Chapter 3: Second Encounter with Shen Peirong
On the second day of National Day, before dawn, Lin Jin suddenly woke up from a nightmare.
She stared at the ceiling above her head, breathing heavily, her chest heaving violently, and cold sweat appeared densely on her skin on her forehead.
After seeing the surroundings clearly, she reached for the wall to turn on the light, then stood up and sat on the bed, covering her chest to calm herself down.
It’s so weird. I haven’t had a nightmare for a long time, but I had one last night.
In the dream, someone kept shouting for help to Lin Jin. No matter where she went, she could always hear this voice in her ears.
After the sound finally disappeared, when I turned around, I saw two bloody eyeballs behind me.
Lin Jin wiped the cold sweat off her forehead, reached for the phone under the pillow, opened the Internet and clicked on Fetion.
There was still no reply to the message she sent yesterday. She felt panic for no reason and immediately opened her address book, found a number marked as Ranran and dialed it.
"Sorry, the number you dialed is out of service area..."
A mechanical and cold female voice came, but no one answered the phone.
When Lin Jin heard this voice, the uneasiness in her heart was suppressed a little.
Ranran said earlier this year that he might have to go into the mountains to film a movie during this period, and his cell phone is out of service area. Could it be that he has already joined the crew?
But why didn’t you tell me before going into the mountains to film? Ranran has never done this before.
Lin Jin was very suspicious. She looked at the number on her phone, thought about it, and decided not to call again.
Looking up, she saw that the sky outside was gradually turning light. She folded her quilt, got out of bed, washed, changed her clothes, and went out with her keys and cell phone.
After the short vacation, there were basically no people staying on campus, and even in the cafeteria there were few people eating.
Lin Jin walked to the window familiarly and bought a steamed bun for two yuan. After eating it hurriedly, she walked out of the school gate and went to the subway station.
After getting out of the subway and taking a bus, she arrived at the foot of Mount Laurin again after two hours of bumpy ride.
After being closed for a short period yesterday, Mount Laurin reopened in the afternoon, and vehicles arrived one after another early this morning.
Although many people posted the real human-faced stone online yesterday, and some even criticized bloggers for forgery, there were still some people who couldn't sit still and wanted to come and see it for themselves.
Lin Jin arrived early. As soon as she got off the car, she carried the suitcase and walked to the same place as yesterday.
Put out the power strips, wooden tables, sausage grills, sausages, sesame oil and other things, connect them to the scenic area's power supply, and the sausage stall is set up.
"Boss, give me two grilled sausages."
"Boss, I want five..."
"Right away."
Not long after the stall was set up, tourists came to buy grilled sausages.
Lin Jin was so busy that she didn't even look up. She hung the payment QR code on the back of the sausage grill and took out a bunch of skewers to skewer the sausages.
She poured oil into the hot pan, cut the sausages into pieces, put them in, turned them over and sprinkled chili powder on them; her movements were very precise.
Maybe business is better in the morning, so most of the day is spent in this busy process.
As soon as Shen Peirong got out of the car, she saw Lin Jin selling grilled sausages at the entrance.
The sausage stall is not very big, and the wooden table is only half the size of the cart next door when opened, but even so, business is very good. The plastic bags at the foot of the table are full of empty starch sausage packaging bags.
Shen Peirong turned around and walked towards Lin Jin with a sword in hand.
Seeing this, Shen Lingyu, who was following Shen Peirong, looked in the direction of her sight in confusion. Seeing the sausage stall not far ahead, the corners of her mouth twitched suspiciously.
"Little girl, so you are selling grilled sausages! Give me two."
After waiting for a long time until the crowds thinned out, Lin Jin hadn't even had time to catch her breath when a familiar voice suddenly rang in her ears.
She hurriedly put down the cup and turned around to see the old lady she met on the mountain yesterday standing next to her.
The old lady was still wearing the Tai Chi uniform like yesterday, and had a smile on her face.
I don’t know if it was Lin Jin’s illusion, but she always felt that the old lady’s smile today was brighter than yesterday.
"Grandma, it's you. I'll bake them right away." Lin Jin peeled off the outer skins of the last two remaining sausages, cut them into pieces and put them in the sausage plate.
The electric grill was turned up to maximum temperature, and she was flipping the sausages while casually talking about Laurin Mountain.
"Grandma, didn't you say yesterday that Laolin Mountain was closed? Why is it open again this afternoon?"
Shen Peirong said: "That was originally the plan, but after a professional assessment, no potential danger was found, so it was opened again in the afternoon."
"After all, Laolin Mountain was a scenic spot that no one cared about before, and the leaders above also want to take advantage of this popularity to promote Laolin Mountain."
Lin Jin turned the sausage over and continued to ask inconspicuously, "But the scenic area leaders should be scolded for this! My roommate said that the human-faced stone is very different from what we saw online. I looked at the photos last night and it also felt very different from what I saw this morning."
Shen Peirong's expression remained unchanged when she heard this, not even her smile changed at all.
She explained: "There was fog in the Laurin Mountains in the morning, and there was no sun yesterday morning, so there must be a difference between the video and the scene."
"As for whether your superiors will be scolded, this is not our concern. The Internet doesn't say that being a black celebrity is also being a red celebrity. As long as it can bring benefits, it may be a good thing."
"I understand. I'll talk to my roommates when I get back."
The sausages were ready. Lin Jin handed two golden and crispy sausages to Shen Peirong, "Okay, grandma, five pieces in total."
Shen Peirong glanced at Lin Jin casually and saw that her expression was indifferent, as if what she had just asked was just a casual question.
She concealed the strangeness in her heart, scanned the money, took the sausage, and turned to go up the mountain with Shen Lingyu.
After the two of them walked a long way away and could no longer be seen from behind, Lin Jin immediately turned off the sausage grill, hung up a sign saying "Sold Out", and quickly followed their pace.
Yesterday she saw a small path in the woods that could quickly lead up the mountain, but she didn't follow anyone directly, but instead headed towards the path.
In just a few minutes, Lin Jin caught up with Shen Peirong and her grandchildren walking on the wooden trestle bridge.
She hid behind a big tree and watched the two people not go up the mountain along the trestle bridge, but walk down the trestle bridge at a bend and enter another forest.
Lin Jin's eyes flashed slightly, and she quickly turned her phone to silent mode, nimbly crossed the pier, bent over, and followed secretly.
They turned left and right along the way for an unknown amount of time. When she wondered if someone was deliberately taking her around in circles, the two people in front of her finally stopped.
Lin Jin raised her eyes and looked forward through the grass.
In this lush forest, a piece of open space was cleared out at some point in the place that was difficult even for ordinary people to find.
There were several military green tents set up on the open space, and a group of people wearing jackets of the same color were walking around in the tents.
In addition to the tent on the open space, there was also an additional small awning outside.
There were several tables and a bunch of electronic equipment under the awning. Behind each table sat a staff member with a pair of headphones with flashing red dots on their ears. Next to them was an old man in a Tang suit holding a notebook and writing something.
Everyone seemed to be very busy and there was no communication at all. The forest was so quiet except for the chirping of birds and the sound of a huge display screen beeping.
Lin Jin hid in the distance, looking at the scene in amazement.
What are they doing?
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