Chapter 10
The rain was getting heavier, and it was already pitch black before nightfall. Today it was Zhang Song and I's turn to keep watch. Because it was raining, we couldn't light a fire, so Zhang Song and I could only sit in the tent with military flashlights to observe the surroundings.
"If you feel sleepy, take a nap." Zhang Song sat at the entrance of the tent, looking outside, and said in a generous voice.
"It's okay, I'm fine." I replied.
The other four people were huddled in a tent playing games, their shadows cast on the tent and laughter could be heard from inside.
"If this heavy rain doesn't stop, we might not be able to leave tomorrow." Zhang Song said as he looked at the rain outside.
"Have you often encountered this situation before?" I asked him curiously.
"When I was in the army, surviving in the wild was much harder than this."
"By the way, you told me during the day not to sleep too deeply at night. Did you find anything?"
"I don't know why, but I always feel uneasy."
They played until midnight and then dispersed, returning to their tents. Soon it was dark in the tents, leaving only mine and Zhang Song's tent lit.
This was my first time experiencing heavy rain in the deep mountains and forests. It was pitch black all around, and the raindrops hitting the trees made a rustling sound. Looking around at this moment, it felt like I was being swallowed by darkness.
"Did you hear any sound?" Zhang Song asked me.
I listened carefully, but heard no other sound except the rain.
"I didn't hear it. What's wrong?"
"I hope I'm just being too suspicious," Zhang Song said.
The night passed in silence. In the morning, the rain stopped, but the sky remained gray and the mountain path became even more muddy. We packed up our gear and prepared to continue our journey. Then we noticed that Zheng Yunyun hadn't come out yet. I hurried back to our tent and called out to her for a long time before she finally opened the tent.
"We're about to leave. Are you okay?" I asked with concern when I saw that she looked unhappy.
"Is it daybreak already? I feel like I haven't slept yet and I'm dizzy." Her cheeks were flushed and she looked listless.
I walked over and touched her forehead, it was very hot.
"You have a fever," I said.
If I had a fever at home, I wouldn't have made such a big fuss. But now, deep in the mountains, a fever must be taken seriously. Medical care here is poor, and if something were to happen, there would be no immediate treatment.
When they heard me say that Zheng Yunyun had a fever, they all gathered around.
"Maybe it's because it rained all night last night and I caught a cold," said Zhang Song.
"What should we do then?" Zhang Yu asked with concern.
"Let's do this. Jianming will try to contact the professor and the others using a satellite phone to see how far apart we are. It would be best to find someone to take Yunyun down the mountain for medical treatment. Although we have medicines, we are now far away from the county town and the mountain road is difficult to walk on. We cannot take the risk of letting her go with us." Zhang Song said.
Hearing that she had to go back, Zheng Yunyun said stubbornly: "I want to go with everyone. It's just a common fever. I can take some medicine and it will be fine."
I found the medical kit, took out some ibuprofen, handed it to Zheng Yunyun, and asked her to take one first.
"Brother Song is right. First of all, we don't know where our teachers and the others are. You have a high fever now. You should go down the mountain to seek medical treatment. Even if you recover, you can come back to find us by following their footsteps." Mao Jianming said.
"It's really okay. Don't delay everyone's journey because of me. It will be over if you hold on." Zheng Yunyun wanted to continue moving forward with everyone, but didn't want to drag them down.
"Yunyun, I also think what Brother Song said is right. This mountain is not like our usual home. If you have a headache or fever, you can go to the hospital immediately if you can't stand it. With our current walking speed, it may take three to five days to find a hospital. If something unexpected really happens, it will be too late." I also advised Zheng Yunyun.
Zheng Yunyun's face suddenly turned bitter, and she said, "But I still want to see the teacher's team find Bili with my own eyes."
"Yunyun, why don't we go down the mountain first? Maybe we'll be fine after a day or two, and then we can come back." Zhang Yu said worriedly.
After our persuasion, Zheng Yunyun was obviously shaken.
Li Bin struck while the iron was hot and said, "Then Yuzi, you take Yunyun down the mountain first. We will leave marks along the way. If Yunyun feels better and wants to come back, she can follow the marks we and the teacher left."
"How is it, Yunyun?" Zhang Yu asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm a burden to everyone." Zheng Yunyun said.
Seeing that her tone had relaxed, we helped her pack her luggage. Before leaving, she asked Zhang Yu to take good care of her.
After they left, the four of us continued along the professor's path. Mao Jianming called the professor several times, but couldn't connect. Either we couldn't find the satellite signal here, or we couldn't get it there, so we had no choice but to keep going.
Zhang Song suddenly stopped us, looked around vigilantly, and said, "Don't move yet."
Seeing him like this, I also looked around with him, and this time I really heard something around me.
Zhang Song stared ahead and said, "Get your weapons ready."
Mao Jianming immediately took out an engineer shovel from his backpack. This was brought by Zhang Song, one for each person.
We held the engineer shovel in our hands and looked at him nervously.
But the next second, we saw seven or eight wolves appearing around us. They came towards us in a surrounding posture, as if they were going to catch us all in one swoop.
It was the first time I had ever seen a wolf. They bared their fangs and drooled on the ground. It must have rained heavily yesterday, so they hadn't caught any prey and had just happened to run into us.
They are now starving and see us as a delicious meal.
As their encirclement narrowed, the three of us, except Zhang Song, were a little scared.
The wolves would first test us, attacking us to see how we would react. These animals are very cunning; if we showed a weakness, they would seize it. The four of us formed a circle, back to back, always facing the wolves head-on.
Zhang Song suddenly roared, his voice echoing through the forest. I suddenly remembered a video I'd seen that suggested yelling might scare off wild animals if encountered in the wild. So, I followed suit, roaring at the approaching wolves. Mao Jianming and Li Bin roared too, and I could see the wolves hesitate.
But with a roar from the wolf king, the hesitant wolves approached us again.
At this time, Zhang Song rushed out waving an engineer shovel.
His movement broke the balance between us and the wolf pack. Several wolves rushed towards us. I had no experience in dealing with wolves and was scared to death.
A wolf jumped up and pounced on me, but I didn't move.
Fortunately, Mao Jianming used an engineer shovel to pull the wolf away, but the whole pack of wolves attacked us.
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