Chapter 18

These thatched huts were extremely dilapidated, looking like they hadn't been lived in for ages. I opened the door and was greeted by a stench of decay that made me cough and cover my nose. The room was filled with dust, and the walls were covered with newspapers. Upon closer inspection, they were all from the 1950s.

"This house has not been lived in for decades," I said.

"There's nothing valuable here, let's go." Zhang Song said.

After leaving the thatched huts, we walked along a path already overgrown with weeds. In any case, it meant we had escaped from Eshan, and these thatched huts marked our entry into human society.

"Oops, my backpack fell into the river."

I was wondering why I felt like I was walking so easily. It turned out that when I jumped into the river, I was in a panic and left my backpack in the river.

"Just throw it away, what's the big deal about that thing?" Erma said.

"No, there is a satellite phone inside. If it wasn't lost, we could contact the outside world." I said in annoyance.

"It doesn't matter. It looks like we won't be long before we see people," said Mao Jianming.

Indeed, not long after, a wooden house suddenly appeared in front of us, with white smoke rising from the chimney, which meant that there must be someone inside.

The five of us walked towards the cabin excitedly.

I knocked on the door and said, "Is anyone inside?"

A middle-aged man in his forties or fifties opened the door and looked at us in surprise.

"We came to Eshan for an investigation and accidentally got lost." I dispelled his doubts.

After hearing what I said, he didn't take his eyes off me, but opened the door and said, "Come in first."

"Thank you." I thanked him.

The five of us entered the house, which was surprisingly spacious. Hides, axes, scissors, and other tools were hung on the wooden walls. Seeing that we were soaking wet, he even added some firewood to the stove.

The five of us gathered around the stove, drying our clothes.

He poured each of us a glass of water, then asked us in confusion, "You said you came from Eshan?"

"Yes, we originally came here to find my mentor." When he said this, Mao Jianming must have thought of his professor and felt a little heavy-hearted.

I patted him on the back and said nothing.

I changed the subject and asked, "Brother, what's your name?"

"Just call me Old Huang."

"Brother Huang, do you know how to get to Eshan County from here?"

When he heard me mention Eshan County, he was obviously stunned.

"Are you from Eshan County?"

"Yes, we entered Eshan from Eshan County and encountered some problems inside. We followed that river to get here."

"You are so lucky," he said.

After some inquiries, we learned that we were now due east of Eshan County, and that it would take us ten days to half a month to walk back. He hesitated, as if he had something to say to us.

"Just say what you want to say," I said.

He then explained that they were not allowed to enter Mount E. Rumor had it that deep within Mount E, there lived two large moths, one male and one female, that specialized in sucking human brains. The name Mount E was later changed; it was originally called E Mountain, based on that legend.

We dried our clothes here and contacted the outside world by phone. In the end, someone from his village escorted us out. The Huang family was quite far from their village, so they acted like forest rangers.

We rushed back to Eshan County without stopping.

Zheng Yunyun and Li Bin were waiting for us in the county town.

When they heard that the professor and his companions were all dead, they burst into tears. After several days of searching, Zhang Yu's body was found in the direction Erma pointed.

Li Bin apologized to Erma and said that he was anxious at that time.

Erma generously forgave him.

I asked Erma if she wanted to go back with us, and she said she wanted to visit her hometown. So the seven of us separated in Eshan County.

I went to see Erma and Qingyun off.

After they left, the five of us got in the car and prepared to return to Jiangxi.

There were six of them when they came, but only five when they left. Mao Jianming was also immersed in grief after hearing about Zhang Yu's death. So many people died on this trip to Eshan, either their mentors or friends, so the atmosphere along the way was very depressing.

When people are stressed, their minds wander. And the most important thing about driving is concentration. Just after we left Guizhou, Li Bin lost his focus and ran off the road. Zheng Yunyun was also in his car at the time, and both of them were injured. Fortunately, there were no external injuries; otherwise, in this remote place, they would have been in great danger.

When we set up camp that night, Zheng Yunyun was in a bad mood, her mind wandering frequently. The same was true for Li Bin; he was clearly off the ball. We sat by the fire, and soon Zheng Yunyun said she wanted to go back to the tent and sleep.

I was worried that something might have happened to her, so I said a few words to Mao Jianming and the others, and then followed Zheng Yunyun into the tent.

She was crying in the tent. When she saw me come in, she wiped her tears hurriedly.

"How did you get in?" she said.

"Look at you." I sat down next to her.

"I'm fine."

She started talking about how she and Zhang Yu met, and I kept comforting her.

She fell asleep while talking.

The next day when we set off, Mao Jianming, Zhang Song and I drove. The other two were in such poor condition that we didn't dare let them drive.

The road is extremely foggy today. Thick clouds of fog fill the entire highway, reducing visibility to less than ten meters. This damn foggy day is really a hassle. We dared not drive fast, but I hadn't noticed that we hadn't seen a single car since we entered the fog.

Suddenly, the front became very red, and red mist spread towards us.

Zhang Song honked the horn twice to signal us to stop.

We parked the car on the side of the road and got out.

"This fog is a bit strange." said Zhang Song.

How can it not be strange? How can there be red fog? I have never seen it before.

The red fog spread quickly, and soon we were all surrounded by it.

At that moment, Li Bin suddenly screamed, as if he had seen something terrifying, but none of us could see anything. He began scratching himself, saying he was itchy. He tore his clothes off and scratched his skin vigorously.

We saw something was wrong and hurried to stop him.

In just a short while, he had scratched his chest until it was bleeding.

Looking at the bloody marks left by nail scratches, a strange feeling suddenly welled up in my heart. This red mist was truly bizarre. The four of us were fine, but Li Bin was the only one left in this state. The red mist wouldn't dissipate, so we tied Li Bin's hands behind his back to prevent him from scratching himself. But he was incredibly difficult to control; even when he fell to the ground, he scraped against the ground vigorously.

"What's going on?" Zheng Yunyun asked.

Yet we were all confused.