The slope here is slightly gentler, and there are several large craters on the hillside above the small hot spring, which look like deep craters created by small meteorites that fell from the sky and burned and split in the atmosphere.
These sinkholes are so deep that you can't see the bottom due to the mist, and the pale yellow sulfur boiling water is boiling inside.
Looking around, it feels like you are in a large sauna in the north that can accommodate more than ten or twenty people.
The air was extremely hot and humid, and the hot mist coiled in the air like thick smoke. After a while, Wu Xie's clothes were all wet, and his exposed face and hands were covered with condensed water vapor.
Oxygen was already thin in the high mountain snowfields. After staying in the thick fog for a long time, Wu Xie felt a little tight in his chest and short of breath. He quickly turned around and walked a few steps away from the big boiling steamer.
After walking out of the hot spring eye, Wu Xie saw Zhang Haixing's figure passing by in the dense mist. Apparently she continued to go up to check the situation behind the hot spring.
There should be more hot spring pits like this going up behind, but the sight is blocked by water mist.
Wu Xie was holding the jacket that he had taken off because of the heat. He stood there for a while, looking at the red-colored gauze-like sunset above the snow line in the distance. His legs were very tired. He didn't want to go up any more, so he sat on the same spot. After slowly catching his breath, he used the intercom to tell the fat man about his situation and urged them to come up quickly.
As the sky got darker, Wu Xie found a place with a relatively flat slope and put down his backpack, waiting for Fatty and the others to come up so he could set up camp directly.
Fatty and Feng actually climbed up shortly after Wu Xie and the others left, but they carried most of the equipment, so the speed was a bit slower.
After a while, Wu Xie saw two black figures climbing up the mountainside. He hurried over to help carry a bag of equipment.
The three of them walked slowly to the flat slope and found the place where Wu Xie had marked it with his backpack.
The fat man looked around and felt that this place was good. The wind behind him was still warm, and he could feel the heat of the rocky mountains under his feet through the thick soles of his shoes.
"That's it."
As soon as the fat man spoke and confirmed the location, Wu Xie and Feng began to set up the tent.
The fat man set up a pot and started boiling water for dinner, and asked, "Where is Zhang Haixingren?"
"She went higher up." Wu Xie replied, busy taking out the grilled dried fish from his backpack.
Feng slapped his waist, which he had inadvertently touched while going up the mountain, and looked up higher. He suddenly said strangely: "Wu, Fatty, have you noticed that the crack seems to have disappeared?"
"It must have been blocked by the heat coming out of the hot spring. It's so dark now, so I can't see it." Wu Xie looked up and found that the crack of heavenly punishment that was like a sharp sword slashing across the top was indeed gone. .
He was a little unsure and said, "Didn't Zhang Haixing go up? She probably won't go too far by herself. I'll wait for her to come back later and ask."
Feng nodded and said nothing more. The three of them were busy.
After a long time, Zhang Haixing emerged from the thick fog, her face covered with moisture, as if she had just been fished out of the water.
The first time Wu Xie looked at her, he felt that something was wrong with her expression and asked, "What's wrong? Did you find anything up there?"
Zhang Haixing sat by the fire, watching the fish meat in the white soup gurgling in the pot. She was in a daze for a few seconds, and then she seemed to realize that Wu Xie was asking her a question, and replied: "There are many bones, more bones than what we had in Kangbalu before." From a distance, you can see several times more, and the cracks in the rocks above are almost full of corpses."
Wu Xie was stunned, "Why are there so many?"
Is it possible that all the Kangbalo people who escaped from the snow disaster finally gathered here, but in the end they still couldn't escape their fate?
The fat man looked at Wu Xie's expression and helped him ask, "Are they all Kangbalo people who fled up the mountain?"
Zhang Haixing shook his head and denied, "I don't think they are Kangbalo people. I observed carefully that all the bones were killed and discarded in the same place, and the clothes and weapons of these people were taken away after death. There are no missing nameplates that can prove their identity, so we can’t tell their origins. We can only tell from the size and thickness of their bones that most of them are men, and their bone ages are very young.”
"Furthermore, looking at the degree of decay of the bones, it seems that they died a long time ago, about a year or more. The bones are messy and incomplete. There are many stab wounds and bullet marks on the limbs and sternum. Most of them are one The killing was very straightforward, and based on a rough estimate of the number of skulls visible on the surface, I am afraid that one or two hundred people died."
In other words, a large-scale chaotic armed conflict once occurred on this mountain.
"One or two hundred people, my dear, why are there so many?" The fat man shook his eyebrows and asked in surprise, "Those people gathered here, have they formed the six sects and attacked Guangmingding on this snow mountain? Killed them Could it be the legendary Bronze God Cult!"
Zhang Haixing glared at him speechlessly, "What you said is all nonsense, and you are still acting poor at this time."
The fat man curled his lips, ignored her, and said to Wu Xie: "Those bones may have entered the snowy mountains a long time ago, and came here to look for things with the same purpose as us. It was just that they were discovered and stopped. This place is far away from Kangbalo." Being so close, the person who did it is probably the Kangbalo people, who can kill so many people at once, it seems that they were fighting an ambush at that time."
Wu Xie looked at Zhang Haixing thoughtfully, "If he is killed in one blow, it seems that apart from your Zhang family, the only people with such a neat killing method are the Kangbalo people who have guarded here for generations."
From this point of view, it is not difficult to deduce the identity of those bones. They are just coveting the things deep in the snow mountains. Whether it is the golden ball treasure in the mysterious canyon or the bronze gate that is the purpose of their trip, those people will definitely die. Not innocent.
Zhang Haixing didn't know what she was thinking. She had been restless since just now. Wu Xie's words did not reach her ears.
Wu Xie raised his voice and asked again, "In your opinion, will the people who died up there be the Wang family or people from Jingjing Company?"
Zhang Haixing came back to his senses and shook his head, "It's hard to say, I can only say that it's possible."
Feng quickly waved his hands and denied very firmly: "They are definitely not our people. The people sent by the headquarters have never set foot in this place before. You have also seen that the ice lake is the biggest obstacle for us to come here. , before the star map is cracked, we don’t even know how the subsequent route should be taken. The headquarters will not take the risk of sending so many people here to sacrifice in vain. Every one of our members is very precious."
Zhang Haixing also said: "I have never entered the snowy mountains here before, but my brother has entered several times. He knows the shortcut to find Kangbaluo, but he always goes to them to discuss cooperation, and I have never heard of him talking about Kangbaluo. That's what happened in Lowe."
The fat man picked up the pot and asked Wu Xie to add some charcoal to the stove. He said, "According to Fatty's analysis, it was probably the Kangbalo people who did it. Those bastards sneaked up to the mountain and didn't know what they were going to do." As a result, Kangbalo's tribe found out about the matter, and the two sides couldn't understand each other, so they would start fighting if they disagreed."
"Either the Kangbalo people set up an ambush here in advance, killed all the trespassers here, stripped off their clothes, confiscated their weapons, and the remaining bodies were exposed in the wild to feed the vultures."
Zhang Haixing agreed, "There are indeed signs of pecking on the bones. Of course, they may also be teeth marks."
She was not good at this and could only tell that the flesh on the bones had been eaten by something before it weathered.
"You mean, sky burial?" Feng said. "As far as I know, in the Tibetan Tantric funeral customs, if the corpse is eaten by vultures, it means that the deceased has left the human world and ascended to the west. This funeral ceremony is similar to the Buddhist ritual. The salvation of the soul is salvation. If the vulture does not eat the corpse, it means that the deceased was guilty of great sins in life."
"If the Kangbalo people killed these intruders, they would not dump the bodies here directly. The people who invaded their homeland are unforgivable enemies. They would not choose to use sky burial to forgive their enemies, but These corpses will be treated with very cruel torture."
Wu Xie and Fatty looked at each other with serious expressions. He saw that Feng had something else to say, so he asked, "What do you mean?"
"I wonder if you have heard of Kavanaga, a snow monster transformed from a dead soul." Feng said in a deep voice.
Wu Xie understood what he meant instantly, but he was still a little confused, "Are you trying to say that those corpses were killed by... Kavanaga, the so-called spirits on the snowfield?"
Just as Feng was about to nod, the fat man sneered, "Comrade Shit, do you want to listen to what you are saying? If you want to make up ghost stories, the fat man can tell you nonsense for three days and three nights without any repetition, man." Comrade Zhang Haixing just said that the fatal wounds on the bones were all knife wounds and gunshot wounds. Even if there are spirits here, is it possible that they can shoot bullets without any instruction? So awesome."
Feng's face turned red. He didn't know whether he was infuriated by the heat or the fat man. He defended: "You have misunderstood me. What I want to say is that Kavanaga's attack method is not a physical attack, but a physical attack." It is a kind of parasitism, because they are transformed from souls, so they can get into the bodies of living people and eat their souls, and eat their bodies to become nutrients."
"There is a detailed record in "The Biography of the Supreme Master Tsongkhapa" that Kawanaga appears in large numbers every time, not just one, but in a group. Due to the nature of soul bodies, they are afraid of sunlight and salt, so they only Will appear at night.”
Hearing what he said about having noses and eyes, with a serious look, the fat man couldn't help but become suspicious, "Then you can tell me, what kind of thing was eating all the flesh on those corpses? Is this what you said?" Son?"
Feng nodded, "Yes, Kavanaga likes to eat fresh corpses. The book also records that this kind of spirit has no fixed shape and will imitate the appearance of its prey. They have entities but change like water. changeable."
Wu Xie pondered Feng's words carefully, and suddenly thought of something, and he was shocked! Ruined!
According to Feng, Kavanaga will appear at night, and at this moment, they are probably squatting on the nest where this monster feeds!
Zhang Haixing obviously thought of this, and immediately stood up and walked around, then came back and asked Feng, "Is there any other way to restrain this monster recorded in the book, besides sunshine and salt?"
They didn't carry much salt with them, and almost all of it was used when grilling fish. If those monsters appeared in large numbers and attacked them, the little salt they had left wouldn't be enough.
Feng thought for a moment and said hesitantly: "I don't know if the firelight is useful to them, but the bright light will always make those monsters and monsters a little more wary."
Seeing that the little remaining daylight was about to disappear behind the mountains, Wu Xie and the others did not dare to waste any more time and took action immediately. They dug out all the charcoal and fuel in their backpacks, dismantled one tent, and then placed another tent in it. A circle of charcoal was evenly placed around the tent and lit before it got completely dark.
The fat man moved the stove and pot into the tent, and the four of them quickly finished dinner around the stove. They wrapped themselves tightly and prepared a pinch of salt beside them. They turned their backs to the hot stove and were ready.
The surrounding temperature was already as high as the beginning of summer. In addition, in this basically closed space, the wind could not blow in. The fat man was so hot that he was sweating and his eyes were blurred and he could not open them.
In the blink of an eye, Shen'er suddenly felt like there was a warm person sitting next to him. No, there were always people sitting next to him, Feng on the left and Wu Xie on the right.
But he didn't know why, but his heart was always twitching at the moment, as if something very bad was about to happen.
The fat man immediately looked to the right with his peripheral vision and saw that the person on the right was indeed Wu Xie with a rifle in his arms. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to say something to him. His neck was frozen in place.
He saw Wu Xie's shadow, but this shadow was very strange. It was facing the direction of the burning stove behind him and stuck firmly to the ground.
Wu Xie was motionless, but the shadow was slowly shortening, leaning on Wu Xie's back little by little.
After all, that ghost thing came unexpectedly at an unknown moment, and the flames were of no use to it at all.
There was only one last move left for the current plan. Seeing Wu Xie squinting his eyes and winking, Fatty held his breath and slowly reached out to grab the salt bag on the ground.
Relying on the long-standing tacit understanding between the two, the moment Wu Xie suddenly lowered his head and fell down, he tore the paper bag open, and all the salt powder inside flew onto Wu Xie's neck.
Only a series of sizzling sounds like water dripping into the pan were heard, and the black shadow shrank into a piece and got into the gap at their feet.
Before the two of them could relax, a series of gunshots suddenly exploded in their ears.
The shooter was Zhang Haixing. The firelight outside the tent had been completely covered by black shadows, making it pitch black. (End of chapter)
