"Don't worry, everyone. Don't be discouraged or afraid to stay here. I believe that once the culprit is caught, the villagers will find a way to leave. After all, they need supplies, and they are more anxious than we are," I explained.
He Xin said, "Don't they have crops and livestock in the village? Even if they can't get out, they can probably survive. But we're different!"
"Right, I overlooked that. It seems we must contact the outside world as soon as possible. He Xin, can't you do anything?"
Bringing this up, He Xin picked up her bracelet and said, "I've been trying, but this place seems more troublesome than the tourist area before. However, you don't need to be too nervous. I will definitely find a way!"
Seeing her confidence, we naturally wouldn't back down, especially since He Xin was the youngest among us.
And so, everyone had to continue to make do for the time being. The stakeout work was still ongoing, and this time it was Xiahou and Xie Chuchu's turn.
We went back to sleep. Calculating it, today was already the fourth day, meaning there were three more days until the Night God's sacrificial ceremony. Elder Long said this was a ceremony that only happened once every few hundred years. I thought three days later, it would be very grand, but aren't these people afraid of death? Would they still proceed with the ceremony if something happened?
I slept restlessly late at night. For some reason, I suddenly heard a whistling sound from the crude window. I was startled awake and looked out the window. I saw a strange figure wearing horns, with demon wings on its back and clad in heavy armor, looking towards our room. I immediately pounced, intending to apprehend him. However, this strange figure was very fast. Seeing me move, he began to flee. He Xin was also awakened by me and, seeing the situation, jumped out the window with me, leaving our base camp and giving chase outside!
The strange figure's attire was very similar to Osiris, the God of Night. I wondered why he was doing this.
We chased him desperately, passing the central altar we had seen before, and then entered a cave that felt like a maze. We didn't think of anything else at the time and just ran in. By the time we realized the strange figure was gone and we were lost, we knew it was bad!
The cave looked winding and branched out in all directions. We didn't know where we were. Looking back, there were dense passages and narrow walls. The surroundings were extremely dark, and there were strange dripping sounds everywhere. He Xin suddenly grabbed my arm tightly, "Dad, what do we do? We're lost!"
I knew it, but what could I do now? I took out my flashlight and shone it around. I had actually gotten lost before. I was very young then. My grandfather and father were still alive. I was in Hejia Village, which is now Taiping Village. Let me explain here, Fuming City is actually Zhongshan City; I just changed the name for writing. Guangming City is Guangzhou City.
At that time, I was young and foolish. I was playing with some children near a village well. One child suddenly disappeared for some reason. Everyone was looking for him everywhere, but none of the children suspected the long-sealed well. Everyone was focused on other places: the grass, the woods, near the houses. We searched for a long time, and of course, we couldn't find the person. I suspected the child had fallen into the dry well, and I noticed scratch marks on the edge of the dry well.
But I never delved deeper into that incident. There are many unsolved mysteries in my life. Even though I am trying my best to unravel these puzzles, I know it's good enough if I can solve even a few more.
Seeing that I was silent, He Xin tugged at my clothes, "Dad, what are you doing? We're lost!"
She repeated herself. I took her hand and said, "Watch me!"
"Do you know how to get out?"
"Actually, I wasn't impulsive. When I came in, I roughly observed the environment. There's a breeze blowing from the left, which means there's a gap there!"
"Yeah, how did I not notice that!"
He Xin was even more excited than I was and turned to run towards the direction of the wind. I followed her, but halfway there, we were blocked by some strange-shaped rocks. There was no path here, and many vines covered many parts of the cave walls. I took out my police dagger and made a few cuts on them. Soon, several vines fell down, and we discovered an entrance on the opposite side. It seemed the vines were too thick, affecting our vision.
But there were still many vines here. Fortunately, He Xin also had a police dagger. With our efforts, we both cut through quite a few vines, and the ground was covered with their remains. We stepped on them and passed through. For some reason, gusts of wind suddenly blew from the left and right. Turning around, we realized there were passages on both sides. This place seemed to have been intentionally excavated. Based on the traces above, it shouldn't have been long ago.
This was a fork in the road, and for a moment, we didn't know which way to go. He Xin closed her eyes and played a guessing game, but it was meaningless because the first direction she pointed to was the final result.
I smiled wryly. Before she could even finish chanting "Who will be the big soldier," I said, "Let's go left!"
He Xin's shoulders slumped when I said that. "Children's games are indeed unreliable!"
"Then why did you try?"
"No, I used to do this when I encountered unimaginable things." I was a bit speechless, but now was not the time to dwell on this. He Xin ignored my awkwardness and immediately walked towards the left passage. It was actually a tunnel, and it looked quite deep.
However, there were no more forks in the road. We walked all the way to the end, only to find it was a dead end, and we couldn't get out at all.
"Why don't we go back and take the other path?" He Xin suggested.
"Hmm... there's a footprint here!"
Holding the flashlight, I inadvertently noticed a trace on the ground. He Xin immediately crouched down and compared it, saying, "This height and weight seem to match the strange figure from before!"
"Yes, but why would he get lost? Did he also come here accidentally?"
"It doesn't seem like it! I think that guy deliberately led us in. He knew we weren't familiar with this environment and would easily get lost."
I had thought the same thing before, but seeing this footprint made me want to change my mind. However, just as we were contemplating this footprint, the sound of wings flapping suddenly came from behind us. We quickly turned around, raised our guns, and pointed them behind us. In less than a minute, a figure flashed past us. He was initially going to run towards us, but realizing we had guns, he changed direction and ran up a concrete path above the passage!