Chapter 18 Chapter 17: The Living Corpse

What kind of nation are they?When he saw them leave just now, Yuan Sen could clearly feel that there seemed to be something missing about them than ordinary people, like puppets strung together by strings, led away by the black-faced old man, they did not soul. "By the way, what they lack is anger—" Yuan Sen cried out. Yuan Sen returned to the place where he got off the car. It was broad daylight. Although those Miao people looked at him with hatred, they dared not do anything in broad daylight.Yuan Sen got on the private minibus to Helan County, and arrived at Helan County at around three o'clock in the afternoon.He asked passers-by about convenience stores that sell mountaineering equipment, but the equipment there is formalized and looks good, and it must not work if you want to climb a relatively difficult mountain.

Yuan Sen only bought hiking bags, alpine glasses and sleeping bags there, and after asking around, he finally found a military equipment retail store.The shop was small and dated, and at first glance it was hard to believe the quality of their equipment. The boss took out some military equipment. Yuan Sen is an expert in equipment, so he can tell whether it is really military equipment by touching it.Unexpectedly, although these things look old, there are indeed many good things. Some look like used, but as long as the quality is good, it is not important to professional explorers. Yuan Sen bought safety belts, military mountaineering suits, carabiners, nooses, rock hammers, mountain boots, compasses, high-power night vision binoculars and other things there.The boss hadn't sold so many things for a long time. He was very excited and even praised Yuan Sen's knowledge of the goods.

Yuan Sen asked him with a smile: "Where did these things come from?" The boss smiled mischievously, claiming that he knew people in the army, that he had a friend who was in logistics, and that he dealt with the replacement of equipment in the army.He was still afraid that Yuan Sen would dislike him, so he said that it was just a matter of making friends, and he could give him a few more good things. The owner of the shop mysteriously took Yuan Sen upstairs from the back door, fiddled with a warehouse on the second floor for a long time, and took out something wrapped in a snakeskin bag.Yuan Sen opened it and saw that it was actually the M9 type of the U.S. Army. The blade was black, the blade was sharp, and the back was serrated. The blade was 39 cm long and 25.6 cm long, and the thickness was 0.6 cm.Yuan Sen was playing with this M9, and it turned out to be genuine. I really don't know how this guy got it.This M9-style knife handle can be disassembled and has a built-in waterproof plastic bag, which can hide things like lighters. Some people also put fishhooks in it to survive in the wild.

The boss rubbed his hands together and said, "This item is half sold and half free. If you look at it, consider us as friends!" At this juncture, Yuan Sen wanted to go to the mountain immediately, and he didn't want to bargain with the boss, and the boss's goods were indeed of good quality.Without further ado, Yuan Sen counted 2,600 yuan according to the boss's quotation. The boss probably had never met such a cheerful customer before. He couldn't close his mouth with a smile, and sent Yuan Sen out of the shop to cross the road. Walk. Yuan Sen bought several versions of the Helan Mountain map at the cultural store, and then took the minibus back to Fengdeng with a big bag on his back, and then transferred from Fengdeng and crossed several adjacent towns, arrived at the Qiqikou, and then walked along the Qiqikou Go straight to the west and walk more than ten kilometers to the west foot of Helan Mountain.

Yuan Sen walked in with his equipment on his back, climbed over several hills, and found the place where Xie Wangan entered the mountain with a lot of effort.It was completely dark at this moment, and the time displayed on the waterproof watch was 8:30 in the evening. In front of it is a large deciduous broad-leaved forest belt. Powerful military flashlights illuminate the past, and you can't see the end at a glance, and there are green everywhere.Yuan Sen planned to walk forward for a few hours first, and then set up a tent after going deep, so that the possibility of encountering the mountain patrol team was much smaller.It is summer now, the trees are full of foliage, and the forest is very dull.Fortunately, it is relatively close to the outside of the mountain now, and the possibility of some large aggressive animals appearing is very small.Yuan Sen was only on his way, holding a flashlight in one hand, and cutting open the thorns and bushes blocking the way with his military dagger from time to time.

Yuan Sen walked for three and a half hours, more than ten kilometers, before setting up camp on a high ground to rest.He sprayed insect repellant first, and then set up a tent between two birch trees with a distance of only three meters. Because this area has not yet penetrated into the virgin forest, the possibility of being attacked by large animals is very small, so there is no need to build the tent on the tree.After Yuan Sen ate some dry food bought in Helan County, he got into his sleeping bag and went to sleep. He had already been exhausted from the continuous journey for the past few days.

In this way, Yuan Sen searched all the way according to the map drawn by Xie Wangan. After more than 20 years of changes and vicissitudes, many details of the marks no longer exist, but the slightly larger ones are still the same, and Yuan Sen has no trouble finding them. Later, the deeper he went into the primeval forest area, there was no way to go in the forest. Yuan Senjun kept his dagger in his hand, and his walking speed slowed down greatly.Moreover, he was attacked by wild beasts several times. Fortunately, Yuan Sen had a wealth of knowledge about survival in the wild, and he was safe from danger. He finally arrived at the valley Xie Wangan mentioned on the afternoon of the third day.

The shape of the valley is basically the same as what Xie Wangan described. Yuan Sen couldn't help trusting Xie Wangan's experience, and the mystery of Muzhai also made Yuan Sen yearn even more. Yuan Sen walked toward the depths of the valley. After walking about two or three kilometers, he suddenly found that the color of the rocks on the mountain wall was completely different from that of the ground and nearby rocks.The ground and rocks outside the valley are black and white, while the rocks in the valley are brownish yellow.What surprised Yuan Sen even more was that the mountain wall was not regular, but composed of many rocks of different shapes.Some of the rocks on the mountain wall are sunken, and some are protruding. Some are only a few meters high, while others are tens of meters long. They are inlaid on the mountain wall and extend all the way.

Suddenly, Yuan Sen's mind flashed, and he couldn't help but exclaimed, "This is a lava mound!" No wonder Xie Wangan said that the mountain was covered by heavy snow outside, but the valley was warm as spring. It turned out that there was a volcano on the mountain, and this valley should be the lava ridge landform formed by the eruption of the volcano.No one has ever known that there is actually a volcano on the Alxa Plateau, and it is hidden deep in the Helan Mountains. Yuan Sen quickened his pace and walked forward. After walking less than 500 meters, the bottom of the valley suddenly appeared. This valley has no way out, so where is the Muzhai mountain ghost hiding?

The valley is surrounded by grotesque rocks, and the mountain wall soars up into the sky, and the height does not reach the top. At the bottom of the valley, there are all kinds of green and enchanting plants, covering the mountain wall below three meters below the valley bottom. Yuan Sen held the military dagger and pushed aside the plants one by one to check. The rocks on the three sides of the valley were intertwined in a mess, some protruded, some were recessed, and there were gaps between the rocks, but how could such a big rock be shaken? Woolen cloth? If what Xie Wangan said is true, the Muzhai people must have entered and exited in this valley, but in such a long valley, if a trap is set up on a certain mountain wall, and the entrance of the cave is well handled, it will be difficult to be discovered.Moreover, this naturally formed lava ridge valley, the rocks are staggered, and it adds a natural barrier to the mechanism hidden on the back.

Even if all the mountain walls in the valley are checked now, the result must be the same as the bottom of the valley. Yuan Sen sat on the ground and fell into deep thought. If he had infrared detection equipment and used the principle of infrared wavelengths, he would definitely be able to find out whether a certain mountain wall was Hollow, but he only has ordinary mountaineering equipment in his hands, everything can only be empty talk. Yuan Sen sat on the ground and fell into deep thought. He kept telling himself that he must calm down at this moment.He tried hard to think of ways to find the entrance of Muzhai, but under the influence of modern technology for so many years, every method he could think of was inseparable from modern civilization. The sun is setting to the west, and the sky is slowly darkening. The night is like a curtain, slowly covering the mountains and rivers under the sky.It was a dark night without a moon, and the surroundings were eerily quiet. Yuan Sen felt at a loss that he was the only one in the world, and he had the loneliness of the whole world. Yuan Sen also thought of the instigator of the whole incident, the old man who tested characters at the Sankou antique market. He didn't believe that the old man was just a coincidence when he was killed, so he showed kindness and told him all this.Yuan Sen cursed a few words in a low voice, secretly thinking about how to settle accounts with the old man when he returned to the Sankou antique market.Yuan Sen was emotional, and the more he thought about it, the more confused he became. At this moment, he seemed to hear a desolate and sad singing.The singing was loud and sometimes quiet, sometimes vigorous and sometimes sad, as if it came from the distant world, people couldn't help feeling sad from it, the more they thought about it, the more uncomfortable it became. Yuan Sen stood up and looked around. The sky of Helan Mountain was black and blue. It looked so pure and beautiful. This is a land that has not been polluted by modern civilization. Suddenly, a loud "bang" broke Yuan Sen's contemplation. Ten feet away, two boulders separated from the middle, and the vines beside the boulder were pushed to the sides. The singing voice suddenly became very clear, sad and stern, and people couldn't help but feel desperate for life after listening to it. A group of strangely decorated aliens slowly came out from the cave. Pheasant tail feathers were inserted on the head, and blood-red dye was smeared on the face. The men tied short animal skin skirts around their waists, and the women tied animal skin jackets on their chests. Animal skin skirt with the waist exposed. Yuan Sen retreated to the edge of the mountain wall and carefully looked at the group of people. Their clothes were exactly the same as what Xie Wangan described. Each of them held a torch in their hand, and the torch was burning fiercely. Under the background of the fire, Yuan Sen could clearly see all the expressions on their faces. Eyelids closed naturally, they walked forward slowly with pious demeanor and step by step.In front of the line was a black-faced old man, his mouth opened and closed, and a mournful singing voice floated out of his mouth.The singing seems to have a special charm, which can make people's souls follow his tune, sometimes sad, sometimes desolate, and in this alternating mood, there is gradually a sense of despair. The old man sang and walked, and the team a foot away behind followed the singing slowly, in unison, but their walking posture was very mechanical, like a corpse that had lost its soul, shaking three times and being very stiff. A group of people walked past Yuan Sen and walked straight forward. Guided by the singing of the black-faced old man, they walked out of the valley.The team gradually blurred in the dark night, and the singing voice gradually became smaller, farther away, and faded away. Yuan Sen stared dumbfounded at them going away, only felt a strange atmosphere crawling all over his body, everything around him was so weird, he broke out in a cold sweat unknowingly. What kind of nation are they?When he saw them leave just now, Yuan Sen could clearly feel that there seemed to be something missing about them than ordinary people, like puppets strung together by strings, led away by the black-faced old man, they did not soul. "By the way, what they lack is anger—" Yuan Sen cried out. "How can a person not be angry? How can a living person be not angry? Could it be—could it be—they are all dead?" Yuan Sen's heart turned cold, "But how can a dead person walk?" Naturally, Yuan Sen thought of the profession of "calling the dead" that was widely spread before the liberation of Xiangxi, commonly known as mortician.However, the traffic in Xiangxi is not good, and it is very troublesome to transport the body back. The family members of the deceased usually ask a mortician to drive the body back.Mortalists usually travel at night and rest in corpse hotels during the day. This terrifying profession has attracted the attention of many adventure lovers, and Yuan Sen has also heard of it. The melodious singing sounded again, and the singing gradually approached. The same group of more than ten people, led by the singing of the black-faced old man, walked out of the valley in a daze. Yuan Sen didn't dodge this time, he just stood beside them, watching this group of strange people walk past him.The singing became shrill, like a sharp blade cutting a person's heart, the pain was suffocating. "Ah——" Yuan Sen suddenly let out a scream, the team stopped in response, and more than a dozen people turned around at the same time, facing the direction of the sound.Yuan Sen quickly covered his mouth, not daring to move, his heart was beating so hard that it almost jumped out of his chest. The group of people paused for a few seconds, the black-faced old man looked up to the sky and let out a few sharp screams, the team turned around again, and under the call of the old man's singing, according to the original formation, like zombies who lost their souls, they slowly headed towards the valley go outside. Yuan Sen saw that they were not dead, but blind, and they judged the direction based on the singing of the black-faced old man.And their eyes don't move, their eyelids close together, and their eyelashes don't even blink. But why are there so many blind people in Muzhai?Where was the black-faced old man taking them out of the valley in the middle of the night? Full of doubts, Yuan Sen parted the vine leaves swaying in the wind, held a military dagger, and crawled into the cave.You couldn't see your fingers in the cave, and Yuan Sen didn't dare to turn on the flashlight. In such a small environment, the light can easily make you a common target for enemies in the dark.Yuan Sen moved lightly, touching the cave wall, step by step, and slowly moved forward. The cave is very dry, and there is a faint wind blowing from the opposite side. It seems that it is often used, and just now I saw two teams of Muzhai people leaving the valley with my own eyes. I can already be sure that the entrance to Muzhai must be here. According to Xie Wangan, the entrances and exits of Muzhai are strictly guarded. Back then when Lin Wan took him to escape and had to pass through the hidden cave by the lake, the people of Muzhai would not let him enter the village casually as an outsider. Thinking of this, Yuan Sen was extra careful and acted as lightly as possible without making a sound.After walking for about ten minutes, the air flow in front gradually became stronger, and the singing voice of the blind Muzhai people guided by the black-faced old man suddenly became clearer.That voice is no longer a simple solo, but a chorus of a group of people mixed together.At first glance, the singing sounds noisy and chaotic, and they are doing their own thing, but when you listen carefully, the rhythm of each person's singing is so clear that no one is disturbed by others. The singing voice is vicissitudes and mystery, as if it is a sigh that has gone through thousands of years, and it is strange and desolate, as if a woman who has suffered all her life is telling her misfortune. Yuan Sen jumped out of the cave, and outside the tangled cave was a vast world.On the flat ground that stretches for several miles, piles of bonfires are burning. Beside the bonfires, there are groups of Muzhai indigenous people in primitive clothes sitting around.They sat quietly on the ground, closed their eyes and lowered their heads, looking up at the night sky, but the night sky was pitch black, not even a single star. Not far from the bonfire, there are rows of wooden bungalows. The bungalows are three or four in one block, and a few feet away are three or four in one block. As they get further away, they extend to the depths of the woods. In the center of the bonfire, there is a huge wooden shelf. The shelf is divided into three layers, in the shape of a vertical triangle and an inverted triangle. On the top floor is a large platform, more than ten meters above the ground. A raging fire was burning on the platform, and the sound of dead wood cracking one after another. An old man with a white beard stood beside the fire, posing in various poses and singing loudly. What he sang was exactly the ancient ballads sung by those black-faced old men, but his singing voice was more vigorous and vicissitudes, which made people feel disheartened and sad. The old man had colored feathers on his head, was completely naked, his body was red, and a lot of blood rolled down the platform on the platform. Yuan Sen looked at the old man on the high platform with a ferocious face and a sad singing voice. The strong wind blew in and made the old man stagger, and he was in danger of falling from the high platform at any time.The old man bent down, scooped up a ladle of bloody water from the bucket, and drank it all in one gulp. He suddenly opened his throat, and his singing became shrill, like a female ghost crying, which made people's heart break. At this time, the natives of Muzhai who were sitting around the bonfire stood up one by one, facing the direction of the high platform, and followed the old man's momentum and sang loudly, and the sound of singing was heard beyond the sky. The aborigines paused for a moment, turned around again, and lined up automatically. Under the leadership of the black-faced old man, they lowered their hands and walked slowly towards the entrance of the village, like a corpse that had lost its soul. Hundreds of people walked into the cave and walked out of the valley in such a mighty group.Yuan Sen's heart trembled suddenly. Are these hundreds of people blind?The natives of Muzhai, whom Xie Wangan said were terrifying like ghosts, were all blind. How could this be possible? Yuan Sen dragged an aborigine in the team, and that person turned around. Under the firelight, Yuan Sen could almost see every pore on his face. Indeed, this person was already blind.The man ignored Yuan Sen, turned back to the team, staggered into the cave, and disappeared. Those blind natives were like puppets, no matter how unreasonably Yuan Sen pulled them or knocked them to the ground, they didn't respond.Under the guidance of the singing, walk into the cave, walk out of the valley, and go to the unknown world. A few hours passed, and Yuan Sen collapsed to the ground as if he was exhausted. The ancient song was far away, and hundreds of indigenous people had already left, leaving nothing but the rustling of the leaves in the wind. "Young man, you came at the wrong time—" The blunt Chinese woke up Yuan Sen who was in a daze. Raising his head, what he saw was actually the old man who practiced the law on the high platform. His face was no longer hideous and frightening just now, but instead was full of solemnity and sadness. Yuan Sen was surprised, "Do you know why I came here?" There was a sad smile on the old man's face, and under the reflection of the bright red blood, he looked indescribably desolate and terrifying.He stroked Yuan Sen's head and said, "The purpose of your coming to Muzhai is not important, the important thing is that anyone who comes to Muzhai must die!" Yuan Sen's face froze. No matter who it is, in such a strange place, hearing such a sentence, it would be a lie to say that it is not nervous. The old man looked up at the sky, and recited poetically in broken Chinese: "The nation abandoned by God will suffer the most vicious punishment. People who have lost their souls, where will you go! God's light is as vast as the sea, No one can resist the curse of God. God came from the west to lead sinners who lost their homes to regain their hometown. But ignorant sinners always commit unforgivable sins with greed and challenge the power of God with pitiful desires. Robbers themselves The west came and fled to the west, and the seeds of the curse germinated and grew along the ancient plank road. The power of death is like a curse..." Yuan Sen shouted: "Are you a nation that regards the one-eyed green goat as a totem? I came here because I have the mark of the one-eyed goat on my body." The old man's complexion froze, and his cloudy eyes were fully illuminated. He pointed to the back with his finger, meaning whether the tattoo was on the shoulder blade, and Yuan Sen nodded. The old man shouted sharply: "Since you are far away from here, why do you want to come back?" Yuan Sen looked at the old man's blood-stained face, that face engraved with weather marks, shrouded in an aura of death, his muscles were so stiff that he showed no expression. Yuan Sen was at a loss for words. He felt that he really couldn't understand these aboriginal people. Even though the Miao people described them as mysterious, but now everything is normal in Helan deep mountains, what could cause all the people here to die? The old man sat on the ground, looked into the distance, and slowly asked: "How did you know that the imprint of the one-eyed green sheep is related to Mu Zhai? Who told you about Mu Zhai?" Since Yuan Sen came here, he didn't hide it, so he roughly told the old man how he met the mysterious old man who measured characters in the Sanimai antique market, and how the old man determined his life experience based on his own smell. again. The old man listened carefully, but did not speak. Suddenly, he grabbed Yuan Sen's neck with his hand, and lifted Yuan Sen's clothes with his other hand. A large part of Yuan Sen's back was exposed. The wind penetrated into his clothes, and Yuan Sen couldn't help shivering. The old man's eyes widened with anger, and his face suddenly became extremely fierce. He put his left foot on the ground, and his right foot picked up a sharp stone on the ground, grabbed it in his hand, and pressed it hard against Yuan Sen's chest.The old man's series of movements changed too quickly. Just as Yuan Sen wanted to resist, his chest was pierced by a sharp stone, and the pain was severe. The old man's face was ferocious, and he roared: "Boy, how dare you lie to me, where is the mark of the one-eyed Qingyang on your body? You are deceiving the great Qingyang King with lies." Yuan Sen was startled, knowing that something was wrong, the old man who tested the word was speaking half-truth, half-false, vaguely, and if he didn't notice it for a while, he might have been used by him. Yuan Sen said: "Without the imprint of the one-eyed Qingyang, what is there?" "Nothing at all." Yuan Sen was stunned immediately, he didn't have the habit of looking at himself naked in the mirror, so he couldn't confirm whether he really had the one-eyed Qingyang tattoo on his body.Following the old man's instructions, he took photos of his shoulder blades at the Sankou Antique Market, and he had long thought that the old man would play tricks, so the photo studio he chose was the one that the old man was least likely to calculate. Yuan Sen kept a close eye on the photographer during the whole process from shooting to developing the photos, and there was no chance for him to cheat.Then the one-eyed green sheep mark on his body must have been left on him by the old man?This old man who measured words was unpredictable, he had been in the rivers and lakes all his life, and he was used to all kinds of methods that Yuan Sen had never heard of, so Yuan Sen didn't notice it for a while, so he fell into his tricks. The more Yuan Sen thought about it, the more horrified he became. According to this, the old man who tested the characters calculated so accurately, just to lead him step by step into the deep mountains of Helan, and find the legendary underground gold and emerald glazed palace?Why would he do it at all costs? Yuan Sen couldn't figure it out, but he could truly feel that the conspiracy behind the old man measuring characters was so big.Perhaps, Xie Wangan, an old man from the Miao village at the foot of Helan Mountain, was a pawn arranged by the old man who measured characters, in order to lure him into the depths of Helan Mountain. The old man put more force on his hands, and the sharp stone penetrated a little further, Yuan Sen's muscles twitched, excruciating pain, Yuan Sen's vitals were restrained, he could only bow his head and wait for death, he could not struggle. The old man completely restrained Yuan Sen, then suddenly threw him to the ground, threw the sharp stone aside, and said to himself, "Forget it—forget it—Muzhai has been destroyed, you foreigners, it's useless to come, I There is no difference between killing you or not killing you!" As he said that, he turned around and walked slowly towards the direction where his clansmen left, singing sharp and high-pitched ancient songs in his mouth, like weeping and complaining, which moved people. Enduring the severe pain in his body, Yuan Sen blocked the old man's way, and shouted: "Believe it or not, I was deceived into entering this Muzhai. You said I would die in this inexplicable place, but at least you Tell me why I died." The old man stopped, stared at Yuan Sen, and suddenly reached out to grab him, punching and kicking everywhere.Yuan Sen was prepared this time. Although he was injured, he was not as passive as before.The old man's fists were fierce, not like any other boxing style, but cruel, like a wild beast fighting for life. Yuan Sen accepted the challenge calmly, stopped with silence, and gradually gained the upper hand. He grabbed the old man's wrist with a jerk fist, slid down, hooked his ankle, and attacked up and down, knocking the old man to the ground. Yuan Sen knocked down the old man, crossed his wrists, and clamped the old man's neck. The old man's eyes widened with anger at first, and his eyes gradually lost their focus. Finally, he curled up on the ground like a wounded beast. Yuan Sen didn't mean to hurt the old man either, seeing that he was defeated, he unconsciously let him go.The old man sat up from the ground, leaned against the big rock, and said, "I can feel that you are different from other aliens." The old man continued: "You alien races are too vicious. The fate of our clan's downfall and destruction is all due to you. For thousands of years, we have moved and moved, and finally came to this day." The old man's blood-stained face was full of sadness. He said slowly: "Everything is fate. If I hadn't been greedy for women from different races, I wouldn't have fallen to where I am today. Aliz's anger brought Come to the curse of the True God of Qingyang, my greed for desire brought about the demise of the tribe, all of this is God's punishment." After the old man finished talking to himself, he ignored Yuan Sen, stood up, and walked into the tribe, just in the opposite direction from where the clansmen left just now. Yuan Sen thought that the old man was over-stimulated and confused, so he couldn't help reminding, "You're going the wrong way." The old man ignored Yuan Sen, and continued to walk forward staggeringly, muttering, "Great King Abliz, the aura of God has always shrouded you, sinners should be punished, please forgive me." The people under my rule, my soul will follow you and be your eternal servant and bodyguard—” The night wind was blowing, and the shadows of the trees were swaying in the wide square. The voice of the old man's incantation was prolonged by the night wind, and it became extremely shrill and desperate, which made people feel sad and could not help crying. As the old man walked into the woods, his voice gradually became weaker, and was brought out by the night wind faintly, adding infinite mystery.Yuan Sen was curious and weighed things carefully. If he didn't follow the old man to see, it would be a waste of time to go deep into Muzhai this time. Moreover, the old man repeatedly emphasized that he would die, but how he died is very curious.