Early the next morning, Fatty and I arrived at the train station, and from afar, we saw Ling Qian, with her trendy long hair, standing among the crowd. If you overlook her haughty nature, she really was a pretty girl to look at.
Next to me, Fatty grinned and said in a low voice, "She's really good-looking, huh. "
This guy of mine has a weird habit of liking girls who look scholarly and innocent. Back when we were young, sometimes we would go to a nearby nightclub with a few friends. Fatty didn't pay any attention to women who imitated American styles, with their permed wavy hair. Instead, he always found himself drawn to those who looked peaceful and quiet, and Ling Qian, based solely on her appearance, really fit his type.
"The Ghostly Portrait, huh..."
I smiled and said a meaningful sentence.
As we walked over, Ling Qian glanced at her watch and said somewhat displeased, "Five minutes late."
"The bus was late."
I glanced at her and casually made up an excuse. In reality, I deliberately arrived late. Although cooperation is a prerequisite for working together, always being overshadowed by a woman made me somewhat unhappy. It was like a game of stubbornness, and I always wanted to show her who's boss.
"Hey, Miss, I'm Cui Zhen. I'm still single. How about we get to know each other..."
Fatty went up with a playful smile, but Ling Qian gave him a cold look and said, "Hurry to catch the train. I've arranged everything at Nuruerhu Mountain. This time, don't hold me back."
With that, she got on the train on her own. Fatty looked back at me, sighed, and said, "Bro, I know what you meant just now."
We spent nearly three days on the train, and when we left the train station, I felt like I was floating, with echoes of "Click, click..." in my ears.
Compared to the liveliness of Shanghai, the area outside the train station was best described as quiet and deserted. I caught sight of a military green jeep parked on the roadside outside the station.
"Hey, this girl is quite wealthy, huh. Beijing 212, I've always wanted one, but I couldn't afford it."
Fatty, with some knowledge about cars, looked adoringly at the military green jeep next to Ling Qian.
Beijing 212 naturally cannot compare with many later high-performance jeeps, but to us, it was, in a way, a man's dream from our younger days. With a top speed of about 115 kilometers per hour and an average fuel consumption of around 14 kilometers per liter, these unremarkable data were hardly known back then. In our eyes, its powerful performance in conquering various terrains and the green paint that represented the military dream in men's hearts was enough to prove its transcendent achievement.
"This is a friend's car, lent to me. Let's go see the situation in the village first."
Ling Qian skillfully took the driver's seat, shifted gears, and with a pleasant roar, we officially hit the road.
Besides the Han nationality in the vicinity of Nuruerhu Mountain, we also occasionally encountered Korean friends. The temperature was a bit colder than in Shanghai, so both Fatty and I wore sweaters.
As Ling Qian drove, she said, "The Big Black Mountain is one of the main peaks of the Nuruerhu Mountain Range, surrounded by primitive forests dominated by shrubs and pine trees. The total length of the mountain range is nearly 100 kilometers, with many areas yet to be fully explored. Of course, the existence of tigers cannot be ruled out!"
We drove along the mountain road and hardly saw anyone. Fatty leaned out of the car window, looking outside with a delighted expression, "It's more comfortable in the forest, the big city is too stifling!"
Our destination was a small village near the Big Black Mountain. When we arrived, it was already dark, and through the car lights, we could see a group of people standing at the village entrance. The one leading was a man around 50 years old, dressed in green overalls, clearly a mountain man.
We parked the car on the roadside, and the group of people walked towards us immediately.
"Hello, hello..."
The old man spoke first with a strong local accent, and Ling Qian nodded and said, "We are here to help you catch ghosts."
This direct statement surprised me and the fat man. The old man immediately smiled and extended his hand to invite us into the village.
The entire village was larger than I had imagined, with about fifty households and nearly 160 people, mainly relying on hunting and tree planting for a living. There were no telephones in the village, and the township postman would deliver letters every half month.
The village branch office was actually just an empty barn. We lit a candle and sat around a wooden table.
Despite the heavy accent, we could still barely understand the old man's Mandarin.
"Five or six people have gone missing in total. They were all hunters who didn't return after going into the mountains. We also sent people to search and found a few pieces of clothing, all torn to shreds."
This description was similar to the intelligence we had received before – evil spirits lure single individuals who are then eaten by tigers. Their clothes would surely be torn by the tigers.
"Do you have tigers nearby?"
Ling Qian asked straightforwardly.
To our surprise, the old man shook his head, lit his pipe, and said, "There are no tigers nearby, but if you go further into the mountains, who knows. I've never encountered one."
"No tigers!" I was perplexed. Evil spirits rely on tigers to do evil, so if there are no tigers nearby, then it would mean there shouldn't be any evil spirits nearby either. So, if the beads and Ling Qian had determined it was the work of evil spirits, there were many inconsistencies.
"Can we see the families of the missing persons?"
Ling Qian appeared very serious. The old man nodded and called out. Soon, several women, who appeared to be the wives of the missing hunters, walked in.
Ling Qian asked detailed questions, but to me and the fat man, they seemed irrelevant. They were about daily routines, any bad habits of the missing hunters, and whether similar disappearances had occurred in neighboring villages.
These questions dragged on until late at night. By the time Ling Qian finished asking, the fat man next to me was starting to doze off.
"Let's stop here today. Tomorrow morning, we'll go into the mountain to see the spot where you found the clothes. Rest early..."
Ling Qian was very friendly towards these people. After everyone had left, she suddenly turned back with a cold expression and said, "Do you have any thoughts?"
The fat man was practically dreaming with a haystack in his arms, so his mind was naturally blank. I couldn't come up with anything either, so I just shook my head.
"Humph, what a burden."
Ling Qian looked at the two of us with some disdain, which made me furrow my brow.
"What have you figured out then?"
I asked discontentedly.
"Firstly, all the missing persons are hunters, and only the hunters from this village. I just asked, and the village head said there haven't been similar incidents in neighboring villages. Secondly, all the missing persons are experienced hunters, with at least ten years of hunting experience. In other words, they are very experienced in the mountains. I have some hunter friends, and the experts can even outwit reconnaissance soldiers in the woods. Finally, they all abstained from alcohol. Tigers have a habit of not eating or drinking alcoholics; they should have an aversion to alcohol. From the analysis of these three points, we can conclude that there must be ghosts at play, and it is likely revenge targeting this village. It can also be inferred that it is likely the work of evil spirits, as the people eaten by tigers were all non-drinkers. And in my opinion, there might be more than just evil spirits causing trouble here."
Ling Qian's insights really impressed me this time. I had been somewhat displeased with her haughty attitude before, but now, I had a change of heart. To deduce so much from some small observations and events, it seemed she really had some abilities.
"Why is this whole thing like solving a case, haha."
The fat man shook his head.
"Let's go to sleep first. We'll set off early tomorrow. I'll be sleeping in the next room. If you dare sneak in at night, watch out, I'll take your life."
After saying this, Ling Qian walked out with her luggage. The fat man and I exchanged glances and then smiled bitterly.
"I thought this time we were like Yang Zirong and 203, but in the end, we are just two lackeys under Wu Zetian's rule, haha."
The fat man's remark was funny. I said helplessly, "Stop mocking, rest early, we'll be very busy tomorrow."
I leaned against the haystack and fell asleep. I slept very lightly, always feeling a bit of coldness between dreams and wakefulness. As if, something had set its sights on the village surrounded by the forest tonight...