Volume 8 Chapter 3: Smoke Signal

According to Pan Zi, they should be one or two days away. According to the plan, they should be on the outskirts of the basin at this time. Even if they found this oasis, they would not enter immediately, but must wait for Pan Zi to give them a signal.

However, to our surprise, the signal smoke from Uncle San came from the opposite direction, rising from behind us in the middle of the swamp.

Pan Zi couldn’t believe his eyes: “Fuck, what’s going on? How did they get in there?”

I was afraid I had misunderstood, so I immediately picked up my binoculars to take a look. It was unmistakable that the smoke could not have been caused by a fire, because the color of the smoke was unnaturally red.

“Pan, it seems that your uncle is much faster than you,“ the fat man said.

”No way, did they enter from another canyon? But that’s not how it was supposed to be, they should have waited for my signal, and they were too fast…“ Pan couldn’t figure it out.

”Could it be that it wasn’t your uncle’s team, but the young man’s?“ the fat man said.

”He didn’t bring anything with him last night, it couldn’t be him,” Pan said. ”I’m the only one who brought a smoke ball, and it’s all here.”

“That’s strange. It seems that there was a mistake in the handover between your third uncle and you.“

”What does the smoke mean?“ I suddenly remembered that colors could represent information, so I asked.

Pan Zi took the binoculars from my hand and looked in the direction of the smoke. After looking and thinking, his face suddenly changed, and he said solemnly, ‘No, something has happened to them.’

”Something happened?” I saw Pan Zi’s face change, but I didn’t know what he meant, so I asked him to explain.

He said that the color of the smoke had a simple meaning. Yellow smoke meant that there was danger ahead and you should proceed with caution. Orange smoke meant to stop and wait for confirmation. Red smoke was more serious and meant that you should never approach. It was usually used in extremely dangerous situations to warn people who were coming. Red smoke was almost never used in ordinary activities.

However, he was a bit hesitant, because after all, they were not on an expedition, and this kind of thing was also a temporary solution. Not to mention whether he had remembered the usage of the smoke correctly, maybe the other party had remembered it incorrectly.

But this was not good news after all. I asked Pan Zi if he could send another smoke to ask what was going on.

Pan Zi shook his head, paused, and then said to me, “No, Little Master, you stay here. I have to go over and take a look. Don’t let anything happen to Master San.”

I was worried about Uncle San, but I knew what was important, so I quickly grabbed him and said to myself, “This won’t do. The little brother is not coming back, and if you go to us, there will only be two of us left. Besides, it’s too dangerous for you to go in alone. Let’s wait for the smelly oil bottle to come back and talk about it.

Pan Zi shook his head and said, “There are more than 30 people in the group, they are strong and tough, and they don’t usually emit red smoke. There must be something wrong over there. That blind guy is really too inexperienced. Don’t worry, Xiao San, I’ve been in these kinds of forests in Vietnam many times, I can get through. You guys wait here for the little brother to come back and then make plans.” He then packed up his equipment. I couldn’t stop him, so I hurriedly gave the fat guy a wink.

I didn’t expect that the fat guy also immediately packed up his equipment. I was suddenly very worried, thinking that the fat guy was also concerned about my uncle. Just as I was about to speak, the fat guy said to me, “Don’t you give me the eye. Not only Pan, but I’m telling you, we have to go in this time. The equipment we have on us is simply not enough to get through the Gobi Desert, so we have to meet up with your uncle and at least get their things. Otherwise, if we get out of the canyon, we will also die of thirst on the road.”

I thought about it and said to myself, “Oh, my God, he’s right. Suddenly I was a little overwhelmed. The fat man said, ‘It’s not impossible for Pan to go in alone, but if he has an accident, it will be a problem for the two of us to go in. It’s better to go in together, all three of us, and if we succeed, the odds are better. Otherwise, if we stay here, we’re just waiting to die.’

”But what about the little brother?” I asked. ”If we leave, he won’t be able to find us when he comes back. Maybe I should wait for you here.”

“Then you’re just looking for death. With your small physique, you’ll be eaten by the snakes. Come on, we’ll need manpower to carry things out after we get in. Pan and I won’t be enough. We’ll leave a mark to show him the way. At the most, we’ll light a smoke to signal him. But,” the fat man looked at the jungle, ‘I don’t think the little brother will come back.’

Although this situation is very bad, it’s clear. Although I feel very uncomfortable, I also know that the fat man is right. After thinking about it, I had to nod in agreement.

When we entered the canyon, there were five of us, but now there are only three of us left. One is dead and one has run away. Obviously, the original supplies need to be redistributed, but Fatso said that the smokeless oil bottle’s share should not be taken away. After wrapping it in a waterproof cloth and pressing it down with a large rock, we used a marker to write our destination on the inside of the waterproof cloth. Then, on the side of the package, we turned the smokeless stove to the darkest setting, so that it could burn for three days. If the smokeless oil bottle came back at night, it wouldn’t be lost.

After we finished, our supplies were actually lighter. Pan Zi said that the signal smoke would only burn for three hours at most. This time, we couldn’t rest, so we had to pack as lightly as possible. Anyway, if we were to come back, we would definitely pass through here, so we didn’t bring anything we didn’t need.

After that, we went through our equipment again and left some heavy things behind, such as gas masks and Luoyang shovels. Then Pan Zi put some of the heavier things I was carrying on his back. He is a professional in carrying heavy loads, and carrying a little more doesn’t affect his speed. I can’t do that. He said that jungle marching is very physically demanding, and this is mainly to ensure that I can make it to the destination.

He said this, which made me feel very embarrassed. I really wanted to argue that I had also built up some muscles in the past six months, but he didn’t give me a chance. After he finished talking, he just packed up on his own, obviously not thinking about me anymore.

He finished packing in no time and was about to set off when suddenly the fat guy grabbed us again and told us to look up at the smoke in the distance.