"Squeak...... Squeak ......

The broken branches hung crookedly on the edge of the rocky slope, swaying in the cold wind, and after the previous earth-shattering catastrophe had passed, leaving this small dense forest with nothing but dead silence and ruin all over the ground.

"Squeak...... Squeak ...... Smack!'

The swaying stump seems to be unable to support it anymore, and finally chooses to "part ways" with the branch, and rolls down on the rocky slope with a "snap"; and driven by the falling stump, the originally silent rocky slope seems to faintly provoke a small shock, but this shock does not stop with the stillness of the stump, but intensifies, as if something is about to move inside the slope, and for a time even the gravel on the slope began to slide down one after another.

"Bang ......!"

With a dull thud, a piece of gravel on the dirt slope flew out, and in the mound of earth under the stone, a hand was stretched out.

"There you have it! Push me again, and you'll be able to get out in no time!"

The faint sound of words came from under the rocky slope, and I saw that the hand kept pulling around, and soon, the movement on the mound became louder and louder, and in a few moments, the figure of a man came out from under the dirt slope, and then turned around and dragged another man out of the mound.

"Whew...... Call...... Almost...... He was almost buried alive......" Zhou Wentao fell on his back on the dirt slope, his eyes closed, and he breathed in the fresh air.

"Fortunately, there was a stone cave next to us that we could hide in when the landslide occurred, otherwise it would be really auspicious and ......unlucky," Jiang Yao said, looking down at his hands full of mud, only to see that the faint purple light that had wrapped around his hands before had gradually dissipated with the calming of the energy in his body, and the previous catastrophe still made him palpitate, to be honest, if it weren't for the 'power of the beast' in his body, maybe the two of them would still be trapped under the dirt slope.

"Now...... What should we do? This place has long been out of sight, and even if we want to go back to Sister Pheasant and Master Gluttony now, it is probably impossible, right?"

Zhou Wentao sat up, looked around the unrecognizable woods in despair, and sighed helplessly. The luggage of the two of them had already been lost in the catastrophe just now, and now there is no water source, no food, no direction, and in this uninhabited mountain like a ghost domain, I am afraid that they will not be able to last long.

"It's only one step at a time, but at least we can't stay here forever. Jiang Yao stood up, stretched out his hand to pull Zhou Wentao up from the ground, and said. "The soil is still very loose, and I'm afraid there will be landslides at that time, so let's get out of this area first. ”

Zhou Wentao nodded, so the two of them were not ambiguous, and then cautiously walked out of the rocky slope and groped towards the unknown depths of the dense forest ahead.

The air was still thick with fog, and the remnants of the trees in the dense forest looked particularly hideous in the gloomy sky. Jiang Yao raised his hand and looked at his watch, but he could only see the surface of the slag and the stationary hands, he didn't know what time it was, only about knew that he and Zhou Wentao should have been traveling for most of the day, at this time they were already thirsty and hungry, and as far as the eye could see, not to mention hares and the like, they couldn't even see a living thing, seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, if they stayed up like this, I was afraid that the situation of the two of them would be even more dangerous at night.

"Alas, listen...... There seems to be the sound of water over there!" As he was walking, Zhou Wentao suddenly stopped and pointed to a certain place in front of him excitedly.

Jiang Yao was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly held his breath and listened quietly, and sure enough, he heard the crisp sound of running water faintly in the forest in front of him, and his spirit was immediately lifted.

"Really...... If there is a mountain spring, you may be able to find a village with people along the way!" Jiang Yao said excitedly. "Let's go, let's see. ”

Seeing a glimmer of light, the two hurriedly ran to the left front in three steps and two steps, and saw from a distance that there seemed to be an open area in front of them, and the sound of running water became more and more obvious as the two approached.

Zhou Wentao pointed to the spring hanging on the mountain wall in front of him with excitement, for the two who were desperate at this time, the sound of the spring water was as beautiful as heaven, the two of them hurriedly ran to the spring, picked up the mountain spring with their hands to moisten the throat that was about to burst into flames, and then washed their faces with spring water, and suddenly felt alive.

"Great...... Finally saved......" Zhou Wentao sat slumped by the spring, and his pale face finally improved slightly. "Let's go downstream later, hopefully find a village...... Are you listening?"

Zhou Wentao said, and found that the man next to him didn't seem to react, and when he looked up, he found that Jiang Yao was pinning his head at this time, staring at a big stone not far from the opposite side of the spring with a complicated expression, not knowing what he was looking at.

"What's wrong with you, little guy?"

Zhou Wentao said, looking at Jiang Yao's line of sight, but found that the other party's eyes were not focused on the big stone, but the figure on the side of the stone.

I saw this man sitting sideways by the stream where the spring water gathered, with his back against the stones, his head bowed, motionless.

"There's a ...... there. People?" Zhou Wentao suddenly became nervous, he stood up carefully, looked at the opposite side again, and sure enough, he found that the shadow sitting on the edge of the stone was really a person, and it seemed to be an old man.

"Let's go, go up and have a look. Jiang Yao said and immediately set off, carefully stepping on the stone across the stream, and ran to the figure on the side of the stone.

It was indeed an old man, his pale skin was covered with ravines, and his shabby straw hat was covered on the top of his head, which also concealed the appearance of the old man, and beside him was a tattered basket with some firewood in it, which looked like a mountain man's back basket, but the old man's clothing was particularly conspicuous, and it seemed to be some foreign brand-name outdoor equipment.

He ...... Is he still alive?" Zhou Wentao came to Jiang Yao's side, looked at the pale-skinned and motionless old man in front of him, and asked uneasily.

“…… I don't know. Jiang Yao stared at the old man in front of him, and his heart was also up and down, in his eyes, this person was indeed a 'human being', but the aura exuded by the other party was very strange, and he couldn't tell what kind of feeling it was, all in all, it made him feel uncomfortable.

Jiang Yao walked in front of the old man and squatted down, and after hesitating for a moment, he slowly stretched out his hand, trying to uncover the old man's straw hat, but as soon as his fingers touched the brim of the hat, the old man raised his head suddenly, almost making his nerves tense Jiang Yao sit on the ground in fright.

"Who are you?" The old man looked at Jiang Yao, who was surprised, and opened his mouth coldly, and Jiang Yao found that there was a hideous scar on the old man's face in front of him extending from his forehead to his cheekbones, which was quite terrifying at first glance, but since this person could speak, then the previous worries of him and Zhou Wentao were also self-defeating.

"Yes, I'm sorry...... I'm sorry for you...... We are tourists who strayed into the deep mountains, and when we saw you sitting here just now, we thought it was ......" Jiang Yao stood up awkwardly and looked sorry at the old man.

"Hehe, so that'......" the old man smiled, but without reprimanding anything, he got up from the ground neatly. "I'm a little tired of going into the mountains to chop wood, so I want to rest here, it seems that it scares you, right?"

As the old man spoke, his gaze swept over Jiang Yao's face, and then fell on Zhou Wentao behind him, his face suddenly stunned slightly.

"You, you are ......"

"Ah, hello uncle, I was with him, and I was also a tourist who accidentally got lost. Zhou Wentao saw the old man staring at him, and hurriedly introduced himself. "We unfortunately encountered a landslide on the way, and we were separated from our companions, and we lost our luggage...... It's great to meet you!"

"......" The old man looked at Zhou Wentao's face, as if he was thinking about something, but in the end he didn't ask any more questions, but picked up the firewood and smiled at the two: "It's fate that the two of you can meet me here, so let me take the two of you to our village to settle down, it's not far from here." ”

"Great, thank you!"

Jiang Yao said gratefully, and then as if he remembered something, he hurriedly asked respectfully, "By the way, what do you call it, uncle?"

"My surname is Huang, and everyone in the village calls me Old Man Huang. The old man smiled and began to walk towards the woods. "The sun is about to go down, and it is dangerous for the two of you to wander in the woods. ”

"Uncle Huang, do you often chop wood in the woods? Have you encountered anything recently...... Strange creatures?" Jiang Yao asked.

"Strange creatures? I don't think so, I don't usually go to the inner part of the forest. Uncle Huang glanced at Jiang Yao and said calmly.

"Is that so...... So, have you recently encountered any tourists who have been lost in the forest like us?" Jiang Yao asked again, trying to find out the news of Zhou Wenhai from the old man's mouth.

"Tourists...... Hehe, the people I've seen outside the village lately are just the two of you. Uncle Huang said lightly, and stretched out his hand to point to the front of the forest. "Look, the one outside the forest is our village. ”

Jiang Yao raised his head and followed the old man's instructions to look forward, and sure enough, he found that the end of the dense forest suddenly opened up, and an antique mountain village was hidden in the mist, looming.

"There really is a village...... Jiang Yao sighed in his heart, and was about to follow the old man forward, but suddenly felt that the placket behind him was torn off, and when he turned his head, he found that it was Zhou Wentao who pulled him with a complicated expression.

"That...... Uncle Huang, I suddenly felt a little anxious and wanted to go to the toilet first. Zhou Wentao said while glaring at Jiang Yao, and although Jiang Yao didn't know what medicine was sold in this kid's gourd, he still followed his intentions and went to the toilet with the excuse of going to the toilet, and then was pulled to a far corner by Zhou Wentao.

"I think...... The old man had a problem and we couldn't go to his village. Zhou Wentao cautiously looked at the old man waiting in the distance and said seriously.

"What's wrong?, have you noticed something?" Seeing Zhou Wentao's attitude, Jiang Yao couldn't help but become cautious.

"Yes, didn't you hear him just say that he hadn't seen anyone else except us recently, but he had the equipment unique to my bodyguard!" Zhou Wentao's face was solemn. "I accidentally saw it just now, the short baton on his waist is a special electric baton made by my security team, and I will never admit it! Not long ago, Akui and Lao Qi, who disappeared with my brother, were wearing it, and now this electric baton appears on the old man, which means that he must have contact with Akui and Lao Qi, and he is lying!"

"You mean, the electric baton on his body was taken from Lao Qi or Akui, and he has something to do with Brother Wen Hai's disappearance and distress?" Jiang Yao pondered. "But it's also possible that he picked up an electric baton in the mountains......"

"Anyway, I still think he's a little suspicious, not as good as us ......"

Zhou Wentao had just said half of his words, but his face suddenly twitched, and Jiang Yao, who noticed something different, turned his head and found that the old man surnamed Huang, who was supposed to be waiting in the distance, suddenly appeared not far away at this time, staring at the two coldly.