Chapter 346: The Vicious Dog Blocks the Road
Two team members disguised as mountain goods dealers, "Mountain Eagle" and "Nightingale", carefully walked deep into the heart of Aotou Village along the bumpy dirt road.
The village was unusually quiet, with only a few dog barks coming from afar. Occasionally, a villager would poke his head out from the door of a low adobe house, casting a wary and scrutinizing look.
It is an instinctive rejection and suspicion of outsiders formed by long-term isolation.
Mountain Eagle was experienced, and he wasn't in a hurry to inquire. Instead, he spoke fluently in the local dialect, his voice booming with the warmth of a street vendor. He took the initiative to greet an old man squatting at the door smoking a pipe: "Uncle, excuse me! How are the mushrooms in our mountains this year? Are the dried ones selling for a good price?"
The old man narrowed his eyes and looked them up and down, especially their small truck parked at the entrance of the village, piled with empty baskets and weighing rods. He snorted and didn't speak immediately.
Nightingale immediately cooperated by pulling out a few packs of cheap cigarettes from her backpack and handed them over with a smile: "Uncle, try this. We are from outside the city and don't know the rules. Please give us some guidance."
"Mountain Eagle" took the opportunity to open the large cloth bag he was carrying, revealing some scattered cheap daily necessities brought from the previous purchasing point, such as soap, towels, and low-quality white wine. These are the common items that peddlers who go from village to village often carry.
"Please bring some small things along the way and exchange them for some mountain products. The price is negotiable!"
The two team members were not in a hurry. They just demonstrated slowly and chatted casually, from complaining about the difficulty of the mountain road to asking about this year's harvest, and never mentioned any sensitive topics.
This seemingly mercenary atmosphere, which seemed to be purely for profit, and their "unfamiliarity" with the local situation gradually dispelled the villagers' initial vigilance.
Several villagers who were originally watching from afar gradually gathered around. Some looked through the daily necessities in the cloth bags, and some began to ask how to exchange them for soap and white wine.
The atmosphere gradually eased amid cigarettes and trivial bargaining.
A middle-aged man wearing a faded blue shirt, who looked like a talkative man in the village, observed them silently for a while, and finally spoke in a very tentative tone:
"Are you here to collect mountain products? Old Zhao used to come here every year, why isn't he here?"
"Mountain Eagle" immediately showed a perfect look of bewilderment and a touch of business acumen. He scratched his head and said in a very natural tone:
"Lao Zhao? Hey, big brother, which Lao Zhao are you talking about? This is the first time for us two brothers to go to this mountain valley, and we don't know any Lao Zhao."
Xia Lili held her breath and watched the content transmitted back on the big screen. She couldn't help but worry for the two team members.
I'm afraid there is no Old Zhao who collects mountain products. This Old Zhao was probably fabricated by the middle-aged man to test the two of them.
In the video, "Mountain Eagle" took a half step closer to the middle-aged man and lowered his voice, as if sharing some industry secrets: "To be honest, big brother, we heard that the goods in our mountains are good and the roads are reliable, so we specially found a way to get here."
"Why, that old Zhao from previous years...did he offer a bad price?"
This complete distancing of relations, showing that he knew nothing about "Old Zhao" and was only concerned about the market, seemed to dispel the last trace of doubt in the middle-aged man's eyes.
He curled his lips and didn't respond to Old Zhao's words. He just pointed to the side and said, "I have some dried mushrooms and bamboo shoots drying in my backyard. If you like them, come and take a look. The price will be higher than in previous years."
"Okay! The price is negotiable, as long as the goods are good!" "Mountain Eagle" immediately put on a businessman's smile on his face, thanked him repeatedly, and signaled "Nightingale" to pick up the scale and follow.
Just as they were about to follow the middle-aged man to his yard, the "Mountain Eagle" seemed to glance at the surrounding houses unintentionally. When its eyes passed by an earthen house with sealed windows and a brand new padlock on the door, it paused almost imperceptibly.
And the inconspicuous "button" on his chest was clearly transmitting all of this back to the temporary command point several kilometers away.
After successfully trading several kilograms of dried mushrooms and bamboo shoots at the middle-aged man's house, "Mountain Eagle" and "Nightingale" were not satisfied.
As "Mountain Eagle" took out a wrinkled bill to pay, he sighed casually, "Brother, your goods are really good! We two brothers would like to buy more. I heard that there are several families in our village who have good stocks of goods too."
"This is the road. It's winding and I'm afraid I'm getting lost. Could you show me the way?"
The middle-aged man counted some money, put it in his pocket, pointed towards the deeper part of the village, and said vaguely:
"Go straight along this road. When you see an old locust tree, turn right and ask the families in the area yourself."
"Okay! Thank you, big brother!" "Mountain Eagle" thanked him repeatedly, and he and "Nightingale" picked up the burden and walked towards the direction the man pointed.
The further you get into the village, the more dilapidated and quiet the environment becomes. The dirt road becomes narrower and more rugged, the houses on both sides become sparser, and there is an indescribable sense of oppression in the air.
In the tent of the temporary command post at the rear, Xia Lili stared at the surveillance wall composed of several screens, which was transmitting in real time the shaky images captured by the button cameras on the chests of two team members.
She didn't dare to relax even a little. Every once in a while, she would issue a command through the encrypted headset: "Mountain Eagle, turn around and see if Nightingale's crosshairs are crooked."
"Nightingale, check if the eagle's bag is tied tightly."
The real purpose of these seemingly ordinary reminders is to allow the two team members to use these natural movements to briefly point the camera at each other's faces.
Through this moment of "eye contact", Xia Lili can capture possible fragments of the future and predict the impending danger.
Just as "Nightingale" once again followed the instructions and turned to look at "Mountain Eagle" behind it.
On the surveillance screen, "Mountain Eagle"'s face was facing the camera, his eyes calm and experienced.
At the moment their eyes met, Xia Lili's eyes suddenly blurred and the familiar feeling of tearing came over her again!
Hallucinations flooded into Xia Lili's mind like a tide:
Still on this secluded village road, "Mountain Eagle" and "Nightingale" were walking one after the other.
Suddenly, two huge black dogs with fierce eyes jumped out from behind the wooden door of a dilapidated courtyard on the right!
Without making a sound, they bared their fangs and pounced on the calf of the "Mountain Eagle" walking in front of them like two black lightning bolts!
The "Mountain Eagle" was caught off guard and stumbled. He instinctively used his hands to block, but his arm was instantly torn apart by the sharp teeth, and blood was dripping! The huge movement and screams immediately attracted the attention of nearby villagers...
The illusion came to an abrupt end!
Xia Lili broke out in a cold sweat.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com