Chapter 1 Prologue: Crossroads
Yunling Mountains to the south are the dividing point between the eastern Yunnan Plateau and the Hengduan Mountains.
The crustal movement during the Cretaceous period caused the area to fold and rise, forming a long mountain range with an average altitude of more than two thousand meters.
Due to the complex geographical environment and dense fog, there are large areas of pristine forests that are rarely visited by humans.
The forest was filled with mist and even the skylight was blocked by dense vegetation, leaving only the deep green and damp tranquility.
At this time, a college student holding an alloy trekking pole emerged from the depths of the dense forest. He walked alone, staggering on the thick piles of rotten leaves. He stopped at a slightly flat place, his face pale.
On the third of last month, news broke that the Linchuan City Orphan and Disabled Welfare Home used substandard decoration materials, causing several orphans to suffer from leukemia.
Therefore, the local explorer club decided to organize a live broadcast of crossing the uninhabited area, intending to use the popularity of the Internet to raise funds for these children.
Because it was summer vacation, college students signed up for this event.
At first, their crossing went smoothly.
After all, most of the people in the club are adventure experts and are fully equipped, so they can chat and laugh along the way and do not feel any sense of urgency about entering an uninhabited area.
But as a strange mountain fog suddenly came, everyone in the team was separated.
In fact, before setting off, they had already planned a detailed survival route and return route, and made a map for each person. Even if they got separated, they just had to stay where they were and wait for the fog to clear.
But the problem was that after the fog cleared, the college student discovered that his compass was spinning faster than Doraemon's bamboo dragonfly, and his satellite phone had completely frozen, making it impossible to confirm the direction or contact the outside world.
There is also this mountain forest, where both the ground and the tree trunks are covered with moss. As far as the eye can see, it is all deep green, so dense that you can't tell the direction. Even your mind will become hazy if you look at it for too long.
Add to that the thick fog that didn't dissipate and the fact that no light could get through, and it would be very easy to trap a person to death.
"Throw the shoes..."
The college student stood among the lush green ancient trees, muttered to himself, and threw away his walking stick.
Throwing shoes is a "professional technique" in adventure activities, used to determine direction, but it doesn't have to be shoes that are thrown, anything can be thrown, and it is a hidden trick.
No scientist has yet been able to explain its scientific principles, but its greatest benefit is that it can perfectly reflect the despair of people when they are lost.
At this time, thick fog rose in the mountains again, visibility dropped rapidly, and the dampness even penetrated his jacket, attached to his skin, and took away his remaining body temperature.
What's even more strange is that as he moved forward step by step, the thick fog floating in the mountains and forests gradually turned blood red.
The college student ignored this and walked down the wet slope, passing through the hanging old vines until he stepped on a stone road that shouldn't be there.
Then he saw a stone lamp in front of him. There was a flickering blue flame in the lamp, which seemed to have lasted for a thousand years.
"I knew I shouldn't eat those cute-colored mushrooms."
"That's good now. We've reached Hyrule."
The college student's mouth twitched.
He had been lost for two days and his supplies were almost exhausted.
The good news was that, although there was nothing else in this pristine forest, mushrooms grew everywhere. He had previously cooked a pot of mushroom soup on the stove, and now he attributed everything in front of him to mushroom poisoning.
However, after walking on the mountain road for such a long time, the desire for flat land drove him to move forward.
Passing through layers of vines and ancient trees, and stepping on the rotten leaves covered with heavy moisture, unexpectedly, a larger piece of stone slabs appeared in front of us, and it was paved very smoothly.
It's just that there's too much moisture in the forest, coupled with the moss, so the place where you step on is very slippery.
This stone floor is not empty. There are some collapsed ruins around it. You can vaguely make out the arch bridge, the green tile roof, the square stone platform... and various broken bricks and tiles.
Everything is covered with moss and looks old and desolate. If there is a dilapidated temple, it will be no different from the ancient temples in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.
However, the most eye-catching are the two huge statues standing behind the broken walls.
A statue wearing strange clothes, which looks like neither a robe nor a piece of clothing, sitting on the ground with his head lowered. It is not a Buddha, nor a Taoist priest. He is looking at the ground expressionlessly.
The college student is 1.83 meters tall, but he can only barely reach his feet. Under him, he is like an ant.
The fallen leaves in the primeval forest were piled very thickly, but there were none on the statue. Instead, they were piled around it, and even moss did not grow on the statue.
Turning to look at the other one, it was even stranger.
It is not in human form, but can be barely considered humanoid. It stands upright, as huge as a towering ancient tree, with a mouth full of sharp teeth, pupils turned upside down, as if laughing or crying, and is very skinny. Its eight fingers are crossed and twisted, and its posture looks like it is in extreme pain, but also like it is extremely happy.
The two statues are standing on the left and right, facing each other, as if they had just had a fight, and the winner has been decided.
If we look at it from a human aesthetic perspective, beauty is good and ugliness is evil, which means that evil has won over good.
The college student looked up at the two huge statues and felt uncomfortable all over. So he wrapped his windbreaker tightly, walked past them, and went straight into the depths to see if there was a dry open space ahead to set up the tent.
Just as he quickened his pace, he kicked something and saw something flying out from under his feet with a "whoosh".
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
When he caught up and picked it up, he found that it was a half-rolled ancient book.
Because the object felt real in his hand, it meant that the book was not an illusion caused by eating mushrooms, and the college student couldn't help but shudder.
In such a humid environment, the fact that an ancient book has existed for so long without rotting is problematic in itself.
Sometimes the source of people’s fear is not what they see or hear, but a feeling of extreme unreasonableness.
What's more, this is a deep mountain forest where few people go.
He didn't know where he was going, so he began to feel daunted.
But before he paused for too long, the college student discovered that there was a gap in the mountain wall in front of him that was barely wide enough for a person to pass through. Through the gap, what was revealed behind the mountain wall was no longer a dense forest, but a large tract of farmland.
"Hey, I walked out?"
"I told you, throwing shoes is technology!"
The college student immediately put the book in his pocket, ran over impatiently, and nimbly squeezed out of the gap in the mountain wall.
He was delighted to see that there were people working in the fields.
By borrowing his cell phone to call the police, the fragile college student's life was saved.
But when the college students who survived the disaster ran closer happily, they found that each of them was pale and thin, with a hunched back.
Moreover, they wore coarse linen and brown clothes, loose trousers without crotch, and they all had long beards and wrapped their heads with cloth scarves.
The people working in the fields also noticed him at this time. After a moment's pause, they immediately showed surprise and rushed over, speaking in an obscure dialect. One of them seemed to be a little happy.
Before the college student could react, he suddenly felt dizzy and fell uncontrollably on the ridge of the field.
"Ancient...ancient people..."
"How can a person get lost on such a long road..."
As he was muttering, there was a crackling sound from the intercom on the college student's arm, and then a voice he had never heard before appeared, speaking a string of syllables he had never heard before.
(I changed to a hell track, and I’m a newbie again. Please collect and read!) (End of this chapter)