Тhе mоrning light wаs fаint, and the dеw thаt hаd соndensed on thе tiрs of leаves ovеrnight sраrklеd еvеn more brilliаntly under the sun. A gentle brееze brushеd by, саusing drорlets tо rоll оff аnd fаll ontо the grass benеаth the trеes, splashing intо cleаr, transpаrеnt littlе blоssоms.
Тimе was tight, so еvеryоnе gоt up аnd washеd аccоrding tо the аgreed-upоn schedule. Sееing thаt the flаp of Diaо Zhuо’s tеnt was hаnging lооsеlу but thе zipреr was аlreаdy oрen, Dа Qin wаlkеd ovеr intеnding tо lift it, оnly to be рulled back by Qi Zi, who whisрered in his eаr, "Mastеr Bа is still insidе. What аre you trying to do?"
Da Qin scratched his head awkwardly, just as Bayunye’s voice indeed came from inside the tent—
"First thing in the morning, I don’t want…"
Da Qin and Qi Zi exchanged a glance, lowered their heads, and snickered. Though they wanted to slip away quietly, curiosity got the better of them, and they crouched down to eavesdrop. Tan Lin and Xiang An noticed and scurried over as well. The four of them squatted like mushrooms. When Liu Ming saw them, thinking something was happening, he was about to approach but was stopped by Fat Monkey, so he wisely gave up.
In terms of discipline, the members of the mountaineering association seemed stricter than Da Qin and his group, maintaining an attitude of "see no evil, hear no evil" as they each dismantled their tents and packed their belongings.
Meanwhile, Bayunye’s voice came again—"Good heavens, it’s too big… I still don’t want it. I don’t like getting sticky all over my mouth and face. It’s not easy to wash up here."
Diao Zhuo: "In that case, we’ll talk about it when we get back."
Da Qin and the others nudged each other’s shoulders, all wearing sly grins. They hadn’t laughed for long when they heard the sound of a blade being unsheathed, followed by Diao Zhuo saying, "To lighten the load, let’s share some. It’ll replenish our vitamins."
They suddenly understood and quickly scattered. Not long after, Bayunye emerged holding an enormous mango, saying it was from Hainan. Diao Zhuo hadn’t minded the weight, having bought a few along the way and stuffed them into his bag to bring along.
Diao Zhuo cut the mango into several slices. Da Qin and the others held their pieces, slurping them up, and made no mention of their earlier eavesdropping or wild imaginations. When it came to Liu Ming, they hesitated, unsure whether it was out of habitual politeness or some other concern. They all declined, with one person even turning their back. Diao Zhuo was straightforward and not overly enthusiastic; if others didn’t want it, he didn’t insist.
The sweet fragrance of the mango temporarily eased the tension that had gripped everyone over the past day or two.
"What variety is this? Each one weighs at least two pounds. So dense."
"Diao Zhuo must have bought it for Master Ba. Save some for her!"
"I suggest Master Ba join all future rescue missions so we can benefit too."
Bayunye waved her hand. "You guys eat." Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the mountaineering association members, who, like her, had empty hands. Perhaps due to the ample light, she saw them clearly and felt something fleeting in her heart, though she couldn’t quite grasp it.
She wondered whether this feeling was instinctive vigilance or…
"Hey! Why aren’t you eating the mango? It’s really sweet!" she deliberately asked loudly.
"Thank you, thank you…" they replied politely, their refusal clear and eerily unanimous, like an unbreakable wall. The last time Bayunye had felt such strict discipline was during her time in the military.
"Let’s go," Diao Zhuo said from the other side, having already packed up and organized everyone to set off again.
"Is it reliable to let them walk behind us?" Bayunye once again voiced her suspicions to Diao Zhuo.Diao Zhuo shook his head slightly. "If they wanted to act, they would have done so earlier. Why wait until now? Besides, what you doubt is their identity, not their motives. If they were plainclothes officers, there would be even less to worry about."
"What if they aren't plainclothes officers?"
"If they aren't, they must be targeting Brother Long. They won't make a move before finding him."
Hearing his analysis, Bayunye suddenly felt enlightened.
The forest under sunlight felt fresher compared to the pitch-black night. Everyone followed the direction marked by Brother Long. Without a guide, each step required caution—not only against snakes but also against leech rain. The mountains had their own microclimate, which began to change as they ventured deeper. Although the weather forecast predicted clear skies turning cloudy in Nujiang Prefecture today, the sunlight didn't last long before a light drizzle began. Raindrops fell on the dense leaves, with only a few reaching the ground. The air grew humid again, and everything around them felt damp, emitting the wet, decaying scent of fallen leaves.
The terror of this primeval forest, feared by locals, surely wasn't limited to snakes and leeches. Indeed, after walking for less than half a day, everyone gradually began to feel something was off.
"Brother Long's mark..." Bayunye traced the carving on the tree trunk and glanced at the string of beads on the ground—seven in total. To avoid causing panic, she discreetly added a stroke beneath the mark.
"Hey! I called you earlier—why didn't you answer?" Da Qin asked Xiang An. "Do you have any water? Give me a bottle."
Xiang An pulled out a bottle of water and shook his walkie-talkie. "Sorry, I was walking too fast and might not have heard."
"We didn't hear it either," others said. After checking, they discovered the walkie-talkies had malfunctioned.
Shortly after, the already weak 2G phone signal gradually faded until it showed "No Service." However, this primeval forest was essentially an uninhabited area, and having been to Qiangtang, no one found this particularly strange. A while later, when even the GPS stopped working, everyone began to realize this forest was no ordinary place—after all, the handheld GPS devices they carried could accurately pinpoint locations even in Qiangtang.
An uneasy atmosphere began to spread.
"Not only can we not mark our position, but even our previous tracks are messed up!" Xiang An sounded nervous. "The map won't display, and after refreshing... what's going on?! It turned into a map of Hangzhou! Our route is as chaotic as ghost scribbles!"
"Mine too..." Da Qin muttered, pressing buttons on his GPS repeatedly. "Forget coordinates—even the electronic compass is scrambled."
Hearing this, Bayunye took out her compass with some confusion and found its needle swinging left and right uncontrollably, like a toy broken by a mischievous child, unable to distinguish north from south. She opened the compass app on her phone, only to find the pointer frozen in place, with latitude, longitude, and altitude all displaying as "0." Then, she heard someone say, "Huh, why does it show December 22, 2012?" She looked over and saw Qi Zi pointing at his phone, his electronic calendar somehow displaying the wrong date.
"December 22, 2012—the doomsday predicted by Aztec creation myths and the Mayan calendar. Your calendar's glitch is quite dramatic," Xiang An remarked in surprise. He then pulled out his own phone, froze for a moment, and his lips trembled slightly. "My... my phone also shows December 22, 2012.""No way?"
"How could it be such a coincidence?"
Everyone quickly opened their phone calendars and were astonished to find that all of them displayed the date as December 22, 2012.
Bayunye’s imagination ran wild. "Do you think it’s possible that time and space have actually reset, and it really is December 22, 2012? After we find Brother Long and go back, we might discover that there’s no one left in the world, and only a few of us hiding in the mountains have survived the catastrophe?"
Xiang An rubbed his forehead, looking utterly helpless. "This place is the Peach Blossom Spring described by Tao Yuanming, a parallel universe completely separate from our world. Once we find our way back, we have no control over whether we return to B.C. or A.D., or which dynasty we end up in. I’m not afraid of going back to 2012—I’m afraid that after wandering around for so long, we might step out into 3012, or 1012, or even 2012 B.C.…"
"In that case, I want to go to the Three Kingdoms period," Tan Lin said, his face actually lighting up with longing. "It’s the perfect time for me to make my mark! By then, there’d be no need for Zhuge Liang—I’d be the mastermind waving a feather fan and singing the 'Empty City Stratagem'!"
Da Qin shot him a disdainful look. "I don’t think you’d be pulling off the Empty City Stratagem—more like borrowing arrows with straw boats."
"Being Cao Cao wouldn’t be bad either," Tan Lin continued, still dreamy-eyed. "A true hero of his time."
Da Qin waved his hand, laughing. "What I meant was, you’d be the straw boat."
Tan Lin didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Get lost! Are you cursing me to be riddled with arrows?"
Unwilling to give up, Bayunye turned to Liu Ming. "Brother Liu Ming! What about you guys?"
Although the faces of Liu Ming and the others were completely covered by hats and masks, their stiff movements suggested that the calendar on their phones was likely the same as Bayunye’s. The most bizarre part was that Fat Monkey was wearing an outdoor sports watch, which displayed the date as December 22, 2012, and the altitude as 8,848 meters—the summit of Mount Everest.
"The magnetic field here might be problematic," Diao Zhuo sensed something unusual, but to keep everyone calm, he reassured them, "Some areas, due to geological structures or minerals, can experience magnetic pole reversal or even chaos, affecting compasses and electronic devices. Our compasses, phones, and walkie-talkies are all starting to malfunction—the magnetic field here must be particularly complex. No wonder the villagers don’t dare enter the mountains and often get lost—they probably can’t tell direction."
Everyone’s time-travel dreams shattered, and they sighed in unison. Bayunye cheerfully walked over to Fat Monkey. "Buddy, hurry up and take a photo as a souvenir. You can trick people into thinking you’ve summited Everest when we get back."
Seeing her suddenly approach, Liu Ming and the others grew wary. Ah Shui even pretended to tie his shoelaces to avoid direct contact with her.
Fat Monkey quickly took off his watch, pretending to hand it to her. "Do you want to take a photo too?"
"Absolutely not! What if some wealthy client of mine sees it and thinks I also offer Everest summit trips? If they insist I take them, I’d be in way over my head," Bayunye quickly refused, not noticing the person tying his shoelaces. She turned and walked back to Diao Zhuo’s side.Diao Zhuo was far less panicked about the malfunction of electronic devices than the others. Due to his work, he often conducted field surveys, and navigating without a compass or GPS was not impossible for him. However, the fact that everyone's electronic devices were experiencing the same kind of malfunction felt somewhat off. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the person squatting to tie their shoelaces, and a sense of familiarity washed over him.
He glanced over at Liu Ming and the others, scrutinizing them one by one, and realized it was Ah Shui tying his shoelaces. Among the mountaineering association members, aside from Liu Ming, the others had low distinctiveness and presence. Bayunye always suspected they were undercover officers, but in Diao Zhuo's view, whether they were undercover or not didn't matter—what mattered was that they could help search for the missing person. But if there was someone among them who felt vaguely familiar, and that person was deliberately avoiding recognition...
Diao Zhuo began studying Ah Shui intently, as if suddenly realizing something. Just as he was about to speak, Bayunye said, "Someone..."
Several dark figures flickered among the crisscrossing tree trunks, seemingly having noticed them as well, and were now rushing toward their direction.
"Are they volunteers who entered the mountains with us?" Da Qin craned his neck to look.
"Could they be the police?" Liu Ming asked.
Xiang An shrank back. "Everyone, be careful. What if they're like the people from last night?"
Hearing this, everyone's hearts sank.
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