"Never mind about those things, what did you two leave me here for?"

  "Afternoon, just over here, you fell asleep, I saw that in the woods across from us, something seemed to be lurking, like a tiger, it was only 20-30 meters away, one shot and it would have been taken care of."

  "Did I hit it?"

  "Im guessing I hit the mark." The fatty made a gesture towards his own buttocks and said: "I should have hit it here, I saw it jump up and then disappear, and then we chased after it with Wen Bin. There was blood on the ground, so we followed the trail of blood. This isnt our fault, that gun was practically fired right above your head, you didnt even wake up. Besides, we thought wed just go in and come back out, who knew wed get stuck in the woods? If it wasnt for Mr. Chas divine guidance, who knows how long wed still be wandering around in there?"

  "Whats wrong?" I asked.

  Zha Wenbin said to me, "We must have fallen into a ghost hitting the wall. No matter how we walk, we always end up back at the starting point and cant get out. We can only wait until night falls and try walking according to the star positions. After coming out, we realized that we had strayed off course by four or five miles. Fortunately, youre okay."

  "Ghost hitting the wall? Is this thing real?" Ive heard Grandpa talk about ghost hitting the wall, the most famous one being when Zhuge Liang trapped Lu Xuns hundreds of thousands of troops with just a few piles of stones during the Three Kingdoms period. I always thought it was a legend, but it turns out its true.

  "I dont know either, maybe its because the terrain and landmarks in the woods are all similar, making it easy to get lost." I saw that when Cha Wenbin said this, he looked at the woods again, his expression slightly serious.

  "Its all right, as long as nothing happens. What are we going to do tonight?" Fatso pointed to the tree beside him and said: "Sleep on it like him?"

  Zha Wenbin suddenly blurted out a sentence to interrupt the fat mans words: "Do you think that fox we hit this afternoon is the same one as just now?"

  "No way, although its in the woods, I think it should be a tiger, otherwise it wouldnt make such a big noise, besides, are you so sure that was a fox just now?"

  "Take a look at the ground first." Cha Wenbin circled around with his torch, and beneath our feet was a large expanse of smooth stone, with several brown dots standing out somewhat prominently.

  "Blood?" Fatso asked.

  Zha Wenbin crouched down and used his fingernail to scrape off a bit, putting it under his nose to sniff: "Its blood, hasnt coagulated yet, must have just fallen."

  The atmosphere on the scene suddenly became tense. The three of us looked at each other, and everyone was fine, not even a scratch on our skin, let alone any blood.

  I asked: "So, this blood might really be from that thing just now. Did you see clearly that it was a fox?"

  Cha Wenbin shook his head and said: "I didnt see clearly either, but it really looked like a fox, with a pointed mouth and very long teeth."

  The fatty patted the soil in his hand to make the fire powder more compact, and suddenly said: "Is that fox fur valuable?"

  I said: "There should be someone who wants it, but definitely not as valuable as a tiger."

  "Damn it, theyre coming after us for revenge again! If this is really a fox, how big would it be?"

  "Very big."

  The fat man looked at me and threw out another question: "What if its a very large fox skin and tiger skin, which one is more valuable?"

  At that time, my mind was still in the stupid and rough stage, so I replied: "How would I know? The bigger the skin, the more valuable it must be!"

  Fatso spat on the bloodstain on the ground and said, "Alright, since its valuable, Ill take care of it! It must have been shot in the afternoon, and with that jump earlier, its wound probably reopened and started bleeding again. With two injuries in one day, following the blood trail, it cant have gone far."

  Cha Wenbin looked up at the sky and saw that a few clouds had floated over from afar. He furrowed his brow and reminded, "It seems like its going to rain, lets slow down."

  "Hey, dont worry, it wont get far this time, Ill definitely catch it," said the fatty, patting his chest.

  Cha Wenbin looked at me, because in the afternoon I had already been abandoned once, this time no matter what was going to follow: "Go then go, anyway came also came, now if withdraw just white do."

  In the end, we decided to go find them. Three people, three torches, followed the bloodstains on the ground into the woods. Actually, we all made a common mistake. There were too many weeds in this forest. The bloodstains might have been visible during the day, but what could be seen with just torches at night?

  After all, they were still too young, and no one was willing to admit that this was a wrong choice. The three of them walked silently in the woods, with Cha Wenbin occasionally raising his head to check our direction for us. I really admired his skill. If it were me, the stars in the sky would be all the same brightness, and I wouldnt be able to tell which one was which.

  It can be said that this persons bad luck came very quickly. After entering the forest for about half an hour, a dark cloud came over. We were blocked by trees in the forest and couldnt feel the wind at all, but that rain cloud came too fast. By the time Zhang Wenbin found out that the sky was pitch black, I could already hear the sound of "drip drip" coming from the top of the tree.

  The rain was very heavy, our torches were all coated with a thick layer of pine resin, and yet two of them were extinguished, leaving only the one in Zhang Wenbins hand which could be put out at any moment.

  We found a recess in the rock wall and huddled together, our wet clothes clinging to us coldly. It was already deep autumn in Northeast China, where rain could turn into heavy snow at any time and place. Our gradually numbing skin made us lean towards the fire in the middle nonstop.

  Indeed, as Pangzi said, when we went out, we all wore single clothes. At that time, everyone was short of supplies, and Yeren Village was a remote and isolated place. The stomach could guarantee that it would not be hungry, but there was no hope for anything else.

  "I feel like my lips are already trembling up and down: Are we going to freeze to death?"

  Fatty still smiled at me and said: "Wait till the rain gets smaller, Ill go get some firewood."

  This wait has been an hour, and the raindrops have shown no signs of getting smaller. The fat mans desired firewood is nowhere to be found, and everything around us is soaking wet. The thick layer of pine needles under our feet squelches out half a shoes worth of water with every step - what can possibly catch fire in this situation? To make matters worse, the torch in Zhang Wenbins hand has now been reduced to just a charred head, with only a small flame the size of a soybean still flickering.

  Fatso is still quite righteous, I and Zha Wenbin at that time were both small in stature, being held in his arms from left to right, barely able to warm up a little bit, it was my first experience of the phrase "relying on friends when going out".

  When the first strange cry came, I was already drowsy and about to fall asleep. It wasnt until Fatso suddenly pushed me out of his arms that I heard the second one. The voice sounded like an old lady with a shrill throat standing at the village entrance, pinching her own neck and crying out. That rainy night was really eerie.

  The fatty stood up and roared at the forest in front of him, "What kind of ghost thing is making me stand out to take a look!"

  After a while, we clearly heard the sound of someone speaking from across the way. It wasnt very clear, but the voice was quite loud. We could vaguely make out the word "grandpa".

  "Fatty cursed loudly: Damn your grandmas leg, who is pretending to be a ghost on the opposite side? We are educated youth from the Wild Man Village, who are you?"

  The fat boys voice had just fallen when the sound from that side rose again. This time it was that rough voice, but both of us heard it very clearly, just two words: "Educated Youth!"

  At this time, Cha Wenbin also stood up. In my impression, Old Miao had said that within a hundred miles, there was only one village of wild people, and in this village, there were only the four of us educated youth. Because this place is really too remote, its only this year that the higher-ups assigned us such "problem" youngsters here for the first time. I havent heard of any other educated youth being sent here.

  Zha Wenbin elbowed Fatso and gave him a signal, and Fatso, as if he understood, shouted towards the woods: "Then you come over here!"

  The voice from across the way suddenly shouted at us too: "Then you come over here!"

  "Hmm, hes still arguing with us!" Fatso said to me and Cha Wenbin, "You two wait here, Ill go take a look at what kind of person he is."

  Baozi was about to leave when Cha Wenbin grabbed him and whispered, "Dont go, theres a problem."

  "Its nothing, whats there to be afraid of? He just called me over for a second, so Ill bring him over and show him to you. Daring to mess with us is like looking for shit in the toilet!"

  Fatso was carrying that shotgun when he left. The sound wasnt far from us, just about 10 meters away or so. Its just that it was too dark and raining, with no light. I could hear the sound of Fatsos footsteps splashing in the mud on the ground. About half a minute later, I couldnt hear Fatsos footsteps anymore. Five minutes after that, all around me and Cha Wenbin was silent.

  Im a bit scared, so I pretended nothing was wrong and whispered to Cha Wenbin: "Whats going on with this guy? He said hed go and come back."

  Zha Wenbin leaned in close to me and I heard him whisper a sentence into my ear: "Xiao Yi, dont speak, something might have happened to Fatso."

  I was shocked and loudly shouted at him: "What are you waiting for, hurry up and think of a way!"

  Zha Wenbin immediately covered my mouth with his hand and said, "Shh, dont make a sound..."

  As soon as he finished speaking, I heard someone from the woods on the other side say: "Then you come over here!"

  I immediately stood up, it was Pangzis voice!