"Recently,...... The conflict between the Shiites has escalated again. …… Told the media that it would ...... Retaliate. …… Appraise...... Disagreements should not be intensified, hopefully...... ...... the peace process New ...... in the morning

…… Weather conditions on the 21st. ”

Shen Mingde heard intermittent news announcements in the bathroom. Although he doesn't care about what's happening in the world, he doesn't want to wake up every day to hear the chirping of birds outside the window. The human voice, whether it comes from TV or radio, whether it is news or advertising, can make him feel that he is not alone. The phone rang in a hurry, and he quickly rinsed off the foam on his head. I thought it was a call urged by Xiao Jing, but Yang Guangcheng's name was displayed on the mobile phone screen.

When Shen Mingde hurried to the Municipal Central Hospital with Xiao Jing, it was already past his usual time to work. Yang Guangcheng greeted them in the hall of the inpatient department with a happy face, and repeated what he said to Shen Mingde on the phone in more detail.

It was the morning of the 19th, and a minivan driver was passing by the intercity highway when he saw Yang Chuan collapsed on the side of the road. The driver immediately contacted the highway patrol police, and then took Yang Chuan to the nearest county hospital with the patrol police. At that time, Yang Chuan had been in a coma with a high fever. Yesterday evening, Yang Chuan was sent to the central hospital for further examination. During this period, Yang Chuan had a brief awakening, so the hospital contacted his father Yang Guangcheng. Until now, Yang Chuan is still in a state of high fever and coma.

Although Yang Chuan did not get out of the coma, Yang Guangcheng still hung the excitement on his face that could not be concealed. Maybe it was this excitement that infected Shen Mingde, and he seemed much more relaxed. And Xiao Jing's face seemed to have a little bit of a smile on her face. Shen Mingde informed Yang Guangcheng of the clues he found last night, but Yang Guangcheng said that he planned to accompany his son in the hospital. In this regard, Shen Mingde and Xiao Jing expressed their understanding and left the hospital. Before leaving, they also reminded Yang Guangcheng to keep in touch with them and to inform them if Yang Chuan had any changes. Yang Guangcheng agreed.

Xiao Jing sat in the passenger seat of Shen Mingde's car, and the windshield in front of him provided him with a wide field of vision. The sky is a little cloudy this morning. Although the dark clouds blocked the sun, they could not hide the green and vibrant scene outside the car window. The car radio was broadcasting the news of the day, and the joint archaeological team that was excavating ruins in the Middle East had gone missing last night. This morning, it was as if the people in the archaeological team's camp had suddenly discovered that even the ruins they were digging were missing. Perhaps because of this news, Shen Mingde turned his head and looked at Xiao Jing with concern. But Xiao Jing said that she didn't care, perhaps because she was numb to terms like "lost contact" and "missing".

Because she was afraid that Shen Mingde would be too worried, Xiao Jing said: "With the extension of Zhou Tengfei's disappearance, the police have paid more attention to it, and more and more people have joined the investigation. Although the police have their own investigative ideas, and although they have not revealed many clues, my heart is still full of hope. Although I don't have the strength to investigate the nearly 200 villages in the vicinity like the police, if I can find the location of Zhou Tengfei's disappearance, maybe I have made some efforts. What's more, Yang Chuan has already found it, not to mention that today we still brought updated clues to try, not to mention that I am not working on it alone. ”

Xiao Jing turned her head to look at Shen Mingde, who was driving. Shen Mingde didn't look at her, but suddenly felt a grateful gaze looking at him.

Xiao Jing's tone seemed a little unnatural, but she still insisted: "I never expect to get help from others, in fact, as long as you can show sympathy and say a few words of comfort, I am already satisfied." Although you never admitted to helping me. Although you once said that you were looking for the lake, it was just because you felt that Zhou Tengfei's disappearance had your own responsibility. Even though you say you're haunted by the strange things that have happened in the last few days, you want to find out. But I think you've done enough. ”

Shen Mingde felt at a loss for this sudden remark and didn't know how to deal with it. So, the two filled in the gap with silence again.

After a long silence, Xiao Jing walked in the mountain forest again. The difference is that this time she walked in front, and occasionally looked back and saw Shen Mingde three or four meters behind her, which made her feel a little relieved. Instead of a cell phone in her hand and a compass, she had a trekking pole that helped her quietly and slowly advance through the forest full of stumps and leaves. She struggled to suppress the other senses, pouring all her energy into her ears. She used this method, and at this speed, she wandered for dozens of minutes after leaving the small dirt road, but still found nothing, and occasionally could hear Shen Mingde's brief complaint, "Where is the stream?" “

It wasn't until they moved at a snail-like speed that they could occasionally see the forest with the "Grasshopper Cage" hanging on it, that Xiao Jing felt a little different. As she filtered out the slight sound of the wind, the sound of large branches and leaves, a small number of chirping insects, and the occasional birdsong, and carefully blended into the mountain forest with her eyes closed, she seemed to hear the intermittent sound of the water. Xiao Jing slowly turned her head and made a silent gesture to Shen Mingde, and then waved her hand to let him follow her, as if she was afraid that the sudden words of the two of them would break her state. Seeing Shen Mingde nodding his head, as if he understood what she meant, Xiao Jing walked towards this voice by herself.

Xiao Jing listened carefully to the sound of the stream, snakeing forward, sometimes walking in front of a tree and turning back, sometimes walking firmly and confidently in another direction. Occasionally, she would see Shen Mingde following behind her, gluing an eye-catching sticker to the trunk of the tree she walked by from time to time. They walked in silence for more than thirty minutes, the sound of running water gradually became smaller, and after walking for more than ten minutes, the sound of running water could hardly be heard. But they still didn't see the shadow of the lake.

They searched for the signs on the trees again, listened to the sound of the water, and returned to the place where the sound of the water was loudest. Due to Xiao Jing's concentration just now, she suddenly realized that this area was filled with white mist, wasn't this the last time she came and separated from Yang Guangcheng? Shen Mingde exhaled a breath of turbidity, and easily thought that this should be the location of the lake. As far as they could see, they searched through the white fog around a large tree with a conspicuous road sign. When they were reunited, they all said they had found nothing.

Xiao Jing insisted that it must be a problem of their mentality, and they still had doubts about the existence of that lake. Shen Mingde didn't say anything, just smiled. Xiao Jing said her plan at this time: she hoped that Shen Mingde could wait for her here, and she planned to go back to the starting point and walk this road alone. Shen Mingde looked at the road signs that could be clearly seen even in the white mist, and agreed with Xiao Jing's idea. At the same time, just in case, he took out his mobile phone and dialed Xiao Jing's number. It seems that in this mountain forest, the telephone still works. This made the two of them feel more at ease, and after agreeing to exchange phone calls immediately if they didn't meet for too long, or if they were in danger, Xiao Jing's back quickly disappeared into the white mist.

Shen Mingde threw a small pebble into the distance, but it was swallowed by the thick fog like a dog biscuit not far ahead. Xiao Jing had been away for a while, but she hadn't come back yet. Shen Mingde opened the phone's address book, put her finger on Xiao Jing's name for a moment, and then put down the phone again. Maybe she's trying to adjust her mindset and find the lake in her own way. But the mentality of firmly believing in the existence of that lake, Shen Mingde can't understand it, and even this "lake where you believe in it, and if you don't believe it, you don't have it" doesn't feel so real. Could it be that this so-called "Divine Lake" is not in the world he is in at all? Could it really be like what the sixth uncle said, this "divine lake" is on another page of the book? As soon as he woke up in the morning, Shen Mingde felt a blush for the inferences he had made in front of Xiao Jing. He wondered if he had left an "unrealistic" image of a naughty boy in Xiao Jing's heart. He felt that the calm, mature, and rational image he had in front of others over the years had been distorted, torn, and stripped away in front of Xiao Jing last night.

Shen Mingde stared at the "gnat cages", those things were on his head, on the surrounding branches, on the ropes, one by one, row by row, string by string, looming in the thick fog, swaying even more strangely. Surrounded by these things, he felt uncomfortable, so he didn't look at these "gnats cages", but emptied his brain and cast his gaze like a farther place in the thick fog. His eyes lost focus, but after a moment, he realized that they still reflected their outlines on his retina from time to time. Shen Mingde simply closed his eyes and tried to drive those things out of his brain. He took a deep breath, relaxed, and tried to imagine himself in a place that was familiar to him. At that moment, he seemed to be back in his office, which was a little cold and the light around him was gray. However, he was surrounded by familiar classical furniture, and calligraphy works of "Tranquility and Distance" hung on the wall behind his desk. The koi fish in the tank swing their tail fins leisurely. The sound of the water circulation system coming from the fish tank was peaceful and pleasant, and it seemed that he saw the picture of the lake again on his computer screen. Shen Mingde suddenly opened his eyes, but the fog in front of him was still there. You close your eyes again, looking for the feeling just now, the furniture, the calligraphy and painting, the fish tank, and he hears again, the very clear sound of running water, right in his ears, near him. Shen Mingde felt a trace of excitement, opened his eyes and looked into the dense fog in the distance again without focus for a moment, and then turned around and walked in the direction of the sound of flowing water.

The place where he was standing just now was the place where Xiao Jing thought she could hear the loudest sound of running water. However, Shen Mingde could tell that the source of the sound of running water was not far behind him, maybe the lake was there. The road was a little difficult, and his back was arched by the low-hanging branches, and he had to cover his face with his hands from time to time. But he was happy to do it. On the one hand, the sound of running water made him see hope, but on the other hand, he wanted to find a place away from those "gnats and cages". Ever since he learned the mystery of the "Grasshopper Cage" from the old ranger at the police station. He was a little jealous of those things. He's not a timid man, at least not himself. He grew up fond of books and movies, but his father, an engineer and a teacher, always dragged him out of that quirky world. At that time, he was a little conflicted, which of his own world or his parents' world was real? He didn't understand the science that his parents talked about, and he hadn't experienced the anecdotes he had read, so in the end, let them be science and metaphysics. He thought inexplicably.

Shen Mingde finally squeezed through the tree wall, listening to the sound of running water, he groped his way up a gentle slope. In the thick fog, he nearly crashed into a stone wall. It was a stone wall made of irregularly cut stones, about a man high. He was sure it was an artificial structure, as his head could be seen from the top of the stone wall to the outline of the triangular ridge inside. The stone wall surrounds the house and seems to separate a courtyard. He tried to get around the stone wall to the front. However, the end of this stone wall is immediately followed by another stone wall. Shen Mingde touched the stone wall and walked through the "courtyards", but he didn't see any passages in the middle. And the direction he could hear the sound of running water was behind the stone walls. He simply found a lower wall and climbed over it. When he saw the dilapidated house in front of him, he decided that this was the ruins of the plague-stricken village that the old ranger had mentioned. The mud-stone walls, as well as the thatched, timber-framed roof, reveal the age of the house. Around their cities, even in poor village houses, they should already be brick and til. Shen Mingde followed the sound of running water and checked the courtyard on the way. The courtyard is neatly arranged in a quadrangular shape, connected to the left and right courtyards, separated by a fence.

Leaving the courtyard and going out of the gate, he saw a large open space, and the sound of "whooshing" water came from an ancient well. Shen Mingde walked towards the ancient well, the reason why he thought it was a well was mainly because it was built up of small stones, and the edge of the well was about one meter high, which was very consistent with the style of the ancient well that Shen Mingde saw on the TV screen. As he approached the well, another house could be seen in the thick fog on the opposite side. It seems that the two houses were built opposite each other. Shen Mingde leaned down, leaned on the wellhead and looked inside. In the dim light, it was pitch black inside, but only the sound of rushing water could be heard. He used his phone's flashlight to shine it, but nothing changed, and the well was like a "black hole" swallowing up all the light. Shen Mingde judged that there should be an underground river below, and he and Xiao Jing, as well as those villagers heard the sound of the underground river flowing at the same time. So, he wanted to test the depth of the well with a long rope, so he turned around and went into the courtyard next to the ancient well.

Shen Mingde rummaged through the abandoned courtyard, and when he leaned down, he suddenly noticed that the clearing outside the courtyard did not seem to be formed naturally, and he was surprised by its flat ground and the absence of a single fallen leaf. He withdrew his gaze and found a broken wooden barrel with a hemp rope tied to it in the pile of miscellaneous items in the courtyard. This hemp rope seems to have been used for a long time, and the surface is very smooth by rubbing. For some reason, Shen Mingde always felt that this hemp rope was still wet, and it seemed that it had just been used. Maybe it's because of the fog, he explained to himself in his heart. He was a little disappointed when he had led the hemp rope with the barrel into the well, and the rope had almost been put to the end, but the well was still bottomless. Simply, he let go of his grip on the rope and let the rope slide down on its own. Then he heard the sound of a wooden barrel striking. The voice echoed, and it seemed like there was a very large space inside.

Shen Mingde walked back and forth along the stone walls of the courtyard on the left and right, and he was sure that the "open space" outside the courtyard should be a wide dirt road. He walked along the dirt road, and the courtyard and houses were built along the dirt road until it reached a gentle slope. There are about ten more houses in a row along the dirt road, and if the houses on the other side of the dirt road are built opposite them, then there are about twenty houses on both sides of the dirt road. If it weren't for the fact that the houses were too old, Shen Mingde would have felt that this should be a villa area built in the mountains and forests.

The thick fog surrounded Shen Mingde two or three meters around, making the ruins of this ancient village look a little creepy. Unlike the woods full of "gnatfish cages" that made him feel jealous, this ancient village surrounded by a thick fog made his heart hairy, but it also carried a great charm. Isn't it the feeling that has been lost in childhood? On a rainy and snowy night, the fear and excitement that is unique to him when he hides alone in the bed of his room with a book of strange literature in his hand, and the complex feeling of a strong desire to explore. However, this feeling is like smoking, as the craving increases, the full pleasure also decreases, and then in order to find the feeling at that time, the amount of smoking is increased again, and finally the pleasure can no longer be felt. Later, Shen Mingde went to college, and in order to cope with endless exams and papers, he developed a thinking mode of "arguing first, then answering" in everything. This mode of thinking is not unreasonable, and Shen Mingde's parents call it "rational". Reason taught him to use his brain to think about problems, not to perceive the world. Reason dispelled the fog that surrounded him and allowed him to see the truth of the world. However, he wondered, is that really the "truth"? Sometimes, he feels that this so-called "reason" is like a tyrant who can only tolerate what can be explained by people, and exterminate everything that cannot be explained. The feeling of childhood is buried, those whimsical ideas are gone, and adults can't draw strange monsters with their pen to sign their names on documents. In his spare time, Shen Mingde still uses some books and programs dressed in the cloak of "rationality" to comfort the little curiosity left.

This strong, "curious" friend pulled Shen Ming up a gentle slope. They stood in front of the door of a building, four mottled wooden columns supporting a rectangular portico. To the left and right of the porch is a broken stone tablet, and the text on the stone tablet is carved crookedly and without beauty. Those symbols are some complex traditional characters, but they are almost not difficult to recognize, from the style of the articles that are half literal and half vernacular, which reminds Shen Mingde of the articles written by those writers who promoted vernacular writing during the Republic of China. However, judging by the typos and diction of the text, he felt that these inscriptions should never have been written by some learned person. Shen Mingde looked at the general situation and integrated some of the parts he could understand and those words that he could see clearly in his heart. Afterwards, he decided that it would be more appropriate to say someone's autobiography rather than a history of the village. The name and date of its establishment have been partially erased with the destruction of the stone monument. The rest, which he could understand, was about a master who had attained the Tao and came to the foot of the "Chaos" mountain. He expelled the ancient monster "Chaos" that inhabited this mountain, and then practiced in this mountain. During this period, he healed the sick and saved people in the vicinity, preached the scriptures, he influenced the bandits in the mountains, and also took in a lot of poor people, they established villages under the guidance of the master, eradicated the evil and did all kinds of things for the heavens, anyway, this master did all the good things. The actions of this master moved the heavens and the earth, and eventually, the immortal known as the "Mountain Maitreya" by the villagers would soon descend into the world. This enlightened master also gave the villagers the art of immortality, taught them how to open an altar, summon the true god, and promised the villagers that once the true god came, they would be able to jump out of the sea of suffering and rank in the immortal class. In the end, the master will go into the mountain and practice in seclusion until the true God comes. He gave his son the authority to rule the village, and told him to jump into the lake every three months to listen to his teachings, and he would give his son guidance in a dream. After a toss, the master jumped into the lake alone and never came back.

After a cursory reading, Shen Mingde shook his head with a wry smile. He pondered mockingly, isn't this just a folk tale, could it be that Zhou Tengfei also fell into the lake to find immortals to practice? Combined with the sixth uncle's nonsense, maybe that master is "traveling" back to that era from modern times, or maybe that master is Zhou Tengfei himself. Shen Mingde then walked through the porch and entered the main hall. It is said that it is the main hall, but in fact, it is an eighteen, nine, but twenty square meters of room. The walls of the room are empty, and although they are old, they seem to show signs of restoration. In the center of the room was an almost spherical old tree root-like object, about a meter in diameter. Upon closer inspection, Shen Mingde found that the core of this thing was indeed a spherical tree root, which was placed on a huge stone base. The perimeter of the root is covered with carvings of many other animal figures, which are fastened to the spherical roots with spikes and wooden wedges. Underneath the cover, the roots appear even larger. The carvings that cover the perimeter are rudimentary and crudely made, but some of the physical features of the animals can still be distinguished. For example, on the root of this tree, Shen Mingde saw the horns of a stag, the back shell of a turtle, and the feet of some four-hoofed animals. The uneven thickness and length of the branches used as ornaments between the covered carvings, which made the viewer extremely puzzled. The carved and protruding branches are not evenly distributed on the spherical roots, and if they are crafts or idols made by local villagers, they are completely contrary to the human aesthetic standard of "symmetry". This thing is like an echinoderm wriggling at the bottom of the sea, completely unable to find its own evolutionary direction.

Shen Mingde slowly turned behind the echinoderm statue, intending to appreciate how crazy the imagination of the local villagers was. However, as he turned to the back of the statue, something abrupt shocked him. It wasn't a carving, it was an object, and it was extremely common in today's society. Just behind the root, a spike pinned a mobile phone to the root. The spikes pass through the screen, the traces of fragmentation surround the nails like cobwebs, the sleek four sides of the phone, the delicate body, and the simple screen design all indicate that this phone is the latest generation of products this year. There is also the pattern design of the mobile phone protective case exposed on both sides of the fuselage, isn't this Zhou Tengfei's mobile phone? I remember that at the beginning of the year, Zhou Tengfei showed off this mobile phone in the company when he got it, and also showed Shen Mingde the pattern design of the mobile phone protective case that Xiao Jing gave him. So Shen Mingde took a lot of effort to pull out the nail and take down the mobile phone. After putting away Zhou Tengfei's relics, he used his mobile phone to take a few more photos of this strange statue.

Shen Mingde stepped out of the gate of the main hall, and the surroundings were still white foggy, and he could only see the range a few meters away from him. The mist seemed to have wisdom, and it surrounded him not far away, moving with him. Shen Mingde felt like a traveling emperor, no matter where he went, a canopy made of tulle above his head always shrouded him. Through the veil, he could only see the outline of the ridge of the roof ahead and the blackened woods. This scene seemed to give Shen Mingde a slap in the face, and he wondered if he was thinking too romantic? The metaphor of the emperor and the canopy really doesn't reflect his mood, maybe he is a fly caught in an insect trap. Perhaps, he is an actor standing on the stage, and the spotlight follows him, illuminating only the scenery around him. Outside the scope of that spotlight, it was dark for him as an actor. In the darkness, countless pairs of eyes were staring at him, watching his every move. Shen Mingde really hated his brain a little, it was like a wild horse that had escaped from the leash, stirring his imagination uncontrollably. His imagination triggered another sensor lamp, and that lamp emitted not light, but the most primitive human emotion for darkness and the unknown. Shen Mingde wanted to hum a little song, but felt that this practice was even more strange in a deserted village where no one was around. "That's right, it's this feeling of being on stage that gave Xiao Jing the fear of being stared at last time." Shen Mingde put forward this theory again in his heart, trying to let his reason take back control of his body. So, he pulled the zipper of his jacket to the top, retracted his neck into the collar as much as possible, put his hands around his chest, and walked down the gentle slope as if nothing had happened.

From the gentle slope, you should have a panoramic view of the ancient village. But under the shroud of fog, Shen Mingde only saw a short stretch of dirt road in front of him, and the outlines of the first two rows of houses on both sides. The houses were dilapidated and decadent, with a "human" shaped roof that had collapsed and open wooden doors closed one by one. "Why does that door panel open and close when there is no wind?" Once again, his imagination was stirred. In order to suppress that emotion, Shen Mingde lowered his head and walked quickly. However, just as he walked down the gentle slope with his head down, another abrupt sight on the dirt road caught his attention. This is a very common sight in reality. However, appearing here made Shen Mingde have to stop and watch. At the bottom of the gentle slope, the words "Help me" are written on the dirt road, and a palm-sized stone is pressed against a piece of A7-sized paper, which makes the sight even more conspicuous. Shen Mingde quickly looked to the left and right, but did not look directly behind him. I don't know if it's the one that "mortals have yang lamps on their shoulders, and yang lamps protect their bodies and ghosts." In the middle of the night, the light is easy to turn off, and the sun light is hard to find. The old superstitions stopped him, still thinking that turning back in this environment would plunge him into deeper fear. Shen Mingde stood for a long time before kicking the stone away. He saw that it was supposed to be a piece of paper torn from a work notebook, on which a rough stick figure had been drawn in pencil. The style of painting is very simple, and it is obvious that a ramp is connected to a straight road. On that straight road there was an arrow indicating the way forward, and a house was drawn right next to the straight road, and a big "mountain" was written on it. Just below that house is marked "Left 6". Shen Mingde stepped over the words on the ground as if he was dodging filth. He put his hand in his pocket, and without touching the piece of paper, he strode forward along the dirt path.