After a night of rest, we packed up and set off the next day.
Our guide was a middle-aged man in his forties, dressed in Miao ethnic clothing, with a curved saber at his waist and a basket on his back. Inside the basket was a black cat.
The man’s full name was very long and difficult to remember; he had to repeat it several times, but I didn't quite understand.
In the end, he simply told us to call him Ou Bao.
The name seemed a bit cute for a man in his forties.
Ou Bao’s Mandarin was not very standard, but we could understand him for the most part.
He was the barefoot doctor of his village and often went up the mountain to gather herbs, so he was very familiar with the surrounding area.
He said he had only been to the place we were going once before, as it was quite remote.
The journey was quite relaxed, with everyone chatting and laughing.
Around noon, we stopped to eat and rest. Just as we were about to set off again, Xiao Liu and Shi Tou returned from a stroll, claiming to have found a shortcut.
Xiao Liu said there was an air-raid shelter there, and it seemed to be a passage through the mountain. If we went through it, we should be able to reach the other side.
Having a shortcut would have been great, but after hearing this, Ou Bao insisted we couldn’t go that way.
I asked him why, and he said, “That cave eats people.”
“Eats people?” I was taken aback.
Ou Bao’s expression was very serious. “We can’t go into that cave; there’s a man-eating monster inside…”
According to him, the air-raid shelter was once a bandit stronghold. After the bandits were wiped out, it had remained empty for years.
Since his ancestors’ time, there had been a legend that a monster resided there, and anyone who entered was eaten.
From then on, no one dared to use the cave.
While I might have been a bit scared hearing this before, having already been on tomb-raiding expeditions, I was rather indifferent to these monsters and ghosts.
Fatty chuckled, “My friend, look at how many of us there are. Even if there is a monster, we can stew it.”
“You can’t go… you really can’t go into that cave,” Ou Bao kept shaking his head.
Fu Honglang walked over and handed Ou Bao a pack of Hongta Mountain cigarettes, then slipped him a few hundred yuan. “My friend, don’t worry, we’re here. Even if there’s a monster, it will eat us first. You can just run away then… After we pass this cave, we’ll still need you to lead the way, so please bear with us.”
Ou Bao hesitated. After a long pause, the black cat in his basket meowed. He pursed his lips and said, “Alright… but I’ll make it clear now, I’m not responsible if anything happens in the cave.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t get into trouble,” Fu Honglang said with a smile.
A moment later, we arrived at the entrance of the air-raid shelter. Before we even entered, a gust of chilling wind blew out.
Even though we were standing under the sun, the cold wind made us shiver uncontrollably.
Fu Honglang took a few steps inside with his flashlight and sniffed the air, his brow furrowed. “The smell of death is really strong in here…”
Wang Yang nudged me with his shoulder. “This guy has a good nose.”
I gave him an exasperated glance. “Don’t underestimate him; he’s quite capable.”
Wang Yang chuckled, “How capable can he be compared to Wu Tingxiu’s group?”
Fatty leaned in curiously. “What are you guys talking about?”
I said, “He’s saying that if we encounter a female monster inside, he wants you to deal with it.”
Fatty glanced at Wang Yang. “Why should I deal with a female monster?”
I laughed. “Because you’re so plump, you’ll surely crush one just by going near it.”
Soon, our group entered the cave. The outside of the cave and the inside were like two different worlds.
The cave was very damp, with thick mud on the ground. Occasionally, water droplets would fall from the ceiling.
Being hit by a stray drop on the head was quite startling.
The air was filled with an indescribable odor, somewhat like rotting tomatoes.
As I walked with the group, Xiao Liu sidled up to me and handed me something.
I shone my flashlight on it and saw a few raw garlic cloves.
“Boss asked me to look after you. The smell here is strong, so if you can’t stand it later, chew on one,” Xiao Liu said with a smile.
I nodded and thanked him.
After walking for about seven or eight minutes, the only sound in the cave was our footsteps.
Just then, Fatty suddenly started singing loudly: “Little sister, bravely walk forward… Don’t look back…”
The sudden singing startled me. I kicked Fatty. “What are you doing?”
“I just felt it was too quiet, so I sang a song to lighten the mood,” Fatty grinned. “No offense, but back in Yanjing, a company even wanted to sign me as a star, but I wasn’t interested…”
Before he could finish, Fu Honglang and Shi Tou, who were leading the way, stopped. Since they stopped, we, following behind, had no choice but to halt as well.
Fu Honglang raised his hand, signaling everyone to stop, and shone his flashlight on the ground, as if he had discovered something.
When I walked over, I saw clearly that there was a set of footprints on the ground.
Fu Honglang crouched down, measured them with his hand, and then examined them carefully. “These should be a woman’s footprints…”
Hearing this, I suddenly thought of Mao Guizhi.
However, when we asked the village chief at the village, he said that no one had been there in the months preceding our arrival.
“Is it sister-in-law and the others?” I asked.
Fu Honglang’s brow furrowed, and he shook his head. “I’m not sure.”
He stood up and sighed. “We need to pick up the pace and try to reach our destination before dark.”
With his words, everyone quickened their pace.
After about half an hour of walking, the entrance we had come through was completely out of sight.
The cave was frighteningly large, its height unknown, but its width was at least tens of meters.
I didn’t know where the wind was coming from, but it kept blowing into my collar, and my hands grew cold.
“There’s a fork in the road here,” Shi Tou said, shining his flashlight ahead.
Ahead, there were two branching paths, and it was unclear which one led outside.
Fu Honglang went to each fork, crouched down, and sniffed a handful of the mud. After a while, he said, “Let’s go this way.”
Just as we were about to set off down the left path, Fatty grabbed me. “Someone’s missing!”
I was surprised and looked at him. “Who’s missing?”
“That Ou something…”
Hearing this, I turned and shone my flashlight around, only to find that the Miao man, Ou Bao, had vanished.
“Brother Fu!” I shouted. Fu Honglang asked me what was wrong.
I said, “Ou Bao is missing!”
Upon hearing this, everyone began to search with their flashlights, but they couldn’t find the man anywhere.