Volume 8 Chapter 43 The video tape

“What reason?” Under the warmth of the campfire, my exhaustion gradually subsided, and the pain in my body struck.

Uncle San looked gloomy in the firelight, and he coughed out a big mouthful of smoke before continuing, “Can you believe what I said?”

He looked at me, and I was speechless. Obviously, I couldn’t believe him. I had sworn to believe him absolutely in the hospital, but I had broken my promise. However, Uncle San had not told the truth either. The game between us seemed to have entered a dead end. Under these circumstances, any explanation from Uncle San would be futile.

He smiled hoarsely and said, “If I were to lie to you, it would be because I had a reason to lie to you, and I would have to lie to you until the very end. I know that you won’t believe me even if I tell you the truth. Instead of wasting my energy, let’s wait until we find her and you can ask her yourself.”

I sighed and suddenly felt a great distance between me and this uncle who was once so close. I couldn’t help but say, “Uncle San, I really don’t want this. I also want to return to the time when we were like before, when you said one and I never said two. But now I really can’t see through you. Can’t we just play a little more? Let your nephew do it.”

Uncle San looked at me and lit another cigarette. “Nephew, this is the last time. I promise. I’m so tired. This time, it’s really the last time.”

The two of us looked at each other with a wry smile, and we had nothing to say. I felt very uncomfortable, not knowing what it felt like. I always felt like an unsolvable knot was blocking my heart, and it wasn’t hemp rope, it was a steel knot.

After a moment of silence, Uncle San said to me, “Actually, I’ve told you many times that this matter is too deep, involving too many secrets. I myself don’t know what’s going on, so your uncle actually understands your feelings quite well.”

I thought to myself, “You understand shit. Even if you know less, you must know more than I do. The two of us are in completely different positions in this matter. You are at the center of the matter, while I am now just watching from the outside, unable to even find the door to go in.

But there is no point in saying more. Even so, I have come this far. I looked at the dark underground pool outside and didn’t want to think about these things anymore. Anyway, I have followed him. Unless he kills me, I will definitely follow him to the end.

After drinking some chili tea to soothe the pain, my sprained ankle started to hurt. I rubbed it and changed the subject, “By the way, Uncle San, what’s on the video tape Auntie Man Kam sent you?”

Uncle San stood up and asked me to move aside. He took out his laptop from his luggage. “I can’t describe it. You can watch it yourself.”

I naturally wanted to watch it, but I didn’t expect Uncle San to be so proactive. He put the laptop on his backpack and opened it. It turned out that he had transferred the content of the video tape to a disk.

“I had a colleague convert the video tape into a file. It cost 300 yuan. I’ve watched it many times myself, but I can’t see anything at all. Don’t have too much hope.” As he said this, he had already opened the file. “The battery is almost out. You’ll have to make do with what you see.”

A player popped up on the screen. I looked around and suddenly felt that the situation was a bit strange. Where was I? I was still watching a laptop. The nature of exploration in this era was indeed different.

Uncle San obviously didn’t want to watch anymore. He gave me the computer and walked away. Someone seemed to have discovered something and asked him to take a look. Black glasses came over and sat behind me, as if preparing to watch a movie.

This person made me very uncomfortable. I glanced at him, but he didn’t care at all. I looked at him, and he looked at me.

I had no choice but to sigh in frustration, wondering who this person was. I changed to a more comfortable position, clicked play, and began to carefully watch the screen.

After the video started, there was first a moment of darkness, and then a very loud noise came from the speakers. It was very familiar, but I couldn’t tell what it was. After listening for a while, I realized that it was the sound of water.

The screen was black, and I couldn’t see any changes in the light and shadow, but the sound of water in the speakers told us that the content was being played, with a few distant muffled thunderclaps. I could imagine that the video was shot next to a rapid stream of water, or near a small waterfall.

The sound of water continued, sometimes far away, sometimes close by, and it should have been the camera moving.

After about five minutes, I heard sounds other than the sound of water. It was the sound of several people panting and the sound of footsteps on the rocks. The footsteps were very messy and slow. I could tell that several people were walking unsteadily, but these sounds only appeared for a moment and then disappeared, and then there was the sound of water again.

I was a little surprised. The first tape I received in Jilin was of Huo Ling combing her hair in the basement of the mysterious sanatorium in Golmud.

The second tape was brought by Aning. It was of a person who looked extremely like me crawling in the lobby of the sanatorium in Golmud.

I thought that the third tape should at least be of the sanatorium, but now it seems to have been shot outdoors.

I immediately thought of the torrential stream that appeared in the bushes after the heavy rain when we arrived. Could this be the scene of Wenjin’s team entering the canyon? This is important information.

Continuing to listen, the next sound was still water, sometimes far away, sometimes close, as if the camera was moving again.

The two tapes I had seen before were all like this, very boring, so I knew what to expect and wasn’t in a hurry. What surprised me was that the black-rimmed glasses on the side were also enjoying it.

After listening patiently for about 20 minutes, the sound of water gradually subsided, slowly changing from the noisy grandeur to the sound of water heard from a distance in a house. At the same time, the sound of several people breathing again appeared, this time much clearer, and it also contained a chirping sound. It felt like several people had found a place far away from the water, and this place was still a relatively closed space.

Then we heard the first human voice in the entire tape. It was a woman’s voice, exhausted and panting, “Where are we? Have we gone out?”

No one answered her. All around was the sound of panting and things being put down. The screen was always black, which was a bit depressing, but you couldn’t fast forward the sound, so you had to concentrate.

After the woman spoke, there was a long period of time of equipment being placed on the ground and coughing and sighing. It was only after a long time that another man spoke, not in response to him, but asking another person, “Do you have any more cigarettes?”

The voice was far away, similar to a background sound, and if you don’t listen carefully, you won’t understand it. What impressed me was that this person’s voice had a Minnan accent.

Again, no one answered him, and we didn’t know if he had gotten the cigarettes or not. But then we heard a loud sound of metal hitting the ground, and then the man who had asked for the cigarettes yelled, “Be careful!”

After that, there was silence, as if the camera had moved away, or the person holding the camera had returned to the turbulent water. The sound of the water grew louder, but after a few minutes, it returned. The voice that had just asked for the cigarettes said, “Where are we going?”

No one answered him. Everything was the same as before. The progress bar was jumping backwards little by little, and the screen was always black.

I watched patiently as time passed by, and slowly, even I felt impatient. Just when I couldn’t help but wanted to pull the progress bar back a little, the black-eyed man on the side held my hand down.

I was wondering what he was doing, when suddenly a more coherent voice came out of the speaker. It was a man with a very strong northwest accent. He seemed to be startled and cried out, “Listen, there’s a sound. Those things are coming again!”

Then there was a commotion, and then the man with the Minnan accent shouted in a low voice, “Don’t make a sound!”

These people seemed to be well trained. As soon as the accent fell, there was suddenly silence in the entire speaker, and everyone’s voices instantly disappeared in the background sound of water. When it was quiet, I heard that there was indeed a strange sound in the sound of water, but it was mixed with the sound of water and was not clear at all.

My nerves suddenly tightened, and I hurried to the edge of the speaker. I just felt that the strange sound must have been heard somewhere.

Sure enough, the sound was getting closer and closer, and the more I listened, the more I felt that I had heard it before. As I listened, my body began to tremble involuntarily. A chill ran down my spine, and I felt my hair stand on end.

I remembered what the sound was.

It was the sound of the horn that had been sounding in the depths of the underground canyon before the oil lamp had entered the bronze gate.