Qiu Yan and Xiang Wei stood behind me and watched me draw in silence, and they didn't speak until I marked the location of the tidal flat.

"Are you saying that the location of the Ghost Head Village is here?" Xiang Wei asked.

I looked around the terrain within the boundary, then nodded, and said:

"If you don't say 100% sure, 78% is still there."

Qiu Yan lay on the map, looked at the Youshui Basin, and finally nodded and said:

"Well, this location is near the mouth of the two rivers, not far from the Baojing Division, so it is very likely."

After the three of us confirmed the location, we called Li Xianfu again and asked him if he was familiar with it and if he could get into the car.

Who knew that Li Xianfu just glanced at the map casually, and then said:

"Isn't this the ancient village of Wutang? Not only can you get into the car, but now there are two lanes of one in and one out! ”

As soon as I heard that there was a lane, I wondered, there was obviously nothing on this map, not even a place name was written, where did the village come from, and where did the lane come from?

Li Xianfu probably saw my doubts, so he explained:

"Hey, this map may have been printed several years ago, aren't we developing tourism here? Baojing is also developing over there, and the year before last, such a village was built on the site of that old village, and it seems to be quite popular recently. ”

"Laozhai ruins?" Qiu Yan squeezed over and asked.

"Yes, hey, it's not a ruin, it's just the foundation of a few broken houses, no one has been there to take care of it, and it was not open to traffic before, so no one cares, and I don't know which leader took a fancy to that land, no, it was developed."

Qiu Yan looked at me and said:

"So there must have been someone living there before?"

Li Xianfu nodded and said:

"I guess so, or where did those foundations come from?"

Hearing this, I knew that we had found the right place this time, and maybe the sacrificial location we were looking for had also been developed by the government, which would save us a lot of time.

After that, we chatted with Li Xianfu for a few words, and then sent him away, Xiang Wei closed the door, and asked:

"Well, when are we leaving?"

······

In the early spring of March, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant, and I sit in the off-road vehicle and look at the blue sky and white clouds overhead, this kind of weather is suitable for lovers to come out to enjoy the mountains and rivers, rather than like us, four or five people crowded into a car full of all kinds of equipment.

We have a total of six cars, all of them, the pickup truck at the back, loaded with some heavier equipment, Qiu Yan and I, as well as Xiang Wei and Long Quan, sat in a leading off-road vehicle, Xiang Wei drove, and Qiu Yan led him in the co-pilot.

After chatting with Long Quan about all the topics, the atmosphere in the car was suddenly a little depressing, I dozed off the window for a while, and woke up to find that the car was still on the road.

The road in this mountainous area is like this, looking at the map, it is only a few tens of kilometers, but in fact, it has already driven more than 100 kilometers.

I turned my head to see that Long Quan was still dozing off with his stick, and I was bored for a while, so I asked Qiu Yan to come to the map to pass the time.

Our kind of map is not the kind of ordinary map that only shows the names of roads and places, but the kind of topographic map that Qiu Yan spent a lot of money on and relied on to get it, which not only has the names of roads and places, but also the altitude, hydrology, and terrain.

Although this map is a bit old, and some of the changed terrain has not yet been reflected in time, most of the terrain is quite detailed.

I searched the Youshui River for all sorts of interesting place names, looked at the terrain around these places, and then figured out what these places looked like.

Suddenly, I saw a nondescript direct current flowing into the Youshui River above the entrance to the Chewash River, but strangely enough, I didn't find the name of this tributary on the map.

I was curious, so I searched up this tributary, and I saw that more than ten miles from the mouth of the river, the mountains on both sides of the river rose sharply, and the elevated mountains stretched upwards for more than 2,000 meters, and then the elevation suddenly dropped.

When I saw this place, I instantly thought of the river bay that Erwa said.

Riverbend Bay? Ghosts!

Could it be that the place of sacrifice is here?

I thought about it for a while, and then looked back at the map, and I found that this place is less than ten kilometers away from the Wutang Ancient Village in a straight line, although the mountains in the middle are also very dangerous, but if there is a boat along the Youshui River and then into the tributary, I am afraid that it will only take half a day at most.

Half a day, isn't it just enough for Peng Yongkun and Peng Yeyuan to go out at night and go home at dawn?

Thinking of this, I hurriedly returned the map to Qiu Yan, then pointed to that place and said:

"Qiu Yan, look here!"

Qiu Yan didn't know why, so I took the map and looked at it for a long time, and then I remembered that not everyone can look at topographic maps, so I explained:

"Look at the contour line here, is it suddenly getting bigger? This means that the altitude is very high, and it suddenly becomes very high!

In addition, this tributary is not like the one that Erwa said when his grandfather took him to sell dogs? ”

After listening to my explanation, Qiu Yan carefully looked at the map again, and finally replied in surprise:

"Really, isn't this the canyon?"

"That's right, the terrain here is very similar to what Erwa described, but there is one point, there is no water in the canyon that Erwa said, but there is a small river on this map." I added.

"Perhaps, when the second baby went, it happened to meet the dry period of the river!"

I nodded and said:

"There is such a possibility, however, I still think that if it is possible, take the second baby over and let him lead the way."

"Lead the way? Where are you going? But why? Qiu Yan obviously hasn't figured it out yet.

"Qiu Yan, look at it, this place is less than ten kilometers away from the ancient village of Wutang, if the ancient village of Wutang is really the original site of the ghost head village, I suspect that this is the place where they sacrificed."

Qiu Yan still didn't understand much, and asked:

"Shouldn't the sacrifice be in the stockade? And this place is more than ten miles apart, what kind of sacrifice would run so far? ”

"The ulterior sacrifice, the evil sacrifice, will run so far!" I replied in the affirmative.

Qiu Yan finally suddenly realized, she let out an "oh", and then said to Xiang Wei:

"Otherwise, when we get to Baojing, you can send someone to pick up the second baby!"

Xiang Wei turned his head and smiled, and replied very dryly:

"Okay!"

On the surface, I was still talking and laughing with Qiu Yan and them, but in fact, I had already turned over the pot in my heart at this time.

What I didn't tell Qiu Yan was that I was worried that the white mist ghost that Erwa said might not be just his imagination, if it was really as the legend said, Peng Yongkun performed some ritual to transfer the soul in that place, then the fact that there were ghosts in that place seemed much more believable.

......

After the convoy drove out of the provincial road, it entered the newly built asphalt mixed road leading to the ancient village of Wutang, the road surface was very smooth, and I almost didn't feel the bumps in the car, I looked at the Tujia stilted building that was getting closer and closer, and my heart couldn't help but be clouded.

With the experience of the last white-haired monster, I found that in any inconspicuous place can not be taken lightly, the old man Peng said, dealing with the dead for a long time is not a good thing, this sentence I have always kept in my heart, I thought to myself this time to find the ghost head village, I don't know what more dangerous situation will be encountered.

Our convoy stopped in front of a hostel, and when I got out of the car, I saw that although the neighborhood was full of characteristic buildings with Tujia flavor, I could see at a glance that these were all newly built, and this kind of nondescript tourist attractions were everywhere, so I just smiled and walked in with Qiu Yan.

In the evening, after we had dinner, Xiang Wei instructed Xu Jinshan to drive to Longshan overnight, and strive to bring the second baby over the day after tomorrow.

We talked to the local boss again, but after chatting, we found out that the people here don't know anything about the history here, and everyone knows that there is an ancient village here, but no one knows the origin of this village.

After asking about the ancient village, we asked the tributary upstream, and a few older people said that the small river was not a river, but a small stream, and this stream often broke off, so no one cared about it, they said that the older generation had a name, called Taishuigou, which means that there is only one Taishui.

I asked them if anyone had been there, and the people smiled and said:

"What kind of age is this, which one is still drilling into the deep mountains, if someone hadn't ferried on the river in previous years, no one would know that ditch now!"

I asked again if I could still find a boat to go upstream, and one of the eldest brothers immediately laughed:

"Your doll is also funny, now as long as you can afford it, even if you don't get a boat, I will make one with you and scatter it."

I also laughed and said:

"So, big brother, do you have a way to get a boat?"

The eldest brother was stunned for a moment and said:

"Are you really going to go? I thought you were joking! ”

I looked at Qiu Yan for a moment, and then said:

"I'll tell you the truth, we are from the Provincial Geological Exploration Institute, this time we want to go in and do the exploration, we have more than 20 people, and some equipment, we need to be transported in by boat, you can rest assured, as long as you can help me get the ship, money is not a problem, maybe we have results, and we can give you a little reward!"

This is a complete nonsense I made up, and even if one of them came forward to see our documents, this nonsense would be self-defeating, but they didn't.

I saw them discussing in twos and threes, and one of them said, "It's true!"

Another person said, "My dad went in there, and there was something really strange in there."

The third man said that all the people from the exploration institute had come, and that they must have come for this purpose.

......

When I saw that the men seemed to be about to finish their discussion, I interrupted them and asked:

"What are you talking about? Can you get a boat? ”

The eldest brother smiled and said:

"The boat can definitely get it, but it will take some time, and besides, we will have to pay a deposit."

Qiu Yan immediately replied:

"No problem, we need to stay in the stockade for two more days anyway, two days is enough, right?"

After Qiu Yan finished speaking, she asked Xiang Wei to take a thousand yuan as a deposit and give it to the eldest brother.

The eldest brother took the money and immediately said with a smile:

"Okay, you wait for my news, and I'll look for you at the hotel in two days, and promise to find you a big and comfortable boat."