Chapter Twenty-Four: What Happened to Ma Ran......

The note that Lao Ding drew read-

Lao Ding, late at night, in the lake, drank water one after another.

I watched, tore them apart, and threw them away.

When I returned to the tent, it was dark inside, and I didn't know if Berry Juice, Meng Xiaoshuai, and Guo Mei were asleep, and no one spoke.

I lay down quietly.

However, Ma never came back, and I felt that he was also more than lucky.

In retrospect, I used to deal with ancient tombs, and it was also in the northwest region, but it was Yan'an.

In 2007, I traveled all over the country to collect news, and during that time, I received a letter from a reader named Liu Mingjiu, who studied at Yan'an University. He is a native of Mengou Village, Yanchang County, northern Shaanxi, and grew up in a cave, and the barren mountains around his home are full of ancient tombs from the Warring States Period to the Qin and Han dynasties.

I don't know when the poor villagers found out that there was treasure in the ground and began to rob the tombs in a frenzy. Not long ago, the police of the Pagoda Branch of the Yan'an Public Security Bureau arrested 25 people, which can be found in the news. In addition to their rich knowledge and experience in cultural relics, some of the farmers who robbed the tombs made detailed "distribution manuals of ancient tomb sites", and some of the sites were even accurate to "50 meters south of a village".

Grave robbers are still rampant despite arrests, and today, those barren mountains are full of holes and devastation, countless tombs are shocking, and there are broken pottery shards everywhere, as well as bones from 2,000 years ago.

Not long ago, there were three peasants in the village, and I don't know where they got a map map of the ancient tomb, as well as a list of funerary goods. According to the road map, they determined the location of this ancient tomb on the mountain, dug a tomb hole of more than ten meters, and drilled into it one after another, but they never came out again. Liu Mingjiu's uncle was one of the three farmers.

Since then, someone has hung a white cloth on the tree next to that tomb and warned against approaching.

Liu Mingjiu saw on the Internet that I was going to collect wind from various places and was collecting clues from readers, so he wrote to me, hoping that I could go to his hometown in Yan'an to have a look, and said that my team and I could live in his house.

On November 11, after a press conference in Sina, I set off for Yan'an. At that time, there were a total of 5 people with us plus the driver.

A few days later, we arrived in Yanchang County, and the two members of the team couldn't adapt to the cold in northern Shaanxi, so they caught a cold and stayed in the county seat. Monsoon and I continued with the driver.

We didn't go into the mountains until it was dark.

All around are rolling barren mountains, and the roads are potholed and bumpy.

We drove for a long time on the mountain road, the headlights finally shone on a living person, I opened the car window and asked him for directions, this local is full of northern Shaanxi dialect, I can't understand a word, no way, I write on paper, he can't read, and finally I picked up a book from the ancient tomb, and he "looked at the picture and talked", he finally understood, nodded frequently.

I want him to show us the way, but I can't find a suitable diagram now. Monsoon reacted quickly, she took out a bill and shook it, money is the universal language, the local took the money and immediately got into our car.

Under his guidance, we came to a mountain.

It's colder in the mountains. The dirt road was overgrown with weeds, sparsely stretched with some unnamed dwarf trees, only dry branches remained, and there was a smell of paper ash all around.

Where is the tomb?

I approached the local man and asked him to take us to look for it, but he didn't understand again.

I took his rough hand and walked into the grass next to me, but he shook it off. This flick made me feel the strength of a peasant. Then, with a frightened light in his eyes, he stepped back and muttered something, and combined with his expression, I guess what he said was - he could only help us get here. For him, the grass on both sides seemed like a taboo. Then he turned and left, and soon disappeared into the darkness.

I used a flashlight to shine around, three steps to a grave hole, five steps to a bone, eerie and terrifying, in case of falling into the collapse of the landslide, it is too late to save it, it is equivalent to being buried alive.

Still, I don't understand the local's reaction. It stands to reason that he has lived in this area since he was a child, and he should be numb to these ancient tombs, so why is he still so afraid?

Monsoon and I decided to come back at dawn.

Next, we found Mengou Village in the dark and found the home of the reader Liu Mingjiu. There were more than 10 people in that family, and they heard that we were invited by Liu Mingjiu, and they received us very warmly.

In the morning, Monsoon and I walked around the village, hoping to borrow shovels and ropes, and asked many people, and the peasants shook their heads. Seventy percent of the men in this village have been involved in tomb robbing, and they can't have these things, but they just don't want to lend them to us, and they suspect that we are also here to rob the tombs.

There is an earthen cave in the far side of the mountain, far away from the village, which seems a little lonely. I walked towards it with the monsoon. Generally speaking, the farther away from the crowd people are, the more simple they are.

We climbed up and knocked on the door, but no one answered, we thought that no one lived in this hole, so we pushed the door open, and there was a person inside, a woman about 30 years old, her hair was waist-high, and she was sitting on the kang and posing for poker fortune telling. Monsoon and I were a little embarrassed, but she didn't look up at us.

The mats on the clay kang were tattered, and there was no bedding in sight. There were two rice pots on the stove, one large and one small, and the smaller one had been broken into three pieces. The tank was empty, and a thick layer of dust fell. There were faded paper cutouts on the windows, and a few holes were leaking, and the wind blew in "whirring......

I had a few words with the long-haired woman, and she kept ignoring her. Finally, I asked her, "Sister, why do you live alone in the mountains?" ”

She finally opened her mouth: "I'm underneath." "The accent is extremely strange.

The village is at the bottom, and she says she is from the village.

Monsoon and I came out very boringly.

In the afternoon, I asked the driver to go to Liqu Town to buy shovels and ropes, and then, I went up the mountain again with the monsoon.

It was November 15, 2007 in northern Shaanxi, and the sky was overcast. Even though it was daytime, there was not a single figure to be seen on the mountain, and it was lifeless. Everywhere there were withered black hay and low trees, which looked less terrifying than at night, but more desolate.

According to historical records, the tombs of the Qin and Han dynasties have covered bucket mounds, tombstones, ancestral halls, tombs, and stone carvings of people and animals on the ground. Now, all these things have been consumed by a long time, and only bare loess remains.

Liu Mingjiu's father even brought us black donkey hooves, which he said were to ward off evil spirits. I threw it halfway.

We finally saw a piece of white cloth tied to the tree, much like a spirit flag. In the low-lying area next to the tree, there was indeed a black grave hole.

I tied the rope and went down first.

I think the three peasants were poisoned before, and now that the burial chamber has been dug up for many days, the poison gas must have dissipated.

When I reached the bottom of the tomb, I saw a tomb path that stretched upwards next to it. Then the monsoon also came down.

The mountain village is silent.

Leaving the mountain village, it is even quieter when you come to this barren mountain and wilderness where no one is around.

Leaving the ground of the barren mountains and mountains, and then burrowing into this well-like tomb, the silence is terrifying.

In such an environment, the ears are painful, just like in the white snowy field, the eyes are painful when the sight does not fall.

But I'm a little excited, a writer encounters a bizarre encounter, like a detective taking on a difficult case, a doctor facing a dangerous operation, and the feeling is scary and exciting.

I turned on my flashlight and walked slowly along the graveyard with the monsoon, and as I walked, I denied that it was a graveyard, it was just an irregular hole, more like a grave robber dug up. We walked very deeply, and we didn't find the tomb or coffin, but we saw three male corpses! They were lined up, kneeling straight beside the hole in the ground, each supported by a stake behind them, their mouths slightly open, containing loess, and their eyes stuffed with bloody cotton......

I remember that the monsoon retched a bit at that time.

I dragged the monsoon, no longer looking at them, and walked around and walked briskly inward, and soon came to the end.

There was a lid on it, and I reached out and tried it, and pushed it open, and then Monsoon and I climbed up separately, and we actually came out of a cellar and appeared in the cave halfway up the mountain!

Only, we didn't see the long-haired woman.

Later, Liu Mingjiu's father told me that the cave had long been abandoned and no one lived in it.

……

Now that I'm in Lop Nur, I think back to that experience and suddenly I don't think it's a ghost story.

When we came to Lop Nur, we were constantly being assaulted, and the group of people haunted the ancient tombs, and maybe the long-haired woman was the same thing as them. They are all over the world, but they have been hiding underground and not seeing the light of day.

I distinctly remember that the long-haired woman only replied to me, she said that she was "underground", and due to the accent, I probably misunderstood, in fact, she said "underground"!

She and her kind burrowed around in the ground, digging holes like rats into inhabited places, and then she crawled out of them and sat in the uninhabited cave, disguised as human......

There was a sound outside, and I pricked up my ears to listen, as if it had come back immediately!

But why don't I hear the sound of the car engine?

I got up, grabbed my flashlight and went out, and sure enough, I saw the horse, and he walked back, as if he was bleeding, and he walked out of the range of my headlights, and lay on the ground.

Lu Sanguo immediately ran towards him.

I ran over too.

The horse was wounded, his hands were on his stomach, and his hands were covered in blood.

I picked him up and walked briskly to his tent.

Zhang Hui was very clever, turned on the light early, and greeted him out of the tent, he said, "I'll carry it." ”

I said, "You go get alcohol and gauze." ”

I put the horse in the tent and came to me. After the Outer Ship died, it was noticeably thinner. Wu Min just opened his eyes and asked in a daze, "What are you doing!" Don't sleep? ”

I ignored him.

Zhang Hui brought alcohol and gauze, and I lifted Ma Ran's clothes and saw two stab wounds, both of which were deep. He also had a small cut on his forehead, presumably scratched during a fight.

I said to Zhang Hui: "You go out and set up a sentry, I'll deal with it here." ”

Zhang Hui said, "Okay." Then he went out.

Ma Ran looked at me helplessly, and he felt that he couldn't figure it out.

It's true that we don't have doctors, and we can't do anything but stop the bleeding. Apparently, his intestines were punctured.

Ma Ran asked weakly: "Boss Zhou, I will...... Dead? ”

Wu Min felt that the situation was serious and also got up.

I said, "Two little mouths, it's all right." ”

He said, "Don't comfort me, how much blood is there, it's all drunk all the way by the desert......"

I said, "Stop it right away!" ”

I disinfected him with alcohol and wrapped it in layers of gauze.

I asked him, "What's going on?" ”

Ma Ran said, "I met two people......

However, Ma went to rob the grave, and he carried a full set of tools with him in his cart.

He left the camp and searched in the desert for most of the day, but did not find a tomb.

He wanted to return. He followed the mark he had left behind and began to drive towards the camp.

As he walked, he saw a figure appear on the desert, very burly and tired. However, the horse was scared, did not want to catch up with him, and could not follow him all the time.

He increased the throttle and bypassed him at a great distance.

Looking through the mirror, through the raised yellow sand, the man was still walking lonely and not waving to him.

Immediately drove out of the way, and the man finally disappeared in the mirror, only to reappear in front of him! This time, he and Ma Ran's car were closer.

However, the off-road vehicle was strenuous to drive on the sand, and the throttle was loud. The man heard the sound of the car, but he didn't look back, and continued to walk forward, as if he was demented.

This time, Ma Ran did not bypass him and chased after him directly. After approaching the man, he rolled down the window and shouted, "Hey! How are you alone? ”

The man turned his head as he walked, his beard was sandy, and his face was white. He glanced at Ma Ran numbly, and continued to stagger.

Ma did not dare to stop, he threw his military water bottle out, and shouted: "Drink some!" ”

Then, as soon as I stepped on the accelerator, I drove over.

The dust drowned the man.

After driving a little way, Ma Ran saw the man again through the mirror, walking with difficulty in the distance.

Ma felt very strange, and after thinking about it, he finally couldn't figure out what was going on with the man, so he continued to drive towards the camp.

The man disappeared in the mirror again.

After walking a little way, Ma Ran saw that on the bare desert in front of him, the familiar back appeared again, walking alone.

Ma Ran rushed at the man again, he suspected that the other person was not alive, maybe it was a zombie who had died of dehydration, and as long as his car broke down and could not move on, the man would immediately rush over, bite his neck, and drink his blood.

However, I wanted to hit him with a car!

He gradually approached the back, and saw a dark green thing thrown on the golden sand behind him, which was the military kettle he had just thrown at him!

The horse slowed down.

He was really scared.

He had heard of ghosts hitting the wall, but it all happened at night, or in dense foggy weather, now, there are no clouds in the sky, the sunset hangs in the sky, Chu Chu is moving, how can he encounter a ghost hitting the wall?

He stopped the car, extinguished the fire, and did not dare to go any further.

The so-called ghost hitting the wall is often what you think is the right direction, but it is exactly the wrong direction.

However, the horse did not have the courage to drive in the opposite direction.

Finally, the man was out of his field of vision, and he was ready to continue heading forward.

As he walked, it quickly darkened in Lop Nur, and he found that he could not find the mark he had left behind.

It's like a huge pot on the desert, and if you keep walking, it's like a headless fly.

He stopped the car and decided to fire a flare for help. His flare gun was bought on the black market, and the firing device was combined with a flare, which could only be used once.

Later, he changed his mind, he wanted to keep this shell, in case the burly man reappeared and attacked him, the flare gun could be used to defend himself.

He didn't turn off the engine, but turned off the lights, locked the door, and hid in the dark.

He clutched the flare gun tightly, ready to survive the night, and if it was safe, to continue after dawn.

As the minutes ticked by, there was a dead silence on the desert, maddening. He sat in the driver's seat, occasionally touching the steering wheel with his flare gun, the sound of the crash letting him know he was there.

I don't know how long it has been, but there has been no anomaly.

He was a little sleepy, lay on the steering wheel and began to doze off.

Suddenly, the flare gun struck the steering wheel again: "Knock, knock, knock......"

He snapped to his senses, grabbed the flare gun, and listened. The voice rang out again: "Knock knock......"

There was a knock on the car door.

He looked out of the windows on both sides in the dark, and it was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.

He turned on the cab light, and the bones of his body were crisp with fright—the burly man was watching him from the window on his side.

He ducked to the side and hurried to start the fire, but he couldn't hit anything.

The man leaned against the window of the car and watched nonchalantly as he scrambled to light the fire.

His hands trembled, and he couldn't even twist the key, so he pretended to be very impulsive and asked loudly, "Who are you?" ”

The other party's expression was not vicious, but he said something in a friendly manner. Because of the glass, he couldn't hear clearly, so he lowered the window a little bit, revealing a crack: "What are you doing!" ”

He could finally hear the other man, who said in a pleading tone, "Come down." ”

Ma Ran said, "What am I going down for?" ”

The other party did not answer, but said, "You come down." ”

Ma Ran raised his flare gun and aimed it at him: "I don't know you, you get away from me!" ”

The other party looked at the muzzle of the 26.5mm caliber gun, didn't mind, and continued to plead: "It's okay, come, come, you come down." ”

At that moment, he hesitated, the man was already stuck to the window, he only had one flare, and if he was shot, then he would not be able to call for help. If he shoots into the sky, there will be nothing to deal with this thing that doesn't know if it's a human or a ghost.

He still has a doubt - can he kill the other party with a flare gun?

If he can't be killed, then he is completely finished.

He shook the gun in his hand and shouted, "Go away!" "He was about to cry.

The other party put 8 fingers into the gap in the car window, and with a forceful break, the glass was broken, and a gust of wind poured in. The other party is still saying: "You come down, obedient ......"

However, the horse lost control, and he pulled the trigger on the man's face, only to hear a loud "bang", and the man fell on his back. However, Ma was flustered and short of breath, and did not dare to move.

After a minute or two, a bloody face suddenly appeared outside the car window, and he would never forget it until he died, his left cheek had been blown out, his nose was missing, and half of his mouth was showing gums and teeth.

He put his hand in and opened the door, and the mouth that no longer looked like a mouth was still saying, "I told you, you come down ......"

Immediately, his soul was scattered, he tilted his body to open the passenger door, crawled down the car with a rolling belt, and stood up to run.

The man had already staggered over, grabbed him by the legs, threw him on the sand, and he saw the man clutching a sharp piece of broken glass in his hand and stabbing him in the abdomen while saying, "Why don't you come down!" Actually, it's fine! ……”

Kicking him away like crazy, he stood up and covered his stomach and continued to run for his life.

Ran out of a section, and when I looked back, the man was crawling on the ground and catching up. I don't know if he lost so much blood and couldn't stand up, or if he was born crawling. However, his pace is getting slower.

Ma Ran found that in the distance behind him, there seemed to be the light of a flashlight, but the light did not move. He realized it was the camp's headlights, and quickly ran around the crawling monster towards the light......

However, when he returned to the camp, he did not survive three hours before he died.

Before he died, he said: "Lu Sanguo...... Be...... My boss ......"