I felt Wen Siqiang's body tremble slightly and asked him, "Are you scared?"
He replied, "To say I'm not scared would be a lie. A little."
I said, "I'll bet he reports my information to Wu Guodong. The only thing we can do now is wait. That's why I hesitated just now about whether to resist. Even if we had fought them and broken free, what then? We came here to see Wu Guodong, at least to contact someone from the inner circle. Even if we managed to escape by some fluke, we'd be deserters. In that case, we might as well not have come." Da Feng Xiao Shuo Wang
Wen Siqiang: "Boss, I understand the logic, but I just don't know if they'll change their minds. If they really don't, we'll either be bitten to death by snakes or eaten by leopards later."
I understood. The leopards here had eaten people before and surely hadn't forgotten the taste of human flesh. They might have been watching us from somewhere. Da Feng Xiao Shuo
We had no weapons. The only thing we could use was the several meters of rope around our waists. There wasn't even a decent tree branch in this large pit. If there were, we could have broken off a wooden stick to hold. But there was nothing here but dead trees.
Apart from this mountain cave, the rest of the place was bare. If wild beasts attacked, we wouldn't even have a place to hide.
I said, "Let's gamble. In my limited life, I've always been gambling. This time is no different, although the stakes are a bit high, our lives. But we have no choice. Gambling is our only sliver of hope."
Wen Siqiang: "We're not just gambling on them changing their minds, but also on the speed of their change. We know we're waiting, but the wild beasts in here don't. They operate based on whether they're hungry."
I felt that Wen Siqiang was truly scared this time. To imagine being torn apart by tigers and leopards alive, what would that feel like? Forget actually experiencing it, even thinking about it sent shivers down my spine.
I said, "There are still a few hours until dark. We can use this time to look for a safe place to shelter. Even if we can't get out, we can at least stall them."
Wen Siqiang seemed to have grabbed a lifesaver and quickly nodded, "Right, right, let's hurry and look. Such a large place, there must be something. Let's look."
Snakes are cold-blooded animals. The sun was still strong, and they wouldn't come out now. This was relatively safe for us.
Leopards are also crepuscular animals, like cats. They sleep during the day and hunt at night. Unless they were extremely hungry, they would likely be resting in the shade at this time.
We stood back-to-back, nervously scanning our surroundings. Apart from the side with the mountain cave, the rest was barren. The massive rocks were incredibly smooth, and only in very high places could we see one or two small trees growing in the cracks. Climbing them was impossible, so we couldn't consider it.
The cave itself could be a hiding place, but the situation inside was unknown. We had no idea what was hidden behind the strange rocks. Rushing in might be even more dangerous than staying outside.
After surveying the area, we both shook our heads. Wen Siqiang said dejectedly, "Boss, we have no hope this time."
I said, "Do you know the saying 'Heaven never seals off all escape routes'? Every problem in this world has a solution, we just haven't found it yet."
He said with a choked voice, "I understand the logic, but those are just comforting words. These mirror-like cliffs, forget us, even a gecko would fall. Where is the solution?"
I said, "The cave!"
Wen Siqiang's body stiffened. "Boss, are you kidding me? The cave? It's the cave we should be avoiding the most. You want to deliberately go in?"
I said, "Yes. Haven't you heard of their natural animosity? Leopards and snakes are natural enemies. I'll gamble again. I bet the leopards won't come into the cave. Doesn't that mean we've eliminated one enemy?"
Wen Siqiang: "The remaining enemy, these enemies, are more terrifying than leopards. The animal I fear most is snakes. Forget seeing them, just the thought of them terrifies me. Don't laugh at me, but I'm afraid to even get close to people born in the Year of the Snake."
I realized why he was always trembling; that was the reason.
I said, "You've seen it all. The surroundings are sheer cliffs. Since even a gecko can't climb them, and we're worlds away from a gecko, we have to give up. The only place to hide now is this cave."
He looked at the cave with terror, as if a python might emerge at any moment.
I said, "Pythons are animals that prefer coolness and fear heat. They won't be outside at this time. As long as there are no snakes at the cave entrance, we're safe for now."
Wen Siqiang: "If there are no snakes at the entrance, we'll hide inside. Look at those strange rocks, I feel like there are glowing green eyes staring at me."
I felt Wen Siqiang's courage had completely broken. I said, "You stay at the cave entrance. I'll go in and take a look. Hold on tight to the rope in your hand; it might be useful in an emergency."
He nodded. I folded the rope twice, leaving over a meter, which was just enough to be used as a whip.
The cave was quite spacious, about the size of a large room. It was very flat, cool inside, and a cold wind was blowing.
This wind was extremely chilling, sending shivers down my spine. It was like stepping from sweltering heat directly into late autumn, just a step away.
Not just Wen Siqiang, but I too felt a surge of fear from the cold wind.
I adjusted to the dim light inside and could then clearly see the jumbled rocks and many gaps of various sizes. The smaller ones were dozens of centimeters wide, while the larger ones were big enough for a person to crawl through.
If only we had a flashlight now. Unfortunately, my flashlight had been confiscated during the search. With it, I could have seen what was inside.
Suddenly, I remembered there were plenty of dry branches and leaves outside. We could gather a lot and bring them in. If we could find some kind of ignition source, we could hold them off for a while.
I retreated to the outside of the cave and said to Wen Siqiang, "Let's quickly gather firewood. Bring in anything that can burn. No matter what animal it is, they fear fire, and it can buy us some time."
He agreed quickly this time, but then his spirits fell again. He said, "Boss, even if we find firewood, how do we light it? My lighter and cigarettes were taken by those bastards."
I said, "Let's pick up the firewood first. I'll figure out the fire."
He asked doubtfully, "Are you Sun Wukong? Can you conjure a lighter?"
I said, "Hurry up and pick them up. I have a way. It will be too late once it gets dark."
Wen Siqiang quickly ran to the foot of the mountain to collect dry branches. However, he skirted around the pile of white bones and went to the other side.
Wen Siqiang was also someone who had been through a lot. We had gone through life and death together, facing critical moments several times. This was the first time I saw him so timid.
He wasn't afraid in the face of life and death, yet he was afraid of such a small animal.
I gathered some dry grass nearby. I had already spotted a piece of broken glass. I picked it up, wiped it on my clothes, glanced at the sun, and it was still quite intense. I gathered the dry grass into a pile, held the glass piece, and focused the sunlight onto the dry grass.