, why don't you come down and try it?"

  Liao Dongfeng was anxious at this time, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he shouted loudly: "Are you out of your mind? Hurry up and get on with it."

  An Yue Min didn't think so and continued to stroll around, but the good times didn't last long. In less than half a minute, he let out a sharp cry: "What thing bit me?"

  After he finished, he swam to the shore with all his might. Fortunately, he didn't swim too far out, and there were many people on the shore who quickly pulled him out of the water. At this time, Liao Dongfeng clearly saw that An Yue's calf was missing a piece of flesh as big as a fist, and the wound was bleeding non-stop.

  Looking into the hot spring again, a large piece of bubbles suddenly emerged from the water surface, as if it had been boiling. Before long, a group of crimson-colored big fish filled the entire water surface.

  These fish, with their entire body blood red, have scales that are indistinguishable in terms of hierarchy, milky white eyes bulging out like light bulbs, and a dorsal fin on their back that has degenerated into short bony spines about 10 cm long. Their mouth is filled with two layers of sharp teeth, the front row straight and the back row hooked, making it impossible for food to escape once swallowed.

  The largest of these fish were half a foot long, and the smallest was also twenty centimeters. Everyone witnessed it with their own eyes this time, and at that time, there was not a single word except for admiration.

  The big fish swam around the surface for nearly half an hour before swimming back to the depths, and the surface of the water calmed down again. However, the scene from a short while ago still lingered in everyone's mind, and the fear could not be shaken off.

  "What kind of fish is this? Does anyone know?" Hai Chen asked while bandaging An Yangmin's wound.

  "I guess this fish should be called tiger perch, belonging to the family of Lipidae, an ancient man-eating fish, a sacred fish worshipped by the Hemudu people, this kind of fish has been extinct for thousands of years, I really didn't expect that they still exist here."

  Liao Dongfeng said that, Qin immediately followed up and said: "In ancient times, there was indeed such a fish, Dongzi is right, but what I'm worried about now is, what should we do next?"

  Team leader Feng Le Tian was momentarily flustered, she was busy helping Hai Chen bandage An Yue Min's wound and didn't hear Qin Liao's question at all. It wasn't until Hai Chen reminded her to respond that she slowly stood up, turned around and looked at Liao Dongfeng saying: "I think we should head back first, wait for Tuzi's injury to heal before coming again."

  Liao Dongfeng smiled slightly and interjected: "I'm afraid Old Man Duan won't agree!"

  "I am the leader, I will take full responsibility for everything."

  Feng Le Tian's eyebrows were upside down, Liao Dong Feng shrugged his shoulders, and then smiled slightly, saying in a low voice: "I hope so!"

  After finishing, Feng Letian asked Qin Liao to carry An Yue Min on his back and return to Duan Lao's place. At this time, Qin Liao glanced at the earth dog An Yue Min and turned back to say to Feng Letian: "Captain sister, this kid is too fat, even if he loses a piece of flesh, it won't make a difference! Look at me, I'm as thin as a monkey, I really can't carry him!"

  Feng Le Tian furrowed his brow again, just wanting to say a few words to Qin, when Peng Jianjun chimed in beside him: "Don't be too hard on him, I'll take care of it. We're teammates, we're a united collective, everyone has to contribute their share, or else you should say that I'm freeloading."

  Liao Dongfeng was initially pleased with Peng Jianjun's high awareness, but after hearing him finish speaking, the smile on his face instantly disappeared, and he pointed at himself with his index finger, saying: "How can you say that I'm good? You can't even speak properly." After finishing speaking, he turned his head towards Feng Leitian and continued: "You all go back first, I'll take a look around and see if there's anything new to discover."

  Feng Le Tian had previously instructed Lao, so she did not object to Liao Dong Feng's suggestion. After reminding him to be careful, the others returned together to where Duan Lao was.

  As he watched the crowd disappear into the distance, Liao Dongfeng was about to wander off on his own when he saw Hai Chen turn back halfway, claiming that he was worried about Liao Dongfeng's safety. The two of them exchanged words about looking out for each other, but in reality, they both knew what the other was thinking. Since Liao Dongfeng couldn't shake him off anyway, he decided to bring him along as well.

  After walking for about 10 minutes, the two of them came to a slope. Liao Dongfeng turned his head and took a look at Hai Chen, seeing that he was sweating profusely, so he asked: "Are you okay? Want to take a break?"

  Hai Chen was not pleased, forcing himself to say he's fine, Liao Dongfeng smiled slightly and continued on his way, while secretly thinking of ways to get rid of Hai Chen, the clingy follower.

  Hai Chen had a disability in his leg, so he couldn't keep up with Liao Dongfeng's agility. Liao Dongfeng was mischievous and didn't care if Hai Chen could follow or not, he just kept climbing upwards, reaching the top of the slope first and leaving Hai Chen 20 meters behind.

  At this time, he found that the top of the slope was surprisingly flat, with a huge stone about three or four meters high, shaped like a nail, standing at an angle at the intersection of the slope and the flat ground. The giant stone looked as if it was about to fall down, so he quickly turned his head and shouted loudly at Hai Chen: "You go hide aside first, there's a big rock on top here that might roll down at any time."

  As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly raised his head and his gaze fell on a place about 50 meters away. There was also a similar steep slope there, but in the middle of the slope, there was a circular white rock protruding with a diameter of about three meters.

  Seeing this, he looked around again and found another similar slope. In order to take a closer look, he carefully climbed onto the giant rock.

  After standing firm, he stretched out his thumb to measure the distance, and after determining it, he began to ponder in his heart: This is not a naturally formed landscape, but a man-made structure. The two protruding rocks in the distance and the shape of the soil heap are roughly the same. If it weren't for the long years of wind and rain washing away, I might really not be able to see this pattern.

  There must be a mystery under the protruding rock, although the distance between them is inconsistent, but I know someone did it on purpose. So why does this giant stone stand here? It should be like those two, this is a mistake, absolutely a mistake, something unexpected happened at that time.

  Liao Dongfeng was thinking at the same time, and Hai Chen was also watching. However, he really didn't have the strength to go further up, and he also knew that Liao Dongfeng was doing it on purpose. So, he finally gave up on continuing to follow him and thought about sitting down on the ground to catch his breath. Just as he sat down, the ground suddenly collapsed with a loud rumble.