Solstice Secrets

"It's here." The boy who was in the same group as Ling Dongzhi pointed to a sloping land in the woods, and narrated incoherently, "Xiao Li and I sorted out the specimen folders here, and Teacher Ling was taking pictures nearby, and I heard his voice." There were footsteps, really, in that direction... We couldn't find him, and we didn't see him come back after waiting for a while. Later, it was almost the time appointed by Professor Kong, and Xiao Li guessed that he went back first by himself. As a result, he went back for a while. Look, Teacher Ling's bag is still there, and he hasn't come back at all..."

It is winter now, and in the middle of the night, the temperature in the mountains sometimes drops to twenty or thirty degrees below zero.If something happened to Lingdong Solstice, he would be trapped in the wild, or he would freeze to death within one night.

Zhuang Zhou didn't show it on the surface, but his heart was completely occupied by fear and anxiety.

The person disappeared yesterday afternoon. Everyone went back to the temple in the evening to confirm that the Lingdong Solstice was indeed missing. But at night, it is a completely unfamiliar environment deep in the mountains and old forests. It is impossible for Professor Kong to send the students out to find someone. .I rushed back to the village early this morning to ask for help, and then turned back the same way. It has been 26-[-] hours since Ling Dongzhi disappeared.And the police at the foot of the mountain will arrive at least at noon tomorrow.

Zhuang Zhou stood where they were separated, trying to determine the direction Ling Dongzhi might be heading from the surrounding scenery.Lao Zhao and Ling Dongzhi's two cousins ​​divided into several groups and spread out to find someone.Zhuang Zhou's mind is now full of thoughts about whether Ling Dongzhi was injured and trapped somewhere in the wild.The sky was getting darker and darker. If the man hadn't been found before dark, the possibility of Ling Dongzhi's survival would become even slimmer after the second night.

At [-] o'clock in the evening, the group of the big cousin found the camera of Lingdong Solstice under the tree.This thing is not big, and there are trees and bushes around it. If it wasn't for the flashlight reflected by the metal shell, no one would have noticed it.The camera was turned off, but fortunately there were still two spare batteries in Ling Dongzhi's backpack.

Calling up the photos stored in the camera, it is easy to find the last video.On the screen, Ling Dongzhi waved his hands at the camera, smirked and said to himself, "Do I have to go back and back? Can you record my handsome face?"

Zhuang Zhou stared intently at the young man with a bright smile in the picture, feeling pain like a needle in his heart.

Then Ling Dongzhi danced with his hands and feet, screamed and fell off the cliff in an extremely funny posture.The scene under the cliff cannot be seen from the camera, but the video function has dutifully recorded all the sounds: a low cry held in the throat of the midwinter solstice, the crisp sound of branches being broken, the sound of falling gravel and That last muffled sound.

The uncle pressed Zhuangzhou's shoulder in time, "The hillside is not high, less than three meters. There is no one under the cliff, we just looked for it." As for the trace of the person falling, the light was too dim, and they didn't see anything come out.

Strange sounds came intermittently from the still image: footsteps, men cursing, and... the sound of the bolt being pulled.The voice sounded vague, but because the mountain was too quiet, the voice of the voice could be heard vaguely.It seemed that several people were speaking at the same time, using a dialect that Zhuangzhou had never heard.

"There was someone under the cliff?!" Zhuang Zhou felt unbelievable, "What did they say?"

"It's not our accent." Old Zhao quickly explained, following the voice in the video recorder, he began to interpret simultaneously: "Why did someone fall from the top of grandma... little white face... it's the student dolls in the temple... they have seen us , can’t let it go... kill your grandma’s leg, you treat it like killing a pig... there are people around here, how can you get away if you kill him... take it away first... tie it up..."

Several people looked at each other in blank dismay.Zhuang Zhou didn't know whether to be thankful or worried.This at least shows that Ling Dongzhi didn't freeze to death outside, but how much better would it be if he fell into the hands of a group of unidentified people with guns? !

"What should we do now?" Professor Kong was frightened for a while.At least Ling Dongzhi is an adult and has relatives here.If the one who was taken away was replaced by his student, how should he explain to the student's family?

Zhuang Zhou's hand rubbed Ling Dongzhi's camera repeatedly, "Don't go down the cliff, don't destroy the scene, I'll look around to see if I can find any clues after dawn. My uncle stays and waits for the police."

Professor Kong hurriedly said, "I'll go with you." The students he brought out stayed safely in the village, and he was able to spare his energy to take care of this young man who was traveling with him.

The little cousin said: "You have traveled a lot in the past two days, so you should stay here and wait for the police. I will go down with Mr. Zhuang. I am familiar with the road of this generation.

Zhuang Zhou nodded, "Okay." He is an adult, so he won't take his anger out on others when something happens.But Ling Dongzhi happened when he was with them, so it's impossible to say that he didn't have any grudges in his heart.

Ling Dongzhi didn't know if he was injured from the fall, and his voice was not heard in the video, and he didn't know if he passed out.Those people don't know how to treat him...

The more Zhuang Zhou thought about it, the more impetuous he became. It wasn't until he was about to rest that he suddenly realized when he saw Brown Tang approaching him to beg for food. Sensitive than people, can they try to let it find clues?

Brown Tang didn't know why, so he just felt that his father looked at him strangely, full of expectations and seemed a little worried.

Brown Sugar was confused.What is this for?

Also, where did the accuser go?Why does everyone say he's missing?He disappeared, and the three cats he brought with him also disappeared. Will they leave together?Brown Sugar flicked his tail uneasily.It used to think that it would be nice if the accuser disappeared, but since he left, it hadn't thought of it that way again.In fact, listening to the three cats talking about the winter solstice every day, it already misses him a little bit.

Zhuang Zhou stroked its head and said to himself, "Although you haven't been trained, I still have confidence in you, son. Let's work harder and try to bring him back safely."

Brown Tang wags his tail, is he looking for the complainant and the cats?

Zhuang Zhou's eye circles turned red as he spoke, and he pressed his forehead against Brown Tang's forehead, "What if I can't find him?"

Brown Sugar licked his face.It's okay, if you can't find it, keep looking until you find him.Brown Tang wondered uncertainly, if he would sue Jingjing to buy beef jerky for him and take him out for a walk every day, then he wouldn't bully him anymore.

And those three puppies.I am used to being surrounded by three noisy little guys every day, and suddenly I am left alone, I am really not used to it.Brown Sugar thought sadly, he didn't know where they all went, and he didn't tell it before leaving.What should I do if I really lose my way in this barren mountain...

Oh, what a worry.

When Ling Dongzhi fell, he sprained his ankle, and his ankle was swollen almost as thick as his thigh.Being dragged by this group of people and marching all the way, I felt that my feet were about to break.When it got dark, the group finally stopped.

Ling Dongzhi was covered all the way, and he didn't know which direction he was going. He only knew that it was a forest deeper than the mountain temple, and there was no road at all.Judging from the sound of footsteps and voices, there are at least six or seven people in this group. They are all tough men with guns, and they keep their voices down when they speak. dialect of that place.Ling Dongzhi could barely communicate with the people in Shiliu Village, but he could hardly understand what they said.

When Ling Dongzhi was held against his head by several shotguns, he had doubts for a moment, whether these people might be hunters living in the mountains, whether they might be his clansmen.So when they grabbed him roughly by the collar and pulled him off the ground, he didn't even struggle much.Of course, his cooperative attitude also dispelled the vigilance of these people to a large extent. The biggest advantage of being treated as an unarmed student is that these people didn't take him seriously at all. Just pull a few rips.No one noticed that he still had a knife hidden in the shaft of his boot.

However, along the way, Ling Dongzhi gradually became suspicious.If these people were really mountain people who came out to hunt, even if they wanted to hide from people, they would definitely not have such a defensive attitude.Moreover, when a man who had never spoken before mentioned the way forward, Ling Dongzhi immediately recognized that this man was definitely not a local, and his tone of voice was obviously a bit awkward that the Tibetans in the Zangbian area learned to speak Mandarin. accent.

One is a foreigner, and the rest seem to be familiar with the situation in the mountains. What can such a small group do in the mountains?

Ling Dongzhi couldn't hide his disappointment.He also knew that it was impossible for him to meet a group of people who lived in the deep mountains more than 20 years ago, but the hope of meeting the tribe was completely lost, which still made him extremely disappointed.

The place where these people settled down seemed to be an abandoned cave dwelling. Ling Dongzhi was bound hands and feet, but when he fell to the ground, he still secretly touched the surrounding things carefully.Although the ground was covered with a lot of dust, it was very smooth, as if it had been carefully tidied up.And listening to the conversations of those people outside, especially the man with a Zangbian accent, they seem to have stayed here for two or three days.

Ling Dongzhi has always felt that his five senses are sharper than others, and now he is curled up in the cold cave dwelling, smelling the faint smell of blood coming from nowhere, and for the first time regretting that he has such qualities.Ling Dongzhi initially suspected that this group of people were killing prey for cooking, but then found that these people were afraid that lighting a fire in the mountains in broad daylight would attract attention, and they really wanted to eat cold food.There are obviously other reasons for the obvious bloody smell around here.

These people were very wary, and they didn't dare to start a fire except to use an alcohol stove to boil some water to make instant noodles.Instant noodles, sausages, and compressed biscuits are their dinner.They are not very appetizing things, but they are still very attractive to people who have been hungry for a day.Especially when they came over with food, they graciously untied Ling Dongzhi's hand straps and the rags covering his face.

Ling Dongzhi struggled to tear off the colorless torn scarf covering his face.By the light of a candle less than two inches long at the window, Ling Dongzhi saw that he was indeed in a dilapidated cave dwelling.

It was a very thin man who unbuttoned the veil for him, holding the rag in one hand and an old lunch box in the other.However, his eyes stared blankly at the unnamed stone protruding from the collar of Ling Dongzhi's open coat, full of suspicion and fear.