I was very confused and was thinking about stalking him one day to find out what his purpose was.

I went to the woods and picked a new batch of wild wood ear mushrooms. I hadn't been out for about a week, so the snow here had basically melted and there was no snow covering it. However, I still found a lot of wild mushrooms. They looked non-toxic, so I collected some of them and took them back with me.

Spring is approaching, which means there will be spring tides. At the very least, continuous spring rains will contribute to the increase in water levels. The high and low tides will continue to bring a batch of stranded fish and shrimps, which will be another feast for the gluttons.

Just as I was collecting these mushrooms, my hand seemed to touch something with a strange texture, a little hard, but also a little sticky. Out of curiosity, I dug up the soil to have a look. As soon as I dug up the soil a little deeper, I almost vomited. The smell was obviously the smell of some rotting corpse!

I rushed to the side and vomited for a long time. Just when I was about to cover the dirt, I found that what I had just dug out was a corpse. But on the corpse was something that I was very familiar with: military boots! Military boots specially used for field operations!

Could this be the dead soldier?

I got a tree trunk and used a bayonet to cut it into spikes, then dug at the ground again and again until the body was completely exposed. There was still some scattered rotten meat on it, and disgusting maggots were crawling on it. The stench was unbearable. Its skull was deformed and there were obvious fractures in its neck. Although I am not a forensic doctor, I can tell that its skull was crushed and its neck was broken.

There were several M777 5.56mm ordinary bullets for M16 in the pockets of its clothes, which could fully prove that it was the last survivor, the guy who took the jade pendant to find a cave and was killed in the woods, and also the author of the diary.

But I always thought that he died on the tree, and it must have been the work of the giant beast. But now judging from the way he died, it was obviously not the work of the beast, otherwise the soldier would not have died in this way, and would not have died in this place, but underground, instead of being dropped directly on the ground.

I found two thinner wooden sticks and used them to pick up the bullets from his pocket like chopsticks. These were all usable resources. There were only three or four bullets left in the gun magazine. It was precious to be able to replenish it with six bullets. It was extremely suitable for hunting and self-defense.

After taking out the bullet, there was a piece of cloth inside, which he tore from the vest he was wearing inside. I also picked it out. The first thing written on it was "help me", and there were even many exclamation marks after it, which made me deeply feel his despair at that time.

This should be his last work. The handwriting is uglier than that in the diary, but you can tell it was written by one person because both of them used the left hand and the color of the pen is the same. The pen is also in his other pocket, but it is not very practical. After the ink is used up, it becomes a burden, so I did not take it.

I couldn't understand the other foreign words, so I could only clip the paper over, brush off the maggots on it, put it in my backpack, and plan to give it to Yunwen to help translate it.

"If it wasn't that monster, what could have done it? It has the strength to crush a person's head, could it be it? But if it was it, why would it bring the head here and bury it?" I asked, feeling more and more ominous.

I always feel that this incident seems to be closely related to his recent frequent spying on us. I hope what I think is not true.

I will only know the answer after I take it back and translate it with Yunwen.

After taking these out, I buried it back, covered it with soil, piled some stones on it, bowed to it, and left.

When they returned to Huoquan Old House, the three girls came out to greet them immediately after hearing the noise. Song Bailu was the first to say, "Why did you take so long? Sister Yunwen just wanted to go find you, and we were just discussing it."

I walked into the house, and the girls followed me in. I took a cup of tea and drank it, put down my backpack, and then said, "I should have come back earlier, but I accidentally found the body of the diary reporter and found the last clue it wrote. I buried it by the way, so I was a little late."

After saying that, I opened my backpack, took out the brown and white strip of cloth, and placed it on the kang. Everyone immediately covered their noses because the rotten smell was really unpleasant.

"The smell of a rotting corpse." Song Bailu said.

"Yes, after Yunwen writes it down, we will cook it immediately so as not to affect everyone's appetite." I said.

Yunwen covered her nose and came forward to take a look. After a few minutes, she said, "It can be burned now."

I immediately got two wooden roots, picked it out, and lit it with a torch.

After we came in, Yunwen told us, "Written on it is his last experience. He said he knew he was dead, and the monster had caught up with him. The whole mountain was shaking, and the whole forest was swaying. The giant gorilla monster was going to take him to its lair to woo him. It said that every spring, it would kill people to find a mate. He said he had seen bones all over the ground in its lair. The next piece of cloth said that he missed his wife and mother, etc."

"Ah? Finding a mate by killing someone, what kind of logic is this?" I was surprised and incredulous.

"It's possible. When many creatures are looking for mates, they usually use some special ways to prove their strength in order to find a mate. For example, antelopes and deer will attract and pursue mates through duels. There is also a bird called tern that will win the heart of a female tern by bringing small fish to it. The way Bigfoot seeks a mate should be the same as the tern, relying on the best food to attract a partner." Song Bailu said.

"But why not other animals, but humans?" I asked.

"I think it's because human flesh is relatively rare. Rare things are more likely to attract partners. After all, the rarer it is, the higher its value." Song Bailu said.

"These all make sense, but why did he bury the body of the person he used to woo?" I asked.

"I don't know about this, but burying it may be to preserve freshness, just like when we make wine. It's just that maybe they forgot to dig it up after burying it. This is my guess." Bai Lu said.

Then it occurred to me that I had often gone to that place before, even when the snow melted, but I had never smelled the smell of a corpse. However, I recently touched the exposed white skeletal fingers by accident. This means that it had been dug up and moved recently, and then filled in again, but the filling soil was perfunctory and shallow, so I touched the finger bones.

If this is the case, then it confirms everything Bai Lu said. Perhaps it was planning to use the corpse to continue looking for a mate in the spring, but it saw only white bones and thought the gift was too light!

So, it has recently started to spy on us frequently outside. I think it is making up its mind about something, or perhaps it is looking for a new person to give as a "bride price" to find a partner.

So, the look in its eyes that night...

"Zhou Bo, didn't you tell us that Bigfoot let you go once? And those fish were given to us to eat, so how could it kill people?" Yunwen asked.

"I thought so too, but it was clearly written on the white cloth, so I can't be sure." I shook my head.

"Stop talking about such horrible things to scare people, okay? There are already creepy people living in these remote mountains and hills. You still say these things. Do you still want people to live here? Hurry up and deal with the fungus and mushrooms. You guys are all idle." Song Yingchun complained.

It's a rough statement, but even if it's true, we can't move away now. The wheat isn't ripe yet, and we'll lose a lot if we leave. We can only take care of the present...