Chapter 20 Chapter 19 Fishing for corpses

It was already bright, and everyone was sitting around the small camp with awe-inspiring expressions.The blood-stained dummy and Wu Qun's horrific corpse lay at their feet, silently recounting all kinds of horrific and bizarre events that happened that night. And the trip to the "Uncanny Valley" has just begun. Now, a very real question is in front of everyone: whether such a trip should continue. Yue Dongbei's attitude is naturally the clearest: "Of course we must continue. Things have reached this point, how can there be any reason to give up halfway? Aren't you interested in the truth of these mysterious events? The answer lies in the 'Valley of Uncanny', within reach and!"

Luo Fei also began to express his opinion: "As far as I am concerned, the 'uncanny valley' must be visited. The more strange things happen along the way, the more it shows that we are indeed approaching the core of all secrets. Withdraw at this time, maybe It is exactly what the opponent wants to achieve. But..." After pondering for a moment, he looked at Bai Jian'e and said, "It seems that your safety is indeed under great threat. You can choose to quit. The general route It is already clear that as long as we go down the mountain and find the river smoothly, we can reach the 'uncanny valley' with our own abilities."

"No, no, Officer Luo, it's because you haven't figured out the situation." Yue Dongbei shook his head like a wave drum, "The current situation is that even if we don't go, Master Bai will definitely go to the 'Valley of Terror' !" Everyone didn't know why, and all doubtful eyes gathered over. Yue Dongbei looked at Bai Jian'e solemnly: "Indeed, your situation is very dangerous. But running back to Mi Hong Village will not solve the problem—didn't Xue Mingfei die in Mi Hong Village? 'Devil's Power' You have been resurrected, and you must re-seal this power before you can get the chance to be saved. And there is no one else who can do this, except the priests of the Hamo clan that have been inherited from generation to generation."

"You mean, we must find the priest of the Hamo tribe and ask for his help?" Bai Jian'e said in a low tone, seeming to be in a heavy heart. Yue Dongbei shook his head slightly: "It's not as simple as him helping you, you must unite. The Hamo tribe lost their blood bottle, and they must be in panic now. The 'devil' will not let them go. But if If you can work together and add my guidance, there may not be no chance of victory. After all, the "power of demons" was subdued by the warriors of the Hamo tribe more than 300 years ago. Since history has happened, it will repeat itself. possible."

Bai Jian'e frowned, lost in thought. "I don't agree with you going back either." Zhou Liwei also opened his mouth at this time. What is rare is that this time he is helping Yue Dongbei to persuade the other party, "No matter what happens, avoiding will only make you more passive. Now In this situation, you must stay. Since the problem has arisen in the jungle, it should be solved in the jungle! The more you delay, the bigger the trouble will be!" Zhou Liwei's words seemed to have greatly touched Bai Jian'e, he raised his head suddenly, and the two looked at each other briefly.Zhou Liwei's gaze was firm and persistent, and finally made Bai Jian'e make up his mind.

Bai Jian'e didn't say anything else, he nodded resolutely, and then glanced at Zhao Liwen beside him. "I will avenge Xue Mingfei and Wu Qun!" Zhao Liwen said to meet Bai Jian'e's eyes. Although his voice was not loud, there was a fearful ferocity in his tone. Bai Jian felt quite relieved from his nausea.Among his several followers, Xue Mingfei was the most caring, but when it came to being capable and effective, Zhao Liwen was none other than Zhao Liwen.Although the current situation is dangerous, if there are subordinates like this, it may not be irreversible. After the discussion was made, everyone packed up the camp and began preparations to continue on the road.Naturally, Wu Qun's body could not be taken away, so everyone worked together to dig a crude grave by the side of the road to bury the body for the time being.Residents of Mi Hongzhai respect the heaven, earth and nature the most, and being able to be buried in the mountains after death is also a good destination for them.

It was almost ten o'clock in the morning when everything was tidied up and we embarked on the journey again.Without Wu Qun, Bai Jian'e could only open the way at the front.Everyone walked forward all the way, heading down the mountain.Compared with yesterday's departure, there is one less person in the team, and everyone's mood has changed a lot.During the itinerary, there were very few people chatting, except for Yue Dongbei who seemed quite excited, everyone else looked preoccupied. However, going down the mountain was easier than climbing up yesterday, and there were no accidents on the way.By around five o'clock in the afternoon, everyone had successfully arrived at the foot of Mopan Mountain.

"It's time to reach Yijian Gorge not far ahead. Hold on for a while, and we will settle down when we reach the mouth of the canyon." Bai Jian'e turned his head and said to everyone at this time. "Don't worry. I'm in good condition today." Yue Dongbei felt that Bai Jian'e was worried about his physical strength, so he quickly replied, "It's fine to continue walking for two or three hours." However, Bai Jian'e shook his head: "When you reach Yijian Gorge, you can't go any further. In this kind of weather, it's very dangerous to settle in the canyon at night."

After walking east for another ten minutes, the sound of rushing rivers could be heard faintly in my ears.Luo Fei's heart skipped a beat, knowing that he was about to meet the river ahead.Sure enough, everyone followed Bai Jian'e through a dense forest, and suddenly their eyes lit up, and their vision suddenly widened. At this point, the group of people officially crossed Mopan Mountain and came out of the jungle.A river came from the southwest, turned a corner along the mountain not far in front of them, and flowed due east.Everyone was standing on the river beach at this time. Luo Fei knew that this was the small river in Mi Hong Village.When they went straight to the east and crossed Mopan Mountain, the river made a detour from the foot of the mountain on the south side, and finally joined everyone at the east side of Mopan Mountain.

After the long rush, the river has grown a lot.At this time, the span of the river is more than 30 meters, but the speed of the water flow is slower than when it was in Mi Hong Village. Everyone walked eastward along the river beach. This section of the road was not only easy to walk, but also surrounded by mountains and rivers, and the scenery was very pleasant.Everyone's long-depressed mood seems to have improved. After walking for about two or three miles, I suddenly saw two peaks not far in front of me suddenly uprooted, with a depression in the middle.This mountain depression is not only narrow, but also long and winding, and its end is hard to fathom.The river meanders along the col, and from a distance, it looks like a giant snake burrowing into a crevice in the rock.

Bai Jian'e stopped in his tracks, pointed to the col and said, "Yijian Gorge is ahead. Let's not go any further, let's rest on the river beach here." Without Bai Jian'e explaining too much, Luo Fei already understood why he couldn't stay in the canyon at night after looking at the terrain ahead.The distance between the mountains in the canyon is extremely narrow, only about 50 meters wide.Among the fifty meters, the river course occupies more than half, so there are very few beaches on both sides of the river that can accommodate people.Camp there, in case the water rises at night, everyone has nowhere to hide, and it is very likely that they will be swallowed by the flood. "If it hadn't stopped raining yesterday, the river would have filled the canyon, and we would have no way to go here." Bai Jian'e looked at Zhou Liwei and said again. Zhou Liwei smiled: "Finally, God has fulfilled our wishes, and our trip was not delayed." At the moment, everyone divides their work and starts camping.It was still early at this time, and everyone was not in a hurry.The three of Luo Fei set up a tent, while Bai Jian'e and Zhao Liwen went around the forest and brought back a lot of firewood. In addition to firewood, Zhao Liwen also chopped a two-meter-long green bamboo.When everyone started to eat dinner, he was not in a hurry. He sat aside and began to play with the bamboo.I saw him gouging out a hole at one end of the bamboo with the tip of a knife, then took out a circle of gray-black thread from his bag, and stuck it firmly in the hole. "Hey, you don't eat, what are you doing there?" Yue Dongbei couldn't help being curious, and asked loudly. Zhao Liwen just lowered his head and was busy with his work, without answering, but Bai Jian'e helped him with a brief explanation: "He wants to eat something special." "Are you going to fish?" Luo Fei noticed that there was a float hanging on the "gray line", and there was a sharp hook the size of a thumb at one end, so he made this guess. Sure enough, Zhao Liwen hung a small piece of bread on the hook, and then he came to the river, and with a flick of his hand, the hook dragged the fishing line and fell into the river. "Are there a lot of fish in this river?" Seeing this situation, Zhou Liwei couldn't help asking. Bai Jian'e replied curtly: "Kanglangyu." "The name is a bit strange, is it a local species?" Luo Fei has always been curious enough about fresh food. Bai Jianxi nodded: "This fish has a strong temper and great strength. It always likes to swim against the current in the water, so it has this name." "Oh?" This introduction aroused Luo Fei's interest even more. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the fishing line in the water. Not long after, the float suddenly moved, and the slack fishing line was straightened tightly. Zhao Liwen lifted his spirits, held the green bamboo with his left hand, but took out the machete from his waist with his right hand. Luo Fei was taken aback: "How can you use a knife while fishing?" "It must be an anti-wave fish. See how tight the fishing line is? No special method is needed. Even if the fish tears its lips, it will try to get off the hook and escape." Bai Jian's harsh words were vague, and when Luo Fei was thinking about what a "special method" was, Zhao Liwen had already given the answer with his actions.I saw him turn his wrist and put the back of the knife on the fishing line, and then he twitched back and forth, like playing a violin, the back of the knife rubbed against the fishing line to make a harsh "buzzing" sound.It sounded like the fishing line was made of something like beef tendon. Although the sound was not loud, it had a strong penetrating power, which made Luo Fei and the others upset.The head of the fish in the water is connected to the fishing line. One can imagine the taste at this time.After four or five back and forth, the fishing line was laid down softly. At this time, Zhao Liwen leisurely pulled the fishing line and dragged the hooked fish out of the water.The fish was already in a semi-conscious state, it was slender and not too big, just looking at its appearance, it was hard to imagine that it had such great strength in the water. It seems that there are indeed many anti-wave fish in the river.Within a few minutes, Zhao Liwen caught another one.Then he put the fishing rod by the river, returned to the camp with the spoils, pierced the two fish with thin wooden sticks, and grilled them over the campfire. After a while, the fish began to emit a tempting fragrance.Although Yue Dongbei had already eaten the jerky and flour cakes, he was still aroused by gluttons. Seeing that Zhao Liwen didn't intend to share it with others, he grinned and said, "I'll try it too." As he spoke, he walked to the campfire and reached out to touch the machete Zhao Liwen had put on the ground. Zhao Liwen suddenly became alert, his right hand stretched out like lightning, and he snatched the machete in his hand, and then the blade flashed, and the blade was pressed against Yue Dongbei's chubby arm. Yue Dongbei's expression changed in astonishment: "You...what are you doing?" "Xiao Zhao is too nervous, right? Mr. Yue just wanted to borrow your knife." Zhou Liwei said with a frown. Zhao Liwen didn't speak, but stared at Yue Dongbei warily with his eyes. "He is a man who loves knives. Mr. Yue wants to fish, so he should take my knife." Bai Jianxi threw his machete on the ground, and at the same time gave Zhao Liwen a restraining look. Yue Dongbei took two steps back, picked up the machete thrown by Bai Jian'e, muttered to vent his dissatisfaction, and then walked towards the river bank. Luo Fei watched the scene just now calmly, feeling a little strange in his heart.The camp was all his own people, so Zhao Liwen's reaction was indeed too sensitive.Could it be that he looks fierce on the outside, but deep down he is also full of fear of that "mysterious power"? Yue Dongbei strolled to the river, picked up the fishing rod, hung the prepared noodle cakes on the hook, and then imitated Zhao Liwen just now, with a flick of his arm, he threw the fishing line into the water.Seeing his clumsy posture, Luo Fei smiled secretly and shook his head, obviously this is a person who doesn't know the way. After a long time, there was still no fish taking the bait. Yue Dongbei felt anxious and took the fishing line back to check.I just saw that the bread was hanging on the fishhook properly, and there was nothing unusual.Yue Dongbei walked back and forth along the shore a few times, reselected a location, and then threw the hook into the water again. The action of throwing the hook this time was much more coordinated than before.The fishhook flew high, drew a parabola in the air, and plunged into the depths of the river with a soft "poof". Yue Dongbei took advantage of the situation and wanted to raise the fishing rod slightly, but when he raised his hand, he felt his wrist sink and the fishing line became straight. "Haha, a fish has been hooked!" Yue Dongbei smiled triumphantly, quickly raised the machete, and pulled back and forth on the fishing line with the back of the knife. "Why so fast?" Luo Fei muttered in surprise.Looking around, Bai Jian'e and the others also had puzzled faces, apparently feeling that something was wrong. However, Yue Dongbei was still in high spirits, full of anticipation, pulling the fishing rod back.Under the force, the green bamboo has already bent a deep arc. "Hey, I'm not a small fish!" Yue Dongbei turned around and greeted, "Hurry up and help me!" "The fishing line is only tight, but it doesn't wobble at all. It's definitely not a fish. It's probably hooked on the aquatic plants at the bottom of the river." Zhou Liwei analyzed in a slightly sarcastic tone. Bai Jian'e nodded slightly at the side, apparently agreeing with his point of view. Luo Fei saw that Yue Dongbei was closing the shot and pulling the string again, looking flustered and flustered, but it didn't have the slightest effect.He smiled and stood up: "Let me help him, it would be a pity to break the fishing rod." After all, Luo Fei walked a few steps quickly and came to Yue Dongbei's side.He helped to hold the fishing rod with both hands, and said at the same time: "Don't pull too hard, you have to hold down!" Under Luo Fei's guidance, the two pulled the fishing rod together, and after changing several angles, the fishing line submerged in the water finally trembled slightly, and slowly came out toward the water surface. Luo Fei saw that the fishing line was loose, but the strength in his hand did not decrease at all, and his heart moved: This is not a aquatic plant, but it seems to be hooked on some heavy object in the river. It had been raining heavily for several days, and the river was not very clear.Luo Fei and the two pulled the fishing line, and after retreating two or three meters, they saw a black mass slowly floated to the surface of the water under the drag of the hook. "Hey, this isn't a fish, what is it?" Yue Dongbei muttered in surprise. Luo Fei kept moving his hands, and stared at the water surface without blinking. The thing was getting closer and closer, and gradually revealed its true colors.Luo Fei felt a "thump" in his heart, and the expression on his face changed drastically: it was actually a corpse dressed in black! Yuebei also saw it clearly at this time, and shouted loudly: "Dead! How could it be a dead person?!" Bai Jian'e and the others were sitting peacefully in the camp to watch the excitement, when they suddenly heard Yue Dongbei yell out these words, they all stood up "teng", and hurried towards the river bank. When the three of them approached, Luo Fei and Yue Dongbei had already pulled up the body in the river, and the dead body was lying face down on the river beach.Bloated and wet, his figure should be that of a man. This scene happened so suddenly that Bai Jian'e and Zhao Liwen froze in place, their expressions a little dazed.Zhou Liwei was also tongue-tied, looking extremely surprised.Luo Fei furrowed his brows tightly, thoughts surging in his head.Only Yue Dongbei seemed to have discovered something, and yelled: "Look at the clothes he is wearing! This is the man we met in Mi Hong Village!" Yes, the deceased was wearing a black raincoat with a hood, and his attire was exactly the same as that of the man Luo Fei and the three met in the heavy rain.Only this time his hat was limply on one side, revealing a mess of wet hair. Luo Fei turned to look at Zhou Liwei. Zhou Liwei understood what he meant and nodded, expressing his agreement with Yue Dongbei's judgment. "This is the guest who appeared in the village two days ago? How could he die here?" Bai Jian'e showed a stunned expression at this moment. This is exactly what Luo Fei is thinking about.But the more meaningful action now should be to first take a look at the real face of the dead. Luo Fei took a step forward and knelt down beside the corpse.Gently, he unhooked the hooks hanging from the dead man's clothes, and turned the body over. Due to prolonged immersion in water, the skin of the deceased had turned pale, his face was swollen, and there were signs of decay.Even so, it can still be clearly seen that the deceased should be a young man in his twenties. Luo Fei stared at the face of the deceased for a moment, then suddenly let out a surprised "Hey", then he raised his head and said to Zhou Liwei: "Mr. Zhou, who do you think this person looks like?" Zhou Liwei stroked his chin, thought for a long time, and finally said: "It looks familiar, but I can't remember who it is." Luo Fei nodded: "It's normal that you can't remember, after all, you only met him once." Yue Dongbei scratched his bald head: "Do you know this person? Who is this?" Zhou Liwei and the others stared at Luo Fei, as if they were also waiting for an answer. "Do you still remember the first time I went to your office? There was a young man who came with me and forensic doctor Zhang that day. I thought he was your student." Luo Fei used words to bring Zhou Liwei back to his train of thought. I visited Longzhou a few weeks ago. "Reporter! It's a reporter from that website!" Zhou Liwei seemed to suddenly remember, "He was the one who leaked the Longzhou case to the public!" "Liu Yun." Luo Fei reported the name of the deceased, and then briefly described the situation related to this person to others. "Oh, which article I read online was written by him?" After listening to Luo Fei's narration, Yue Dongbei sighed, "In this way, without him, we would not have the chance to get together!" "Why did he come here too? Also, since you know each other, why didn't he contact you?" Bai Jian'e asked very puzzled. Luo Fei knew that it was difficult for Bai Jian'e to understand the style of journalists in the Internet society, so he didn't bother to explain.He looked at Zhou Yue and the two of them, and said with a wry smile: "He must have followed the three of us all the way here, and wanted to spy on some inside information that could attract attention." "Then he is really a caring person." Yue Dongbei showed a rare solemn expression, "Although our purpose of coming here is quite different, his fearless spirit of exploration is admirable. As a reporter , he acted very professionally." Zhou Liwei didn't bother to respond to this inappropriate comment, and frowned and said: "The question now is, why did he die here? Could it be that he crossed Mopan Mountain by himself, and then encountered some accident, or - was attacked by some kind? " "No!" Luo Fei categorically denied Zhou Liwei's guess, "We have just experienced the road conditions of Mopan Mountain. He would never be able to walk without a guide. Moreover, judging from the condition of the body, he died at least It's gone in a day or two." Zhou Liwei thought for a while: "It is also possible that the place where he died was not here, but the body was washed over by the river - if this is the case, he probably fell into the water in Mi Hong Village." This idea is still very reasonable. Even Yue Dongbei slapped his hands and echoed: "That's right, that's totally reasonable. Didn't he ask you to meet at Zhaizikou on the night when it rained heavily? In the end, he He didn’t show up. There happened to be another flash flood that day, and I think he was drowned by the flash flood.” Luo Fei originally thought so too, but certain conditions on the corpse caught his attention.He leaned closer, examined it carefully, and then shook his head solemnly: "I'm afraid the cause of his death is not that simple." "How do you say it?" Zhou Liwei caught the hidden meaning in Luo Fei's words, and immediately asked sensitively. "Look here." Luo Fei grabbed the dead man's hair, pointed to the left cheek of the corpse and said, "This is a knife scar, he was attacked before he died." Sure enough, there was a crack on the skin of the deceased's cheek, from the tip of the eyebrow to the root of the ear.Although the blood had already been soaked dry by the river water, it was obvious that the gap was cut by a sharp instrument, and the injury was serious. Zhou Liwei also squatted over. He first inspected the wound, then took a look at the dead man's mouth and nose, and said, "The knife wound is not fatal. There is sand and sand in the dead man's mouth and nose. His death The cause was drowning." "Drowning?" Yue Dongbei put his head up to the sky again, and began to think about the connection between this person's death and the "devil legend".But this time he seemed clueless, and after a while, he shook his head with a frustrated look on his face. Luo Fei didn't express any point of view for the time being, he squinted his eyes, and looked around the body of the deceased with sharp eyes.After a while, a detail caught his attention again. The clothes on the body of the deceased were neat, only the left arm was rolled up high.This is obviously due to some kind of deliberate behavior, because the cuffs of the rainproof suit are tightly bound, and even after a long distance of washing in the river, it is impossible to produce such a large displacement by itself. Luo Fei stretched out his hand and raised the dead man's exposed forearm. On the outside of the forearm, he found something strange. There were also a few sharp scratches there, but these wounds were much shallower than those on the cheeks, and the wounds formed three letters, "d", "a", and "n".The wound was fresh and must have been formed shortly before death. Others also noticed this strange phenomenon, and they all turned their heads together, looking confused. "What is this? Could it be a mark left by those who attacked him?" Zhou Liwei asked after thinking. Luo Fei shook his head: "No, since it has been confirmed that the deceased died by drowning, it is impossible for the attacker to make this mark." "Could it be that he carved it himself?" Zhou Liwei smacked his lips incomprehensibly, "Then what does he want to express? Is it the attacker's message? Dan (sound)? Lord Baizhai, is there a surname in Mi Hongzhai?" dan (sound)'?" Bai Jian was stunned for a moment: "The person with the surname 'dan'..." "It has nothing to do with the surname 'dan'." Luo Fei shook his hand decisively to prevent Bai Jian from thinking uselessly, "This is not pinyin, this should be English. Look at this 'd', there is a special letter at the end of the stroke." The tail is curved, while the vertical in Chinese Pinyin is straight." "English?" Yue Dongbei also joined the discussion, "But there is no such word in English." Luo Fei thought for a while, and he already had the answer in his heart, but out of a habit, he didn't say it right away. "This may not be a complete word. If the deceased left this mark when he was attacked, then he probably only had time to complete half of it." Luo Fei guided everyone's thoughts step by step. "Danger!" Yue Dongbei turned his head and suddenly realized, "He is sending out a warning: Danger!" "Yes, it means danger. Now, we can connect the results of the discussion just now one by one, and guess what happened to the deceased. Let me first talk about my thoughts. Listen to them and see if there is anything unreasonable." Luo Fei paused for a moment, organized his thoughts, and then said: "That night, the deceased asked me to meet at the entrance of the village. But on the way to the appointment, he was attacked. Judging from the knife on the deceased's cheek, the attacker obviously wanted to To his death. In the process of fleeing in a panic, he carved half an English word on his arm with a knife or something similar. Then he was swallowed by the flood—or by accident, or It is the masterpiece of the attacker. He only completed the three letters of d, a, and n. In English, the common words beginning with 'dan', one is 'dance', and the other is 'danger'. In the circumstances at that time, 'danger' undoubtedly has a more practical meaning. Of course, he certainly didn't need to describe that he was in danger. He left the word "danger" in the hope that if he died, the signal would be passed on to the living. I think this person It's me, or rather, us." Everyone listened quietly to Luo Fei's speech, and did not raise any rebuttal opinions. Based on the clues from all aspects, this speculation is indeed impeccable. "Then when he asked you to meet, he actually wanted to warn you of some dangers?" Yue Dongbei thought a little deeper. Luo Fei nodded solemnly: "Very likely." Zhou Liwei also thought along this line of thinking: "He probably knew something we didn't know. That's why the attacker wanted to put him to death." "Is he trying to persuade us not to go to the 'Valley of Uncanny'? Could it be that he foresaw that terrible things will happen along the way?" Yue Dongbei shrugged his shoulders and gave Bai Jian'e a sympathetic look. "He finally sent out the warning. Although the warning came a little later." Luo Fei stared at the pale face of the deceased, and said quietly, with a hint of gratitude in his words. Liu Yun could no longer understand Luo Fei's mood.The young man who came here to pursue the secret finally mastered a big secret as he wished, but he never had the chance to tell the secret. Fortunately, Luo Fei had already communicated well with the deceased in his own way.In fact, he was thinking about a problem that was not mentioned just now. No one noticed that there was a thin layer of sweat dripping from Luo Fei's forehead. Although there is no answer to that question yet, it has made Luo Fei's hair stand on end! Danger is imminent!