(If you have read the prologue before the change, you can start reading it directly from chapter 5.) Pen, Fun, Pavilion www.biquge.info)

When Yang Xue told me that her brother Yang Tao had come back alive, my mind had already fallen into a mess, the impact of this incident on me was too great, just imagine, an eleven-year-old child, after being trapped in a dark cave for more than ten years, actually came back alive, how could this kind of thing happen in reality? My childhood friend Lao Yang, trapped in the depths of the cave, life and death unknown, what has happened in the past ten years? Why did it take so many years for him to come out of the cave where he was trapped, and what did he rely on to survive all these years? What will it become?

As these questions exploded in my mind like cannonballs, my mind drifted back to that summer more than a decade ago.

Before I talk about this, I must first introduce my little friend Lao Yang.

Of course, at the beginning of the story, Lao Yang was still young, but for as long as he can remember, the children in the village have already called him Lao Yang, because he is two or three years older than our group of children who play together, and he is our veritable "child king". Growing up, Yang was always my mentor and friend, and under his guidance, I climbed the mountains around the village, waded through every clear river, went to school together, fought together, and we grew up wearing a pair of pants. In the whole village, I have the strongest relationship with Lao Yang, and I admire him the most.

Having said that, Lao Yang doesn't have three heads and six arms, but in the eyes of the older generation, this child is very "wild", and he is nicknamed "Flying Centipede". The reason is quite sad: Lao Yang's parents went to the coast to work since he was in the first grade, leaving him and his sister in the care of his grandfather. Speaking of Lao Yang, he can also be regarded as the first generation of left-behind children, with a few adobe houses at home, which are in disrepair, and they have to use pots and pans when it rains. Lao Yang's grandfather is an elderly man who is slow to move, so Lao Yang has been negligent in discipline for a long time, and likes to run around, up and down the mountains and rivers, becoming more and more "wild", which shows that the nickname of "Flying Centipede" given to him by Tian Dazui is also very appropriate.

To get back to the point, it was the summer of '97, a weekend when I was in the fifth grade, one day just after noon, I was doing my homework at home, and suddenly I heard someone whistling outside the yard, blowing very rhythmically, I ran out to take a look, only to see Lao Yang peeking out of a tree outside my yard and beckoning to me:

"Are your parents out?"

I grinned, and the chick pecked at the rice: "Out of here!" Where are we going to play today? ”

When Lao Yang heard that my parents had already gone out, he jumped down from the tree with confidence, rolled on the lawn of my yard with his dexterity, and took my hand when he stood up:

"Let's go!"

When I asked him where he was taking me, he asked, "Do you have any candles?" Do you have any money? ”

When I heard him ask, my heart was filled with joy: "You want to take me to the 'bandit cave'!" ”

According to the elders, the cave used to be inhabited by bandits, and then the Red Army suppressed bandits, and the bandits buried a large number of looted gold and silver treasures in the "second layer" of the cave, and then blew up the only access to the "second layer" with explosives, and the reason why I put quotation marks is because these are just legends, and no one has ever been to the "second layer", and no one has ever seen the ruins that were blown up. But for children of my age and Lao Yang, we have always believed in this legend and longed to find the treasure left by the bandits and go to the pinnacle of life.

Lao Yang has been to the "Bandit Cave" several times, but I have never been to it once, because my parents are very strict with me, and they don't even allow me to go down the river to bathe, let alone go over the mountains to drill any "bandit hole". So I begged Lao Yang to have time to secretly take me to see and understand. But he was also afraid that my parents would blame him, so he never agreed. I don't know what medicine he took today, but suddenly it was unusual, and I was so happy that I couldn't help but jump.

"I still have three bucks!" I excitedly said to Lao Yang, "There are no candles at home, but we can buy them!" ”

Lao Yang waved his hand and told me to be quiet, he looked around vigilantly, and found that there was no third person nearby, so he lowered his voice and said:

"We went to the 'bandit cave' to catch fish this time, you bring your firewood knife, and then bring a snakeskin bag for fish, those adults asked, and said that we went to the mountains to catch snakes!"

I nodded, and couldn't help but dance with my eyebrows: "Catch fish!" That's great! Just the two of us? ”

Lao Yang was a little impatient, he shook his head at me, and said, "Don't ask, let's go to the store to buy a bag of candles first, and I'll tell you on the way!" ”

I saw that Lao Yang looked a little impatient, so I didn't dare to ask any more questions, I was worried that if he was provoked by me, he would leave me alone. I carried a firewood knife on my back, and found two leftover sweet potatoes in the pot, and brought a long snakeskin bag, tied around my waist, and followed Lao Yang to buy candles.

Although "Chen Million", who runs a store, has been nagging us to ask where we are going, although we are small, our mouths are very tight, and we have not seen the slightest breath. I followed Lao Yang along the mountain, and he knew very well where the bandit cave was located, and he told me that the road was actually very difficult to walk, because few people went to that place, so we had to hurry.

"Over this mountain," Lao Yang pointed to the mountain in front of him, frowning, "You still have to cross a ravine, and the entrance of the cave is at the end of the ravine!" ”

After not walking a few steps, Lao Yang said again: "I'm afraid that I'm afraid that I will meet adults on the road and won't let us go, so I asked the army to take a step first and explore the way." ”

As soon as I heard him mention the army, my whole body was not happy. The army and I had a bit of a holiday, and we had a fight over a trivial matter. His mouth is very bad, others don't like to hear anything, he wants to say something, he loves to be sarcastic, except for Lao Yang in the village, no one wants to play with him.

Lao Yang saw that I was a little indignant, so he said: "Actually, the army asked me to pull you together, he always wants to talk to you, I know that you are a little conflicted, it doesn't matter, since he offered to reconcile with you, don't be angry with him anymore." ”

When I heard Lao Yang say this, the mustard in my heart really eased a lot, thinking that since that kid took the initiative to bow his head, I couldn't take an inch.

Lao Yang and I chatted all the way, and I didn't feel that the road was long, and after about an hour's effort, we crossed the mountain, and then walked along the direction of the stream in the valley. Lao Yang told me that this stream is several kilometers long, and many rice fields in the upper reaches of the creek are lined up on both sides, and every time there is a flash flood, the fish in the rice fields always flow into the bandit cave along the current, so the bandit cave does not know how many fish are hidden. Last year, a few adults went to the cave to catch fish, and when they came back, the snakeskin pockets were full, and there was a carp of about ten catties, which could swallow a ping-pong ball with its mouth open.

"Someone saw a fish the size of a coffin in a deep pool in the hole, and could swallow your head with their mouth open!"

The more Lao Yang talked, the more excited he became, and he couldn't talk about it. I said in my heart that I still believe in a dozen catties of fish, you can lie to the ghost of a fish as big as a coffin.

"And Wang Ba!" Lao Yang's eyebrows fluttered and described, "That turtle shell is as big as a pot!" But in the cave, Wang Ba is smarter than a fish, and they didn't catch it last time! ”

Lao Yang said while comparing the size of the king's eight shells with his hand, I was stunned when I heard it, I didn't know whether what he said was true or not, I was half-convinced in my heart, and I didn't dare to refute him. Although Lao Yang is usually atmospheric, he is an authority in his bones, and he can't "pour hair". I basically figured out his routine, and I followed his temper.

When we were about to reach the entrance of the cave, the army of boys came out of nowhere. He was wearing his father's white tank top with a large breeches underneath, and he was so thin that he looked like a white bag floating in the air. When he saw us, he grinned, showed two sharp tiger teeth, beckoned us with his skeletal hands, and opened his snakeskin pocket for us to see.

"Rope, wood knives, instant noodles, candles, and ham sausages!" He squeezed his eyes at us triumphantly, as if his bag was not some ordinary snakeskin bag, but a treasure bag of what he wanted.

Lao Yang saw that he was too arrogant, so he patted him on the head:

"What are you doing with a rope, kid? Do you still want to go down? ”

Dajun still had a thief smile on his face, he first unhurriedly took out a bag of "Fumanduo" instant noodles and stuffed it into my arms, and then gave Lao Yang a ham sausage very flatteringly, and said slowly:

"If you don't dare to go down, just pull me up there, and I'll go down alone to see if it's fresh!"

I was in a daze as to what they meant by "going down" and where they were going. I've heard that after entering the bandit cave, you can walk along the underground river, and the road is not too difficult to walk, so why do you still need a rope?