Chapter 5: The Dark River Encounter (4)

  "No, this is not a stone!" Jin Douzi said while looking at it.

  I looked back at Jin Douzi with a puzzled expression, the fish meat still stuck in my throat without swallowing.

  "What... what is this if it's not a rock?" I said, and then I started coughing violently, spitting out all the fish meat that was stuck in my throat.

  Jin Douzi held the stone in his hand and gently shook it in front of my eyes, I stared at his movements without blinking, but didn't notice anything unusual.

  "Rozego, put it in front of the bonfire and take a look." As he spoke, Jindouzi handed me that stone. I was perplexed and threw away the remaining half-eaten fish in my hand, then placed the stone in front of the bonfire to observe it. The originally pure black stone like asphalt surprisingly showed some translucency under the light of the bonfire, with a dark mist-like substance inside that seemed to be spreading. I was puzzled and gently shook it, and the dark mist inside seemed to drift slightly due to my shaking. This made me even more surprised - it shouldn't be a stone, could it be water?

  "Rozego, did you see clearly?" Jin Douzi said while swallowing a mouthful of fish.

  I nodded and continued to look inside, after a while I felt my eyes were a bit sore, tears had already flowed out. But still couldn't see anything clearly.

  "Is there water inside?" I asked, putting down the black stone.

  Jin Douzi was wolfing down his food, savoring the delicious fish meat. He opened his mouth wide, stuffed it full of fatty fish, and then swallowed hard with a pained expression. I gently patted his back, and only then did I hear a "gulp" sound as he swallowed the entire piece of fish meat whole.

  Jin Douzi chuckled and said, "Luo Ze brother, I finally understand why those earthworms and blue things have been desperately chasing you. When I first saw you, I thought you were a bit strange."

  My heart skipped another beat, could it be because of this thing?

  "Those earth dragons won't easily leave that patch of wasteland, and they generally won't attack people unless threatened. But when you appeared, they became particularly frenzied. When Grandpa and I talked about this, I found it very strange. Moreover, there's a strange smell on your body." Jin Douzi said, letting out a long sigh.

  "What smell?" I said, lifting my arm and sniffing, but there was no unusual odor.

  Jin Douzi chuckled and said, "Luo Ze Ge, I'm not talking about the smell on your body. This smell was left by that man in black, so my memory of him is even more vivid." Jin Douzi pointed at the stone in my hand and said, "Now I know that the smell comes from this thing."

  "What is this after all?" I couldn't bear Jin Douzi's continued suspense and asked in pursuit.

  "This is an egg." Jin Douzi said, throwing away the fish bones in his hand. Suddenly, a few loud "slapping" sounds came to our ears again, and then the dry riverbed was filled with water again. I and Jin Douzi stared at the turbulent river water in front of us in surprise.

  "Hey, do you know what this egg is?" I pushed Jin Douzi a bit, and he shook his head. We sat on the shore for a while longer, and after my clothes were dry, I picked up a wooden stick and continued walking forward.

  Maybe because I was full, the road ahead seemed much lighter to walk, the cave in front of me got smaller and smaller, and finally saw a ray of light far away, Jin Douzi and I rushed towards that light like we had gained new life. When we reached the end of the light, we found ourselves seemingly already inside a tomb.

  I and Jin Douzi hurriedly climbed up, at this time it was already afternoon, the sky was also a bit dark. I refused Jin Douzi's repeated invitations and insisted on returning to Daqi, after yesterday's life-and-death ordeal, even if I died, I didn't want to go back to that damned place again.

  When I arrived at Daqi Town, it was already late. I stayed in the dormitory arranged by my colleague and grabbed the phone beside me to call home to report safety. The old man heard my voice and said slowly: "Come back early!" Then he hung up the phone directly. I felt a little lost, so I dialed Lao Cong's mobile phone again, but there was no response after a long time. Last night, I didn't sleep all night, and now I'm extremely tired. I made two more calls, still unable to get through, so I lay down on the bed and fell asleep.