Chapter 7 Chapter 6 Arrow Symbols

This earth-shattering change came so suddenly that I was completely at a loss for an instant.Only four people were yelling, but amidst the constant thunder, they couldn't hear what they were yelling at all, and they ran towards the helicopter. I waved to Zhang Taifeng naturally, and ran to the helicopter. When we were two steps away, with the lightning and thunder, the shower had already poured down.The sky and the earth were filled with the sound of rain and thunder, and the momentum was so great that it was really indescribable. When I got on the helicopter and looked out, I couldn't see anything except a piece of water, and the field of vision would not exceed three meters. It was like being in hell in the water.

I collected myself and immediately imagined that the expedition team encountered an attack under such circumstances. They were in a panic and could only fight back at the source of the gunshots. Of course, they had no way of knowing what happened. The heavy thunderstorm came and went quickly, at most five minutes, first the rain stopped, then the thunder and lightning gradually weakened, the dark clouds dispersed, and the sky and the earth returned to clarity. The dangerous situation just now was like a nightmare. I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief: "What a big thunderstorm!"

Zhang Taifeng murmured: "It's like being in a ghost land!" Zhang Taifeng sighed deeply, of course because he was still dissatisfied with Dian Xiwei's participation in the expedition. Originally, I was preparing to contact Bai Su, but suddenly the sky changed like this, I felt ashamed that I couldn't keep my composure in the changing situation, and I only felt the insignificance of human beings, even the existence of human beings in the midst of the changes It is almost equal to zero, so of course I can't continue the action I was originally planning to perform. At this time, after the rain had passed, I calmed down, and then I started to contact Bai Su.With the most advanced communication equipment, it is not difficult to communicate with Bai Su.Within two minutes, I heard her voice.

Bai Su's voice was always calm, it was hard to tell whether she was excited or depressed in her voice. I couldn't wait to describe our situation here to her first, in considerable detail.As usual, Bai Su never interrupted my conversation. After I finished speaking, she said: "I also have a new discovery here." I hurriedly said, "What discovery?" Bai Su said: "It turns out that when the robbery happened at the bank, there was a heavy thunderstorm." I originally thought that the "new discovery" was a real new discovery, but unexpectedly what Bai Su said was such a thing, I couldn't help being greatly disappointed, and snorted.Because in tropical places, thunderstorms are the most common weather phenomenon. We just had a very heavy thunderstorm here. When I thought of this, I suddenly felt as if I was stabbed by a needle, and I was shocked in vain. I thought of the expedition team and the bandits When encountered, there was also a heavy thunderstorm.I once compared the patterns of two things and found many similarities.Now there is a little more of the same: when things happen, there are heavy thunderstorms.

At that time, I really had no idea about the relationship between the thunderstorm and the incident. I just felt that this was the same point, and it could prove that there was a certain relationship between the two weird things. Although Bai Su and I are far apart, she can know my reaction even if we just talk on the phone, so I thought of this, and she said: "The death of the bank robber and the death of those nine gangsters, The reasons are the same—at least there are very important things in common.” I nodded again and again—the wonderful thing is that although I didn't make a sound, Bai Su immediately knew that my reaction was to agree with her, and she continued: "So as long as we solve the mystery of the bank robber's death, we can also understand the mystery of the death of the bank robber." The cause of the death of the nine gangsters."

I responded, and said: "Our affairs here are more complicated, because the expedition team is gone—" Before I could finish my words, Zhang Taifeng who was on the side couldn't bear it anymore, and shouted: "Stop studying how those gangsters died, it's important to find out where the expedition team has gone!" I glared at Zhang Taifeng, Bai Su also heard Zhang Taifeng's yelling, she said: "Zhang Taifeng is right, the expedition team suddenly lost contact, the situation must be bad, we must find them as soon as possible." I also wanted to ask Bai Su if there was any new progress, but Bai Su urged me to take action quickly, and Zhang Taifeng glared at me again, so I had no choice but to say "contact me at any time" and terminate the conversation .

Seeing Zhang Taifeng's situation, I said angrily, "How should I start to act?" Zhang Taifeng was anxious and hesitant again, and said with a wry smile: "Don't make things difficult for me! I'm so confused, what other ideas do I have?" Not only did Zhang Taifeng say this, but those four people also had their eye on me, waiting for my advice. I thought about it for a while, and asked first: "In which four directions did you search last time? How did you search in four different directions?" At this time, it is actually difficult for me to decide how to start, so I must first understand the situation of their search.

Those four people listened to my question and answered it very seriously. They first pointed out four directions.One is forward. Going forward from this big water, wading through the big water, at least three kilometers, you can see another canyon ahead, and the water gushes out of the canyon. The other two directions are left and right.To the left, less than 100 meters is the high mountain, the mountain is very dangerous.To the right, after about two or three kilometers of water, there are the same high mountains. Another direction they pointed out was backward, which is the way we came. They explained: "It is estimated that after the accident, the expedition team may cancel the trip and go back home, so we also sent a team to search the way we came. Of course it didn't work out."

The searches to the left and the right both climbed to the peaks on both sides, and with the cooperation of the helicopter, nothing was found. The focus of the search is on the forward direction, because judging by the tone of the expedition team's report of the accident to the headquarters, it is ready to move on.So forward is where the expedition is most likely to go. Helicopters were dispatched to search, and they flew as low as possible to record video on both sides of the canyon. When the four people talked about this, they added: "There are more than six hours of video tapes in total. We have watched them repeatedly, and we have not found any signs of the expedition team passing by."

I frowned: "Didn't you send anyone to search on the spot along the possible route of the expedition?" The four of them seemed to have expected my question a long time ago, and they answered immediately, and they answered very confidently: "We think that using helicopters to search is more effective than sending people. The situation by the river, and you can see the situation on the cliffs on both sides of the canyon. If the expedition team encounters difficulties, it will send a signal for help, and it is easy to find it on the helicopter.” Their answer cannot be said that there is no reason, but the result of the search is not found, which seems to be a problem.

While I was thinking about it, the four of them said again: "The helicopter flew a long way forward, close to 100 kilometers - it will take at least two days for the expedition team to reach such a long distance. After flying out of the canyon, the mountain is even more steep , The helicopter adopted the honeybee hovering method at low altitude, and expanded the diameter of the circle to 30 kilometers, but still did not find anything." According to them, the search was really well done, the only thing that didn't happen was that no one was sent on the ground to follow the likely direction of the expedition - which didn't seem to make sense, since the helicopter could have done a better job. it is good. But since it's the only thing that hasn't been done, it's the only thing we can do right now. Once I have made a decision, I start to arrange actions. I want two of the four to fly the helicopter at low altitude and keep the speed as slow as possible, in order to cooperate with me, Zhang Taifeng and the other two.I demanded that the helicopter not leave our sight, and that we not leave the helicopter's sight.If the helicopter flies away, fly back immediately. The people on the helicopter have to search and record at the same time as our people on the ground. The four of them listened to my order, and immediately separated two people to control the helicopter, and the other two followed me and Zhang Taifeng wading forward. Since we knew that the expedition's itinerary was to go to the left bank when they planned to go, and to go to the right bank when they came back, and even if they encountered an accident, they had no reason to change the itinerary plan, so we moved along the left bank and started searching. On that large piece of water, it is really impossible to leave any traces, so we moved faster. When approaching the canyon, the water gradually deepened. Although it was not up to the knees, the current was very fast, so it became quite difficult to move forward. Due to his impatience, Zhang Taifeng fell down several times, his whole body was drenched, and he was very embarrassed, but he didn't feel it at all, it was of course because of his extreme anxiety. After crossing the large expanse of water and entering the canyon, it was even more difficult to move forward.We have to climb over one boulder after another before we can move on.And the boulder was very slippery, Zhang Taifeng and the two had to spend a lot of effort to climb one.After all, my skills are much better, and it is easier to use the jumping method. Soon I discovered that the rocks on the high places are not slippery because the water can't splash, and there are plants growing in the crevices of the stones, which can be used for climbing, which is much easier than advancing in the low places. I believe that when the expedition team passed by here, they should also discover this point. We followed the most likely path the expedition team had passed to find it, and of course it was the easiest to find clues. After I climbed about 20 meters, I asked Zhang Taifeng and those two people to come up too. Due to the deafening sound of the water, they couldn't hear my cry, but they kept paying attention to my actions and saw my movement. Gestures can also understand what I want them to do. When the three of them also climbed up, Zhang Taifeng gasped: "At this speed, the expedition team cannot advance more than ten kilometers per day." I looked over at the two men, who nodded in agreement. This is very important, because the time from the loss of contact of the expedition team to the arrival of the search personnel at the scene did not exceed 36 hours. Even if the expedition team moved quickly, it is estimated that they would not have traveled more than 20 kilometers. In other words, the 20 kilometers is the range we should search for. I took a breath: "From now on, every step we take, we must be very careful about the surrounding situation, and don't miss any clues." There were a total of seven expedition members, and they carried a lot of supplies. If they had passed by here, it is really impossible not to leave any traces. But we traveled about a kilometer and still didn't find it at all. I once estimated that the expedition team might climb higher. However, after I climbed a little higher, I found that the route we traveled was the most suitable. The expedition team had no reason to choose the easy and the difficult, so they still moved forward at this height. After walking about another kilometer, I arrived at a fairly flat stone flat. I found a stone and sat down to rest for a while.Looking up at the helicopter, just because it flew over the head, it turned back. I glanced at those two people who have been in charge of communicating with the helicopter. They shook their heads, indicating that the helicopter had not found it either. Zhang Taifeng became more and more anxious and irritable. As soon as I sat down, he yelled at me: "Why don't you leave? Sitting still, how can you find someone?" I knew he had a reason to be anxious, so I was not angry, and explained to him: "If the expedition team is going forward here, they may also take a rest when they come to this stone flat. You might as well search here. See what you find." Zhang Taifeng obviously couldn't listen to my words, he raised his foot and kicked a clump of plants bitterly.The plant, with its elongated leaves and small purple three-petaled flowers, was everywhere after entering the mountains and did not attract our attention. At this time, the clump that Zhang Taifeng kicked grew under a very flat boulder, and the plants spread to one side of the boulder. I described the growth of this plant in detail, of course it is because Zhang Taifeng made great progress with his kick. Zhang Taifeng kicked this kick, originally unconsciously, just to vent the anger in his heart, but unexpectedly, where he kicked, the big bush of plants was kicked into the air.At that moment, both Zhang Taifeng and I were stunned, but the two of them didn't show any strangeness at all. Large bushes, green and flowering, should of course have roots.This kind of plant that grows on the rocks often has its roots deep into the crevices of the rocks. How could it be kicked by Zhang Taifeng? Seeing my stunned expression, those two people laughed, and grabbed the same kind of plants growing under their feet, and then lifted a large clump. Only then did I see clearly that this kind of plants did not have roots, and they were rooted at all. What grows on the rocks! Later I learned that this is an air plant, which absorbs water and nutrients in the air through leaves with a special tissue structure, without roots.There are many types of this plant, collectively referred to as "Tillandsia" (TILLANDSIA), all of which have beautiful small flowers, and are a specialty of Central America.Later, Bai Su and Hong Ling took a lot of them back to plant, and the effect was excellent—this is something for later, so I won’t mention it. But I said that after I saw clearly that this plant had no roots, I was admiring the wonder of nature's creation, when I suddenly heard Zhang Taifeng's strange cry, followed the sound, and saw him pointing at the big rock with an extremely excited expression. I hurried over and saw that on the side of the boulder that was originally covered by plants, there was an upward arrow and a small circle. Zhang Taifeng was so excited that his voice trembled, and he shouted: "Dian Xiwei——Dian Xiwei! This is the mark left by Dian Xiwei!" Before I could ask, he shouted again: "The circle next to the arrow is a mark that Dian Xiwei often uses, definitely, it is left by her!" While screaming, he took a few steps back and raised his head to follow the arrow pointing, looking up. Generally speaking, an arrow mark is left, and the direction pointed by the arrow represents the direction of progress. At this time, the direction of the arrow is upward, so Zhang Taifeng naturally looked up, looking for Dian Xiwei's whereabouts. I also looked up, and what I saw was steep rocks, towering cliffs, and a steep slope, estimated to be more than 60 degrees. It is not impossible to climb up, but it is very difficult. It would be unbelievable for the expedition team to climb up the cliff as indicated by the arrow—what is the purpose? The two men leaned over to examine the marks on the boulder, and their expressions were also very puzzled. Obviously, they couldn't figure out why the expedition team had to climb up the cliff. We were baffled, but Zhang Taifeng thought differently. After seeing the mark and affirming that the mark was left by Dian Xiwei, he didn't even think about why the expedition team did this. When we were puzzled, he had already Use both hands and feet to climb up. After inspecting the mark, the two men straightened up and said to me: "The mark can be presumed to be left by the expedition team." Fernando once introduced them as tracking experts, so I don't ask them why they are sure of this. Although I didn't ask any questions, I still looked very puzzled. The two looked at me and spread their hands to show that they didn't understand either. Our common question is of course: Why did the expedition go up the mountain? The original purpose of the expedition was to explore the source of the river, so it should go along the river, there is no reason to climb the cliff. But the arrow was clearly pointing upwards, and the meaning expressed couldn't be clearer—no matter what the reason was for the expedition team, they were going upwards. Therefore, in order to find the whereabouts of the expedition team, we should also go up. I made a gesture to them and started to climb, and they followed me.When we started to climb the mountain, Zhang Taifeng had climbed nearly 50 meters. We suddenly heard his cry, looked up, and saw that he was holding on to the boulder with one hand and pointing upwards with the other. His body was very unstable and precarious. It was frightening. Of course, he had made a major discovery, and he was excited, so he completely ignored his own safety, and looked at what he pointed, but couldn't see anything.The two men took out the small binoculars and looked at them. They were surprised and inexplicable. They immediately handed the binoculars to me. Above Zhang Taifeng, about 100 meters away, there is another arrow mark on a rock, still pointing upwards, and there is also the small circle that Zhang Taifeng said represents Dian Xiwei. This shows beyond a doubt that the expedition team has indeed climbed the cliff and is continuing to climb. Having made such a discovery, Zhang Taifeng was even more excited. The speed of climbing up was astonishingly fast, and he soon reached the big rock marked with an arrow. I yelled upwards, asking him to wait for us there, but he seemed very reluctant, and kept jumping with both feet on the big rock, urging us to climb up quickly. At this time, the two men were already climbing up while communicating with the helicopter.I heard the content of their contact with the helicopter, and admired their associative power. They said to the people on the helicopter: "We found two arrow marks in a row. Please use the remote telescope to observe the cliff to see if there are still the same arrow marks." We are climbing a mountain. If there are marks on the cliff, we cannot detect them until we get close. However, it is much easier to watch from a helicopter. While we were talking, we were gradually approaching Zhang Taifeng. I noticed that the two people who were talking to the helicopter had strange and inexplicable expressions on their faces. I hurriedly asked, "What did the helicopter find?" Zhang Taifeng also saw that the action of the helicopter was observing the cliff, so he also paid great attention to the answers of those two people to my question. The two looked at each other, and then asked through the communication device with earphones, "Have you looked carefully?" It seems that they got an affirmative answer, and their expressions were even more weird. The two took a breath together, and I was anxious: "What did the helicopter find?" The two still couldn't answer, each sighed, took off the microphones they wore on their heads, and handed them to Zhang Taifeng and me.The meaning could not be more clear than that, it means that we should communicate directly with the helicopter. I felt that things were weird, and I didn't know what they were hiding, so I immediately put on the microphone and asked the two people on the helicopter: "Please pay attention to the arrow symbol on the cliff, what is the result?" The answer from the helicopter was: "We saw twelve arrow marks left on the cliff, about every 100 to 200 meters, very obvious. And the highest arrow mark...is Larger than any other arrow symbol, probably over a meter, on a rock on top of a cliff..." When the people on the helicopter answered, their tone was also hesitant.Of course I know that it's not that they have doubts about what they saw, but that they don't understand what the highest arrow symbol means. If the arrow symbols indicate the direction of progress, then the one at the foot of the cliff and the rest indicate that the expedition is continuing upwards. But what does the tallest one mean? The highest arrow symbol remains on the top of the cliff. If the symbol means to continue upward, could the expedition team go to the sky? No wonder those two people couldn't tell the story. Zhang Taifeng and I were asked to listen to the observation report from the helicopter. Zhang Taifeng looked at me as if he had swallowed a pile of mud. I couldn't see my face, I only felt numbness in my cheeks, and I thought it must be ashen-colored.I tried my best to gather my mind and looked up, but I couldn't see the arrow symbol mentioned by the two people on the helicopter. Of course, it was because of the craggy rocks blocking my sight.At that moment, I even wondered if the two people on the helicopter were talking nonsense! Zhang Taifeng stretched out his hand to wipe the sweat off his face, and looked at me, obviously he became very flustered by this fact that happened for no reason at all, and he didn't know what to do. I took a breath and said, "Anyway, we have to go to the top of the cliff to see the highest mark." Zhang Taifeng nodded like a fool. I said: "Other marks should also be observed in detail, but we don't have to climb the mountain, we can watch it with a telescope on the helicopter." After saying this to Zhang Taifeng, I immediately asked the two people on the helicopter: "Is there any place on the top of the cliff for the helicopter to land?" The two replied: "Barely there - there is a relatively flat place, which can barely land." I know that "barely" means that it may be dangerous, but considering that it will take at least ten hours to climb the cliff with a height of more than 1,000 meters, it is better to use a helicopter.I was very anxious to see the tallest arrow symbol.Although you don't need to look at it, you can know that the arrow symbol means going up, but how can the expedition team ascend to heaven?So I think this mark may have something else to do, so I have to observe it carefully. Zhang Taifeng also calmed down at this time. He heard that I wanted to use a helicopter to go up the cliff, and he objected: "You use a helicopter to go up the cliff, and I will climb up." My thoughts were confused, so I was quite impatient with his objection, and said loudly: "Why don't you use advanced tools?" Zhang Taifeng insisted: "Dian Xiwei...and the expedition team climbed up. I want to follow the path they passed. I think that I can make more discoveries." I wanted to argue with him: Knowing that they reached the top of the cliff and left an arrow mark, the process is not important.But after I saw Zhang Taifeng's determined look, I didn't say anything. I looked at those two people, and they immediately said: "We are with Officer Zhang, and we will observe every mark on the spot." I expressed my admiration for their attitude, saluted them, and said, "I'll go to the top first, we'll contact you at any time." I wanted the helicopter to land at the foot of the cliff, and I started to descend, while Zhang Taifeng and those two continued to climb up. When I got on the helicopter and the helicopter flew upwards, I observed with a remote telescope and saw Zhang Taifeng and those two people very clearly. If necessary, I could count their eyebrows clearly. Of course I can see the arrow marks left on the cliff one after another. Some of the marks are larger and some are smaller. Without exception, the arrows are all upward. If there is no special meaning, then the purpose of those who left these marks is to tell the people who saw the marks: the expedition is moving upwards. Originally, this is not abnormal, the problem lies in the last mark on the top of the cliff. I have reached the top and can't go up any more, why should I leave the upward arrow symbol?Moreover, this symbol is very large, obviously the person who left the symbol specially told the people who saw it that this symbol is very important! So I think this highest symbol is a major key. Zhang Taifeng and those two people climbed upwards, I guess when they saw the third arrow symbol, we had already reached the top of the cliff. The helicopter was indeed very difficult to stop. After stopping, the fuselage was tilted at an angle of 30 degrees. In this situation, it is definitely not suitable for a long stop, so I got off the plane, the helicopter took off again, and went back to refuel. So I was the only one on the top of the cliff. Zhang Taifeng was very impatient and kept asking me, "What did you find?" I moved tens of meters on the top of the cliff, and when I got to the big rock with the arrow symbol, I found that the arrow was bigger than what I saw through the telescope. It was almost the same as the mark under the cliff. , are sprayed with a kind of spray paint - this kind of paint is usually used by urchins to graffiti on the wall. At this time, I felt very resentful towards Dian Xiwei—since so many marks were left along the way, why didn't I simply leave a text explaining my whereabouts and what happened? Perhaps she thought the sign was clear enough to explain the problem, but it caused us great trouble. Or maybe she was in a hurry when she left the mark and didn't have time to explain further, as evidenced by the fact that the circle next to the tallest mark is only more than half drawn.