It's not easy to stumble upon something buried in the soil, but it's a bit harder to find something in the soil when you know there's something in it. After all, it is buried under the soil, and we only know the direction, but we don't know the specific location. After looking a few meters forward, the shoes were full of dirt, and I didn't find any clues.

In the end, as a last resort, Yan Qiu pulled out the Luoyang shovel from his bag. She brought only a shovel head and a shorter shovel handle. After getting his head on, Yan Qiu bent over, following the same straight line of the previous iron ring, walking up and probing with a shovel. After all, having tools is much more efficient than no tools, about seven or eight meters up, Yan Qiu found an iron ring again, and with a few shovels digging up the soil next to it, you can see that it is still buried in the ground as before.

Find the second one, the third one is even easier to find, about the same interval position, dig down, and sure enough, find another one. We picked up speed up the hill, and the fourth, fifth, and one by one the hoops were exposed to our sight. The distribution is very even, and they are all very firm, even the direction of the ring hole, is impartial, it seems that he is an expert in this area, and the work is very delicate.

Needless to say, these rings were indeed worn with iron chains, which were fixed in sections for the climber.

I confirmed his dream to the fat brother again, and I asked, "Do you really see that I took the lead in climbing the mountain?" Still wearing braids? ”

The fat brother was afraid that I would be asked again: "It's just a vague answer, I don't see it clearly, it's just a bit like, it's not necessarily you, and you're not old and immortal, how can you be from the Qing Dynasty?" ”

Although he scolded me in a crooked way, I was still satisfied with his answer.

The others didn't ask me any more, and it was clear that if I had a secret, they wouldn't tell me lightly. If there was no secret, they wouldn't be able to ask about it, so everyone still chose to be silent, but judging from the expressions of Su Rina and Dujiao, as well as the few words along the way, I am afraid that they still have a mustard in their hearts.

The one-horn often walks by the river, and there is nothing to be said about multiple hearts, even if it is not for this incident, he is indispensable to all kinds of suspicions. But Su Rina is different, she used to treat us as friends, but along the way, she may also see that our purpose is not simple, nor is it simply a tourist, and it is human nature to have scruples.

Unfortunately, I still can't tell the truth, because I really don't know, whether our experiences and actions constitute a crime. I'm afraid that this aunt and grandmother, who don't recognize her six relatives, will turn her face when she gets off the mountain, and she will handcuff us back and lock us up for three years and five years, which will outweigh the losses.

Let her go, I don't care about others, as long as the fat brother believes me, it will be enough.

Yan Qiu and Jiang Li didn't care, after all, I came to help Jiang Li, and I didn't bring it up myself, not to mention that when we left, we didn't know where the destination was, no matter how much they doubted, they couldn't suspect me.

On the contrary, I was haunted by myself, and I felt uncomfortable when I couldn't figure it out for a minute. All kinds of signs along the way show that this trip has an inseparable relationship with me, from the exhibition owl who doesn't look like me in Yun Da's mouth, to now the fat brother actually saw the Qing Dynasty version of me climbing the mountain in his dream, how do you feel that the protagonist of this trip has slowly transferred from Jiang Li to me? Thinking about Uncle Galu's words, saying that I could not get out of the mountain alive, my hair stood on end, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt a trace of fear, and I always felt an unknown danger, one following me.

In the end, I can only comfort myself, it's useless to think too much, just scare myself, it's better not to think about anything, do what I should do, and act as if nothing happened. I look forward to climbing to the top of the mountain as soon as possible, not only to complete the mission of this trip, but also to see where this invisible iron chain leads.

There were no thorns in the way, and with our mental concentration in searching for clues, we climbed much faster than before, and without feeling tired, we were already pedaling up the mountainside. Looking back at the first hoop we found, it was already unclear.

Although the progress had accelerated, the time had not stopped, and by the time we climbed up to a flat piece of land again, it was already dusk.

We found that the mountain we climbed was a flat-topped peak, and the top was extremely flat, like a plateau continent. The whole area is several square kilometers, and there are countless large and small pools scattered on it, all of which are formed by streams.

The big river we saw before has turned into countless tiny streams here. I can no longer hear the sound of the rushing river, but it seems very quiet, my ears are instantly much more comfortable, and my brain is more awake.

But there is one more frustrating thing, and that is that this is not the end of the road, and looking at a higher mountain not far away, and the snow on the top of the mountain, I regret that I did not choose to turn back with Uncle Garu.

In August, the snow was a testament to how high the mountain we were facing and how difficult it was for us to go ahead. It's so difficult to go up the mountain, I'm afraid it's even more difficult when you go down.

Fortunately, it was almost evening now, and I had every reason to ask for a rest, I really couldn't climb anymore, and my stomach started to growl.

We didn't stop immediately after walking on the flat ground, and our feet seemed to be doing inertial movements, and we kept going, going around many deep and shallow pools, and we finally came to the wall of the mountain in front of us. Everyone stopped in unison, took off their equipment, and leaned against the wall without moving.

After resting for a while, Jiang Li asked, "Who still has delicious food in their bag?" I'm feeling a little hungry. ”

The fat brother said lazily, "Who isn't hungry?" The weapons have been snatched away, and Dai Qin is gone, I'm afraid you have to hold on. Otherwise, let's learn from the Red Army and find some wild vegetables to make soup and drink, right? ”

I closed my eyes and said nonchalantly, "What kind of soup are you boiling?" There is not even a fire, what to boil? ”

My words are like a shot in the arm, and it immediately made everyone feel refreshed, yes, we don't have fire, so I'm afraid the sleeping bag won't be able to save us tonight, such a high altitude, don't you freeze people to death at night? One day, when a newspaper reports that people froze to death in August, I'm afraid it will be us.

The unicorn who had rested enough said: "Zhan Xiao and Xiao Pang, you two go to find firewood, try to find dry ones, don't get some wet firewood, it's all smoke, there is no fire." ”

As soon as I heard that there was a door, could it be that the unicorn had hidden one, that kind of key-like flint and steel? Hurriedly pulled the fat brother to find dry firewood.

The unicorn also went into the jungle, not knowing what he was looking for, he should have gone to get food.

After a while, the fat brother and I came back with a large bundle of firewood, but we were disappointed that the unicorn did not catch pheasants or fish, but carried a lot of mushrooms and wild vegetables, and broke a fork full of small red fruits.

It's time to come, and I don't have to pick, the little red fruit doesn't have to wait for ripeness, everyone pulls all the fruits on it in a few clicks, rubs it on the clothes and stuffs it into the mouth, the fruit is very astringent, but in extraordinary times, it is good to be able to add some vitamins without pesticides.

The three girls went to fetch water and washed the wild vegetables and mushrooms in the pool at the same time, and I told them to look for a relatively shallow pool so that they would not run into the big anaconda again. After that, together with the fat brother, he waited for the one-horn to ignite.

Dujiao found a sheltered place and piled firewood against the mountain wall. Then we took a plank from the firewood we were looking for, which seemed to be very flat. He stripped off the bark from the outside of the plank, and there was a layer of whiskers underneath the bark, which he prepared to start a fire. Then he took out the small piece of obsidian from his boot, and in a few strokes cut the branch that had previously borne red fruit into a small wooden stick slightly larger than a pencil, one end of which was thinner but not pointy.

He placed the small sticks vertically on the flat plank, and rubbed them vigorously with both hands.

My eyes widened and I asked, "Do you want to drill wood to make fire?" ”

Unicorn nodded and said, "You know this, too?" ”

I smiled and said, "I understand how to drill wood, but I don't understand how to make fire, I'm afraid you can't do this, right?" I tried it when I was a kid and it didn't get out of the fire. ”

The unicorn only laughed and didn't speak again, but his hand never stopped.

In a short time, a small hole was drilled in the flat plank, and it seemed that the branches of the fruit tree were harder than the boards of the dead tree poles. The unicorn stuffed the wood chips he had prepared into a small pit, and then continued to drill with a small wooden stick.

Drilling and drilling, it was really smoking, and the unicorn hurriedly put down the wooden stick, held the smoking sawdust in his hand, and blew lightly for a few breaths, miraculously, it was really on fire.

Drilling wood for fire, my God, this is for me, it is simply a master of masters, I have seen for the first time in my life, drilling wood for fire can really be successful. Watching the campfire burn brightly, my heart is much more steady, but in such an environment, any calm is a precursor to an emergency.