By the time I returned to the room, Fatty and Wang Jianjun had come back from outside, and there was a bundle of relatively dry firewood on the ground, along with two short-handled shovels.
"Let's make a fire. I think it's going to rain all night. The shovels can be used as weapons. Who knows if we'll encounter bad people in the wild," Wang Jianjun muttered.
Everyone sat around the campfire, eating. The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, and it was quiet inside the house. Perhaps everyone was tired, as after a while they all looked worn out.
I had originally wanted to share my recent discovery, but after seeing Li Qian's pale face, I decided to keep it to myself.
"I think everyone's tired. Let's take turns keeping watch. Fatty and I will take the second half of the night..."
Fatty, who loved to sleep, was reluctant to hear that he also had to take a watch. But since everyone agreed, he just glared at me and remained silent.
Around one in the morning, it was time for Fatty and me to switch shifts. He must have eaten something, because not long after waking up, he had stomach trouble and went to the back of the house to relieve himself, leaving me alone at the front door.
When I was alone, my mind kept going back to those footprints. Such large footprints, at least the size of a big dog's, and growing up, my father's old leader had kept two Tibetan Mastiffs, and their paw was about the size of my palm. Yunnan and Guizhou were dense with forests, so it was not unusual for there to be wild animals nearby. I just hoped it wasn't some man-eating creature coming out.
After waiting for a while and not seeing Fatso return, I felt that something was wrong. A moment later, I saw Fatso rushing back in a fluster. Out of breath, he said, "Oh my goodness, you scared me!"
Seeing him out of breath, I felt puzzled and asked, "What's wrong? Did you encounter a tiger while taking a dump?"
I was joking, but he slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Damn, I was squatting under the eaves just now, thinking I was alone. But after a while, I heard a rustling sound beside me. I glanced in the direction of the sound and, goodness, it frightened me! I saw a dark shadow swaying in the rain, it was incredibly fast!"
Hearing this, I was struck by a thought and decided to tell him about the incident with Li Qian.
After discussing it, it seemed that the black shadow Fatso saw might have been the one lurking near Li Qian's window!
"Could it be the same thing?" I asked.
"How would I know? But it might be possible. I heard a rumor before. It said that in the border between Yunnan's dense forests and the fields, there are often some empty houses. These houses are not built for people to live in, but for some wandering spirits or earthbound animals to take shelter from the rain, so they won't barge into inhabited houses. Among these creatures, some are clever and find it fun to light lanterns to scare people. Maybe we accidentally entered one of these houses and intruded into the turf of some creatures."
"Don't come over!"
I was anxious, but somehow found the courage to jump outside and shout. The figure opposite visibly paused, actually stopping in their tracks. Even the sound of the bell stopped!
I held the shovel and continued to shout, "No matter what kind of monster you are, hurry up and leave. We... we have Daba here!"
I babbled, unconsciously grabbing the magic staff hanging by my waist.
The fat man whispered from behind, "It looks a lot like 'Tsakur', I heard that 'Tsakur' has a particularly large head, like a disc!"
I continued to shout, trying to drive away the monster that looked like or worse than "Tsakur". But to my surprise, the other party remained unmoved and continued to walk slowly towards us. I backed into the door, feeling as if my heart was about to jump out of my chest. At a moment of extreme tension, the dark figure from the heavy rain walked out and stood under the eaves.
To our surprise, a full-size person appeared in front of us!
"Damn, it's actually a person! Scared me!"
The fatty guy shouted, but his face showed a relieved expression.
A middle-aged man wearing a black, worn-out jacket, a large bamboo hat, and carrying a cloth bag stood in front of us. The hat covered his face, his body looked very thin, and he looked like a local farmer.
"He's a local, sorry..."
Wang Jianjun went up to greet him, smiled and nodded apologetically, while Li Qian shrank back.
Thinking about the gibberish I just said about monsters, I felt ashamed in my heart, and my face burned with embarrassment.
The man took off his hat and had a bald head with a face that looked very cunning, a black mole on his chin, thin, long eyes, and appeared to be around 40 years old, holding a clock in his left hand.
He looked like a farmer, but the clock in his hand was strange. It was pouring rain in the middle of the night, and I wondered why he didn't stay home and instead came out to ring a bell?
Although I was curious, I didn't dare to ask. When the man didn't respond to Wang Jianjun, the fat man went up and continued, "Sorry, sir."
The man put down the bag in his hand, turned his head to look at us, then said calmly, "This house is mine."
As I stood behind the fat man, at the moment the man spoke, I saw that his mouth was full of black teeth! For no reason, I trembled.