I didn’t tell anyone about the five incense sticks that were instantly extinguished.
I just followed silently at the back of the entire team, always vigilantly looking in the direction where rustling sounds were coming from.
I have lived in the plains of the Yellow River Basin since I was a child. Even when I walked here and there as an adult, I have never seen such a dense forest.
Suddenly, I developed a fear of nature from the bottom of my heart.
But one good thing about me is that I have a strong ability to adapt to the environment. At first, I was quite afraid. Even if a grasshopper jumped from my feet, I would tremble with fear.
But as time goes by, this kind of thing seems to be extremely common. The reason is that this is the Daxinganling Mountains, which has the richest biodiversity in the entire country. There is nothing I can't think of here, and there is nothing I can't see.
Slowly, I really adapted to this dense forest. Even when a hare or a snake passed by my feet, I no longer felt frightened or afraid.
Slowly, I forgot all about the five incense sticks going out.
A group of us marched for a whole day in the dense forest, and finally arrived at the forest ranger station that Brother Bao mentioned.
I asked about the forest ranger station on the way, and Brother Bao said that the Daxinganling area is one of the few virgin forests in our country.
In addition to hundreds of species of animals, there are also many extremely rare plants.
Illegal logging has been rampant in the Northeast since ancient times. In order to protect the original forest appearance of the Daxinganling Mountains and prevent illegal logging and poaching, the country established a forest ranger station in the Daxinganling Mountains.
The so-called forest ranger station is actually just a small cabin in the middle of the forest.
There are three people in the forest ranger station. One is in his 40s or 50s. He is the stationmaster of the forestry station. The specific name is unclear. Anyway, Brother Bao and Liu Ye call him stationmaster Zhang. I heard that he is already here guarding the station. Lingzi has been around for more than 20 years.
The remaining two people are both young people, in their twenties. They are said to be sent by the local forestry bureau to assist Station Master Zhang. They rotate every three months. Now we are here and it is almost their rotation period.
In other words, they will leave the forest ranger station and replace them with two new people to stay with stationmaster Zhang for another three months. It seems to have the same meaning as an internship after college students graduate.
I've always questioned why I was packing people in large and small packages as if I were moving here when I was clearly looking for someone in the primeval forests of the Greater Khingan Mountains.
It wasn’t until I met Station Commander Zhang that I realized that more than two-thirds of the equipment we carried were prepared for the forest ranger station.
After being accepted, I opened it and found that it was filled with things like firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, and some daily necessities and medicines.
It is taboo to march at night no matter when and where, let alone in this ancient and mysterious primeval forest. If you walk around at night, you will probably end up with no bones left.
For Webmaster Zhang, meeting such a person all of a sudden really made him extremely happy.
A large table of good wine and delicious food was prepared for us that day.
Master Liu and Brother Bao seemed to be very familiar with Station Master Zhang, and it was really not fun to exchange cups and cups.
We young people seemed a bit unsociable, but out of politeness, we still stayed with them to eat and drink until late at night.
There is only one wooden cabin in the ranger station. Although it looks pitifully small from the outside, it is quite spacious inside.
Separated by a wooden wall, one side is the office and dining area, and the other side is a very long and large fire pit, which is the only one in this wooden house that is not made of wood.
At night, the temperature in this primeval forest dropped even lower, or they were worried that we would not be able to adapt to the temperature, so Station Master Zhang and the others made the kang very hot, and it was very comfortable to lie on it.
Although there are nine of us in total, it is more than enough to lie on the fire bed.
So much so that there were two spaces for us as a dividing line between the seven men and the two women, so we didn’t feel crowded at all.
After driving for a day in the primeval forest deep in the mountains, we were already tired and sleepy. Coupled with the heat of the kang, we fell into a deep sleep not long after lying down.
I don’t know how long it took, maybe because I was a light sleeper, but I heard a burst of noise, and then the sound of two people whispering.
It was very dark in the wooden house, but after getting used to it, I could vaguely see two blurry figures.
I knew that those two figures were the rangers who followed Station Commander Zhang to guard the Daxingan Mountains.
"Hey, how are you? You won't be discovered, right?"
"Don't worry. They all drank a lot. They all slept like dead pigs and couldn't wake up."
"Okay, then hurry up. This is a good opportunity. Let's do some secretly. When we get back, we will make a fortune!"
"Hahahaha, I'm rich!"
"Shh, you're crazy, keep your voice down!"
The two people chatted quietly, then they put on their shoes and clothes, and walked out of the house cautiously.
I don’t want to meddle in other people’s affairs, but I always feel that these two young forest rangers seem to have some ulterior secrets. What does it mean to get rich by doing something? Is it possible that in this dense virgin forest? There really are ancient tombs among them.
Thinking of this, I still felt a little bit sleepy, so I got off the kang very quietly, grabbed my clothes and followed carefully out.
It was dark outside the cabin, a bit scary, and the moon was completely obscured in the thick night sky above.
No matter how dark it is, even if two people are face to face, it is unlikely that they will find each other's existence. This is the terrifying thing about the virgin forest.
As soon as I left the cabin, my eyesight went dark and I didn't know where I was. But fortunately, not far ahead, I saw the light of two flashlights, and I knew they were undoubtedly the two rangers.
The two forest rangers walked towards the depths of the forest. It seemed that they were carrying something on their backs. Only their outlines could be vaguely seen.
Maybe I was curious about the mysterious behavior of the two forest rangers, but I didn't feel anything to be afraid of walking alone in this dark forest.
So I followed from a distance, stumbling one step at a time and one step at a time, not knowing how far I had followed, when the two rangers suddenly stopped.
Watching the flashlight flashing from a distance, I didn't know what those two guys were doing, so I quietly got closer, intending to take a closer look.
With this natural barrier of darkness, I secretly closed the distance to within ten meters.
Click...!
I accidentally stepped on a fallen branch, which made a crisp sound.
If this was during the day, it would be an insignificant and inconspicuous sound, but in this deathly silent night, it sounded so harsh and creepy.
"Who, who's there?"
Or maybe they heard a strange noise, and the two rangers shone their flashlights towards my location almost at the same time.
Fortunately, I reacted quickly enough and hurriedly lay down on the ground, hiding in the weeds. Otherwise, I would have been discovered by these two cautious guys.
"There seems to be movement over there!"
I hid very quickly, but the grass around me caused a commotion. The two forest rangers obviously saw the so-called commotion and were walking towards my location step by step.
At that moment, I vaguely saw that the two rangers were holding compound bows in their hands.
I have seen those two compound bows. I asked them about them while eating and drinking. They said that in order to protect their own safety, the bureau specially distributed them to scare those who were poaching or illegal logging thieves. .
Of course, the reason why they are equipped with compound bows is because they are young and have insufficient qualifications. The stationmaster is different. He has a double-barreled shotgun. Although it is a bit older, it can still do a lot of damage. A powerful weapon.
