Volume 9 Chapter 20: The epilogue

The rest of the story is unremarkable.

We panted and looked at each other, feeling as if we had just been dreaming. Fat Man was pale and urged us to hurry, not daring to stop for a moment. I was in a daze for the rest of the journey, and especially at the end, I can only recount the events in a general way.

We didn’t stop at all, and returned to the mouth of the cave we came out of. We chose a direction and began to search for another exit along the stone wall.

After six hours, we reached a waterway and, despite our hunger, the three of us simply kept walking without saying a word, so as not to waste our energy.

“We can survive for a week or two on fat alone, but the first few days are the hardest,” said the fat man. ”I’ve been through this before. Just bear with it.”

At first, I doubted whether we would be able to get out alive. At the same time, I suddenly realized why the third uncle called this place “no return road” when he came in. The journey was too long, and the food carried by one person was completely unable to satisfy the entire round trip. He had already foreseen the arduous journey back.

Marching on an empty stomach in the channel, the plan of the fat man was to walk out in one day, but going up was much more tiring than going down. After two days of being hungry, we couldn’t stand it anymore and started to think of a way out. There was very little food to eat here, just dried tree roots and bugs in the cracks. The adventure manual said that when there was no food in the wild and you couldn’t tell what was edible, eating bugs was the safest. We started to try to catch some to eat, but there were very few bugs here, and they were all very small, about the size of a melon seed.

Muyoubing was still in a daze, and later he got better, but he still couldn’t remember anything. We told him the story several times, but he still couldn’t understand it. Fortunately, we didn’t have to help him anymore, and he could walk with us on his own.

After three more days of relying on the worms, we finally saw living tree roots on the walls of the well. The fat guy judged that we should be very close to the ground. We wandered around and finally found a few vertical shafts that led upwards. The fat guy climbed up and found that it was the same tower forest that we had passed through when we entered the rainforest.

The holes here were too small for us to squeeze through, so Fatso used a bullet to make a small hole and set off a directional explosion, blasting the rocks between the holes apart, and we were able to squeeze out.

The ground had changed beyond recognition. The water level in all the swamps had dropped to its lowest point, exposing the mud and the hideous root systems. At this time, the sun was shining brightly, and all the poisonous snakes were underground, so it should be the safest time.

The rainforest is sunny and fragrant, and the scenery is so beautiful that it is easy to be fooled into thinking that this is a paradise on earth, but we know that this moment of tranquility is definitely an illusion. The more peaceful it is, the more we can’t rest.

We calculated the time, and we definitely couldn’t get out of the canyon before dark. At most, we could get to the middle of the canyon. If we encountered any resistance, the three of us, who were exhausted, would definitely be reduced in number.

We three have survived through countless hardships, and I don’t want anyone to die at this critical moment. But now there is no better way, so we can only do our best. Fortunately, there are not many chicken-crown snakes in the canyon, and we can smear mud on ourselves. This whole journey is a matter of luck.

The rest of the journey was a long trek, and there is no need to repeat the process. I really don’t want to mention it. We were all injured from crawling in the mud, and there was no time to deal with the ticks that were crawling all over our bodies. After nightfall, we were even more nervous, and we immediately quickened our pace at the slightest sound.

We spent a day and a night quickly crossing the canyon and returning to the Gobi Desert. Sure enough, we saw Dingzhu Zhuoma and the others waiting for us outside. It was a completely new feeling. As soon as the fat guy came out of the canyon, he almost fainted, and Dingzhu Zhuoma and the others couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw us.

Outside the canyon, we rested for three days. Everyone was dazed and exhausted. I didn’t think about anything for those three days, and I didn’t feel any distress. At that time, I felt that sleeping was the most important thing, and everything else was rubbish. And for the first time, I truly felt relieved. It seemed that those mysteries, everything that had not yet been solved, had nothing to do with me.

Muyoubing still hadn’t improved. He either curled up in his tent and stared blankly, or leaned against a rock and looked at the sky. We all sighed, but there was nothing we could do. No one had expected that his search would end up like this.

Pan Zi was unexpectedly saved by Tashi, lying in another tent, sometimes awake and sometimes unconscious. I didn’t dare to tell him about Uncle San. Tashi said that Wen Jin had told them something, and they knew how to prevent snakes. When the signal smoke came out, they also entered the camp to search, and found the camp in the jungle, where they found Pan Zi.

I calculated the time, it should be the day after we went to catch Wen Jin. I thought that if we could just survive that night, we would be able to meet Zaxi, and then everything would be completely different. Unfortunately, that night was too unpredictable.

After another two days of rest, Tashi told us that we should set off. According to his memory, we were now in the middle of a ring of Devil City, which had set up strange mechanisms. We had to have precise navigation. After we got out, there might be roads on both the east and west sides. We could just ask for help once we got to the road. At this moment, I also wanted to know the whereabouts of my uncle and the black-glasses man, but I had no energy left. Tashi said that they might have gone out through another entrance, or they might not have come out at all. But there was nothing we could do.

We had no vehicles and could only walk. What we lacked most was labor, because the water was brought by the brigade of Uncle San. After they set off, there was a lot left behind, and we couldn’t carry it all away. Moreover, if we calculated the time it would take to trek, we could not carry the water until we found the road.

Fatso said, “Cut the food in half, throw away the tent, and use the extra space to carry water. It’s okay to eat less, but you can’t last a few days without water.

So we did as he said, carrying a lot of water, and set off across the Gobi Desert. The first part of the journey was hard, but it was nothing compared to the march through the rainforest. After four days, we finally left the Devil’s City and walked for another week before reaching the highway. We stopped a fellow traveler in an SUV and used the military vehicle’s phone to contact Jude’s people. About 30 hours later, a convoy from Anning’s company arrived and rescued us.

Everyone collapsed, and some people were so happy they cried. I’m afraid only the people involved know what kind of journey it was.

On the way back, the fat man leaned against the car and suddenly started singing: “Climbing the peak, looking at my hometown, the yellow sand is a long way away. Where does the camel’s bell come from, sounding in my heart.”

The sound of the broken gong was surprisingly beautiful. I suddenly felt a burst of emotion and sadness. For a moment, my tears flowed like a spring, my vision blurred, and everything that had passed seemed to flash before my eyes like a dream, as if I could hear those voices that had forever passed, echoing endlessly in the vast Gobi Desert.

After returning to Golmud, I weighed the pros and cons and wrote an e-mail to my uncle, explaining everything that had happened. Half an hour later, my uncle called and said he knew about it. He told me not to tell anyone about it, and that I should not worry about it, that he would handle it and that I should return to Hangzhou immediately.

Of course, I couldn’t go back immediately. Fat Boy, Pan Zi and Mian Youping all had to stay in the hospital for a while.

Fatty was exhausted, but after a few bottles of nutrient solution, he recovered. Pan Zi was lucky. I told him about the situation with my uncle, and he pounded his chest and kicked his feet. I was exhausted and couldn’t talk to him. He returned to Changsha before he was fully recovered, saying that he would wait for news from my uncle. I told him to let me know as soon as he had news.

The most serious case was that of the fat man. After being hospitalized, he had regained consciousness, but we found that he could not remember anything. Excessive stimulation had caused his thinking to become very confused, and the doctor said that he needed to rest quietly.

He could barely remember anything, and now he didn’t even recognize me. It was really heartbreaking. I couldn’t bear to watch him like that.

I was the last one to get home. After taking a hot bath, I was bored and looked through the pile of letters. Suddenly, I found a letter from my uncle.

I was moved, looked at the date, and found that there was no postmark. I immediately opened it and found that it was a long letter.

Dear Nephew:

When you read this letter, I may have disappeared without a trace, or I may be dead.

I don’t know if you already know the truth by now, but I know that I owe you an explanation no matter what.

I am about to do something, and this is my destiny. I can’t escape it. I feel that this may be the last time. I have already chosen to ruin my career for this matter. If I don’t find an answer this time, then I would rather choose death.

I have written down everything you want to know. You probably have been wondering why I have lied to you time and time again. You will understand after reading this. It is because I am a fraud myself.

I’m very sorry, but no matter how you see me, you will always be my great nephew. You must believe me, everything I did, your third uncle, was actually to protect you. I never wanted to harm you, nor did I ever want to do anything bad to your family.

Maybe I’ve already become Wu Sanxing, or maybe I’ve worn this mask for so long that I can’t take it off.

I’m sorry that I can’t explain all the details in this letter. I want to say that in this matter, everything that happened had a necessary reason. And I was actually just an accident. The wrong turns of fate led to all this happening, and when I was already deeply involved, there was no way to recover.

The incident in Xisha actually hides a bigger secret, and Wenjin and the others have a much more complicated background. When I was investigating them, I found that several of them had no background at all, and I didn’t know where they came from or what they did before.

If you dig deeper, you will find that there is definitely something hidden behind this expedition team. Everything is unfathomable. So if you are still involved in this matter afterwards, you must look at my fate and know what price you have to pay to pursue this secret.

I hope that this matter will end here. After you know the truth, you can continue with your life and not get caught up in it again. I know that when you look back on the whole thing, you will still find a lot of mysteries, but those are no longer your concern.

Finally, as a parting word, you should remember what your grandfather said: “The thing that is more terrifying than ghosts and gods is the human heart.”