Chapter 166 Jinjiang Debut

After hearing this, almost all the onlookers laughed. Needless to say, what they meant was that although Qingshui Town was backward, it was also a modern town. How could there be such things as savages? If there really were such things, Qingshui Town would have been famous long ago.

Seeing that no one believed him, the bearded man got anxious. He slapped his thigh and said, "I swear, everything I said is true. If I tell even a single lie, I will be struck by lightning and die a miserable death! Believe me, I really saw a wild man!"

Seeing how serious he was, the people around him stopped laughing and listened to him quietly. The bearded man took a sip of water and began his story:

"We were originally three people, me and my two friends. We couldn't find a job after graduating from technical school, and we often wandered the streets. We all had the dream of starting a business, and we always wanted to do something big, preferably something that could make millions at a time, so that we would never have to work again."

"I heard someone laughing at me. What's so funny? Don't look down on young people because they are poor! Although I am not successful now, how do you know that I won't be successful in the future? Look, haven't we met a savage?"

"We first met the savages about ten days ago. That night, the three of us had kebabs and beer and were thinking about life together. I was a little drunk, but I still couldn't sleep, so we just wandered around the streets and finally arrived at the outskirts of Qingshui Town, at the foot of a mountain."

"The foot of the mountain is very desolate. There are several abandoned self-built houses and the fields are overgrown with weeds. It's obvious that the people who lived here have moved away a long time ago. Apart from us, there are almost no pedestrians there. There is only one mobile barbecue truck. When the owner saw us coming, he shouted at us and asked if we wanted beer."

"I was thirsty, so I went to the stall and bought a bottle of cold beer. I drank it and chatted with the owner. I asked him why no one lived here. He said there were wild men in the area and the local residents were scared away."

"I got interested the minute I heard about it. Wild people are roaming around. Isn't that a great thing? If we shoot a short video and post it online, it will definitely go viral. Then we can get advertisements and make a lot of money. So I asked my boss for details."

"The boss said he didn't know much, he just knew there were rumors about this in the area. Many people saw the wild man, but no one took a clear photo. The wild man moved very quickly, and before people could see him clearly, he ran over. Moreover, the wild man was very aggressive, and once humans made a sound, he would pounce on them. Some people said that this wild man might eat humans."

Xia Mang couldn't help but interrupt: "If it's true as you said, that there are savages attacking humans, wouldn't the local residents call the police?"

The bearded man scratched his head. “Well, I didn’t think too much about it at the time. I just thought that the opportunity to make a fortune was coming. I looked around and found that the self-built houses were very beautifully built. There was no reason for the residents to suddenly move away unless something happened in the area. So I guessed that what the barbecue stall owner said was true. There really are wild people here.”

"After I finished my beer, the boss advised me to leave early so as not to meet the savage, but I refused. Not only did I not leave, I also wanted to stay and meet the savage."

"I threw the beer bottle and went back to my two brothers to tell them what happened. They were also very happy. They wanted to take a video of the wild man just like I did."

"We hit it off right away and decided to live there. There were a lot of empty houses around, so I just picked one to live in."

Xia Mang rolled his eyes: "Come on, do you have any legal awareness? You are trespassing!"

The bearded man laughed: "Oh, why are you being so serious? The owner of the house no longer lives there, so I'm going to stay there for a few days. Isn't this just making use of waste?"

The crowd made disdainful noises. Everyone was speechless about the bearded man, but the bearded man was very thick-skinned and didn't care at all. He continued:

"We randomly picked a house, broke the glass and moved in. Anyway, this was at the foot of the mountain and there was no surveillance, so no one could find out what we did. The house was very clean and there were a lot of daily necessities left. We picked a room each. I drank a little too much and fell asleep on the bed. The two of them were waiting for the wild man on the balcony on the second floor."

"At three o'clock in the middle of the night, I was suddenly woken up by them. They showed me their phones excitedly. The phone captured a blurry back view of a huge monster hiding in the bushes, on all fours, moving quickly forward."

“I was so excited and wanted to see more pictures, but the two guys told me that they only got that one picture and before they could take more, the wild man crawled away.”

"I immediately became depressed. What can we tell from just a back view? The outline of this thing is very vague. You can say it is a person or a cow. In short, it is difficult to tell and has no value."

"I was in a bad mood, so I said a few words to them. These two guys were really useless. They didn't even take the photo when such a good opportunity was right in front of them! They were not convinced, so we started arguing on the spot. They were fighting against me alone, and I was defeated. Later, I was so angry that I just put on my clothes and left, leaving them there."

"I went home and slept for half the night. The next day, I sobered up and thought about what happened last night. I felt that I was too impulsive and shouldn't have given up the opportunity to observe the wild man. So I lowered my face and contacted the two of them to ask about the situation, but this time, I didn't get a reply."

"I immediately felt something was wrong. We brothers have known each other for a long time and we all know each other's tempers. Although we sometimes quarrel, we never resort to the cold violence. We will definitely reply if there is a message. They didn't reply, so there is only one possibility - something happened to them."

"I immediately grabbed my weapons and rushed to the house I built yesterday. The house was still the same, but there was no one inside. I had a bad feeling. Fortunately, our phones had the close contacts function activated. As long as I turned on my phone, I could see their phone locations. I followed the location and found them all the way to the mountain."

"Soon after I went up the mountain, I saw both of them lying on the ground. I rushed forward to check and luckily, they were still breathing, so I pinched them hard and woke them up."

Xia Mang was amazed: "Shouldn't you call the emergency number in this situation?"

The bearded man looked as if he had seen an alien: "Oh, you have to call the emergency number just for a little illness? You are such a spoiled brat! How much does it cost to go to the hospital? We need blood tests, CT scans, and so on. It will cost at least several thousand yuan. We are all children from poor families. How can we afford it? We have always been like this. We just bear with it ourselves if we have any problems."

Xia Mang curled her lips and stopped talking. The bearded man continued, "My two brothers - I don't want to reveal their real names online, so let's call them Wasabi and Eggplant. Wasabi was the first to wake up. He looked at me in a daze and couldn't understand the situation for a while. It was not until he lay in my arms for a while that he gradually regained consciousness."

"According to Wasabi, ever since I left that night, the two of them felt that they had behaved like cowards. If they wanted to make a lot of money, they should have chased the wild man as soon as he appeared, instead of letting him run away. The more they thought about it, the angrier they became, and finally they decided to go into the mountains overnight to look for the wild man."

"Because they came in a hurry, the two did not prepare any weapons and went up the mountain unarmed. Eggplant cursed as he walked, trying to attract the wild man. Sure enough, the wild man was lured over. The wild man was covered with long brown hair, like a giant ape. After the wild man appeared, before they could take out their phones, the wild man pounced on them. At the same time, Wasabi felt a pain in the back of his head and lost consciousness. When he woke up, it was already the next day."

"After a while, Eggplant woke up and said the same thing. They were both attacked by the savages. This is enough to prove that this legendary savage really exists!"

Bai Mian propped his chin with his fan: "The savages attacked your brothers head-on, but you said they were attacked from the back of the head. In other words, someone else attacked them?"

The bearded man nodded excitedly: "Yes, Master, you know what I am talking about. The two of them were attacked from behind at the same time. In other words, there is not just one wild man in the mountains, but a group of them!"

Xia Mang thought for a moment and said, "It seems to make sense. Savages also survive by reproduction, so he doesn't live alone, but with his family."

Bearded man: "Yeah, think about it, a bunch of savages, a bunch of them! If we can catch them and sell them for money, how much money would that bring?"

Bai Mian narrowed his eyes: "Oh? Your ambitions seem to have grown. At first you just wanted to shoot a video, but now you want to capture the wild man alive."

The bearded man rubbed his hands and said, "Yes, we were too arrogant at that time. When we were in school, the school was very chaotic and students often made plans to fight. The three of us were never afraid of anyone when we fought, so I thought it would be the same this time. Facts have proved that we were wrong."

"After Wasabi and Eggplant woke up, I took them back to the self-built house. I went to the barbecue stall and bought some barbecue and a few bags of instant noodles. After eating, we started to discuss the next countermeasures. First of all, the two of them saw clearly that the wild men in the mountains really existed, so this matter is worth investing our time. Secondly, the wild men knocked them out, and they felt embarrassed. They wanted to challenge the wild men again to get their face back. Finally, the wild men knocked them out and just left them there, which means that the story of the wild men eating people is fake, and we have nothing to be afraid of."

"After some discussion, we decided to go up the mountain again and try to catch a live wild man. After all, wild men are too rare. If we take a video and post it online, someone else will come to catch one sooner or later. Instead of that, we might as well catch one ourselves and make a lot of money!"

"After we made the decision, we went out to buy some tools, including knives and ropes. I thought, we have the knives, so we have the advantage. No matter how powerful the savages are, they can't be invulnerable, right? We ate a few bags of instant noodles and made it to the night. We went up the mountain again with full confidence."

Bai Mian frowned: "Why must it be at night?"

Bearded man: "The wild men only come out at night. This is what the barbecue stall owner said. He used to live in this area, so he knows a lot about the wild men."

"Anyway, we went up the mountain again the next night. This time we waited all night in the mountain, but the wild man didn't show up. I yelled like Eggplant and cursed at the top of my lungs until my voice became hoarse, but there was still no movement in the bushes. We waited all night in vain."

"After the sunrise, we returned to our self-built house. Our morale dropped drastically this time. It turned out that the savages did not come out every night. Whether we could meet them depended on fate. We had no other choice but to wait for the next night."

"The third day's dinner was still barbecue and beer. After eating and drinking, we took our tools and went up the mountain. This time we changed our strategy. It was Eggplant who proposed it. Eggplant said that the wild man must have his own nest. We don't have to wait, but can take the initiative to find the wild man's nest. Once we find the nest, everything else will be easy."

"We searched the entire mountain and found the largest cave on the mountainside. There were leftover food and traces of life in the cave. It seemed that this was the nest of the wild men. We squatted in the cave and waited quietly for the wild men to return to their nest."

"I don't know how long I waited. I fell asleep. When I woke up again, the three of us were thrown to the foot of the mountain again. It seemed that the savages had come back. I woke them up and they also said that they fell asleep last night. I don't know what happened. We returned empty-handed again this night."

"Wait, after listening to you say so much, it seems that you haven't seen the so-called savages with your own eyes. It has always been your brothers who have been telling you about it?" Bai Mian questioned.

The bearded man hung his head. "No, it's a long story. Listen to me. After the third night, I realized this. I didn't see any wild men the whole time. They were the ones who claimed to have seen them. I began to wonder if they were playing a trick on me. After all, we had a fight on the first night, and I said a lot of ugly things. Maybe they were taking revenge on me this way and making me work in vain."

"After I figured this out, I told them I wanted to quit and not care about this matter anymore. They tried to keep me, but I didn't listen. After I left, they stayed in the self-built house and continued their plan to capture the wild man."

"Originally, the matter had ended there for me, and I went home to live with my parents for a few days. But a few days later, Wasabi came to my door and told me in a panic that Eggplant was dead!"

Everyone was a little surprised after hearing this. Xia Mang touched her chin. She thought this was just an ordinary adventure story, but she didn't expect that someone would die.

Bai Mian asked: "How did he die?"

The bearded man said with a look of fear: "Only Wasabi and Eggplant were there at the time. Wasabi told me that after I left, the two of them returned to the cave again and wanted to wait for the wild man. This time he tried hard to stay awake, but he fell asleep unknowingly. When he woke up, he was thrown to the foot of the mountain. This time, there was no trace of Eggplant by his side."

"Wasabi tried to keep himself calm. He took out his cell phone and tried to locate Eggplant. According to the location, Eggplant was still in the cave halfway up the mountain, so Wasabi went back to look for it. When he entered the cave, he, he saw——"

At this point, the bearded man couldn't continue.

After all, they were brothers for many years. The bearded man's eyes turned red. He trembled and said, "He saw that the eggplant was buried in the soil. The whole body was like a radish, with only the head sticking out. He bravely stepped forward and dug a few times. He actually dug out the head of the eggplant. There was nothing underneath. There was no body. The body of the eggplant was gone!"

Bai Mian: "In other words, on the night they were hiding, after Wasabi fell asleep, Eggplant encountered the savages alone, and the savages beheaded him?"

The bearded man said, "Yes, Wasabi was holding the head at the time. He was so frightened that he instinctively threw the head away and then ran away. When he ran to the foot of the mountain, he felt that it was not appropriate to leave his brother's head behind, so he bravely wanted to go up the mountain to pick up the head—"

Xia Mang screamed, "Why didn't you call the police at this time?"

The bearded man sighed, "Well, listen to me. After Wasabi ran back, he found that the head was gone, and the earth pit he had just dug was gone. Everything he saw seemed to be just an illusion. Even he himself was not sure. He was a timid person and could not make up his mind, so he came to me for advice."

Bai Mian then asked: "What is your suggestion?"

The bearded man hesitated for a moment and then said, "I suggest we go back to that cave and capture the wild man again!"

Everyone was very surprised. The bearded man explained, "I didn't ask him to call the police at that time because the head had disappeared and there was no body at the scene. If we called the police, it would only be considered a missing person case. Moreover, once we called the police, the police would definitely close the mountain and search, which would definitely alert the wild man. Then we would never have the chance to see the wild man again in this life!"

Xia Mang couldn't help but say, "Savage, savage, savage, it's already this time, and you're still thinking about catching savages?"

The bearded man defended himself, "Of course I have my reasons. My brother was killed by the savages. I went to capture the savages alive and avenge my brother with my own hands. Isn't that right?"

Xia Mang laughed: "Pfft, you're still talking about revenge for your brother. I don't think your brother is that important in your eyes. One of them has died, but your vigilance hasn't been awakened yet. You're just hunting down wild people for money, right?"

The bearded man did not deny it. "So what? People die for money, and birds die for food. There is no contradiction between my revenge for my brother and my making money. If I can catch the wild man, there will definitely be countless people who will offer a high price to buy him. If I call the police directly, wouldn't it be equivalent to giving up this opportunity? How many times can a person encounter opportunities like this in his life?"

Xia Mang was too lazy to argue with him: "Okay, then did you catch it later?"

The bearded man fell silent for a long time before he spoke: "No, not only did I not catch him, but I also lost a brother."

Xia Mang was very surprised: "You mean - your other brother is also dead?"

The bearded man nodded. "That day Wasabi came to see me, and I told him to keep it a secret and not to call the police. Then I followed him back to the house. That night, we went up the mountain again. Wasabi was crying on the way. He was scared and didn't want to go, but I insisted on taking him with me. In fact, I was scared too, and I needed someone to give me courage."

Xia Mang rubbed his temple and said, "You—you are so stupid and bad!"

The bearded man sighed and said, "Now it seems that you are right. My decision was wrong. After we reached the mountainside, Wasabi said he would never go into the cave, so I used provocation to force him to go in, calling him a coward. Then I went to the toilet somewhere else. While I was using the toilet, I suddenly heard a sound above my head, and then Wasabi fell down and died in front of me."

Xia Mang had a headache after hearing this: "Wait, wait, wait, you and Wasabi were on the same mountainside, why did he fall from above your head?"

Bai Mian also heard that the bearded man was hiding something, so he said to him, "If you play word games in front of me, I will cancel your spot in the pulse diagnosis this time."

The bearded man was sweating profusely. He sighed for a long time and finally told the truth: "I was at the foot of the mountain at that time, and Wasabi was in a cave on the mountainside. I don't know what happened, but he fell from the mountainside and landed right in front of me."

Xia Mang immediately noticed something strange: "No, you just want to pee, why do you have to go to the foot of the mountain to pee? You can just pee near the cave. Don't you men usually pee and poop anywhere?"

The bearded man hesitated for a long time and could not say anything. Bai Mian had seen through his performance: "You used Wasabi as bait to lure out the wild man. You deliberately left Wasabi alone in the cave and then ran away. Once the wild man entered the cave, Wasabi would definitely scream. Then you would rush in and pick up the ready-made one. But you miscalculated. For some reason, Wasabi did not make any sound. He just left the cave quietly and was thrown off the cliff."

Xia Mang suddenly realized: "Oh my god, you two are just fake brothers! You are too cruel. In order to make money, you directly use other people's lives as bait?"

The bearded man covered his face in pain. "Alright, stop talking. I'm already upset enough. Anyway, things have come to this. My two brothers are dead, and the savages haven't been caught. I don't know what to do. Master, what do you say?"

Bai Mian pondered for a while and said, "I need to feel your pulse before I can make a conclusion."

As she spoke, she raised her hand, ready to take the bearded man's pulse. At this moment, Xia Mang suddenly stopped her:

"Master, wait, I have a guess!"

The bearded man looked up in confusion. Xia Mang looked at him and said, "I often read mystery novels. There is a saying in mystery novels - only those who survive are qualified to tell stories."