Seeing Zhang Zhuoxun and the younger brother running away separately, Wu Xiaoxie and the other three were dumbfounded.
Wu Xiaoxie looked left and right and said, "Let's chase him separately." As soon as he took two steps, he was grabbed by Pan Zi and stumbled into a mud pit.
"Stop chasing him." Pan Zi dug him out of the mud. "They were too fast. We were half a beat too slow and couldn't catch up."
The fat man wiped the rain off his face, turned around and asked, "Are you sure that's Chen Wenjin? Don't you know her, Tianzhen? Then is she shy and embarrassed after not seeing each other for many years or something? How come she runs away when she sees someone?"
Wu Xiaoxie spat out the muddy water in his mouth and was speechless when he heard this, "That person was all black and covered in mud. I couldn't even tell whether he was a boy or a girl. How could I know who he was?"
Besides, even if it's Chen Wenjin, after so many years, his appearance must be different from when he was a child. He'd be damned if he could recognize him immediately.
"Then what should we do now? Why don't we get our equipment and try to give chase? If we encounter someone, we can provide support." Fatty said.
Pan Zi waved his hand and persuaded him to give up this idea, "Both brother and Muyu are very measured. If it's something that neither of them is sure about, we will add more chaos if we go in. The jungle is full of dangers. Maybe we will end up with them." Come to rescue, it’s better to stay where you are and wait until the rain stops tomorrow morning before making plans.”
The two fat men thought the same thing. Instead of soaking in the water and scratching the pheasant's neck, it would be better to go back to the stone platform.
The three of them returned to the shore, tied up the engineer's shovel with a rope, and hung the wet clothes up to dry.
The tea on the smokeless stove was boiled again, and Pan Zi habitually added some cold water to it. The boiling tea instantly calmed down his anger.
As time went by, the rain became heavier and heavier, and a curtain of water droplets that would not break seemed to be hung around the tarpaulin. It was wet and foggy, and the visibility was getting lower and lower.
Wu Xiaoxie always felt uneasy. He woke up immediately after taking a nap. He couldn't hide his annoyance. He felt like there was something blocked in his chest and he couldn't breathe.
He glanced at the fat man who was sleeping soundly with his head propped up and snoring, and then at Pan Zi who was looking at the rain curtain outside, wondering what he was thinking.
He simply got up and wanted to take a look outside.
But as soon as he got up, he suddenly noticed something was wrong from the corner of his eye, and his scalp suddenly went numb.
He wasn't sure if he had seen it wrong just now, so he took a deep breath, held the miner's lamp and walked towards the edge of the tarp, towards the body of "A Ning", stepping carefully step by step.
I walked to the sleeping bag, took a closer look, and heard a buzz in my head.
The sleeping bag was empty, and "A Ning's" body mysteriously disappeared!
"Pan Zi, Fatty!" Wu Xiaoxie hurriedly ran over to call the two of them, "It's broken, it's broken, something big happened, An Ning's body is missing!"
The fat man was so frightened by the voice that he shivered. When he opened his eyes, he was stunned and cursed, "***, who did this?"
The three of them looked at each other with confusion on their faces.
A perfectly good corpse just disappeared under their noses. Is this okay?
"Could it be a pheasant neck again?" Pan Zi guessed.
"That's not right." The fat man immediately retorted, "Muyu didn't put snake-proof material around the tarp..."
"Fuck!" Fatty screamed. When the three of them took a look, they realized that all the sulfur powder around the tarp had been washed away by the rain.
This is a snake-proof thing. I'm afraid that if the pheasant's neck reaches their nest later, they won't notice it at all.
"Made." The fat man cursed, pulled out the dagger, and said to Wu Xiaoxie, "Tianzhen, please light the lamp by the side. I'll go over and see if there are any pheasant necks hidden inside."
Pan Zi pulled him and disapproved: "It's too dangerous. That kind of snake is very fast. If it pounces out and bites you, you won't be able to react at all."
As he spoke, he took out two empty cans from his backpack and threw them towards the sleeping bag one after another.
"Clang", the iron can box hit the ground through a layer of cloth and made a crisp sound, which was clearly heard in the ears of the three people.
After waiting for a while,
Seeing no movement in the sleeping bag, Pan Zi and Fatty plucked up the courage to step forward and carefully opened the sleeping bag. At first glance, the inner skin of the sleeping bag was covered with messy and slender mud marks, which felt sticky and traced. Very new, obviously just left there not long ago.
The three of them couldn't help but feel a chill running down their spines.
The fat man said quietly, "No wonder we can carry such a heavy corpse away. Just looking at these marks, there must be at least hundreds of snakes in Te Niang's house. If there are more, elephants can carry it away."
"What did these snakes want to do by taking away Aning's body?" Wu Xiaoxie asked confused.
Pan Zi sneered, "It can't be just for fun. Snakes are very utilitarian. There must be a reason for transporting the corpse. We have to be more careful. I always feel that they won't stop here."
There was another moment of silence, and the annoyance that had just subsided in Wu Xiaoxie's heart emerged again. The terrifying dream of that day's trance prophecy appeared in his mind, and the face that looked like a human and a snake seemed to linger like a curse.
No, we can't just sit back and wait for death.
Wu Xiaoxie stood up immediately, held the lamp and walked out without saying a word.
Pan Zi hurriedly grabbed him, "Xiaosanye, what are you doing?"
"I have to find Aning's body." Wu Xiaoxie lowered his eyelids slightly and said in a suppressed voice, "She shouldn't die here. At least she can't be thrown into a pile of snakes and ignored."
As soon as he finished speaking, the fat man slapped him on the head.
The fat man snatched the lamp from his hand, scolding and admonishing him, "Aren't you stupid? A person is a human being when he is alive, and he is just a stinky skin when he dies. I wanted to say it before, even if there is no pheasant neck." Damn it, even if you don’t sleep with the corpse, we can’t take her out of here, and if you’re not a relative, there’s no need to risk your life for a corpse.”
Pan Zi sat him down and persuaded: "A person dies like a lamp going out. There is no point in doing anything after death. We did not abandon her by the waterfall. We have done justice to our conscience. Hundreds of people took her away." A snake, what can we do even if we find it? With just the three of us, there is no way we can snatch the body back from the pile of snakes. This bitch is just going to die."
Wu Xiaoxie was immediately discouraged, scratching his head, and his whole body collapsed.
After eating something casually, the three of them decided to wait for their younger brother and Zhang Zhuxun. In fact, facing the pheasant necks that might pop up in the swamp to cause trouble at any time, they didn't know where to go.
Pan Zi added some more fuel to the smokeless stove, fearing that Wu Xiaoxie would get into trouble, so he kept guard by his side.
The fat man collected what little sulfur he could find mixed with egg white, and placed some around everyone.
Worried that the pheasant neck would come back, the three of them nested together back to back that night, watching the surroundings without blinking. The slightest movement would set off their alarm bells.
As the morning light faded, one or two monotonous bird calls came from the forest tips, and the night finally passed.
